I believe except for a few handful people like me, the rest of the world uses pseudonymes in the cyber-world. People pick names which might give an instant message to another person (for instance, a chat-loving young friend of mine named himself "soft heart, hard...; just to get some girls' attention), or to give one the idea about what she/he might be. This impression is however grossly misleading. Pseudonymes are often symbolises what one wants other people to think of her/him-- not what she/he is. The best example is the names taken by players of Unreal Tournament (sorry for referring UT once again; but this game alone can be a subject of sociological study).

These are the names taken by a bunch of losers; losers because their scores are invariably minus for they kill themselves instead of killing others in the game:

1. Chhota Shakil (one of the top most wanted killer in India/ the person who took the name is a junior political reporter, who resorts to bluffing a lot to get out of a tight situation)

2. Killer (the person who took the name is very timid)

3. The Hulk (the skinniest guy in our newsroom)

4. Daud Ibrahim (top regional criminal; name taken by a little guy having a lot of political opinion, but little real action)

5. Gilgamesh (the Babilonian hero-- the guy who took the name is a good cub reporter who spends very few words each day)

Mid rank player

Gengis Khan: is a very nice guy who literally does a lot of charity for poor people

Then there are others; who are not losers

Irresistible (his body odor reminds me of a skunk)

Gunda (meaning rougue-- the guy is actually very nice)

Then there are some x-rated names which I can't put up here.