Semiotics and Second Life

I am adding an additional entry to help collect some of my thoughts based on recent readings. In particular, I have been completing a close reading of Jonathan Bignell's Media Semiotics. While I have had a class on visual communication which included semiotics, this book is much more accessible and it focuses specifically on the media. This is different from Chandler's Semiotics, which is a good book, but a lot more dense.

Currently, I am reading a chapter about Barthe's book Mythology and have been making some connections with our experiences in Second Life (SL). To me, Barthe's biggest contribution was his unmasking of how myth makes a sign seem natural. In SL, I recently changed my appearance. At first, my avatar was based on a male body and designed to look ambiguous. For a while the avatar was even green. During this time, I was never approached by anyone other than classmates. However, my new appearance is that of a female, probably considered "pretty" by current Western cultural standards. She is tall, with a slim figure and fairly large breasts. Almost immediately I had other avatars asking me to chat and/or be friends.

The signs encoded by the female form I chose for my avatar indicated to others (specifically male avatars) that I was sexy, approachable, and possibly interesting. Other sexual connotations may have been implied, but I never let the interactions go far enough to find out. What struck me was how my form gave off these signs as if they were natural. Her looks and shape were signifiers to other users based on what has been learned in our culture. The person behind the avatar was never questioned and neither were the intentions behind creation of my avatar. I am very interested to see what happens if the avatar is made to appear "unattractive."