Joanne Drucker’s defines interface as “a boundary space” or “encounter between systems” (216). It can be explored further, as we discussed in Wednesday’s class, as a representation of the (un)real. This interpretation of “interface” causes us to read performativity and gender binaries through our interaction with interface both online and offline. This reading allows us to explore the idea that interface is a space where identities can be suspended, manipulated and constructed. With this definition and the idea of the representation of the (un)real in mind I want to explore the interface of government issued documentation and the computer game The Sims, which is currently making the forth edition. Lora’s case study of the “Gender Binary-ism Online, Representing the [un]Real” and example of the strictly male or female gender choice got me thinking about government issued documentation, such as a passport and driver’s license, as an interface or “boundary space” between the government and the person. The passport process particularly interests me because you need two previous government issued documents. The idea that your identity is constructed by various pieces of documentations or interfaces is interesting in regards to the construct of our personal identity. These documents are necessary representations of ourselves whenever we apply for schools, jobs, visas and so forth.
The other thing that came to mind, which relates more closely to our class discussion, the idea of performativity and online representations, is a computer game called The Sims. The virtual world of The Sims coincides with Ducker’s idea that online interfaces will become increasingly “the experience of being in the world” because it mimics “real life” (Drucker 219). If you’re unfamiliar with the game, basically you create character(s) and control their lives based on wants, needs, interactions, environment and so forth. The original The Sims game options (developed in 2000) were incredibly limited and basic. For example, the character traits were stereotypical (shy, neat, mean, active and so forth). However, over the last 14 years, various expansions and the three additional Sims games in the series has lead to the development of incredibly detailed portrays of “reality” or the representation of the [un]real.
Currently Sims 4 is in process of development and the promo video I posted below about the changes and upgrades in Sims 4 documents the extreme detail and “accurate” portrayal of the “realism” in Sims 4. The narrator describes the animation, reactions, gestures, movements, emotions, wants, needs and so forth as “more appropriate and realistic” (The Sims 4 – Careers, Emotions and Animations). For example, he states in the video that “when sims are feeling sad and upset they’re able to eat ice cream in the bathtub…and is more realistic” so that it “adds a different [and deeper] level of immersion into your actual sim character” (The Sims 4 – Careers, Emotions and Animations). The intense detail to human traits, reactions, gestures, emotions, desires and the acute specificity of the human condition allows the user to become completely immersed in the game; the interface is so smooth you can become completely immersed in what appears to be reality, but really, it’s just an amazing and addictive performative representation of reality.
Digital Humanities 9101 
Hey Ellen! This post was super enjoyable to read (especially as it is a response to my seminar) – also, that video! I love how he continues on this line of “realism” and the video ends with such unrealistic events (hilarious). Anyway! I think this really ties into my focus on digitized identity – especially in how there seems to be such a need to actualize a “real” representation of the self. Thinking critically about this, I agree that your example of The Sims really ties into the Representation of the [un]Real case study I proposed. This leads to a question: is there a forum in which our “reality” can be expressed online? Perhaps not – but the changes made from earlier versions of the Sims to this later version seems to express some drive towards true representation (a representation that is much truer than the 3 choices of skin-color the first Sims game allowed!) Now perhaps we must convince them to explore introducing genderqueer Sims… (always fight the good fight).
But to digress a little, perhaps there is no “realness” that can be expressed in digital media- or any media for that matter! Any offer of choice is really an offer of limitation (as, even if the Sims creators offered a spectrum of skin choices, they’d still be offering a prescribed and limited set of choices upon which you must fall). So to answer my earlier question (can the “real” be represented online?) – I think perhaps not – but considering the performative value of online experiences, and the constitutive value of these performatives, we must always strive towards a more complete model of the “real”. The juxtaposition you offer between the “passport” choices and the Sims choices is startling enough to make me believe that these “realistic” Sims portrayals might be necessary expressions of an identity constrained by the limitations of our real life documents.
I think that the question that underlies the discussion that both of you have engaged in so far is “what is the ‘real’? That definition seems to vary based on the pragmatism behind whatever paradigm we’re working within. Passports demand a kind of crude empiricism for the purpose of identification and security. While one may not self-identify as a woman, within the realm of government documents they’re considered “female” based perhaps on sexual organs or some other criterion; however, within the realm of The Sims, I might choose a female Sim to represent myself if I identify as such–or, any combination of male and female physical and aesthetic attributes to better express outwardly what I’m experiencing inwardly. Is there anything more or less real about these different representations? Are these examples different representations of something ‘real’ within varying conceptions of truth? Or is one necessarily closer to human ‘truth’ (whatever that means)?
In other words, does truth in identity exist outside the self, modulating between set guidelines based on different utilitarian purposes (for example, Lora’s “male or female” question for incoming University students is likely based on residence placement), or does that ‘truth’ exist uniquely within each of us, whereby we can then measure the accuracy of different web-forms, games, or applications against our own self-conceptions?