Granting personality to a virtual identity

Van Kokswijk begins with a very interesting statement, "For some individuals their virtual persona is at least as important as their real life image." Even though this virtual identity is often, "Embellished to make the person appear more intelligent, sexier, skinner or bolder."  Van Kokswijk continues to note the virtual identities are often individualized, from unique spellings of names, to specific visual or text clues.  This is done because individuals need to be recognized in their online identity, just as they need to be in person.  Truly, it is also a need for the software that uses databases linked to unique or key values to store information about our virtual selves.

Perhaps that is part of the reason our virtual persona is just as important, if not more so, to us than our physical self.  It is possible to create everything, from name and gender to background and lifestyle to be what we idolize.  This very development of a self outside of the physical could be similar to a new parents feelings for an infant - something has been brought into the world through one's own power.  It is scared and important for that reason. 

Van Kokswijk continues that with the development of new technologies the 'makeability' of people increases.  Now it is easy to add a voice, manipulated photos, it no longer needs to reflect reality in anyway. What may begin as a simple pseudonym may eventually grow into a fully developed online personality.


From here, van Kokswijk continues to explore the legalities surrounding virtual identities and the possible need, in the near future, to establish a legal precedent for their use in contracts and other legal matters.

What is of most interest is the detail the paper goes into in describing how virtual persona's are created.  It summarizes this by speaking of specific differences between the real and the virtual identity: Identity Fluidity, Renovated Hierarchies, and Informational Space.

Identity Fluidity refers to the process by which these personalities are created.  while it is possible for a user to appear differently each time an identity is used, a greater picture begins to develop over time.  While this may not be akin to the offline personality, it is in its own way unique.


Unfortunately, the paper appears not to fully describe the other two features.

Whether or not a virtual identity is considered a 'person' under the law or not, the very notion that we are considering a need for such a definition says a lot about how much we have developed our online personas.  If we are putting in enough detail that these persistent Avatars that they are being granted legal rights, what would come next?

van Kokswijk, J. (2008). Granting personality to a virtual identity. International Journal of Human and Social Sciences, 2(4), Retrieved from http://www.waset.ac.nz/journals/ijhss/v2/v2-3-37.pdf