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RP racism

Page history last edited by Ryan Papera 14 years, 3 months ago

 

Being the Noob that I Am

  

I was given the task to explore the possibility of racism or discrimination in Second Life. “Virtual worlds hold the promise of communication without regard for distance, physical ability, gender, or race. Every aspect of the avatar is flexible, rendering prejudice obsolete”(curious case). I was required to travel to four different places and ask the people there for advice on random topics and see their responses. We were supposed to ask questions like where can I get free things, how to do basic things, etc. I was supposed to see if they treated me any differently because I had a black skin versus a white one. Unfortunately I forgot to take a good quality picture of my avatar before I changed him. This is an edited version of my old avatar and my new one. I changed my shirt back to the stock newbie shirt to further my role as someone who needs help. 

 

I have a very strong personal opinion about this topic. I wrote basically this same thing as a response in class in my journal. Second Life is supposed to be a place where you can be anyone or anything you want. You can be male, female, black, white, human, animal, nearly anything you can think of, you can be. It really bothers me that people would go out of their way to put someone else down in a virtual world. If they really wanted to be mean why couldn’t they just ignore the person? Second Life is supposed to be where people go to have fun and do anything. Second Life is a virtual world. It is not real. Even if it was real, who cares what you look like, it is not real! 

 

The first place I went to was Sweethearts Jazz Dance Club. It was a really cool place with a lot of well-programmed scenery. I met an avatar named Cardian. She was wearing a lot of gothic style clothing and that really interested me. She was very friendly, I was outside at the club and I just typed ‘Can anyone help me, I’m new’. She quickly sent me an instant message saying that I was not THAT new but she would be glad to help me. I asked her about her clothes and she gave me lots of information. I asked her where she got her clothes and how much they were, and simple generic newbie questions. She could see that I was interested and sent me a bunch of landmarks of stores and different hangouts where people in that style went to have fun. As my first place I visited I think it was a success! 

 

Using the same key word of ‘club’ in the search bar, I found my next place to visit. This place was called Dance Island. It seemed very appealing because in the title of what it was it said there were fifty-eight live DJs. This is where I met the avatar Alexis. She was not as helpful as Cardian. I chatted next to her and started of with an innocent ‘Hey’. I got no response. I then said how I liked her bling. She was wearing a lot of sparkling jewelry. She thanked me, but was still not very interested in helping me out. I told her how I was new and if she knew any good places to get some cool free items. Alexis gave me the obvious answer of “search ‘free’ in the search bar”. Even a noob like me could have figured that one out. She ended our conversation, or lack thereof, quite quickly. I really do not think she was discriminating against me because my avatar had a darker skin, just that she did not want to help anyone. In our brief conversation she told me that she had a husband. I'm not really sure if she meant in SL or in reality, but I could tell that if I asked more questions I would not get very many answers. This trip was slightly less successful than the first, but still gave me some insight for my final conclusion. 

 

For my next location I tried to think of a new key word, other than ‘club’. I tried café, fun, and games, but everywhere I went was empty. So I went back to my failsafe word, club. Since the last two avatars I talked to were female, I decided to talk to a male this time. This avatar’s name is Ben. He has been playing Second Life for more than six months. I asked him what he does for fun around Second Life. At first he was a tad skeptical, but after I explained to him that I was doing a project for school, he was much more at ease. He told me that he looks for different dance clubs that have many residents in them and he talk to them. He told me that since playing, he has made friends with many avatars. I asked him what he looks for in a club. He basic things like a lot of people having a good time and good music. He made it seem like what he looks for in a Second Life dance club is exactly what we look for in a real life club. This surprised me at the time, but looking back at it, it is so obvious. Who is going to have fun at a dance club if it has lame music and not many people? Just because it is virtual does not mean that people do not look for the same thing. They still want to have a good time. 

 

This is Macoi. She is a hostess at Phat Cat’s Jazz Club. I kept seeing people with an avatar name, but also hostess above it. I did not really know what this meant so I decided to ask her about what she was doing. I asked her “as a hostess, what do you actually do?” to which she replied, “I make sure people know what is going on”. I asked her another question, “do you get paid to do this”. She responded with a lighthearted “well naturally”. Just like my conversation with Ben outside the club, it seems so obvious now. Who would want to work a job for free? I know I am new to Second Life, but I have been in my real life for more than eighteen years.

 

Throughout all four of my trips, I did not find any discrimination based on my avatar’s color, shape or size. The only time I got ignored was from people who just seemed uninterested. Most people in Second Life were very friendly and willing to help. I feel as though the people who would be racist against people in Second Life have phased out. I am new to Second Life, so I do not know where it started, but I can imagine that most of the things we see today did not exist when Second Life first came out. It is possible that back then you only had a few choices on avatar skin tone. If there were fewer options, the world would be much less diverse and therefore minorities would be easier to find. With this, it would be easier for those malicious people to find and ostracize others. I have gained much insight from these experiences. They have only opened my eyes to the possibilities Second Life has to offer.

 

 

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