Class 13: Identity in the Context of Virtual Worlds

Throughout the course, I ended up learning lots of things about identity. At first I didn't have any knowledge towards an avatar or a virtual world, and also didn't know that people interact with each other in such worlds. However, as I created my own avatar and completed various assignments as the class went on, I learned and realized how important a role that identity takes place in the virtual world.

In the virtual world, there are no limitations or guidelines to what the avatar should look like. Therefore,  people are given various opportunities to express one's identity freely. I thought this was interesting, but also learned that this aspect of the virtual world can be used negatively. Since the avatars don't have to reflect the actual appearances of the individual, people often use them to cover up their true identities and create false identities through their avatars. Thus, some were very disturbing, as they showed inappropriate behaviors. I think there should be some limitations to how individual's true identity should be reflected in avatars.

Meshmoon, one of the programs that we used, brought us to different virtual worlds to explore and meet different people. The most interesting part of this program was that it allowed us to build our own world. I completed different assignments building a world in Meshmoon, but realized that the expression of identities in avatars were very limited.

Secondlife, also one of the programs that we used, allowed us to express our identities more freely using the avatar. There were more options. Also, the virtual worlds were larger with a wider range of people. Therefore, it was a lot easier to meet different people and socialize with them, revealing our identities to themselves. However, it was very easy to be judged based only on the appearances of the avatars, including its race, outfits, and style. Thus, individuals were likely to be judged based on their false identities rather than their true identities.

Exploring various virtual worlds, and socializing with different avatars was a novel, interesting experience. It allowed a better understanding of identities, both false and true. Compared to my ignorance on virtual worlds and avatars, I leave with a bigger knowledge. Here are some of my favorite screenshots from the semester:

Here, I explored the immersive museum in second life.

Here, I built a house in a virtual world of Meshmoon.
 
Here, I built a rocket in a virtual world of Meshmoon.

Here, I customized my own high-resolution avatar using the MakeHuman program.

This is a final exercise from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Discovering Computer Graphics. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc