What's in a name?

I have been asked a lot over the years, in many different media, what the name "Amodtha" means, and where it comes from. 

I have long been interested in Germanic and Norse Mythology and a few years ago I came across this name while trying to find a name for a new puppy I had gotten. I thought it was beautiful and meaningful, and so she was called Moda. 

I found the name on the Viking Answer Lady page, as she has excellent etymological break downs of names.

Here's the break down of "Amodtha".

Ámóða - The etymology of the first element Á- is uncertain, as it may come from several possible origins: < *ana-, the intensive first element, "all"; < *anu- "ancestor, forefather"; or from < *az- "point, edge" or "anxiety, fear". The second element is a weak side-form of -móð, from Germanic *-móðó, which becomes OW.Norse -móðr, "temprament; wrath; courage". A runic example occurs in the nominative case as omuþa. A short form of feminine names in -móð is Moda.

I liked this name so much that I couldn't just keep it as my dog's name - I began to use it for online gaming, as well, as I wanted the names of my avatars to be meaningful and express something that I admire. I wanted them to have strong, powerful names.

Needless to say, that is why in Second Life, my avatar is "Amodtha Barineaux" or "Moda" for short.

I obviously tweaked the spelling a bit, but the sound is the same. I did this because most English speakers won't recognize the symbol "ð" and the consonant string "dth" is a good representation of the sound that symbol signifies. It's a hard "th" like in "bathe" or "scathe".

I hope you all enjoyed the explanation! 

See you in-world :)

Moda!

Purple Moon Gown

I finally got this gown from Purple Moon that I have been dying to have ^_^

BEHOLD!

It's gorgeous ^^

Free Dresses from Dashwood

Hello everyone ^^

 I just wanted to show you a couple of dresses I got for free at Dashwood :)

I got them from the Lucky Chairs they have in-store.

Dashwood also has free group gifts ^^ And a beautiful selection of both casual and formal dresses.

Visit Dashwood in-world:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Coconut%20Beach/52/49/21

December Update

Alright! So like I said, a lot has been happening.

Moda got a not haircut, short, and I feel like it suits both me and her a lot better, personality-wise.

It has been really interesting to follow her progression and find exactly what feels right to me, being the person behind the avatar. I feel like she is beginning to be a great virtual representation of me.

Obviously I am still trying to figure out what my RL/SL boundaries are - what do I want to bring from my RL into my SL and vice versa?

This boundary is constantly evolving for me at the moment.

What else?

I made a really good friend ^^ We hang out all the time and I have a room in her house. Her name is Cherri and I guess we have sort of become SL sisters :P

Here's a picture of us :))

I have also been doing a lot of shopping, as you can tell. Well - freebie shopping ^^ haha. I have recently discovered the magical universe of group gifts and promos in-world and on the marketplace.

Got any places you love to get freebies from? Any good group gifts? Let me know! :D I'll try to share information as well ^^

To update or not to update

Okay...

So I have not been updating my blog lately, this is obvious. Why?

So much has happened so fast and I feel like I should update you guys on everything! But more and more keeps piling up and it just doesn't seem to be happening. I am buried in should-be updates.

So here's what I've decided. I'm just going to begin doing updates again from now on, and possibly back track for some other updates in the future.

I am still working on a response to another blog post wrote, Second Life: An Ethnography on Freedom in a Virtual World, and hopefully I will finish it soon - if I can find the motivation :P

So here we go!

You should be hearing more from me ^^

New Look

Okay...

So a lot of stuff has happened lately that I really need to catch you guys up on.

One thing that has changed about my SL is Moda's appearance.

A more detailed post will be coming about recent developments in Moda's life. However, I wanted to throw a few pics out there and ask for some opinions :)

So. First, Moda went from this:

 To this:

 Then, I edited her face yesterday and changed her eye color and this is the result:

What do you guys think?

2nd or 3rd option? ^^

Moda Plays Jenga in SL

The title says it all! Well, almost :)

Today I played Jenga for the first time with my friend Abby and her friend Ayla, and let me tell you:

that shit was fun.

Here is the tower:

And here is the first block I pulled from it:

I took it from the very top of the stack xD

And here is me destroying the tower:

Over.

And over.

Now, don't hate! For a beginner it's kind of hard! Every time you pull a block the tower starts wobbling all over the place, sometimes uncontrollably and..uh...well, it's hard! And remarkably like playing in RL. It just takes some getting used to dragging the blocks out in-world.

I think I started kind of getting the hang of it towards the end. My evidence?

I managed to take more than three blocks out without knocking the tower over :P 

I was sitting her literally laughing out loud throughout the whole thing and my boyfriend was giving me the "what the hell" look from across the room...but I was just so hilariously bad at it!

We must have had to restart at least four times because of me before we played the last game and then the host had to go to bed.

I really enjoyed it, though. It was some of the first real fun I have had in SL for a while :)

And of course, thanks to the same girl who brought us "Carmelldansen" :P

Goodnight, guys!

And to all of you braving hurricane Sandy, #staysafe.

Carmelldansen

So yesterday I made a new friend named Abby...

She invited me over to her place (or should I say palace?) and we spent I don't know how long doing this:



It was oddly addictive and hilarious :P

We talked about a lot of things and she told me about her life in SL :)) She showed me pictures of her loved ones and the time passed like crazy.

I think maybe I finally found someone I will hang out with regularly :OO!

Yaaaay for new friendships!

(WARNING: NSFW) Stumbling into the Keyhole Club (WARNING: NSFW)

Today was a fairly interesting day.

Before I went to sleep this morning I was checking out hot destinations in the destinations window...The most populated place at that hour was this place called the Keyhole Club.

Alright, I told myself...let's check it out!

And what to my surprise did I find? BEHOLD:

Sex everywhere.

It turns out the Keyhole Club is a sex/strip club. I totally wasn't expecting this when I TP'd in.

Well, whatever! It's not like I haven't seen a live orgy IRL, so I figured I'd check it out.

I didn't get very far before I ran into another first timer who asked if I wanted to look around together. I said sure, let's do the tour.

I didn't take pictures residents in the act out of respect, because, you know...that's their private business, but you should be able to get a good idea of what it's like there without all that.

So yeah. You TP in and there's a big set of rules in front of you (or maybe behind you or to your left...it's there, okay!).

Next to it is a teleport directory, as you can see.

I'm not going to go in the order of that list though - instead it's going to be tour of the building you TP into and then the following attractions.

So, if you turn right at the "The Keyhole Club" sign you'll walk straight into the dance area.

It was pretty laggy - be warned! That's why the dancers weren't rendering very well.

Next, if you turn right and walk out towards the street, you'll see a set of stairs (just behind the orange couches in the dance room).

Climb those, and you find the rooms! Sex rooms, that is. I suppose they are supposed to be private, but they have windows and people just stand outside of them and watch you do your business. Here's a picture of the empty "orgy room":

The pose balls on the giant bed there say "ride bull backwards" for both male and female.

If you turn to the left when you walk up the stairs, you'll come across a few booths.

By "few" I mean three. The first contains a stool for masturbation. The second is a platform to entertain on, and the third, well..you see it!

Just to the right of the booths is a sexy-time bathroom:

And yes, there is a window outside of it for onlookers to gaze through.

Continue on, around the corner to the right, and you'll find another staircase.

To the right of the staircase you can see a few of the little sex-oriented shop-booth-things.

Descend and walk straight ahead and you'll run into the pool!

 Yes, that's a jacuzzi you see in the back on the right and to the left!

There is also a sauna:

Turn left at the pool and walk straight ahead and you will run into my favorite part: the car park.

Inside, your avatars can get it on against the vehicle of your choice, be it a sedan, convertible, or pickup truck!

 You can even do it against a tool bench, or the wall!

Yeahhh....

So walk back up the ramp you entered by, and turn left, and you'll be at our last destination for this tour: the cinema.

Yeah...sometimes Moda can't stop talking long enough to take a picture.

Inside the cinema there's a lobby with a popcorn machine and all that.

Inside the actual theater there are seats to chill in:

and there's a screen for your viewing pleasure. As you can see there's a variety to choose from to the left and right of the screen. You click on one of those buttons and then sit back with your popcorn or...whatever, and enjoy the feature.

Welp!!! That's it for the Keyhole Club tour.

See you guys later :)

Visit: Cica Ghost's Black And White World

So right now I'm hanging out at a featured destination called "Cica Ghost's Black and White World" and oh my lindens...it's peaceful and beautiful.

There is serene music playing in the background, and all the little black and white trees and flowers are swaying in the breeze. I had to stop and sit on a rock to enjoy the scenery before moving on from he TP point.

My avatar looks out of place in the sea of black and white.

Moving on, there are all these little houses you can walk right through but that have furniture you can chill on. I took a moment to stretch out on this bed frame.

As you can see, straight ahead there is someone dancing on the adorable little bridge. Let's go take a look at it!

Waaah! I love the waves graphic for the water and the little 2D fish jumping in and out of the water are adorable. And apparently the 2D locals enjoy it as much as I do :) Check out that stick fisherman! Just smiling away~

Not long after I got to the bridge someone else showed up and I made a new friend:

Nice guy with an odd sense of humor :P Or maybe he has a normal sense of humor and I have an odd one. This question sort of came up in conversation. Also, I get to tag along with him clubbing at some point! Yay! I love chances to experience SL the way other people do.

When he had to go I moved on and met another local flying a kite.

I love the butterflies, clouds, and traces of wind around the trees :) This place makes me feel really relaxed.

This was one of my favorite spots:

I just sat there for a while, watching the trees quiver and shake and the flowers sway in the breeze while a symphony played in the background and this little guy rode in circles around and around the giant rock. What an amazing simplicity.

Next up? What's on that hill?!

Off we go :)

At the top of the hill I found stick figures and residents alike doing some sort of rain dance :x

You can see at least one of the little hearts that fall with the rain here :) All the while there's a gentle symphony going on with violins and a softly warbling opera singer.

After that, there wasn't much else to see, so I took a last flying tour about the area, and I leave you on this note:

Beautiful, right?

Here's a link: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA13/158/21/22

SECOND LIFE: AN ETHNOGRAPHY ON FREEDOM IN A VIRTUAL WORLD

The following is the ethnography that I wrote as my final paper in my last year of undergraduate studies for a Communications Across Cultures course. I hope you enjoy! Or that I at least didn't get it all wrong. Feel free to comment and share. The work is amateur at best but I hope someone will get *something* out of it! Also, I apologize if some of the formatting is off - I've done my best to edit it but blogger just isn't having it.

IMPORTANT: to view in GOOGLE DRIVE instead (perhaps more readable) click here.

 SECOND LIFE: AN ETHNOGRAPHY ON FREEDOM IN A VIRTUAL WORLD

First life birth is like the roll of a die. Every fundamental aspect of our lives on this planet is chosen not by us, but occurs through the randomness of chance. I do not know anyone who can say that they chose to be born as a human, to be born as white, black, hispanic, asian, or any other race, to be born to their specific parents and family, or to be born into their particular socioeconomic class. All of these things are beyond human control.

I remember being asked on numerous occasions whether I would change anything about my life, given the option. My answer, like the answer of most people I know, has always been, “No.” We have a conviction that whatever has happened to us in this life has formed who we are fundamentally – that we are stronger because of our pasts. But what if you truly had the chance to start over – to begin anew in a world where you are the one who makes the decisions only afforded to chance in your first life? What if you could have a second life? For many second life residents, this question is their reality.

What if you could have a second life? You would think that with a title like “Second Life” the importance of this question would be fairly obvious. However, it took a while for this concept to click with me. I suppose that, being a serial massively multiplayer online (MMO) gamer, for some reason I was not really taking the title of the simulation to heart. I assumed that, as in every other online “game” I have ever played, there would be a set objective – that someone would tell me what to do and where to go to do it. That is not really the way that Second Life works.

Second Life is a place where anyone can go to “be different, be yourself, free yourself, free your mind, change your mind, change your look, love your look, love your life” (“What is second,”). As one Second Life resident put it, “you just do what you wanna do, you're not playing to anyone else's terms” (Elaine, 2012).

Second Life was launched by Linden Labs in 2003 ("Your second life," 2003). It is a 3D online virtual world designed in many aspects to mimic real life. In Second Life, all content is user-created, from the shops clothes, accessories, and household items can be bought in, right down to the customizable skin of each avatar. In late 2002, CEO and founder of Linden Labs, Philip Rosedale, said this about Second Life:

"Using new technology to enable a dramatic leap forward in the self-expression possible in a 3D online world, we have created a new experience that is, in nearly every sense of the words, a Second Life … Our residents create a new identity in a world that they shape -- whether vixen or villain, architect or explorer. With early creators spending as much as 60 hours a week in-world, we believe Second Life is poised to revolutionize the online experience" ("Linden lab announces,").

What are the Scholars Saying about Second Life?

I am not the first in academia to wonder exactly what Second Life, also commonly referred to as “SL”, is and what implications it could have for our futures. Many scholars have tried to define Second Life, and although many may compare Second Life to MMO games, an overwhelming majority of scholars seem to understand the same thing as Second Life resident Cate: Second Life is not a game. Throughout my readings and wanderings I have come across many different words that might describe the Second Life universe. My favorite, though, is perhaps a term that many SL residents use and one L. D. Falvey (2011) mentions in her article called “Reconstructing Power in Second Life: Controlling the Virtual Mayhem”. The term is “metaverse”. A “metaverse” is an electronic universe that mimics real life and is metaphorically real – hence “meta” (metaphoric or 'beyond') “-verse” (universe). I think this word perfectly describes the universe of infinite possibilities contained within Second Life. Sometimes, though, it may also be appropriate to refer to Second Life as a simulation, as it is in many ways a simulation of real life.

Not only do scholars come to Second Life wondering what it is, but, often, why it is. Why do people continue to go back to their second lives? What about the digital metaverse of Second Life fulfills the needs of its residents?

Hsiao-Cheng Han (2011), author of the article “Second Life, a 3-D Animated Virtual World: An Alternative Platform for (Art) Education” explains that Second Life is a world where anything is possible – where residents can be or do whatever they can imagine. Second Life is also a place where identities can be reformed: some may choose to assume the same identities as their real life (RL), while others might prefer to assume a completely new one, perhaps as a different gender or as a completely different species (Brookey & Cannon, 2009). Second Life appears to be a place where people flock to be who they want to be. As a result, Second Life has become a type of “civil society” that should be taken seriously by the real world – a place where, if properly tapped in to, corporations and organizations alike could find value (Adrian, 2009). Many corporations and organizations have already realized this and have begun tapping into the potential of Second Life in public, private, and non-profit sectors.

For some, however, Second Life is not a place solely for re-defining oneself physically – it is a place where one's spirituality can be explored as well. In her article “Art and Spirituality in Second Life: A Participant Observation and Digital Quest for Meaning”, Mary Stokrocki describes the spiritual and healing potential that Second Life can offer through the in-world creation and sharing of art (2010).

It is important to note, however, that while Second Life may appear to be a clean slate, fresh for the molding, often people reconstruct the same societal norms as can be observed in their real lives. This is most prevalent in the objectification of women and the focus on avatar appearance (Brookey & Cannon, 2009). To find evidence for this claim, one need only browse the Second Life market place in the avatar section. I, personally, have tried several times to find a natural-looking avatar there, but it is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Most of the female avatars available for purchase accentuate the sexuality of the female body. Most of them have rather large, well-defined breasts, round bottoms and curvy figures, and, as Brookey & Cannon point out, the sexual objectification of women is rampant in Second Life (2009). In a majority of sexual scenarios in SL, the female is depicted as the submissive party in the interaction – be it through pose balls (used to animate your avatar in different ways) or simply through advertisements in which females are depicted bound and gagged or in generally submissive poses (Brookey & Cannon, 2009).

Another way in which residents seem to project the “real world” onto their second lives is through the venues they choose to frequent and activities and institutions they (knowingly or not) play into. So far, some of the most popular locations I have noticed are bars, clubs, and strip/sex joints. This is not to say, however, that these are the only types of locations frequented in Second Life – there are many simulations within SL that are far more imaginative and awe-inspiring.

The appearance of RL structures in SL, though, seems to be inevitable. As Adrian points out, many residents take the opportunity to have a second life very seriously – so seriously, in fact, that they may become full time residents with second life sometimes being their only source of income (2009). David Bell suggests that perhaps ethnography focusing only on the second lives of residents is not sufficient enough to get to the bottom of Second Life culture (2009). He suggests that, along side observing the in-world lives of SL residents, it might be necessary to focus on their real lives as well. Thus far, however, I cannot completely agree with this point of view. While I acknowledge that cultural aspects of real life may come into play in the realm of Second Life, I do not believe that these make up the essence of what Second Life really is. Second Life is so much more that a replication of real life. It is a place where creativity flourishes, where life on the moon is possible, and where traditional societal boundaries are blurred.

Getting Into the World: Why Second Life, and What is Ethnography?

When I first became interested in Second Life, I understandably had no grasp of the true spirit of Second Life at all. I came into the metaverse as what one might consider a “game snob”, with a low tolerance for lag, sub-par graphics, and glitches or “bugs” in the system. Unfortunately for Second Life, at that stage in its development it had an abundance of all of those things in my eyes. As the years have gone by, however, many improvements have been made and Second Life has become a much more enjoyable experience, as many residents will attest to.

Several things brought me back to Second Life over the years. One of the most impressive developments that I noticed while attending Georgia Gwinnett College in 2008 – 2009 is that many universities have begun using Second Life as a space for conducting virtual classes. I found this idea to be revolutionary, as I had long believed that if tapped into Second Life could be a great space for language learning given its diverse community.

More recently, however, I stumbled across an article about a woman who became a real life millionaire through managing real estate in Second Life. That blew me away. I started to become curious about how Second Life could be profitable and in what different ways. Needless to say, I wanted to check it out again. That is where this ethnography comes into play.

The purpose of ethnography is to learn about and describe a certain culture. For the purpose of studying Second Life, this method of research is perfect. Second Life, however, is not just one culture – it is many cultures thrown into a giant melting pot. People who use Second Life come from all corners of the world and all walks of life. However, Second Life is not only representative of many different real life cultures, but of a global internet culture as well. Thus, I have studied the general ground rules of culture in SL and the motivation of its residents to continue investing time in the metaverse, as setting out to study Second Life culture as a whole would be like setting out to study American, Chinese, or German culture – it would be a long and complex endeavor.

Methodology

To conduct this ethnography I enlisted the aid of several informants who agreed to let me interview them and in some cases showed me around. Each of them are experienced Second Life residents who have a good understanding of the workings of the metaverse. Some interviews were conducted in text, through the in-world chat system, while others were conducted and recorded via Skype, according to the preference of each informant. In addition, I collected information on Second Life culture through participant observation and field notes written about my experiences in the metaverse.

My informants’ names were Cate, Caz, and Elaine. I met Cate in what you might call a dance club for “newbies,” or inexperienced Second Life residents, called The Shelter. She was more than helpful in my first few days of exploring and gave me helpful insights as to what Second Life means to her and other residents. Caz and I met at a blues bar called Fogbound Blues. He, as with many other Second Life residents, saw my profile, read that I was doing an ethnography on Second Life culture, and became interested in my project. He quickly became an excellent informant and conversation partner in-world. Last but not least, I met Elaine at a discussion group called Thothica that a passing resident had referred me to. Without knowing, she provided me with a lot of interesting insights about the day to day activities of Second Life residents and I quickly requested an interview with her.

General Ground Rules and Pointers for Getting Started

As in all cultures, there are a couple of general ground rules that should be followed in Second Life to obtain optimal results. While there are not many, these should be observed and respected if one wishes to become integrated into the Second Life community. In addition. these are things that new residents can do to make getting adjusted easier on themselves.

First of all, it is important to note that Second Life, as previously stated, is exactly that for many residents – a second life. New residents should try to keep in mind at all times that “you have to respect the avatar first” (Caz, 2012). Although one resident may not take the separation of “first life” and “second life” as seriously as the next, new residents can generally assume that, unless otherwise indicated, first life should not be mentioned. Elaine talks about this more in-depth. Keep in mind that the transcript of this interview, and all of the other interview excerpts you will see here, are raw and true to the speech of the informant. Pauses and hesitations are signified by two periods (..), asides are indicated by two long dashes on either end of the aside (– aside –), sentence breaks are indicated by two dashes (--), and pieces of the interview I have omitted are signified by ellipses (…). If the interviewee put a specific emphasis on a word, it has been italicized.

Elaine: I object at times to people who come on like, well .. When I worked in the club it was like .. you know, stupid questions from these guys .. Do you look like this in real life? How old are you? Where do you live? And I sort of try to step back from that and, you know, depending on who I'm talking to it's like .. what time zone are you in? You know, I don't try to pin them down to say, you know, oh, I live in this and that city and if they just want to come right out with it, I don't-- I think some people find that sort of like .. stalking .. behavior, you know, they're trying to find out where I live and all that. (laughs) There's this one guy – and I think he's Korean – and every time he comes across me he asks, “May I ask your age?” (laughs) And it's like .. I don't even know if I want to tell you because you obviously don't remember who the hell I am. I've been telling you this for two years now (laughs). So, I think, um .. and of course you never ask, “Are you really a girl, are you really a guy?” That's a big non .. thing to ask.

Me: … So you're definitely saying that maybe it's a little inappropriate to ask too much about someone first life?

Elaine: Yes, um .. it kind of-- Well, like I read profiles .. and sometimes you can kind of tell by what they say in their first life section. You know, “second life and first life are like apples and oranges, they don't mix” or .. you know, then you know .. I'm not gonna ask them, y'know. And some people .. they just put their real life picture up there and it's like .. oh, well, I think they're pretty open, so, you can kind of get a feel for them through their profile.

As you can tell from the excerpt above, profiles also play an important role in Second Life interactions. When I first started exploring in Second Life I found that not many people messaged or approached me when I would sit around in clubs or bars. It seemed that everyone was getting along and enjoying themselves and perhaps even that they all knew each other. While it may be true that many residents may frequent a certain space and come to know one another, it was brought to my attention that an important factor in whether or not someone may be approached in SL is their in-world profile.

The in-world profile (see Figure 1) works a lot like Facebook and gives other residents a basis for approaching each other. An excerpt from an interview I had with Caz illustrates this point perfectly:

Caz: Y'know, when I .. when I look at somebody, like anything, y'know .. I'm a profile pervert, so, um .. y'know, I will read the profile. It's not just the pretty face or the pretty body, but I wanna know if this is somebody I wanna talk to, so, um .. And uh, you try to-- I mean I always try to if I approach somebody, approach them from something that I see in their, uh, profile. As opposed to just coming online, y'know.

Me: I've noticed that profiles are very important in Second Life. One of the first pieces of advise that I was given was to put something in my profile.

Caz: I think you sh-- yes. I think people-- And what I've learned over time is you, you uh .. you become more selective.

Figure 1

As you might imagine, I started getting a lot more messages in-world once I had filled out my profile a little. In fact, Caz himself approached me based on what he saw in my profile.

Finally, a piece of advice that new Second Life residents might follow is to leave your real world prejudices behind when you enter Second Life.

Caz: … One thing I've learned in here and I think maybe it's helped in real life is you – you can't be judgmental of any body. I think you learn to be tolerant of a lot.

Me: I think that's one of the themes that I've definitely come across is, y'know, acceptance of others, and, y'know, trying not to be judgmental.

Caz: 'Cause there are so many weird things! Y'know, (laughs) and weird people! Um .. but, uh .. y'know, so I think that you can't judge people, 'cause you don't know! And um .. y'know, to each his own.

Keep an open mind in Second Life, and you can go far.

Freedom and Community in the Metaverse

Second Life, as stated earlier, is marketed as a place to “be different, be yourself, free yourself, free your mind, change your mind, change your look, love your look, love your life” (“What is second,”). It should not be surprising, then, that one of the major themes I have observed in my wanderings through the metaverse is freedom, and from that freedom sprout many sub-themes. Here, the sub-themes that we will discuss are acceptance, fulfillment and accomplishment, and healing (see Taxonomy).

Taxonomy

Freedom “this as my chance to be who I never was in real life”
Acceptance	Accomplishment/Fulfillment	Healing
“...you can't be judgmental of any body. I think you learn to be tolerant of a lot.”	“The feeling that it gives you to accomplish things in second life...”	“...people noticed I laughed more at work, I became more open to other people talking to me.”
“...you've gotta respect other people...”	“...it gives you an immediate feeling of accomplishment.”
	“...it's a huge accomplishment and it gives me a lot of feelings that are much better than I used to have about myself.”

Another major theme I have noticed is that of community. While most Second Life residents have different reasons for getting involved in SL, most end up staying because of the people that they meet and the relationships that they form. It is important, however, to note that the ways that these themes play themselves out in any individual's second life may vary greatly.

Freedom

To begin, let's talk about why I chose to discuss “freedom” as a theme, whereas some – even Second Life residents – might use the term “escapism.” First of all, I believe that the term “escapism” carries a negative connotation in our culture where we are expected to adapt to and overcome our surroundings in real life. Second of all, Second Life is not an escape for all of its residents, just as alcohol is not a means of escape for every person who drinks it. For some, Second Life is a hobby, whereas for others it is a place where they can go to break loose and be themselves, and still for others it is a place to conduct business and be entrepreneurs. These are the major reasons why I chose “freedom” as a theme. It is true to the spirit of Second Life, where you are free to be whoever, whatever, however you want to be. Caz, an informant, likened Second Life to a disco:

Y'know … I'm in my 50's so I grew up in .. I grew up in disco, and I remember in, y'know, '75, '76, before 1980, um .. y'know, discos were places where people would go and they could-- it was kind of the same thing. I mean, it's funny, but you look around, like say, look around Fogbound¹ and then you think of like .. The Village People. I mean, you've got the guy sitting here with the cowboy hat on and the whole thing. Or you get the guys that walk in every once in a while and they have the uh-- I love the guys that come in with like the monster outfits on. Yeah they dress, you know, and they have some kind of .. uh, appearance it's just, y'know, it's just for the provocation. But um, y'know, it's-- it's kinda like a disco. People would go to discos and they'd dress up, y'know .. guys, cab drivers, factory workers would dress to the nines or they would go and they'd dress-- Y’know people would-- It .. it was an escape. So um I think this is just another way for people to escape.

There are many ways in which Second Life residents are free to be “whoever, whatever, however” they want to be, as mentioned above. For example, some residents find freedom in being able to choose their appearance – be it human, humanoid, or not human at all. In being able to choose and alter what they look like at any given time in the metaverse, Second Life residents are freed from the first life game of roulette that chose every physical characteristic about them. They are free to make their appearance reflect who they truly are or aspire to be.

I .. I look at, um .. this as my chance to be who I never was in real life. So .. being .. older, 'cause I'm .. I'm sixty, um .. it's like .. a chance to-- you know, I was .. I was a mom, I was overweight, I was all of those things when I was, mm, say 30's, so. I don't wanna look like that (Elaine, 2012).

Second life residents are also free to participate in activities they might otherwise not feel free to participate in in their first lives. In our society where an activity such as BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism) or having a transgendered sexuality is often considered taboo people often feel pressured into conformity. Second Life is a chance for its residents to truly express themselves by whatever means they desire.

Live and Let Live (Acceptance)

Understandably, with such freedom must come acceptance – otherwise Second Life residents would not feel so inclined to express themselves openly. There seems to be a resounding theme within Second Life that although some residents may not necessarily enjoy the same things that other residents do, there is no need to pass judgment on them. This live and let live attitude has fostered an atmosphere of acceptance for just about anything anyone could be into, except for heinous activities such as depicting or allowing child avatars in pornographic material or simulations.

The following excerpt is from an interview with Caz about the need to respect and not be judgmental of other people:

I think it's um, you've gotta respect other people for um...uh, y'know, for-- respect whatever they're into. Um, it's really funny – I'll send you the note card – I have this conversation I had with this woman (laughs) in this place, y'know, and she was .. y'know, it was one of those BDSM places .. at one time it was a very popular place, so, um, there were a lot of people there. And this woman just came up to me and started haranguing me about politics and uh, y'know, finally I said to her, I said .. Hey, Listen! I said, I'm standing here and you come up and start yelling at me, I said, you – you sit here and say that you'll be a slut, y'know, bitch, for some some cartoon dom, y'know, at night .. and you have the temerity to question my, y'know, my politics? I mean, that's pretty funny, y'know, and um .. So, I think you've gotta respect people for what they are and what they're trying to do, you just leave-- y'know .. you don't judge. One thing I've learned in here and I think maybe it's helped in real life is you – you can't be judgmental of any body. I think you learn to be tolerant of a lot.

This excerpt is an excellent example of the approach that most Second Life residents bring to the table. Everyone comes to Second Life for different reasons and to escape the pressures of society and that is something that I believe Second Life residents learn to respect about one another. As Caz states (about BDSM, with a preface that he is now 50 years old), it is a “way to be able to … do some things that I've done in real life that … I don't get to do in real life any more”.

Fulfillment and Accomplishment

Because of the freedom Second Life offers to its residents along with the atmosphere of acceptance that freedom breeds, fulfillment is another important theme within SL. There are many different ways in which this fulfillment might present itself in the lives of different SL residents. Some of these are fulfillment through self expression, through creation (otherwise known as “building” in-world), and through forming relationships with others. Elaine, for example, found fulfillment in her relationship with her partner Sim, who she met in-world, and through participating in intellectual discussion groups such as Thothica where she meets “similar people, smart and funny and not just into going to clubs and spouting gestures instead of talking.”

Interwoven with fulfillment is accomplishment. Many residents in SL find that they get a sense of accomplishment in Second Life that they do not often find in their first lives. This sense of accomplishment may stem from many of the same things that also bring fulfillment to SL residents, such as through building and creating relationships, communities, and groups. For Elaine, the feeling of accomplishment was achieved through building:

The feeling that it gives you to accomplish things in second life-- I know (pheh) .. it's like trying to show my mother what I do. I'm building a hospital, ma! .. She doesn't get it. But for me it's a huge accomplishment and it gives me a lot of feelings that are much better than I used to have about myself. I used to think I couldn't do anything right, nothing was working out, and here I can be a goddess and terraform land and make trees spring up out of nothing, you know.

...

Not really a goddess complex or anything but it .. it gives you an immediate feeling of accomplishment.

Healing

Perhaps most important from the themes springing from the freedom SL affords its residents is healing. This theme is complex and may manifest in many different forms and through different media. For some, art is a powerful way to express oneself and thus heal one's pain. For others, building and the sense of accomplishment they derive from it may have healing effects. Still, for others, social interaction in the metaverse, in such an accepting atmosphere, may prove a boon for their first life social lives as well. Below, Elaine describes how Second Life changed her life:

But you know I'm kind of stuck at home alone .. isolated, angry, feeling cut off from the rest of the world except when I was at work and that's not a good way to feel, so .. I came in and became addicted almost immediately.

...

I used to be a dancer in a club² and I've-- (heh) I was always a fairly shy person. I spent about the first week when I was working afraid to say anything and then after I'd been there a year I'd say anything, out in public, out loud (laughs) .. It just-- and people noticed I laughed more at work, I became more open to other people talking to me. I mean, it's effected me in my real life a lot.

For Elaine, freedom to be who she wants to be an look how she wants to look greatly appreciated the quality of her interpersonal skills and real life social experiences.

Community

Next to freedom, community is arguably one of the most important themes that keeps Second Life residents coming back. In an interview, I asked Caz what kept him coming back to Second Life.

...the one thing I uh .. I didn't expect um, was the .. was the fact that you do make friends. I mean, two big things. Number one that you can make friends and number two that there are people from all over the world so you meet a very interesting group of people.

This description is true to my own experiences in Second Life as well. When I first began exploring Second Life I just could not get into it. I didn't understand how people could spend so much time doing what I perceived to be nothing. Then, however, and largely due to my ethnographic research, I began to make acquaintances and friends. After that, I started wanting to log on – I wanted to talk to the friends I had made and found it enjoyable to sit around with them, listen to some music, and have a conversation. Things that had seemed frivolous or ridiculous to me before that point, such as being able to make your avatar drink a cup of tea or smoke a cigar as you sit (see Figure 2), became more amusing to me. They made the interaction seem more authentic.

Figure 2 – My avatar smoking a cigar at Fogbound Blues.

Elaine shared a similar experience that I took as advice when I told her that I couldn't seem to get my boyfriend interested in exploring Second Life with me:

I ran into somebody right away, you know, met some people that are still good friends of mine and we go and hang out together sometimes, once in a while .. and uh, some people I know in real life, we've not you know like .. met, face to face, but we-- they're no longer in second life, but we're still communicating in .. in ways outside second life.

This seemed to suggest to me that if you make an effort to meet more people, Second Life becomes more interesting in the sense that you can build lasting and meaningful relationships with other residents.

Conclusion

Second Life is a teeming metaverse full of diversity. Each resident's reasons for coming into SL may vary by degrees or by miles. However, what is important to them is largely the same: freedom. The freedom that Second Life offers its residents affords them an atmosphere of general acceptance that helps them to build communities and meaningful relationships amongst themselves, and in many cases to overcome social obstacles they may have struggled with in “first life.” All of these things and more make Second Life the ideal retreat for those who feel excluded from or stigmatized by society – a space where they are free to be themselves.

Before my involvement in Second Life I considered myself to be a pretty non-judgmental and accepting person. However, my adventures in and wanderings through the SL metaverse have taught me a different kind of understanding, one that is hard to describe but, for many, a shared experience in Second Life. I learned to respect people for who they aim and aspire to be, not for who they may be or appear to be under their attire. I learned that while I may never know who the person behind an avatar is, what is important is who they are trying to be.

It has been suggested that more inquiry into the first lives of Second Life residents might be necessary for a more complete analysis of the culture. However, as many residents and researchers have made clear, Second Life is a medium through which individuals may recreate themselves. It is a metaverse in which neither RL appearance, health, nor physical condition matters. In the true spirit of Second Life, to bring real lives into the picture seems to me to be counter-intuitive. People come to Second Life to overcome RL barriers, to celebrate creativity, and be whoever or whatever they want to be – not to put their real lives on display. Perhaps to truly appreciate Second Life that is exactly what needs to be realized: Second Life is what its creators and residents say it is, and what its name suggests – a second life, a fresh start.

References

Adrian, A. (2009). Civil society in Second Life. International Review Of Law, Computers & Technology, 23(3), 231-235. 

Bell, D. (2009). Learning from Second Life. British Journal Of Educational Technology, 40(3), 515- 525.

Brookey, R., & Cannon, K. L. (2009). Sex Lives in Second Life. Critical Studies In Media Communication, 26(2), 145-164. 

Cate. (2012, March 10). Personal Communication.

Caz. (2012, March 30). Personal Communication.

Elaine. (2012, March 28). Personal Communication.

Falvey, L. D. (2011). Reconstructing Power in Second Life®: Controlling the Virtual Mayhem. Journal For Cultural Research, 15(1), 55-74. 

HSIAO-CHENG, H. (2011). Second Life, a 3-D Animated Virtual World: An Alternative Platform for (Art) Education. Art Education, 64(4), 41-46.

Linden lab announces name of new online world 'Second Life™' and availability of beta program. (2002, October 30). Retrieved from http://lindenlab.com/press/releases/02_10_30

Stokrocki, M. (2010). Art and Spirituality on Second Life: A Participant Observation and Digital Quest for Meaning. Journal Of Alternative Perspectives In The Social Sciences, 2(1), 182-197.

What is Second Life?

. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://secondlife.com/whatis/?lang=en-US

Your second life begins today

. (2003, June 23). Retrieved from http://lindenlab.com/press/releases/03_06_23

1Fogbound is a blues bar in Second Life.

2Elaine was a dance/hostess in a club in Second Life.

Fogbound Blues

Not much going on tonight! I ran into an old friend at Fogbound Blues, my favorite haunt in SL so far!

 (my avatar)

It's a little blues bar that has a pretty regular crowd and great blues music. It's nice just to come in now and then and hang out, animate my avatar, just listen to music, or all three :) 

(here you see the Fogbound Blues bar, dance floor and pool room/lounge to the right)

I often meet some pretty interesting characters here, although the talkativity and approach-ability of the the patrons seems to vary day to day.

Lately I have been looking for way to bring in a few extra lindens, but my options seem to be limited to selling my avatar's body for now...and I am not sure how I feel about it.

On one hand, it's just an avatar, right? It's just the internet, right?

On the other hand...I am the person behind the avatar. Do my actions online not reflect or effect me as a person?

I do not know if I have found that separation between first life and second life for myself yet.

Thoughts? Comments?

Aaaand...we're back!

Well! I'm back in world after a good break. I finished my ethnography - it went really well. I also graduated college, so I have been romping about the country IRL.

Anyway! On my first day back in I decided to check out some of the suggested destinations on the SL destination guide. I really loved the one from the photos below - MetaLES "Tim's Dreams".

It was beautifully designed, I loved the sounds and music - it accompanied the imagery so well.

This snapshot is from the teleport point. I thought the water contrasted the dark stone beautifully.

I took this one with the first creature I ran into...this one points you onward in your quest to explore the sim.

 I got a little silly with it.

 This was beautiful. The music and the snow falling were wonderful touches.

This was one of the most beautiful scenes in the sim for me. The stars were hanging from patchwork balloons and their reflections hit the water so perfectly...

So I sat for a while and enjoyed the view.

Another silly picture, with a neat scene.

Bouncing windows! There were these two bouncing windows are you approached the stars hanging from patchwork balloons. They were cute ^^

Otherwise I was a little exasperated as I explored, hopping from sim to sim, only to see silence every where I went...I was wondering if they must be speaking privately in IMs or if everyone just stands around in a virtual world to be alone and ... bored. I mean...I know they can't be bored, otherwise why would they log in at all?

Maybe I just haven't found my niche yet.

I am looking into maybe teaching a couple of ESL/EFL classes at a place called "Drive-Through ESL". We will see how that goes!

I am hoping it will be an opportunity to get some experience teaching as well as to earn a few extra lindens.

Until next time!

Moda