Psychology of AVs?

I think you meant, "...people who play female avatars in SL are males in RL". And according to the data I've seen, that number's too high. I'd also say that it's on the high side based on my own experience. Most of the other women I meet in SL turn out to be women in RL as well (in those cases where I have some fairly solid evidence, such as use of voice). Yes, of course, anything can be faked...but most people won't go to that extreme.

In two different anonymous surveys, the numbers reported were more like 20-25% of the female avs in SL had male operators, while about 6-7% of the male avs were run by RL women.

Those are interesting numbers, and will probably be used to support all sorts of theories about men, women, and psychology. All of which are probably wrong.

Market research. Only one 'researcher' has posted results that I recall.

Yes it would be very nice to have a full in depth study of the psychology behind choosing one's proxy.

Thing is the wind could change and the next year it could be irrelevant data. The friendly Canadian child avs could have become surly Serbs, who knows why. (Not saying all Canadians are friendly or Serbs surly. I like alliteration.)

Making shapes it's good to try to imagine a real person emerging. Sort of like the sculptor (Michelangelo?) who said the statue is already in the marble (the comparison stops at the analogy of course).

As for researching what is appealing to others I don't wish to brag (it isn't a thing to brag on regardless) but I knew that already. I've always been a bit fascinated by faces and watched documentaries, read about it, etc. over the years but also just observing what people like in RL. It is usually about health and symmetry and youth.

Also not all features can be strong. In a balanced (i.e. 'beautiful' or 'handsome') face, if it has large lips or Roman nose usually the eyes are somewhat average or small size. Things like that. To be a restful viewing experience the eye has to be guided somewhere but not distracted overly in an unpleasant way by any one thing along the way.

Help any?

I've sometimes thought it could fun to mash up the demographic data with the shape slider numbers. Do different nationalities choose different shapes? Do German males choose wider shoulders than Italians? Do Canadians have bigger breasts than Brazilians. That would be fun to know. Maybe those males with giant shoulders and tiny heads are Welsh. Who's to know?

Maybe financial data could be added. The most profitable shape for escorts could be found. That could be useful. I wonder if there is a relationship between land holdings and purse size.

Shape slider data is a mine of information waiting to be analysed to death. The best thing is...No surveys are required.

Perhaps you mean Westerners as opposed to Europeans?

Funny thing is I never heard or read so much as a word about the Gorean thing until I opened this account in SL. Conversely, I've known about Manga for a couple of decades.

The Welsh are shaped like pinheads? I always thought of Welsh men looking more like Anthony Hopkins if anything. Large head, somewhat short bodies. "Do Canadians have bigger breasts than Brazilians?" If they did you know Playboy would be headquartered there.

I do notice that almost all of the "huuuuge bottom" female avatars I see in Second Life have Brazilian profiles. I've also noticed a lot of Italian avatars, well, look Italian. But not in the same striking/exclusive way as the ginormous badonkadonk avatars seems to denote "Brazil." It's got to be down to cultural preferences.

Numbers could be interesting as far as how many of what and broken down by gender, age, nationality...ZOMG! Poll! (nooo)



I doubt there is any one 'shape' that is more profitable - everyone's taste is different. It might have more to do with salesmanship/emoting skills, as to who makes the most as a virtual 'escort'.



I don't know if that would tell us much. In real life some barons are said to be overcompensating for lack of physical beauty. In SL there is no such thing, unless one just plain lacks taste or caring.

We mustn't forget that a lot of people vary basic appearance or even their life-form within the one account name. Many more people have one or more alts.

So someone might play themselves, with a realistic RL avatar one day, and they might play a totally different resident, of the opposite gender, the next.

I always remember the time I was building one of my early houses in a sandbox and an elephant came in and walked up the stairs. I was quite amused by this. I was a little disappointed when next time I was at the sandbox, the same resident was a tiny matchstick 2 dimensional man about the size of my foot!

I agree. Welsh people do tent to look more Celtic although I've never understood the perceived relationship with Celts - the languages are totally different for a start. In my experience both types are generally tall though.


The tits 'n' ass proclivity is certainly much more common to South America and Meditterranean cultures and it works both ways: I know from experience that Italian women have a very glad eye for a good butt on a guy, having had a Sicilian girlfriend once who was obsessed with my butt and pecs and her attitude was definitely shared by her countrywomen. They don't hesitate to rub, pat or squeeze a guy's butt for good luck but I'm sure that's just a case of any-old-excuse-will-do.

I notice that Italian, Spanish and South American avatars of both sexes look much better than average in SL and this isn't because I have a predisposition to spot Mediterranean types: they are just as likely to have Northern European names with blond hair and complexions to match. Males in these cultures have an unselfconscious streak of vanity that allows them to appreciate their own looks as much as other guys - not dissimilar to the way women do in general anywhere in the world.


I don't think I have seen a commercial shape for male avatars that looks believable. The best male avs tend to have been carefully modified by the account holder.

This is partially to do with the female mesh, which means that the waistline, navel and lower legs are never going to look right on a male av. The waistline can be disguised using more body fat, thickness and saddle in the Appearance sliders but the proportions of hip to shin are always going to be off because the female knee joint is noticeably lower than the male equivalent.

Also common marketing logic is that nobody wants to buy a 'fat' shape so generic male avs are more often than not of the pale, skinny and interesting variety or else ant-waisted travesties of muscle with unfeasibly long legs.

The whole term 'Celtic' is a bit misleading. It's a term applied to various tribes that inhabited the British Isles before the Romans invaded. They included two main groups, the Gaels (Ireland, Northern Scotland and the Isle of Man) and the Ancient Britons (England and Wales). These Celts were not the original indigenous people of our islands, they were themselves invaders, a few hundred years before the Romans.

The people of Britain and Ireland in general have a lot of Celtic and pre-Celtic genes. The difference between England and Wales is that Wales was never ruled by the Saxons and so the Celtic culture and language survived. It is thought that the Celts of England weren't all killed or driven out but simply forced to adapt to the culture and language of the invaders to such a degree that their own was extinguished - something that didn't happen even under the Romans.

I totally agree: it's a bucket term these days.

I choosen my av, because putting my real self in secondlife (for appearance sake) would be too difficult to accomplish (life like).. same counts for animations.

so, i went shopping for skins that somehow reassembles my rl appearance somehow.. (in more and less reassemblances)

besides, the sl limitations on shape design/mesh details comes also into play.

in other words, SL is the leading factor on what can and cannot be accomplished.

Or maybe they're just students . . . and, for the majority of these cases , their work is typically not up to snuff as far as scientific validity is concerned. What they do are often "learner projects"--finding out how to recognize research design flaws, confounding variables, biases . . . and finding out what constitutes good research design and what does not . . . and getting the experience of designing "instrumentation" (e.g. surveys) and designing them correctly . . . and learning how to handle the stats analyses correctly . . . etc..

IOW, when you participate in one of their studies, you're helping them learn. You're not necessarily contributing directly to the advancement of science.

However, sometimes the swifter students will actually produce a good product and get some interesting results with some validity . . . and that may prompt further, better done research.

You just never know.

I wouldn't take the lack of feedback from these students as having any deep meaning or as a discount to the people here in SL who participate.

It's another thing all together, however, when some non-university affiliated "organization" claims to be doing such research and doesn't professionally respond or feedback to participants.

--- Rema (former professional psych researcher)

The true Welsh are Picts.

Pep (All the rest are descendants of immigrants)

So you would be prepared to allow a student neurosurgeon to operate on you for practice, Rema?

Pep (How about if they offered, say, 100$L?)

PS You would be "helping them learn" after all!

I read once that the Picts were thought to be descended from the original settlers of the British Isles when they became inhabitable after the last ice age, which ended about 20,000 years ago. Also I read that Irish Traveller folk (who are not Romany Gypsies) are thought to be descended in part from the early pre-Celtic settlers of Ireland.

We're all descendants of immigrants.

@ Rema - only thing such lazy research teaches is more laziness.

i like turtles

I like tortoises! They're not quite turtles but I got two in RL anyway: a little Desert tortoise and a big Russian female. You should see that little guy follow the big gal round the garden. I don't think he's had much luck yet but he deserves an award of some kind for persistence - and bravery - female tortoises take a very severe view of unwanted attentions.

I had never heard of Gor and Greg Norman. Um. John Norman. Whatever that guys name is until SL. I had heard of Manga, hentei, anime, etc. before SL.

Oh, and I read one of these "let's study SL then write a book about it" books. Long, tedious.

I thought Picts lived in what is now Scotland (at the time they lived as Picts way back when) and went into war naked but for war paint? Of course I was a little confused at the time I was reading this history. I recall Romans having trouble with both the tribes of now-a-days Scotland and Wales.

I look just like my avatar.

I look just like my avatar.


There you go blaming Canada again!

Interesting:

'Animal avatars are some of the most popular at the Palace. Some people come as their pets. Because animals symbolize certain traits or attributes in myth as well as popular culture (e.g., strength, loyalty, grace, independence, cunning, transcendence), the animal chosen for an avatar probably bears psychological significance to the person - perhaps representing some real aspect of his or her identity, or some characteristic admired by the person. Thinking in the tradition of the Native American, we might even regard an animal avatar as being an individuals "totem" - i.e., a symbol of one's essential nature or potential.'

This was interesting.

The highest number I read was a study that said 30% of males had female avatars, and only few percent of females had male avatars. This is not quite the same question.