Mae Ditty: Erikson Timeline - The Sixth Stage

Mae has just turned 19; it is her birthday. She sits alone at a computer in a room that will eventually be dark except for the quiet light of a computer screen. She has decided to play video games by herself instead of 'going out' and celebrating her birthday. Her online friends greet her with 'Happy Birthday', but there is a lonely quality to their salutations. In Erikson's Sixth Stage, Intimacy Vs Isolation, one must risk their newly formed identity by entering a committed intimate relationship or leave themselves isolated and without intimacy. Because Mae failed to achieve Identity and instead fell the way of Identity Confusion, she is disadvantaged here facing the Sixth Stage. She attempts to cling to the remnants of her Identity as a competitive gamer by signing onto another clan, EG, as a screener for new members and as a coach for new players. This new role, however, leaves her without any real social interactions and intimacy. Without romance or other interpersonal contact, her social life withers. She spends more and more time playing video games and less and less time in pursuit of her personal identity goals including post-secondary education and work.