The reading about Alter Egos: Avatars and Their Creators really made me think about how people represent themselves in virtual worlds. In fact, these games are similar to life itself in some aspects. As Julian Dibbell states, "We fall in love there. We lust for power and wealth..We say they're only games, these little worlds, but often we end up devoting more time to them than to any other realm of our existence, until it starts to make less sense to think of our avatars as fictional characters than as second selves." Many times people will create an avatar completely unlike themselves to escape reality. When making their avatars, they consider what kind of person they dream of being and how they want others to judge them. Some people have severe physical disabilities and enjoy playing as an avatar because they can do things that they couldn't normally do in their own life. And some people are unhappy about who they are and are embarrassed about their hobbies and interests. Avatars can help a person express who they are, who they want to be, or who they are not.