thoughts on possessing barbie

I've managed to read several of the readings over the weekend, and here is my thoughts on the "possessing barbie" article. Although I manage to read them during the weekend, I had to come over to Uni and spend time using the computers in the labs since I don't have internet connection at home yet.

Anyways, this article mirrors my thoughts and confusions alot. Is it real or is it just a game? I have actually never been a part of any virtual community other than the my conducts on msn messenger. However, using something as simple as msn messenger, makes me wonder what is real and what is not anymore. The fact that I am dealing with real people on the other end is comforting, and yet i find that I am always on my guard if i am talking to people whom I dont know in person. In my msn private conversation box, there's always more than 6 of us around online chatting in the same window. Sometimes, friends are allowed to invite their friends over for a chat, but not knowing who they are in person makes me nervous sometimes.

However, I sometimes log in to yahoo messenger online chat rooms and hang around annonymous and pretend to be a virtual being. The stuff that goes on in a chat room is amazing and more than once, i have to remind myself that this is not real life, and people don't mean what they are saying to each other most of the time. However, hours after i log out, my thought would drift over to the conversations and events that happened in the chatroom, and would think to myself "I can't believe it?"

Possessing barbie is all about being virtual and selfless while being connected mentally and with words. The conversations become real after a while. People get to know each other, after a while, virtual becomes real in a more imaginative way and sometimes we get real reactions. I find this amazing. I guess what counts here is the level of involvement , how serious a person is and how much trust there is between people to accept them as their virtual selves.

Anyways, will post more on the other readings later.
cheers