Want to live a second life? These second life users can show you how
Please, ask me what second life is now and spare yourself any further confusion. Second life is an online virtual world, where the members can create their own virtual 3D avatars and explore the virtual world with one another. This is not to be mistaken as some massive multiplayer role playing game however. Wikipedia states that the creators of second life are adamant about it. There is really no set objective to achieve in the virtual world.
In Tom Boellstorff’s book, “Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human,” He presents a very interesting take on the relationship between the virtual world and the real world. I was first caught by his take when he describes dancing with a woman named Fran in Second Life, as taking place in real life. So while they only danced together in the virtual world, he still considers it to be real. He takes his intriguing take a step further while interviewing Fran, who by the way is an eighty-five year old woman with Parkinson's disease. “When Fran said, ‘this is who I am’ while describing her avatar, she was not in denial about her physical body. She was saying that her virtual and physical bodies were both real, each in their own way.”(Boellstorff) This incredible quote embodies his stance on the topic almost perfectly. He goes on to explain that in many instances of virtual reality, the user’s physical body and virtual body become aspects of their reality.
Almost fittingly, we see this appear to be true for many of the “residents” of second life in the communities forums. One thread in the forum stood out to me the most. In this thread called ‘The Home and Garden thread,’ users post their virtual homes and gardens to show off to one another. If this seems oddly similar to some social media websites to you, I would like to reassure you that you aren’t alone. This is almost like a version of Instagram solely for Second Life users. I would argue that just like with Fran and her dancing experience, this interaction among Second Life members shows how they inadvertently discuss and showcase the relationship between virtual and reality as real to them. As new aspects of their reality.
