Second Life. It's like Sims for people with even more time on their hands. The user can create an avatar that can resemble them in some way and have their avatar play out a virtual life. "Second Life really, if anything, has no limits. You can do just about anything," said creator Philip Rosedale, CEO of Linden Lab.
The programme allows the user to fly around the world and teleport to anywhere they choose. I don't mean to rant about this but i think the programme is pointless. At least with Sims you can play the God role and have fun with it. With this programme the way you represent yourself online is through flying over a virtual representation of the world and dancing for fifteen minutes for $5... Oh dear. The concept of SecondLife is a good one, basically living your life again on a virtual one or giving the opportunity to give yourself a new identity to see what it's like to be different from what you are.
Lisa Nakamura criticised this ability with her reference to the dog cartoon on a computer with the caption "On the internet no one knows you're a dog", which is exactly right. On the Internet you could be a 5" 4 porky middle aged man who works as a fishmonger but online he's a 6"2 Brad Pitt look-a-like with a modelling career. Nakamura referred to this as "computer crossdress". “I am my body to the extent that I am” (Sartre, 1943:326) this quote pretty much sums up the computer cross dressing trend.
Admittedly, i have “computer cross dressed” before... not so much to try and be someone else but to see if it could be done. And, my god, is it easy to do! I can't say it inspired me to make a habit of it but it was strangely a good experience to try and be different online it can show you a lot about yourself but in terms of cyberstalking is wrong and illegal.
But having your "identity" online, real or not, can seem exposing and may even assist users with indecent agendas in tracking people down. Sites like Facebook allow a user to find another user by typing their first and last name and location. So that means that pretty much anyone who knows a user's name and remote location can find them... not necessarily a good thing. But having an identity is key when interacting as it establishes the quality of the interaction. But virtually identity is disembodied making the concept of identity one that is open to change but only online.
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