Essay 32 - Virtual Worlds and the Ring of Gyges

There is a segment in Plato’s Republic in which a shepherd (named Gyges) finds a golden ring that makes him invisible when he wears it. It is used to explore a question of morality – if others cannot see you doing something immoral will you go ahead and do it? If this sounds vaguely familiar it is very similar to what happened in the Lord of The Rings where an invisibility ring robbed Gollum of his humanity. It is also mirrored in a quote from H.L. Mencken who said, “conscience is that voice in your head that says somebody may be watching”.

In a virtual world you are invisible. You sit at your computer while your avatar represents you. Unless you have revealed some real-life details, there is no way somebody can connect you and your avatar. This leads to some horrendous behavior on the part of people who are angry and vindictive or starved for attention. Even some otherwise normal people find themselves going too far under the cloak of invisibility.

This problem is not limited to virtual worlds. If you move to a new town far away from those who know you, you might try out a new persona and, along the way, you might find yourself trying out things you had not planned on. This happens when college kids who go away to college, reinvent themselves under pressure of the new social setting, and then return for winter break to horrify their parents.

The cloak of invisibility or even qualified invisibility is very useful for exploring alternative identities. However, you must keep in mind that your goal is to discover more about your true identity. It is not to discover how truly horrible you can be. Just try to keep it under control. Everybody will be better off for the restraint.

This essay is 313 words long and the audio is about 2 1/2 minutes.