Shouting into the void

At this point I've not "made friends" in SL. I've met and interacted with others but only in an informational manner. The main method of interacting is through typing text. SL has set it up so that when you are typing the avatar imitates the look of typing to ensure that there is a social cue to "show" that someone is engaged and not waiting for an answer or to move on to something else.

Alessandra Talamo and Beatrice Ligorio discuss the use of text based interaction in their article "Strategic Identities in Cyberspace" in CyberPsychology & Behavior Vol. 4, No. 1, 2001, 109-122, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. They are "describing how identities are perceived and constructed in cyberspace" (109). Their view is that as long as interaction is text based, and does not involved sensory interaction, then there is more room psychologically to play with identity (111). In their study of interaction between international classrooms, the teachers normally chose one avatar appearance and stayed with that look throughout the eight month interaction time. This allowed for recognition by others as well as the ability to set themselves up in a particular discourse and have continuity in that setting. The students, however, not only experimented with all the avatars available to see which one they liked to inhabit, but they would also change clothes as well as avatars depending on what they were doing and where they were. There was no consistency of discourse with the majority of the students - they were trying out a variety of looks to see what worked in each situation (111 -112).

According to Sharon Begley's article in Newsweek about avatars, research shows that if you have an avatar that you and others see as attractive or not will affect how you interact with others. As in real life attractive avatars were more outgoing, friendly, assertive, and even had smaller personal space when interacting with other avatars. Less attractive avatars created within the person directing them a more introverted personality, more cautious with a larger personal space. In other words people saw the avatar as themselves on screen and acted with real world responses to how they physically appeared to themselves and others. This expands on an earlier post called ""Male or Female? Will it matter?" At this point in SL it has not mattered in my interactions because they have all been informational. I have noticed that everyone is thin and fit looking, though. I can't believe that all the FL person of the avatars are thin and fit. While I haven't seen all of the over 13 million members I'm sure that many do not match their FL look.

The other point in Begley's article that is intriguing is that if a person has an attractive avatar it makes them feel more attractive and act as if they are more attractive even when they are not playing the role. In other words the effects spill over into their actual lives. Hopefully there will be more research done in this area. It would be especially interesting to see how this affects teenagers perceptions of themselves as an avatar and in their real life interactions - does it help them feel more confident so that their social and school interactions become more positive for them?

Kate Khatib in her article "Auto Identities: Avatar Identities in the Digital Age", printed in Thamyris/Intersecting No. 15 (2007) 69 - 78, discusses the idea that we cannot "approach our online avatars as purely virtual manifestations of physical subjects, it is my contention that we must approach these online identities in a more mystical sense - as manifestations of idealized vision of the self." This matches what I've seen in SL as well as read on other SL member blogs when talking about how they view themselves in SL. They are able to create not only a more appealing self in SL but some create a SL that earns them money and fame in both SL and FL.