An invented self - Rilla Shan in Second Life

In virtual worlds you invent another self, and reinvent again and again if you desire. You can have multiple virtual identities, transform your avatar at the click of a button or two in your inventory menu, and then head out to interact with other invented selves, objects and places, when and where you like. There's great freedom in virtual worlds and these masquerades: there are also great challenges and much food for thought.

The moment you create an account you are asked to create a name for your avatar, in most cases, selecting the last name from a drop-down list provided by Linden Labs (the company behind Second Life). You also select your first avatar from a generic menu before you even set your pixel feet in-world. It's also a certainty you will see your multiple birth identical siblings during the first visit, and beyond, depending on your capacity to purchase or ability to find, possess or script objects to personalise your avatar. It's easy to spot a newbie in Second Life - they just haven't got the moves, literally, and are of clone origins.

Rilla Shan, one of my invented selves in Second Life, is now just over a year old. She's reinvented herself, (or been reinvented by my real world self), but the profile image in this blog is a snapshot taken in the first couple of weeks as a resident. She’s not as sophisticated as many avatars, although being operated through a free account is no excuse for that. It takes resourcefulness, time and commitment to explore all the options and truly play with your virtual identity. It can be frustrating as a ‘player’, and embarrassing at times in my experience, (which seems silly somehow, but it’s so easy to identify with your avatar and the extended image of you they project). Did I mention it’s fun, and fascinating?

It isn’t a level playing field however. People do participate through dial-up connections I believe, but it would be a limiting experience for ‘rezzing’ the avatar, its clothes, and all in its surroundings. Good bandwidth is needed for voice chat, viewing media in-world and running some scripts that can augment your social presence. There are minimum requirements for a graphics card, and there seems to be a slow upward creep in the recommended hardware specifications as the software continually advances in features and capabilities. Did I mention how amazing the visual detail is?

Rilla often goes in-world to work these days, is always learning, and sometimes gets to explore, experiment, socialise and play. All of these activities converge at times. She can also switch roles easily in a single log-in session, carrying out some island administration duties for a while, but diverting attention easily to IM someone on her Friends list and either ask them to offer her a teleport to their location, or find them on the map and teleport her own avatar. That could mean landing on a dance-floor or taking off on a ride in a hot-air balloon! She could attend a class on scripting or search for free hair, clothing, accessories, gestures (animations), vehicles, buildings or plants. She’s also likely to meet new avatars, (and perhaps gain a sense of the people operating them), and have random, often serendipitous conversations and adventures.

It's recreation/re-creation manifest! It can be a 'serious game' for engaging educational experiences, but there are also serious concerns about equity and inclusiveness. The potentials and the pitfalls make for lively conversations among educators and learning designers. I hope to connect to some of these and aim to share them here.

Will Second Life remain the popular ‘destination’ it currently appears to be for vocational and higher education sectors? Is it just a fad or will there be real benefits for learning that are difficult to gain in other ways? Where might this 3D journey end up?