Secret Lives and Virtual Families in Online Games
by Alphaville Herald on 12/01/05 at 10:21 pm
By: The Teflon Don
In a recent article in New World Notes, Hamlet Linden tells us that Second Life partners Torley Torgeson and Lily Jade are actually guys in real life. Hamlet’s article appeared nearly the same day as an article in the New York Times which discusses online experimentation with alternative lifestyles and family structures (and also keeping secrets) in online games. Taken together, these articles offer some interesting food for thought…
Let’s start with secrets. According to the article, some psychologists believe that we all need to keep secrets and maintain secret lives in order to thrive and be healthy. They go as far as to claim that playing games such as Sims Online allows people to live the secret lives that they cannot in real life in order to fulfill that requirement, not just for fun. Basically, if you play an online role-playing game one reason could be that it allows you to act on your fantasies in real life – fantasies that you may not be free to pursue for professional, familial or legal reasons.
This makes me wonder… If we need these so-called secret lives in order to remain healthy and we use online games as our outlet to live those lives, doesn’t this show that sometimes an attack on an avatar is an attack on the person behind the avatar as well? If it is tied to our health and we do it out of necessity that would explain why people react so serious towards certain events that happen in-game to their avatars. Anything that jeopardizes a person’s ability to maintain their secret lifestyle causes some people to go into a frenzy. We’ve all witnessed it before. Mafia wars, smack-talking websites, hacking are all small tale-tale signs of this.
Another issue raised in the article has to do with the formation of virtual families in games. Many people have sim moms and sim dads, but what does this mean? Sherry Turkle at MIT has thoughts about the role that virtual families play – they serve as ways of articulating the kinds of families we wish we had or of exploring alternative lifestyles. From the article:
Most recently, Dr. Turkle has studied the use of online interactive games like Sims Online, where people set up families and communities. She has conducted detailed interviews with some 200 regular or occasional players, and says many people use the games as a way to set up families they wish they had, or at least play out alternative versions of their own lives.
One 16-year-old girl who lives with an abusive father has simulated her relationship to him in Sims Online by changing herself, variously, into a 16-year-old boy, a bigger, stronger girl and a more assertive personality, among other identities. It was as a more forceful daughter, Dr. Turkle said, that the girl discovered she could forgive her father, if not change him.
I strongly recommend reading both it and Hamlet’s recent article. There is much to think about here.
JC Soprano
Jan 13th, 2005
hahaha This sounds like a bad excuse someone would give their girlfriend or wife for cheating on them. “I’m sorry honey.. I had to for my sanity and well-being.”
JC Soprano
http://www.thesimmafia.com
#1 with a virtual bullet
JF
Jan 13th, 2005
Only side comment to that is some people take it a bit to far and end up replacing their real family with these fake ones. While its all said and good to go about this manner it has shown harm in the long run with some, and in a growing manner. Virtual Addiction is biggest cause and effect. As people live more of their ‘dream’ life, the more they lose touch with reality and become something of pity.
Torley
Jan 13th, 2005
Teflon Don, thanks for posting this. Just a correction: my partner’s name is Jade Lily, not the other way around.
Cheers.
Teflon Don
Jan 13th, 2005
Sorry about that Torley, that’s the editors doing though. =)
-The Don
Urizenus
Jan 13th, 2005
My bad. Even worse, Jade Lily is the SL Sister of our Managing Editor, Matthias Zander. Or at least I thinks so.
Torley
Jan 13th, 2005
*smiles*
Close. I am Madiera’s grandchild (2nd-gen), and I think Matt is 1st-gen so he is a chile of Madi. Jadey is granddaughter-in-law. ^_^
JC Soprano
Jan 13th, 2005
Hear that? Matt is a chile.. SPICY! hahaha
JC Soprano
http://www.thesimmafia.com
Pass the Chipotle
urizenus
Jan 13th, 2005
this is complicated. I’m gonna have to see the family tree.
Torley
Jan 13th, 2005
Yuh, “chile” is Madi’s pet term. Hehe. And Uri, I do hope there will be a family tree… it’s got good pedigree, that’s for sure.