How do YOU refer to your avatar?

Depends.

I have different shapes and appearances, some I am more emotionally connected to or I am just being more critical and or objective.

When I am on Bec I am Bec. I refer to my alts as her/him unless I am on them then I am me or is it them that are me or me that are them?

/me wonders off pondering this new thought.

I think that some people hold on to the illusion that it does.

In fact, all our avatars, whatever their interests and predilections, surely express some "part" of us? The nice monogamous family man who has an avatar reserved for outrageous drunk-crazed gang bangs in SL is clearly not "identical" to his avi, yet that avi as clearly represents some part of his personality, and expresses desires that the RL person DOES harbour, however secretly.

One of the great insights that people like Judith Butler and the late, much-lamented Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick brought to our understanding of identity in the 90s was that it is not "fixed" and static, but rather performative: we "are" what we "do."

While I am "performing" with my avi, Scylla, she is me, or at the very least an articulation of some vital part of me. When I log her out, she isn't, but that doesn't mean that those parts of me that Scylla expresses "disappear": they may well be performed in other contexts (as, for example, when I am doing my rug-chewing foaming-at-the-mouth radical feminist shtick, which I've actually discovered goes over very well at parties . . .)

I am me, here in the forums. You call me Pep.

There is another Pep who lives inworld. He's different from me. A bit like those film versions of books which were watered down to improve the US box office because people over there like happy endings.

The guy behind both of us is someone else entirely. He has far more imagination than me and the inworld Pep, but is frustrated by the realities of life, like having to commute three hours a day in a car rather than spending insignificant amounts of time swearing about tps not working first time. He likes flying too, but is afraid of heights, so he doesn't look out of the windows in airplanes.

That guy is also responsible, I have heard, for a bunch of other disparate personalities, both here and inworld, although none of them have much in common with me; some can't spell, some are female, some are stupid . . .

Pep ( . . . and apparently some are even quite nice!)

PS He also says that we are all characters in a fantasy story, and that you should treat what he says in the same way as you would dialogue in a James Bond novel, or a Lenny Bruce monologue.

This "guy" sounds rather endearing and nice.

I've just picked up on this - somehow missed it before. Excuse my naivety, but can people kiss in SL or was that just an illustrative example?

Hmm.. I refer to my avatar as either myself or her, depending on the situation.

Usually, it's me, myself and I.. but if I have to talk about all three of my avatars, I'll refer to them by name and "her." Otherwise, they're ME.

I guess I'm like the other posters who say they are whichever avatar they currently inhabit. I always refer to myself in first person while inworld.

Naz and Immy ftw! ^_^

Also, me too.

"How does my hair look with this top?"

However, when emoting, I use third person, because the emote is for the enjoyment of the other person. We are describing what is happening, not conversing(usually). It bothers me if the other person says "I put my hand on your toosh." Because I'm reading it, and then it says that *I'm* putting *my* hand on the other persons toosh. I would much rather see "Naz Fride puts her hand on your toosh." Not that she would, mind you. XD

By the real life public acclaim of his family and a string of employers who have discovered the accuracy of the opinion of a psychologist who assessed him in his youth as "unmanageable", "endearing and nice" are the last epithets which would be appropriate.

Pep ( is much nicer than that guy. )

Illustrative example. They can't fly in SL either but I'd still ask someone if they wanted to go flying with "me" not "her".....if I ..or her...darn now I'm confused..LOL..because it is in fact MY persona they are with, even though it may only be my persona in SL..it's still me.
I'm just more comfortable being "me" in SL and wanting the other person to be "themselves" as well regardless of the situation. To me, SL is an extension of my RL self, whether I'd do in RL what I do in SL or not.

Sorry, that was my clumsiness. I ought to have emphasised "bad" to show I was using it in a light-hearted manner. At the time of writing that post, I had in mind an episode of Buffy in which Buffs and Faith switch bodies. There is a scene in which Faith practices saying "I'm good" in various ways, altering the emphasis on "good", because she is unused to actually saying it in reference to herself. But I ought not to expect people to mind-read



I suppose that's the things, isn't it? This cropped up in another thread, yesterday. To some, myself included, SL is real; otherwise why bother with it? The questions arises, does ones interpretation of SL alter how ones treats other users of it? Or does how one treat others determine how one views SL?

Honestly, I wasn't being critical of you - it is just a question which I find very interesting.




That's interesting. My own experience is that SL is the only thing that is keeping me sane, due to the fact that RL is just so bad right now (and likely to get worse). I suspect that wouldn't work if I interpreted SL as a game. Fascinating, isn't it?

BTW, did you notice we were "born" into SL on the same day?

Oh yes, that is exactly how it is for me too! Thank you for that.

It's "just" a matter of synchronising a couple of animations. There are numerous HUDs on the market that'll do hugs and kisses, as well as things that can't be mentioned in a nice clean forum like this.

Yes, that is interesting. I remember that post, and when you wrote it I thought you were being endearing. It was nice. But I think if someone spoke that way in SL, it would annoy me. How odd.

Yes, me too. Which is why I don't look at it as a "just a game" either. I'd never ask someone if they'd like to ______ with "her"...After all, aren't we supposed to be talking and interacting with each other (even if we might not be doing the same thing in RL?) That's one of the things that makes it magic.

I'm of the opinion that must be true. Sometimes that "part" may be very remote, but surely it must be there. If not, then where does it come from; it would have to be on the lines of a random choice, wouldn't it?



I have not read either of those authors, but the idea of us being what we do was part of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, I think. Whatever it's original source, the older I get, the truer I find it to be.

You might as well say it's just a matter of juggling 10 balls whilst playing the piano. I really, really have to learn scripting.

Exactly! That's why I don't understand how anyone could possibly interpret it as a game. Again, I don't say such is wrong, merely puzzling.

That's perfect!!

First person, except on the odd occasion I have to refer to an alt. Even then, I often mention that it was an alt first, then carry on with first person ("I was in-world the other day as [alt-name], when I found this cool store...".

I also use third person in emotes, which is simple grammar - the emote starts in third person, so it makes sense to carry on that way.

This is the source of most of the misunderstandings and drama in SL (either inworld *or* in the forums) because different people treat it in different ways - and most assume that anyone they interact with has the same attitude as themselves. FAIL!

Life is a game, dear.

Pep (So how could Second Life be anything but?)

I was thinking about this just before I read your post. When I am emoting I always use third person to refer to myself, and either second or third person for the person being emoted to, depending on if it's a private situation (second), or pubblic, with other folks around (third, to make sure it's clear WHOM I am emoting to.)

And I have certainly put my hand on your tush before, so stop with the shy and innocent routine.

If you're right, then I want to know how to cheat. The rule book is crap; the dice are loaded; and I didn't even want to play in the first place.