At this point I’m getting my feet wet in SL–the world. One of my interests is in participants’ experiences living through their avatars. They take on identities through the persona of their avatar, through the places they go and the the people the afflilate with as a a result. I have two avatars. Does that mean I live at the most basic, a double life. Since each avatar can shape shift in seconds and become any number of identities, it’s a mute point, until you want to establish meaningful relationships.
In first world, leading double lives has been associated with deviance, having to hide something. I’m not sure if that’s still the case, in part because in our celebrity culture we know of the various identities of public figures live.
I’ve always had a need to know who someone “really” is before I decide I want to get to know them. In organizational theory, one component of effective teaming and collaboration is trust. We build trust over time; trust grows out of familiarity, what I come to expect from someone.
Consistent behavior is part of that.
I’m going to guess that for most Residents, SL is a game in which they can live out certain fantasies, taking on certain personas in a playful, imaginative way.
I think there’s much more to SL in terms of identities, roles and personas and how these can be used educationally. More thinking needed