The online persona I decided to become was a whale biologist (Seinfeld...) and I chose two places for this experiment. The first was a social forum on a video game site www.gamefaqs.com which is known for housing 10-15 year olds arguing about unimaginable things. The forums are clean and moderated though, so the discussion generally stays on topic. The second was the Professionals, 30's ICQ chat room which is not moderated. I spent about an hour in each place, trying to strike up conversations or getting into debates and then throwing in the fact that I study whale biology.
The conclusion of this experiment was rather striking for me, though I'm not sure how it fits with the theories we've been talking about in class. Basically, I was able to fake it much easier with the 30's than the teenagers. The way I went about it was trying to sound as professional and "smart" as possible, though not to the point of being pretentious. My grammar was always correct, I wrote in full sentences (omg!) and provided actual facts (from Wiki and other sources) about whales when tested by others.
This went over perfectly in the 30's chat room - people believed me and I stroke up chats about professional careers on several occasions. The fact that everyone there was mature and not extremely cynical helped. As people asked me questions about my "career" I started getting a feel of what kind of response they wanted to hear and I gave that to them which worked well.
On the other hand, the forum experience was terrible. I tried to do the same thing and basically all the 12 year olds laughed at me. Nobody bothered to ask me questions or strike up a conversation with me - instantly there was nothing but disbelief. I tried to prove the existence of my fake career to them but the thread degenerated into a flame war. At the end I was angry enough (in character of course) that I started being mean to them, telling them that they will never become whale biologists and they should respect their elders. Though it sounded less cheesy when I said it...
Conclusions? You can be one person, but present several actual selves when surrounded by different media formats and a different audience. In my experience, the format has little to do with it (at least for chat vs. forums) while the age and mind set of the audience plays a huge role in how you act out the part.
4 comments:
Hi! Although I didn't do the same assignment, I found that the attributes you chose to present yourself was interesting. To me, it seems likely that the 10-15-year-old chatroom wouldn't believe you were a whale biologist yet the 30's chatroom would and I think it has to do with social association. You mentioned having ideas about what each chatroom would be like before even entering the space (the video game = 12-year-olds; the 30’s ICQ = older people). This is a form of social association. By associating yourself with a video game room you automatically acquire some initial stereotypes that could easily offset “self-description.” Then by claiming to be a biologist you might acquire more stereotypes (doctor, professional, established, researcher, etc.) Why would an established biologist enter a videogame chatroom? It is almost hypocritical! On the other hand, a Professional 30’s ICQ allows for similar stereotypical associations between the people in the chatroom and a whale biologist, therefore allowing your deception to be more efficient. You could also consider the “Sets, lights, props” self-presentation tactic because of the setting you placed yourself in and the type of grammar you used. Well-written post, it was fun to read!
First, I just want to say that I think it was a really great idea to pretend to be a whale biologist, and I’m not just saying that because I’m a huge Seinfeld fan. It was a really interesting take on the assignment and brought to light another common form on deception that occurs online.
One reason that the 12-15 year olds may not have been as receptive to the fact that you were presenting yourself as a whale biologist is because there aren’t any 12-15 year old whale biologists (that I know of). The space that you were in greatly limited your ability to deceive because your identity that you were managing did not coincide with the identity that had been defined by the users of that space. It’s very possible that they all just thought you were some “stupid kid” trying to play a dumb joke. I’m almost a little surprised that more people didn’t catch on in the 30’s room because of the Seinfeld reference, but this space allows for much greater deception because of the way it is designed. The 30’s room is designed in such a way that you can present yourself, or rather whatever “self” you choose to portray at that time. Overall I think you did a great job and that it was a really good idea to compare Internet deception in the two different settings.
I found your post very interesting and entertaining. When I first read that you planned to test your new identity with thirty-year olds and twelve-year olds, I immediately thought that the thirty-year olds would be less likely to believe you and take you seriously. I was obviously proved wrong.
It sounds like you did a great job with doing your research and making sure that you sounded believable as a “whale biologist.” It was interesting that you were able to behave more maturely in the professionals’ chat room because the other people in the chat room were courteous and pleasant; there may have been some behavioral confirmation in that you acted older because the people interacting with you expected you to be in your thirties. On the other hand, it seems that the twelve-year olds did not believe your fake identity because you chose to be in a chat room for preteens; you actually started acting more like a twelve-year old because of their behavior. You did a great job in capturing how different online environments can cause people’s behavior to change drastically.
Hey Aleksandr, I didn't do this assignment either, but I'm sure I would have had fun with it if I did. I agree with Mike-great idea to be a whale biologist. Seinfeld is too funny. In regards to the reactions you facd, I don't think it surprises me. If I was a twelve year old kid and I was in a chat room with a whale biologist, I think I would laugh at him too. Yet it is funny that you found yourself getting angry and chastising the children. It was almost as if you were twelve years old again, trying to defend yourself in front of all your friends. This is an interesting dynamic, as the environment and the people you interacted with affected your ability to deceive. You would think a group of twelve year olds are easier to deceive than thirty year olds; I guess not!
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