Playing with Identity

Before playing Second Life, I thought much about what kind of avatar I would create. Did I want to make a full re-creation of myself; experiment with a new identity like an opposite gender or different race, or make something funny to gain reactions from other players? Once I started the game, I picked the default male student avatar and was thrown into the Welcome Area. I then spent a while experimenting with the avatar creation tools, but soon found out it would take a very long time to create anything. Exploring the world of Second Life was more important to me than creating an ideal image. I decided to grab a free Hawaiian shirt and leave that as my customization.

I didn't get a front view of my avatar, but he/it wasn't too interesting.

To say my experience in Second Life was peculiar would be an understatement. While traveling the in-game world, I came across a variety of people, events, and glitches that both made me laugh and/or made me think “What in the world is this person doing?” I traveled across many different environments, such as dance clubs, an outer-space shopping mall, a rainforest, and pirate ships. For glitches, my computer sometimes lagged behind my inputs, leading to lots of instances where I was sinking through floors. One of my favorite glitches was when I left a dancing spot and my avatar literally could not stop dancing, even when flying. The creations of others I came across were sometimes just as strange. I didn't realize Second Life allowed avatars other than normal people, so the abundance of gothic vampires and anthropomorphic creatures surprised me. The things people did were hilarious at times; I had people chasing me, a dance party to “What Does the Fox Say?”, and my personal favorite, some person who spawned a million jumping Mario figures.

I actually started a dance party!

The most astounding thing that was in my mind throughout my adventure was that this world, and all the avatars in it, was made through the efforts of other people just sitting behind their computer like me. Their collective representation of a “second life” was fantastical, entertaining, and sometimes unsettling. My experience taught me it is really important to wonder who is behind the actions in this virtual world, and what Second Life tells about our own motivations and identity in real life.

Words of wisdom