Cybertyping and Identity tourism

Cybertyping is basically stereotyping but in cyberspace. So, we can take the definition of stereotype, which is simply a negative view of a person/individual or group who share certain characteristics or qualities. They are more or less assumptions based on other assumptions that in turn, create and take on a vicious cycle of negativity. Nakamura describes that cybertypes are the images that arise when the fears, anxieties, and desires of privileged Western users are scripted into a textural/graphical environment that is in constant flux and revision (Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet, 2002).

Identity tourism is using another identity when on the web. This can be a different gender or race, other than your own. People do this when either playing video games, or on the Internet itself, generally speaking. This is looked at as "touring" other identities based on general stereotypes we might encounter daily based on our race or gender. If done the right way and consciously, identity tourism can help debunk these stereotypes and could potentially expand the boundaries of online community. Identity tourism allows us the freedom to play out of character, it suggests mobility within space for the purposes of curiosity, pleasure, or experience.

Their is plenty of cybertyping occurring in Streetfighter 2. Obviously they fighters to choose from are based of their country, so in fact they would create a character to symbolize the typical stereotype. The character from India's name is Dhalsim who wears skulls around his neck, can shoot fire, and expand his limbs, which emulates the characteristics we believe to be true of their culture and their beliefs. As well as the big dude from the USSR, and the black dude from USA with his boxing gloves and funky hairdo. The creators obviously make them to be the most stereotypical that viewers/gamers can relate to. The types of identity tourism that occur is simply the way you play the character. Depending on which character you choose, the way you fight and what buttons or moves you use is dependent on that.






Nakamura, Lisa. Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet. New York Routledge, 2002. Print.

Nakamura, Lisa (2007). Race In/For Cyberspace. In D. Bell and B. M. Kennedy (Ed.), The Cybercultures Reader (2nd Ed.). London and New York: Routeledge. Print.