Cybergrrl Oh: Living a 2nd Life Episode 12 – Mitch Wagner

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Posted on 19. Aug, 2009 by Stuart Warf in Cybergrrl Oh : Living a 2nd Life

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This weeks edition of Cybergrrl Oh Living a 2nd Life features the Copper Robot, Mitch Wagner.

Useful Links
Mitch Wagner writes for Information Week and can be found at http://www.informationweek.com/

Mitch Wagner also hosts the fortnightly show Copper Robot and can be found at http://copperrobot.com/

Mitch’s Twitter

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2 Responses to “Cybergrrl Oh: Living a 2nd Life Episode 12 – Mitch Wagner”

  1. Itazura Radio says:
    August 20, 2009 at 8:59 pm

    I just listened to this episode and we had a similar case of people going bat-sh*t crazy up in arms because we made comments (jokingly) implying that female avatars who refuse to use voice are really men.

    Here is my theory…

    First of all, they really *are* men. We may not care and they may even know we don’t care, but that isn’t the point.

    I think what is happening is men who invest that heavily into a female persona do it for a very personal reasons. Using a female avatar is an opportunity to explore the female part of their psyche. They may not necessarily be gay or bisexual, but that’s definitely a possibility. Whatever it is, they enjoy it and are most comfortable living their second life as a female.

    What voice does is bring to the forefront the fact that they are really NOT women. It shatters the illusion and destroys the fantasy that they have worked so hard to build around themselves. That’s why they react so vehemently when it arises. It’s seen as a threat to everything they have built and they attack it. They do so by attacking the person who suggested it.

    New viewers in the works are supposedly going to have voice morphing software built in that will make men sound like women and vice versa. Based on the software out there I have seen, I’m betting for the ones who don’t care they won’t bother with it and for the ones that do care the voice morphing will never sound realistic enough for them to feel comfortable using it. Even then there will be people saying, “You’re morphing your voice. You must be a guy.”

    Bottom line, some people are so heavily invested in their fantasy they can’t stand the thought of having their bubble burst and would actually choose to alienate real friends in order to protect the illusion.

    Reply
  2. radarm says:
    August 25, 2009 at 7:04 pm

    Itazura, that last paragraph in your comment is what I had in mind when I did today’s Metaverse in a Minute (26), but much more directly and eloquently stated.

    Reply

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