Avatar, a Love Story

No, this isn’t going to be a “creepy” post. It’s just a little sampling of those “weird stories” about virtual worlds that the mainstream media seems consumed by. For the most part, there’s less theft, less cheating, less adultery, and less “playing outside the rules” in VWs than in RL(real world). But that doesn’t make headlines. So here is a requisite sampling of the latest of the sad, unusual, and possibly lawsuit-causing incidents that have been featured lately on the internet, followed up by some places you might read actual serious discussion (by scientists and psychologists, no less) about why we play, why we must play, and the role all this has in making us a better society.

Poignant, poignant story. The avatar living in Second Life was slowly becoming more detached, less involved in the Second Life. And had stated in-game that because of necessary regular medication, she could choose dying simply by stopping the meds at any time. It is tragic, yet incredibly interesting how the signs were there in both SL and in RL(real life) of the sad, sad, ending to the story.

Another interesting article is Rights of Avatars by Raph Koster. It has incredible insights about avatars and the requisite fundamental rights one might attribute to them. And I’m aware that it is an almost 10-year-old blog post, but then again, it is still the most complete statement about the avatar as separate from the owner. You can also do worse than buying his book “Theory of Fun” from Amazon (Yes, I know I could link, but I don’t link commercial ventures on this site.)

Second Life Divorce tells the story of a real life (RL) divorce incited by a Second Life (SL) “affair?”, relationship, how would you term that exactly? Yes, it is a little creepy, but when you talk to divorce lawyers they will tell you of divorces caused by sandwiches being sliced on the diagonal rather than horizontal, or not replacing the toothpaste cap, it’s not surprising that an endeavor that takes both money and also time would inevitably cause friction in a marriage.

Dressing for an Interview in Second Life is a great article in the mainstream Wall Street Journal. Which begs the question, what if you arrive the first day at work, and you’re the “opposite sex” that they expect? Or 40 years older? Opens up a whole can of worms, wouldn’t you think?

And finally, the informative links: Our virtual bodies, ourselves and also “Through the Looking Glass”(Correlation with RL personality and online personality

The Proteus Theory has the best characterization I’ve ever read of online gaming’s nature; “And in online environments, the avatar is not simply a uniform that is worn, the avatar is our entire self-representation. Whereas the uniform is one of many identity cues in the studies mentioned earlier, the avatar is the primary identity cue in online environments. Thus, we might expect that our avatars have a significant impact on how we
behave online.”

This work may be Cited as “The Daedalus Project” by Nick Yee, available at: http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus. “What is the general methodology used? Links to online surveys are publicized on main portals catering to specific games. Respondents from past surveys are also notified of the available surveys. Most surveys are multiple choice and consist of 30-50 questions, and usually take about 5-10 minutes to complete. Approximately 2000-4000 respondents participate in each survey phase.”

3 for the B(usiness)
1. When you’re involved in litigation, remember in your online life (SL, WOW, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter) to restrict your “new” friends. Basically, if you can handle it psychologically, do not “friend” any new people during any litigious phase in your life. It might be a lawyer from the opposite side, or someone employed by them. It is still unclear how far an opposing party can go, see the interesting article by LLRX.

2. If you’re an attorney working on a RL case, it’s getting close to negligence to not make at least a passing reference to restricting online communications. Even if you don’t work in intellectual property, it is essential to question a new client about any “complications” especially in a case that is involving interpersonal relations.

3. Remember that anything you do online may eventually become known. If it is something you wish hidden, well, behave in such a way that it does remain hidden. I hope later to devote a whole post to the “testamentary” options in online games, especially SL – it is incredibly complex, and constantly evolving. Short story long, treat your online friends in the way you’d like to be treated, just like your RL friends; and just like in RL they will most likely take care of you.

Jay Moffitt is a TN attorney. The statements here are not legal advice, and no attorney/client relationship is created. Jay Moffitt claims no certification in this specialty, and TN does not offer a certification in this area of law. Copyright, Jay Moffitt, 2009. Comments are welcomed and will be answered promptly and courteously.

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