A Darker Me
You, only cooler, edgier, and often ruder. A Darker Me is generally the person you would be if you weren't the more cautious, inhibited and boring person you actually are. Most online personas include at least a little bit of A Darker Me, and some, most notably the Troll, include a lot of it. A Darker Me is like the GIFT in that it allows people to say things they would never say in real life, but is not limited to profane or offensive statements.
A Darker Me is one of the main appeals of the Internet in that it allows users to leave behind their normal fears and speak their minds. Most posters eventually learn that too much A Darker Me by those involved derails even the most steadfast discussions and begin to revert to their mundane selves, in action, if not persona.
It should be noted that A Darker Me is not limited to the Internet, as most people do the same thing when they are talking to strangers—albeit generally to a lesser extent, since the stranger can still punch them in the face if they go too far.
See also: GIRL, GIFT, Beneath the Mask, Troll, Griefer, and Mean Character, Nice Actor. Closely related to What You Are in the Dark. Compare Maddened Into Misanthropy. Not to be confused with the other kind of Darker You. Or the other other kind for that matter.
General examples
- Many internet trolls. Do not get us started on Anon, SA Goons, and various others.
- Pretty much the entire purpose of Video Game Cruelty Potential; you can choose to be a complete and total, uninhibited psychopath, with no consequences.
- Griefers and Munchkins. This is pretty much everything that motivates/enables both types.
- In Fan Fiction, overlap this with a failed Author Avatar and you get a Mary Sue. A Jerk Sue or possibly even a Villain Sue, if they're heavy on the "darker" and/or "ruder" parts; emphasizing the "cooler" part can result in any kind of Sue.
Media examples
Anime
- ×××HOLiC featured a sub-story about a woman in Hideki's school who, thanks to a winged parasite, slowly lost her inhibitions. Instead of being nice and sociable, she became progressively more angry and violent until she nearly killed a person.
Film
- The red pills of The Matrix. Before their introduction to the Real World, they were hackers, geeks and other freaks. This makes it obvious why, when they go back into the Matrix, they all wear longcoats and sunglasses.
- The Dark Princess in Mirror Mask.
Literature
- Harry Dresden from The Dresden Files once had a chat with his subconscious. It was a surprisingly civil conversation.
- Perdita is this to Agnes Nitt in Maskerade and later Discworld books.
Live-Action TV
- On Caprica, New Cap City is a virtual environment built around this concept along with Video Game Cruelty Potential, where the whole point of the game is to have fun without getting killed by someone else's idea of fun. Everyone gets access to the guns, drugs, cash, and sex they could want, and the only major consequence being that if you're too slow, you die and can never return.
Web Original
- James Rolfe, The Angry Video Game Nerd, is a similar example to Maddox. A lot of people fail to realize that the AVGN is just a character and Rolfe is actually a normal, pleasant person.
- Same goes for That Guy With The Glasses crew. Doug, Noah, Lewis and Lindsay are all much nicer and much more well-adjusted compared to The Nostalgia Critic, Spoony, Linkara and The Nostalgia Chick, respectively.