In this chapter of the book the author talks about the self, the life course, avatars and alts, embodiment, gender and race and agency.  The self section discusses the individual or person as being one of the most powerful concepts found in human societies.  In secondlife, one must choose a screen name that differs from their actual world names.  This relates to the virtual and actual comparison in that in this virtual world one gives a different name than real life because the virtual world is an escape from the actual in some ways.  Secondlife in some ways is based on role play.  When they conceal their identity through this virtual world it may make their actual world self more real.

The life course section of the chapter talks about how secondlife relates to ones actual life course.  That is being born, growing, aging and finally dying.  This section also discussed newbies and how to determine if one was one or not.  One way to tell is if you see an avatar wearing a box because this means they don’t know how to open an item yet.  I experienced this numerous times when I was just starting secondlife, but am not familiar with how to open a box.  Once one gets more familiar with secondlife you could become a midbie, which means you are more familiar with the site.  In the real world every life must ultimately end, but in secondlife one died when they stopped using the site.  This can be for various reasons such as they were spending too much time on secondlife and not enough time in the actual world.

In the avatar and alts section, the author discussed what an avatar actually means.  “The idea of an avatar usually implies an embodiment that is intentionally crafted – the product of techne – and thus a zone of relationally between persons.  Avatars allowed residents to see if other persons were present and where their attention was directed; avatars could also express durable aspects of self identity” (p.129).  One can freely change the way their avatar looks through the appearance section on secondlife.  This is interesting because one can’t change their appearance in the actual world.  This is a way that people can make themselves look however they want and feel comfortable in another environment, if perhaps they don’t in the actual world.  If they are self conscience about their bodies in the actual world, through secondlife they can be who they wish they were in real life.

In the embodiment, gender and race section of the chapter it discussed how actual users of secondlife envisioned themselves as their avatars in real life.  They said that how their avatars acted on secondlife was how they saw themselves on the inside.  Embodiment doesn’t always have to be physical, it can be social and cultural as well.  To be able to make oneself look however they wished on secondlife was a way for them to escape the reality of being judged in the real world for looking a certain way.  Through secondlife, you were able to be yourself any way that you wanted.  In the section about gender and race it discussed how when you sign up for secondlife you have to choose male or female, but that can be changed at anytime.  “Such gender swapping allows people to experience rather than merely observe what it feels like to be the opposite gender or to have no gender at all” (9. 142).  In the actual world it is not that easy, but still possible to take on one gender or the other.  In terms of race, there is no option in secondlife to choose a certain race, however there is the possibility of changing your skin color which can enable people to take on certain races.  In real life you can not change your race, nor would some want too.  However, in secondlife you can see how it feels to take on a different ethnicity and see if people react differently to you.