Coming of Age in Second Life: Chapter 1
Main points
Second Life groups can be studied anthropologically just like any other group in real life because new users learn from the natives around them in the virtual world.
The bleed through between ‘real life’ and ‘secpnd life’. People in ‘second life’ use real money and some have real jobs in the ‘virtual world’.
Without an ‘actual world’ a ‘virtual world’ can’t exist. A ‘virtual world’ is described as world that “approaches the actual without arriving there.”
Virtual interactions aren’t actual but they are real. Real people in the actual world are carrying out these actions in a virtual environment.
Second Life is not a game. There may be gaming components within the virtual world but no one wins and no score is kept.
My reaction
I think it is interesting how the author discusses the bleed through between real life and second life. This is something I really want to study when I’m in second life. After going through second life and seeing shops where people sell goods they created and going into the sandbox to see creations people were working on I wondered who else was with me in second life. I wondered if these clothing designers did the same in real life or if they had real life jobs anymore. The fact that people are drawn to carry out these actions and identities online must mean these are some extension of how this person sees them self in real life or how they would like to be seen in real life. So far I haven’t done too much in second life, like change my appearance or create anything. I did buy a tuxedo jacket, which I think could be my way of being a smooth James Bond type in second life but I am curious to see how Raleigh Khandr develops over the semester and what that says about me.