Second Life For The First Time

For somebody who has never played any kind of online game I certainly struggled getting the appearance that I was striving for in the game called Second Life. The avatar that I created did not exactly resemble the person that I wanted to. I was extremely tall and awkward looking. I found that people seemed either intimidated by my appearance or at least caught off guard by my extremely long limbs. I found it rather difficult to interact with people in the game. However, when I was able to strike up a conversation with another avatar I found that they had some very witty comments about my look. I felt like I was in a school yard being bullied by the cool kids. I was tall and thought that I was going to be able to intimidate people but instead of doing that I found myself being avoided or made fun of like I was an actual person.
After some time I found myself trying to keep quiet and avoid conversation. This way I could just observe others interactions. By acting sheltered or shy I found myself conforming to what Yee & Bailenson call the Proteus effect. This is when one conforms to the stereotypes of their avatar’s appearance in an online environment. I found myself acting exactly how others thought I should act. I was lanky and awkward and it did not take long for me to start acting in this manner. I am not a shy person at all yet I was acting how I thought my avatar should act. I felt self-conscious and uncomfortable. I tried my best to find others who looked lost or maybe even someone from the class who had never done this before. Fortunately I found an awkwardly uncoordinated and tall female. She looked like she could have been my avatar sister. I began chatting with her and felt much more comfortable because she did not seem to have the same stereotypes that everyone else had about me in my previous encounters. The more we talked the more comfortable I felt. This is proof of the Proetus effect and how we act as others see us.