Me and My Alts

Ok, I've mentioned how I don't like dress-up and pretend. And yet here I am, in SL, with my multiple avatars, having experiences with different people. Over the past two years I've realized a few things about being an avatar:

I'm not really pretending to be someone else. But--I choose a different avatar depending on my mood and/or what I want to do. Lily is my responsible (ha!) avatar--she's the one with the property, and ran the business, and has things she's supposed to do. But if I'm in a cranky mood, I would choose another avatar, so I could act out and use her as a release valve.

The funny thing about choosing the different avatars, is that I behave or respond a little differently when I am one rather than the other. Recently Lily got an IM from a very dear friend, asking if I wanted to hang out with him. I adore this man, but I had some things to do, so his flirtations went unanswered. Later that night though, I was wearing my play Alt, and he IM'd me again, and I melted and immediately succumbed to his words. He spoke exactly the same way, but this girl had no commitments, and nowhere she was supposed to be. She is basically a "pleasure bot," and behaves as such. It's not a conscious decision of mine to do this, but it's like slipping into a mindset when putting on the avatar.


Recently I created a male avatar to see what that's like. I have a few friends who have created male Alts for various reasons, and some of them seem like men, some seem like the person underneath, and some seem like they're just doing it as a lark. My guy is pretty middle of the road. I still don't know who he is yet. All I know so far is that he's bland. Perhaps I just don't know how to act like a guy. When I was setting up my husband's avatar, I would tell girls they "look good in them drawers." Hardly the thing an actual guy would say.

The bad thing is that I find that I sort of channel my brother, when I'm the guy. When I go out as him, and my friends go out as their male avatars, I have the urge to call them asshole or pussy. I have no idea why--perhaps I should ask my therapist. There has to be a reason that this hostility comes out. I don't dislike men. But I guess my male rolemodels are pricks: my dad, and the oldest of my three brothers. Maybe it's that old adage about becoming what you fear most. I'm going to try and figure this guy out, though. Oh, and just to be clear, I am not deceiving any women about my gender. I will chat with them, but if they seem "interested," I tell them that I'm really a girl. Honestly, though, girls don't seem interested in him, so I think I've got nothing to worry about.

The Results are In

A whopping 6 of you voted in my "Kill an Avatar" poll, and you all voted to get rid of Celestina Moonbeam. She was my choice too, actually, so when I leave this post, I'm deleting her account.

And btw: Dinah has not escaped the axe--she will be the next to go, whenever I get around to it.

Goodbye, Celestina. I'm not exaggerating when I say "I hardly knew ye...."

Spring Cleaning--It's for Avatars Too!

A lot has been made in my SL about how many avatars I have. I know I have a bunch of them, but each was created for a reason. And now, many of those reasons are moot. Some avatars I just don't ever use. Contrary to popular opinion, I'm not sneaking around SL spying and doing duplicitous things--jeez, who's got the time? Especially if you enjoy the company of menz as much as I do. Ahem.

So, as I have officially been in SL for two years now (my very first avatar's rez day is right around now--she's already gone, btw: Donatella Voom), I figure it's time to clean house. Get them girls outta my SL already!

My "real" first avatar, who is still in existance, is Dinah. She happens to be partnered with my (soon-to-be-ex) husband, but since we have different SLs, I dont' think he'll notice. He doesn't even use the avatar he created to be with me anyway.

My second Avatar was Vikki. She was created after husband found that Dinah had an SL boyfriend. Oops. I was with this lovely British DJ, we were both brand new, blah blah blah. First SLove. Husband freaked when he found out, I "quit" SL, but then wanted to get back into Library work, which was why I was really in SL for (at the time, that is...). So I created Vikki, the librarian. I used Vikki exclusively for library work (mostly...cough) but then I broke off from the SL Library because it was a lot of headaches with very little personal satisfaction.

Third one was Starling. She's really pretty. I don't use her much, but I might, so I keep her on ice. Fourth was Stacks. She wrote a dirty blog. I don't use her much either, but I like her. She is bold and brassy and sexy and empowered in a way that I (the writer) is not. She is the ultimate Sexy Librarian.

Then came Lily. I moved to New Babbage with my SL sister MissVivian Looming to start and run Novem: The Muses Playhouse. While there, we needed some dancers, escorts, etc. so I created a couple more alts, one of which I gave to a friend for testing poseballs, and the other, Celestina, is getting the axe.

There was one I created to hide from a jealous lover, another to work for Lily at Port Novem when the Babbage gig was done (That's AliceWendy...but I can't get rid of her because she has certain rights or property or something that I need. I have to look into it, because I'm not really that crazy about her.)

Then there's the girl I created for the Alt Party. I dont' know if I'm going to bother closing that account or not. I kind of like her look, though.

So, today, I'll be checking inventories for any transferable items, then closing accounts. Join me in wishing all my strays a "Fond Farewell, and don't let the door hit you in the ass."