Photograper Robbie Cooper shows us all just how focused young gamers can be while playing with actual clips of kids of various ages while they're playing games. Watch all the triumph, the anxiety, the joy of the kill, and a little girl with no emotion. Catch all the different faces in the video.

 

This is the second part of QJ.NET's Alter Ego interview (you can read the first part here). We had to split it, because there were two people answering our questions about this concept book / art project / MMORPG documentary. That meant twice the fascinating details and twice the thought-provoking answers.

So here are Robbie Cooper (project originator and photographer) and Tracy Spaight (project writer / researcher) of Alter Ego: Avatars and Their Creators as they tell us more about their journey to create this book.

   

Here's a sneak peek (click on the Full Article link below to read the full interview):

Tracy Spaight: In his "Song of Myself," Walt Whitman penned the wonderful verse "I am large, I contain multitudes." The same could be said for the gaming community.

Tracy Spaight: In Asia, few people were willing to talk candidly about what their avatar meant to them, or to discuss what they found so compelling about life in virtual worlds. Many didn't want to be photographed because they feared their parents, teachers, or colleagues would see them and disapprove.

Click on the Full Article link below to read the full interview. And to all gamers, you princes and paupers, you superheroes and spaghetti monsters, look for Alter Ego: Avatars and Their Creators in bookstores - and museums - near you. For more information, go to www.alteregobook.com.



Buy: [Alter Ego: Avatars and their Creators]

 

What is Alter Ego? MTV, CNN, The New York Times, and various MMORPG sites have introduced us to the concept: Alter Ego is an intriguing concept book presenting the phenomenon of the contemporary avatar - the virtual characters we gamers create to play online.

In Alter Ego: Avatars and Their Creators, you see pictures of gamers from all over the world (including leading figures in the gaming world) alongside their avatars. Add to that a short and interesting biography, and you have a visual testimony of who and what we are as gamers.

Now QJ.NET takes a closer look at the book: from its successful launch and its reception, and going back to its creative roots. We also get a glimpse into the minds and visions of Robbie Cooper (the project originator and photographer) and Tracy Spaight (the project writer / researcher).

Here's a sneak peek (click on the Full Article link below to read the full interview):

Tracy Spaight: The images and stories that make up Alter Ego are easy for people to relate to, even if they've never logged into Second Life or EverQuest. They speak to the modern condition.

Robbie Cooper: I met one person online, for example, who told me she played these games because she had been facially disfigured in car crash. She refused to be photographed. I bet there are thousands of more stories out there that we never came across.

"I used to be a satanic priest,
but then I got a girlfriend."

Read the full interview by clicking on the Full Article link below. There's also a second part because this interview is extra-long: go to QJ.NET interview- Alter Ego: Avatars and Their Creators (Part 2).


Buy: [Alter Ego: Avatars and their Creators]