lindalove

Have you ever pretended to be someone you're not on-line?

You can be whoever you want on the internet. A woman could pretend to be man to maybe see things from a males point of view or vice versa. A woman could pretend she is living an outlandish lifestyle that others envy etc. If you could be someone else on the internet who would you be? I'm not meaning a celebrity, I'm meaning who would be as far as, lets say, in real life you're a nice housewife with kids. A good home family, etc, but for one day you chose to be as a porn star with really big boobies. Who would you be, what would be your lifestyle etc, has to be something totally different than what you are in real life?

Jimellow

To answer the first question.. No, I have never pretended to be someone I'm not.

I once was tempted to create a MySpace or online dating account as a totally fictional person, but ultimately decided it would be cruel to those that would potentially show interest.

Regarding the second part of the question, I am not sure what I would want to be. I am not sure I would desire a lifestyle totally different than my current one, as I am making an effort to create and enjoy the life I am in the process of creating.

I guess it would be interesting to experience my life if I had dropped out of high school, broken off ties with my family badly, and resorted to a life on the streets. But ultimately, this would just serve as some perspective and contrast to the life I am currently working at constructing.

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Ample

I had a "internet friend" that is a 32 mother of two. But she portrays herself as a single 25yo. She says that it is escape from reality. She is able to be the person that life does not let her be. I guess it a form of medication from her life.

Personally, I know I am new here, but the internet is where nobody knows me, and gives me the chance to be whom I really am. I don’t tell people, in fact not many people in my life know how far to the left I stand politically, or that I am an atheist. The internet lets me vent my frustrations and feelings without the repercussions of someone looking over my shoulder.

AngelicVampire

My mum complains that I do, however in my opinion I don't. (Currently attempting to write a movie/anime script and am pursuing concept art at roughly £3500 or $6500 canadian. Mum thinks the companies will think I am a successful person already though I have never misrepresented my self in that regard).

Also I did once post as a woman on a feminist site since men seemed to be rather beaten down simply because of sex, making my point seemed worth making a slight misrepresentation to ensure I was read.

frogza

Once my brothers, a friend and I were at a restaurant, it was actually right after my grandmas funeral so we were all dressed in suits. I am the second shortest of the five of us and I am 6'5". There was a group of guys sitting near us and they were trying to figure out which basketball team we played for. As we were leaving I overheard one of them say "I'm gettting their autographs, then we can look them up online" We all signed for him. He asked us what it takes to play ball at our level, my brother looked at him and said "Lot's of practice, but really if you're not a natural don't even bother" We left before any of us started laughing.

That's as close as I have ever come to playing like I was someone else.

Gatorade Frost

I used to roleplay regularly online and sometimes I'd play pen and paper roleplaying, but not anymore.

I try to be as honest as I can online now since it doesn't really matter anymore (because woohoo - I'm 18, bitches)

I've got a kind of varied personality that seems to change quite a bit, so that could come across as me being some one I'm not, but I don't actively pretend to be some one else.

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I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
Emo Philips

robbdn

I have definitely pretended to be someone that I'm not... but I've never lied to anyone, if that makes any sense. Basically, I'll pretend I'm someone else, but if somebody ever calls me on it, or asks a specific question that I can't dodge, I just tell the truth... and oddly, this approach has never back-fired on me. So maybe I'm not really pretending...

anyway, my favorite story about this was when I was hanging out at a bar with one of my friends, who was amazingly drunk. He decided he was going to pretend to be the bouncer for awhile, and it was hilarious. Have you ever seen a seriously drunk (swaying) bouncer with a drink in his hand checking IDs? The funny part was that he didn't even have to ask for the IDs, he just stood in the right place and looked scary, and people just presented their IDs automatically like there wasn't even a question that he was a bouncer.

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raeanna74

I tried it couple times. I didn't do it ever again because I felt that the people I met when I was pretending to be someone else were either not worth my time or someone that I'd want to get to know and I didn't want to mislead.

I pretended to be a male business exec, a male construction worker, or a single female college student studying psychology. I chose things that I knew at least a little something about - business exec: I run my own business and I helped Dad run his for years - construction: I worked construction all the while I was growing up and now and then now even - College: I went, took several general psychology and several child psychology courses.

I created a different profile than the one I normally used in order to 'be' that person without repercussions. It was a useless endeavour and a waste of my time really. I'd rather role play in the bedroom.

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My Karma just ran over your Dogma.

stevie667

I once pretended to be the King of Switzerland, but that didn't go down to well as an excuse for why i was late for work.

Other than that, been so trashed i thought i was someone/something else, plenty of times. Don't think i've ever done it seriously though.

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Suave

When I was around 13 I went into chatrooms as a girl and screwed around with 18 year old guys.

Aside from that, no. I'm always, minus the pseudonyms and such, "me" on the Internet. I have no desire to be anyone else on the Internet either really.

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"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions." - Albert Einstein

"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." - Plato

spectre

You trying to tell us something?

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"Fuck these chains
No goddamn slave
I will be different" ~ Machine Head

Willravel

Stuff is crazy enough being Willravel or me to pretend to be someone else.

That being said, I have pretended to be more than a few people in morally questionable situations. I pretended to be Pierce Brosnan's son at a pary in NYC and got a whole bunch of phone numbers. I'vs pretended to be royalty more times than I care to remember to get into VIP sections in clubs (it can work if you bring friends with ear pieces). I've even impersonated a police officer in order to get a parking spot. This was all in my youth, mind you. Imitate the good things I do.....

blahblah454

I don't think I have ever pretended to be something/someone else. But I have been inspired by this thread and want to go get drunk with friends and make up completely false lives and just cause a ruckus somewhere. Hopefully some friends have some ear pieces that they can bring along for the night.

snowy

I used to go into chatrooms on AOL back in the days to pick out predators. It was always fun to mess with their heads, pretending to be something and someone I wasn't, at all.

I'd say that's about it though.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

politicophile

When I was very young, I used to go into chatrooms and pretend to be one year older than I actually was. I justified it to myself by noting that my birthday was only, say, ten months away. That's about the most dastardly misrepresentation of myself I have ever adopted.

In real life, several opportunities for misrepresentation have arisen. I've been mistaken for:

-a high school band director (when I was 17!)
-a security guard at a "theatre" in London (at 19)
-a hospital administrator (also at 17)
-a discount shoe store employee (at 20)

I've never really played along, though. If I got confused for someone with actual power, I'd probably play the game a bit differently, but I didn't see the point in helping a guy find a new pair of sneakers.

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The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

TexanAvenger

-I've been mistaken for my sister's father and played along for a while.
-Years ago on the city bus I pretended to only be able to converse in the French language.
-I've run along lies that I told in a desperate moment for attention or access to something for months or years. (Though not when it came to relationships.)
-I had the opportunity to become a Mr. Jake Carther care of a fake ID when I was 17. I never used the ID (nobody has yet cared to ask). However, I adopted the persona that I imagined him having in order to get noticed by people at parties or events.

Brewmaniac

This has given me a great idea, you guys pick a persona for me. Now remember i'm very laid back and not very creative. Why don't a few of us try a new board as the son or daughter of someone famous.

Who should, I be?

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"That's a joke... I say, that's a joke, son"

Cervantes

the ususal.. pretending to be a girl just to mess with friends in chatrooms.. hillarious but childish...

A quiet gross one, I got mistaken for my sisters fiance when we were in a jelwery to check out a ring for moms birthday.. Both of us in chorus: Eeeew... s/he's my sister/brother.. The cleric got all red.

Misreperesented myself.. hmm.. not really, I haven't felt the need to on the internet.. in real life it is a different matter. Few are the ones who know the real me...

Edit:
Brew - Try the son of Sean Connery, can you do a scottish accent?

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Marvelous Marv

All the time, when I have to enter personal information on a website, and I know it's going to result in spam.

I usually list my name and address as my former next-door neighbor, whom I don't like.

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maleficent

I have enoug problems being me -- I couldn't possibly be someone else at the same time.

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ngdawg

I always use androgynous nicknames online-I had a chatroom taking bets for a week as to what gender I was. (Helped that it was a car-based room and I'm not ignorant about cars).
The best was at a 'disco'-sitting at the bar, I started talking in a southern drawl to everyone. Finally, one guy I had been talking to said he loved my accent, what part of the south was I from? In my best southern belle, I replied, 'Oh, ah'm frum suthuhn New JAHRsey...Bo'dentown'.
I fooled many right here for two years-except most of the mods and two friends, everyone thought I was in my early 40's. I still get that all the time in real life. It's great to see jaws hit the floor and conversation stop cold when I reveal how OLD I am.

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la petite moi

I've been mistaken as French before at the airport, because I refused to speak English. (This was right after I got back into the States after living in France for three months.)

I've pretended to be older than I really was back when I was like 12. I would say I was like 16 or whatever...Yeah, kid stuff.

Also, usually, I have many different personalities. Each personality changes depending on the person I'm talking to. At work, I'm cheerful. At home, I'm typically depressed. And around my friends, I'm a mix of both.

streak_56

I was someone who I was not for most of my life. I did some horrible things to get what I want and I was never happy. Now, I feel that I am more myself than ever. I don't have to hide the part of me that just wants to have fun instead of being reserved. You only live for so long and you might as well have fun doing what you do best.

Pip

I often change my accent when I travel in Sweden, because Stockholmers are treated rather badly outside of Stockholm for some reason... So if I go to the south I fake a northen accent and if I go north I fake a southern, in order to sound like someone from a faraway place that's not Stockholm. But that's about it. I don't have the presence of mind to keep up a fake persona for long.