

How you carry yourself during these socializations also does a lot to shape your Ego. If you encounter a personality (say, a bully) that you find disagreeable, you can opt read them the riot act before ending the encounter with some form of goodbye. You then choose how you want to carry your half of the conversation? Make googly-eyes, debate, or lecture? Maybe give them a gift? There are several choices at your disposal. High-five or leer? This sets the tone for the interaction. (Alter Ego is fully online, a feature that was completely enabled in my preview builds.) When the socialization starts, you choose how you want to hail your new friend.

When you want to interact with another Ego, you can choose to either chat up a random Ego or engage a friend from your in-game buddy list. But to really advance your Ego, you need to socialize. Actions like these start molding your personality, inching your Ego through the dozens of possibilities. (Or maybe a slap-and-tickle? Saucy.) Make it read books to get culture. You can feed it specific foods, from fruit to pizza, or reach it the screen to give it a tickle or slap.

As your Ego wanders through the digital neighborhoods, you can interact with it personally. This is about putting your virtual personality out there and letting your mobile freak flag fly. Surfing conversations for clothes is not the final goal of Punch's game. But this only scratches the surface of Alter Ego. Now, with this new set of clothes and styles, you can mix and match with previously earned archetype wardrobes. When you successfully develop the character traits for a new personality type, the literal finger of god reaches into the screen and anoints your Ego with the look that fits their new attitude. By socializing with other Egos - both AI- and human-controlled - you steer your avatar toward personality archetypes like bully, mad scientist, flirt, and goth. You unlock new duds and 'dos now through some tired monetary scheme, but through the development of your Ego's personality. At first, you have only basic hair and clothing options. Upon start-up you create an avatar either in your own likeness or in how you wish you looked. Alter Ego is considered a "social networking game." Essentially, it's a people sim.
