The dialectic of the avatar: Developing in-world identities in Second Life

Abstract

Abstract This article explores identity development and understanding of avatars as an important educational goal in the avatar-based multi-user virtual environment platform of Second Life (SL). There are in general two ways to understand identity development in virtual worlds. The first way is to examine the role that these platforms play in the search for identity. The second way is to see avatar development as a micro-version of the identity task outlined by Erik Erikson. This article, which also looks to explore how avatar identity development might foster what the Brazilian educator refers to as conscientization, the ability to recognize the ways that society predetermines perceptions of self and others, focuses on the latter. We suggest that these micro-identity tasks involve a place–space dialectic in which users’ experiences in their place-based emotional/identity development initially serve as context for avatar development. There is then an ensuing dialectic in which the space-based avatar helps these users gain further understanding of their place-based lives as they continue to create their in-world avatar identities. We include interviews and blog posts of four undergraduate students who participated in a course that integrated SL as a primary learning tool into a general education course. The students discuss the development of their avatars, which coincided with a unit on identity development. Each of these students brought their place-based experiences into their avatar development in different ways, which in turn affected their place-based understandings. The article argues that place-based experience serves as an important social/cultural indicator for conscientization as part of the ongoing learning process.