Second Life = Deviant Life? Have YOUR say

One of you?

One of US??

Today's Questions:

1. Some people suggest that Second Life encourages deviant activities. Do you feel your behaviour is less inhibited in Second Life than the physical world?

In some ways less inhibited, but the more I get to know people in SL the more my 1st life personalilty emerges. And in my 1st I'm AM a little inhibited. In terms of "deviant" activities just what is called deviant is subjective, no? So perhaps you should define it. I haven't visited your website yet, so perhaps you have.
But I don't do anything in SL (of a deviant sort) that I wouldn't do in 1st life. (Although defying gravity would be awesome in 1st life in intimate situations!)

2. Some people suggest that Second Life mirrors the physical world. Is your experience of Second Life remote from, or close to, the physical world in which you reside?
It's remote from my physical world, although in many ways SL emulates the real world. The two aren't mirrors....Sl is artistic license I guess you could say. And much of it is true imagination.

3. There is 3D avatar creation technology in Second Life, do you want an avatar that closely resembles you, or realises some new desired image? I want my avatar to be the ideal me. Or the fantastical me. Or some creature.

4. In the communities of Second Life, there are various norms and rules, how do they shape your views about deviant activities?
They have no bearing. I consider Second Life an extension of 1st life in the way that the internet is... only in 3D. if the almost the whole world is represented in SL, then of course all the good , bad, and parts in between are going to be represented. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Just like I wouldn't hang out in the seedy side of town in my 1st Life, I don't have to in SL either.

Good luck with your research Rosser.

by deviant I did not mean sexual behaviour. Deviant behaviours: things that deviate from the norms of a community, for example.
But I do not know what are the norms and rules in SL. For example, if SL is a place where researchers get treated badly, then those who have been kind to me may be considered by many as deviant. Just an example.

Oh please!!!!!!get over yourself.....

Thank you very much!

I understand that. I'm as sick of that impression people have of SL as well. So why not help change the view?

Then you really shouldn't be that diappointed.

I think most people here are tired of data mining and marketing surveys as well as cynical journalistic expose's disguised as "research" projects. Being LL's lab rats are one thing, but being prodded by people who seemingly have spent little or no time in SL is cause for offense for some people.

Yes, Bunni's survey was received well. It does matter that she has a history here, but also the subject matter has something to do with it. Someone comes in on what seems to be a new account and starts questions of a more salacious nature, given past experience, it's natural that it is going to wave the red flag in front of the bull.

It seems the OP is on the level, and has experience in world, so you are right i that he should be taken off the target list. While I won't take his survey, I wish him luck and wll save my ridiculous one upping for more suitable occasions.

Brenda (Will wait for Pep outside this thread)

I thought you said you had been around inworld for six months at least - and you haven't noticed any "norms and rules" in that time?


This isn't SL. This is the forums.

Pep (A different person inworld)

Sorry Brenda, it's a little late for me to go dancing now.

Pep (Can I have a rain check?)

Professor Ludlow, whom many here may know as Urizenus Sklar.

Now I feel dirty and violated!

Yes, I have. But my "notices" are inevitably influenced by my own ideas as a person. If I
write a research based on my own perceptions of things, what is the point? Moreover, I observed in SL but I did not participate as a resident (make friends, chat, build...) until tonight. Hence, my perceptions are influenced by my role as a researcher. Would you want some researcher write what he thinks about SL without asking people who actually live there?

By the way:

SL = in-world environment + SL-supported forums (my perception)

You're obfuscating now. Using a buzzword such as deviant set the tone right off, no use backtracking.

That is really interesting, so you have a different avatar in world.

How about just a fight in the alley? I have an extra heavy purse tonight.

Your perception is entirely incorrect.

I have multiple avatars inworld. In the forums I have no avatars.

Pep (and that last quote of yours is a run-on sentence)

PS See Jig, I even criticise the grammar of "academics".

/me considers whether the purse is filled with money and a prospective mugging might be worthwhile . . .

Pep ( . . . then remembers that this is Brenda, and the weight is probably a .44 Magnum)

I am a researcher, do not really like to be called an "academic".
If it is fine with you. You actually have an avatar here: you name and your
past posts...

I do feel less inhibited, but why does that imply deviant behavior?


As opposed to the one I don't reside in?
It's fairly close, for what it is. I cannot fly or create objects from nothingness in real life - but I can experience terrain, day cycles, cloud formations and a host of other phenomena in both environments. The NPIRL stuff is a shorter list, I believe.


My avatar is a llama.


Deviant activities are deviant activities. Is bdsm in a dungeon sex sim "deviant" behavior? Not in that space, it certainly isn't.

I get the distinct feeling this is a researcher who has never experienced Second Life, or if so, not for very long at all. I get this feeling a LOT from these research-types. There are thousands of scientists in cosmology, but to get a first-hand look takes an astronaut. We are astronauts.

I should apparently have spelled out my opinion more clearly and put the (sarcastic) emoticon in, rather than just enclosing "academic" in quotes.

My name and (some of) my past posts do not in any way equate to an avatar, as the animated visual representation of an avatar is what primarily distinguishes SL from text-based online communications mechanisms such as forums, IM, chat, bulletin boards, usenet, ICQ etc . . .

Pep (How long did you suggest you had been "observing"?)

Many people have suggested that the researcher find out for himself, but he has explained that. He's been in SL and observed...not participated for quite a while. And he has formed opinions from this.. What he's after now is OUR opinion--more primary sources. Otherwise, his research is just his opinion and not based on any broader survey.

I liked your answers Ghosty. Llamas have a interesting perspective, do they not?

Maybe over there, but not over here. We might have committees, but they are worthless - tenure is all that matters here.

Indeed, 3D avatars. Everyone is talking about these. However, does not 'your' life story in this forum constitute a part of your virtual identity? An avatar: text, 2D or 3D, in the end, is a cyber representation of a person, since no one actually 'lives' in cyberspace. So, what you have done within a cybercommunity would leave other people with an impression of you (may not be the one you want). Does not that constitute an avatar?

Gosh, will be accused of data-mining now.

I do see your viewpoint here, but you do have to remember what we are typically exposed to with the various surveys and articles on SL behavior. You did not explain very well in your opening post that you were not talking about just sexual behavior and you also did not come out and say that you have been inworld for almost 2 years and you did not come out intially with your own statement about your own views of whether SL is full of deviants or not.

Given all of that, can you really blame us for all going off on you?

yes, but if this Professor has done things that he/she should not have (for example, not revealing his/her identity as a researcher), then he/she should be reported.