One that took part in the virtual community, the struggles of Perfect World
“Personhood” is defined as the quality or condition of being an individual person (Google). Boellstorff ties in one’s identity in the virtual world with that of the actual self, explaining how some players view their actions online as having an effect in the real world. Although some actions and traits aren’t clearly shown, the sense of role-play is at hand — you play a fixed persona that you feel others would either hate or admire, leaving bits and pieces out.
How Boellstorff describes Second Life (excluding content creation) is how I viewed my experiences in an old MMORPG I used to play — Perfect World. Within this virtual community, your player (avatar) can be chosen out of several classes, including different race (human, barbarians, etc.) and you are can progress and communicate like any other game. The downside to online communities like this one is that most people hide behind “masks” that hinder the sense of one’s gender and identity. Your screen name only determines what account you are on and what relationships are tied to that “person”, though alts and “characters” (bots) can be created which may confuse players. As one of this community, your online presence is much different than in real.
