Is Anonymity Really Necessary?

I actually give quite a bit of RL info to some people here in SL, but not until I've spent some time talking to them. The biggest difference here is that I cannot read body language and facial expressions like I can in RL to help determine someone's intentions. That is what holds me back more than anything. In RL, that body language really does tell a lot about a person.

Ok. From what I read rapist don't rape because of physical attraction.

I happen to welcome our new Douchebag Overlord

I really don't understand these type of threads. If a person wants to establish a real life relationship with someone they meet on the internet that is fine but Second Life is not the best place to do that.

Myface and all of those places seem a better place to pursue that sort of thing.

Oh crap, I told someone in world today that I thought Tarantino was really over rated! I hope he didn't hear me!

You never know who is listening.

Christ, he just keeps using the same 3 story concepts over and over. You'd think he'd have it down by now.

"Anonymity is Key" was Tarantino's most underrated film.

I never heard of that one.

For the record, I have nothing against fat people

But I think some girls aren't comfortable with themselves and so they come into Second Life to escape and hide behind a cutesy avatar in the hopes of bonding with the boys and being accepted. When asked why they don't put their picture in their profile they'll often pull out the stalker card.

But it's understandable, the stalker excuse is easier to use than "because I'm fat".


I dare say some people do have a genuine fear of stalkers. After all, the internet will be a popular place for lonely and needy guys that can't take no for an answer.

Coming into Second Life purely to seek a relationship is bad idea. But some people actually like Second Life and these types of people are probably very suited to eachother.

A lot of unknowns starred in it.

Would you join a virtual environment which demanded RL identities to be used?

No, I think that whatever encourages a person to be creative is good. And feeling safe to explore is very important.

I do think I know something important about someone when I see what they choose to create here and it never occurred to me to want more info. I'm surprised to realize that...what I see they do in SL is enough for me..more than enough.

And I share myself in varying degrees depending on the situation and I'm very happy the slider goes from completely anonymous to complete disclosure at MY discretion.

I'm a girl, and wonders of wonders, I'm comfortable in my RL skin. I also think I'm kinda cute. I don't 'hide' behind my 'cutesy' avatar, I simply didn't think about creating an ugly one. Didn't even come to mind. I'm also not here to 'bond with the boys', but with people in general. I do agree with 2K that SOME do. Key word, SOME. Just as MOST guys are not stalkers...




Exactly. I don't mind sharing pictures, just as long as it is at my discretion.


@Susie (Just wanted to point out, you can be on MySpace or on Face Book, but if your on Myface - get off!)

Oh my oh dear oh my rampant imagination...

2K i know a lot of what you say is just trying to cause trouble,

But you really are clueless.

Big girls do get stalked too.

I think most people who have met me in world know i have a plus sized avatar. I also have a slim one.

Anyone who has cuddled with me in world for more than a night knows I'm plus sized irl. Haven't met anyone as shallow in-world about it as you come off here.

You are basically coming off saying "only skinny pretty" women need fear stalkers.

Not all stalkers are shallow pigs. I'm sure there's some rather nice stalkers out there that will love you for who you are.

think you crossed the line on this.

Read Fd's post again.



By the way, thank you FD.

For not being a moron.

So you're saying that all stalkers are rapists?. That's rather shallow. I'm sure some just want to have tea and biscuits with you.

you shoulda left the rest of my post in the part you quoted.

Hello All,

Thanks for sharing your views, I really appreciate it.

I guess that I should be a bit clearer about my viewpoint.

I am sort of ambivalent but see that perhaps the more pervasive virtual worlds become and the more that lines between RL and online become blurred, we will be forced more and more to give up certain privacies if we want to interact in a meaningful way with people.

Obviously there are degrees of disclosure and the trick will be to find the minimum required to prevent things like defamation, and contractual issues arising with no recourse to the RL courts.

I said in a previous post on this thread, it is actually happening on the web in general, and perhaps SL will be relegated to the dark and seedy backwaters if we don't compromise to some degree.

As far as discussing why we like the idea of anonymity, while 2K is obviously out for a bit of sport, I think he has highlighted (albeit a little insensitively) an example of a situation where SL is a pleasant environment for some people.

As I said previously, RP is available to us on many levels in SL. Age, sex, attractiveness, body type as well as the more obvious fantasies.

It's no surprise that the number of 6', toned/muscled, well endowed men in SL is about ten times the statistical average for RL..

Finally, I have to say, I think that all the anecdotal evidence given on this thread in support of the "personal risk" argument is either done a little tongue in cheek, or a high percentage of the SL citizenship live in Baghdad.

The number of personal experiences of murder, rape and other unpleasant personal crime admitted to on this thread alone would suggest 1st world crime statistics have exploded exponentially since I last looked..

One way of not getting into this whole scheme of revealing RL is for those who own clubs, shops and sims not to get involved in Lindens verification plan. If enough people stay away there won't be any problems. I'm not doing this.

They can't do it without us, well, at least not this upcoming verification garbage anyway.

I'd like to add a couple of things:

One, the diversity of SL reflects that of RL. Whilst some people come into SL to primarily socialise and look for a RL partner there are many who are merely content to converse with insulated strangers, and others who merely want to create stuff. The requirement or wish for anonymity between avatars is going to range drastically through this variety. Any legislation at this point by LL to lay personal details bare will drive users away in the thousands. Not a good business move!

Those who do wish to find a partner have a safety zone here moreso than RL. They can get to share views, look into the character and make early judgements before laying themselves vulnerable, physically, before meeting IRL. These people would gain little by having their details laid bare to begin with. They do of course, have the opportunity to share their details if and when they so wish.

The thing is SecondLife works for the people in it. Those of us who stay are relatively happy with the present level of anonymity. I don't think there is pressure on LL to open up the personal details to bring them in line with MySpace or Facebook. Like Claire said, she has accounts in them too. They are different applications. I don't think SL wants or needs to compete with them.

It's a tragic irony that the present anonymity protects the genuinely vulnerable/insecure *and* the griefers/stalkers.

Define "meaningful".
Perhaps a definition would be that emotional or financial damage could result if the interaction ended up badly.

If Personal:
The Friends list should really be termed the Acquaintances list.
Actual friendship in SL isn't defined by the Friends list.
It's entirely up to people individually to allow their SL to spill over into RL. That's not "giving up" privacy. That's consciously inviting someone special into RL space.

If Business:
Caveat emptor. In general the amounts of money involved in inter-resident transactions are not significant in a RL legal sense.
Purchase of Mainland is safe in that the 'title' passes to the buyer.
Residents involved in transactions of high RL value would be well advised to set up the normal RL protections. They would also be well advised to bear in mind that even in pure RL transactions, knowledge of the identity of the other party does not necessarily mean that a matter would be resolved in a timely or rewarding manner.




eBay? Would an increased level of disclosure save it from the darkness?

If anything will relegate SL to the dark and seedy backwaters it will be a continuing *significant* amount of unchecked bad behaviour.
That bad behaviour does not in any way have to approach a level of seriousness that would justify individual residents taking legal action against the perps in RL.




Reports of personal experience seen in in an online forum are not statistically significant in a global sense. There is a clustering effect.
For as long as I can remember, the standard advice to people meeting up in person after a Net contact has been.
1. Always meet in a public place.
2. Always meet them with a friend in tow.


Don't play down stalking if you've never been subjected to it. There is a huge sense of invasion even if it's purely online activity. In my case the perp got as far as tracing and telephoning my RL place of employment. Nobody got hurt, but it was "extremely irritating".

As a followup to my previous post:

There is information on my RL visible on the Net. This is all in the context of student days and employment. It's in a certain context that isn't generally considered to be an open invitation for non-work contacts.

A virtual world like SL is not a context in which it is necessary for my RL is to be visible.
LL have my identity. I have an alt that I paid US$9-ish for at the time. I don't remember if it was necessary to link it to the main account at the time. In any case it is linked by the same payment and other RL info.
If anyone has a real need to see my RL identity, and I don't volunteer it to them, they can try to justify a court order.

This is major hyperbole. There really hasn't been much talk of personal experiences.

Not to mention your statement contains some false information.

If you actually were to do any research into Rape statistics, and you had any kind of sense you would retract this statement.

Considering that over 1 in 6 women is raped in America during her life, I would say that nearly every poster on this forum other than you or 2K has met a rape victim.

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Additionally there is , as Sling suggested, no easy way for you to tie a few posters anecdotal comments bout internet stalking and related injury to crime rates. Many people who socialize on the internet have known quite a large number of people over the years.

Just sorting out the probability, the chance that you know someone who has been the victim of stalking on the internet grows with each person in your online social network.

Quite a few people have a lot of real life friends as well. Even if a statistic is 1 in 100 if you've known 100 people over the course of your life (doesn't sound like many people to know) ...



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and finally you made no attempt to clear up one of the things debated most in this thread, other that with your general tone .. which suggests to me you favor it.

Did you intend to mean people should participate in Second Life using their RL name in "public"?