We all like to escape the hustle and bustle of
everyday life by retreating into our own bubble. For some, retreating could
mean reading a book or listening to music, but to many others, instead of
quietly being on their own, they create an alternate universe over which they
rule. Usually these worlds are created in the form of avatars exploring online
spaces and interacting with others. However, in such realms such as Second
Life, you can manipulate, alter and recreate your personality, race, or gender
to get pleasure from the game that you otherwise never would be able to in real
life due to the visual confines of interpersonal interaction, embarrassing
taboos or limited access.
However, the pleasure of Second Life lies in
the realm of real life as well as the virtual since you need to have an
understanding on how to “play the game of life” if you want to succeed in
making those around you believe you are who you portray yourself as. “Your
Pleasure is Now Loading” will explore and analyze the differences that lie in
the comparison between the real world and online realms. One of the main things
that virtuality holds over reality is that the user can take the escapism of
moving into another social realm and illustrate its more concrete, yet
complicated, function. Since the user’s alternate self is able to have and explore
experiences that he wouldn’t be able to in real life due, there becomes a real
truth, in a sense, to having a fake persona online. By creating your own
persona, you can also create your own narrative and story when all traces of
the body are erased, thus the pleasure of self-creation can also heavily add to
whatever pleasure of gaming or version of socially manipulated life you choose
to play.
It will be my aim for this blog to explore the different facets and tactical applications of pleasure as it lies in certain virtual realms. By using first hand experience by creating my own avatar and journey within the Second Life universe, as well as writings by theorists, I will illustrate how these worlds are vastly different, while explaining their similarities in both the areas of the superficial and the applied.
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