Originally Posted by E-Male

Thanks, Grunt.

It is interesting, this experience of the extension of the self into the virtual realm ('cyberspace') and reliving that experience through video records.

I wonder how many others have that sense of reliving the moments captured in thses videos not as 'there I am at my keyboard playing the game' so much as 'there I am IN that boat as these things happen around me.'

Not that we completely fool ourselves and loose ourselves, but that we extend ourselves in some fashion into the medium itself. Not sure he meant it this way, but brings to mind Marshall McLuhan's notion of media as an 'extension' of man.

Certainly, ego-investment and strong identification takes place between fantasy game players (such as WoW) and their characters. This, curiously enough, is an underdeveloped aspect of BF2 and many FPS games. No real opportunities to customize the details of the character within the game. On the other hand, we all have our real-world personalities projected via VOIP. It may be the case that the reliance on VOIP in BF2 makes our 'characters', such as 'E-Male' much less a fantasy role then a simply project of the player's personality. Would be interesting to study the way different types of online games allow for 'playing' with identity.

E-Male, Ph.D

What would Mcluhan think nowadays I wonder? He was really out there. Amazing stuff this communication revolution. I studied three or four of his books from the sixties. Your remark spurred me to google him for old times sake. I found a website run by his estate that offered the brief bio linked here: http://www.marshallmcluhan.com/gordon.html I forgot he was a fellow Canadian. I thought I'd post the link for some other TGers who may not have heard about this guy.

I always get excited to watch for myself on your clips. It does feel strange to identify as if I'm watching home movies. Hey, I'll admit that I like to see my name (cyber name) flash on screen. It's fun.

You are on the right track with voip I think. A human voice brings something to the gameplay that no computer could ever replicate. Each nuance of language or inflection of voice brings urgency to the equation and creates a truly immersive experience. I have no interest to play BF2 without voip, especially since I joined TG. I'd hazard a guess that this will continue and only expand in the future.

I had a Tiger Woods Golf game that allowed you to paste your own face onto a cyber character. It also allowed you to customize clothing of many sorts and varieties, hats, glasses, rings, tattoos, hair, nose, eyebrows, chin, biceps...etc you get the picture. That was a kick. $20 bucks usd would give you hours of fun if you wanted to check it out. I didn't ever paste my face in and I lost interest in the game because I couldn't figure out how to play online. Then I found TG and BF2 and now that game is a memory.

I always thought online golf would be fun at TG. Someone raised the issue a few months back but received a tepid response. A shame really. We have some unique characters at TG and I'd like to see dozens of home made cyber characters created by TGers...that'd be fun.