Op/Ed: Are You “Normal,” or teh Clone?
by Alphaville Herald on 11/03/05 at 7:59 pm
by Kendra Charlton
Every time I see a furry, punk, goth, vampire, elf or feted SL resident, I notice them right away. However, whenever I see a “normal” resident — one who doesn’t obviously belong to any of these cliques — I never take note of their presence.
Being “goth” myself, I tend to hang out with residents who also have white skin, dark makeup, dark clothing, and so forth. In general, when I spot someone who dresses differently from the majority of the “normal” public, I see a person I think I could hang out with. That isn’t to say I don’t have “normal” friends, but I’m not as close to them as I would be with someone who belongs to an obvious social group, a cyberpunk, say, or vampire.
“Normal” people, or “clones” as I often call them, are those who are just day-to-day normal people. They all dress in the latest fashions, get the same haircuts, drive similar cars, hang out in the same sims, and are often surrounded by drama. Usually, these clones are of the female variety, but males can be found as well.
Judging by what I’ve seen, clones are often ignored because they look like everyone else and make up a majority of the population. They blend in with everyone else, and they suffer for it. And if they try to stand out among the clones — with anything from fangs to bunny ears — they cease to be “normal” and become pegged as something else. A clone who wears fangs will become known as a vampire, a clone with bunny ears will become known as a furry, and a clone with dark clothing will become known as a goth. There’s hardly an attachment they can pick up that won’t make it seem like they’ve suddenly changed their social status.
I like to think of the social groups in SL as something like a family tree: a clone with fangs is related to the vampire family, just as a clone with green skin probably has some alien blood in his veins. A clone with green skin and fangs is obviously an alien vampire.
Knowing this, it’s safe to say that all the social groups in SL are actually descendants of the clones. This means that no matter what social group you take part in, or how unique you may be, you’re still just like everyone else in one way or another.
The biggest problem with the clones is that they don’t have their own title, so they almost can’t be considered a group at all. Perhaps clones is an unfair title anyway. What about “miscellaneous”? Maybe “plain old” so-and-so? Or just “vanilla”?
If the clones were a minority in SL, rather than the majority, perhaps then they would adopt a name. But I can foresee a day when this group without a name will be the minority. As I look at the people around me, I see fewer and fewer clones and more and more furries, vampire, aliens, goths and all the rest! Pretty soon we’ll all be hopping around in bunny suits, pointing excitedly at the human wearing a t-shirt and a pair of jeans.
Artemis Fate
Mar 12th, 2005
I don’t know, I never put much thought into social cliques. I notice people who label themselves under one or another, but really i’ve never thought of the “normal” people as clones. They may dress a like but so do the goths (white skin, black make up, black clothing), and the hip hop guys, and the clubbers, and to some extent furries (though a lot of them have very unique avatars).
So I guess me as a black clothing wearing, cat ear and tail sporting, technology and gadget gearin’, and dark-skinned avatar with a Black Eyed Peas shirt, makes me a cyberpunk goth hip hop furry? But I think it’s easier just to call me Artemis.
Kim Charlton
Mar 13th, 2005
In German those clones are called ‘Stino’ for ‘Stinknormale’ (which you could roughly translate with ‘boring normal people’). I am one myself and feel a little hurt by your article. To me it seems to imply – even though you do not say so explicitely – that the clones or stinos don’t have any individuality.
You are right, of course, that especially with the restrictions of SL there is not much individuality when you don’t style yourself somewhat drastic. For example: much of the differences between Stinos are in the details: facial features for example, details of the body shape, clothing. And that you only see in SL if you look real close. A lot of ppl in SL are blackhaired because the SL client renders that best. Many ppl – even those in the goth community – like to style their avvies with the usual attributes of beauty: all slender, broad shouldered males, big bosomed women. This list goes on and on …
Much easier to feature some ‘alternative lifestyle’ attributes in a prominent way to give yourself some individuality … But I would like to question: Is that ‘you’? Or just a spectacular mask? Its all just visuals. Could be an expression whats i me. Could be just ‘belonging’ to a group. Which I don’t wanna condemn.
But if someone I met in SL stays in my memory its usual of what he – or more often, she – said. It doesn’t matter much if that avvie was wearing a cocktail dress, some nearly nekkid slutwear, a cool leather jacket, green wings, goth wear or the jeans and t-shirt outfit of the total noob in the welcome area.
Kendra Charlton
Mar 14th, 2005
Oh I agree completely with you Kim! This article, although it could be taken as hurtful, isn’t meant to be hurtful at all. I also do know that it’s not how a person looks, it’s what they say that makes you remember them
.
Everyone is unique in their own way, but often times you have to get to know them first before you can tell. And also, as I stated in the article; we’re so different, yet so very much the same.
Maria LaVeaux
Mar 14th, 2005
Ask any ten “Normal” people seperatly to define “Normal”, and you will get ten different definitions.
Normal, Like “Perfect” is an ideal, and doesn’t exist in the real world. There is only varying degrees of tolerance for difference.
I live a rather controversial lifestyle, and i frequently end up in discussions of it with “Normal” people (Vanillas as we call them), and Frankly, the Views of some “Normal” people, and the Vehemence and fervor they exibit in expressing them disturb me.
If these people are “Normal”, I worry for society.
Maria