He simply wanted to “record something.” “A stereotype is oversimplified,” Cooper noted, “ just wanted to get some real human complexity.” Alter Ego strips away that safety net, revealing the person behind the avatar.Īt the beginning of the project, Cooper insisted that he had no goal or message in the exploration of virtual identities. One example is the portrait of the gold famer. On one page, there is a man from China who judging from his photograph, does not go outside too often. He is a power-leveler and is photographed standing on a desk in a bleached room full of computers with dark circles under his eyes, smoking a cigarette. People might condemn these practices, but the engaging first person bio from Spaight shows that this is his life. He plays 70 hours a week and described himself as a “personal fitness trainer for your avatar”. On the previous page are two female Chinese students who were drawn to World of Warcraft by its artistry. They look nothing like the classic caricature of a gamer – they are women after all – but give the most classic reason for their online adventures: “Online, there’s a barrier between you and that other person.” Their story is a common one and again makes the reader question his preconceptions of what a game truly looks like. Spaight actually went so far as to cast the book as the human face of demographics. Statistics show that half of online gamers are women, but that mathematical reality has never taken root in popular culture.

On message boards, in the games themselves and even in the mainstream media, it just seems safe to assume that every gamer is a college aged male.

Male alter ego game online