As a synchronous environment, MOO allows for, and even encourages, identity negotiation as has been documented by Sherry Turkle, Amy Bruckman, and Lynn Cherny. In addition to constructing a persona through one's written speech, a MOOer can constantly change name, gender, description, and environment. Everything in the MOO, including ourselves, can be rewritten. My presentation explores the connections and disjunctions between physical identity and MOO identity. As I maintain "connectivity" with on-campus and on-line colleagues, I find my persona shifting according to medium; I become more playful in a MOO whether I am interacting with colleagues, students, or strangers, but this playfulness did not occur until I felt at home in the MOO--until I built my own environment, an environment I no longer use. My presentation briefly examines and theorizes MOO identity among students and colleagues and solicits audience participation.

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