Self-Medialization on Second Life: Staging a Physically Unattractive Avatar

It seems that the majority of people that are in Second Life designs their avatars to appear extremely handsome or “hot,” often well-toned and extremely curvy to the point where the avatars look like video-game characters rather than realistic representations of the participants. Of course, one of the appealing aspects of staging in a virtual world is the opportunity to role play as a completely different existence; to “emerge from the shadow of their anonymity for the moment.. and assume the status of icons in [this] universe of self-created “Superstars.” (Frohne, 253).” I find it interesting that so many avatars' in Second Life are altered to look visually and physically attractive; what Frohne describes as the individuals' desires for medial attention and their chance to self-realize their mundane existence in a virtual society. However, how can an avatar standout in the crowd when every other avatar is just as good-looking? As an alternative, I decided to stage myself in Second Life as a physically unattractive avatar.

By giving my avatar a physically unattractive figure, I thought to experiment and open up a perspective on the ethical subjects of shame, humiliation, and loss of self-confidence, which appears to be a significant issue in today's narcissist society as mentioned by Frohne. Similar to Micha Cardenas's use of Second Life as a way to explore the topic of gender transition, I wanted to interact with the virtual world to experience an issue of social inequality that was based on figure appearance and emotional insecurity.

At first, I tried out regular interactions by attempting to start a conversation several times among groups that I found in random worlds. My avatar's greeting got completely ignored at a clothing store, caused one group's conversation to cease for a minute, and got rejected when she went up to a guy and asked him to dance with her. Dell mentions in her article that, qualities that players acquire in virtual reality--whether it's confidence or insecurity--can affect their behavior in the real world. Although my character was a made-up figure that only existed in Second Life, the feedback I received was perceived as real, and my self-assurance decreased as I began to feel discouraged for my poor avatar.

Later on, I asked some individuals in Second Life whether their avatars represent themselves accurately and why they dress them up the way they do, and the common answer was, “to feel better about myself.” According to Dell, the way we view ourselves affects the confidence we display in the virtual world; yet everyone in Second Life tries to look as attractive as possible, not based on their level of insecurity but more so due to their sense of narcissism and the desire to be the center of their self-staged media, by extending encounters via the web and reinforcing their avatar's profiles in virtual life.