It's putting an identity out there for others to recognize

Note:  I originally posted this on Facebook.  I omitted the name.  It's an amusing albeit embarrassing anecdote.

x: Where did you get that?
Me: Get What?
x: That!
Me: What!?
x: That car!
Me: umm sweetie I don't drive. You mean my daughter's car?
x: No I mean THAT car [name's car].
Me: (confused) What?
x: You know [names car] from [game].
Me: Oh. That's a promo item for that game.

I alpha and beta test many games.  However, in all the years I've been testing this is definitely new.  Many people play to relax and escape the pressures of everyday life.  In some MMORPG's, you can travel.  You can visit real places.  For a while, I was a tour guide.  This was challenging.  To be honest, I greatly preferred the fantasy side over touring realistic sites.  For me, it's simpler to memorize a storyline with a plot than to learn basic facts about historic monuments.  I noticed it doesn't matter whether or not the players are in a real setting or a fantasy setting.  The fact is they become very attached to their role and their avatar.  Sometimes when it's time to turn off the monitor and return to real life these people are stuck in a sort of limbo.  They're halfway between reality and fiction.  

It reminds me of a joke my daughter has with a few of her friends on Facebook, "pics or it didn't happen".  This is because on Facebook, unless you're using a third party application or mobile chat, you can say anything and no one can prove otherwise.  Who really knows for certain where Alyssah and I were the other day when we were chatting with Danny.  Apparently Danny does because mobile chat told him just the same way it gave away his location.  In social media, people create identities for themselves whether they intend upon doing so or not.  If it's intentional, it's branding.  It's putting an identity out there for others to recognize.  People create brands and roles to establish themselves.  When it's time to power off the monitor and return to real life, those who have truly adopted roles in social media can't do so and always have some form of technology giving notifications.  It's a part of who they've become.  They're halfway between the virtual world online and reality.