Tuesday, January 4, 2011

What Would Your T-Shirt Say to Describe Your Avatar/Human Relationship?

Botgirl on Board Candid

After sitting with yesterday's Botgirl Inside concept for a day, I realized that even though it was a good metaphor for some avatar/human relationships, it was a poor fit for my particular instance. It seems to me that Avatar Inside would be more appropriate for those who feel that their avatar identity is an idealized expression of their real self: "You're seeing this human form, but it's really me inside."

In my case, if you were to meet my human counterpart you would not be meeting Botgirl any more than you'd be meeting Kermit the Frog if you had bumped into Jim Henson without the puppet. (I won't gloat about Kermit outliving his creator. Not much.)

Like any good fictional character, when I'm not expressing through some external medium I live within the mind of my creator. I'm there in in a state of potential energy, a phantom tag-along rider within the physical vehicle of human form. So after puttering around with some different t-shirt ideas, my favorite alternative so far is this Botgirl on Board design.

What sign or slogan would be right for your human counterpart to wear on a t-shirt at a RL virtual world even such at SLCC or the FCVW Conference?

I have one more twist on this I'll share in the next post.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Better Living Virtually :-)

sororNishi said...

Soror's Sister....maybe.....but soror's Tshirt could be a classic "I'm with stupid"...

Dale Innis said...

Good question! In my case, I think the tee shirt would probably just say "Dale Innis". :)

Which is sort of weird, since I consider myself an immersionist and all, and take it to be a sign of being Different From Me when the very first thing someone asks in SL is, like, "so where are you from?".

But still, I am Dale!

Shockwave Plasma said...

Oh that's easy:-

My Avatar is to sexy for this shirt!

Sean Kleefeld said...

Well, I tend to run with the notion that my self-identity is rather tautological in nature. I define myself, in all circumstances, as myself. I made a conscious decision back in the late 1980s that I would always try to present myself, regardless of the venue, in as honest and sincere a manner possible. Consequently, my SL avatar looks like me and, while I couldn't use my own name there, came up with an anagram of it.

So, my t-shirt slogan could fall along the lines of Descartes (Cogito ergo sum) or Popeye (I yam what I yam) but I think I'd go with something more directly appropriate to SL and me. I'm not totally sold on this specific version, but something like...

Sean Kleefeld
=
Feldane Klees
=
Sean Kleefeld

SarVana Haalan said...

"The Networking DIVA"

Lalo Telling said...

My blog's title sums it up, and that's what I'd put on my t-shirt:

"Telling: Like it Is"

Botgirl Questi said...

living virtually - You forgot the .com ;)

soror: Yeah, sibling relationship makes sense. You actually hit on the subject of my next post, which asks what t-shirt would your avatar wear to describe the relationship.

dale: Maybe you've become a post-immersionist?

shockwave: Don't have to limit it to a t-shirt. Would you also say, "My avatar is too sexy for this human?"

Sean: As a comic book dude, I'm surprised you don't make space with avatar identity for a little superhero style. What would be your superhero name in RL?

SarVana: Would people who know you through avatar identity be able to connect that with your avatar ID?

Lalo: Nothing like identifying yourself and promoting the blog at the same time!

Sean Kleefeld said...

No superhero costuming for me! If I had a superhero costume/identity, it would follow along the old school Doc Savage/Sherlock Holmes/Harry Houdini variety where my superhero identity is one and the same with my RL identity. My superhero name would just be something obvious like Kleefeld, The Kleefeld or Capt. Kleefeld.

Chrome said...

My other body is an avatar.

Anonymous said...

P.E.T.A. -- (people for the ethical treatment of avatars)

Salvatore Otoro said...

I think mine would say:

Salvatore Otoro:
role player
writer, blogger
secondliferoleplay.com

Shameless plug I know, though another shirt could be:

Salvatore Otoro:
I live through my stories
secondliferoleplay.com