2nd Second Life Blog

My experience in second life last Monday was hellish. I had serious lagging problems, and kept getting knocked off and 2nd life froze up my computer 3 or 4 times. I did catch a good portion of the class discussion before I got kicked off again, and 20 minutes later when I finally was able to log back in I caught up with the group I was supposed to be leading, yet followed along hoping for the best. We went to some interesting places, my two favorites were the gay dance club and the wedding island.

In the gay dance club there were icons for expensive muscle men avatars on the walls, and a dance floor equip with laser lights and all. I found a very fun pose ball that made my avatar dance, it was entertaining to watch. The wedding island was very relaxing by the water, with some very beautiful views. The whole place was very funny, because the concept of a second life wedding is very ironic. Cyber marriage, it reminds me of when I married my friend to my life size big bird doll in Ruppert Park behind the bushes when I was 5 years old. Fantasy all grown up. The penis cake topper was very cute, and the phallic art around the island was in the brides maid party spirit.
As far as gender goes, gender swapping is interesting in second life but I almost feel genderless in second life because no body is necessarily the actual gender they are portraying. It does give insight into role playing and gender dynamics. Being able to change your race, gender, and status- it is interactive story telling. You can be anyone you want to be. It is definitely engaging the imagination- I haven't seen any fat people in second life yet. How body image oriented second life is, is no surprise- that's how we are in real life- "Same shit, different world"
Here's a picture from my first trip in second life: