CLASS 13: Identity in the Context of Virtual Worlds

Someone’s “identity” in a virtual world is an important aspect of the whole virtual experience. People make the choice of whether they want to identify themselves on this virtual world as themselves in real life or totally different. Some people might not want to be themselves on these virtual worlds for many reasons but I think for one main reason is because they want to be someone they wished they were and this virtual world allows them to do that.  For example if a guy wishes he was bigger and muscular but he cannot achieve that in real life he might make his avatar that dream body he was looking for.

As I experienced using Second Life it was much easier to talk to people when you were a female. That was one of our assignments to change our identity by altering our gender, race, and physical attributes. I noticed that when I changed my avatar to a female I was approached by others and conversations were easier to start. When I was a male avatar it was so much harder to stat a conversation with someone and people were rude when you started to talk to them on the chat. So I believe that gender has a huge impact in these virtual worlds when it comes to starting conversations with others.

I believe that many people can benefit from these virtual worlds not just for educational purposes. Virtual worlds can benefit people that are usually very shy or anti-social. Those types of people might be afraid to approach people in real life and start conversation or even make friends. By using virtual worlds they can do those things without ever really encountering someone face to face. This can be some type of therapy for those types of people because by interacting with people virtually that might ease the pain of actually doing it in the real world.

When it comes to using your own identity in these virtual worlds I believe it is what I would do. I do not have a problem using it in these worlds because I am who I am and I am proud of my identity and do not care if someone makes fun of it on these virtual worlds. Although some people do care about what others think about them so they make themselves flawless. They are afraid to face what people have to say about their appearance.

I believe that the topic of “identity” in virtual worlds is a huge issue for people. I learned by being in this class and experimenting the different virtual worlds that other people can be very cruel and mean and that people change their true “identity” for that reason.  Your “identity” also makes a huge impact in whether people will talk to you or not like I mentioned females seem to have an easier time talking to people and at times get approached. It is just amazing how important someone’s “identity” is in these virtual worlds and it also impacts how much they enjoy the whole virtual experience.

Here are my favorite 4 screenshot that I took during class with my avatar altered in different ways. 

Here I spoke about what "identity" means in the virtual worlds. I also included 4 of my favorite screenshots I took over the semester.  It is a final exercise from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Discovering Computer Graphics. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc

Examining Gender, Race and Body Image in a Virtual World

In this assignment we had to go onto Second Life a virtual world and try to socialize with complete strangers. We had to use the avatar that we choose and then after thirty minutes change the avatar by either its race, gender, or physical appearance. I found that when I was just a white male that it was very difficult to talk to others. People were really not being to friendly on Second Life as well. I noticed then when I switched to a woman that I was approached several times and people started to talk to me. Then I changed it to a black female and same response I was getting more people responding to my chats and they were coming to me saying "hi".

I also noticed that it really depends what world you are on. when i was on these random worlds for example the UK world there really was nothing going on there. Then I moved to a world that had a new members theme and thee people were talking and being very friendly. So the world that you choose to be in also matter on how people interact with you.

Here in this screenshot is when I was a white male and i started to talk to these two girls. 

Here I am still a white male and there were new people coming into the world talking to me. 

In this screenshot I changed my avatar to a white female and there I got more responses without even saying anything. 

Here I am talking to some random girl that I encountered in this world. 

In this screenshot I switched my avatar to a black female and there i got approached right away and started a conversation. 

Here is a screenshot of me conversing with someone who I became friends with real quickly. This world I found was much more friendlier. 

This is me going into Second Life and changing my "identity " for my avatar and socializing with others. It is a final exercise from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Discovering Computer Graphics. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc

FINAL PROJECT: TESTING MY FELLOW CLASSMATES' IMMERSIVE LIBRARIES

In this screenshot I visited Ricardo Martins immersive library to see what content he posted. 

Here I took a screenshot of me in Ricardo's library viewing a video that he posted to it. 

Here I took a screenshot of the 5 videos that Ricardo posted to his library. 

Here in this screenshot I am visiting Shane's immersive library. 

here I am trying to view a video that Shane posted onto his library. 

here I stepped back and took a screenshot of the 5 videos that Shane has posted to his library. 

here is a screenshot of me visiting Julia Hoffman's immersive library. 

In this screenshot I am viewing a paper that she posted onto her library. 

Here i am viewing about four elements that Julia has created on her immersive library. 

This is me going to three of my classmates immersive libraries to view what they had done in theirs. i decided to view Ricardo's, Shane's and Julia's. I observed all of the papers and videos that they had posted and they did a great job with them. It is a final exercise from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Discovering Computer Graphics. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc

FINAL PROJECT: ADDING 10 NEW CONTENT ELEMENTS TO MY IMMERSIVE LIBRARY

In this screenshot I am adding one of the 10 contents to my immersive library. 

Here is a screenshot of 2 of my research papers that I have added to my immersive library. 

Here is a combination of a video and 2 papers that I have added onto my immersive library. 

In this screenshot i am adding another paper to my immersive library. 

Here is my final screenshot that I took of my immersive library as a whole complete with all of the papers and videos that I have added to it. 

This is me adding 10 new content elements to my immersive library on top of what I have already in my library. The goals here was to use a mix of the research papers that I have found and the videos. It is a final exercise from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Discovering Computer Graphics. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc