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October 05, 2006, 03:45 PM ET
On Avatars and Identity
For many undergrads, college is as much an experiment in identity as it is a pursuit of knowledge. So it’s no wonder Second Life strikes a chord with students: The virtual world, which lets users create their own fanciful avatars, offers almost limitless possibilities for self-presentation, as The Christian Science Monitor observes.
Bill Moseley, a professor who teaches a course in Second Life at Pepperdine University, says that about 70 percent of his students create Second Life avatars that look similar to their real-world selves. But the other 30 percent — including students who switch genders and, often, species — look “strikingly different” in their virtual bodies, he says.
But technical problems occasionally stand in the way of clever self-presentation, as Scott James, a student from Mr. Moseley’s class, points out:At one point, when he tried to put new clothing on his avatar, Reign Buchanan, the words “no image” appeared instead of a head. “I was pretty much missing a face,” he says.
For more on Second Life, see an article from The Chronicle by Andrea L. Foster. —Brock Read
Categories: Teaching, Virtual-Worlds
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