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Avatars Need Personal Space Too
Nicola Jones writes to alert us to a study showing that avatars need their personal space. Avatars in the virtual reality of Second Life act like real people in this way: boy avatars stand further apart than female ones, and characters tend to avert their gaze from each others' eyes when standing close together. This result holds whether the avatar is being played by a man or a woman. From the article: "The authors say this means that these online gaming environments are a goldmine of social data as well as a potential experimental research platform." Obviously not all behaviours translate from the real world to the virtual one, notes UIUC computer game researcher Dmitri Williams: "There is no research on what translates and what doesn't.... People's willingness to take risks in online worlds is radically different. Death is not permanent online."
The authors say this means that these online gaming environments are a goldmine of social data
Uh huh. I've had a lot less people ask me "R U 4 SECKS CHAT???" in real life.
Why do they call it "Second Life" if it's for MMO people who don't even have a primary life?
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Looks like you didn't get as much as you could have out of Second Life. Try the following strategies:
1) Script a device so it acts like a listening bug and plant it in people's houses. (Make sure to have it spawn a copy of itself every 10 hours so it doesn't get deleted!) Confront them when they talk smack about you, and blame any third parties in the room for ratting.
2) Name a device after someone nearby and have it make offensive remarks. By default, objects have green text when they speak, while humans have white text, so be sure to have it preface its statements "Hey, check this out guys, I can make my text green!"
3) Arrange to store your money with someone else before you get your "allowance" so it will think you're poor and given you more Linden Dollars.
If you just did some of those things, I'm sure you'd have more fun.
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
I hate it when I get bluediculous. I swear the ointment the doctor gives me itches more than the rash itself.
Did you see that?
See what?
That avatar looked at me...
C'mon man...avatars can't 'look' at anybody...
No, man...I'm serious as a heart-attack. I swear. That big red she-male avatar over there by the elevator looked right at me!
Listen. Avatars here are on display...that's all. They have no host and no history files so they can't do ANYTHING - get it?
Ok, whatever you say, but I'm telling you, that 'no-host, no-history' cross-breed stared at me as we floated by.
*Woosh*
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