What kinds of relationships and identities are involved?
Residents of the 'Second Life Grid' can connect in various relationships; business, romantic, playful, or just friendship. However, problems can arise with virtual relationships just as they can with real ones.
When researching Second Life I came across a blogger who had said “This virtual world has so many opportunities and variations it is impossible to define a universal moral code”. (http://galenheron.blogspot.com/2007/09/relationships-partnerships-and-marraige.html)
I thought this was very interesting and can be applied to the types of relationships people have on Second Life. As there are no ‘moral codes’ in the virtual world people can act how they choose with no consequences, whereas in the reality it may be socially unacceptable to behave in that way. Are these ‘relationships’ really relationships when people are not necessarily being themselves?
There are many different identities involved as people can create whatever their imagination formulates. Also, users’ aren’t restricted to one avatar; they can create multiple alter-egos for themselves. The options are endless.
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RINCY
ReplyDeleteDo you agree that these avatars represent other alter-egos of people, or do you think that they are just creating different identities for fun?
ReplyDeleteI think that completly depends on the person. I would imagine that some people are genuinely trying to express other sides to them selves, whilcst others are just having a bit of fun pretending to be other people. Obviously this last idea can lead to trouble with stereotyping and misunderstanding of the type of character they are trying to be, which can be unfair.
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