On the internet nobody knows you're a dog. So goes the old adage. The thing is, it doesn't matter. What sets apart online activity from everyday activity is that if you do nothing you might as well not be there. You're not even a part of the scenery, effectively you are absent. It is by your actions that you're recognised and lurkers don't really count for an awful lot.
The internet is a meritocracy: actions draw attention. It's not necessarily clear what actions will have what consequences, and in the case of things that go viral it can be baffling, but internet celebrity is unfailingly driven by action, whether it be running a conference, pretending to be a Jedi in front of a movie camera, or contributing considered thoughts to something like the Microformats community. And so what if you're a dog, or a cat? Fame could still fall at your feet. Go on, tell me you don't know Ceiling Cat.
In my larping life I am a dog*. Well, sort of, I'm actually a beastkin:
Believed by some to be the closest kin of Humans. Beastkin are intelligent animaloid creatures who draw their ancestry from many of the wild animals of Erdreja. Commonly tribal in nature, and intensely close knit, these differing races are also incredibly diverse.
And there's something similar going on there. It's the actions that matter, not what costume you're wearing or what race you're from. Players take on characters but the game works because there's collaboration, teamwork, leaders and followers. We're not rocking the world, we go home and forget about it at the weekend, but we play alongside people whose names we might not learn for years. In the same way you might not know the real name of somebody online, it's largely irrelevant because you are judged entirely on your actions.
My little beastie just got made vaguely important as a conduit between her faction and the Healer's guild. In terms of moving and shaking the world it's no big deal, but then neither is having the top rated Youtube video for half an hour - still makes the creator mildly proud.
It's interesting to note how being anonymous isn't necessarily a barrier to make social bonds and being promoted by your peers. Game worlds, online, and real life. How different are they, really?
*No I am not a furry.
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