Avatars, characters, multiple identities: observations on dissociative processes
Hybrid January 1, 2022 Michel Nachez, Patrick Schmoll 2 citations
People in virtual worlds like Second Life form complex relationships with their avatars, simultaneously feeling identification and distance, truth and pretense. The genuine emotions experienced through avatars raise paradoxical questions about authenticity—players cannot pretend to feel unless they are pretending to pretend—and about who actually experiences those feelings, the avatar or the player. Shifting between identities challenges the consistency and continuity of the self. The analysis draws parallels between these virtual experiences and possession phenomena or out-of-body travel in traditional societies, informed by scientific literature on multiple identity and dissociation.