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What not to wear in virtual circles
22 October 2009
Academics might party in Second Life, but they can't agree on attire, writes Rebecca Attwood
According to stereotypes, academics do not care about their appearance.
But in the virtual world, it seems, university lecturers do worry about what to wear.
When an online discussion group organised a get-together in Second Life, where outlandish garb is the norm, it led to a debate about what constitutes appropriate attire for university representatives.
Members of the forum, set up for academics with an interest in virtual worlds, were invited to meet their peers on Second Life in the form of virtual characters - "avatars". After the event, there was animated discussion about the outfits.
"It amuses me that two or three people were worried about how their avatars were dressed. I didn't see anything particularly inappropriate," one said.
Another, a university librarian, was less sure, confessing to being "very particular about how I dress in Second Life".
She cited a study that concludes that anyone representing their workplace in a virtual world "should appear and dress conservatively".
She questioned whether this rule held true for university staff, even those who use Second Life to hold seminars and interact with students.
"While it may be true for big business, it isn't so true in education; the people we are communicating with are likely to be outrageous, too," she said.
Another lecturer described an awkward moment while teaching in Second Life: "How do we justify it if students are there to learn about tsunamis and ... some semi-naked avatar passes by, gyrating in front of them (which happened in one of my classes)?"
Most agreed that, even in virtual reality, a degree of formality is appropriate.
"If I were working with students, I would naturally dress conservatively," a learning-development specialist said.
"Not necessarily smart - I don't think something different and distinctive is out of the question - but anything remotely seedy or overly sexy would be."
While acknowledging that it was "obviously important for a learning institution that staff image is respectable", the lecturer added that in informal meetings online, academics should be able to "let their hair down, or, indeed, grow hair all over".
"What's the point of being in Second Life for an evening with all that visual power if you don't enjoy it?" she asked.
Another commentator suggested that the answer was to use different avatars in different social contexts.
"My solution is to have two avatars: a boring one for institutional business, and one with a more adventurous character - and a much more extensive wardrobe - that I use for recreation.
"That way, I don't get into difficulties."
rebecca.attwood@tsleducation.com.
Readers' comments
Clearly the primary template for all avatar design in second life is western, if not north american and derivative of Barbie and Ken . For women in particular the joining kit avatar does look a bit like Pamela Anderson with implants and a collagen filled mouth. Not always a great image to assume when teaching about representation and gender stereotypes!
You're so right about stereotypes on Second Life (and congratulations, Andy, on your fabulous Christmas specials, which I have enjoyed for many years). Seriously though - and indeed without being more flippant - media perceptions (including how we perceive a person's name or a personality based on such perceptions) are points of entry to so many human interactions. It is thus very suprising how many academics use Second Life as if it is a "more attractive" mirror image of First life; when, in fact, it is an overt distortion. And then they apply physiological and psychological paradigms as if they fit two dimensional exchanges and . . . while they "name" and "determine" solely by reaction rather than interaction. Yet how many articles on Second Life suggest is it an "interactive" environment? I think not . . . .
Reading this story just makes me realise that I am now one generation on from the new lecturers!
Andy, you obviously haven't created an avatar in Second Life for some time. They are no longer neither barbie-esque nor solely 'western'. To attempt to set the record straighter, this was part of a valuable discussion about emotions and responses by new users on entering the environment and the way that experienced and student-centred tutors facilitate this. There is a very valid discussion about people's responses to appearance, of peers and of their tutors, which forms a whole strand of virtual world research. Understanding people's concerns and anxieties when leveraging new technologies to enhance learning is encumbent on us as good teachers. The care and attention paid by these dedicated individuals toward their learners should be respected, even by people who don't 'get' what we do in virtual worlds.
Andy, Strangely, Second Life is an effective educational tools to use when "teaching about representation and gender stereotypes!". To quote from: https://blogs.wharton.upenn.edu/staff/remurphy/2009/03/taxonomy-of-virtual-worlds-for.html ... "A teacher of a health and wellness class wanted to teach students about media's effect on self-esteem. The teacher had the students go into SL and design an avatar reflective of their actual physical appearance in real life. Then the teacher had the students go in and design an avatar reflective of how they would look if they were "media beautiful". This resulted in big beefy muscular male avatars, and skinny yet busty female avatars. For a test, the teacher had the girls go back in and design "media beautiful" male avatars and had the boys create "media beautiful" female avatars. This is where things get interesting - the girls and boys broke out into arguments with one another with girls saying "This is why my friends are anorexic! How can we look like this? We're only 14 we're supposed to have acne! You boys don't understand what it's like to be a girl getting ready on a Friday night!" and the boys responded saying, "Look at the boys that you designed! We don't look like that we don't have huge muscles like that - We face the same pressures as you". [Those words are paraphrased but the moral is the same]. Eventually both genders realized - why does the media make us feel like we should look this way?"
It doesn't... it just prefers to use actors and follow celebrities who look like that because that's what it takes to drive viewers to their particular channel / site / publication. Very few avid media consumers want to spend their time looking at ugly people, it seems. Listening to them, maybe, if they have something interesting/entertaining to say, watching less so. Unless, again, they're funny. And so surrounded by all these leading examples you learn the world is made of beautiful people (of varying personality and intelligence), and funny ugly people. It's not something they actively want to push on you, it just happens, passively.