How do you see yourself?

After reading a couple of blogs the other day, it became clear that different users think of their avatars in different ways. Some see them as an extension of themselves in this alternate world and others see them as high tech paper dolls or puppets that they play with but don't identify personally with.
What is your feeling of your own avatar.

"This is me in another reality"

This is me, I have never been good nor interested in role playing...

I identify with my avatar in respects that its a pixel representation of me allbeit with a decent 6 pack and its 7ft tall lol. I conduct myself here the same way as i do in RL i am happy to reveal certain RL details about myself, and i dont use the avatar to hide behind i am brutally honest about all things and i call a spade a spade.

So although my avie is better looking than me u get the real me when we chat and thats about as far as i see my avie here in SL

I tend to avoid seeing myself at all costs, but when I absolutely must I use a mirror.

btw: Voted for "dolly", even though I really hate the wording. In some ways, my avatar represents me in an idealistic way, allowing me to present a side to others that has less warts and annoying habits.

So, while I like to think that a great deal of my actual personality shows through, it's just not me in there

I voted for the first, though it ain't quite it. My avatar is more of an "aspect" of me, but not a representation of me, exactly in First Life (yes, I'm not really a four year old!). My avvie is even less a "dolly," though.

Mari

this is me - what you virtually see is what you get.

I have dated people in the dolly catagory who claimed they were being themselves - UGH never again.

Isn't playing with a doll the same as another reality?

It's a part of me in another reality. Really, how could it be any other way? The one person you can never truly run away from is yourself.

Why does it have to be either/or? One of the features of SL is that you can change you av within seconds?

Couldn't that quantity which, for loss of a better word, I would coin the "congruence" of the av with the operator, be sometimes higher and sometimes lower?

Clancy is all me. He is a little more intelligent and he picks his battles more wisely but he still all me. He doesn't really look like me, however, but I could not pass up the chance to improve my looks with only a few clicks.

I've done other versions of myself in mmorpgs even when playing them straight, no role-playing involved. It got tedious after a while, and not many other players knew I was doing another version so no one clapped when I did a good job. Nevertheless, if you find that becoming another person in SL helps you to release tension, or whatever, I'm a strong advocate. Do it, just don't blast me with your weapon.

The majority of SL'ers I meet are lowers, so I think you have a point there, Ricky.

This is one of many roles that I play. None of them are "Me". I certainly don't have fur and a tail, for example. Each of them are, to some degree, reflections of my own personality, but each also explores personalty aspects and behaviors that are NOT things I would do or act like in real life. So of the choices... it's a dolly that I play with. Ceera's relationships, roleplaying adventures, and the like are just creative fiction, written collaboratively with the friends that I play with. Those I interact with are never more than "just friends".

I made an alt once that was, as close as I could manage, "Me". Height, build, hair, facial features, typical taste in clothes, the works. I found I really wasn't interested in the slightest in playing that alt in a world where I had the capability to be anything I could imagine. Jiusy playing "myself" was like going to an ice cream store that offers hundreds of flavors, and always ordering nothing but strawberry ice cream. How boring!

In other forums I have had 20 to 30 completely different roleplay characters at once, some of which were off doing their own thing, some of which worked on adventures together, some of which despised each other and were bitter enemies. It was all fiction. Just characters in a series of short stories. Writing a Western doesn't make me a horse rider. Writing a murder mystery doesn't make me a murderer or a police detective. Playing a furry in SL doesn't make a female anthro fox in real life. All of them make me an author of detailed, hopefully very entertaining fiction.

HI, Interesting thread. I voted "Dolly" though it's really a mixture of both but with this choice as the major part.

What I mean is that my av has the same principles and ethics as me in rl - ie wouldn't purposely hurt someone, wouldn't steal, etc, - but the way I have constructed my av and the way I "roleplay" it is quite a bit different to the way I act in rl. I am quite shy and nervous in rl but the SL version of me can be boisterous and outgoing and has the ability to stand up for herself in SL more than I do.

Basically my SL av is nearly everything that I would want to be in RL ( on a lighter note there are times when I wish I could TP and Fly as well, but don't we all??) and who knows, maybe with time RL-me will be more like SL-me.

He he - if that happens - watch out !!!

Unfortunately, the term "another reality" is loaded from science fiction literature, so it can just as easily mean "looks like me with a totally different personality" as "same personality, different features, style, body, wealth", etc. So it's not clear to me what's meant by that term.

In any event, I mostly view this as character development, just as an author develops characters. And, similarly to many authors, there's some of me in the character, but there are differences, too. With alts, it's possible to take characters in different directions, so I work harder at making the alts different from me in at least some dimensions. In casual, mundane situations, such as just going shopping, it can be pretty much me regardless, but in other situations, I try to stick with and grow the character. In the forums, though, it's pretty much me all the time, and I generally put more effort into developing the alts.

I think about backstory for my alts, with some of the role playing sims providing the basic situation. I look at personality differences, whether a character is introverted or extroverted, cautious or risk taking, straight laced or free thinker, etc. Some dimensions are easier, some harder, particularly since they often need to be done in real time.

I've never done any serious fiction writing, and I've always thought that character development was a weak point for me. So even though this isn't the same, and even though it's not my primary motivation for being in SL, I do view part of my time in SL as an opportunity to build character development skills.

I define the difference like this - If you interact as yourself through your SL keyboard then you are being yourself

If , instead , you are trying to get experinces for the character on the screen at the expense of others who think your really like that. If your character on the screen matters to you more than the other people in Second Life.
Then Your playing with dollies.

It doesnt matter what your Av looks like.

Hmm playing both fields, 1 Avatar is me and the other 99 try not to be

As someone who has done a bit of (purely amateurish) fiction writing, character building and development always has been one of the most interesting aspects of that. SL is somewhat different, because here you don't have the time to polish all aspects of a character and its innner motives, etc. when interacting with others. So there is bound to be much more of the personality of the operator shining through, I guess.

I would say that she represents some aspects of me. She's more than a doll. I think I would say she's an alter ego. She's prettier and less shy than I am. But I think we all unintentionally carry aspects of our RL selves into SL. Caldonia is apt to get stuck in a tree, crash headlong into a building, fall onto some unsuspecting av. If I could fly in RL this is *exactly* what would happen! (And if we could TP, I undoubtedly would always arrive late, with a wig and a shoe in my bum)...

I wish there had been a third option in this survey. Neither statement quite expresses how I feel--but thanks for getting us all to think about this, this is one of the more interesting threads I've seen.

I said it was me. The me of my imagination seems just as real to me as the me in RL. It has the same hopes and dreams. Life- it's all in flux anyway, y'know? Philosophically speaking, heh. The RL me tends to be more confused by things that happen, lol.

-Fo

Oh no. Neither. Certainly I'm not a "dolly". How insulting! And certainly I'm not my "operator". She's stuck in RL, and simply does what I tell her (well, most of the time). No, I'm me. Suzi. And don't believe anyone who tells you different.

(Thanks to my operator for posting this on my behalf.)

"Jopsy Pendragon" is merely an extension, or a projection of myself.

Same personality, same attitudes, same memories and thoughts.

It is neither "me" nor "my puppet dolly", so I refrained from voting.




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Thanks!

I didn't vote, since neither of the options suited how I see it.

I have roleplayed - I mean, fantasy RPGs and such - for over 15 years, also online. Thus SL was quite a shock to me really, people playing themselves mostly. I must admit I was quite lost for the few weeks - bah, who am I kidding, I am mostly lost still.

I am also an amateur writer, and have done a bit of acting as a hobby.

So, to me, my AV is a reflection of myself, I tend to call it a puppet, but it is not completely that. Obviously I can't really create a role for her in a place like SL (as I would create roles and characters in the RP servers and worlds). So, she is not me exactly, but more like an alter ego, doing things I can't do in real life, expressing things I don't normally express.

I usually tend to play a role with her when meeting strangers, and "speaking" out loud. With friends in IMs I tend to be more myself. Then there are those occasions when I act in a role completely, when the situation has been agreed and the rules have been set by all.

So it is a mix of acting, roleplaying and being myself, though I have found out that I do have a certain online personality that I don't have in real life.

What comes to the looks of the AV - I guess it is kind of a idealized me, with more muscles I mean.

I am the puppet of my avatar. I do not push the keys, the keys push me o_o

Clearly, my av is NOT me. It is a computer session driven by me. A tool I use to interact with an electronic environment. Think of it as a software development tool.

As such, it does not drink, dance, have a "house", or try to mimic human behaviours because it hasn't to. It moves by sitting on prims rather than walking. It is often parked in a place (underwater is my favorite) while I act remotely. Its "home" is a computer directory named /home or Inventory. His land a heap of prims. And it hates these poseballs giving it a soooo-stupid look.

The anthropomorphic appearance is more often a disadvantage. Most people think my av *is* me, that I am "there" and should see and answer them. Most of the time, my screen is convered with windows and I rely on sounds to know if someone is "speaking" to me. Fortunately, SL audio had good cues about distance and direction. Unfortunately, stupid gestures force me to shut audio off to keep my attention on the task.

This has nothing to do with roleplay. When interacting with people, my av of course represents my own personality and nothing else. In a sense, playing the anthro game is roleplaying. When interacting with humans, my av is roleplaying (even if I am not). For example, I control it such as it appears to "look at" the av speaking. That's roleplaying because av's eyes are blind.