22nd July, 2012
It is the first time for me to successfully log in Second Life after the introduction lecture given by Darryl last Tuesday. For some reason unknown, previously I failed to log in SL with my own laptop, which delayed my access to it.
The exploration of virtual world began in the last spot where my avatar (created in the intro lecture) was when I quit SL. I chose a destination named Brasil Rio under Chat Hot Spot, which seemed to be a good place where newcomers like me can socialize. Twenty seconds after teleporting to the destination, my avatar was found among a dozen of other avatars (see photo 1), whose users were constantly chatting with one another in a language foreign to me.
All the female avatars were dressed up in shorts, highlighting their long legs, small waist, and big breasts; and male semi-nude to show off their massive chests, 6-abs, and inked skin. However, the costumes for my avatar were much of a hunting adventure, rather than their beach party.
Everyone around regarded me as an alien, requesting me to remove my shotgun at once with an excuse that he/she was told no one is allowed to carry a gun with. Felt being pushed aside, I decided to leave and explore other places.
photo 1: my avatar looks such an outsider among those figures with extremely masculine or feminine features
Then I browsed the titles of various destinations to see which one I would probably be interested in. Finally I clicked “The Brutal District” to look for players of my same kind.
The whole place was posted up with images of knives and swords (see photo 2), and I encountered a warrior-like avatar with a big gun in his hand (see photo 3).
At first the conversation was friendly and successful, but misunderstandings and embarrassment occurred over the topic about his family name “Kman” which was described by me as “exotic, sounds like not westerner”. He felt offended and pointed out that everyone is individualistic, and that I, as a college student majoring in English in the 5th grade, should be aware of the rudeness of commenting one person’s family name.
I felt astonished since I did not expect that he would feel annoyed. I was just curious whether he is oriental, like me, since his family name was not a very common one in English according to my knowledge. Cultural shock? Taboo? Failure in intercultural communication? I had no idea.
photo 2: the Brutal District is overrun with posts of weapons
photo 3: a player was offended by me perhaps due to my lack of knowledge in cross-cultural communication.
Later on, I teleported to Sands of Persia, a place with exotic foreign elements (see photo 4), and visited the palaces and fountains located in there. At first it was merely like a tourist trip or theme-park adventure that every family would take their kids to. But when I came into these buildings and observed closely to the drawings on the walls, I found them mostly of pornography (see photo 5).
photo 4: buildings are all in Persian style
photo 5: semi-nude figures could be seen everywhere
The last place I went to is “Sin City”, probably named after the movie. I felt disgusted and decided to quit SL as I was a little overwhelmed by the boldness of violent and pornographic promotion all over the city (see photo 6). It should be noted that one can get access to this world only by changing his preference level from “semi-adult” into “complete adult”.
photo 6: the images of guns, violence, sex can be seen everywhere in the Sin City
The excitement of a new user in SL swiftly died out as I myself for the first time explored the virtual world. It seems that SL is not leisure to kill time, but an actual field for arguments and conflicts.
My findings are: each avatar is “obliged” to talk, dress, and behave in a certain way acknowledged by the vast majority of users within a certain destination; cultural differences need to be taken into consideration while communicating with users from different backgrounds, or it will lead to displeasure; elements of violence and sexuality are commonplace around various destinations of SL.
My question is: is it an obligation for a conversation participant from foreign background to comply with cultural or traditional customs in native background while the conversation is performed in native language? Is there any chance for both participants, from a certain culture alien to each other, to compromise their cultural stubbornness in order to reduce displeasure and embarrassment no matter which language they practically use?
I think that instead of viewing Second Life like a game in which everyone is there to have fun, it is now at a point where it could be considered a "second world", true to its name. This means that, just like in reality, there are those expectations about how you should dress and speak. (Even though it could certainly be said that it is easier in SL to find a group of people who think and dress the same way as you, as can be seen by how you were able to jump somewhere where carrying guns was okay!)
ReplyDeleteI think the concept of it being it's own world carries through to intercultural communication as well, in that, like in the real world, you will always run the risk of offending someone from another culture no matter how respectful you try to be, as it's impossible to act without our own culture influencing us at least a small amount. I certainly didn't know that saying that someone's name sounded foreign was offensive to some cultures - people tell me that about my maiden name, or tell me that my first name is just strange, and it doesn't bother me at all, haha!
Thanks for your detailed reflection and response, Serenity. I read the journal article titled Knee-High Boots and Six-Pack Abs, which is highly recommended by Darryl, and found the viewpoints in it were strikingly similar with those of yours! Truly, Second Life is much of a “life” or “world” rather than a “game”. And, thanks for your argument that SL is an easier access for users to interact with others of same kind. Each single user can simply jump into another world in which he/she are more accepted by the rest of others. And there are regulations be obliged by residents in each destination.
DeleteBesides, we are more or less influenced by the culture we are immersed in. Hence we are inevitably at risk of offending, or being offended by, an individual raised from another culture, as long as we try to communicate intercultural. And individuals as well as personal ideas are so different! That’s the beauty of it!