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Masked Identity 2: Incognito in a Second Life

Behind the Mask

In my previous posting, I wrote that I was able to get beyond the mask without feeling that I need to get behind it. That said, there are times, when masks ARE very much divisive. I'm not talking about face coverings necessarily. A mask of untruths, never helps. Speaking on the phone, is only a partial conversation when you can't actually read the expressions of the other speaker. The written word is particularly notorious - masking out so many of the signals we get in a face-to-face communication situation. So much of what is sometimes meant can be left out, the danger being that we get a partial message that somehow becomes an official statement because it is written. And then there are social chat forums, like Second Life.

An Avatar in a Second Life

In Vedic philosophical traditions, an avatar is said to be an incarnation of a transmigrated soul. In other words, your alternative self (from the one that is or was). In the cyber-world, this usually means your online guise. In Second Life, your avatar can be created from a set of characteristics - you can define facial features, body type - dress style, gestures etc. Sounds like fun maybe, but scratch beyond the superficiality of it, then it is perhaps the ultimate in a communication behind a mask. I need convincing that it is actually healthy.

I've drifted away from the novelty that IRC chatrooms once held. Many internet providers won't go there anyway since chat rooms have fallen into a kind of disrepute for being associated with the darker corners of the internet. On a positive, I once did have a really interesting conversation with someone in Mexico City when we stumbled upon a chance meeting in a chatroom, but often I've found that lots of the 20-30 something chatrooms are where insults are traded and where you're bound to stumble across a nut. Maybe I should try a forum for gardeners*.

And maybe perhaps my opinions on Second Life are equally onesided. I suspect so. My avatar, Tor Nandahar**, is actually a cool guy, but he's picky. Really, having done the test drive, having walked the walk, having been patient and having given myself time to watch and learn, I'm not all that enamoured - I'm not speaking about the technology here, which I think has its plusses - but with the frustration of being in a public forum where all I want to do is "speak" with a couple of interesting people - fickle encounters do not please. In anycase, most folk in their artificially beautified form look a little too perfect (albeit in a surreal animated world) to be all that real anyway.

There are positives - island communities where beautiful avatars live in bliss and where people are there by invitation only. There are instances of educational use of Second Life, so I tried to float into an ESL forum. I thought it might be fun, but I found a strangely haunting Robinson Crusoe experience where I was the only one on the island. I was able to read the notices, but I did not find another soul there. The game-play aspects are interesting. Avatars can fly and you can earn Second Life credits (Linden Dollars) to spend. You can build your own islands have have your friends over to party.

Would I recommend? As a Virtual Learning Environment, maybe. Second Life is a helpful way to connect people from distant places, but only if the perfect cosmetic self is as important as having a meaningful human interaction.

* I miss my garden, and whilst I found some really helpful tips on USENET forums, I'm not sure most gardeners would not bother too much with beautified fantasies of themselves in a forum like Second Life
** based on my nom de plume, Tor_Khan

PostScript: Video Games and School Boy Killers

22.20 Abu Dhabi time.

Today's killing rampage in Germany is reminiscent of the events in Columbine. Of course at this time, our thoughts are with the families of the victims. May they rest peacefully and may Allah give the families strength and togetherness at this time.

Seems that the rolling media coverage of the news conference in Stuttgart, has attempted to pick up the issue of motives and causes. Once again music, video, internet, console and video games have been referred to as possible triggers. It seems that even today that law enforcement is keen to make a connection between social violence and violence in the media and entertainment.

The debate is not about to go away.

The Doom Controversy

Explore 3D mazes; shoot the monsters using a series of interchangeable weapons; unlock doors and levels; uncover secret areas; renew your arsenal of weaponry and so on. Destroy the big boss, and his army of cronies, blah, blah.

It's the formula for many shoot-em up type games, but Doom does represent an important milestone. It was the first to portray a kind of realism in maze exploration with experimental shadows and dark corners and allowed for customisability through fan created WAD files which meant that new levels and challenges could be created.

Doom: Screams from the Underworld

Video games have long been criticized for their violence, but it would appear that Doom crossed a line by depicting the bloody face of the protagonist (controlled by you) stranded amidst demons as the last human in hell. Although what you mostly saw of him was his strafing hand/s (intended to be you), his face gave you an indication of your game health. The more hits, the more damaged and bloodier his face became; staring back at you.

Columbine High: "A Select Case"?

Doom also has the notoriety of being linked to the perpetrators of the Columbine High School Massacre in 1999 when it was reported that Ed Harris (one of the perpetrators) wrote a web journal that said that his actions would be like "the LA riots, the Oklahoma Bombing, WWII, Vietnam, Duke and Doom all mixed together".

Is there a link between the simulated violence in movies and video games and society? This is a question that has been asked over and over. In his 2003 paper, Video Games in Education, Kurt Squire writes that some research findings suggests that video games could cause some increase in violent thoughts, but that research into the question between video game violence and social maladjustment was two decades out-of-date and the link not conclusive.

Video Violence: "Don't blame toy stores"

In the journals and web postings recovered after the tragic events at Columbine, Ed Harris co-responsible for the killings, wrote that society should not blame "toy stores for selling us ammo ... because we went on a killing spree ... we are a select case".

It is now well documented that Ed Harris and Dylan Klebold (the other killer) were contributors to internet Doom forums and that they created levels to fit the game. It is with a disturbed sense of things to come, given the states of mind of both, that Harris should signed off one of his levels with the haunting words, "KILL 'EM AAAAALLLL!!!!!" (Washington Post, 1999)

Chariots and Elephants

Sarbaz-e-Shah (Foot-Soldier/Pawn King)

An old favourite of mine. Modern chess was popularised when it reached Europe through the Spanish Arabs; itself originating out of an earlier variant of of the game made popular by the Persians. Shatranj شَطْرَنْج, as it is still known in the Islamic world, itself traces back to India. The modern rules are essentially the same as the original game of Shatranj with slight variants, however the pieces are effectively the same. The Shah is King, the Vizier is Queen, Pils/Fils (Elephants) are Bishops, Asbs (Horses) are Knights; Rukhs (Chariots) are Rooks or Castles and the Sarbaz are the Pawns (Peons or Footsoldiers).

You can play chess right here! (Click below)

Tor_Khan تور خان

Chicken and Egg

Killer Chickens

I don't often get near chickens and so don't know much about collecting eggs. Besides I'm not sure I should get that close because I hear that if one coughs or sneezes on you, it means you might need to find a doctor fairly sharpish. I prefer my eggs - albeit free-range - to come carefully picked by some else.

That said, I have a little soft spot for a game that hit the circuit around the mid 80s where dodging chickens and collecting eggs was precisely the objective. Home computers were new and perhaps not understood too well beyond the gaming possibilities. My father, had this opinion that video games were a distraction but somehow I did manage to persuade him that an investment in a computer was like an investment the future. Result? An Acorn Electron, like a reduced version of the popular BBC Microcomputer soon became a popular addition to the family.

The Birds

Anyway, whilst for my father, we needed to be seen to be copying up a Basic program from the manual that came with the computer (darn good training!), my brother and I did eventually stumble upon a whole bunch of games that were popular then - Blagger, Escape from Moonbase Alpha, Killer Gorilla and so on. But my favourite platform game was Chuckie Egg. You got to play a farmer who had to avoid killer ostriches (chickens in some versions?) and a later on a flying phantom duck, whilst running around the screen collecting up eggs. The killer birds sound rather Alfred Hitchcock, but you could bounce all over the screen and jump from the upper platforms. Your farmer character was a pretty resilient little fellow. It's quite simplistic on reflection, but it sits honourably amongst the best of its time. One that brings back many memories ... 

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