Robbie Cooper, for those who have not crossed paths with the globe-trotting London photojournalist at fan faires, guild meets, or conferences, is the Walker Evans of online gaming. His lush, perceptive side-by-side portraits of MMO players and their avatars have already contributed several thousand words' worth of understanding to our emerging picture of life online, but he's not stopping there: The newly launched AlterEgo.net steps Cooper's project up a notch or two to include professional gamers, LAN partiers, and console players -- and is now soliciting stories of online identity, community, and enterprise for a forthcoming book. Tell your friends and guildies to drop on by and post, and by all means check the site out yourself. Cooper's photos alone already merit the attention, and the more he learns, the richer they'll get.
Meanwhile, back here at the deep-thoughts farm: What can images tell us about online social and psychological experience? What can't they tell us? How do pictures complicate the text-centric discusssion of online identity surrounding CmdrTaco's late violation?
And so on.
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