A Conversation in Second Life to Critically Reflect on Avatar Experience

Second Life is a form of cyber-reality where an individual can create an avatar in an online world. I created an avatar myself and found that I have become quite attached to it. To me, it depicted myself but online. I had a conversation with my lecturer and fellow students on Second Life to reflect on my avatar experience. We discussed for example, what it was like when we changed its gender:

[04:13] Maria Aura: What did you want to make the avatars look like (in the opposite gender)?
[04:13] CrystalFly: I wasnt too bothered about how i looked like in the opposite gender as it didnt reflect me
[04:13] chocolatefudge: just as simple as walking, the male avatar had a completely different stance to the female, which was different considering i was controlling it
[04:13] greenjag02: strangly like a female friend of mine
[04:14] Maria Aura: Was it more comfortable to have an avatar that is the same gender as your real life avatar?
[04:14] greenjag02: as that really offered security as i new that person so it wasnt like i was being someone completly new
[04:14] violetpixel: I wasnt really sure at first because when i created my female avatar i knew what i wanted, but when I changed it I wasnt as careful with clothing and appearance choices
[04:14] CrystalFly: It was yes
My name for Second Life was ‘Crystal Fly’. I highlighted in the conversation that because I had changed the gender of the avatar, it didn’t feel as though it was me anymore and I was not as bothered about the appearance of the avatar because I didn’t feel as connected to it. I said I was more comfortable having the gender of the avatar the same as my own because it felt strange pretending to be someone I wasn’t. I felt more comfortable with it being a female as it reflected my own behaviour and personality. However, when I was asked whether the appearance of the avatar was important to me in Second Life, I realised that I didn’t really mind how I looked in comparison to real life:

[04:14] Maria Aura: Are looks important - are they as important as in real life?
[04:15] violetpixel: I dont think so no because people are aware that all avatars arent a true representation of people themselves - and appearance in second life can be changed so easily
[04:15] greenjag02: they are more so in here as you can portray how you wish to look lik in here, however in really life you look the way you do
[04:16] greenjag02: can you cant really change that
[04:16] chocolatefudge: not as important as real life - as this can be totally anonymous whereas in the real world you would want your appearance to reflect you
[04:16] CrystalFly: I agree
[04:16] greenjag02: but it is your own personality that defines who you are
[04:16] Maria Aura: Do you think that hte media has influenced how your avatars look at all?
[04:16] CrystalFly: it's not as important and its not really me. just an online avatar

Overall, I didn’t really mind what my avatar looked like because the personality of the Second Life form was more of a factor than its appearance. I did however make it look similar to me possibly because I did feel somewhat connected to it. From the conversation, I have found that my classmates agree with me that the appearance of the avatar is not as important as in real life and that personality was the more central factor.

How has the Internet changed journalism?

The internet has changed journalism through its power of connection. It connects people from all over the world and gives them the opportunity to communicate with one another. Because of this, people are able to tell others of events and news straight away. This could be through different methods of digital distribution such as uploading videos, taking pictures and blogging.

One quite significant example of those who have used the internet as a method of journalism are the activists of Arab Spring. They managed to, through social networking sites such as Facebook and Youtube, arrange ways of protesting against their leaders. They became citizen journalists and used equipment such as mobile phones and cameras to record the activism first-hand to tell and show others what was going on. This was particularly important as some leaders did not allow professional journalists across the borders of their countries and so it was up to the people to let the public know about certain events. There were however issues of this method of journalism. For example, security forces in Egypt set up a special unit to monitor internet activists. If they were caught posting anything online about activism they could have been killed or even tortured. There are benefits to citizen journalism however. Alexander (2011) said that ‘today there are vast numbers of people online, making it far more difficult for the state to track them all’.

Through being an active social agent, news uploaded or talked about by the general public on the internet could also make the information less biased then any information from a newspaper could be. It’s unedited as it may be straight off a person’s mobile phone or from someone’s first-hand experience. The internet has made journalism more quickly available and unbiased. It gives people the opportunity to become the journalists themselves spreading the news in a way that a newspaper or television cannot do.

Alexander, A. (9th February 2011) Internet role in Egypt’s Protests. BBC News, Middle East,p.3.

Youtube (2012) Youtube.[Online] Available from: http://www.youtube.com/ [Acessed 19th March 2012].