Name/age/education/status update: creating a digital presence

Whether it is online shopping or ranting on Livejournal, when a person participates in an interactive online activity they are developing their digital presence. The digital presence can be influenced by something as straightforward as Amazon.com automatically generating a list of 'things you might like' based on previous purchases, or it can involve the time-consuming process of developing, training and playing a character in a massively multiplayer online role playing game such as World of Warcraft. The way a user engages with the Internet affects their digital presence. These varied activities mean that Internet users have multiple sites of engagement, and social networks are complex nodes of this digital presence.

Accordingly, this chapter dissects the digital presence in the context of online social networks. This is in order to establish the characteristics that constitute a digital presence, and how these differ between varying social networks. These social networks have many 'tools' and requests for personal information. The amount of information a user submits can differ depending on their level of engagement, and trust, as the legitimacy of the information disclosed is uncertain. Therefore, this chapter explores how the reality of a user's life is linked to their digital presence. I begin by examining types of online networks and the information and activities required for the birth of the digital presence. By looking at gaming, online dating, blogging and social networking sites, I assert that online social networks are inextricably linked to the real world. This chapter puts forward the idea that the digital presence is never 'offline', which opens up the discussion for later chapters on how the digital presence affects the life of a user. Before this, however, the context of the digital presence needs to be considered.

I use digital presence to refer to the way that a user deploys information and activities online. Whenever a user engages with the Internet, they leave a digital trail or imprint, and as Kent argues:

Some of these digital identities are closely aligned to an individual off screen and easily attached to an individual . Other digital identities are more distanced and the link less strong, such as when a web page is customised based on a user's history of visits.1

User habits contribute to this digital identity, as our work, leisure and consumer practices impact on who we are on/offline. This aspect of digital identity is, however, not the focus of this book. The reason why I have opted to use the phrase digital presence rather than digital identity, or self, is two-fold. Identity in this book refers to the basic information that a person uses as a foundation for a user profile in an online network - such as name, age, sex and profession. Digital presence is a combination of this information and the user's online activity. Participation in this manner is not isolated from the real world and for this reason the idea of the digital self is inappropriate, as it presupposes a separation. The main focus here is on the social aspects of the digital presence. The information that people reveal as well as how they engage with, and perform in, online social networks are important elements of this examination. Although my conception of the digital presence does not focus directly on the 'self' (a subject that has been debated in relation to users' interactions with virtual environments) it does intersect these ideas.

The film The Matrix identifies and questions concepts of reality and ideas of the fragmented self.

Neo: Right now we're inside a computer program?

Morpheus: Is it really so hard to believe? Your clothes are different, the plugs in you arms and head are gone, your hair has changed. Your appearance now is what we call residual self-image. It is the mental projection of your digital self.2

In relation to cyberspace, online selves are often discussed in terms of how they differ from a user's offline self.3 Zhao asserts:

. the proliferation of self in cyberspace has been explained largely in terms of the detachment of the self from the body in telecopresent inter-action: as others cannot see who we really are, we are free to claim to be whoever we want to be.4

This chapter (and book) is focused on presenting ideas that cut across this research. The discussion here is not focused on dissecting and deconstructing the meanings and formulations of the self. This book, working under the assumption that the self is fragmented, questions the belief that contemporary online participation exists outside of reality. This debate is centred on revealing the nature and potency of a digital presence on a user's life, at a time when the line between on- and offline is becoming blurred and demystified.

In domains of online gaming, gambling, blogging, chatting and even dating, it is easy to see how a user can reinvent themselves online. Turkle's Life on the Screen discussed 'how a nascent culture of simulation is affecting our ideas about mind body, self and machine'.5 She focused her attention on multi-user domains (MUDS), looking at the creation of selves and how technology challenges offline perceptions of self. In relation to Benjamin's work regarding actors and the 'screen',6 it is probably more appropriate to address the relationship between a user and social networks as life through the screen. The digital presence is influenced by a user's engagement with MUDS and is an example of a part of a user's life that remains online. The number of MUDS has grown dramatically since Turkle wrote her text in 1995. These different forms of MUDS needs to be contextualised within different groups of networks and approached in terms of their relationship to the idea of digital presence.

Online gaming networks are significant MUDS (although the acronym MUDS has less cultural currency than it used to) because as gaming technology evolves, player interaction and communication within the game also change. It would be problematic to suggest that the desire or requirement of a user to discard their offline self in the search of a different one is necessitated by all games. Many gamers would argue that role-playing in a game is like acting or playing 'dress-ups' and is not some latent desire to become a wizard. On some surface level the act of 'playing' in a game needs to be recognised. Role-playing is a significant part of online gaming and finds emphasis in particular Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games or MMORPGs. Story development is an important part of this. Wu, Li and Rou write:

Like movies, most online games have a story to which players may attach their fantasies and desires. An online game story usually tells players what is going on in a game. More specifically, it describes the circumstances of the events or the experiences of the characters that happen in the game sessions [Juul 2001a]. Like those presented in movies, novels, and operas, stories are also a key component of an online game.7

MMORPGs are a genre of online games in which players either interact with the stories created for the game or construct/develop the story themselves. MMORPGs are pertinent examples of Turkle's idea of simulation, but they go beyond the idea of a presentation of fragmented selves, and World of Warcraft (WoW) is an exemplar.

In WoW gamers are expected to create their character based on one of the ten races and develop it by choosing professions and then questing. The character then adventures in a chosen realm.8 'As a massively multiplayer online game, World of Warcraft enables thousands of players from across the globe to come together online - undertaking grand quests and heroic exploits in a land of fantastic adventure.'9 This game is based on questing through a fantasy world and battling creatures in a friendly social environment. Players can choose the way in which they play the game. For example, the existence of different realms allows the user to choose whether they engage in player-versus-player combat. Players are also encouraged to socialise with other players in their realm. '. the game is built to facilitate extensive in-game socialising . You can also add players to a friends list, so you can keep track of nice and helpful players for grouping or just chatting'.10 The difficulties of numerous adventures in WoW stimulate player-to-player interaction, making the game an effective social tool. Players can interact via textual chat functions and/or using audio devices. The social aspect of gameplay that is necessary to succeed means that the players are never just a character. The human behind the character is ever present.

Social interaction is an important aspect of online gameplay and in particular MMORPGs. I conducted an e-interview with long-time gaming expert Bennett Ring about online gaming, in particular MMORPGs. Ring is a games journalist and has a long history in this industry - Editor in Chief at IGN, PR Manager for Vivendi Universal Games, Deputy Editor for PC PowerPlay Magazine, Reviews Editor for Atomic...