Given an assignment to play Second Life, I needed to find Dwight Schrute from The Office. So, I decided to follow things step by step and start with the game, with no knowledge of the research and jump straight into Second Life (SL). SL was quite interesting and different from the other multiplayer videogames spaces that I had been in before. It didn’t seem to have a main purpose, mission or goal of any sort. Each player seemed to basically live in this virtual space just “living” in way that their real-life selves might fantasize.
Upon entering the world, I was lost. Not only was the control unfamiliar, but my avatar was quite generic and uninteresting which I obviously needed to change. One of the tutorials showed me the surprisingly large number of configurations for my avatar. I tried to give my avatar the best looking features meanwhile trying my best to maintain a resemblance to me. For example, physically in real life, I’m short so, my avatar was short, but when it came to facial details, he was the most symmetric and handsome avatar anyone could imagine.
As soon as I was done configuring my avatar on the tutorial island (almost an hour), I took a walk, learned some things in the other tutorials, flew around a bit (because you know, how often do we get to do that?) and realized that I didn’t know what I was doing. So, I came back to the island’s center and as soon as I landed, a taller female avatar approached me with a greeting along the line of “Hi, are you new?” In retrospect, the question had caught me by surprise and oddly, because my avatar was noticeably shorter than her, I found chatting rather awkward. I simply replied that I was indeed new and needed assistance in getting my real Second Life started.
After about twenty more minutes of exploring the world and asking around looking for Dwight Schrute, I decided it was time to read the article.
It was pretty amazing how The Proteus Effect from Yee, N. & Bailenson, J. N. (2007) was so prevalent in my own behavior. The article discussed and proved all three of its hypotheses. In the experiments, the participant who controlled the more attractive avatar approached the other participant within a minute of exposure; the taller participant took advantage of the “height leads to confidence” aspect to talk the shorter participant into unfair agreements. The experiments went to show that participants who controlled the more attractive or the taller avatars would exhibit more confidence than their less attractive or shorter counterparts.
As mentioned in the study by Yee, N. & Bailenson, J. N, the proteus effect that I had encountered in my experience was different from the effect that I would have encountered under SIDE theory in that, the anonymity and the physical social distance were present but I had not become deindividualized and “joined” the crowd. In fact, it was the opposite to a certain degree, I had been deindividualized but had only gone as far as to take on the confidence of my avatar, where my confidence depended highly on my avatar's physical appearance. For example, in the first place I visited, everyone in the room was dancing, I was offered drinks and to join in on the dancing. But with confidence, I declined and began my search for Dwight Schrute instead. Given SIDE's theory, I would have given in to the crowd since I would have seen myself as part of the group, but I had my own agenda to run.
The researchers also raised a question of whether the participants of games such as SL were happier and more helpful due to the social distance that was present. In my experience with SL, talking to random strangers and trying weird things were easier given that I knew that I was physically away from these people, the anonymity existed and there weren’t any cues that would prompt judgment from the other avatars. The participants seemed happier and friendlier given that they had more confidence in the appearance of their avatars and that they had the freedom to change anything in their surroundings at a whim.
In the end, I wasn’t able to find Dwight Schrute, but I guess it was worth it since I was able to explore a Second Life and experience the Proteus Effect.
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-10-i-think-i-still-like-my.html
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/10-friendless-in-second-life.html
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3 comments:
Hello Taek. First and foremost, I'm sorry you didn't get to realize your goal of finding Dwight in Second Life. Better luck next time, old pal. Second, very interesting analysis of your experiences in Second Life. I too chose to play second life, but unfortunately my experience wasn't quite as promising (I couldn't figure out how to change my appearance or even leave the island, sadly).
But I really like how you incorporate SIDE theory and apply it to your experience in this online virtual social environment, very interesting take on the experience indeed. I also find it interesting that as soon as you landed, that one woman approached you to ask if you were new. It seems as though your experiences aligned with Yee and Bailenson's hypotheses, but apparently, so did the experiences of the female that approached you. It seems that she conformed perfectly with the "height leads to confidence" aspect of their argument that you mention, if she was so much taller than you and approached you almost immediately after you landed. Clearly, there has to be something to their argument. Overall, great description and analysis of your experience!
Hi Taek! I was looking for Dwight too! He was my inspiration for joining second life after I remembered him playing on that one episode. However, like you, I was unable to find him. (I never really had very high hopes).
I really enjoyed your analysis of your Second Life using the SIDE theory and Yee and Bailenson's article. I too chose to create an avatar similar to myself, but I did make myself a little taller (I've always wanted to be taller), and I ended up exhibiting more extroverted tendencies.
Taek, I know this might be getting old, but I'm really sorry you could not find Dwight on Second Life. If I had chosen Second Life for this assignment and not found him, I would have been terribly disappointed as well. I really thought that your incorporation of SIDE into your analysis to accompany the Yee and Bailensen paper was great. My experience with World of Warcraft was similar to yours, as Yee and Bailenson's hypothesis was supported by my interactions. My towering height led to a sense of dominance that led to other players respecting and looking up to me, and it made me feel like I could say anything or appraoch anyone.
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