IamfromatlantaGeorgiaJournal

I start this project totally ignorant of the ways of Second Life. I have spent the first couple of days just exploring a medium that is completely new and foreign to me. It has been very interesting to see a place where people are allowed to start over with a blank slate and do anything they want anonymously and without restriction. The first day or so I just explored UK island and learned how to control my avatar. My first realization in Second Life, much like real life, was that you are very limited with out money. How do I get money? Why do I need money in a virtual world? If everything in Second Life is virtual why do I need virtual money supported by real money to buy it? Its incredible that after reading Shock Doctrine where it was discussed over and over again about how in order to get people to accept an extreme free market we just needed a blank slate. In Second Life people had a blank slate, a virtual blank slate but a blank slate nonetheless where people could have created anything and what did they choose to create a virtual economic system supported by land ownership and money, a virtual free market economy. WTF? People have an opportunity to create anything and they create a system like the one we have with fewer restrictions and no accountability. It makes me wonder why people have chosen this. Is it because they think this type of system is best? Is it because this type of system is all they know? Is it because in real life they can’t live the type of life that they want to live because of their own economic situation so they use the artificially created world of second life to live out the prosperity, wealth, and indulgences that the very system they chose to live under prohibits them (either financially or legally) from doing?
 * Week One**


 * Week Two**

Does Second Life mirror First Life? In my second week exploring SL I found it mirroring my FL. I spent most of my time on UK’s island interacting with UK students… scary. I could be doing anything on SL and I choose to do the same things I do in FL. This week I bought my first linden dollars and purchased my first items on SL. I bought a skin and some nice clothes and now my avatar looks considerable more realistic and very attractive. If only we could buy a whole new body and appearance for $5.00 in FL. It was interesting to see the response of the other avatars to my avatar after my avatars “make over.” The positive response my avatar received really mirrored FL in a sense that when people positively change their appearance people seem to react and like them better. It seems as though the superficiality of FL has transferred to SL. This week I also got experience the Super Tuesday results coming at Café Wellstone. In the Café they have a screen they put up to report all the results and everyone sits together on the couches and watches the results and discussed the candidates. There were about 30 avatars in the café watching the results. It was an interesting experience to watch and discuss FL politics with SL avatars in SL.

I bought a BMW motorcycle! I found this place called Long Islandit is very cool it is full of carnival rides just like a mirror image of a first life carnival. There were like two avatars that were parent- like and two child avatars, which was very strange. The interaction of between this second life avatar family was like a first life family but given this situation it was very creepy. Kentucky Capalini and I even took pictures on the rides and in the photo booth! I also found a very cool store on second life....THE APPLE STORE!!! I love apple I'm glad that my avatar does not have to live without apple either. media type="youtube" key="ovL4pZod_gw&hl=en" height="355" width="425"
 * Week Three**

I went to SL Capital Hill this week and it was really interesting. At first I thought it was neat but a little boring. When you teleport in you can just see replicas of the steps behind the capital building and some surrounding shrubbery. As I continued to walk around I found a donkey that makes real noises and a large elephant. The large elephant was particularly interesting it was very large hence “large elephant” and was placed in front and blocking an arch that said “college costs.” On the sides of the elephant are two boards one that streams video and the other that has bullet point to link to democratic and republican perspectives on the issue. As I continued to explore I discovered a board in front of the entrance to the capital building that linked to online voter registration. I found a hidden brick building that looked like it was for secret dealings, as well as a putting green. The putting green is particularly appropriate. All in all there was some interesting things at Capital Hill. The ice skating was really fun too!
 * Week Four**

I was recently looking at Sweden’s Embassy website for reasons unrelated to Second Life and discovered a posting on the website announcing Sweden’s Second Life Island. So… I decided to check it out. I thought it might be cool to see what a socialist country’s island would be like and how it would differ from a capitalist country’s island. I found a second life version of thriller and it is super cool I have to includ it in my journal. media type="youtube" key="memW5zjGyFs&hl=en" height="355" width="425"
 * Week Five**


 * Week Six**

When I first logged on to SL for this class I was bombarded by the amount of sex culture. When I first learned how to use the teleport function I started clicking on the islands with the most avatars in them, which almost always lead me to islands filled with sex culture. Was everyone drawn to sex culture islands just because they found them on SL and were interested or did they join SL specifically for the sex culture? As I continued on my SL journey I wanted to find or rather buy a better appearance and was again bombarded by the amount of sex related things that one could buy in SL. It made me wonder how much exactly people spend on the sex culture in SL and how much time they invest in sex culture? Is having sex with avatars when you are in a relationship in first life cheating? How do ones actions in SL transfer to FL? In the interviewing of avatars that we have done thus far most say that sex in SL is strictly virtual and meaningless and that they get nothing out of it ... so why do it if you get nothing out of it? They have also said that their actions do not transfer to FL yet many withhold their actions from the significant other



The more we interviewed people about the participation in sex culture on SL we began to realize that people ultimately participated in relationships in SL rather than just hooking up on SL. This really got me thinking are SL relationships like FL relationships? Do you have serious talks about moving in together and then sublease out you own virtual apartment? Do you get married on SL? The more I dug into this I found out that the general relationship paths that we take in FL are the same as SL. There seems to be a large wedding culture on SL. Some of the islands that I visited had the complete wedding set up that you could rent to get married. Not only were there wedding chapels there were musicians that you hired to play music at your wedding! Next to many of the chapels were receptions sites that seemed to be set up much like hotels. There were facilities in the lower floors to have the reception and dinner and there were suits and rooms upstairs to have the honeymoon. I have to say that I find this a little strange. It seemed as though marriage and weddings in SL have as many requirements and traditions as marriage and weddings in FL. It makes me wonder what happens after the marriage on SL? Is there SL divorce? I took a lot of pictures this week of weddings and wedding culture on SL however some how they did show up in my email box and are I fear lost forever in the internet.
 * Week Seven**

It seems like the natural progression to have a child or children after a marriage. Does this apply to SL? Yes it does. We found places where couples could adopt children. It also begs the question of why there are child avatars on SL since children are not actually allowed on to SL. There seems to be a sizeable presence of pedophiles
 * Week Eight**


 * Week Nine**

This week I went back to one of the sex fetish places I went to earlier in the semester and saw that some new stuff had been put up. I found a lot of prostitution this time in various forms. There were a series of cages that had prostitutes in them with their prices floating in the bubble above their head. There was also like rigging that had prostitutes laying on what looked like wooden scales of justice waiting for customers. Next to it was a dirty mattress like the kind that you would see in a sleazy motel that you rent for the hour. Next to the mattress were pizza boxes and beer bottles. I thought this was particularly interesting. I also ran into what seemed to be a naked beach dance party. This was the first naked beach dance party I have ever seen and I wanted to talk to some people there about it but all seemed to be German. I guess Germans really like naked beach dance parties with synchronized dancing. I thought this was interesting because as and American I see this as a sexual thing because everyone was naked, but for Germans this would not necessarily be a sexual thing. Germans go naked or almost naked to beaches always in their country, the view on nudity is very different. It is very much a cultural difference. I think it was interesting that German culture transmitted like it did on SL.


 * Week Ten**

This week I have been doing a lot of work on my paper, slide show, and speech. Putting it all together I guess you could say. I do have to say it’s been an interesting journey. I am still surprised at the wide variety of things that I have experienced. This past week I saw the most graphic avatar sex scene I have ever seen I don’t think I have ever blushed so much or been so uncomfortable in my life. The interesting thing was is that I was sitting at a computer by myself and I was blushing and embarrassed like I was actually in a room with these peoples and not in a grid. When I first started this project it was this strange unfamiliar virtual world and now its like my reality has been blurred. I have gotten to know people even in my own class that I don’t know their first life name but I know their avatar name. In some cases I even refer to them by their avatar name.