Chapter 3-Classroom dicussion
We talked about many things dealing with the nature of Second Life in the class period today.
Chapter 3 discusses the pros and cons for considering SecondLife as self contained and to study it in its own terms. Focus groups about Second Life in SecondLife in its own environment. Actual events forming in SecondLife. There is a definite connection with actual like. SL references actual life but if we pay attention like we have been in the classroom, we do have the same concepts and ideas of the items…but they are reinvented. It is a reflection of our actual life pertaining to second life. It is how much we invest in it and our own individuality…this is the dependent factor in determining this difficult concept to grasp.
Some have opinions about Second Life as a waste of time, and how would these people spend so much time and invest on this network …they have lost sense of reality with the real world and humanity. Face to face interaction. The actual experience with human connection is lost. Almost that they are dehumanized. This has a great deal with the world becoming more technological advanced. One student stated that 90% of communication is nonverbal…so how do we experience that without person to person physical interaction?
Masking as an avatar is a main concern of discussion. It was emphasized that how you carry yourself..and mask your true self. Almost as you are anti-social. or trying to be someone you are not.. and by being an avatar and being a different person online.. isnt this lying or faking what we might say second life is …reality? A situated socialization can be negatively portrayed in some aspects.
Do we really know who is on the other side of the computer? No. These can be murderers and petafiles. Or maybe they just are people with social anxiety…but how does second life really help them? It does not…it is just making them worse by forming their life to this virtual world instead of going out in the real world.
Who knows… this is all personal opinions and individual comments which make for interesting classroom discussion.
Until then,
Elizabeth Kral