A Plastic Surgeon's Dream--Second Life and the Modification of Avatar Appearance (10)

I had never heard of the options of games given for this assignment. Just for fun I chose the game Second Life, just because the title sounded interesting to me. After talking to a friend, he described it as similar to The Sims except in an interactive online community. I immediately decided to download and play the game, especially when I found out all the other games had shooting or any other form of coordinating skill (which I lack).

It took me awhile to learn the ropes of Second Life (a whole half hour was wasted trying to figure out how to move). Once I did, I was able to explore the default location to which I was placed which was a welcome center for newbies like myself. The graphics were beautiful, and I liked the background music. I had a few terse conversations with a few of the new members but no significant interaction. I think this is partly because of the avatar choice. Since we were all new to the game, most of us had avatars we didn't customize yet and thus could not reflect our personalities. It wasn't until I learned how to modify my avatars appearance that the real fun began.

There were so many settings to choose from to alter the avatar's appearance. For instance, to modify the nose itself you could choose from a spectrum of narrowing or widening the bridge, nostrils, bulb, tip and vitually every possible part of the nose to create any shape desired. The shape of an avatar's body also had modifications that one could spend hours on fine tuning the body shape they've always wanted. Muscle content, fat content and virtually the entire bone structure of virtually every area of the human body could be altered. For fun I altered my avatar by setting its body weight to one of the highest settings possible and its height to one of the lowest setting possible. After that I proceeded to go to a different location with a Japanese theme. The setting was beautiful with waterfalls and a calming Japanese sounding melody in the background. Under this avatar, I didn't interact with too many people. Instead, I observed other people's behaviors and chat activity outside of the default location.

According to Yee and Bailenson (2007), a person with a more attractive avatar will self disclose and move closer to others than a person with a less attractive avatar. This is an example of the Proteus Effect in which an individual's behavior conforms more to their digital representation than to the forces of behavioral confirmation. I found this to be very consistent with what I experienced when I changed the appearance of my avatar. I significantly lowered the body weight of my avatar and added long brown hair and increased the appearance of make-up. In addition, I reduced the size of my avatar's nose. This had a profound effect on how I began to interact with others.

Immediately, I began to participate in chat conversations when I moved to a room with an Israeli theme. Perhaps it was because I was more comfortable in this room area since I am Israeli, but I approached more people in the room and began to ask about their reasons for their presence in the room. Many people began to talk to me, and I felt as if I was the leader of the conversation, talking about our hometowns, army service and our favorite Israeli food. I self-disclosed a lot of information about my upbringing in Israel and my family that lives there. I also noticed that my distance to others was a lot smaller once I changed my appearance for the better. In the Japan room, I was a free-floater, not getting close to anyone. However when I was in the Israeli room I interacted with 2 or 3 people the entire time, staying in close proximity with them for a period of time.

Although I wouldn't completely say my altered behavior was due to the Proteus Effect (the type of room and my increasing Second Life experience also played a role), I definitely think the Effect played a role on why I was friendlier, disclosed more information about myself, and stayed closer in distance to other people.