Sociology Presentation on SECOND LIFE

Hey everyone!

I'm taking a sociology class this semester with an emphasis on gender and gender inequality, and for my final project, I'm looking at gender, and how it affects online gaming.

I'm interested in information regarding female members who play as male avatars, and why you've chosen to use a male avatar instead of a female avatar. I've heard of females doing business within SL using a male avatar, and this is fascinating to me! Why do you do it?! What are the benefits? What are the pro's and con's of a female playing using a male avatar as opposed to a female avatar?

I hope you guys can help out, because I really think it would make for an interesting topic! And I'll even share it with you guys once I finish it. Men, you're also welcome to chime in with your perception of female gamers.

Thanks!

-Nick

I'm thinking you may have chosen a tough topic for your assignment. I've been in Sl for four years, and I only know two women who live in a male avatar in Second Life. I've known dozens of men in female avatars.

In my experience, a lot of men arrive in SL from gaming, where they may well have played female characters (Tomb Raider springs to mind). Often they choose a female avatar because they like to look at the female form. Sometimes they choose a female avatar in the hope of exploring a female/female relationship. Sometimes they choose a female avatar because they didn't think very hard about it, and don't really care what sort of form they have in the virtual world.

My experience is that women identify more with their avatars, on the whole. They tend to invest a lot of time and effort in making them the way that they want them, change clothes/hair/make up or skins more frequently.

Maybe they arrive less frequently from a gaming background, or maybe they are just relieved to be able to be whatever they want after having to be a male character in a lot of other places.

In the first year that I was a resident, I believe that LL did a survey and established that 60% of the females in world were actually male in RL. I don't think there were a significant number of men who were women in RL.

For myself, I came from an online game where I played a female character except when we were asked to make a male character. Playing in a male character felt all wrong to me in the online game, and I spent a lot of time explaining I was really a woman during the time when I was playing a male avatar. In SL I have occasionally used a male avatar, usually when I am making a male avatar for a job or for someone else. It feels all wrong, and I still feel I need to explain to anyone I meet that I am really a woman in RL.

I find it disorientating when other people change gender frequently. I have no problem with men who play as women or women who play as men, only with people who switch around all the time.
bws
Cali

for a simple presentation..
you may need to narrow your topic down a bit.

If I don't get much of a response, I'll just change my topic. It's a women's studies class that focuses on gender inequality, and I read someone's blog who was female, but did business as a male within second life, as to avoid advances, and be taken more seriously.