Another World; Welcome to Second Life

Another World; Welcome to Second Life

Second life (SL) is a 3D Virtual World software package that was launched by Linden Lab in June 2003, secondlife.com. SL is one of many social networking systems (SNS) that has harnessed the "associational power" that information technology provides; enabling widespread collective networking, consuming and entertainment opportunities (Allen, 2003).

 Second Life Logo. TORLEY (2012). 

From the moment I started creating a profile I felt wary of publicising personal details, probably largely due to my recently increased personal awareness of panoptic surveillance (Wilkinson, 2013). I decided to create a female avatar, (now changed to a robot) with a name completely unrelated to my own life biography. 

My first impressions from exploring the virtual world or the grid were that it accommodates a broad scope of activities and also, quite prominently many of the existing residents' appearances' were highly sexualised (https://secondlife.com). At times I felt disempowered in my attempts to navigate throughout the network, however I can see the potential for extensive freedom in the form of teleporting and flying between destinations, as I become more adept at using the software. Moving through space is instantaneous with hyperlinks of nothingness replacing real journeys through physical landscapes and time (Barnes, 1997).

Barnes' (1997, no pag.) statement that "Virtual environments actually have a limited scope where possible movement within the space is preordained and restricted by its developers" only holds true to a degree when considering SL. Another point Barnes' alludes to supports this idea; passive observation associated with cinema, has transformed into the interactive participation we now see with virtual reality technologies' (Barnes, 1997). SL empowers participatory users to co- create destinations, avatars  and commodities such as clothing, objects and gestures (https://secondlife.com) (Wilkinson, 2013). In fact cyber- flaneurs' who use almost any SNS have to deal with "an endless succession of spectacles" aimed at feeding ego- dominated desires (Barnes, 1997) Second Life Shopaholic (Arabello, 2013).

Sherry Turkle (1995, pp. 246-249) speaks of the "utopian possibility" of virtual networks have the ability to create feelings of inclusion and connectedness with personal "heroes". From this it may be postulated that it is easier to establish virtual social communities than physical world relationships. Of course there are obstacles that constrain both the cyber and historical flaneur. In the virtual world of SL details of membership, fees and technology issues complicate the fluidity of ones exploration, whilst in the real world; time, weather and fitness may limit ones travel freedom (Barnes, 1997).

References:

Allen, J. (2003). Introduction: Lost geographies, in Lost geographies of power (1-12). Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Arabello, S. (2013, August 17). The Ramblings of an SL Shopaholic - White Blank Page. Retrieved from: http://slshopaholicrambles.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/white-blank-page.html

Barnes, G. (1997). Passage of the cyber-flaneur. Retrieved from http://www.raynbird.com/essays/Passage_Flaneur.html

TORLEY. (2012, October 29). Second Life Logo (digital media). Retrieved from: http://www.flickr.com/search/?l=deriv&q=second%20life%20logo

Turkle, S. (1995). Panopticon, in Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the internet (pp. 246-249). New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Wilkinson, R. (2013) BA1002 Our Space: Networks, Narrative and the Making of Place. Week 2 Notes. Retrieved from: http://learnjcu.edu.au