This Saturday at The Science Circle

 

 Saturday, November 18

    ~*~

    

    At 10 AM PST   

    Identity, Presence and the Ageless Avatar in Social Virtual Worlds

    By Meryl McBride/Merrill Johnson, Ph.D.

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/identity-presence/

 

   The Science Circle (72,129,30)

      

    ~*~

 

    At 9 PM PST   

    Country Appreciation

    Jes Stannard

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/country-appreciation/

 

 The Science Circle (72,129,30)

 

    ~*~

    

    NOTE: Non-members required to register once

    IM Jes Cobalt or Nymf Hathaway

╚══════════════════════════════ The Science Circle (72,129,30) ═╝

 

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "Avatar Psychology"

"Avatar Psychology"

Saturday May 30
10 to 11 AM SL time

People experience a 3D virtual world through an avatar representation of their real world self. A virtual world avatar can be distinguished from a static social media thumbnail or handle in that a VW avatar is dynamic and 3-dimensional. Typically, the VW avatar form is either chosen from a menu of premade forms or is assembled from a library of components. In either case, the avatar can be customized with an almost limitless array of elements. The choices made in creating an avatar, the way others react to your avatar, and how you respond to other avatars is psychologically revealing and challenging. An avatar need not resemble the real person at all. It can be a non-human form or human but look different from the person’s “real life.” Indeed, an avatar can be a powerful modality to test a new identity such as transgender in a fully social virtual environment. This causes a distinct shift in one’s body awareness. How a person adapts to this shift has strong psychological implications.

Some people find the avatar experience so foreign that they either are very uncomfortable or decline the opportunity entirely, perhaps due to reduced visual cues inherent in in-person interaction or to how closely participants identify with their avatars and how much they recognize the people behind other avatars. This is a psychological clue about how deeply our perception of self is connected to the emotional investment we make in our avatar.

During the pandemic, educators and students alike have been introduced rather abruptly to the virtual environment. While grappling with how to teach and learn, they may not be aware of the impact of how they present themselves has on the way they interact with each other. Some educators and students adapt well to the virtual environment while others find it uncomfortable. Understanding these aspects of the virtual environment is a critical element in the success of online education. 


Panel participants:

Dominique Meldau
Deepthinker Oh
Phil Youngblood

 To read  more, Click Here.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/67/129/32

"What's In A Name?”

Names. Everyone has them, but what do they say about a person? Unlike real life, Second Life residents have had some degree of choice in their names. Before 2010, people could chose whatever first name they wanted, and one of a limited number of surnames. Since then, new people have been limited to a unique single account name (and the default surname of "Resident"), and a separate "display name" which could be whatever they wanted. As it turns out, display names can include some fancy letters that weren't an option before them. So what are some examples of what residents can come up with? For Newser reporter MajikVixen, she only had to go to her partner and circle of friends for some examples.

Read MajikVixen's story in People.

News and Commentary: Questions Concerning Sansar and Real-Life Names Continue

By Bixyl Shuftan

I may not have erred so much after all.

It was about a week ago in which I wrote an article about Ebbe Altberg / Ebbe Linden's appearance at "Meet the Lindens" at the Second Life Birthday. Not having a recorder, I took handwritten notes the best I could, and from what I had heard, it seemed Ebbe Linden was leaning towards, though not necessarily strongly supporting, Sansar requiring it's users to go by their real life names. As it turned out, I had missed a few lines of dialouge afterwards in which he stated he favored users retain the ability to go about anonymously. And so I retracted that part of the article.

Hamlet Au, whom had put his spotlight on my article over the issue, wasn't yet ready to call the matter settled just yet. He did get in touch with Peter Gray (Peter Linden), who stated no, Sansar would not require users of Sansar to use their Real-Life identities. But his enquiries to Ebbe Linden went unanswered. Going by the line I had missed, "do I want that people in Sansar should be able to walk around anonymously? Absolutely!" That line certainly sounds like a desire to continue to use online pseudonyms.

But what about the line "But I think what would be best for Sansar would be real names, and then the ability to have personas underneath that." And then there was his earlier comparison of Second Life, which he called on "the far spectrum of the anonymity side," and Facebook, which he called "probably the most successful real system on planet Earth," which relied on real names. this was followed by his saying "we're trying to think of ways of potentially mixing these models."

So what he could have been saying is that Linden Lab is thinking of a system for Sansar in which users can go about inside the virtual world using inworld pseudonyms, but requiring the use of real-life identities for signing up for accounts to go on there.

Hamlet Au had five questions he wanted Ebbe Linden to answer:

1. Will Project Sansar only require users' real names to be registered with the company and by default, only be known by the company (in normal circumstances)?

2. Under what circumstances will Linden Lab reveal Project Sansar users' real names to authorities?

3. Under what circumstances will Linden Lab reveal Project Sansar users' real names to other users?

4. In Project Sansar, will displaying real names in a user's publicly viewable account be opt-in, or opt-out?

5. In Project Sansar, will Facebook Connect or other linking with a user's Facebook account be mandatory?

Hamlet Au went on to comment, " At this point, I think the only thing we can be sure of is Sansar will require users to register their real names internally on the system, but still allow some level of anonymous and/or pseudonymous identity and activity -- but how much, and with whom, and in what contexts, are not yet clearly laid out. At the same time, it's also clear Linden Lab's CEO has a personal preference for making real names primary -- but how that will actually be implemented is still unclear."

* * * * *

Of my less than completely accurate statement, I have yet to see where anyone truly slammed me for it. At most, what was stated was, "this isn't exactly what he was saying." And Hamlet Au upon hearing the news found what I thought was being considered hard to believe, but chalked it up to a misunderstanding such as possibly a "telephone error."

Talking about the matter with friends, everyone who had an opinion felt I was overreacting upon realizing the error I had made. Several expressed skepticism with Sansar even after my correction, but for other reasons such as being unable to move anything over there, concerns that Linden Lab might take the opportunity to correct what it saw as "mistakes" it had made with Second Life by not allowing or restricting certain abilities and freedoms. One commented the only thing I did wrong was that it was an accident, thinking it would do the paper good if I did an "National Enquirer" style story once in a while.

No thanks. Aside from obvious fictional stories like the "Tales from Podex" and the April Fool articles, we'll be sticking with the truth. We always have. And considering certain characters over the years such as zFire Xue, Flashdust Lamington, and Monkey Wonder, concerning Linden blunders that helped sink the SS Galaxy and the Steelhead Estates, and more recently the antics of political groups, Second Life journalists don't need to make things up. Eventually controversy appears on it's own somewhere.

In any event, it's a relief to hear that my journalistic instincts really were pointing in the right direction.

Sources: Hamlet Au, Inara Pey

Bixyl Shuftan

A Correction: Sansar Won't Require Users to Use Real-Life Names

By Bixyl Shuftan

A the Tuesday "Meet the Lindens," I showed up and listened as Ebeb Linden, the CEO of Linden Lab,was interviewed by Jo Yardley. The event being held in voice, I took down notes on paper the best I could, and after logging off I wrote about the event. The notes I had taken suggested Ebbe had been leaning toward having residents use their real-life identities in Sansar.

This caused me to scratch my head, but from my point of view this wouldn't be the first time the Lab had made a questionable move. So I went ahead and wrote the story, confident I hadn't missed anything important. Later in the week I saw some transcripts on Inara Pey's newsletter, and it seems I had only written down part of the information (link).

Second Life is on, I would say, the far spectrum of the anonymity side; and on the other side you have what we call real names, real identities, like probably the most successful real system on planet Earth is Facebook. 

And there’s a reason why they’ve been extremely successful with that; and there’s probably a reason why 100% anonymous networks like Twitter and Second Life run into some really interesting challenges. And there are pros and cons; and we’re trying to think of ways of potentially mixing these models, but we have not made final decisions yet.

I have a preference, some other team players have slightly different preferences, so we’ll see where it ends up. But I think what would be best for Sansar would be real names, and then the ability to have personas underneath that.

so I could go into a role-playing, or into an experience as an anonymous user in that context. But to the platform, I am not anonymous. And so, without making that too complicated and confusing, is that the right answer? We’ll see. But I think to, it would certainly help with griefing and other things. And it also supports a lot of interesting use-cases where anonymity is actually just really confusing, and actually gets in the way.

You can think of a lot of professional use-cases where there are teachers and students and professionals having meetings where these anonymous identities makes things really confusing; “I know Bob, I want to talk to Bob. Who the hell is this Jumping Jack guy?”

So we’re still debating this, and I’m pushing in one way, and people are pushing in different ways, and we’ll see where we end up. I mean, unfortunately, to implement real names is also really complicated. Do you hitch a ride with Facebook, or do you have to somehow build your own real name system.

And building a real name system is incredibly difficult. Facebook did it in an extremely clever way, by basically relying on the social graph to ensure real names. Because just having everybody having to put a credit card down, or identification to prove their real identity is super cumbersome. So, interesting topic. 

Taking a look at the transcript, there's room for interpretation. But it seems while pondering briefly how certain parts sounded, he was asked about the question of anonymity, being identifiable to the Lab through Paypal, though anonymous to everyone else.

If we have to reply on like, for some it’s PayPal, for some it’s this, for some it’s that, it gets really complicated for us to do that.

It’s definitely something we’re thinking a lot about. but do I want that people in Sansar should be able to walk around anonymously? Absolutely! You can in the physical world. I don’t have to have a name tag on myself and show my ID to every person I approach on the street. not that I’m trying to hide anything, but I also don’t think everybody should know what the hell I’m doing all the time. It’s none of your business; it’s my business.

So I totally want to have that mix of, we know who you are but you can also be whoever you want to be, and still have a somewhat functional society going on within that. So we’ll see where we end up.

So it seems by brief inattention caused me to miss an important line.

I apologize for the error, to you the readers and to Ebbe Linden, and resolve to be more careful in the future.

 Bixyl Shuftan

Facebook Insists No "Games Character" Names

Earlier this month came two developments from social media that were less than welcome news to Second Life users. For residents who use Facebook and Twitch, those services just became a little less friendly.

For Second Life residents who use Facebook, one constant complaint is that many would rather have an account under their avatar's name than their real life one, while Facebook has insisted that only real-life identities should be used. The result was that Facebook accounts named after Second Life avatars were sometimes suspended or banned. When it was revealed that Facebook was altering their policy somewhat in regards to drag queens, some Second Life users were hoping that this would soon mean a change in it's policies to avatar names.

But when Facebook recently clarified their policies on names, they clearly stated they would have none of it, insisting on "authentic identities. ... If you want to create a presence on Facebook for your pet, organization favorite mocit, games character, or another purpose, please create a *page* instead of a Facebook profile." But as New World Notes commented, "A Facebook page has less functuality than a Facebook account, so some SLers are unlikely to find this acceptable."

So does this mean Second Life users of Facebook have no choice but to bite the virtual bullet and say goodbye to having their virtual personas' names on their social media? Not necessarily. Singer Mankind Tracer (Seth Regan in real-life) in the "Second Friends" group on Facebook suggested there were ways to reduce the chances of winding up suspended.

Becaaue many SL'ers post SL avatars as their profile pictures, Facebook looks at SL Fb accounts partially as "inactive" or as "Fake Accounts", as others have also corroborated and I've seen 150+ "Likes" on SRM simply VANISH in a day! We all lunderstand the anonymity that SL affords. But please, don't get yourself on Facebook's BOOTING sights. Post a real life photo or two, also make sure you post once a day for the next few days at least. This will help you to not be booted.

Yours truly has kept his own Facebook profile under his Second Life name for over five years without incident. Possibly because he's already been doing what Mankind suggested, posting most every day, and having a real-life picture among those in the profile. So maybe there's something to this advice.

Sources: New World Notes,  New York Times 

Bixyl Shuftan

A Question of Uniqueness

What makes you unique in Second Life. That's the question that got my attention recently. Thinking about it, I brought the question up to others, and there were a number of responses. So what did various people say?

Read more in People.

Last Names In Second Life

"What's in a name?" so goes the saying. Plenty. Names are after all our identity, whether in real life or Second Life. For the first several years, when you signed up for an account in Second Life, you chose a first name, plus were offered a choice of last names. Then the Linden Lab changed that, getting rid of last names for accounts and instead offering a single name for them, along with a separate display name. This was a controversial move that still bothers a number of residents Grease Coakes offers his opinion on the issue.

Read Grease's commentary in People.

Reader Submitted: "Why Am I Here?" Notes on Getting a Second Life

Valkyrie McGill, known in some places as Valkyrie Ice, can be frequently seen at Club Cutlass, Club Zero Gravity, and a few other places in her glowing green jackalgirl, or one of her other avatars. Valkyrie is more than just a dancer, but has written for publications. In this article originally published for a futurist online magazine, Valkyrie describes her first experiences with Second Life, and what the virtual world means to her.

Read Valkyrie's story in People.

Real Life News Reflections in Second Life

While Second Life's more active residents were united in support of the Relay For Life in mid-July, the nation itself appeared to be divided over a controversial trial. A man had been acquitted of murder in the death of a 17 year old youth, and there were numerous protests against the verdict. Because of the ethnic differences, the youth being black and the defendant Hispanic or white (the latter depending on who in the media was speaking), opinions about the trial were portrayed in the national media as being sharply divided among racial lines, and once again the subject of race relations was in the national spotlight. Just how well do we humans treat one another?

Hamlet Au wrote about resident exploring the issue in Second Life several years ago. when she put aside her white human avatar for a black one. While she got some complements, a few of her friends shyed away, and there was one moment in which a couple strangers hurled racial epitaphs. It was a couple years ago in which I had my own chance to experience the issue for myself for about a month after a "Bid Me Human" for the Relay For Life. I wasn't treated differently by friends, and indeed some people (all users of human avatars) asked me if I would be keeping this new look. It was notable Europeans I knew made good-natured barbs about the avatar while Americans didn't. Only about two friends of mine complained about the avatar, and one was from real life and never came on Second Life, finding out after he read the paper, "Stay foxy."

As Second Life's furred folk on rare occasions suffer some harassment from human avatars (and vice-versa), it's been debated whether this is a form of racism as well. Some, mainly furs, feel it is. Others feel a class of avatar doesn't really count as a race, even in an inworld sense.

How much was the trial discussed inworld? The news got around while I was with some mostly furred friends at a club. Those making an opinion were supportive of the verdict. Another I ran into later disagreed, and commented when he tried bringing up the issue elsewhere, they didn't want to talk about it, saying they came to Second Life to get away from real-world issues.

It was last weekend that noted journalist Helen Thomas passed away. She was most well known for her time as one of the White House press corps and her no-nonsense, blunt manner. A few years ago, in March 2009, she appeared with Bob Schieffer as part of a "mixed reality" event with the two on stage at the University of Washington's Edward R. Murrow School while their avatars were at the University's sim in Second Life, footage from the real stage was televised in SL while a screen behind the reporters showed the scene and chat lines in the virtual world. Questions from both the real and virtual audience were given to the reporters.

Following the event, Hamlet Au and Philip Rosedale were invited to have dinner with the two journalists. Hamlet described Rosedale as being "most passionate" in his talk about the virtual world. Thomas however was unimpressed, "I don't like your world. It doesn't have any people in it."

Yours truly got a cartoon out of the event, plus ran into Pooky Amsterdam and kept in contact with her since.

The following year, Thomas resigned following her making some anti-Israeli statements, which were later put up at a Palestinian propaganda sim in Second Life.

Source: New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

Breaking News: Last Names for New Accounts to Return

In Rodvik Linden's comment feed, or social network page, the Linden Lab CEO posted that plans were under discussion on how to bring back surnames for accounts.


Last names under active discussion. We are trying to figure out how to do it in a way which would be excellent rather than just ok. We want it intuitive with extra features. Hopefully we will roll out what we are thinking early January latest.

Identity is very important so as we touch it we need to make sure we are adding something great.

So far, responses, such as on the Linden blog, have been overwhelmingly positive. There have been some voices expresses skepticism, wondering just how easily can Linden Lab correct it's decision. But for now, most are cheering, and looking forward to the option for newer residents to have a last name like those before them.

Click Here for the Linden Blog thread.

Source: Daniel Voyager's Blog

Bixyl Shuftan

More on the "1000 Avatar Project"

Gracie Kendal recently completed her latest "1000 Avatar Project," celebrating with a release party last Sunday. She talked with Netera Landar, going into detail about her project, what it means to her, and what she learned from it.

Read the story in Design.