Online communities are real communities if you commit yourself to them. Second Life is as real as you make it. Blogs are as important as you make them. Whether you treat a blog as a bus stop or an every day hang out, some level of community building is taking place.

In second life we create avatars to ask as a mask. A mask's only task is not just to hide something, but to present something new to the world.

What is so cool about having a digital avatar? You can reportedly meet people online (which I have yet to immerse myself in because I have been so preoccupied with shopping for something I feel like me in) and either take them as they present themselves or play detective and find out how closely the person behind the avatar resembles real life.

For my own sanity, I have taken people as I've found them -- it doesn't really matter who these people are in real life. If we work this hard to create alter-selves, unearthing "the truth" feels irrelevant. Unless, of course, the person behind the avatar feels more important than the mask -- see previous post.

As an avatar or a human being, here I am.