I swear I let her win.

I like the idea of using Facebook as an online space for impression formation, since (unlike most online spaces) impression formation is its reason for existence. But until recently, there wasn't a good way to meet random Facebook denizens in such a way that you could form an impression of them at all--the general practice is to use Facebook as a search tool for people you've already met in real life. Now that Facebook has decided to let amateur and professional software developers add their own applications, it's full of new ways to encounter new people. I logged into the Games app and told it I wanted to play checkers, and within ten seconds I was chatting with my new friend CC from Oklahoma.

(Before I start, CC, if you're reading this, please don't feel used. It was a great game, and we both know I didn't let you win. But now I have to describe the impression you left. Steel yourself.)

I started off by explaining to CC that she was going to lose, because I was a professional checkers player. She replied with an "lol," but when I told her that I had spent several summers at "checkers camp" she asked "wait are you serious?" I thought answering with "yeah, you can't even wear plaid shirts, they have to be checkered" would clear that up, but it didn't, and eventually I had to tell her that I was indeed lying through my teeth. (Fingers? Keyboard?)

I try not to jump to conclusions about people, but so far my impression of CC was that she was the sort of person who thought it possible for professional checkers players to graduate from checkers camp because they remembered not to wear plaid. Not fantastic news for my impression of her. To spell it out, CC, I didn't think you were very smart. Actually, I thought you were a little gullible, which led me to assume that you weren't very smart, and that's couching it in nice language. When I thought about it later, this pointed straight at the Hyperpersonal Theory and its over-attribution process. Of course, at the time, if you'd asked me if I was over-attributing, I think I would have claimed that my impression was completely logical.

But within about twenty moves, CC was legitimately destroying me at checkers. She had two kings already to my one, and my four remaining pieces were huddled in a pathetic diamond in the corner while her six non-kings were scattered across the board like a pack of hyenas moving in for the kill. Does that sound melodramatic? Well, it was a big emotional blow--my idiot opponent was embarrassing me in a pretty major way. At that point I tried to open a new window in Internet Explorer and the whole program crashed, so I sent her a message: "Sorry, my computer crashed. You were totally winning though. Guess the bravado fell though." Soon she responded with "You set yourself up for it. It's ironic, really." That was an interesting and well-phrased reply, in my opinion--not an answer I would have expected from Checkers Camp CC, who believed every ridiculous word I typed, but pretty typical coming from Checkers Champ CC, who was probably the best checkers player on all of Facebook. I had had to change my opinion pretty drastically over the course of maybe twenty minutes, because that opinion was based on a high-intensity interpretation of the the only attribute of CC that I had seen.

And by the way, Blue-rade, before you post your comment about how my current opinion of CC's checkers ability may be over-attributed as well just because she bested me once, you should know that I'm pretty good at checkers myself. I'm a professional.