What's your RP?

1,300 words, 5-minute read I like to say that I play Second Life in an immersive manner. What I mean is that I'm not playing SL as a game, we are actually here. Our avatars are our representatives in this virtual world. A caveat I should add is that I continue to recognise the man behind the curtain, my Wizard of Oz reference for the day. That is, we are all sitting in front of a computer. But I don't dwell on this, I focus on being my avatar, my online persona. I just admit right up front that BRB means for the most part, we all have to take a bathroom break.

In the past year, I've run across the following in several profiles.

Roleplayers
To them, their avatar is just any character in a long-running play. The avatar may make friends, and have relationships, but it's all make-believe, a story that they and their fellow role-players are collectively writing as they go along. The emotions are not going further than those for any game.

Immersionists
Immersionists "embody" their avatar when they log out of first life for a while and into second life fantasy land. They feel that they are really "in the virtual world" as their avatar, but they do not think the emotions in SL can or should be compared to RL emotions

Augmentationists
To them the avatar is a projection of their RL selves, or who they want to be. They look at their SL avatar and see themselves in it. They obsess om getting to get to know the "RL person" behind the avatar and want to feel what their SL avatar is feeling.

I can't say that I've heard the term augmentationist before. As I jokingly say, I've led a sheltered life.

The term was coined in 2006 by Henrik Bennetsen, a Stanford University researcher, apparently doing some work at Linden Labs.

Augmentation vs Immersion by Henrik Bennetsen, Dec 7/2006 (Internet Archive Wayback Machine)

The term was dissected by others with no clear winner as to what we're all doing here in Second Life.

Immersionism and Augmentationism Revisited by Gwyneth Llewelyn, Mar 9/2008

Immersion vs. Augmentation: Revision? by Catherine Fitzpatrick, Mar 28/2008

Post-immersionism by Gwyneth Llewelyn, Jan 10/2009
Henrik Bennetsen, in his old masterpiece article Augmentation vs. Immersion, launched one of the biggest debates in the history of Second Life®’s psychology. The clarity of his ideas finally defined the two possible relationships a resident of Second Life might have towards the virtual world: either as a different space or as an extension of the real space.

Bennetsen cleverly explains that both visions are imaginary ideals on the opposite sides of the scale, and that, in reality, there aren’t any “pure augmentists” or “pure immersionists” in SL, but always a mix of both.

Augmentation vs Immersion: The debate that never was by Tateru Nino, Jul 31/2015

Why am I bringing all this up? I've had some curious times recently where two people chastised me for making mention of RL. As I said above, I don't dwell on it but I do admit that it's there.

First off, I like to say that in SL, I am merely playing myself. I'm not a vampire; I'm not a Neko, not a furry, and am not part of some clan in some on-going story like Gor. I'm just me. Obviously, I'm not quite the RL me as in SL as I don't have the same constraints I would have in RL. I'm not worried about criticism or even condemnation. And, as I jokingly say, I'm not worried about doing jail time. Ha, ha, ha! We are all irrevocably our RL mind so that no matter what we do or what we think we're doing, we are still us.

I return to me saying I play SL in an immersive fashion but admitting my RL exists. I guess in that regard, I'm agnostic. I'm neither one nor the other. The other day, while chatting with someone, they described their work day, how they were tired, and glad to be home, relaxing, and able to visit a club. Notice the mixture of the two worlds. At that moment, the two of us, or should I say our avatars, were seated in a club in SL having our chat, and yet, the person was referring to her RL day. It doesn't happen all the time, but I do find some conversations glide between SL and RL, and I have to keep straight in my head what reference refers to what world as the person is talking about themselves, that RL mind who is living both in RL and SL.

I repeat: I don't dwell on it but just readily admit it's there. Ofttimes, in sitting in a club in SL and chatting, I or my partner never mentions RL at all. Returning to my BRB comment above, I've gotten a lot of chuckles over the years when somebody leaves after typing BRB, only to come back to this IM written by me:

Hugh Toussaint: leans in close and puts his ear to the IM chat window... listens carefully... thinks, Did I just hear a toilet flush?

This makes think, have I or any of these people role played going to the bathroom, that is, had their avatar get up and walk away to come back after they're done? [chuckles] For those who chastise me for mentioning RL, I challenge them to be truly immersionist and not just type BRB!

Of course, I realise that the two people above taking exception to any mention of RL are more than likely taking a preventive stance against those who treat SL like a dating service; their goal is some RL interaction, whether voicing or even meeting in RL. Personally, I've never played SL with the intention of meeting anyone in RL. I've never thought of it as Match Dot Com. Right from the beginning, I could see that there was no way of transferring all that is part of this fantasy land into real life much in the same way you can't make a novel or a movie come to life. Sometimes, what's in our head should remain in our head, and never the twain should meet.

Escapist
In an article above, Gwyneth Llewelyn touches upon critics of SL who feel players are trying to escape their reality. While I'm sure some people have gotten so involved in playing the game, they neglected their real life, I feel the vast majority of people are taking a break from their daily lives, much in the same way any of us read a book, watch television, or go to the movies. I've been amused to watch people in various social media goes nuts with posting. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram; I've seen people spend what seems like a significant portion of their day posting content on these platforms. Are they escaping their reality? Are they addicted to social media? It's odd how too much of an online game can be considered a bad thing but nobody applies the same criteria to social media. In this day and age, I must bring up the question as to how much of our daily interactions and have changed from face to face to online.

Final Word
I have a busy day at work, come home, have dinner, then go out to a club to listen to some music, dance, and chat with people. Work, home, and dinner refer to RL while the club refers to SL. In that regard, I guess one could argue I'm an augmentationist: I am extending my RL into SL or I am enhancing my RL with SL. But let me repeat, watching a movie is a break from reality. I don't expect the movie to come into my life or I don't expect to walk onto the movie set. Reality is reality, and the movie is a movie. I know the difference. But it's still fun to let my imagination soar. A little fantasy once in a while can perk up my day.

2023-11-12