“Just Like Me Only Better” was a fun read. I especially enjoyed the article because I’m a bit familiar with Second Life (due to seeing a documentary on it: MTV’s True Life) and it was nice to read up on some background information about MUVE’s and the logistics of it. The article definitely reminded me of social networking sites and how people can pick and choose how they represent themselves on those sites. On sites like Facebook, you create your persona more through your comments, statuses, and pictures. But on MUVE’s you represent yourself through your “digital body” aka your Avatar.
What I found most interesting about “Just Like Me Only Better” was that despite the variation in nationalities and ethnicities in the Avatars, most Avatar’s characteristics seem to follow a contemporary Caucasian pattern of beauty. And that although the Avatars looked similar to their users in terms of skin color, and hair texture they differed in that their facial characters we’re made to look more Caucasian and their bodies were built to be more perfect (slender, tall, muscular, etc.)
These leads into the articles discussion on one’s “3 bodies”: 1) the physical self; 2) the digital self; and lastly, 3) the imagined self. The readings on this slightly confused me, but correct me if I am wrong, the digital self is what represents one’s imagined self or the mental construct that the individual makes of his/her own body.
Overall great read! And now, I must go find all my old Sim’s discs…
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