Topic 2: Reflection.
After interesting discussions with colleagues on the topic there is much more to your online identity than just knowing how to be anonymous appropriately. My initial curiosity on the topic was sparked when I read Aumar’s blog where he talked about online gaming and security. The internet has brought a lot of opportunities for people to commercialise their personal brand and in gaming it is not an exception. Aumar made a point on how the threat towards the security of these gamer’s streams only became a problem when money was introduced (in reply to my comment). Money hadn’t cross my mind when it came to hacking internet celebrities and I have no doubts now that it is an important factor. Hackers don’t just target the famous because they’re famous.
Andy’s comment on my blog sparked another interesting point on the benefits of being anonymous in online gaming. For both of us it created a platform to experiment and build our real life persona by learning from our online persona. What we do online can have major effects (both positive and negative) brought forward to the real world and for many of us it easy to take this for granted.
Calum’s reply to my comment shed some light into the intricacies of being a musician the modern online world. He emphasizes that effective audience retention is the key to success as a musician. And although having a distinguishable online identity is one of the best ways to do so, Calum doesn’t dismiss having multiple “sub-identities” can help when appropriate. This point ties up well on my thoughts about having multiple or single online identity and that is there is no single best way to behaving online (as it always is) but the key is to learn and adapt.
References:
Aumar’s blog – http://aumarm.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/help-ive-stolen-someones-online-identity/
My comment on Aumar’s blog – http://aumarm.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/help-ive-stolen-someones-online-identity/comment-page-1/#comment-2
Aumar’s reply to my comment – http://aumarm.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/help-ive-stolen-someones-online-identity/comment-page-1/#comment-3
How much do Pro Gamers make streaming? – http://progamerhub.com/streaming-money/
Inside the strange and seedy world where hackers trade celebrity nudes – http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/4/6106363/celebgate-fappening-naked-nude-celebrities-hack-hackers-trade
Andy’s comment on my blog – http://dinj18hoursaway.wordpress.com/2014/10/26/anonymity-one-of-the-most-powerful-inventions/comment-page-1/#comment-4
Are There Benefits in Playing Video Games? – http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/media-spotlight/201402/are-there-benefits-in-playing-video-games
My comment on Calum’s blog – http://mistmanx.wordpress.com/2014/10/26/identity-crisis-how-many-online-identities-should-you-have/#comment-30
Calum’s reply to my comment – http://mistmanx.wordpress.com/2014/10/26/identity-crisis-how-many-online-identities-should-you-have/#comment-31