by Amy Mueller, Guest Writer
Location: Apollo Garden

From Ignatius: Amy is one of my students who completed a project to explore educational and social spaces in Second Life.  Part two of her two-part series follows.

Elfheart said that during her time in SL she has seen real changes in people.  However, these changes cannot be real when they are happening to a pixilated figure in a virtual world.  As I analyze the Second Life experiences I have had I must say that I am just not buying it.  I can understand using SL occasionally if one is bored, but I think is it important that people remember that it is a game.  I will never think it is healthy for a real human person to live through a computer screen when the real thing, although sometimes with more challenges, is outside.

I am finding more and more things in the RL that remind me of points in SL.  The other day I saw a flyer informing me that 48% of women would have plastic surgery or liposuction if they could.  This reminded me of what Elfheart said about not being controlled by one’s image in RL.  Maybe living vicariously through a beautiful avatar in SL is the alternative to plastic surgery in RL.  I will never believe that virtual happiness can substitute for real happiness.  Certainly creating a virtual being and living in another world is not going to make women more comfortable with their own bodies.

An’ tu think, Miz Di, yu woodn’t have had haf the fun yu dun had wif’out mee. I am a-plannin’ a blob ‘bout our winnin’ that-thar dance corntest fer ol’ Wiggly Onnagodadivada soon, tho I hears yu gots a gest-blob a-kummin up, tu.

Hugs, Pappy Enoch

Miz Amy, don’t yu git tu botherified if’n yu riles up Miz Di a mite; she kin bee hot-blooded.  We am known tu disergree on a few thangs—like the propurnessh o’ go-rillas in Secund Life. They skairs me becuz them-thar Lindens sends ‘em out when the Grid goes down.

Amy - I think you need to spend more time in SL to get it. People come to SL for different reasons. I look at it as a very sophisticated method of chatting, and I have made some real friends here on SL. Some I have even talked to in RL, thru email or other means. Since being an avvie in SL does give you the opportunity to change your appearance, then why not? It’s part of the fun. I showed SL to my senior-citizen mother, and after watching me & a friend ballroom dance, my mother said “looks like electronic paper dolls to me.“ She is right. But if you stay on SL long enough, you will develop real realtionships/friendships with people you would never have the chance to meet in RL - maybe because they are in another country, or maybe neither of you would look twice at the other in RL, but SL makes everyone approachable. I have a dragon friend, Pappy knows a raccoon, and Iggy’s gorilla persona all have a place in SL.

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