How do YOU refer to your avatar?

Indeed. Embraced the dark side of the sim, Fox has.




Ah; didn't consider that. So many people appear to have alts.




Suggestion noted. Long term, you could well be right; short term, it is helping. Sometimes a reprieve is all someone needs. But I will bear your warning in mind.

I'm sorry, but I think you are still making a category error here. We really are talking about different things.

As for Gandhi, he most certainly did not look past identity; the whole thrust behind his stance was based upon cultural identity.

That is the more serious question: how do out avatars refer to us

And carries that wardrobe around with her. Isn't it great not having to go home to change outfits!

No, not fake; just much more limited. There can be many, many reasons why a person cannot live as fully as they might. It's not fakery, nor inauthenticity: SL can allow the experiencing of potentials that just are not available in RL.

Perhaps because in RL, many of us have to "play" roles, in one way or another, that we don't really want to.

First person for my main, Benski. he is me in most ways.

I usually refer to my alt Night in 3rd person, except when I am on him inworld. If I have both logged in, he stays 3rd person. He also feels more 3rd person to me.

I refer to my main avi as me/I. Finally it is me who interacts with other humans by typing text, I am the one who decides what activities I do, how much tip I give to the artists etc, etc. It is just me doing stuff in a game/virtual world using an account that garantees me anonymity.

I refer to my alts as he or them. One is introvert, into spirituality and likes to take things easy. The other is a big sceptic and a cynic at some times, questioning the very why and how of Second Life. They are different parts of my personality and also "me". They go inworld when I need them.

In SL just as in RL, my mind is always active, learning how to build, exploring, meeting people going to shows. When I need a break but want to stay inworld, enjoing the comforts of my SL home or attend a more philosophical or spiritual group event, I log in with my other alt. He is quit anonymus and is member of very few groups. That way I am not distracted and not tempted to do something and forget my intention of just chilling or listening to a talk. He is a furry since recently, so there's less hassle in picking clothes, working on appearance etc.

The other alt never got past the freebie skin and jeans+sweater he picked up at an orientation island. Sometimes I go disguised as him to my regular places. You learn a lot about people by pretending to be a clueless newbie.

The rest of the time I refer to them in the third person. "I have to give him acces to the land, I'll let him test my security device..."

I know some people create avi's with distinct personalities like actors create characters for a book. That's cool as long as they remember that most of us don't. We can't say if someone is unfriendly or just playing an unfriendly character out of their personal storybook.

Now how do YOU know that?
I thought you were saving yourself for some marsupial from the Scottish Highlands.

That's because we don't want a stranger making all of our decisions.

My avatar is "Me". It is the only one I have. Her thougts , emotions and reactions are all the same as my own. I explore all the various aspects of my personality through this one avatar. For me SL has never really been about being someone or something different, even in RP my characters act as I would in the given situation, in the context of the situation. What I can do in SL has always been the attraction as opposed to what I can be. I'm perfectly fine being Me.

Women name them too, affectionately. Pookie, Punkin, BigBoy, Santa.

It shouldn't be surprising that many people do things and 'are' things in SL that they can't be in RL. But 'fake'? That's really strong condemnation. If only everyone's rl were 'all that'........SL would be empty.

The short answer is that some of us feel we are born in the wrong biological bodies, gender-wise. Some of us go as far as to have what is called Gender Reassignment Surgery to rectify this. Some just take hormones of the opposite gender and never have surgery. Some just do the best they can living in the wrong bodies. So, in my case, I am anatomically male in RL, and my social, family and economic situations are such that I am pretty much stuck with that. My avatar is "the real me," though. It's therapeutic to have other people accept me in a female (well mostly) body, and I interact socially as if I am female (mostly). For the record, I never pretend that either my RL self or SL self are anatomically female to anyone in SL. My profile quite clearly states that I am TG in both. I felt this way long before SL came along. My SL avatar is more me (to me) than than the person typing these words, since "he" has to continually lie about and cover up "his" true self, and much of his personality is a world-pleasing construct. I would imagine a lot of gay and bisexual people have experienced the same thing in SL. And I know there are a LOT of TG people just like me in SL. I hang out with them a lot, you see. And not everybody who considers him- or herself to be TG in SL, considers him- or herself to be TG in RL.

So, yeah, Naz is the REAL me. If it makes you feel better about your self to look down on me because I feel that way, go ahead. I'm happy for you that your life is mostly like you want it. Please try not to be so quick to judge.

For more information go here:

http://www.apa.org/topics/transgender.html

I have a TG friend, in SL. Her profile is cautious and she's not open with being TG; we became friends when we bought land next to each other, became closer friends and eventually began emailing in rl. Only then did she trust me enough to tell me the truth (shaking in her shoes, she said) that in rl she was male. I was surprised, sure; I'd had no inkling. But it was a big shrug as far as changing anything in my friendship with her, it was the being that became my friend, who she was, not a gender thing at all. I just felt it sad that she had to carry all that fear all the time, of becoming close to someone and then having to reveal, or feeling she had to reveal this huge 'secret'. What did you mean by the part I left in quotes there? Am a little curious about that, not sure I understand it. *IF* it's not too personal to ask. If it is, I understand.

I refer to "me" when in world. But if out of world and talking about my avatar, I use terms like she,my avatar etc..

*Whips off her pants and waves them in salute.

Don't forget Mussolini..he got the trains to run on time.

Emoting is a way of describing your actions in the third person. Comes in handy when you want to do something complicated or that you don't have an animation for, or when you want to supplement animations. They come out in regular white text, like chat, but without the colon after your name. To emote, just type /me in front of the action.

/me waves to Kay

would come out in the SL viewer as

Nic Writer waves to Kay.

I thought that was a very brave post, Naz. Well done! And a clear message that none of us knows what any of the rest have to deal with in life.

That's so cool, Treasure. Not everyone would have seen it in the clear light you did. You just bucked up my diminishing faith in people!

Thanks for the explanation, Nic. Sounds fun; hope I get to use it some day.

/me blows kiss in thanks.

Thank you, Kay. I usually feel that SL is a safe place for me, and hardly ever feel the need to explain or justify. I guess it's to be expected once in a while, though.

I'm not making a condemation of the person, I'm saying that the words "more me than the the RL operator" imply it.

@Naz:
I think you misunderstand my meaning, I'm not questioning anyone's identity, quite the opposite! I'm saying "you" are not your physical circumstances, your job, your possessions, or even who you know, but rather the mind behind the circumstances... "you" are your thoughts, dreams, desires, dislikes, fears, and essentially your mind (which is what really matter, especially in virtual spaces)... so to say that some visual cues and details that display aspects of that person are "more" than the mind and even soul if you will, of the person running the show, just strikes me as.... impossible. real world or virtual. more apparent maybe, but actually more in it's summation? no way. a derivative of "you", the person inside, with the choicer parts shown.

ETA:
I am sorry if you felt that this was an attack on you, individually or as part of a larger group. as a woman with problems of her own that virtual life helps ignore, I more than get that... they may affect me, but they don't by any means define the person I am, and I don't think your circumstances should define you.... they are just trials along the path, and we all have those. you ever need a shoulder, mines available... because appearances and circumstances mean very little me, the person inside is what I count.

Thank you very much for your understanding (with me and with your friend.) The part you're asking about goes to what you were saying, sort of. There are people who consider their avs TG in SL, but who don't consider themselves TG in RL. There are also a LOT of people in SL like your friend....whose avs are the opposite gender from their RL selves, and who live in the same fear of of discovery in SL they suffer in RL, which is terrible. I made the decision early on NOT to hide in SL, since I do enough hiding in RL. But paranoia and secrecy are an inherent part of life for a lot of TG people, and the fear that somebody might connect their SL avatar back to the RL person is a pretty natural thought process. I have gotten pretty good at recognizing my sisters....I have good tranny-dar...and if anybody ever wants to talk to somebody about being TG in RL or in SL in privacy, feel free to IM me inworld or PM me here.

I go in and out with this one, sometimes I say she or her, but other times when I am talking about somehting about my rl it is I.... so Im not sure if this is good or bad..

So I will say, omg does tarina's ass look unusually fat today.. or ops tarina forgot her panties again... you know that kind'a stuff lol

um call me a noob but, what is TG? oh duh ok, sorry I read that again .. I get it now DUH me