Looking to interview African-American players

Hey all --

I'm looking for some information on the SL experience from African-American players.

If you are African-American and have spent time in SL, then you're just who I'm looking for.

I am just going to ask you some questions -- and that's it!

Please reply to this thread, contact me in-game or send me a private message here in the forums.

Thanks a lot!

EDIT: After seeing the confusion about my use of the term "African-American", let me clarify that I am looking for the opinions of black people. At this time, I am only looking for the opinions of black people who live or were raised in America.

You can also private message me if you would like to participate and would not like to comment publically.

I will stop seeking opinions Monday morning.

EDIT #2: I have had no black American players who have white avatars share their experiences with me. I REALLY would like at least ONE such person to give me their opinions. Let me make it clear that I am completely non-judgmental about your choices. I just want a more balanced perspective.

Please contact me via private message or via IM! I would greatly appreciate it.

Are black players excluded? I think this is racist!

No, Warda, I am specifically looking for black players. I am interested in their experiences in SL. That's all.

linkie here <--- This is why I asked (especially numbered item 3 on that page). PC terms have their place, but in a global audience, "African-American" is a nonsense term at best.

I have been in SL for more than one year.. flying around a lot... meeting many avas.. (persons humans)

Plus many animals.. and ONE very short green man.. in a KILT!

I have ONLY seen ONE black skinned ava,.,, BUT I have not seen any ”yellow” or ”brown” or...

Wonder why....

/Tina - EXAKT TGIF

Nonsense to you, maybe, but not to others.

Perhaps I am looking for the experiences of people who are of African descent and American?

Regardless, I am not looking to get into an argument about terminology with you.

I have seen comparatively few non-white avatars myself. I have wondered the same thing! It's one of the reasons why I am doing a bit of research.

Here's my off-the-shelf reasoning:

- The default avatars you are started with are all white, or at the darkest, Mexican-American. No blacks. This makes choosing a black skinned avatar a conscious decision rather than a default go-with-the-flow decision.

- There aren't any truly 'black' avatars on sale. The upmarket skin retailers in SL do a variety of skin tones, but none of them I've seen can really be described as truly black ethnicity.

- The SL engine doesn't really allow for avatar skin to be shiny. Shininess is one of the more noticeable aspects of darker (and oily) skin, and the darker the skin, the more noticeable this is. Since the engine allows for no shininess at all, the engine can't really render a dark skin tone anywhere near as realistically as a pale tone.

Anyway, I would respond to your survey, but you've made it clear you're after African-Americans specifically, and not blacks generally.

LOL! I love that story about the discomfited reporter!

- Well, this is news to me, last I looked there were two black avatars, male and female, in the default set of newbies made by Ryan Linden.

- Also, Chip Midnight makes a delicious black female skin...

- The SL interface doesn't allow that, but I can see no reason why the core engine wouldn't work very well on an arbitrary mesh

Eggy what about black bo.....

/Tina )))

I've seen a few, I suppose. They're not super-dark, but they're there. Of course, I'm not black RL, so the skin tone could be off in ways I'm not noticing. (Much the same way I've got very pale skin RL, know what it looks like on me, and consequently have never found a satisfactory very pale skin.)

That said, in my experience, skin buying in SL is typically a question of what shade of tan Caucasian you want to be.

I find this confusing...

All African-Americans are black. But not all Blacks are African-American. Is it your position that you aren't responding because you are black but not of American nationality?

What? You mean negerboller or however you spell it?

EDIT: Oh, never mind, you probably meant black boobies

For what it's worth, not all blacks are of African descent. For example, the native population of Austraila is black.

Some of SL's most beautiful avatars are black - Washu Zebrastripe and Brace Coral come to mind - but this disparity has been commented on before. A cursory search of the forums isn't bringing up the threads however; someone else might have better luck! Perhaps people should be given a better choice than "Male" or "Female" at the start - maybe a screen with a panel of 20 choices would be more a more appropriate starting point? Besides, I'm getting really sick of seeing those hideous jeans with flip-flops that show the avatar's most hideous attritbute: the feet.

I've always been curious as to how people choose their avatars. I've seen people who are black in real life playing white avatars, and people who are white in real life playing black avatars. That's not to mention the humans playing animals, the gender benders, and don't even get me started on HoseQueen's zOMG banana avatar. Needless to say, I'll be interested to see your research when its done, Antipathy!

Regards,

-Flip

"All African-Americans are black."

Not all Africans are black. Therefore, it follows that not all African-Americans are black.

"African-American" means "an American of African descent". It does not mean "black", and should not be used to mean "black", no matter what skin colour most Americans of African descent have.

Just say "black" for pity's sake. It's a description of colour, nothing more. By skirting around the issue of a person's skin colour, afraid to just out and say it, you're acting as if you can't possibly ever refer to a person's skin colour without implying insult.

Musuko.

I have a friend who is 3rd generation african american. White as they come. Yes, he's still african american.

I have an african-american-african-english gerbil.

Anybody got any questions for him?

There are actually quite a few of them around. Problem is, not many of them are interested in the forums here since most of those I've talked to think that its full of white BS. You'd have better luck wandering about inworld tho.

Perhaps we could try to trap one?

See... I can't really blame her for using 'African American' instead of 'black'.

... and I've deleted this part, because I came to another conclusion while writing it. Let's just say instead that I have accidentally offended both black and white people, no matter what term I use.

<derail>

And here's the conclusion I came to, that really doesn't have much to do with the above:

Now that I think about it, it's actually usually white people who are offened by me calling someone 'black' or 'dark skinned' or 'dark complected' or whatever, and ask me to call them African American. Funny, that. I'm allowed to decribe you as pale, but not my other friend as ebony? But she's not FROM Africa! Fine then - I'm personally insulted that you think people are only 'black' or 'white'. I am 'Translucently Pale Olive Undertones' thankyouverymuch, and I'm tired of being oppressed by those 'Cancer-pocked Tan' people who actually go out in the sun...

</derail>

That said, to the original poster: could you be a bit more specific? Do you mean black people who are simply black-skinned? Black Americans of African decent? Caucasian people who play as black people on SL? What?

LOL

You freaking lunatics! She just wants to ask some black people (of African descent) who are living in the US some questions!!!

CHILL!!!

I'd like to know this too; Is this research looking for African-Americans, black people of African descent, black people (regardless of racial history), or all "non-white" people?

Is it simply enough to have the appropriate genetic material, or do I actually need to identify as belonging to that sub-group? (It's not un-common for people in Australia with Aboriginal heritage to identify as "Australian" and not as "Aboriginal"

Why do they assume forum posters are white? I'd say it's just full of BS. Everyone's BS.