Avatar Communication

"You cannot not communicate. Every behaviour is a kind of communication. Because behaviour does not have a counterpart (there is no anti-behaviour), it is not possible not to communicate." Paul Watzlawick

In a virtual environment, it seems, we lack some of the modalities of communication. We apparently communicate with verbal language only, vocal (as in voice chat) or non vocal (as in regular chat). We lack the body-language and the para-language when we talk in Second life. Or do we?

We also emote. A lot. I have been really amazed of how well we all get the message through this communicative-wise simple channel. So in lack of the non verbal modalities, emoting was created and enhanced to a pretty sophisticated level. Mitch Kapor keeps spilling some info about avatar puppetering and body mirroring all over the web, so the nonverbal side of communication might be enhanced very soon.

And in SL we even dress up - or not. Create ourselves in the form of an avatar. Or not. And this communicates stuff no matter what. In the movie 'Second Me' by Anna Thommen, Eifachfilm Vacirca shares some really fine points regarding this.

Also the latest debates about skinny and fat avies shows that how you choose to look tells alot about you. It's a statement. Even when it's not.

We could for the fun of it, try to box this in (the brain loves that no?). Avatars could be categorized in overlapping labels like:

• WhoCares - this guy (it is mostly guys) gets into SL, picks a common made up avatar of some sort, makes some minor changes and sticks with it. Famous whocares: Phillip Linden
  
• Toonie - furries, nekos, greenies, tinies, robots etc. Your avi looks nothing like anything found outside the fantasy worlds. Famous toonies: Vint Falken.
  
• Crossover - here we have the people who pretend to be opposite in some aspects of your RL self in weight/height/haircolour/age/gender/race/beauty/economic status etc. Famous crosssovers: Marianne McCann.
• RealLifer - tries to make an (often but not allways enhanced) lookalike-version of their RL selves. Famous Reallifer: Mitch Kapor, Hamlet Au.
  
• Shapeshifter - changes shape often, plays around with it. Famous shapeshifters: Torley Linden, Andromega Volare.
  
• Roleplayer - here the avatar is clearly dictated by whatever part you play.
  

I am sure there are phases in time too, like Rob put it in his blogpost 'the naming of names'.

So what does your avatar tells us?

Now-here :)

A: we are all schooled to look for the future
You: yes
A: and we miss our lives going by
A: as we look further and further ahead
A: maybe that's the part of what makes SL so amazing
A: it is only that moment
A: there is nothing more

So true in weeks of disrupted asset servers and whutnot.

To melt into the sun...

When someone dies who has been a major hub in a social network, it's like the essence of that persons work stands out clearer. Such a person passed away this Saturday.

I had the honour of meeting her for the first time a little less than a month ago. As a SLP student I wanted to know a bit about how Second Life could make things possible that was otherwise Not Possible In Real Life (NPIRL) for people who has suffered from aphasia after a stroke. The Sojourner, or Soj, was in my eyes one of the best experts in the area, since she as a multiple stroke survivor and Speech Language Practitioner knew aphasia from both sides.

Even though she was busy, she took her time to talk to me, a total stranger. We talked for a couple of hours, and what stands out now, is her wish... 'I would really like to see SLP’s come into SL and learn about it and its pros and cons'.

Second Life really has a potential for everyday magic... and Soj was, as another friend put it, 'pulling rabbits out of the hat every day'.

You can visit her memorial at Dreams, light candles and make donations for the project.

One Hungry Demon...

... thrives very well in SL. This fellow is convincing you that what you need is somewhere out here, making you feel hollow and fragile, wanting to lock up what you have found, not wanting to share it making you picky, stingy and kinda closed off, making you fear that you can loose it. Even making your paranoia grow towards every new avi that enters your home and says hello.

In SL you have so many means to makes this demon grow, that it can literally drive you nuts. Alts, IMs, mapping, ways of retrieving info... the fact that the person your are hugging could be cybering another in IM at the same time, and the constant factor of the others being something else than what they appear to be, all this can feed the jealousy.

SL is a new social territory, and the ways we relate in RL doesnt allways fit well into it. Unless we learn the biggest lesson: that to love is to let go... coz what you feel is really inside you, not out there somewhere. Love is not a choice, but setting free is... *grins*... luckily!

Huh?

In a recent blogpost at Reuters Phillip Rosedale stated:

“The only thing that SL users have in common is that they have a lot of time.” Users in big cities [...] were least likely to spend time in Second Life, not only because they were busy but because they had less need to escape to an alternative, anonymous world, he said. “Bad weather, oppressive regimes, poor economic conditions — that’s what makes an SL user.”

That comment really made me wonder where Phil gets his info from?

There are others out there who had made surveys regarding the demographics, social and economical, of what 'makes an SL user'. Two interesting surveys are that worth reading are the EPN report and The Second Life Survey.

A need to escape?
According to The second Life Survey, 15,5% '... often go to Second Life to forget about my real life problems'. That leaves nearly 85% who don't often use SL as an escape from real life. Which again fits with the results in the EPN report:

"The group that spends a lot of time in Second Life is not only economically but also socially privileged. There is a strong correlation between well-being and success in Second Life and well-being and success in real life."

Bad weather?
Yup... I can agree on that one. When its pissing down I'm more likely to log in.

Oppressive regimes?
The majority of the users comes from Europe, closely followed by USA. Now I wont go into a discussion here whether the US and EU are oppressive regimes *grins* but apparently Phillip thinks so :p

Poor economis conditions? Not living in big cities?
First: to get on SL at all you need a broadband connection. That is not something you find way out in the country... and it is often not cheap either. A high end PC is needed too. Which is again not cheap. So to get SL up and running you need to be in an pretty decent economic condition. And in, or close to a web-wired city. This is backed up by the EPN report:

"A considerable portion of those surveyed stated that they have a good income level outside of Second Life. They are able to combine their activities in Second Life with their family life and work. The interviews indicated that the activities in Second Life were spread over evening hours, breaks at work and often a portion of the week-ends."

"It is striking that those surveyed who spend considerable time in Second Life frequently belong to the creative or IT professions. These professions offer relatively high incomes and are populated by those who call themselves “producer”, or one who makes things. It appears that a creative vanguard (IT and creative professionals) has ensconced itself in Second Life."

And finally is having a lot of time (as if!) the only thing we SL'ers have in common?

His comment really speak volumes of how he and maybe even all of LL perceives us.