Intro
My experience on Second Life was fairly simple. I got a brief introduction into the world and interacted with a couple of people. I can now say “I tried Second Life” but I doubt I will ever return to that world. I find it more interesting to understand why people interact with virtual communities and why I don’t enjoy them. And Howard Rheingold’s book, dated it may be, helped me further my understanding of the human psychology behind virtual worlds.
There are many aspects of these worlds / communities that are based on natural desires that make us human. The biggest one is the sense of community and I believe that is why people are drawn to them.
So, if communities are natural, why was I scared and not interested in interacting in the virtual community of Second Life?
Community
One of the base instincts of humans, like most animals, is the desire for a
sense of community.
Like religion, family, professional groups, charity groups, etc., humans desire the feeling of being part of a community. Second Life is just another example of a community whos arms can stretch further than a community set in the physical world. Even though I didn’t interact with a specific sub-community of Second Life, you could say that I interacted with the Second Life community. I talked with two other people about their experiences and where they liked to go and what they like to do in Second Life. We shared the common interest of exploring Second Life. Even though the fact remained that I was mainly there because I was forced to do this for a school project, I still found I did have a desire to explore the world (a little) and figure out why people go there.A community is a social group of organisms sharing an environment, normally
with shared interests. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks and a number of other
conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity
of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness (http://www.wikipedia.org/).
Some of the other members of the class mentioned encountering and exploring more of the sub-communities of Second Life. For example, one student mentioned a UN summit taking place and non-profit agencies setting up shop in Second Life. Some others mentioned the sex islands. These sub-communities can bring you together with hundreds of people stretching many countries and continents and it gave these students a community to belong to and probably a better feeling for Second Life.
While others found some tame sub-communities from what I understand about virtual communities like Second Life, they tend to be more a collection of perverts and less of a “multibrained organism of collective expertise” like the WELL community that Rheingold describes (Chapter 4, page 1). I don’t share the same intent or (from what I could tell) shared interests with anyone I encountered in Second Life. In retrospect, I would have enjoyed figuring out what I wanted to see when I was in Second Life before I logged in and then perhaps sought out a community in which to interact.
Rheingold writes that he was “hungry for intellectual companionship as well as raw information” when he became active in the WELL community (Chapter 2 p.17).” So what brings the Second Life community together? What is the intent of the collective Second Life community?
It appears that while there are other things going on in Second Life and some interesting sub-communities being formed, the largest community in Second Life is the sex community.
Sex
Yes, sex is natural….figuring out how to manipulate your avatar to have virtual sex…..not so natural. Sex is a billion dollar industry and of course the Internet is a natural place to find it. I, however, have no desire to pretend to be a bunny and explore sex islands on Second Life (or any other virtual community). But it is also understandable that other people enjoy exploring their sexuality and fantasies in virtual worlds. In class we joked about the sex aspect of Second Life but for some people it is the real deal. But again, I don’t share this intent with this sub-community of Second Life.
Anonymity
Beyond the feeling that I don’t want to be a part of a sex community, I think my fear of Second Life and other virtual communities lies in the anonymity of the participants. So when I began reading Rheingold’s first chapter about the WELL community, I remember thinking, “This sounds like a nice community of interesting people. Why was I so intimidated by virtual life?” I realized later that my comfort with the idea of WELL was only because the individuals, whether they were lifers or occasional posters, were not anonymous.
It appears to me that one of the perks to the users of today’s virtual communities is anonymity. You can become a pink rabbit and explore your wildest fantasies. I don’t want to be a part of this world, even if my activities in there are completely innocent. I dislike the anonymity of Second Life and a lot of the Internet in general. I find it intimidating and very unnatural. Additionally, as Rheingold discusses the dark side issues of MUD and gender and writes “The possibility of an electronic imposter invading people’s most intimate lives is inherent in the technology (Chapter 5, page 18).” Even if I had the desire to explore fantasies in Second Life I would have this fear ever present in my mind. In addition to questioning who I am talking to I would have to wonder what their intent is, could it be malicious?
Whether the community was based on the discussion of sex or the health of their children the feeling that you know them brings a sense of security and a closer sense of community, in my opinion. You, whether it’s the real you or a new identity you have created, put yourself out there to the many faceless judges.
My avatar didn’t really resemble me (way too skinny and much longer hair) and my name was not my own but I did interact in Second Life as me. I went to places I wanted to go (and would have gone in real life) and I spoke to people about my life and what I was doing in Second Life. I didn’t invent a new character with a different personality than my own. But as Rheingold states, virtual worlds “seem to dissolve boundaries of identity.” You get to play with your own identity and create “new identities, false identities, multiple identities, exploratory identities (Chapter 5, page 3).” This is largely unappealing to me. I have a hard enough time identifying who I am as an individual I don’t want to spend time creating someone else.
Conclusion
While I understand that people desire a sense of community and the freedom of anonymity, no matter what the intent of the community, I still have trepidations about virtual worlds. Even if I mastered Second Life and became a part of a community I am doubtful that I would ever truly be relieved of my fears and lack of interest in virtual communities. I don’t like the feeling that I don’t know who I am talking to. I don’t want to create a new identity for myself. I don’t want to explore sexual fantasies. I don’t see how I fit into the Second Life world or other worlds like it but I understand why others do find it appealing and addictive.
So this goes to the title of this essay. My experience in second life can be summed up in the tag line from the episode of Seinfeld where George and Jerry are accused of being gay. Every time Jerry is accused of being gay he exclaims. “I’m not GAY!” which is then followed by the episode tag line “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” Second Life isn’t for me but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t the right place for someone else to explore their identity and their place within virtual community.
