Jameson Smithson, gamer extraordinaire

My first time on Second Life was very overwhelming. I had no clue where to go or what to do. I created an avatar, named Jameson Smithson, that is a male and had a “gamer” outfit. I guess it is what the people who created the game felt like people who play this game look like. However at first he was tall, skinny, shaved head, sunglasses, and a scarf. I remember when I was a “gamer,“ or loser as my girlfriend called it, during my first year of college that I put on weight, never wore sunglasses, and certainly never wore a scarf, seemingly the opposite of this avatar. Though he may not have been accurate to his nickname it did make for an interesting experience when I decided to travel around.
I coach basketball and love the sport so I figured the best place to go was a basketball court. I search and found a pretty neat place with 5 or so courts and decorated with the all kinds of basketball themed places. The first thing I did when I got to this area was head off to the courts to find people to chat with. Immediately I noticed I was way out of place. Everyone was dressed in urban attire, with fitted ball caps, diamond earrings, and basketball shoes. I looked nothing like the folks and they sure let me hear it. This was obviously the first time I confronted identity in the game. No one would talk to me, help me out with the game, or watch me play basketball, since you can’t play together, but everyone else that was playing was being watched. I was an immediate outcast. I guess in hindsight this isn’t very shocking but being that in reality I am so readily accepted in this culture, probably more so in real life than anyone playing this game, it came as a shocker that I was an outcast in my online life, though I did not purposefully mean to be.
My next move was to try to fit in without changing my appearance. I figured I would show them I know about this game from the college to the pro level and see if it gets me any “street cred.” I approached a group of people who were talking about whether a certain NBA player would comeback his oldself from an injury he had the past year. I figured I would chime in. After I spoke my short peace of “Na dog, na,” I was told to get lost, that I look like a “homo” and that I need to head off with the zit faces, yeah these SL “thugs” actually said zit faces, to play Warcraft.
For a first timer I feel like this baptism by fire on SL taught me a little about the game and gave me some pretty good ideas about how I am going to use identity in the final paper. I can’t wait to create my avatar so he fits in with this group of “ballers” and I also plan on making myself a cloud, or like a blank slate, to see how they respond to both. Honestly, I am still shocked that this world is all about one thing, appearance. I guess its all there is to go by, but it doesn’t seem anyone wants to get to know each other or read a profile.