Monday, November 18, 2013

Clara R. Huerta is coolcat94

So creating my avatar for Second Life was kind of interesting. I was getting a little frustrated with the program a little because it was being somewhat slow, but once it started to work I started to have a little fun. I have never really played video games or participated in virtual realities such as Second Life, so I really didn't know what to expect. There were not very many options when I went in to play, in means of avatars, but there were actually more than I expected, and quite a variation as well. I was having some difficulty creating my avatar, so I chose one that was simple, but yet seemed to represent me the best, (at least in comparison to the other options). I did feel somewhat limited to my options, but I think that there were different kinds of options for too, so while there was not a wide array of options they were varied, also I kept in mind that it was the free version, and perhaps the paid version would have had more options. In terms of race and ethnicity, and differences, I think that there are obvious markers, but I don't think that they were any really important ones, but again I am quite inexperienced in the gaming world, and was not sure if there were any connotations or meanings to being something such as a robot or a vampire.

This is me (coolcat94) in Second Life, quite unsure of what to do next.

1 comment:

UWrenorman said...

We picked the same avatar! I also found the program frustrating. Today, I was trying to help some of our classmates edit their avatars but the editor made the process really difficult!
I agree that the paid version may have more options, and it may also have a better interface as far as editing is concerned.
I also agree that race and ethnicity were not major factors in my second life experience. Since I knew the characters could be created by anyone, I didn't even consider that they may be who they say they are. I don't do a lot of online gaming, so I wouldn't know or have the stereo types for say the robot or the vampire. I think these issues are better related to the returning player than the one time visitor.