As a member of second life we have the opportunity to do pretty much anything that we can think of. this is were the whole fantasy life comes into play. We use these games like second life in order to live out, in a way, that experiences that normal, boring, quiet lives do not permit. But when we are interacting in such a free, no rules society, than how do we keep consistent with not only our identities and personalities, but with our genders as well? When we have to ability to live free and make choices that will in no direct way effect our lives outside the game, what will we do? Will we simply sell drugs like I tried, or does the need for more experience and the deep fantasy push us to strive for experiences that would be either impossible or looked down upon in real life? As we have discussed before, the customization of your avatar is highly deep, and allows for the creation of realistic human looking avatars or beasts that no one have ever seen before. For those of us looking for that human connection that may be missing in our real world lives, we may strive to make a avatar as realistic as possible. another important thing to not is the users ability to change appearances even after they have finalized their original avatar. So back to the issue, how do we keep consistent with the characteristics of our own live inside a virtual world, or do we? I didn't. After a few days I found myself inside a sex room, trying on different sized cocks and breasts and vagina's. At one point I even found myself with a pair of breasts attached along with a penis that appeared to be coming out of my belly button. Does this mean that I desire a pair of breasts and a penis coming out of my belly button on my own person? NO. It means that if humans have the ability to explore new horizons they will. So after sex with a few different people (with my belly button penis) I was able to come to some conclusions about gender and virtual worlds. The largest and probably the most important... i checked in the mirror after the game, and after looking deep at myself i was able to conclude that yes, I am a man, and no i do not wish to have any extra attachments on my body. Gender is something that can be 100% fucked with on a virtual world. We can attach different organs that make our avatar look like the opposite sex, and we can even change the way we interact with others, but in the end we are still the same people when we log off at night. Some people may say that the ability to explore these new frontiers could in turn give us more confusion about not only who we are but who we want to be. In my own personal opinion, the only thing that these worlds can do to us is allow for the growth of these thoughts. I do not believe that exploring different gender roles in the game can directly lead to us desiring to change our gender roles in the real world, however, if we enter the game already confused about who we are, it can have some negative effect. Exploration is good. It allows us to get different tastes of the world so that when we enter new experiences in our lives we are not surprised at the outcomes. Even if all of the choices we make in a virtual world are snippets of our unconscious desires, it does not mean that those are desires that we are willing change for. I may kill 100 people in 10 minutes on Grand Theft Auto 4, but in no way does that mean that when i turn off the xbox I am going to drive downtown and start blowing peoples heads off. Yes, games like GTA4 have been blamed for such things, but if you are the kind of person who is going to be influenced to do such a horrible thing in real life by a stupid, animated, unrealistic game, than something will be bound to set you off regardless of what you play. We use these games to explore our fantasies. We kill people in GTA4 because we know that in real life, we would be sent to hell in a hand basket if we did that. I attached breasts to my character because i knew that i would never again have that opportunity. If used properly, second life along with all other video games are means of exploration, means to try all of the things that our society and our personal abilities would never permit us to do. Do you think that you have the ability to explore without getting tricked into thinking its all real? Lets hope your not selling drugs tomorrow, or off on a killing spree with new sexual organs. Good Luck.

Today's writing will be concerning identity and how the use of second life may effect it. Some may argue that identity can be hindered through the use of virtual worlds. They will argue that interaction with others on a virtual basis will in the end hurt one in a social setting. Perhaps the concstant interaction with others online could make us have less of an ability to interact in the real world. It could be thought that we slowly forget how to be socially active if we are not doing it on a consistent basis. the development of new friends combined with the possible severe altering of ones identiti could lead to a number of different things. we enter virtual worlds to escape from our own. Go places we have never been before. Create homes. Meet new people. Even sell drugs if our heart desire. all of these things are aspects of our changing identity. If people are given the chance to live a life, consequence free, were we can accomplish all that the restrictions of the real world kept us from accomplishing. In second life we are given the chance to make our own choices and do whatever we want to do. Having such freedom gave me a larger sense of identity. I felt that with the more I was able to do, the more I was able to distinguish my identity. By distinguish I mean tell the difference between my true identity and my virtual identity. My true one meets meets the realistic expectations of a 22 year old in college. In second life, while im not selling drugs, fighting in rooms where I can kill with lightsabers, and flying, I'm developing new relationships with new people from around the world. Interaction with others, if one is doing so on a polite and well-intentioned basis can be good for people. Like most games in life, I have come to the conclusion that with moderation comes progress. If we do not obsess over these "second lives" than we can use these experiences with others to foster a new identity. It allows us to, through fantasy, develope not only new ideas about ourselves, but also new ideas about the way we want our actual lives to play out. What do you think? Do you feel that our identities are in harms way when playing in virtual worlds?

My next blog post will be concerning race, and how differing races interact in a virtual world such as second life. Like i mentioned in my post about sexuality, people have the choice to make their avatar differing races, but does simply appearing to be a certain race mean that during interactions with others they view you as a member of that culture? one must understand that there is a certain type of knowledge gap between differing races simply because we are not familiar and have not been emerged with their culture. It is a fact that one may never know the true characteristics of a culture unless he or she fully emerges and lives that culture. Knowing this coud lead to the conclusion that acting like a member of a different race may not actually allow the person to get the experience of being in a different culture. this then leads us to ask the question, can the different characteristics of cultures that races live in be reflected in a virtual world as to be able to allow another person to become a member of that culture? My opinion is no. There is no possible way that an unregulated computer world can reflect the many different cultures and races in a true manner. First, to do so people would need to start off being true to their own culture, which means we would have to assume that when making avatars people visually and linguisticly reflect their own race and culture. And second we would have to assume that if a culture was able to be reflected accurately, there would be no way to keep people from straying from that consistency. To better explain myself. People are really really stupid, weird, odd, and unpredictable. In a fantasy world, where people play for the reason of living out different fantasies, and doing things that real life dose not permit, it does not make sense to believe that enough people would have the ability to not only create an area that reflects their culture, but also, at the same time keep up a consistent and regulated way of interacting. Virtual worlds allow us to explore the idea of being a member of a different race, however this should not allow us to assume that we can also develop an idea or opinion about that race because in the end it is just a fantasy world were our choices of ways to act things to do has no direct consequence on our real lives. it is in a way, a form of freedom that is completely impossible to reflect in any real world.

(This is a continuation of the last blog, i screwed something up). Humans feel the need for connection on multiple levels, some of them being even the most animalistic, sexual levels. sexuality in virtual worlds is not dependent on ones own sexual orientation or preferances. Gay people can have relations with the opposite sex and men can live out fantasies through a female avatar. I have come to the conclusion that this ability to act as if you are a completely different person allows people an escape not only from the regular strains of adult life, but also an escape from the restrictions and exdpectations that ones own sexuality puts on their life. In a virtual world we can be gay, straight, and even bisexual all without having our relationships in real life being directly affected (unless obsession with the virtual world kicks in). Is this ok? Is it acceptable to allow yourself to be emerged in a different world, sometimes to the point where the actual world you operate in becomes secondary? in my opinion i say yes. This is no diferent than emerging your mind in a television series to escape, after all, most TV offers just as many different options that are far from normal, that not only teach one of the expectations society has oin them, but at the same time offers them no choice or freedome other than which channel they choose. In a virtual world atleast we have the ability to explore new lifestyles without causing direct harm to our own. so long as people can differenciate between fantasy and reality, exploration should be viewed as a healthy form of discourse form our own lives.

Hello again. This is slightly late, but while im here I would like to talk about some of my first impressions with the Second Life virtual world. I have not spent a ton of time really exploring the different options this world has to offer me, however I have spent time examining the ways in which people of different cultures and backgrounds may interact. It is hard to assume that interaction in a virtual world does not draw in themes of sexuality. Second Life, as well as other virtual worlds are hubs used not only for meeting temporary partners, but sometimes even life partners. In this world users have the ability to customize their avatars in whatever fashion they choose, whether they are black or white or naked or clothed. One must assume that in a world where a teenager can sell virtual drugs to virtual people, that there are other adult activities that he or she can take part in. One interesting sort of room I entered at one point or another was a sex orientated room. A room where people can meet and watch their Avatars have sexual intercourse (atleast thats whats implied). One must ask themselves what the real world appeal to two people having sex via avatars? maybe married life is boring, or the person does not have much luck with meeting people in social, face-to-face context, but if this is the case why is the use of porn or other fetishes not good enough for these people? As I explore more I realize that not only can people have sex, but different sexual organs of differeing shapes and sizes can be attached and removed from your avatar.