Sexuality in Second Life

Sexuality in Second life is a very different thing from sexuality in the real world. In the real world looks matter. It takes less than a second from the time you see someone to the time you realize if you are attracted to that person. In my eyes sexual orientation is a big part of this, without the actual physical body sex just isn't sex. Things like Cyber sex and phone sex challenge the views that the actual physical body is needed to perform a sexual act. The even bigger issue here is do you need an identity at all for sex. Like I said before in the real world you can normally tell very quickly if you are attracted to someone and would be willing to pursue something further with them. But in the virtual world these lines have been blurred dramatically. A person’s body and physical appearance plays a major role in forming that person’s identity. The virtual world now seems to offer an almost supernatural gift to escape the limitations and imperfections of a person’s body, serving as a gateway into a new body and identity.

I wasn't let in on the secret of sex in Second Life one because I was a "noob" as some people thought it was so cute to call me in the virtual world. A "noob" is a new person to the world and they don't take kindly to strangers around their parts.

Second Life, an online virtual world in which each participant manifests as a virtual identity, or avatar. Signing up and exploring the virtual lands of Second Life is free, but to enhance your avatar, such as getting racy clothing and owning virtual real estates, cars, and other goods, cost money. I feel that this is the man reason I wasn’t getting any Second life action. It’s very similar to real life to attract a mate you must have a car and other goods! On Second Life I had none of these and my clothes were very generic and I resembled a "noob". It was hard to resemble myself or anything that remotely was close to me because I have a job and a car and what not, but on Second Life I had none of that I was a complete bum walking around in a wife beater. I don’t think that I would have wanted to talk about sexuality in the cyber world with me either.

Not only can participants choose their own identity, appearance, and character, they can also choose whether to be out without the social, political and other threats just to fit in that are constantly present in their real life. In their second life, participants can find acceptance that they might not be able to experience in their environments in their normal everyday life. Participants can find liberation from their body, identity, and sexuality. They can also experiment, for example, by changing gender, orientation and status. Also they get to interact with other crazy identities and form sexual and romantic relationships without any legal restrictions that can satisfy the most wickedly kinky imagination.

In order to experience the amazingly wonderful full potential of the powerful virtual world, such as having a place for your character to live and material possessions like fabulous clothing. Cars and super sweet sex toys, you need to pay almost just as much money as you would in your real life. You can spend over a thousand dollars in Second life just to own like 15 acres of land and they also charge you a fee of like 200 dollars a month to maintain that land. So my advice is if you’re really willing to spend time and money like that to find a partner online. You should probably focus some of those energies and spending that money into the real world!

Do you feel that people change their identities in a virtual world because they don’t like themselves or for some other reason?

Do you think that having an online relationship with someone in Second Life is the same as having a relationship in real life?

Do you feel that spending thousands of dollars on Second Life is a good way to find yourself a soul mate?

Do you think that sex in the virtual world would be stimulating in any way? Would you try it?

Issues of Race in Second life

You would think that virtual worlds hold the promise of communication without regard for distance, physical ability, gender, or race. Almost every aspect of the avatar is changeable, rendering prejudice obsolete.It appears such wishful thinking has a hang up on the heated issue of race.

I feel that peoples biases and racism is carried over into second life. the issue of race is very uncomfortable and touchy in the virtual world the same as the real world.

i made my character white with brown hair and blue eyes only because that is what i look like. but that was pretty much the standard character that they gave me to be except i had to change my hair from blue to brown. I'm not sure if its just coincidence or if people aren't sure how to change their skin colors but most of the characters that i came across during my interactions in second life are were of a light skin color.I found out that it is very hard to have a conversation in Second life about race just like it is in real life. And people that i had no prior contact with were very reluctant to talk with me about race.

most of my experiences on second life were just people just trying to have real conversations and others just butting in and trying to give those people a bunch of grief. i feel that there has to be more black Asian and middle eastern players in second life.

racism, that dirty little secret that we want to sweep under the rug and pretend doesn't exist in the 21st century. But folks It is alive and well out there in the real world. If there is racism in the virtual world, then it is because the virtual self is an extension to the real self. Its hard for me to really delve deep into the subject of race and racism on Second Life in such a short period of time. The idea that a person of a different race would need to play as a member of another race merely to avoid the social awkwardness of being that other race in the virtual world is utterly disturbing.

Do you feel that many black or asian or Middle Eastern players put on white skins because they feel it's simply easier than dealing with the potential awkwardness of playing as their real race?

Do you feel that people carry their same racial biases from the real world into the virtual world?

do you think that some people really would just choose a light skinned character to avoid tension?

Identity in Second life

This afternoon i am pondering identity in second life while eating some apple jacks. i spoke a bit about identity in my previous post. The majority of the content in the Second Life world is Resident-created which means that people and their avatars make up a large part of their identity. there are so many different identities that you can assume in the virtual world of second life. People are completely Free to create their own identity. their is no need for nourishment or food or drink or shelter in second life but that this doesn't stop the majority of people from taking place in these activities. the fact that Second life has no actual goal or you don't really actually have to do anything but be there to be a part of it makes identity so flexible. it is very similar to the real world because you get on and try to find places that you think are cool that other people have already made. you try to find people whom you think might be cool to talk to, it Individuals can explore alone, but often small groups explore together. most of the people i saw were just aimlessly wandering or trying to converse with a member of the opposite sex, but there are also more organized tours. I even met a man that was playing the role of a travel agent on second life.

You are only allowed to have one avatar at a time granted you can change this avatar very vividly to change your identity you are still only allowed to have one avatar. peoples identities on second life are very similar to theirs in real life. people go out and have meals with each other and build homes and live with each other. some female characters were vampires and some females characters were called Nekos..the females vampires i feel like were more or less women wanting to act out their inner twilight fantasies online. also one of the females vampires that i came across had a real attitude i thought it fit her character very well. the Neko characters look like an animal but they are a very sexy promiscuous looking character so i think some women could be using this type of avatar to act out these fantasies online. people in the second life community can buy their own house and even make their own objects and sell things this is a very real online virtual world. your identity can change and you can chat with people through an im. but they also have voice chat that most of the people are using. and most of these people were using their own voices i only came across a few people who were using voice changers. identity in Second life is hard to figure out in the short time that i have been accessing Second life and i will try to put up a more extensive blog about it once i spend some more time in Second life.

what are some of the external influence on second life that reflect identity?do you feel that Second Life characters who are married on their have a real relationship?Can you have a different identity online than in real life?are people who assume different identities online compromising the experience?

Ian Saphed on Gender in Secondlife

Second life is a very unique online virtual world A free program called the "Viewer" enables its residents , to interact with each other through their avatars. The Residents can explore the virtual grid, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade their own property and services with one another, or just simply travel throughout the world. Another thing that is different about Second life is that people have to be 18 years old to be able to apply and play there is a teen version of Second life for the younger generation.

Second Life's status is frequently debated. Unlike most traditional computer games, Second Life does not have a defined objective. Since the game has no clear objective it is pointless to talk about winning or losing inside of the Second Life world . Second Life contains an extensive world that can be explored and interacted with, and it can be used purely as a creative tool set if the user so chooses you really would not have to talk to anyone ever. you could go around and build your life and your property and home and be completely self sufficient. most online games that i have ever played were more objective based. i felt very lost when i first ventured into the Second Life world, it is very extensive and completely intimidating at the start because it is so in depth and you really just don't know where to start.

when i first entered the world i was like OK now i will create my avatar i thought that would be fairly simple enough to start the game but i was wrong. The avatars in this virtual world may take any form users choose to be an animal or a mineral or any combination of them. or residents may choose to resemble themselves as they are in real life, or they may choose even more abstract forms, almost every aspect of an avatar is fully customizable. you can changed their hair you can change their outfits. i have just began to scratch the surface of what i can do with my avatar. when i first started messing with the game i wanted to make my avatar as normal as i could and look as close to me as possible. but now that i have played the game a little more i wish that i would have made my character a little bit more crazy so i could go around and mess with people. a lot of the people are either just male or female and i think that i will try and change my character to an animal so that i could explore the male female dynamic in the world a lot more.

Most everything in the world is made by its residents. the world or map is built for you but all of the the things that happen inside of the game depend on the people inside of the virtual world that are customising it. there is a strong male female dynamic in second life. often you will find just a male or a female couple off to the side just talking about normal every day life. I honestly haven't encountered much sex at all on Second Life yet. the closest i have come is seeing Annie's naked avatar. most people are clearly male or female in this virtual world i think because the characters have no powers and you are no different in the game no matter what character you are. so i feel that most people are on here looking for companionship or to talk to people in some form or another. people aren't on this game trying to win things so i feel that its a different older more eclective crowd with people from all over the world.

do you feel that people are more themselves on second life because they feel that they might actually make a real love connection?

do the people on second life come here to try and make real social connections with people?

first post

hello my name is ian and i will be blogging about my experiences with secondlife online