Chic at Ebbe's Place

Virtual relationships have been on my mind of late. With the opening of High Fidelity on the horizon and the possibilities of better communication tools within the software, I ponder over where the changes will lead. Friendships, romance, lust and love are all likely to take a turn as the pixel world comes closer to the carbon based one.

We know that lasting relationships are made within our virtual landscapes; I have several friends who have been living combined partnership lives for many years. A few have even joined households across the miles to live together on land as well as on the computer. They still however meet in the virtual world as they need the avatar connection for balance.

It is easy to slip from a virtual to real life relationship. IMs turn to emails, voice chat turns to phone calls. And there you are; reality within the virtual.

I remember my mother telling me that you couldn't go back once you had "slept with a boy" (we were all so politically correct back then). That insight was incorrect; I know that now -- or perhaps we have simply evolved a bit. Still, it seems more difficult to put ourselves back into virtual only mode after we have shared a more complex relationship in the two different worlds.

Pixel pairings don't always last. They are one step removed from the start and come with built in disguises. Just like corporeal affairs, computer counterparts take time to unfold.  Who is behind the keyboard? Who is under the skin?

We ARE the same people in both places. We may look different, we may even have a different backstory, but our intrinsic components are the same. Things like integrity, trustfulness and mores don't change. The new virtual world enhancements will likely speed that unveiling.

So where does this leave us with the changes in virtual on the horizon? I suspect the dividing lines will blur even more. It may be difficult to find our footing. It may be even harder to differentiate between what is real and what is imagined.

If it feels real; it is real.