Ebay and performance

On ebay I am mandymerr with a feedback rating of 698. I have purple star beside my user ID to verify my standing (at a feedback rating of 1000 my star becomes red). I look like thousands of other ebay members. I am the average casual user not a “power seller” or a member with a store front. As I write this description of myself on ebay I am struck by the lingo that is ebay specific. I use these ebay specific words to show I am involved in the community. I am saying I have a role and I am performing in the ebay world.

In many ways on-line performance is much more liberating and freeing than the “real” world performances. In the virtual world one is not tied to their body. They are no one and everyone all at once. On ebay I can come across as a professional seller or as an aggressive loan shark demanding payment. I can be wheelin’ and dealin’ buyer looking for a good price. Actually, I can be all these at once. I can play many roles and I am able to sustain multiple roles because all transactions are private. I find that I am more forceful in my ebay life than I am in the real world. On ebay I am willing to pursue deadbeat bidders, where as I would not act in such a drastic manner in real life. The thing is I am anonymous and more importantly the communication is not face to face. I am more willing to be more extreme in my behavior because there are no (or very few) real life repercussions i.e. I can’t get beat up for bugging a non-paying bidder.

For me the real question about on-line performance becomes - are we allowed more freedom to be “ourselves” in the online world? If so then, is it the lack of physicality that creates this sense of freedom. It seems that someplace like ebay is more like the real world than other online environments, like Simms or Second Life . Ebay is tied to the real world in that the users are buying and selling real items with real money. It is a place for some people to make a living or get cheap goods. It is more real because it has direct consequences for users in their actual life.