Second Life = Deviant Life? Have YOUR say

I would not really say that we are angry so much as frustrated - and you manage to pop in with the wrong wording and you got the brunt of our frustrations.

I thinik now though that a few more will help you out.

...Tell me what should be allow and what should not be!

Go to a PTA meeting at your kid's school and talk about BDSM?

Just to explain myself, when I was observing... I did not make friends, chat with people, engage in group activities, etc. I was in the environment but I was out of it.

It is NOT for me to define what deviant is to me. It is your world, your SL. Tell me what should be allow and what should not be! If you think us researchers should not be allowed here, tell me (nicely please I had too much tonight). Your opinion will be reflected in the analysis.

If you are only aware of what is deviant in the sim that you often visit then tell me about it.
If you do not know what is deviant because it is far too confusing, that is very relevant too.

I am NOT here to say this is the norm and this is deviant. I am a researcher, I have been in and out SL for a while but my views are inevitably influenced by my real life role.

If the OPs posts and webpage are representative of the standard of research performed by academics at Swansea University, I for one am not impressed. As someone who is currently performing psychological research on human subjects (I'm a PhD student), my experience suggests that any ethics committee worth their salt would not approve a project of this kind. Participants of this sort of research (when it's done properly) have to be able to give "Informed Consent" - which means that among other things, they need to be informed of:

- the full legal name of the person performing the research
- contact info for the researcher and the department that they're working within
- the reason for the research being performed
- FULL details regarding how the information will be used and whether it will be published
- and a mountain of other similar stuff.

I see none of this in the OPs statements. I note that the webpage the OP provides is provided by the CompSci dept. From this and other clues (such as the poor quality of the survey questions), I infer that the OP is not in fact an academic working on an official, sanctioned project but is most likely an undergrad working on a term paper or the like.

If I am incorrect, perhaps the OP would like to clarify, and to provide the information required for potential participants to be able to give full informed consent to participate in this project.

This. Considering SL is strictly entertainment for me, the idea of being watched as I entertain myself is somewhat creepy.

*Waits for the comebacks from Pep, Ghosty, Damien.........

I am going to use the Wikipedia entry for deviancy -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deviant_behavior

- to avoid any "your definition of deviancy isn't mine" nonsense.

Deviant behavior has already been defined

There are different kinds of research. I am not allowed to reveal too much information about myself in the case. (Right thing to do considering some of the responses I got...)

This research is carried out under the principle of: I do not know who you are in the really world and, at the same time, I have to protect my real life identity as well. See I have already given so many clues in a web page...

By the way I am a research not an undergraduate student. I wish I was, sometimes...
The school of Human Sciences thank the Department of Computer Science for its technical support.

The point is, you need to protect yourselves. I need to protect myself too.

I call shenanigans. This is piffle. Real life researchers doing reputable research do not need to "protect their real life identities" - quite the reverse, in fact. They need to make it explicit when they're doing research. It's a requirement of the job. OK, you're not an undergrad. You're not an academic (you've said so yourself). What are you, then? The cleaner? A filing clerk?

/me contemplates emailing the CompSci dept office and enquiring about this person who is bringing the name of Swansea University into disrepute.

That would probably be an invitation for the Department of Child Services to knock on your door because of a phone call from a 'concerned' parent.

That... or an unexpected phone call from a neglected house wife with a secret kink she's been harboring for years.

If you want to know what I consider deviant in SL? Being spied on, judged and analized. Do we get Judged when we play Grand theft Auto on the playstation because we find it thrilling to steal a fake car in a fake world? No we do not. So why in SL are we being watched, judged and researched for what we do in SL? just because we are interacting with other people when we do it?

THIS.

I'm curious as to what the objective of this research is. Even data mining and marketing surveys have a specific goal, and student projects are done to get a grade and complete coursework. I'm curious as to why this particular organization is interested in this information. What are they looking to prove, or disprove

If you want to know what I consider deviant in SL? Being spied on, judged and analized.

This. Considering SL is strictly entertainment for me, the idea of being watched as I entertain myself is somewhat creepy.

*Waits for the comebacks from Pep, Ghosty, Damien.........

Analized??

Analized??

The more you write about your research and approach, Rosser Writer, the less I trust you. At best, it's very Mickey Mouse.

It would be easier if you just went in-world and experienced it yourself or interviewed people in-world who are taking part in such things.