I had absolutely no idea what Second Life was when starting this assignment. The concept of virtual worlds is completely foreign to me and honestly I find it to be a little ridiculous. I am not one for spending much unnecessary time on the computer despite its apparently endless opportunities. Interacting with real people appeals to me much more. That being said, I reluctantly began the extremely long process of downloading and installing Second Life on my computer and getting started.
I spent most of my time making my avatar, realizing just how extensive my options were. I altered just about every aspect that I could, playing around with ridiculous extremes, until I finally landed on a quite normal, attractive female. I assumed that the fact that I perceived my avatar to be attractive would affect how I acted in the game, but I was wrong. As it turns out I could not get used to this virtual world. It seemed crazy to me how much time and effort was invested by the users into something that isn’t even real.
It took me so long to get started because I didn’t fully understand how everything worked or what I was supposed to do. Being in Second Life as an attractive avatar I assumed I would feel more eager and comfortable being extroverted. However, I soon realized the complete opposite. I was overwhelmed by complexity of the game and became extremely disinterested quickly. The experience of going to the fake store or a fake party as a computerized girl who walks like the tin man seemed less than thrilling. I tried to go up and talk to people but was crippled by the fact that I perceived the entire situation to be awkward and strange and could not stop thinking about the fact that there was a real person at a computer controlling that avatar. This does not support Yee and Bailenson’s findings. Despite my attractiveness I was not outgoing or willing to approach strangers. Therefore I also did not disclose more or intimate information. The attractiveness of my avatar had nothing to do with the way I behaved, probably because I assumed that most people made their avatars attractive or the way they wished they looked and are aware that others must do the same. Therefore, the way others perceived me “physically” seemed irrelevant. I assume that this does support the Proteus effect however in that people choose the way that they are represented by their avatar and usually behave in accordance with how they believe that they are perceived. Most would choose an avatar that is representative of how they wished they looked and then be able to act the way they wish they could act in social situations.
3 comments:
Colleen,
I definitely agree with you and understand what you mean when you say Second Life was complicating to use at first. I also did not have a good idea what kind of game Second Life was and it is hard for me to get used to video/virtual games in general. I too felt it took a long time to get the hang out things within the game.
What is surprising to me is the fact that many people did not fall under the Proteus Effect as Yee & Bailenson researched would happen to players. It seems like you did not find yourself acting the way your avatar was being portrayed as many others did not as well. I on the other hand for some reason did. I wonder if it has something to do with how susceptible we are to how others perceive us or something else. In my opinion, I would have predicted that more people would have fallen into the character of their avatar.
I wonder if it is because of what you stated, that maybe it is because we are not used to the game and have not been playing Second Life for an extended amount of time. Perhaps if we were all to play Second Life for several days or even weeks, more of us would fall under the Proteus Effect as well.
It was interesting to see your insight on the same game!
Colleen, what drew me to read your post was the title, because I couldn’t agree more. I really had a difficult time getting used to the game, both technically and mentally. Not only did I not like how mechanically and slowly the avatar moved, but I felt strange going up and talking to people I didn’t know in a virtual world. Additionally, there were so many things that could be done, and changes to be made, that I didn’t know where to start. I think that it is tough for people who don’t really feel connected to the game to feel connected to their avatar, and in turn, let it influence their behaviors. If we were more into the game, and didn’t feel so detached from it, maybe we would have felt more like the avatar was an extension of ourselves and it would have possibly changed how we behaved a little bit. Nice post.
My experience in Second Life was actually very similar to yours. Fist of all, I was frustrated with how long it took to download everything and how slow my computer was going afterwards. I also thought I made a pretty attractive avatar, but this did not cause me to up to more people and disclose a lot of information. This is probably because I didn't think Second Life was very user-friendly for people who hadn't used it before, which was really frustrating, but the idea that there was a real person behind that avatar was also in my head the whole time. Both of our experiences were not at all similar to what Yee and Bailenson found, leading me to believe that they generalized a specific situation to the broader population incorrectly.
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