[MD] Inorganic, organic, social, intellectual,.... virtual

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Krimel to Peter]
If you are looking for a real "second life" you might consider World 
of Warcraft.

[Arlo]
May I suggest Cenarion Circle server-world? There you will meet a 
helpful and kind shaman named Aenea (named after the heroine in Dan 
Simmons Hyperion quadrilogy), who has attained the highest level 
currently possible in her world, and who is now eying the depths of 
Serpentshrine Cavern.

There are many papers examining "identity" and the ideas of 
representational avatars for various identity constructions. Even way 
back before MMORPGs, researchers were looking at MUDs and MOOs as 
areas which problematized the notion of "one body, one identity". 
Indeed, the notion of "identity" itself is fairly problematic, since 
even "IRL" we assume sometimes largely different identity roles. 
Which is "us"? One? All? Is there "one core identity" that rules them 
all? Sherrie Turkle's (now "ancient" by web standards) piece in Wired 
"Who am we?" (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.01/turkle.html) 
was one of the first popular pieces to consider that "identity 
construction" is both a socially negotiated process and a plurality 
of personae none of which could be said to be "any more real" than any other.

By the way, if you missed it here is a funny clip from The Office 
(US) where Dwight talks about his foray into Second Life 
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3d_fqDcN1s).