Orange Identity Summit

Following a post about it on the Livejournal SL community, I managed to get along to the Orange Island Identity Summit – a series of panel discussions about various concepts of avatar identity, ranging from identity-as-a-brand, non-human identity, to identity transparency in business. All really interesting stuff, particularly as I myself have a fairly unique avatar. (Our of curiosity, I plugged “blue horse” into the new SL client search engine, and my profile came up as the first entry. How about that for branding?)

Anyway. I missed the first panel but found the other two really interesting, even if laggy (up to 60 people on the sim, many of whom were in non-human and often very complex avatars).

I also have to say I’m very impressed with Orange Island. Unlike most real-life corporations with a presence in SL, they are actually using the space, and making it available – and useful – to residents, instead of being nothing but a large three-dimensional advertising space as most of them are. (Won’t go into how much their broadband technical support sucks though).

At the non-human discussion panel there was an interensting question asked of the panellists. “Each of you uses avatars that vary from humanity to different degrees. How has your reception by avatars been in Second Life, and do you think that it has changed over time?” Now, I’ve used a non-human avatar almost exclusively for over a year now, and the reaction by most other residents has been almost exclusively positive – I regularly get IMs from strangers saying something like “Oh wow, cool av, where did you get it?”. On the whole though, I find the furry community generally gets a fairly negative reaction, and of course it’s a prime target for griefers. I personally have been griefed only twice for being a furry, a few times I’ve had a few negative comments, but the positive ones still far outweigh those. If it’s changed over time, I’d say that individual, personal reactions (ie avatars I meet on a day to day basis) have improved, while at the same time the griefing of the furry community as a whole has got much much worse as it continues to become more visible and more mainstream.

Another question: “Do you feel SL’s openness contributes to the exploration of non-human avatars, or do you think people choose SL because it allows more options? Or a mix of both?” Personally I feel it’s mostly the former – that SL’s flexibility contributes to the exploration of non-human avatars. Most people enter SL completely unaware of the possibilities, until they find themselves talking to a dragon, or a tree, or afloating eyeball. Only then, do they start to explore what possibilities there are to express their own identity. Most people I find, don’t bother, beyond spending L$ on pre-made products, which ends up with a situation where most human avatars look pretty similar to each other anyway. Me personally, I entered SL with an intention to make an avatar close to my RL self (if a bit taller, younger and less soft around the middle). Once I found the horse avatar that all changed, and it was a gradual process that evolved from that first cheapy brown horse to the modified and unique avatar I wear today. I like being unique, and different without being too bizarre or outlandish. I don’t think I’d be happy as a floationg cube or eyeball.

One thing the summit has done, is made me inclined to try to make some unusual avatars. Perhaps some that resemble World of Warcraft races, or aliens, or things from various science-fiction TV shows or movies. I’ve long had an idea to make a Grey Alien avatar. I’d probably not wear them myself but I’d love to have a go at making some. I know a certain red-head who’d love to walk round SL as a Warcraft Blood Elf.