“Tools that are designed to make intelligible something alive, the life of the network.” Interview of Hugues AUBIN, ICT Project Manager, City of Rennes (France)

Grégoire Cliquet: You are a Second Life user, and you are known as “Zolnir” on this platform. Could you tell us more about this identity, which is, also, an avatar (virtual embodiment of that character)? How do you perceive this “Zolnir” from Second Life? To what extent is he or is he not you?

Hugues Aubin: It’s quite simple. The city of Rennes conducted Second Life-supported projects that were managed not by the Hugobiwan Zolnir avatar, but by the city’s official avatar, otherwise known as Clap Clip, which was used by a variety of players due to its functionality and specific rights. This was a smart way to embody the project and those involved. The interesting part here is that we resort to an account instead of a digital identity that is embodied by a character behind whom several individuals are hidden.  This ended up wreaking a bit of havoc, for in the end, Clap Clip had to reveal to his fellow chatters to whom they were talking in order not to shatter their trust. As far as I’m concerned, things are crystal clear: Hugobiwan Zolnir is my real “me.” He stands for what I like, what I don’t, the projects I want to carry out, my favorite things. Today, an avatar is a bit like an upgraded mouse in the sense that, instead of clicking on things, you can share with people via tit-for-tat relationships. To complete anything in collaboration with your peers, you must give a little bit of yourself, be it on Facebook, Twitter, Opensim (Second Life’s Open Source version). Users strive to feel as free within the digital world as they do in real life. In massively multiplayer environments, people are very emotionally involved, and, contrary to what one may believe, they do not go out of their way to hide, which, in turn, results in rather surprising project dynamics. A Blue Mars, Wonderland, Second Life or any other 3D environment user who grooms his cat avatar in a particular way reveals his/her tastes more visibly than if he/she were to wear an inconspicuous piece of jewelry, for instance. When they visually model their avatars, as they would do with clothing, users don’t hide at all. They actually put themselves out there more, and potentially throw themselves to the wolves by revealing their inner self. Your would think users hide their true self behind a mask, but in fact by choosing and shaping their avatars themselves they reveal a lot about themselves. It is almost as if they had a self-written haiku on their chest.

Clap Clip

The Clap Clip avatar

Grégoire Cliquet: Which means that the more visible you are, the more you expose yourself?

Hugues Aubin: Not necessarily. What matters, though, is how you expose yourself within these 3D massively multi-player environments where content is user-generated (250,000 user-generated objects come to life every single day).

Grégoire Cliquet: Let’s turn now to reality checks. When you happened to come into face-to-face contact with people you knew from Second Life, did you notice anything different? You said earlier that someone decked out in an outfit riddled with poems by Baudelaire must be drawn somewhat to the poet and his work. Did you notice the same trend in real life? What difference have you spotted between a first “digital” contact and a subsequent relationship in the physical world? As a result, do you feel closer to those you met prior to Second Life more so than on other platforms, or do you feel you know more about them?

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