Though gray and grizzled, Meyermagic Salome is actually a 14 year old member of Teen Second Life; over time, he customized everything about his avatar, but for the wings. "I did not create my avatar to reflect any specific traits of mine, or for any purpose," he tells me. Still, he was surprised to discover "that some of my own traits and ideals were carried over anyway." I was curious what he meant by that, and so naturally, I had to know more.
"A comment I get from many people who have met me in SL," he explains, "is that they expected me to be much older than I am, as a result of the apparent maturity of my avatar. In life, I have a strong belief that people's opinions should not be weighted depending on their age, but on their validity on other accounts. In SL, it becomes apparent that age isn't always a factorm in what can be gained from one's statements.
"In this way," he concludes, "my belief in the equal weight of opinion, in respect to age, is carried over from RL to SL."
See all the Teen Avatar Expo entries here.
Which brings up an interesting digression -- I know a few teens, and they get very creeped out by older people hanging around and pretending to be teenagers. Does Mr. Salome have to overcome this reaction, since he looks much older, or do teen grid users feel more safe in their grid because they know adults aren't allowed, and aren't creeped out?
Posted by: Cyn Vandeverre | Thursday, April 05, 2007 at 07:04 PM