2010年6月23日 星期三

Progress Report (3)

Now that we all bring the results each of us has interviewed: there are totally 5 couples, 10 copies of our questionnaire back. We read through all of them, and pick out 4 variables which we think most possibly affect the couples' attitude toward their relationships in SL: age, gender, country and educational background.
As my part, I interviewed the couple I mentioned in my SL Story. The interesting thing is: They're real couple both in real life and in SL, and their age and educational background are all the same. But related to Question 16, 17 and 20, they have totally different points of view and values. The man tends to think that real life and SL can be separated; in his answer to Question 16, he says he never considers his affections in SL as an act of adultery because "RL stays in RL and SL stays on SL. They're not the same." So he doesn't make his avatar representative of his real self in RL, either---"It's fun to play. Sometimes it's me, sometimes no." However, the woman tends to think that we should be loyal to only one relationship, either in real life or in SL; unless one's relationships in real life and SL are with the same person, or his/her affections in SL is an act of adultery. She says, "Values of a real emotion relation are important---We're not dolls. If people all deal with the two relationships simultaneously, they'll mix feelings of their bf/gf in RL and make their RL couple a mess." So she also makes her avatar as close as she is in real life because "she has nothing to hide".
I think the main variable that causes their different answers to these key questions is gender. Although their countries are different, either (the man is from France, and the woman is from USA), later we find that choosing country as one of our variables is not very appropriate; because after all, our impressions of "what people from a country should be like" are just stereotypes, there are still many people different form our impressions.
After finishing our survey, now we have to discuss how to present our final project. We decide to make a short film, in it each of us has to give a brief introduction to the couples we individually interviewed. As to the poster on SL, we distribute our works as following: Monica is in charge of the introduction and conclusion part; Judy and I will make a chart, listing the couples' names and the variables we picked out; and Jocelyn will quote from each of the interviewee's answers the most meaningful sentence.

Progress Report (2)

Romantic Relationship in Second Life Survey
This survey is part of an undergraduate class project on Second Life. Please answer honestly. The group in charge of the project will be doing a blog post based on the answers received. If you feel uncomfortable answering the survey, you have the right not to complete it.
Your information will be received totally anonymously. Thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

1. Which country are you from (Real Life)?
2. Education Background (Real Life)
High-School Graduated
College
Master
PHD
Other
3. Gender in Real Life
Male
Female
4. Gender in Second Life (If you have more than one avatar, please select the gender of your MAIN avatar, the one you use the most.)
Male
Female
5. Real Life Marriage status
Married
Single
Divorced
In relationship
Prefer not to answer
6. Second Life Marriage/Partnered status
Married/Partnered
Single
Divorced/Un-partnered
In relationship
Prefer not to answer
7. What are your favorite activities in Real Life? Please list three.
1.
2.
3.
8. What are your favorite activities in Second Life? Please list three.
1.
2.
3.
9. Age in real life
18-25
26-32
33-39
40-46
47-53
54-60
61-67
68-74
75-81
82-88
89-95
10. Have you had dating experiences in Second Life? Activities are comparable to those in Real Life, like going shopping, watching movies, etc.
Yes.
No.
Sometimes
11. Have you ever been in a Second Life marriage/partnership? (For purposes of a committed romantic relationship, not for business/friendship reasons)
Yes.
No.
12. If you did it, how would you describe the experience? Please use two short sentences to describe it.
1.
2.
13. If you haven't had the experience, (in the future) would you consider SL partnership or even marriage for romantic relationship purposes?
Yes. Why?
No. Why not?
14. If you have been in a SL marriage/partnership, how long did it last? If there was more than one experience, choosing that lasted the longest.
Less than 3 months
Greater than 3 months
More than a year
Not applicable to me
15. Do you think a relationship in SL should be treated honestly and loyally just like one in Real Life?
Yes. Why?
No. Why not?
16. If you already have a relationship in Real Life, would you consider your affections in SL as an act of adultery?
Yes. Why?
No. Why not?
17. Is it possible to deal with two relationships simultaneously? (RL romance and SL romance)
Yes. Why?
No. Why not?
18. If you have romantic attachments in SL, do you keep the relationship within the SL platform?
Yes.
No.
19. Would you consider SL relationships as a potential RL romantic encounter/partnership or even marriage?
Yes. Why?
No. Why not?
20. Does your avatar represent and reflect the real you in RL?
Yes. Why?
No. Why not?
21. Do you think fabricating the glorious events about you to increase the opportunities to have intimate relationship immoral?
Yes. Why?
No. Why not?

2010年6月22日 星期二

Progress Report (1)

When we first discuss, trying to come up with the topic of our final project, Monica says since she knows some famous dating spots in SL (http://www.slindex.com/secondlife/Romance.htm), maybe we can just visit these places and interview the couples there about their attitudes toward romantic relationship in SL. We all think it sounds interesting, besides, those spots are really beautiful; what's more, this topic can be elevated to moral issue (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2008/nov/14/second-life-virtual-worlds-dating). Since nowadays Internet has almost become part of our lives, many people start to pursue and enjoy romantic relationships in virtual world. But if they've already had lovers in real life, do their romantic relationships in SL become adulteries? Should they be loyal to their relationships either in real life or in SL, or both? How? Well, different people have different answers to these questions, and that's what we're going to probe into through our final project. Thus we've decided our topic---"Values of Romantic Relationship in SL".
To continue our progress, the next step we'll conduct a survey in SL; but before that, we'll have to work out a questionnaire first. And then each of us is expected to interview 1-2 couples in SL so that we can discuss based on the results we get from them.

2010年6月1日 星期二

A Warmhearted Couple Who Are Willing To Help (Final Revision)

Why do many people find it difficult to get other people's help in Second Life? I was lucky to meet a warmhearted couple who voluntarily helped me in Second Life.
When I was flying over New York City, I saw a man and a woman standing in a room. Out of curiosity, I came down to them to see what they were doing. Suddenly, they started to talk to me. I told them I was new in SL, so they invited me to their home to change my appearance.
Their home is on a beautiful island. The man, whose name is Nerion in SL, is a French in RL; and his partner, mellie, is an American native. They bought the island in SL, and Nerion created all the things on it, naming it "Eagles island" because mellie loves eagles.
While working on my avatar, I felt awkward because of my poor skills. They patiently taught me how to change my appearance in step-by-step instruction. They suggested me to make my avatar taller and try different skin colors; Nerion even gave me several skin colors to choose from!
Later they guided me to look around their island and their two-floored house. In their house, they taught me how to use gestures. mellie gave me a lot of gestures, and Nerion led me to dance. Then we three danced and chatted together for a long while! When hearing that I used Second Life for a course assignment, they encouraged me to learn as much as I can because Nerion himself also uses SL to practice English.
Before I left, I thanked sincerely for their help. mellie and I had a big-hug-goodbye, and they gave me L$100 as a welcome gift, saying that I could visit them anytime.
Why do they treat me so kind? "Making people happy is also making them happy" is a value that they hold in both real life and Second Life. Being serious about this question, they said that the difficulty of building trust and friendship in Second Life comes from people who think they can hide behind the computers and act like people totally different from their real lives.
I was really touched by the couple's value. I not only appreciate their kind help, but respect their characters. I think I was lucky to meet them, and I'm sure I will cherish our "virtual-but-real" friendship.