Height Discrimination in Second Life

Only true if our blinging pals feel that their bling is a fundamental part of who they are in SL.

Why else woudl they feel the need to wear it? Hell we could all be in orange jumpsuits with the same height and function just as well (if not better) as with bling and shortness.

That's the thing with SL...it serves no purpose other than entertainment in whatever form you feel like seeking out (within legal limits). Every item is pointless. That's the beauty!

Because they find it amusing? Seems like most people naturally stop with the excessive bling after they've been in-world for a couple of months, so I sort of doubt they view it as 'fundamental.'

Well, from what I've seen many people get over all types of things after being in world for a couple months...be it furry be it clone trooper be it expensive, giant dragon.

Look at the "gangstas" in Los Altos and places like that...they dress funny with all types of bling for years on end! I would say bling is VERY MUCH a fundamental part of who they think they are.

Everybody rolls different in SL, which is kind of the point of this thread. It's just that certain groups of people are able to end up as a protected class which some would like to see happen with the child avs.

I personally don't care either way. Like I said, it's all superficial. That's the beauty!

sorry huge difference, I can simply do a ctrl-alt-shift-5 and bling is turned off for me. I dont care if someone wears bling but I can turn it off. But.... my av is me.... not an accessory. Its part of who I am. And be damned if I will change to please others.. I do not go places kids shouldnt go to. I do behave msyself but it is me.

Unless you're actually 3'5" and/or 10 years old then your av isn't a part of who you are anymore than plastic Spock ears are a part of who a Trekkie is. They deal with it by either taking them off when in public or by sticking with other Trekkies. They seem to be able to handle that for the most part.

You should be allowed to dress how you want to within reason (which from the sounds of it, you do) but you shouldn't be allowed any special exemptions from ridicule that aren't afforded the rest of us. It comes with the territory.

I beg to differ, its my creation and a part of me no matter what you say.... BTW made a typo before its ctrl-alt-shift-=.....

I wouldnt be here if I had no choice, its "our world, our imagination"
maybe you would change your av to please a minority, I wont. Maybe a trekkie would, I wont. I have never been ridiculed in over 3 years in SL. Why? maybe I understand my limits, maybe I accept others. Who knows?
Let me ask you... would you be offended if it was asked of you to remove the Slave Owner from your sig? You see I dislike that but I accept it... its apparently a 'part of you'

I think bling and shortness in this context is a poor comparison. Many of us choose very, very carefully our avatar. It represents us. It helps establish our identity. It represents our imagination, our ambition, our dreams, our desires, our ego, our conscience, our guilt. Try and get that across from a 7' orange jumpsuited Ruth?

That's just caused my lunchtime explosion of laughter!

How dull was lunch before these fora....but I guess it would be ok so long as they were not *short* Ewoks.

...and after all - all avatars are Ruth under the skin.

You are absolutely right - our avatars are expressions of our personalities - extensions of our inner selves - and we do become very attached to them. I often change my avatar shape to test out animations, but I always change back to "Deira" as soon as I have finished work... and yes, Deira is small.

My avatar is already more then a year the same. I like her as she is.... the only things that changes often are her clothes .

Morwen.

Don't *ever* change her!!!

/me reluctantly picks up bucket and shovel and walks off toward stables

*laughs*
One day soon I really have to build a horse stable on my land....

Morwen.

I have many avatars in my inventory. Two older versions of me, a dandelion and a cactus dryad, An elder dragon from Grendel's Children, an "Acylote of Void" avvie I was given, a crow, a chiant chicken, and others.

I wear them now and then, rarely, but I always return to myself. And yes, at least in Second Life, this is "myself." It's the me I wish to represent here.

Now I know others have very different feelings towards avatars, and that's fine. Yet I don't,

Oh, and while I'm at it, the "bling" comparison. It's not a bad comparison when we discuss, say, the fine folks of Los Altos, but falls flat when we talk of the average user. I'd say the closer comparison is furries, as we're not talking about so much an accessory type item, but part of the identity of the avatar's player.

Mari

P.S.: Nice forum meet last night. Sorry I couldn't stick around longer!

Your missing the point. I'm in agreement with you to some extent but I think it's silly to play up the importance of being short vs. the importance of other accessories.

I agree that avs generally mirror who we are but for some they show who we want to be preceived as.

My overall point is that people shouldn't try to make one av attribute or accessory more important to the world than another since they're all equally as easy to change, create or delete.

I'm all for the freedom of expression and creativity making your own av brings but I also realize that certain attributes I may choose to adorn could have social implications or bring about certain prejudices. I have yet to shy away from anything simply because of that, but I definitely keep it in mind.

For example, I really like some of the more detailed, "non-cartoon" looking furry avs out there and have been planning on getting one. I also have an anthro velociraptor av I wear once in a while.

However, I'm also fully aware of the potential social implications wearing such a thing might have because of some people's prejudice against the freakier of furries that are out there.

You'll never catch me at Furnation or otherwise wearing tiger genatalia but some people don't know that and choose to be upset about it (it's kinda creepy to me, too). Other people's prejudice won't stop me from doing what I want but I also don't expect exemption from such things and am aware that they will be there regardless of if I like it or not.

Because of valid concerns currently going on in-world being a child av is somewhat socially dangerous. Only time, you (the child av wearer) and your actions will ease the situation. Crying about discrimination will only show that child avs cry just like real children. That's the reality. Learn to deal with it.

Methinks finding effective and constructive ways "to deal with it" is what this thread is really all about...

I'd be concerned about pituitary issues if a kid was 3'5" at 10 years old...

Well, 75% of the SL population is over 7' tall anyway. There are all sorts of gland issues in SL. Not just related to height, either!

Hey! I'm only 6'5"! Although I seem to be shrinking with each iteration...my first alt is 6' and my second is 5'7". lol

Discrimination is unfair, unproductive and largely unintelligent.
Wilberforce, Lincoln, Pankhurst, Luther King are just a few names who have thrown their weight behind my point. And now? we have a new discrimination. Valid concerns? well mebbe .. hidden in the paranoia.

Deal with it? you mean tolerate the intolerant? I'd much rather not thankyou.

I agree, bilbo. If we start tolerating this then what's next? Some of the child av's I've seen were simply adorable and if someone wants to be a child inworld, let them. If they can't anymore because of some rule, LL needs to change their slogan into "Your world, our discrimination"

Mandy C

Agreed. If there is one thing I dislike then it is intolerance...

Morwen.

bangs her head over and over against the brick wall, then goes for coffee...>_<!!!

Well said.

I'm actually gonna do a looong op ed in next week's M2 about dis. I don't much like to compare our little doing within Second Life to what a number of very great women and men have done in the real world to fight discrimination, but there is something that applies here, f'r sure.

In a world as supposedly free as Second Life, the last thing we should be doing is discriminating based on appearance.

There's a two way street. I don't go to places that would nto be approproate for my avvie, and I am sensitive to the fact that not everyone is gonna want a kid around. I do, however, expect others to be sensitive to *me* too.

If we're sharing a virtual space in this world (for example, if we come across each other in a welcome area, or the SL4B, or other public spots), I ask you to coexist with me.

If you are in my home spaces (my in-world home, other kid spaces like Inner Child, or
"kid friendly" locations like Livingtree or Go Go Karts in Motorama), respect me and other kids present -- or consider finding some other place to be.

Mari