Thursday, September 17, 2009

Botgirl and Human - Idealized and Aged


Michelle's Hyachinth's "Muscling in on Identity" post got me thinking about the relationship between cultural standards of beauty and identity...how we perceive ourselves and others. So I put together this little montage of idealized and aged avatars for myself and my human. (Although I've got to admit, I'm pretty much idealized to start with.)

I wonder how my life would have been different in a different form.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are amazing! Purrfectly executed!

Lalo Telling said...

I hope you take better care of your organic self than your progression "predicts". :P

teddlesruss said...

I made a "realistic aged" avatar for myself, warts, slight paunch, and all. People in SL all disliked it. We live in SL for the idealised experience I think. And it does make sense - I don't HAVE to be a human in SL, so I've been a cat, a rabbit, a horse, a robot made from cardboard boxes, a wind-up mechanical rat toy, and a variety of orbs and so forth. I tend to use avatars to suit situations, and don't let earthbound concepts interfere in that... That's why it's a "virtual" world, because virtually anything I'd like to be in there, I can be. And like 90% of SL, that isn't an aged human being. %)

Botgirl Questi said...

Pay: thanks!

Lalo: So far, so good.

Teddlesruss: I sure understand the reasons not to take on a form that most of one's society finds repellent. That said, it would probably be beneficial to experience the relatively minor impact of that in a virtual world, to have more compassion for humans who don't have a choice in the matter in RL.

And the same holds true for the opposite pole. Although the "don't hate me because I'm beautiful" cliche is a bit annoying, there is some truth to the idea that being perceived as a sexual object (or fantasy love object) all the time can get old. And when it happens at a very young age (as in child beauty queen contestants) I think it can thwart one's potential to develop in more substantive areas.

Michele Hyacinth said...

Botgirl, thank you so very kindly for the mentions and support! Such a great surprise. Thanks! As for changing my shape, I'm still working on the sliders (sounds like White Castle). You seemed to have changed yours with ease or did you experience anything with it?

Botgirl Questi said...

Michele: The image was created using a program called FrameForge. Both human and avatar faces were imported and then aged and fattened up there.

Anonymous said...

I remember when I first arrived in SL. My av was thinner than I am but paunchy and had the receeding hairline and type of haircut I sport in RL. I met two ladies who were into role play and they helped me get skin and clothes and made me into an idealized male.

I do remember that most av were perfect and that few if any were representative of a RL population. That in turn skews the aspect of SL love, partnering, and friendship. It's more like an idealized world where everyone appears perfect and those that are not in the idealized form are ridiculed and shunned. In reality it is all pixels, but still our minds interpret, the beauty or lack there of, and make us act accordingly.

We have in some ways created our own version of the movie Gattaca within SL.