When I joined the Second Life and started to get used to its culture, I found an article either at the official blog of the Second Life or at the secondlifeinsider.com. (I can’t find the article again!) It was a short story about two girls whose avatar boyfriend at the Second Life left them for new women and the girls suggest a question that why does it hurt so much if the situation is a happening in their second life, not the real life or ‘first life’. At that time I just thought the article seemed interesting. And I reminded that article when I was enjoying a live DJing party in the Second Life last week and thought about the relationship between the fist life and the second life.
A German group that I belong planned it and the DJ of the party was really a DJ who currently plays in German. The songs I heard that day were his original mixing, I guess. We can find the same example in major field, too. Jay-Z and Fat Boy Slim also threw shows in the Second Life. It seems that the shows were quite big issues then. For the live DJing show, Fat boy slim even got sponsorships from major companies; you can find some ad signs just like we see then in the fist life!
* By the way, just one totally out-of-topic information: maybe the U2 show is one of the most famous music events held in the Second Life so far, even though there was NO relationship between the virtual performers/administrators and the real U2. But I’d like to show you this. It was an amazing event!*
So many shops of actual brands are already there and even some embassies opened in the Second Life. I think it’s good because they might enhance the ‘reality’ of the Second Life world. But let’s think about these in terms of personal matters; even we, the 688 class members, use the Second Life as ‘an extension’ of offline class and I almost can distinguish who’s who. Our Second Life names and identities don’t mean something new in this case. Moreover, did anyone notice the blue argyle sweater of Sapiri? Garrison has exactly the same one. My character also completely represents my own taste of fashion and the image of ‘ideal’ me, with some small characteristics of ‘real’ me. Additionally, we all know one of us is using his real name in the Second Life, too. I don’t know if he also thinks that the Second Life is the extension of his first life, though. (But I like your name, G!) How about the Second Life services and business of the real companies? For them, the Second Life world is rather just a new market.
The Second Life is not a second life but just a possibility of expanded experiences of the first life, I think. It still can’t be considered as a total second life simply because the world that we can experience in the system looks similar to the real world. Even though the Second Life enables us to ‘live’ another life as a character, it is just a kind of field of representation and empathy. It mirrors the real life and still depends on the way of the real life we enjoy: it does not provide something truly new one. Well, or maybe we can call it a mixed reality, at most.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Gabriel // Mar 8, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Ha! I like my name, too. I think you’re hitting on the idea of identity fluidity–the opportunity to adopt a new identity for ourselves or to imbue our avatars with invented characteristics. It really is a beautiful example of the potential to democratize virtual spaces, but it’s also problematic. It’s without question that our identities and avatars online are shaped in ways that reflect us on many psychological levels that we can never account for them all. For example, if I created a female avatar in SecondLife, the kind of personality and attributes I would choose for her would necessarily reflect my own (limited) knowledge of what it means to be a woman. In a sense, I would be choosing those attributes based on my understanding of the stereotype of femininity–I would be creating a cybertype.
So, on the one hand, I fully agree: we should explore a truly second life. At the same time, however, I think it’s a potentially pernicious path to wander down (in my own overly cautious academic perspective).
My own decision to model my SL avatar after my non-virtual appearance and identity is justified in a number of ways. Firstly, you’re right, as members of 688, we’re using it as an extension of class and to force you, my classmates, to deal with “Nightlight the Neverready” might be not only embarrassing, but it would also be so much more difficult. Also, SL has all this potential these days to bleed from its virtual space to the non-virtual and I would never want to put myself in the position of explaining why my online sex shop isn’t listed on my (mundane, unrelated occupation) resume. You can chalk it up to a marked lack of creativity, too, and wouldn’t be too wrong. :P
(BTW, the cybertyping idea isn’t mine, check out Lisa Nakamura’s book _Cybertypes
2 Gabriel // Mar 8, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Ah! We can’t edit our comments! Please ignore the interruption, I was trying to futz with HTML:
Lisa Nakamura: http://commarts.wisc.edu/People/Bios/nakamura.htm
The book I’m referring to:
http://www.amazon.com/Cybertypes-Race-Ethnicity-Identity-Internet/dp/0415938376/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-0396033-8105536?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173391154&sr=8-2
A review of the book:
http://www.freshmonsters.com/kalital/Text/Reviews/Nakamura.html
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