Tenth Exercise: Inventory of Avatar Social Settings

What I noticed from this exercise is that I was observing the in-world passively. For example, when I enter the restricted area or secured places, I have told myself "okay, I cannot go to these areas", even though I tell myself that I still tend to make the same mistakes and end up going into those places. Why have I been constantly making the same mistakes? First, my consciousness was ignoring the signs of warnings (e.g. red dotted lines are around in the houses that are secured). I was looking at the world as a provided space and was not really using my brain to feel or see the world. In the real world, you need to pay attention to everything for the sake of your protection and for others. But in Second Life, the task of awareness in your brain is not fully active. When you bump into a restricted sign in the real world, you will avoid it to protect yourself from danger and not entering other people's companies or government property because of the consequences one could face from such violation. I posted the picture of Monile and myself and you can see the yellow sparkling light hanging from the tree. My interpretation to the light in SL and RL is very different. In SL, it is just a yellow ball sparkling some lights, but in RL, you could feel the warmness of the light, smell of the light burning, etc. I personally thought SL is a social platform where people can play out their ego in the infinite plane world. But when you add your senses and consciousness into the world, there is a whole new experience you could gain through SL.

When I did an exercise with a partner, I engaged with these situations actively and started to observe the in world actively. Especially when you do Tenth Exercise with a partner, you get to follow somebody’s path. That is different from your point of view. I have never met her in RL, but when two avatars meet in SL and see them together, I automatically felt connected to her. We are likely to bond well because we share many common elements in life (e.g. taking same course, same major, etc), but I really think there is a power of avatar and virtual world.

SL is a world where sense organs are already provided. In RL, we input these senses into our brain and it helps to construct a three dimensional image. Therefore, we are able to say that SL would represent our mind itself.

Tenth Exercise: Inventory of Avatar Social Settings

2. With a partner in a restricted or secured area - restricted area means places where when you try to go in they will give you a notice that says, "you are in restricted area. you have 15 seconds to leave the area" and if you do not leave, they would automatically remove you. Monile and I were both in the same restricted area, but we ended up in different places. We were flying in the air above the island where it is a popular surf spot. I ended up in the air and she ended up in a different island. I assume the differences have to do with the restricted program, but we thought it was interesting because we were close to each other and ended up in such different places.

4. With a partner in a private place or house - private place or house is where you need to be a member for the place or the house. Monile took me to this Vampire House. What happen was when we click on the door to open, it sent us the notice says "members only". In The Vampire House, you also cannot fly.

6. With a partner in a public place that allows certain activities - we went for car racing. What’s convenient about this place was you do not need to have your own racing car. When we get to the racing field, you can rezz it and ride it as much as you want. Once you stand up, your rezzed racing car will disappear.

8. with a partner in a public place that does not allow certain activities - When we went to the Vampire House, the entire island did not allow us to fly. What would be the purpose of eliminating certain activities (e.g. flying)?

10. With a partner in a public place that provides local facilities or scheduled activities – We visited a public bath in Niseko, Hokkaido. This public facility provides several bath tabs with an ocean view. You can relax by watching your avatar looking comfortable and warm, also the sounds of the waves can really calm you down.

1. alone in a restricted or secured area - where can I find a restricted or secured area? I tend to look for it in a beautiful places such as close to the ocean side or flowers and water fountains. I think this is similar to where people's dream houses are located in real life. Most of it is away from building and residents populated area. They tend to be in the quiet and not easy to find places. The restricted area was surrounded by green dotted line and when I come close to it, it sent me a notice "you need to be on the access lists".