Ethnography Results: Week 6

(03/22/11)
Goal:

This week,me and Jaideep decided to log into Second Life(SL) at the same time and see what would happen. Until now, we were logging on respectively, or had the two of us on one account. Jaideep took notes of his conversations, as well as I.  

Methods of Study:

• Teleport to Newbie Island, Help Island, Ethnographia, French location (don't recall the exact name)
• Observe people and their actions.
• Try to initiate conversation with people and judge their tone.
• See who is willing to initiate conversation first.

Locations and Communities:

I logged into Second Life(SL), and first went to Newbie Island. Upon trying to teleport there, the application told me there were currently too many users in that area and to try later. That's when I decided to go to Help Island, which is another place where newcomers start their SL experience. I also briefly went to Ethnographia hoping to find people there, but there was no one at the time. Much of the same observations from last week were the same. You could easily distinguish the newcomers from the old timers based on the way they were dressed and their actions. Jaideep interviewed some people, but I wasn't as successful in initiating conversation. I remember greeting this one avatar, and as soon as I had done so, the person's status showed as "away". After finishing his data gathering, Jaideep logged off, and left me online. That's when I decided to go to other places.


Knowing that there were many world settings created in SL, I began to wonder if going to different regions would result in any language barriers. I went to the Eiffel Tower area in France and tried to talk to some avatars, but they would step away from me. I then went to another French location, and that's when I met this avatar who was alone sculpting. Eager to gather data, I approached her and started conversing. Some of the conversation can be found below.

 

[21:37] Agchi (agchi): hey what's up?

[21:37] Avatar girl: hi

[21:38] Agchi (agchi): what are you doing?

[21:39] Agchi (agchi): speak english?

[21:39] Avatar girl: this are pieces for doing a statue

[21:39] Agchi (agchi): cool

 [21:39] Avatar girl: where are you from ?

[21:40] Agchi (agchi): from the US, from Texas actually, how about you?

[21:41] Avatar girl: mexico

[21:41] Agchi (agchi): what is this place?

[21:42] Avatar girl: a sandbox

[21:42] Avatar girl: place for build

 [21:42] Avatar girl: new here ?

[21:43] Agchi (agchi): yes, just joined about a month ago

[21:43] Agchi (agchi): how about you

[21:43] Avatar girl: 3 years in sl

[21:44] Agchi (agchi): why did you join btw?

[21:45] Avatar girl: dont remember

[21:45] Agchi (agchi): have you made good friends in your three years?

[21:45] Avatar girl: nop, lol

 [21:45] Avatar girl: i stoped playin for around 2 years

[21:46] Avatar girl: all my old friends are no longer here

[21:46] Agchi (agchi): so what keeps you here i guess? the fun?

[21:46] Agchi (agchi): the places?

 [21:47] Avatar girl: yes

[21:47] Avatar girl: really fun

[21:48] Agchi (agchi): is there a place that you really like that i should check out?!

 [21:50] Avatar girl: i love arab places

[21:50] Avatar girl: and the ones with universe view

[21:51] Agchi (agchi): interesting? what do arab places have that is different. Is is the music (RAI)?

[21:52] Avatar girl: yes

 [21:53] Agchi (agchi): so what are you building? sculpture of you?

[21:53] Avatar girl: not me

[21:55] Avatar girl: just a girl

[21:55] Agchi (agchi): cool. Do u like being able to be creative in SL !?

[21:56] Avatar girl: naa

[21:56] Avatar girl: im just bored

[21:56] Avatar girl: i learned to build a few days ago

[21:56] Avatar girl: and is not that hard

[22:01] Agchi (agchi): how many languages do you know?

[22:01] Avatar girl: english, spanish french

Screenshot-French Location:

Figure 1

Figure 2

I sat next to her while she was building her sculpture. Figure 1 and 2 show some of the progress. Unfortunately, I did not stay to see her finish her sculpture. It was getting late.

Experience:

Once again this was a fun experience. I got to meet another experienced SL user and gain insight from  her experience. I think this enlightened me about some of the opinions I may have about some people. SL levels the playing field when it comes to our societal differences. At one point she asked me what I did in real life, and I told here I was a student in college. That's when she revealed to me that she was currently unemployed, and she also told me about how it was difficult finding employment in Mexico. This news was surprising to me, because by looking at her, you wouldn't guess that was her situation. In hindsight, SL does not reveal one's social and economic situation. If anything, SL allows you to carry on interesting conversations, and really get to know people behind our prejudices.