*Think of this as something of a rough draft of ideas that've been bouncing in my head lately.* Online personas can serve a lot of functions, even for the same person. I know in my case's exceptionally true. Targrus does a lot of duty in that regard and I figured I'd write a little bit about the functions and whys of it here. This will be a little silly, it'll be a little cringe, both from many angles. Still, I figure it's worth sharing. #### It's Fun The most fundamental aspect of having a sona is, in my opinion, quite simple. It's fun. Is it silly to pretend to be something you're not online, especially something outright fictional that can't be real? Sure. Absolutely. But it's also just fun. An orc? A furry? A pokémon? There's no limits here and it's just simple fun. Most of us played pretend as a kid and that doesn't have to get old. I could elaborate further, but it's hard to not get into another header quickly so let's get going. #### Express Yourself Fully Using an online persona is pretty freeing. You aren't constrained by your typical outward presentation and so you get to craft one that matches how you want to be perceived. That in of itself is pretty grand. Sure you could maybe give off an impression that doesn't quite match who you are, hell you could even do so maliciously I suppose. But really you don't need to pretend to be an entity you're not to go that. Being able to be more creative with your presentation and expression online is just another asset at the end of the day. #### Aspirational At the same time, why does it just have to be pretend? Whether it's a burly orc, an anthropomorphic wolf, a dragon, whatever? You picked that for a reason. You like something about it. It just might be representative of traits or ideals you want to explore and cultivate in yourself. I relate to orcs from more than one angle. There are some natural parallels with identifying as queer and being something seen as a dangerous other by parts of society. But beyond that in my mind orcs are also expressive of strength, community, and masculine ideals that I can vibe with as well. Notice I said in my mind. We're talking about a chosen expression, so there really aren't any firm rules here. If someone finds feminine strengths in orcs, as far as I'm concerned, they're damn right.