Race: A Big Deal in Second Life?

I've never understood people who say "my friend ,(he's black,) blah blah blah..." or "my co-worker, (he's gay), blah blah blah..."

It's like that is the whole point of even bringing them up in the conversation. Why should I care if he is black? or gay? Should that affect my thoughts of them? And why are you bringing it up? Does it affect your thoughts of them?

Oh well... people are wierd.

sometimes referring to race helps communication. as a person of color i've never been offended when one of my friends says "hey you see that black girl over there?" usually you're going to instantly know who they're talking about. it's not discrimination, it's just being specific. otherwise you get situations like......

hey you see that guy over there?
which one?
in the sweater.
the norwegian ski sweater?
no the turtleneck.
the green one?
no the teal one.
teal is a kind of green ya know.
yeah but i mean the one sitting on the bench.
that looks more like aqua than teal to me.
nevermind that, the point is do you see him?
yeah the black guy. what about him?

Well if you're pointing someone out in a crowd, yeah.

What I meant is abstractly, when someone is talking about the person and they aren't there. Like telling a story about something that happened at work.

OMFG, CHIP!!!!! That skin is blowing my mind up!

I want to be blue! *hops up and down, all excited*

Fantastic article, Cristiano. Nice to see I'm not the only one who sees absurdity in Time's use of sexual imagery to promote breast cancer awareness.

And damn, would someone please feed that poor model? Just one cheeseburger or something. Maybe some fries.

Oh, and while I'm at it, the actual topic of this thread:



Granted, the options are a little limited with the built-in skintone slider, but I've seen every conceivable racial type in Second Life. I had to go to a little effort to make something that looked more Indian (Asian, not American) for my avatar, but it wasn't an arduous process. The fact that you're not limited at all in your choice of appearance makes for a highly diverse population in SL.

And I don't know where you've been hanging out, Seamar, but I've found diversity to be the rule rather than the exception. In a world where one's very species can be changed on a whim, it makes no sense at all to form closed ethnic communities. Come to think of it, it doesn't make much sense in the real world, either, but there are segregational forces, both social and historical, at work in the real world that aren't present in SL to any great degree.

I've seen a remarkable lack of racism in SL, and it warms my heart to find an online community that's not hung up on real-world race struggle. It's a refreshing change of pace from near-nightly news stories of racial tension, ethnic cleansing, and other examples of humanity's ability to be cruel to itself.

I'm a catgirl. I'm usually white, since its easier to put my black tattoos on that color.

When i'm bored, i'm blue. (Thanks Munchflower! )

I tried purple as a newbie but it got old really, really fast.

i was just thinking and realized that even though i've seen every possible race and species running around in sl i can't remember ever meeting anyone who acts like a member of a specific ethnic group. um.....i mean aside from appearance there's nothing to make us racially different. everyone has their own personality but aside from their taste in home decorating generally everyone i've met acts middle class white-ish. i dunno if that's a deep thought or if it just shows how shallow i am.