On the Appearance of the Avatar in Second Life

In his book, Au argues that during the first few months of Second Life almost half of the avatars had extraordinary and weird appearances, exaggerating with sizes, forms, textures and colours. Soon after that, when users started developing their own scripts to customise their appearance and others began to set up their own design businesses, things got completely different. Today, one can easily (and at a low cost) buy as many bodies and skins as s/he likes, and also hairstyles, clothes and accessories choosing from a wide variety of styles. To a great degree, it seems that playfulness and

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experimentation (as equivalent to the grotesque construction of the body) gave way to commodification and accumulation (fig.9). Cyborg-like avatars and hyperbolic creatures as those described above were largely replaced by hyperreal bodies. Instead of

reflecting the utopic and the ideal, as one would expect in an entirely artificial and user-created world – free from real world limitations – the average body in Second Life appears confined to the popular ideals of everyday life. The majority of the characters consist of well-built bodies and perfectly shaped faces, extremely long-legged, big-breasted blonde female figures with fully formed lips and tall muscular male figures with tattoos. Emily Apter suggests a kind of “digital Darwinism” to be taking place “as they adapt the principles and procedures of cosmetic surgery––augmentation,

enhancement, nose jobs, liposuction, botox––to virtual body-construction” (Apter, 2008). Interestingly, real-life restrictions seem to prevail here. Many people tend to create their digital representations as if they re-designed their physical bodies, only attempting to make them more appealing in terms of bodily structure and facial characteristics, and often very much affected by the current fashion models. This

extreme morphology may project an exaggerated image of the physical world, but at the same time such images appear static rather than evolving. Although one can change his avatar’s shape, racial characteristics and outfit easily and at low cost– even gender is a checkbox that can be altered at any time – experimentation is highly restricted (fig.10).

The avatar body refers directly to the human body, but the question that comes up is what does this suggest about the desire for exploration or any reference to the universalism that the physical body contains?

Figure 9: The appearance of avatars (Second Life Quickstart Quide)

100 Figure 10: Choosing an avatar in Second Life

In effect, “mainstream” Second Life appears to constitute more of a reflection than a negation of the contemporary environment. Ever since the avatar customisation has progressed from a free-time hobby to a very profitable design industry (Bardzell et al, 2009, p.1), the opportunity to explore the possibilities that the re-construction of the body offers has been partly replaced by the exploration of an extended variety of fashion trends. Hairstyles, body skins and shapes of every kind are reduced to

accessories and as such are widely sold in virtual shopping malls. However, as in real life, the role of fashion in Second Life, although often rejected as superficial and unimportant, is not merely ornamental. Apart from setting the framework of the occasional consumer culture, fashion plays a significant role in the construction of modern identity. And if this is the case in real life that clothes and accessories have both a functional and a symbolic character, then in Second Life, where avatar bodies need not to be protected from rain or cold, fashion choices stand only for the representation of the agent’s identity. The construction of the body and the self can be interestingly studied through these choices.

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Figures 11-4: Images from Second Style (issue44, pp. 47, 48, 39, and 11).

The paper Emerging Standards in Virtual Fashion: an Analysis of Critical Strategies Used in Second Life Fashion Blogs (Bardzell et al, 2009), which explores virtual fashion and its impact on the personalisation of avatars, highlights the close relation between real life fashion and Second Life fashion. The study challenges the notion that virtual worlds like Second Life are distinctly separate from the real world. It suggests that although virtual worlds enable designs and styles that would not be possible in real life, real life is deeply involved in Second Life fashion. A close look at Second Style, a fashion magazine for Second Life illustrates this double role, revealing the direct connection between the two worlds and at the same time enabling a close reading of the ways that these appearance choices are made (fig.11-4). Second Style is by no means inferior to a real-life fashion magazine; it has a similar layout (articles and advertisements), very engaged contributors (fashion editors and fashion photographers), and organizes fashion shows inside the world of Second Life. Moreover it addresses avatars of all genres and styles, at least those who choose to participate into this real-world-like hyperreality: “fashionistas” and “grunge groups”, “cyberpunks”,

“steampunks” and others (Second Style, issue 13). The fashion is not restricted to the diverse selections of avatar clothing and accessories, but it extends to a presentation of a corresponding lifestyle in total: home design, entertainment, holidays. Real-people-looking avatars may enjoy the diversity of accessories and services suggested. And the connections to physical life are straightforward. The March issue (Second Style, issue 44, March 2011) is looking forward to the spring when “we are all itching to strip off a few layers and get out and enjoy ourselves...” (Second Style, issue 44, p.4) The clothing section under the title “Country Living” celebrates the upcoming summer with light clothes and a photo shoot at the [Second Life] countryside, whereas the house design section presents a luxury house, perfect for recovery from the cold winter: “to me

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nothing says cozy like a big homemade breakfast, a warm bubblebath and a comfortable spot to curl up and read a book” (Second Style, issue 44, p.18). The

boundaries are not transgressed here, but confused. Second Life looks like the relaxation place for the physical body (fig. 15-6).

Figures 15, 16: Images from Second Style (issue 44, pp. 18-9, and 26-7).

An earlier issue of Second Self (Second Style, issue 13) features an extended presentation on cyberpunk style (fig.17-8). The quality of the images presented here is equal to professional fashion photography. On the side of each image there is a detailed description of all the accessories presented along with their designers/sellers. The presentation is completed with a “mini-guide” of the most popular cyberpunk places to visit inside Second Life. Although Cyberpunk and Steampunk are both genres that the mainstream fashion scene typically overlooks (as argued in the editor’s note: Second Style, issue 13, p.4), they are exhibited here as yet another fashion style. The avatars-models that are photographed are by no means different than the conventional avatars:

white, young, perfect-skinned, idealised bodies with beautifully shaped faces. The cyberpunk features are displayed here as mere accessories, just like hairstyles or body skins. It seems like it is not about the construction of the body any more, but rather, about its accessories. Electronic devices and prosthetic enhancements that constitute the main components of cyberpunk figures can be attached and detached from the body just like an outfit or a purse. Instead of viewing the body as open-ended or exploring the

“digital grotesque” as they could, these figures appear, again, fixed and complete, shiny and perfect, as if they were taken out of a real-world life-style magazine. In his article A Manifesto for Avatars, Gregory Little (1999) laments the conversion of the avatar from a tool of the user behind the screen to an instrument of multinational capitalism. His argument is that a field of great opportunities is left unexploited here because it has

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surrendered to global consumerism⁶. The question raised here is to what extent are these digital representations extensions and expressions of the self? And if they do mirror the self, then do we all desire to become commodities?

Figures 17, 18: Cyberpunk fashion (Second Style, issue 13, pp. 52-3, and 66-7).

In 2007 IBM published the IBM Virtual World Guidelines, a very detailed code of ethics and behaviour for the company’s employees. IBM is a very active company within Second Life, owning an extensive region-island that is used for public relations, meetings, presentations and advertising, therefore employees are encouraged or even required to have a “business avatar” and participate in events. The IBM Virtual World Guidelines call for “appropriateness” and professionalism and ask the employees to

“explore responsively”, to use their “good judgement” and protect their – and IBM’s – good name (IBM Research, 2007). In terms of their appearance, employees are

suggested to “make the right impression: Your avatar’s appearance should be

6 “a tool with the potential for the playful generation of territories of signification and empowerment, the avatar is being used instead as a weapon against its own referents to seize this terrain of potential as part of a rapid process of accumulation”

(Little, 1999)

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reasonable and fitting for the activities in which you engage (especially if conducting IBM business)” (IBM Research, 2007). Just like in real world, dress codes and also behaviour codes apply here, since the IBM Island in Second Life is regarded not as a virtual reality alternative field but as an extension of the company’s office space. And the avatar is not simply an image or even a tool for the purposes of a game, but a representative in terms of appearance, behaviour and ethos. Then clearly the

construction of the avatar cannot be reduced to the creation of a mere image. If one is renting a luxurious country house in Second Life to escape from the burdens of everyday life and enjoys inflating his/her body muscles or intensifying his/her facial characteristics instead of having a real-life cosmetic surgery, then at issue here is the existence through an avatar, rather than the outline of a representation. Fashion choices and look become crucial for the understanding of the relation between agency and identity in cyberspace. The avatar concentrates important information and converts data into a specific visual presentation that reveals what the physical body desires.