The Dance That Wouldn't Stop

59 W 12th Street . 8:47 pm . September 13, 2007 .

Aw... Second Life was a new world today!

Today I shared it with people I know from Real Life and it was twice as fun and much more interesting than before. Just like any newbie would feel when strolling down the streets of Manhattan for the first time, it is very hard not to be intimidated by Second Life. It's big. It can get quiet and lonely. It has a fair amount of scary people walking around who talk funny, are maybe naked and/or wearing wings. You see avatars having panic attacks but can also encounter those with the confident poise of thee who knows exactly what thee's doing. And those, my friends, are the scariest of all.

Going back to the readings from class... Internet Research Ethics suggests that the "Internet is not simply a virtual space in which human actors can be observed: it is a medium through which a wide variety of statements are produced." So by creating Ainat I've produced a person. As virtual as she is -or as much as I may have solely authored her- I see Ainat as a separate entity from me. I don't necessarily act like myself when operating her and, although she functions through me, she is independent. She's makings friends, experiencing new places and arriving at conclusions on her own.

This thought however seems to be completely against some of the ideas in the readings which state that in the case of Internet supported texts at least, they are not objects distinct from those who write them nor virtual. Because of this it's been of invaluable importance for me to be engaged in active academic discussion on these subjects as I experience them for the first time.

And for the record... it is definitely not the same thing to stand quietly by the dance floor at Club Heaven than to dance with my friends Centurion Bikcin and Kamran Talaj (whose Real Life identities I'm tempted to reveal but won't.)

T