Are You Someone Different Here?

I played with being a different personality durring my first 24 hours or so, but it didn't stick. So Olympia in RL is the same- minus the sausage curls, doll clothes and windup key.

I think I'm the same in RL or in SL for the most part with a few exceptions... I'm much more comfortable talking someone's ear off that I've just met in SL. One on one my sense of humor comes out more in SL, but in groups I'm still pretty socially anxious and tend to run away to my hermit hole after a few minutes. Sometimes I'll adopt a certain personality to suit the av I'm using but only for the sake of humor... like when I use my chain smoking growth stunted ent av, hehe.

I'm pretty much the same in SL as I am in RL

I find it to be more immersive to see "me" on the screen.

I think how I am in SL is an accurate portrayal of how I actually am inside my mind. I basically play Lianne as how I would like to in RL if I could choose everything about me.

Maybe not 7'2" though... I only did that to make her look proportionally accurate...

5'11" is fine as it is

I'm pretty much the same as my rl self. I even tried to make my avatar as much like me as possible. Right down to the sandles and hat. hehe, irl I'm fairly large, but in sl, even though I tried to match my dimensions to my rl self, I'm kinda little . I have a female alt thought and she's sorta like me, but much more outgoing .

Well, I try to play up a sociable magazine editor in Second Life, but my normal aloof, lazy personality comes through anyway. Of course I can't do away with my daily misadventures so that's definately in my SL persona (not on purpose, but heck). Anyone playing to get everything right's gotta be bored. Experimenting randomly and chaoticly makes my SL persona happy! Then again, I also like to experiment with other looks and lifestyles so I've got an Incredible Hulk body that I get out every once in a while. Budaniel smash? Doesn't sound quite as intimidating...

Me too!



I did it, but I couldn't find the right hair. And I was relatively pleased with how it looked until I reverted back to my normal av. XD I hate that "change phase" when everything snaps into the new shape and you can see exactly how different it looks. Better to close your eyes so you miss it!



It's a good thing the default avs are sort of ugly.



I'm not! Wewt.



As for my personality, I have a fair amount of "issues" that put me apart from other people in RL. I have Death-Terror panic attacks and all that, so I don't tend to talk to anyone or go out much or whatever. I like to think I'm a good person, but I just cannot bring myself to talk to people I don't know, and, thus, I don't make too many friends. I'm okay with that, because I'm really quiet in RL, and I prefer silence to talking anyway (And I can never find the right word! :\ I'm a mumbler, a stutterer, and an awkward-pauser.), but it's really nice to be able to talk to people here and not be scared to death.

A lot of people on this thread have mentioned that they feel "more like themselves" in SL, and I certainly understand that. Actually, a lot of the time, I step back and am completely surprised by what I see in my SL personality. For someone that's so painfully awkward and afraid in RL, I often seem to be.. I don't know. Sociable? I have found myself a really nice group of friends in SL that I feel completely honored to know and be a part of. They're so cool, I often wonder why they even like me. But it's really nice to be able to sit around with these folks and talk and have fun. I think, "Whoa, Kolya, how in the Hell did you manage this? People are talking to you and they seem to actually enjoy it! This is insane.."

It's not that I have low self-esteem or anything like that, but I'm so used to people not wanting to talk to me because I'm just so damn weird and with such an unpolished UI.

Apart from that, though, I am generally the same person. Being a good friend and a good person is extremely important to me, in RL and otherwise. I'm also usually pretty serious, I think. At least in IM and one-on-one. I lag a lot in SL, but I probably wouldn't move around too much even if I didn't; I prefer to sit, think, and observe, as opposed to running around, constantly trying to find something fun to do. Sitting silently, looking at the colors of the things around you is fun. Running around like a seven year-old boy with a sugar-high is not fun.

Anyway, all in all, in SL, I am pretty much like the shorter, cuter, more extroverted version of myself. Version 1.1.. Still has some bugs, but don't we all? ^^

Well lets SEE...

In SL I pretty much own all the clothes, can wear latex suits and look sexy oh and change my hairstyle every day..

In RL, I own alot of clothes, no latex (cellulite and latex do NOT mix) and I change my hair every couple of months

In SL I am a fun loving, outgoing, sarcastic, caring, giving, dork...

In RL I am quite shy, still sarcastic, caring, giving and love to dork around.

Hmmm

RL me, personality wise is much the same, although I do find it alot easier to meet an AV in a sim and strike up a conversation, than to meet someone in RL and do it.

Looks wise, some ppl say I look similar to my AV, but I am not that perdy OR tanned, and my make up doesn't look as good, and my HAIR always falls out of place , oh and I cannot get away with wearing hipsters that show my butt, knee high boots and bikini tops without someone calling the men in white coats

I can however, do a mean lap dance in BOTH worlds

I'm actualy probably more "me" in SL than I am in RL. Sounds a bit odd, but with the internet in general, it gives you a chance in cases like this forum, to think about your thoughts more and review them yourself before actualy presenting them to anyone else. While thats possible in RL too, people sometimes don't stick around on the same topic long enough for you to take time to consider your thoughts. There are also things like generaly speaking which can present problems with one person or the other not hearing or being able to get out what they fully mean. Where-as with text based, theres no real issue with that.

However at the same time, there are traits of my personality or manurisms(sp) that go unseen through text.

So really, the Me represented as myself in textual internetal form would be more of my consious thought than all of Me which represents my thoughts as best as it can in the real world.

So I would be the same person as much as I can be, but without the limitations of having to express myself through physical form, so potentialy one could know a deeper Me from my textual appereance than one could ever know from my physical one. Unless of course I was given the full time and thought in the physical world as I am in textual. Hmmm... something to ponder. (How *would* we get them to wear rubber pants?)

In short:
Yes... and No.

My avatar and my physical self do have fundamentally different characteristics... but she's representing 'me' from the heart and mind, whom the technology of SL has allowed to pop into existence, so this may mean that a different set of behaviours sometimes emerge, but they are still genuinely 'of' me. I shape-change quite a bit as an extension of this and it tends to reflect my moods and feelings at any one time.

In a world where physical characteristics are variable rather than constant, it makes more sense to me to freely express a set of characteristics which represent my mind's view, however there are no sliders for personality in 'Appearance Mode'. I am who I am.

I'm more capricious here, simply because I can be much less inhibited, but sometimes I realise that some characteristics I'm trying to outgrow for whatever reason just follow me here because they are too deeply ingrained (e.g. shyness). Yeah I've gone off into uncharted territory at times, roleplaying some fantasy situations but why not ? ... it's still reflecting some genuine motivation within me, and if it's made me feel either good or bad afterwards, well that's a learning process huh.......Oh and it's fun of course

Who I am is in some ways more genuinely exposed here than in real life, hmmm, scary !! I often feel more naturally at ease in my SL avatar too, and less socially awkward. Very thought provoking. Trouble is I'm not great at chat typing and I sometimes find it hard to communicate clearly which is frustrating...

So, in SL, yes I am essentially myself, and in some ways more genuinely so, looking beyond the physical. Variations in behaviour are simply down to the surrounding world environment and the way my avatar fits into it....

So far as my personality goes, what you see is what you get - I don't think there is any difference between sl and rl. I wouldn't even know how to create a different one.

When it comes to appearance, when I was in the process of creating a new av, I finally came up with one that looked very similar to my rl self some decades ago. I proudly went around in this, until I received complaints about how ugly it was ...

Don't LIE!!

Your a Dalek... I remember me, you, Quartie and Leck in teamspeak... YOU WERE A DALEK!!!!

Although I rarely have the time, I like being in SL because it allows me to be more like me - minus what I have to be for others in RL because of the responsibilities and the fame and fortune and very visible public profile and all that....

Oddly, I am more myself in SL, and therefore SL is more real, than I can be in RL, where my enormous reputation forces me to be, well, virtual.

And it's very nice to be able to say things like the above, and know that no one will treat me any differently because no one knows who I really am. Nor will anyone care.





heh

I've heard other folks mention that environments such as SL, or SL in particular, have helped folks with communication and confidence in RL. I wonder, if you stick around for quite sometime, what effect, if any, it will have on those aspects of your RL.

I'm a lifetime sufferer of panic-attacks, though they are curbed by medication, so I know the agony you go through there. And I too like alot of quiet time in my RL. But do you think your experiences in RL, chatting and socializing, if you do those things here, will possibly make you feel more able to talk to those you don't know in RL?

Good question!

I think that in a lot of ways, it is helping me. I'm still very shy in SL around people I don't know, but I'm finding myself more and more able to get over that and summon up courage I didn't know I had. Again, the friendships I have made here are very valuable to me and I would not have met these people if I were 500m up, in a box, building. I think it's important for me to see that, OMG, something GOOD could come of talking to someone! Based on my positive experiences in SL, I have little doubt that this will help me in RL the more I "practice".

Even already, I have been more able to get out of the house and walk around, though not actually talk to anyone yet, but that in itself is a huge step for me. I am making progress and gaining confidence, little by little, and I'm very pleased with that.

For some reason that I'm not quite sure of, SL is very different from other online communities. It's much more life-like in appearance, obviously, but it seems to mix elements of both RL and Online emotionally..? In a chat room, you and everyone else are texts on a screeen. It's easy to talk to people because you're hiding behind a mask of text. If that makes sense. In SL, it's still text, but.. there is something else. Even though you're putting up an idealized image of yourself, you still feel vulnerable and things just seem more "real". But it's not anywhere near as intense as in RL, because you -can- just escape if you feel you need to. I think it's a really good immersive step for people who are uncomfortable in RL around people, precisely because of that mix.

To summarize:

For socially awkward people everywhere, SL is the elementary school dress rehersal of the Thanksgiving Day Pageant you totally did not memorize your lines for. But it's okay! This rehersal lasts as long as you need it to, until you are absolutely ready to face the rows of red Recording lights and the embarassed loud whispering of your parents trying to convince you to stop picking your nose. And if you accidentally push the head pilgrim off the stage or the staples on your construction paper hat decide to explode off, leaving you naked and vulnerable from the forehead up, you can always just go back to rehearsal and try it again another day

Exactly..it is very life-like. It snuck up on me when I was new to SL. I fell in love, HARD, without even realizing I'd done so. And all with a person controlling an AV.

I'm glad that it can help you, if only testing your confidence and your social skills. It can be such a great place to just meet folks from other walks of life and talk.

Hell..rez a box on your head in a group of people once in a while, by accident or otherwise, and just see how they react to you doing so. It very heartening when you meet tolerant, intelligent and kind folks..even if just in a Virtual world.

Wow, this topic went from just who are you to counseling in a heartbeat. It's good that it helps, and I hope it can aid me too (panic attacks, social anxiety, etc). In any case, my habit of chaotic experimentation lends itself to being more open. Why wouldn't you want to talk to the guy just so earnestly trying to stack blocks on his patio? I can be who I want to be without the pressure of real life in my mind. Second Life needs a CNN episode or something to itself on this, I think.

I've pretty much always been me in SL. Only I dress more like I want to in SL. I would dress the same way in RL if I could afford it (or had the desire to make my own clothes). hehe.. And of course I'm not 7'4" in RL, so looks wise Pen is not really so much me, but personality wise, she is *all* me.

It's happened to me, too.



Agreed!



Agreed again!

Willow,

<<Your a Dalek... I remember me, you, Quartie and Leck in teamspeak... YOU WERE A DALEK!!!!>>

What a terrible thing to say, Willow! How could you possibly think it?

I'm at a loss for words. All I can really say is


EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!

Oops.

I have not spent much time in this world, but from my experience, there appears to be little, if any, roleplaying here. Furthermore, a lot of what people have described here really isin't roleplaying, such as learning more about their inner selves, or adjusting / overcoming phobias or whatnot through the virtual world. That is more of a hero's quest (ala Joseph Campbell) rather than roleplaying. Once you finish the quest, you're no longer roleplaying.

Bartle said it a lot better than I can (Designing Virtual Worlds, ISBN0131018167, which is a fantastic book), but essentially roleplayers map themselves onto a character; but the character doesn't map back into the player. "In so doing, they can come to an understanding of what makes their character tick, which enables them to reflect on their own attitudes, beliefs, and ways of thinking. ... As a roleplayer, you can only learn about yourself as you approach a character; once you reach the character, you learn no more from it. You have to take another role if you want to go in a different direction. This, then, is the roleplaying paradox: As a roleplayer, you try to become your character; however if you succeed then you're no longer roleplaying." (Bartle, DVW, p191)

Just tromping about in SL, I have been in search of a theme, to frame my hard-core roleplaying. Theme is the fodder from which (at least I do..) a character to explore, and provides structure for the environment in which you immerse in. Compared to things I have experienced before, ranging from text MUDs to big graphical games like EQ or Galaxies, there is no theme here (unless you like: "Virtual real life" is a useful theme, which for me at least, it isin't). It's not that this is bad.. it just makes it extremely difficult to stay IC (in character) and immersed, as the OP experienced.

If anything, SL is an impressive hybrid of MUSH or MOO and a graphical world. I have always wanted a scriptable, texturable world, like SL, particularly after killing myself with frustration in Galaxies for the last two years. The possibilities are endless in terms of player quests and stories.. the power of MUSH and online creation combined with the graphical. Is there a roleplaying forum? A subcommunity of elves and dwarfs somewhere, complete with conflict? A community of furries, living out furry lives? Or is this just a glorified chat room?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

--v

For as long as I have been in SL I have always wondered why small roleplaying communities had not yet been created (though there have been events and of course the "MMORPGames" and "Themed big events" by some of the talented SL residents have brought a hint of it in.... And we do have our "Non-Human" avatars, but *most* still interact as humans.. if you get what I mean). To me SL seems the perfect environment for a roleplay setting. Of course I would think the roleplaying would have to be confined to that "group's/host's area" in order for everyone involved to feel fully immersed in the RP setting. Once they left that setting, it would be back to the SL world... hehe..

The one main thing I think LL would need to include in SL is the ability to turn off the names of others over their heads (if they haven't done that already and I just missed it.. hehe) Again to help with the immersive feeling. There are minor tweaks I'm sure, but as a whole, SL is already the perfect place for this type of creative setting. I suppose it is just going to take someone who wants to take the first step in the creation process.

I know I'd visit and roleplay!

Mmmmm... I'm *much* shorter (now) in SL than RL (though I'm tall in RL). ^_^

I'm definitely not the same person in SL though. I mean even in RL I end up playing slightly different roles to different folks - I mean I try to be say "Captain Janeway" to the folks I work with, but I'm totally different with my friends...

In SL I'm actually shyer. And I'm a geek, well Otaku actually. There's no way I could be such a dork in RL, but in SL I can obsesses about stuff without shame, even to the point of Cosplaying, which I would never do in RL (thinking about being a pretend person pretending to be another pretend person will make your head explode!)



Well I don't quite understand that - I tried to do the Vampire thing in college and that's kinda like playing with Barbie dolls, you make up your own idea of a person - far out fantasy that you would never be, or ideal you.

If the 'roleplaying' game is trying to perfectly *be* your imaginary person, I'm not sure why that's fun or interesting. But playing to be a type of person that has a fabulous job, or is an uncontrollable flirt, or is in a dramatically romantic circumstance, can be fun even if you don't always act the part because you get to *do* some of the stuff you'd normally only get in a story.

But SL is different. My SL person isn't so much of a "character", there's no role or story. It's just a different face of me I guess, same as I'd show a different face if I joined a hamster club in RL, I still wouldn't wear an "I love hamsters t-shirt" around town.

'course I'm still working on becoming a breakfast nook so what do I know! ^_-

Hmmm....in RL I am painfully shy, that really isn't much different in SL either. I rarely leave my own land cause I'm afraid someone might talk to me and I'll look like a total idiot lol. However I am able to live a life in SL that I would never ever do in RL and that is the D/s lifestyle. Although my Master is my RL hubby (who is soooo not Dom in RL lol) so it's easy with him. If I tried to sub to someone I didn't know in RL I'd probably make a total fool of myself. Being shy sucks lol.

Your avatar is cute. Have a nice day.