Jumble of Convoluted Thoughts
What are the implications of living a life in a virtual world? Do people tend to drop out of normal society, lured into anonymous, pixelated interactions? Or is it that Second Life, and games like it, is allowing for users to not only be themselves, but to take on more desirable traits and apply them to their real life personalities?
Scholar and author, Sherry Turkle has written on this topic, discussing the positive effects that exploring different sides of one’s self can have on a person. (Check it out on Amazon.com) Life on the Screen, however, was published in the 1990’s. I’m interested in how things have changed today.
I do not look at things through the eyes of psychology. I am interested in human behavior, but not the deep seated causes of why people swarm to online social interactions. I am hoping to, in the future, be able to better understand such things, and to answer my own questions above. I’ve already spoken to people in Second Life who claim they interact better with people in their real lives, after perfecting communication in the world. In my personal experience, I have become more confident and eloquent in speaking to those in my first life.
It’s not just a game, with goals to meet and monsters to slay. Every single thing you do in the Second Life environment runs parallel to an actual life. People get jobs, people make art, they get married and have 2.5 children and a dog. They have sex, they DON’T have sex, they go dancing and clubbing, they go shopping, they go driving, they go horseback riding. The choice is yours and yours alone. Sure being able to do all the things one can do in a real life may cause some hermitism (yes I just made that word up). I am definitely able to see the lure of being able to do and be whatever you want. I’m sure it is easy for some to completely drop out of society to live in a virtual world, with anonymous friends. But in my time there, I’ve noticed less and less people who are completely reluctant to share information about themselves. I enjoy knowing about who I am talking to, so I’m always one to ask their age and where they come from. Just remember, if you’re afraid to answer my questions, I will automatically assume you are a donger. (If you don’t know what a donger is…well you can ask me in the game - Marissa Racecourse)