Life... meet second Life

As I was making my way to the city center the other day, I stumbled upon somthing that both made me chuckle and surprised me, and that is a housing complex built by none other than a company called Linden Homes -yes, for real, the picture has not been photoshopped-

This made me wonder on that very thin line that seems to divide for some those two realities and I asked myself if it is really there; how many of us have not crossed it at one point or another? how many times have you found yourself hitting the backshift key when you sign an e-mail with your second life name?, or you find yourself standing in queue and inadvertently copying your avatar's AO idle moves.

Whether we like it or not and as much as we try to negate the fact that both our realities are nothing but one, life always seems to remind us that every day of our lives, as we get invested in this adventure that got started for one reason or another, the person behind the keyboard is no one but ourselves, and there's no anonymity or division that will ever be able to alter that fact.

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The uniqueness of avatars

When we initially join second life, we do not have much of an idea of what we want out of it, where will it lead us towards or what we are going to look like; due to the lack of linden or a clear idea on how to procure ourselves with them, we resort to the always popular freebie shops to get us started on our road to individuality.

But then we discover shops and the ability to get better looking articles, such as HD skins, clothes and flexy hair, some even for really good price/quality and we then start on our very personal journey to individuality.

As a shop owner, I have resorted many times to the always easy to handle bots (namely alt accounts who sometimes have AI intelligence and can be placed on a pose stand for a quick shot), but I have discovered recently that they are lacking something that many of us have, a spirit, and individual aura which is merely the reflection of someone's hard work and investment over the course of months to get the right look that feels good for you.

But what happens when you are faced with an avatar out there who by mere chance found your shape, skin, hair and even animation HUD as attractive as you did back then and turns out to be an almost exact copy of the person you have become in second life? Some may find this annoying, invasive or even amusing, but as close as you as this other person may look, there are small details that do make a difference, making the avatar a clear reflection of your individual experiences.

Be as it may, you always have two choices, change your look (I'd start by the shape which is basically what makes you YOU) or laugh it off and move on.

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