For this assignment, I chose to spend my time interacting in the online psychological space, Second Life. Being a novice to this type of online psychological space, I experienced many initial reactions and feelings which developed and changed as I became more acquainted with Second Life. To be completely honest, I feel that I may have had many preconceived notions before even entering the world of Second Life. Since I have never entered any type of virtual space online and because I didn’t know anyone that had (or at least it was never discussed), I found the entire concept strange and bizarre. Therefore, upon entering Second Life, those preconceived notions had a huge impact on my initial experience.
The first step in creating a name and general appearance of my avatar seemed pretty simple, however, once I was transported into the world of Second Life my feelings of comfort quickly disappeared. I felt as if I were split in two. Part of me was sitting in front of my computer in my room with the door closed, by myself. The other part was in a place called Orientation Island where my every move could be observed by any other Second Life user. As I learned more about this virtual world through instructions and exploration, I began to feel more comfortable and was able to get over my initial concerns.
The next important step I took was to edit my appearance. I found myself excited with the ease and little thought required to create and alter my outer appearance which contrasts with real life where it requires far more pain and effort to do so. This helped me to see why individuals might prefer online communication as opposed to real life interactions. They can change their appearance and have more confidence. This makes Second Life a great resource for those who are perhaps more shy, however, it seems likely that Problematic Internet Use could be a likely consequence. As I started to modify my avatar, I became astonished with the wide range of features that could potentially be changed. To be honest, I didn’t know that all of these features existed in real life. I made the decision to alter my appearance by making myself rather unattractive. For almost every feature, I chose the opposite of what I would ideally choose for myself. For example, I requested to be short, rather heavy, have short legs and arms, sagging breasts, pointy ears, and an under bite. I also changed my clothing to be tight and rather revealing of my many flaws.
With my new, not improved, appearance, I began to explore the world of Second Life, transporting to different places, trying to converse with anyone who was willing. My first few interactions with others contradicts the predictions made by the Proteus Effect which says that a transformed self-representation will alter a person’s behavior by conforming to behavior that they believe others would expect of them. At first, I completely disregarded my transformed appearance and behaved similar to how I would in the real world. Unfortunately, this unwillingness to conform made me an outsider of the virtual world. If I tried to walk up to someone and start a conversation, I was usually ignored and most people just walked away. After feeling rejected multiple times, my behavior began to conform to my new transformed self-representation. I realized that I could not ignore my appearance anymore than other Second Life users and instead, I become more of an observer to this online world. My experience can be explained by the Proteus effect. Even after reading about this effect and consequently trying to avoid doing it myself, the pressures from other online users ultimately led to conformity behavior based on my unattractive appearance.
These details also show how the Proteus Effect differs from the SIDE theory with regard to conformity among the group or the individual. The SIDE theory emphasizes conformity to the group whereas the Proteus Effect emphasizes conformity to an individual identity. Although my conformity was a result of pressure from others in the online space, my behavior conformed to reflect my altered individual identity, not that of the group of people.
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5 comments:
First of all, your initial feeling of being "split" is very interesting in that it divides the public and self-awareness that explains the amount of self-disclosure (Joinson 2001). You are acutely aware of both (alone in dorm and lots of people watching you). Guess that's why they call it Second LIFE.
I wonder how much of people ignoring you was caused by your "unattractiveness" and how much was caused by their perception that you are not seriously into the game. Anyone who really likes the game would probably choose an attractive avatar instead of the obviously unattractive one you had. Only people interested in experimenting ("only fooling around") with the game would pick unattractive avatars. Maybe that is another factor that led to people ignoring you: maybe they felt you were not taking them (and this game) seriously.
Hi Jessica,
I've never played Second Life(If Second Life didn't keep crashing, I could've played ha) before, or joined any virtual "world" so I would probably have the same initial reaction as you. Even though you are technically "anonymous" and separated from that world, your self-awareness is still present, especially since your avatar is so publicly displayed.
I found it hilarious that you went the other direction, instead of creating an avatar similar to you or making it as attractive as possible. You are right in your assessment of the Proteus Effect, even though initially your avatar choice doesn't affect your behavior, through further interactions you begin to conform. (That wasn't very nice of them was it lol)
Jessica,
I decided to use Second Life as well and, like you, I had never entered a virtual online space. Good job pointing to the fact that your preconceived notion of Second Life had a huge impact on your initial experience. In addition, I enjoyed reading your comparison between real life and sitting in front of the computer preference when choosing an appearance... very creative.
In terms of your analysis with Yee & Bailenson's Proteus Effect, you did a great job connecting your experience with the concept. Perhaps you could have added a little more analysis on the three hypotheses, but nevertheless, your blog is great.
Hi Jessica,
I liked your post and thought that it was interesting that you chose to change your identity to a much more unnatracive one, rather than the other way around. It seems that in a virtual fantasy world, one would tend to present themselves as better than reality rather than worse.
I also had a similar experience in that I was entirely new to the world of online spaces liek Second Life, and my attitude going into it undoubtedly affected my experience. Your mention of feeling like you were being "split" really rung true for me.
I also thought that the distinction you made at the end differentating the Proteus effect and SIDE was interesting. You mention that you were changing only your individual identity, and conforming only to the individual differences rather than conforming to a "group identity." Although I agree with this point, I wonder why you associate your new appearance with certain characteristics if you have never actually lived with them. Is it not because the physical appearance you described is associated with a "group" of individuals who fit that physical mold? And further, don't people tend to make stereotypes about that group, assuming that larger, more unattractive people are more shy and less confident? I understand that you were responding only to the INDIVIDUAL changes made in your appearance, but I think you defined how the new you would act based on trying to fit into the group mold defined by this appearance. In this sense, I don't think you can separate the pressure to conform into your new individual self without aknowledging which "group(s)" that new self is a part of.
I enjoyed reading your post.You made a interesting decision while choosing your appearance. And I like it how you related your experience with SIDE.
It's true that lots of people might ignore a person when he acted unormally in a 'group' , for here, the group means players in Second Life. When most people choose to have attractive or ideal looking, your choice might affect how people would accept you as part of them. But if you can alter your appearance later, your point might be more convincing.
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