Reply to comment

I do like the idea of the word 'variation' being used to describe the two worlds instead of considering them completely different. It's a little different from saying things 'overlap' (I wish I had a better word...) where the two might originate in separate places but share characteristics. In light of your examples of how online identities have their root in the real world, it seems even more appropriate to use 'variation' because in most senses implies that both of the variants were initially the same, or originated in the same place.

In other places, this might be seen as too human-focused, like in Tron where some life forms seemed to come about independently of humans, even though they shared some characteristics at the present. But in the case of identity online it makes sense to say that the 'meatspace' humans are the origin of both online and other personas.