My Avatar is not Myself

What type of avatar did you choose (idealistic, realistic, fantastic, or role-playing)?

I chose a realistic avatar. I tried to make it look mostly like me as best I could. I even tried to find the right skin tone (a honey color) and came pretty close. I even made her, more or less,  have the same body type as me (curvy). I gave her clothing that I would actually wear. I never considered anything different and I'm not sure what that says about me. Maybe I'm unimaginative?

I saw many other avatars in SL that were fantastical. In some cases, I see idealization  as an expression of how these individuals wish they could appear in "normal" life. Although I could be reading WAY too much into this. Maybe some people just think it's really fun to dress up.

How do we distinguish between avatars’ virtual social interactions and people’s physical social interactions? How should we?

Having spent a few hours in SL, I interacted with a couple of "strangers" in SL and I also interacted with some members of class and had very different experiences.

When I interacted with strangers, I basically tried to behave the same way I would if I were in a physical social interaction. I didn't stand too close because I didn't want to make them feel uncomfortable. I tried not to stand too far either so that they'd know I was interested in talking to them. When I felt like our conversation was coming to an end, I'd say goodbye and that I was going to teleport somewhere else. If only real life social interactions were as simple! I was still concerned about etiquette in SL, but less so. I knew there were no real ramifications (bad reputation, hurting someone else's feelings) for just walking away, so I just did so. The other avatars may just think I didn't know what I was doing since I was so new to SL. Kind of like how excuse small children for saying and doing inappropriate things- they don't know any better yet.

I made one "friend" that teleported me to Freebie Island and gave me a few skins and a "sexy walk" to download. She was my mentor. She offered to show me around more, but I had to go. I probably will never speak with her again, but that social interaction was positive.

During our class time in SL, I wasn't primarily concerned with an actual social interaction. I barely paid attention to my avatar except to follow the herd of classmates. I had no idea what was going on, so I spent most of my time chatting and trying out my microphone. I barely socially interacted at all with my avatar. There was a different expectation in that setting. It could also be that the screen on my laptop is much smaller than the monitors at school where I explored SL before. I felt less connected and immersed in SL during our class time.