This is about the stuff we are made of.That is what is making everything up: the way you look in SL, the things you do in SL.
The illusion is almost perfect, so it’s easy to think we can be somebody else. A tall and dark avi, when we are short and blonde in RL. Or big boobs. Or big muscles. Or big… feet. Or maybe we can look like a furry tiny pet or something that could be Cameron’s Alien’s baby sister. Or brother.
Whatever.
The primal fantasy here is… we get to be somebody else.
Some people just try to manufacture a better version of themselves. Some people unleash a darker side. Some people manage to juggle a number of alts that bring them close to becoming virtual Sybils.(At least… that is what they think).
Well… I have news for you.
If you have been in SL for a while, by now you must have noticed that whatever you do to be “different”… finally yields to who you are in the first place.
The one you are in RL.
The Puppet Master.
The one that glues everything else together. The one you go back to when you log off.
Once we learn how to edit appereance, we design ourselves to fulfill whatever we think we are lacking. Or to look like we think we should. Or to totally hide from the “real” world.
And we go “in world” and mingle.
And we get busy learning how to deal with this world. And we make friends. Or not. And we explore, or not. And we commit… or not. And that is what we haven’t changed.
The way we share our experience and our existence is like our finger prints. Unique. Almost impossible to change just from looking different and hiding our true identity.
We won’t be generous if we are selfish. We won’t be funny if we don’t have a sense of humor. We wont be affectionate if we are cold. We will be shy and won’t take our clothes off in public if we would never do that in RL. And if we do it in SL, and are ready to swear we would never do that in RL… that’s because the circumstances haven’t been propitious.
But if you find yourself amazed at having fun doing things you would never be caught dead doing in RL… welcome to your secret self. The one that’s having a blast in SL. Or it’s heart broken.
But it’s NOT somebody else. It’s always you. And this is the beauty of this virtual world.
Think back. Take a stroll down your SL life memory lane. The question is not “Who have I been?” It’s more like: “WHAT have I been DOING all this time?” “ HOW have I BEEN to others?”
We will realize that the hands that hold the wheel, have learned to drive in RL.
We end up being here who we are out there.We can change our names, our looks, our age. Tell our story, or tell a different story. Choose to remain a mystery. We are what we are, plus the stuff our dreams are made of. We can make many versions of us … but deep down they are all the same.
I don’t know if watching ourselves and our experience here might help us change in ways we didn’t expect. But then we would also change in RL. So who we are in both worlds…still remains one and the same. So be careful. Be nice to others. Be thoughtful. Happy go lucky psychopaths are a dime a dozen. But they don’t stay long. They don’t matter.
But the ones who choose to stay… we are so much more vulnerable than we are in RL, where our skin is always tougher than we think.
Avi’s skin? Just a fragile bunch of pixels.
The problem is… the heart is for real.
Covadonga Writer
