The notion of the world as a singular entity is becoming nonchalant, there seems to be no validity in the statement; the world is round. The binding of 0 and 1’s is re creating our interpretations of identity and the sense of place, whilst reaffirming the notion of time as nothing more than a social construction. I have recently become part of the social phenomena that is online gaming; perhaps in this case online living provides a more accurate account. The immersion of my persona or an aspect of my persona into a virtual environment has come through Second Life. This essay will submerge into the skeleton of second life, firstly identifying what separates second life from being a game, and examine how this then changes the notions of identity and place. Furthermore how the existence in the virtual world transforms reality in the actual world. The movement between the virtual and actual creates a personal confrontation, a hysteria in which my boundaries are questioned, the boundary of how far should life be able to be lived through a connection of 1’s and 0’s.
Second life is differentiated from games by the absence of objectives, no clear progression to goals or levels, if it must be labelled a game, it is the game of life, hence the name. “Second Life is an online, 3D, virtual world imagined and created by its residents.”[1] This slogan provided by Linden Labs, the creators of second life, establishes the framework for Second Life becoming a real ‘place’, a ‘world’ in fact. Where you may not be able to indulge in the senses of taste or smell, however you can, see, hear and feel through a screen more of the world in an hour, than you can experience through ‘actual world’ in the same amount of time. Massumi suggests, “the virtual, as such, is inaccessible to the senses”[2], so that “place” and “virtual” cannot coexist: “there is no ‘place’ in the virtual beyond the metaphor”.[3] However I disagree, does this then mean, that with elimination of two senses that a ‘place’ cannot exist. So someone who is an anosmic and who does not have the sense of taste cannot experience a sense of place, this concept of place is archaic.
As I walked through the Sistine Chapel, although still a newbie (a new comer), I felt a dynamic shift of my perception of ‘place’ within virtual reality. Despite this recreation, not having a smell or taste, or an identifiable geographic location in the ‘actual’ world, it still was a place. It was a place geographically located inside second life, and through my avatar I experienced this sense of place. Boellstorfft correlates online place making with the shift from the 2D web to the 3D web.[4] The 3D aspect did authenticate the Sistine chapel experience, although it was the sharing of an experience with other avatars that carried the notion of place. Commenting on artworks and the feeling of discovery, allowed for an immersion in the artwork, rather than a superficial glance at a photo on the Internet. Boellstorfft suggests, “In virtual worlds, ‘virtuality’ refers to sociality, not the senses.”[5] The immersion in the sociality of the event transformed my experience from looking at a monitor with pictures of the Sistine Chapel, to walking around a ‘place’ with a friend discussing the amazing artwork in front of us (figure 1).
“Personal Identity deals with the questions about ourselves.... such as, what am I? When did I begin? What will happen to me when I die?”[6] In creating an Avatar none of this came to mind. I was not thinking I was constructing a different entity for the transportation or immersion of myself into another world. So when creating my Avatar I just picked from the twelve available starting looks. There was no expectation of how the character was going to behave, dress or interact with others. I did not originally edit the appearance of my Avatar as I thought it didn’t matter, I will just have a look around and then it will all be over.
At first I became what is known as ‘Griefer’, that is, “people whose preferred mode of play is to disrupt the virtual lives of others through a variety of tactics.”[7] I was walking through a Second Life hotspot ‘Sweet Hearts Jazz club’ and wanted to test the waters, I continually bumped a couple on the dance floor. The impulse to do this was like a five-year-old child continually wanting to annoy others to get a reaction. Ludlow and Wallace propose Griefers don’t always see themselves as bad guys, as what seems like good fun to one may be a crime to others.[8] The response by the couple, “to stop annoying them” only registered when they said “we are going to report you.” This was the first reflection on my identity inside Second Life, did I want to be known as this sort of character ear marked as a trouble maker possibly banished, if not from Second Life at least from this club. “We step through the screen into virtual communities, we reconstruct our identities on the other side of the looking glass. This reconstruction is our cultural work in progress.”[9] As Turkle suggests once in our virtual communities we reconstruct our identities, this was the first instance where my identity was questioned through the actions of my avatar. I apologised and explained I was new to avoid any repercussions. I still was a ‘newbie’, I hadn’t had encounters with any depth in Second Life yet, I was present but not immersed. I had one of the twelve generic looks with no alterations. This was the catalyst for the reconstruction of my identity. Should I be ‘me’? What is, ‘me’?
The first step in constructing my virtual identity, was to personalise my avatar, you can see the change from photo 2 to 3. Gergen described identity as a “pastiche of personalities”[10], by which certain aspects of a personality is accessed at a given time to appease the situation. My search for construction engulfed the concept of “pastiche of personalities” in the actual world I would never be able to look like this or where as little clothes. The avatar was another aspect of my identity that was not accessible for display in reality, although very much alive in Second Life.
photo 2: original avatar appearance that I kept for a while
The creation of my virtual identity was not finished; I had only found its shell in the recreation of my appearance. As Turkle suggests our identity is a continual reconstruction on the other 
Photo 3: just after I had re designed the look of my avatar
side of the glass, and it’s a cultural work in progress.[11] Hence every interaction with someone or somewhere developed and is still developing my identity through my avatar. As I met and developed friendships through Second Life, my identity was continually being constructed. Every encounter with others and especially those whom you continued to visit and engage as a network of friends developed my identity. The notion of place became bound by the engagements that you would have at the particular location. And these engagements would shape that particular aspect of your virtual identity, in the same way that interactions in the actual world would shape your identity. Second Life allows us visualise how identity is constructed not just in the virtual but also in the actual.
I fell asleep and dreamt that I was a butterfly.
Now I no longer know if I am Chuang-Tze
dreaming that he is a butterfly or if I am a
butterfly dreaming that he is Chuang-Tze. [12]
Boellstorfft would consider Chuang Tze’s predicament as total immersion, as he describes immersion is the belief that your crafted environment is actually genuine.[13] Second Life has not altered my perception of whether I am my Avatar or my ‘actual world’ ‘self’, rather it has transformed what I consider as ‘myself’, my existence in the virtual has altered my perception of self in the actual. The virtual is just another aspect of the actual. When in the virtual I display a particular part of my identity and for the time I am engaged, I am actually that individual each engagement is real and defining of my identity.
Second Life fundamentally is just a connection of 1’s and 0’s on the screen, but once immersed in that these 1’s and 0’s are the same as the bricks and concrete that surround us in the ‘actual world’. The 1’s and 0’s are just a place the same as anywhere in the actual world, these places are just a surrounding for what is developed inside through these socially. For me now, place is no longer defined by the geographical co ordinates but rather by the experience had there. The 1’s and 0’s is just the framework for the creation of another facet of ones identity.
[1] Linden Research, 2008, Second Life homepage, accessed via http://secondlife.com/ on 18/10/2008
[2] B. Massumi 2002, in T. Boellstorff, “Place and Time”, from Coming of Age in Second Life, 2008 p91
[3] Rutter and Smith 2005, in T. Boellstorff, “Place and Time”, from Coming of Age in Second Life, 2008 p91
[4] Boellstorff, “Place and Time”, from Coming of Age in Second Life, 2008 p115
[5] ibid p116
[6] Olson, E. 2007, Personal Identity, Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, accessed via http://stanford.library.usyd.edu.au.ezproxy.uow.edu.au:2048/entries/identity-personal/ on 20/10/08
[7] Ludlow, Peter and Wallace, Mark. The Second Life Herald: The Virtual Tabloid that Witnessed the Dawn of the Metaverse, p 89. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2007.
[8] Ibid. p93
[9] Turkle, Sherry. Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet, p 177. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
[10] Kenneth Gergen, The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life, New York, Basic Books, 1991 accessed via http://www.philosophicalsociety.com/Archives/The%20Search%20For%20Meaning%20In%20A%20Virtual%20World.htm#II.%20The%20Pastiche%20Personality on 21/10/08
[11] Turkle, Sherry. Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet, p 177. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
[12] Chuang Tze, in Wennberg, Teresa (2000). Virtual life: self and identity redefined in the new media age. Digital Creativity, 11 (2), 65. Retrieved October 23, 2008, from http://www.informaworld.com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au:2048/10.1076/1462-6268(200005)11:2;1-R;FT065
[13] Boellstorff, “Place and Time”, from Coming of Age in Second Life, 2008 p115
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