Identity shaping through technology

For those curious about my latest experimentations, here’s an exceprt from Media Magic, the book I’m currently writing.The potential of the internet and video games is the potential to assume a new identity, and use it to reshape your physical identity as well. The use of skill sets for virtual characters is one manner in which identity is shaped. Depending on the skills a person chooses s/he will thrive in certain situations and in other situations will not do as well. The act of playing the character involves learning conventions and social roles that occur in the virtual world, and involve the formation of a social practice used by the player to interact with other people in the virtual world, via his/her virtual identity (Gee 2003). The skills give each virtual character abilities, but also a back story. The back story is how that character got those skills and why. Sometimes that story in the course of a game, but sometimes it is left up to the player’s imagination. Consequently this shapes not only the person’s concept of the character’s identity, but also his/her own identity. Gee argues that video games encourage reflection on what identity is and presents a model for a tripartite identity, which is a formation of the identity of the player, the identity of the character, and the projective identity, which involves both the projection of one’s own sense of values onto a character, and also the sense of the character being an ongoing projection or creation of the player (2003).

The projective identity is of particular interest here, as Gee illustrates in the following passage, “In my projective identity I worry about sort of ‘person’ I want her to be, what type of history I want her to have had by the time I am done playing the game. I want this person and history to reflect my values, though I have to think reflectively and critically about them…but this person and history also reflect what I have learned from playing the game and being Bead Bead in the land of Arcanum” (Gee 2003, p. 56). On one end there is the projection of the values of the player and how those values shape and are shaped by the virtual identity of the character. But on the other end, there is also the effect that playing a virtual character has on the identity of the player. It is not just the virtual character who learns skills, but also the player, and indeed the player is also able to “safely” explore behaviors that s/he might never indulge in, in real life. At least that is, until after the player has played the game and allowed the play to imprint on his/her psyche.

Whether a player realizes it or not, his/her identity is impacted by playing the virtual character. The very fact that a person feeds energy into the creation of the virtual identity and also the various activities the virtual character opens a two way link between the player and the character. That link allows the player to not just program the character, but be programmed by the character as well. Invocation of a video game godform is an obvious example of this two way interaction, as is the videogame sigil magic I discussed in Pop Culture Magick. The advantage of video games, when it comes to working with identity, is that the virtual world(s) are active world(s) that have their own rules and demand interaction: “Once the player has made some choices about the virtual character, the virtual character is now developed in a way that sets certain parameters about what the player can do. The virtual character redounds back on the player and affects his or her future actions” (Gee 2003, p. 58). And those future actions aren’t limited to the virtual world, but can easily extend into the real world.

To fully understand why this is, I turn to Lisiewski’s concept of the subjective synthesis. The subjective synthesis is a conscious understanding of the various theoretical elements that comprise a magical act, and the integration of this understanding into the subconscious, so that a person is fully focused and psychologically undivided in his/her workings (Lisiewski 2004). Basically if the subconscious is organized around a set of principles that involve the utilization of magic and it works through those principles the magic will work. The subjective synthesis can be applied to more than magic, and indeed plays a role in identity, and yet while it has much potential to offer the subjective synthesis is incredibly limiting as well in the sense that it is subjective and buying too much into an established set of rules on how to do magic can negate potential creativity and innovation.

My interest in the subjective synthesis is in regards to how it can be used for identity work. Lisiewski notes, “Its first and foremost requirement is the conscious acquisition and acceptance of the beliefs held by the Practitioner. Further, this acquisition…and acceptance as part of the process can literally be used by the Practitioner to purposely design his or her own desired systems of beliefs. This is done through a conscious understanding and full acceptance of the conditions behind the ritual” (2004, p.83). Of course, we needn’t limit this to rituals. The subjective synthesis can also be a conscious understanding and integration of desired identities and the tools used to assume those identities. The virtual world is one such tool and involves a conscious integration and understanding of how to play a character and assume that character’s identity. But as the game is continually played, the choices made, the identity molded and shaped, the subjective synthesis of identity comes into play so that subconsciously the virtual identity inserts itself into the player’s identity and merges, creating multiple avenues of potential aspects or new identities. In other words, a person is changed constantly by his/her interactions and a conscious awareness of this change can allow for an integration of a subjective synthesis that is helpful as opposed to harmful.

The best way to illustrate this is to think upon your own life and specifically the actions you have done that have sabotaged situations for you. Inevitably a person will sabotage hirself, when s/he isn’t fully aware of how s/he has integrated certain aspects or attributes from prior experiences. The reactions a person can indulge are usually reactions to a past situation, as opposed to a present situation. Something in the present situation reminds a person on a subconscious level of how to act and s/he draws on that behavior to deal with the situation, even when the action isn’t warranted or appropriate to the situation. And those situations can happen virtually. The question then is how to become consciously aware of the aspecting/invocation of identity and how it affects the prime identity of a person.

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