3 Me as Mr. Smoothtalker

I thought that option one would be fun to try, and I thought of it as a game—how long could I keep up my identity switch of being a 48 year old man from New York City. As one can see, I decided to name my persona “Smoothtalker” to try and fit in with the other males in the chatroom who had names such as, “hungdaddy,” “daddy4goodgirls,” and “georgeofthejungle.” I first entered the general chat-room saying my age/gender/location, and then I tried to hold true to my name, “Smoothtalker.” This entailed brainstorming different phrases my “ought-self” would say, including the following: “hello there ladies,” and “how are all of you fine ladies doing tonight?” I wasn’t receiving any responses, thus realizing that Smoothtalker’s persona was one of an obnoxious, aggressive man. This was the “actual-self,” which differed from my “ought-self.” My actual-self was obnoxious, but I didn’t realize it; I wanted my ought-self to be a nice man, who wasn’t aggressively sexual, and someone who just wanted some deep conversation—at least this is what I later conveyed to the ladies I started personal chats with. I attempted to start conversations with a couple of people, “NaughtyWife,” “Sleekbabe47,” and “Dana.” Surprisingly, the conversation that flowed the most was the one with “NaughtyWife” (judging by her name, I figured she would stop talking to me after I told her that “all I want is some conversation”).

I managed to keep up my “Smoothtalker” persona much better in the individual chat with NaughtyWife. Using selective self-presentation to keep up my persona, I made sure to keep repeating certain aspects of my “life” that I wanted NaughtyWife to comment on. I told her that I was new to New York City, and asked if she new of any good sights or had any advice for me; she seemed pretty responsive. I also repeated that I was unmarried, but didn’t want the crazy party life anymore, and I think that drew her in because I came off as an older man, looking to settle down (at least that was the ought-self I aimed to portray). By selectively sharing only some of my “Smoothtalker” self, I was able to choose and pick what I wanted to tell NaughtyWife, as I am sure she did the same with me. She kept mentioning the fact that she was married, and had children, and that she was just “looking for something on the side.” She came off as someone unhappy, un-loyal and just looking for some fun, from what she chose to tell me.

The chatroom, or synchronous space, definitely affected my presentation of “Smoothtalker.” For starters, it was obviously easier to disguise my age, gender, and location because it wasn’t a face to face interaction. Because it was CMC, NaughtyWife couldn’t see my physical traits (that I am really a 19 year old female). It was also easier to disguise my true characteristics because there are very few cues online—there are no facial expressions, movements, tone of voice, etc. therefore allowing me to hide my actual character and to act as “Smoothtalker.”