Walk A Mile....

SL presents us with the unique opportunity to truly walk a mile in someone else's shoes. By that I mean we can become, or get very close to being, someone else.

Normally this take the form of gender change, but the possibilities are endless. Conservatives could become Liberals, aethiest could become Christians, blacks could become whites, etc.

I think this could be a very healthy way to experiment. But to pull it off, you really have to let go. You can't simply be you in a black skin or a male shape. You have to step back and let that person *become*.

As I've stated elsewhere, I have a female AV that I play often. It started out as a joke because I was always complaining at the dearth of decent content for men. But soon after her creation, my writer side got a hold of it and she was quickly on her way to becoming a separate individual. I have tried very hard not to imprint her with my own biases and philosophies and, I think, I've been pretty successful with one large exception: she likes women. I just couldn't let go enough to have her hetero. On the other hand, I don't refer to her as a lesbian because that seems insulting to lesbians. But then, I suppose creating a female could be just as insulting to women in general.

I've been very successful in making her female, however, and not stereotypically or characaturistically (is that even a word!? ) so. I think it helps that the majority of my close friends have been women and I am raising two daughters. But it goes beyond that. It's all about letting your new creation be an individual. A good friend of mine who knew me for almost 7 years before coming to SL has remarked that she see a clear distinction between me and the female AV. Moreover, she says that she wouldn't be surprised if my aura actually changed when I have her logged in.

Recently, I convinced a skeptical female friend of mine to make the switch. After being at it for about a week now, she's already noticing that she even sits differently when she has him logged on.

I'm curious to hear from anyone else who has tried this in any fashion-not just switching sexes. Has anyone out there changed race? Religion? Political affiliation?

-Kiamat Dusk

Yup, i've tried switching genders, species, etc.

It can be really interesting, as experimenting goes.

Maybe i'll play with that again...

I just need to get my next BF2 rank :3

Well in SL I play only Jake, and well Jake really is just me, and right now I sort of find just being me complex enough. When Never winter nights2 comes out, I will slide back inot venting myself in male characters that are reflections and shadows of me.

I do confess that most characters I made in Morrowing and Knights of the old repubilc were female. And I have made a number of female Character for table top RPGS. And I had a brief flirtation with SWG in which I used a female dancer to make money to supply my Wookie.

LOL! But where would I get the shag carpet!?

-Kiamat Dusk

I'm me all day long. After a while I just get fed up with myself and all the constant ranting about the evil commie Liberals, yanno? Sometimes I just want to tell myself to shut the hell up. So when I'm not talking to myself, I become someone else for a while.

-Kiamat Dusk

hehe, you couldn't be an evil commie liberal if you tried

Oh, I could. Just not sure if I could do it without being an exagerration which would be wrong. I think I could pull it off, however-it's all about letting go. My female AV is completely a-political so why not?


-Kiamat Dusk

yeah, i love playing my tatooed bare chested macho male av.

I'm not really "playing" a character in SL. I'm pretty much me. Well, me if I was 20 something and incredibly hot. But other than the pixels, I'm me. I'm the same opinionated liberal gay buddhist free trade capitalist space cadet I am in real life.

Exactly. And when I'm on as Kiamat, I'm just being myself as well. My point is, why pass up this excellent opportunity to see things from another POV even for a little while?

-Kiamat Dusk

I'm not sure pretending to be somebody else is the same as seeing things from another POV. Especially in SL.

It's not about "pretending" per se. It's about allowing your own persona to take a back seat to a new one. I dunno, maybe I'm coming at it from a different angle as a writer.

Still, even if you don't feel like you've become someone else, you can get a good idea of what it's like to be in someone else's shoes based on how people treat you.

-Kiamat Dusk

BF2 rank? =P

Unlocks suck man.

great post
personally i have been doing this type of things in many different games/places on the internet for years

i have both male and female Avs (not telling which is the right gender ^.~)
so many people will only look at the hard lines between male and female and everyone wants to put things into categories

playing the other gender... playing anything other then what you are really gives you insite and a better ability to understand

and after a few years of doing so it just becomes gray
obviously physically i am one or the other but mentally i am both

sence I started this my friends went from a majority of one gender to an equal amout of both, now I can help BOTH genders with there problems because i can honestly relate and see it from there point of view

and Im not pretending to be something im not im not allycat anymore then i am myrrh(my male av)
im /not/ them they are apart of me and they are just as real as the person siting in this chair

one of the things i love to say is simply "I am me" most people dont understand that right away but im saying is im not /this/ im not \that\ i am me
my likes and dislikes change
my opnions and views change
my mind is constantly changing
you cant classify people as something, and you shouldent limit yourself or others to live with in the preset category of what you "are"


what you "are" depends on how people see you, and the online world gives you the chance to show yourself anyway you want


but hey some people look at the rock
others look at the effect of the rock upon the world

...noone has mentioned furries yet? (If you did, I didn't read every post completely, but most of em)

Seriously... we go a little further than changing our gender/age/race/religious affiliation, we change our very species! And we take it seriously... or at least I do! When I see someone with a cheetah avatar walk up, I don't think of them as "someone with a cheetah avatar", or as a person wearing a cheetah outfit, or costume, or whatever. I see them as a cheetah, and treat them as such (throw balls of yarn at them).

...I love SL. ^^

Seems like they'd be more appreciative if you threw a dead antelope at them or something.

I'm not downing furries at all-I'm a big fan actually. But until they allow hunting of furries and furries have to worry about being meals for each other, I don't think you're getting anywhere near the same experience as say a RL fox who's very survival is in constant threat from fellow animals and humans.

Oh...and if someone wants to open up a furry pet store and start selling some of you guys as pets, I'll be first in line!

-Kiamat Dusk

Yarn’s good. I’m a gryphon-ish thing, so such would likely appeal to the feline portions of that particular mythical beast. To be more specific, it’s what was called a JayWolf Gryphon. Kinda tough to balance the bird, lupine, and feline sides of it, so I usually just stick with primarily bird.

Gets unusual reactions from others, though. Their thought processes seem to be “Beak, bird thingy...wait...those aren’t bird’s ears...birds don’t have ears, do they?” So they usually just break down and ask what the heck I am.

Careful in your research, though – it’s likely your second life could seep over into your first. In SL, I gradually became quite close to another guy, despite having been straight my entire life. Now, I’m finding myself attracted to the man behind the avatar. I’m comfortable with it, though; no complaints.

well duh!


...and okay!

*Opens a pet store*