< Piro >
"nyo."
Saturday - September 2, 2000
[Piro] - 15:47:00 - [link here]
Before I start, a quick note of thanks. sempai.org, where megatokyoand fredart are hosted, has been hammered recently because of us, and just I wanted to say a big "thanks!" to Kevin and crew, and please don't strangle us. ^^;;)
I am totally blasted this weekend. I feel like several people have been beating on me with long cardboard tubes and large rocks. It's Saturday morning, and I am so very glad that I don't have a webcam anymore. The visage in the mirror is really scary.
Even if my webcam was still up, I suppose I could turn it off. That's the nice thing about the net. As much your privacy is gaffed on the net, you still have some control over your 'presence' - at least if youhave a little creativity. At a base level, one of the first things you get control is the selection of your nickname, or 'nick'
It's amazing how much time and effort we spend on nicks. Protecting it, nurturing it - people get reallypissed if they loose a nick on IRC. In this computerized world, a nick is almost as important if not more than your real name. With some people it's obvious where the nick came from - the name of a favorite character, a play on your real name, a revolting description of some bodily function, or just simply something that sounds fuming cool. But if nothing else, it says something about yourself. It's a way of adding some personal representation to yourself in what is still a pretty much text-based world.
You hear a lot of things about people hiding behind nicks, pretending to be someone else, etc. Yes, thisdoes happen - and a lot of people maintain a very 'fake' presence on the web, but for the most part, no matter how much you try not to, your personality is there, like it or not. And for those who are pretending to be someone else? Jeeze, doesn't THAT say somethin about them as well? :P
Oddly enough, in dating sims and visual novels, you often have to enter your name (usually this will be in Japanese) - and for the most part, people will use their real names. For games like Quake, people will use nicks much like they do on the net. Gal-games really are a single-player kind of thing, and I suppose there is something more personal about the interaction. A good reality check is if you start using your nick when you play dating sims. If that happens, it is wise to seek medical attention.
Oh, and the picture? Isn't Makoto-chan CUTE?^_^ Of course, she's a rather dangerous character in 'Kanon' (one of my favorite gal games). Isn't her kitty cute too? I'll let you guess the kitty's name...