Escaping With An Alt

Posted on March 3, 2010
Filed Under Opinions/Gossip/People | 2 Comments

BY EDITOR SHAUNA SKYE

For those who use Second Life to roleplay a character, who go in anonymously, or who choose an avatar much different from what they are in everyday life, Second Life is often considered an escape.

For me, things are different. I go into Second Life as myself. My avatar looks like me (though admittedly an idealized version who never has to diet), and I don’t put on a fake personality. Basically, if you meet me in Second Life, you’re meeting the real Shauna . . . just better dressed. Arguably, the virtual Shauna is even more like me since I can wear what I like no matter how freaky, and I can be creative in a way I’m not able to in real life–such as in decorating.

Hey, if I dressed like Alice in Wonderland in real life I’d be stared at, whereas in Second Life it’s acceptable to not only wear just about anything, but to transform into something not even human. Man, I love Second Life for that. I wish people in real life were as accepting of people who choose to dress differently.

All this is good, and I really am able to do a lot in Second Life as myself, but it is not an escape in the same way it is for someone who goes in anonymous or who is roleplaying. To have that level of escape, I need an alt avatar.

The first thing people think if they learn I have an alt is that I’m probably using it to go to adult places, or that I’m having romances while using it. Maybe this is what the person thinking that might do themselves, and hey, if I were not already satisfied in that area, I can understand the inclination. However, fantasies are a way to explore things we lack in real life, or a desire to experience what we never have before or to regain something lost; a romance does not fit the bill for me on that, because I have that already.

My regular Shauna avatar is Rated PG, (ok, maybe Rated R when I’m gossiping in IM with my friend Madame) and I generally avoid sims where people sell their pixels and dance around in thongs. I like to kick back with friends, laugh, go dancing at mod and indie clubs, find whimsical items and virtual pets–and of course watch music videos in the theatre at Moonletters HQ.

As for alt avatars I have made so many over the years I could start a sports team, but that doesn’t mean I use all of these. Some were made to be models, others for comedy mischief. A few I’ve made are men. No, I don’t want to be a man; I don’t swing that way. However, a part of me would enjoy having a naughty brother.

One of my alt avatars made it onto the cover of an earlier Moonletters (back when it was slFIX Magazine). I’m in the back, and Rotten Spitteler is the Clockwork Droog. The red-haired woman is Yamarontoast Dagger, and contrary to popular belief, not one of my alts.

Really, the first male alt I ever made was originally for camping, but he took on a life of his own. The name? Rotten Spitteler. Friends knew Rotten was me so either laughed at him or flirted with him. He’s never said much but doesn’t need to because he exudes character anyway. He was, in fact, banned from Liverpool sim once just for existing. The sim owner, who always liked me as Shauna, had no idea Rotten was my alt. He gave him a lecture for being a bad element, and having an appearance not pleasant to other visitors–right before hurling him from the sim. I mean, there’s some humor in this. The same person who once asked me to manage the inworld Cavern Club in Liverpool banned my alt just for the way he looked.

In spite of Rotten’s coolness factor for getting banned without having to do anything first (that’s so incredibly punk rock!), I don’t consider him an escape alt. All of my friends knows he is me, and well, here’s the major reason: I have no desire to be a guy!

Other alts . . . well, I can’t tell you too much about them without losing my privacy. The whole idea of having them is for me to have freedom, and to go to a place where I’m not the boss sometimes (or rather the Guv’nor as staff writer Jellie, says). And no, I’m not off somewhere being a submissive because I’d rather die than do that. Haha! I mean it. I will tell you this though. If my regular Shauna avatar is Rated PG, then my escape alt is a Rated G. That’s right, shocking as it sounds, I am not off to an adult sim to escape, but actually trying to find an even more innocent atmosphere. If I could teleport into Pleasantville, I would. No, I don’t escape by being a man or even by being another woman. (If I say more it would be too much.)

Am I roleplaying? Yes, I suppose I am, though I’m never not myself, just showing a different side of my personality. If the people around me knew I was “Shauna” then the magic might be lost. I guess my alt avatar is like what many consider their main avatar to be in Second Life, and lately I’ve needed to use it or I’m in danger of being burnt out.

No worries though. Even if I do use an alt I never fool people with it. When I’m off escaping I stay far away from the people who know me as myself.

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