Julianne's Reading Diary and Annotated

READING DIARY

Study on Second Life and the pursuit of happiness

It is rather remarkable to contemplate how the well-being and success in Second Life is correlated with well-being and success in real life. It can be inferred that individuals who express a rather timid demeanor in real life find Second Life as a way to break out of their coy shell and experience a liberating form of social interaction. Curiously, this confidence gained in the virtual world carries over into the real world. This confidence can be gained by taking on a new identity in Second Life, for the line between reality and fiction is indistinguishable in cyberspace. Evidence of this phenomenon is supported by the findings that individuals experiment with sexual characteristics in Second Life: something they might be more hesitant about in real life.


Top women’s apparel makers should raise prices: study

When fashion retailers invade cyberspace, there is no denying that the virtual world has fused with the real world. Second Life residents are beginning to use the virtual world for business as well as recreation; thus instigating the demand for women’s business suits. Consequently, even in Second Life the desire to impress others with designer duds remains as prevalent as ever. Which sparks the question: Is there ever a time where our personal appearance isn’t scrutinized by others? Even in a world we would like to deem separate from the confines of reality, we find that individuals are still caught up in consumer culture.


Virtual reality TV: Big Brother to launch in SL

Reality TV and cyberspace have both shed their influence on modern culture, but up until now they have appeared to be in two completely different realms. Yet reality TV has attempted to mingle these worlds with the introduction of Big Brother. Big Brother will select fifteen Second Life contestants to spend at least eight hours a day in the virtual Big Brother house. Big Brother’s attempt to conquer the virtual world raises serious issues regarding the merging of society’s leading fascinations: reality television and the internet. There is also a rather ironic twist, for Big Brother claims to be couched in reality, but in a world of virtual characters, reality seems far from attainable.


Charity raises funds with homeless avatar

While gambling has leaked into the world of Second Life, that fact that a group can provide a months worth of healthcare and education for one child through the creation of a homeless avatar, sparks hope about the philanthropic possibilities of Second Life. The article addressed how the group’s focus was not just about money, but raising peoples awareness about situations plaguing today’s youth. Since Second Life thrives off of social interaction, it is consequently very conducive to raising people’s awareness about a particular issue.


Second Life Sketches: News From Nowhere

The virtual world of Second Life is beginning to exhibit striking similarities to the real world with the prevalence of digital drug simulations. Curiously, these simulations have been around almost as long as the internet and work by inducing a mild trance in the viewer through an audiovisual system. The disorientation that results from the inductive system is allegedly supposed to make it worth while. Ironically, one can use Second Life to raise money for a child’s healthcare and education [see homeless avatar article] or paradoxically, use it to get “good and dopey”. Thus proving once more that the possibilities the internet affords are infinite.


Second Life development shops pull in big business

Real life companies are beginning to pervade the virtual realm of Second Life: generating more than ten million US dollars in revenues a year. The demand for space in Second Life is a reflection of the publics increasing obsession with the virtual sphere. If companies are beginning to exert their influence by buying land and islands, their influence will only expand once they have control over those spaces. I am continually taken aback by the amount of money individuals can make off of Second Life. What seemed like an innocent way to interact with other individuals via the web has turned into a flourishing economy. Thus as Linden dollars flow, Second Life’s presence continues to increase.


ANNOTATED

A Rape in Cyberspace by Julian Dibbell

“A Rape in Cyberspace” by Julian Dibbell, raised a myriad of controversial issues, all stemming from individuals becoming too absorbed in the cyberspace world. Virtual rape takes on the same degree of pain as physical rape because individuals begin to transmit their identity to their on-line self. This is incredibly disturbing for individuals have become so infatuated with Second Life, that they have withdrawn from physical society and built their life in a virtual world. I found it incredibly profound when Dibbell asserted that virtual reality is shadowed by a second, complicating set: the "real-life" facts. Accordingly, what happens in a MUD-made world is not make-believe, but compellingly and emotionally true.


Chapter Five: Multi-User Dungeons and Alternate Identities

I found Howard Rheingold’s analysis of how MUD impacts real life relationships and influences social values, quite intriguing. Rheingold asserts that part of the allure of MUDS is the way they dissolve social and identity boundaries so that individuals can pretend to be somebody else, or many different people. The article also touched on the issue of mastery and how it enables individuals to move beyond the world of parents to the world of peers. It made sense then that the allure of MUD stems from the fact that it creates a world in which the admiration of peers is available to anyone with imagination. Consequently mastery causes individuals to define themselves in terms of what they can control. I found it fascinating that this yearning for control is what causes MUD to have such a strong emotional hold over players. Accordingly, Rheingold’s article provided an intimate portrayal of interpersonal relationships in the information age and how these relationships can be cultivated through alternate identities.