Gameology: Commentary and Resources for the Game Studies Community

[Although the article you quoted, Toby, mentions games alongside virtual worlds, there's no indication that gamespaces are what the project has in mind. Given disparate and proprietary game mechanics, as hinted by Chris...have you ever tried to "port" a D&D2 character (not to mention all the equipment, spells, and other accoutrements) to, say, Cyberpunk 2020? *shudder*]

Sticking to "virtual worlds" per se, though, my question is this: do these efforts perhaps portend the unification of the online identity? One of the things that was implicit in early SF visions of a visualized netspace is a singular identity. That is, although a user could design and perhaps alter or even disguise their avatar, they only every had/used one; at some level "you" were a singularity to the network no matter when or where you logged / jacked in. (See stories like "Burning Chrome," _Neuromancer_, or -- especially -- _Snow Crash_ for examples.)

The article used the term "digital double" to describe the Second Life-type avatar. Such a term itself carries implications about an already-unified identity (not that we necessarily expect an average journalist to be up on the issues we're discussing here). However, such a thing might be really useful for, say, online shopping in virtual worlds; a single identity can also carry your actual identity and monetary information. But I can see a day (though I don't know how it would come about) where these developments erase the possibilities of anonymity and multiple personas that we currently enjoy online.

Or am I just a paranoid, post-9/11, New-Economy American?