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Some educators have established areas in Second Life specifically for second-language learners who use tools such as voice and text chat to enhance their in-class education.

Nelson has been investigating the psychology behind physical appearances within a virtual world, how women express identities in a virtual world, how body image in real life affects the image they choose in Second Life and vice versa, she said.

Nelson and her students will be researching body image issues among Second Life members – how and why members design their avatars the way they do, given the limitless options for creating and changing avatars. Nelson designed the avatar she uses for professional purposes, Dr. Natalee Barrymore or ‘Dr. B’, to look much like herself.

People express sides of themselves in Second Life that they might not express in real life, and that adds a psychosocial richness to the online world, Nelson said.

Second Life is full of “psychological soup,” she said.

 “Many of the dynamics that go on in real life also go on in Second Life, but one very important layer removed – the actual person – so someone may not experience the normal social inhibitions that would ordinarily prevent him or her from acting a certain way in real life,” she said. 

Many Second Life members of both genders, regardless of whether they create male or female avatars, play very much to real world social stereotypes and norms, Kaseroff said.

“It’s about sex in here,” she said. “You can’t make your AV too fat, as Dr. B said. The (pre-made) clothes for women are all sexy. I can’t find non-revealing clothes.”

Many female avatars in Second Life are dressed in very revealing outfits and male avatars are usually muscular, toned and tall.

 “I always want to make my AV far wider than (it is) and see the reaction I get from others,” Kaseroff said. “This program is all about messing around to find what you like.”

Kaseroff made Darkstone a slightly overweight avatar in order to more accurately represent her figure in real life but wonders if adolescents would do the same.  

“Really, what I’m interested in is seeing if girls – in particular, but boys too – change their appearance drastically, or if they try to maintain an aspect of who they are,” she said. “Or, (if they would) try to experience a world in which they matched the societal norm… And in turn, what dissonance would that make them feel…would they feel better about themselves in RL, for having an SL-perfect AV, or worse?”

After spending several months getting to know the Second Life world, interacting with other avatars and learning qualitative research methods, the team’s focus has centered more on body image in general, she said.

“But 18 (the minimum age for Second Life membership) is still in the throws of adolescence and body image is important in a different way because sex is more likely to be a variable,” she said.

“As researchers, we sort of work on keeping our expectations low – but I do expect to see some gender differences in how RL emotions get played out in SL,” she said. “I’m still highly interested in how people are using SL, the reactions they have in RL, and stuff like that.”

Some people live their dreams in Second Life, but Kaseroff simply gained the courage and opportunity to do things she normally would be shy about in real life, like hitting a dance floor, exploring other activities and meeting different people.

“It’s (also) a lot like RL – it evokes some of the same emotions, same reactions, same insecurities,” she said.

For example, some students in the class went on a field trip to a rock club last semester where Kaseroff saw a well-designed, attractive avatar on the dance floor.

“Low and behold, my RL self is attracted to a virtual representation of a person!” she said. “Before I realize it, I’m all nervous about asking him to dance, talking over IM with my friend as she eggs me on like (we were) teenagers giggling on the sidelines before I worked up the courage to ask him.”

Kaseroff was surprised by her own reaction, considering she and her friend were “just two people sitting in front of our computers,” yet she experienced a totally real life emotional nervous reaction, she said.

“I was turned down, but the rejection hurt far less than in RL,” she said. “In the event of the negative reaction, I was easily able to justify the dissonance away by saying ‘oh, but it’s just a simulation’.”

Gutierrez likes the virtual class meeting environment over a traditional classroom for the same reason – she has less fear of rejection when she speaks up in Second Life than in the more formal and intimidating classroom environment, she said.

“You feel really comfortable in that environment,” she said. “I felt more open to interject with my opinion.”

To learn more about Second Life and how it works, visit http://secondlife.com/ or http://lindenlab.com/
To learn more about educational applications in Second Life, visit http://sl.nmc.org/

— by Rebecca “Bex” Quigley
Communications Specialist
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