cmduke

This post is not going to beat the familiar drum of the age old identity issue that’s “plagued” distance learning: the question of whether the RL person behind the avatar is who they say they are; is it really John and not John’s talented, free-lance writer friend that is taking my Composition 1 class? Second Life presents an entirely different identity issue with which education will have to cope.

Riddle me this Batman. When you enter Second Life, is it a virtual you that you see in your avatar? Or, is your avatar nothing more than a character in the “game” you’re playing and fantasy you’re engaging – much like the “avatar” of Marcus Fenix you “become” when playing Gears of War? Thus far in SL, the range of identity attitudes individuals have in regard to their avatar has made an impression upon me.

SL as an Extension of Reality. My purpose in SL is to explore the potential, very real applications of SL technology to learning environments; in RL, that’s my chosen profession, and it’s very much a part of my personal identity. So, I not only identify with my avatar; my avatar is an extension of my real-life, personal and professional identity. I attempted to make Topher Zwiers look as much like Chris Duke as my SL skills would allow (although he’s slightly thinner ;-), and I firmly believe the salient social presence Topher creates in SL is identical to my own. Others that have met “Topher” and try to describe him to someone else later could be describing Chris. Or, at least, that’s my intent. I’ve met other SL residents with the Extension of Reality perspective as well; if I describe their SL presence, I’m describing their RL personas as well: Adam is a reporter/bureau chief for Reuters News; Alaric is a distance learning educator teaching Math and Phyics; Louis is an concert pianist; Farimhoo is a foreign language instructor; Neville is a librarian from Millersville University, and Kiwini is a designer/builder for Clear Ink. Going a step further to extend their RL identity into SL, there are even SL residents that are attempting to attach an image of their RL face to their Avatar.

SL as an Alternative Reality. Others’ purpose in SL is to engage activities and a persona which is beyond the realm of possibilities for their RL persona, and SL may present game-like challenges for them to accomplish. From FurNation to the gun trade to the sex trade, there are wildly varying purposes and uses of SL that are unrelated to RL identities, and forgoing a discussion regarding the general merit of such activities being part of or treated as a game, each has a potentially justifiable place in Virtual Reality. I’ve encountered residents that role play across varying historical periods, and those that find it a challenge to build/script fantastical weapons and characters we’ve only seen before in video games and fantasy comics. I’ve chatted with a dragon, an elf like creature, and a very small white house cat – all residents and RL people just like me.

The issue for education will be when these two worlds collide. What happens when an alternative reality infringes upon or becomes juxtaposed with an extension of reality?

First, I personally experienced an instance where an alternative reality infringed upon my reality in SL. A resident engaged in an alternative reality (or at least I hope so) included me in his alternative reality without my consent. Building objects and learning at Campus Second Life sandbox, another resident (can’t remember his name, but it had the number 7 in it) entered and began “shooting” everyone with a weapon that launched the “victim” a significant distance from where s/he was standing. He shot me more than a few times, despite my attempts to ignore and move away from him initially; he even seemed to target me specifically after my first request that he stop. After asking him to stop again and threatening to report him, he finally responded, “Best Game EVER!” Not all alternative reality folks are as inconsiderate, and we did have a decent conversation about scripting and building after that, but educators must be prepared to deal with situations where an alternative reality infringes upon reality.

Second, Second Life juxtaposes reality and fantasy in a way I’ve never witnessed before; reality and fantasy sit side by side between and possibly within individuals. Unlike my RL identity, Chris, it’s possible and “safe” for Topher to be an educator by day and a gunrunning pimp by night, but it may not be safe for Chris if Topher engages that dual personality. Where does one stop and another begin? What separates the educator from the gunrunning pimp persona? That sounds ridiculous to me, and perhaps to you, because it seems obvious to me that the two are different: one’s real and one’s a game. However, are they really separate and distinct? And, even if I can separate the two, can everyone else? If I make a concerted effort to create a real life persona in SL via Topher, why would Topher’s becoming an infamous gunrunning pimp NOT impact another RL educator’s opinion of Topher as an educator? of Chris as a RL person and educator? Even if I can separate the two persona’s, can someone else do the same? It seems that there will be at least a concern, if not a very real danger, that a learner could perceive the real life education conducted via SL as too much like a game? In an educational “game” juxtaposed with an alternative, fantasy reality, I believe it’s very possible for any hint of educational ethics to disappear entirely.

Ultimately, teachers and learners need to be aware of the two perspectives so that they know which they are applying and which is appropriate in a given situation and how they may respond if one perspective intrudes upon the other. While it may not completely resolve the issue of extension of reality versus the alternative reality, I believe learners using two different SL identities for different personas may help reduce the blurring of the lines between a “this is me” identity and a “this is a game” identity.