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Question

Discuss how one’s morality, behavior and personality may be influenced by adoption of a
cyber-ego in a Virtual Environment; in respect to both the person adopting the cyber-ego
and any observers/participants within the same VE.

When one is in a virtual environment for long, one soon becomes convinced that the cyber space
world is the real world which is the turning point in his life after which everything turns against
him. This virtual world that is mistaken to be the real world is a parallel world that one is in. the
presence of one in the virtual world that is non–existent leads one to fall in a state is
consciousness which is very different from the one in the real world. After this, one starts to
think differently, act in a way one has never acted before and a lot of other things that soon do
not make sense to him self either, but this is a fact that although one knows there is something
wrong, one can not help it. (Johnson 2003)

It becomes a part of one’s life and is difficult to get out of it. After being in a parallel universe
that is all made up, there is different stimuli that then change and guides our behaviors. It is a
journey which a lot of people find interesting. On their journey to no where, when they are
entering the virtual world, they take along the best ethics that their religion could teach them,
wonderful morals that they learnt from their parents since they were kids and the cultural ethics
that they grew in since they were kids; all that is with them when they are entering the virtual
world, but it is ironic that when they come out of it for something they are completely different.
(Pritchard 2000)

One is a completely different individual which some how loses all its values that were taught to
him or her during their life span and all the ethics and morals that they learned while they were
in school and all that goes deep down the drain. How the virtual world affects culture, values,
morals, ethics and perception of which people are and of what the world is, changes; is what will
be discussing through out this report. (Ess 2006)

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When one enters a virtual environment, it is a battle of what is real and what one has left behind.
This is where one’s cyber ego comes into picture. In addition, Cyber ego is primarily what a
person thinks of one self in a virtual environment. There is no doubt that there is a lot of artificial
intelligence involved in the so called virtual environment that one enters in, but there is a
problem of cyber ego that makes many individuals question themselves before entering an
environment as such. The moral values are lost and this is not only true but has been experienced
by many people who have made a mistake of entering a virtual environment. Talking to different
people, people that one is not aware of as ever even existing before they started talking in the
cyber world, it changes one’s attitude and the stimuli that one guided the person’s perception and
state of emotion; this all mutate and make the individual a different person, for all wrong
reasons. (Schultz 2005)

There are a lot of things that have an impact on our morals and ethics. For example, the more
time one spends on it, the more aggressive one gets. This aggressiveness can be because one can
no more differentiate between the real world that one lives in and the virtual world that one is in
most of the time of the day. This aggressiveness adds to the change in one’s attitude and hence
personality. (Ess 2006)

The changes in one’s attitude and personality all depends on how much one might be engrossed
in cyber ego. How much one would want oneself to be a part of the virtual environment and
adopt cyber ego is the question that will also answer how much a person changes and becomes a
truly different person that one was not. It is the difference of decisions that one makes that leads
one towards developing a cyber ego being unhealthy to an extent that it would drive the life long
morals and ethics out of the person and make one a totally different person. Having this said, it is
of utter concern of as to how the changes take place. Some claim that the fact that hours and
hours of the week are spent in front of the computer screens being in a world that is non existent.
Having a personality that is not the personality the person has in the real world, and faking that
personality to be the real one; if so is done for hours, every single day of the week for months or
even years, yes there will be a drastic change in what one believes and what one perceives.
(George 2003)

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This will soon be followed by the changes in the person’s emotions towards different things in
life, whether it is with family or friends or other loved ones. The emotions at times are not
stimulated, because the person is so engrossed with something and being completely some one
else that it soon loses the charm of the stimulation that it got from various stimuli from the
environment that stirred the person to either be someone or to achieve something in life. After all
this happening everyday there is no way one will not be stoic and indifferent to various activities
going around it. (Rosinski 2007)

Ever person has a threshold, to go beyond the threshold of a human being is par a normal
human’s limit. This threshold although does stop the person from being someone that the person
is not, but ultimately becomes so. In this journey of being some one, one is not in the virtual
world is cyber ego and creates a totally different person with a completely different personality
and lastly with distorted morals and ethics. (Francis 1996)

Up till now in the essay, the affect of cyber ego on people who adapt the virtual environment had
been discussed, but now the observer’s part of the thesis will be discussed. When a person adopts
and gets used to of being in the virtual environment, one has a very different personality inside
the virtual world. This personality and morals that one supposedly has is entirely and completely
different than that of the real world. While people are observing the same person through out,
they get a very different person outside the virtual world. Although if the same talk is held in the
cyber environment, the person is said to have morals, ethics and cultural values – almost all of
which go against the ones that the person has in the real world – people would not really know
the difference. The question that a lot of the people adapting such habits as to being a completely
and totally different person over the internet is said to be something that one should not be proud
of. Although research tells us that it is in their hands to choose to be who they want to be while
in the cyber environment. On the contrary, they can not be blamed to have a different personality
and morals. (Pritchard 2000)

Every person wants to be on the top of the world; having the perfect car, the perfect life, the
perfect family, the perfect job and who does not want to be a millionaire. If not this, a person
might portray one self to be something that one has always wanted to be in the real world. The
reason being it is that people can not be that person in reality; things are not as easy as they seem

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to be. Saying that one wants to be a surgeon, is not that easy, one has to have the spirit, the
ambition, the money to get in to a medical college, and a lot of other things too that come with it.
(Schultz 2005)

One can portray to be who ever one wants, with all the goodies of the world – only in the virtual
world. People start lying, adapt cyber ego, and become totally different individuals. There is no
reason why this fake personality would not affect the real world personality. Not only do the
observers and other users of the virtual environment notice some cues, well the other users are
doing the same too, hence they tend to pick up cues that way too, but the others out side this
made up world notice changes in the individual as well. One of the changes that are quite
prominent is aggressiveness. (George 2003)

The idea of having different personality and morals in the virtual environment is for them to get
internal happiness that they might not be getting in the real world. The reason why the world that
people live in is so called the real world and the world that people adapt to and live in is so called
the virtual world, is because the so called real world is so different from the world that people
want to live in. The virtual world is all made up and completely fake and people get the easy way
out by pretending to have things they do not possess and being some one they are not. They wish
to see themselves as being worthy of such happiness and success. And regardless of the fact that
they succeed in real life in it or not, in the virtual world they are successful. This gives them
internal happiness and strength, on one hand it pushes them to spend more time in the virtual
environment and portray them to be successful and on the other hand, they become more stable,
emotionally. (Rosinski 2007)

An individual is completely different which some how makes one lose all its values that were
taught to him or her during their life span and all the ethics and morals that they learned while
they were in school and all that goes deep down the drain. How the virtual world affects our
culture, values, morals, ethics and perception of which we are is important to understand.
(Francis 1996)

People in the virtual environment and outside it are great observers, they pick up cues better
when they them selves are involved in the same activities, hence observing the same person

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through out the time that they have been in touch, and they get a very different person outside the
virtual world. Although if the same talk is held in the cyber environment, the person is said to
have morals, ethics and cultural values – almost all of which go against the ones that the person
has in the real world – people would not really know the difference. The question that a lot of the
people adapting such habits as to being a completely and totally different person over the internet
is said to be something that one should not be proud of. Although research tells us that it is in
their hands to choose to be who they want to be while in the cyber environment. On the contrary,
they can not be blamed to have a different personality and morals. (Pritchard 2000)

After being in a parallel universe that is all made up by people in the virtual environment, there
is different stimuli that then change and guides behaviors of people adapting cyber ego in the
virtual environment. It is a journey which a lot of people find interesting and the reasons of as to
why they might find it interesting have been discussed above. (Brown 2006)

On their journey to no where, when they are entering the virtual world, they take along the best
ethics that their religion could teach them, wonderful morals that they learnt from their parents
since they were kids and the cultural ethics that they grew in since they were kids; all that is with
them when they are entering the virtual world, but it is ironic that when they come out of it for
something they are completely different. (Schultz 2005)

To conclude what has been discussed earlier, we know that the adoption of cyber ego over the
internet and in the virtual environment has negative affects on personality, behavior, ethics,
morals and cultural values. There are various reasons of as to why people would want to adapt
this virtual environment and would want to be a part of it. The idea of having a different
personality and unusual morals in the virtual environment is for them to get internal happiness
that they might not be getting in the real world. Then the real world and the virtual worlds were
defined. The reason why the world that people live in is so called the real world and the world
that people adapt to and live in is so called the virtual world, is because the so called real world
is so different from the world that people want to live in. (George 2003)

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The virtual world is all made up and completely fake and people get the easy way out by
pretending to have things they do not possess and being some one they are not. They wish to see
themselves as being worthy of such happiness and success. (Brown 2006)

Regardless of the fact that they succeed in real life in it or not, in the virtual world they are
successful. This gives them internal happiness and strength. One can portray to be who ever one
wants, with all the goodies of the world – only in the virtual world. People start lying, adapt
cyber ego, and become totally different individuals. There is no reason why this fake personality
would not affect the real world personality. On one hand it pushes them to spend more time in
the virtual environment and portray them to be successful and on the other hand, they become
more stable, emotionally and mentally too. Although this adaptation of cyber ego has its negative
impacts on behavior and how one portrays one self to be, but it also affects the cultural values
that one beholds. The morals and ethics that are affected go with it too. (Johnson 2003)

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Reference List

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Technology; Information Science Publishing, [E-Book], available at:
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2008]

Brown, J. 2006, Virtual reality and its role in removing the barriers that turn cognitive
impairments into intellectual disability, Virtual Reality, [online], available at:
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De George, R. T. 2003, the Ethics of Information Technology and Business (Foundations of


Business Ethics), Wiley-Blackwell, [online], Available at:
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M1 [Accessed 8 June 2008]

Francis, F. 1996, Trust still counts in a virtual world, Forbes, New York, [online], Available at:
http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au:2048/pqdweb?
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Hongladaram, S & Ess, C. 2006, Information Technology Ethics: Cultural Perspectives, IGI
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2008]

Pritchard, D. 2000, Holding the Media Accountable: Citizens, Ethics, and the Law, Indiana
University Press, [online],

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Available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=sAJ3A7jVCVMC&rview=1 [Accessed 10 June
2008]

Rosinski, P. 2007, The Impact of the Internet on Our Moral Lives, Journal of Business and
Technical Communication 21, [online], Available at:
http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au:2048/pqdweb?
index=3&did=1185781051&SrchMode=1&sid=7&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT
=309&VName=PQD&TS=1214182221&clientId=20901 [accessed 18 June 2008]

Schultz R. A. 2005, Contemporary Issues in Ethics and Information Technology, IRM Press,
[online], Available at: http://books.google.com/books?
id=FSP72JKW0PoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=ethics+information+technology&as_brr=3&
rview=1&sig=wob8QAxbw7Z2zS6TSXFW7G1a23g#PPP1,M1 [Accessed date: 11 June
2008]

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