In Second Life
This is how I see my relationship with second life and my avatar, Alexsandra Hyun.
(click to enlarge the images)
Alex was alone on the campus. She build a box, wandered around, and tried on some new outfits…
And then a friend came by for a chat…
It was Melanie
Does our experience and relationship with our and other people’s avatars have to be one way or another, or can it be a combination?
3 Responses
Comments are closed.
I like how your incorporated an image of your ‘real self’ into some of these pictures. By casting yourself as the puppetmaster of your avatar, I think it really speaks to how we generally view these things.
Hillary–
your project forms such a fascinating contrast to Hannah’s; what I’d noticed first about her RL/SL contrast was the absence of others (and you bring some other folks in). Her project had highlighted, for me, what a “staging area” we live and work in here; yours does that even more insistently, by making yourself first into a puppet master, and then inviting us to follow your puppet, as you encountered another class member….whoa!
I felt much less the voyeur, watching you manipulating your avatar, then meeting up w/ Melanie, than I did in Hannah’s space…why is that, I wonder? Because something more complicated was going on there, because you were yourself engaged….?
Great stuff!
I love your amazing use of technology to insert yourself into the virtual reality that is BMC in Second Life! I don’t know if you intended this, but I was struck by the opposing views presented by the first set of screenshots (first 5) and the last set (last 4).
The first set, I feel, conveys the player-as-puppeteer viewpoint that I myself hold. This is, of course, evident by your real (bodily) self holding strings attached to your avatar as if she were a marionette. The divide between player and character is clear: your real self has your name above your head (Hillary) while your avatar has her name (Alexsandra Hyun) above her head.
The second set of screenshots, however, have your real life head superimposed (?) on your avatar’s body as if you were your avatar. This is reinforced by the name of your character displayed above your real life name.
So my questions are: did you intend for these opposing viewpoints? which identity do you associate with, the puppeteer or that you and your avatar are one?