#10...Second Life is much harder than it looks

I've never been one for video games or, as Yee and Bailenson (2007) call them, Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVE), which they define as "communication systems in which multiple interactants share the same three-dimensional digital space despite occupying remote physical locations" (275). I played the Sims religiously for about three months of my life when it first came out, but since then I haven't played a game with an avatar. So when Professor Hancock suggested Second Life for this assignment, I asked my friends about it, they mentioned the beloved Office episode, and so I decided I'd try it out. How hard could it be, right? Wrong.

I spent about an hour and a half trying to navigate and figure out this new virtual space, and I really didn't feel like I got anywhere in the process. I chose a female avatar, Claudette Mumfuzz, and chose for her to look rather hardcore and punk-ish. I was hoping to alter her appearance more so that I could really test out Yee and Bailenson's Proteus Effect hypothesis, but found this to be harder than I anticipated. I spent most of my time trying to figure out how to exist in this world, and had little time to really experiment with it after figuring out the basics. My first reaction to this exercise was that I would really need a lot more time to interact in this environment and get used to functioning in it before I could really evaluate how I was acting in relation to my chosen avatar. For example, Yee and Bailenson hypothesize that the more attractive one's avatar, the more intimate with self-disclosure one will be, and the taller one's avatar, the more confident one will act in this space. While completing this exercise in Second Life, I didn't really understand how to control for these variables, because when choosing an avatar, one is really given a limited range of possibilities to choose from; all body types seem to be the same (same general slender body shape and same height) and you could really only choose what type of avatar you would be (i.e. "girl next door," "goth chick," etc.) This seemed like a very limited range of options and to be perfectly honest I never could understand how to alter my avatar's physical appearance once I entered the Second Life world. However, based on the avatar that I did choose, my avatar was a fairly attractive female with a slender body and average height, with short red hair. However, the wardrobe that I chose was rather hardcore looking, which I think made my avatar seem slightly standoffish. When approaching other avatars, I had no problem with approaching male characters, but found that I wasn't really approached at all, that I had to start off every conversation I had. However, I was pretty confident in approaching other characters and asking for help, and I had no problem admitting that I was confused and needed assistance.

Despite the fact, however, that I didn't alter my character's body type or height, I can still see how Yee and Bailenson's hypothesis applied to my avatar's behaviors in the game. Because I knew that I had chosen an avatar that was overall attractive but gave an impression of being unapproachable due to my wardrobe, I knew that I would have to put in effort into starting conversations, and I had no trouble doing so or disclosing information about myself, especially with male avatars, perhaps because I knew that my avatar was an attractive female. So in this sense, because I knew that my avatar was attractive and felt very comfortable disclosing information and approaching male avatars, I think my experience was consistent with Yee and Bailenson's hypothesis.

It is harder for me, however, to speak of the height aspect of their hypothesis, because my avatar's height is not something that I chose to manipulate, simply because I, sadly, could not figure out how. However, I think Yee and Bailenson's hypothesis can still be considered in this situation, because even though I didn't directly change my height, I was still able to compare my avatar's height in relation to the other avatars, and act accordingly. For example, I did notice that I did not feel short in comparison to any of the other avatars, and while I also didn't notice that I towered over any other avatars, I definitely did not feel short in comparison to any. So while I maybe was not more controlling than any other avatars because I did not feel taller, I definitely noticed that I was not at all submissive in comparison to other avatars, but acted on the same playing field as the others, which would make sense if I perceived us all to be the same height.

So overall, my experiences playing Second Life aligned quite well with Yee and Bailenson's hypothesis, considering the fact that I had so much trouble adjusting to existing in this world. I chose to read their paper after I played the game, so that I would not feel influenced by it while playing, and I think this worked out well as an exercise of reflecting on my actions while playing the game. I can see how perceiving oneself to be more attractive would make one more intimate with self-disclosure, and how perceiving oneself to be taller would make one more confident when negotiating with other players. This hypothesis makes sense to me, because even though we are living through our avatars in a very manipulated and virtual environment that is far from reality, we are still aware of the importance of looks. If we think that taller people are more dominant in real life and attractive people are more intimate, then in choosing one or both of these qualities in an avatar, one will in a sense perform that role, in the best and most convincing way that they know how, even regardless of how others perceive them. This sense of performing my avatar is what I experienced throughout the exercise, and in this sense I felt that the Proteus Effect held up in my admittedly pathetic experience in the Second Life world.

Comments:

http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/a10-where-is-dwight.html

http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-10-i-think-i-still-like-my.html