VICE Reporter looking for SL players re: “identity tourism”

VICE Reporter Cecilia D’Anastasio is looking for SL players re: “identity tourism”. Cecilia has posted the following on the official Second Life forum and in a thread over at SLUniverse :

Hi,

My name is Cecilia and I’m a reporter with VICE. I’m reporting a story about individuals who have changed important aspects of their IRL identity expression because of their experiences with avatars in games like SL.

I’d love to speak with players who have had this experience. I’d appreciate it if you could DM me and we can set up a time to talk.

Thanks so much.

Best,

Cecilia

Exactly what “Identity Tourism” entails isn’t quite explained. The only addition from Cecilia came in a post on SLUniverse :

I understand that many of you would have preferred more information in my original post. If you have any questions, please send me a direct message and I’ll be happy to address them. Thanks so much.

Whereas the thread at SLUniverse has taken a bit of a cynical turn, shall we say, the thread on the official Second Life forum has quite a few people willingly sharing their Second Life experiences.

There are many varied stories on the official forum including people talking about transgender, eating disorders, falling in love with people on the other side of the world, meeting new friends, Asperger’s Syndrome and even Giant Snail Races :

Hi I’ve been hosting the Giant Snail Races in second life now since 2004. I am a magic bunny in second life last year I became a full time year round Santa Claus in real life. Partly due to my vast experience hosting events and also the fact that I look a lot like Santa. I now have the confidence to walk into a room full of strangers and act like I’ve known them since they were children and keep them entertained. You can see my races on http://treet.tv/shows/snailraces and I have Santa website I’ll show you if your interested.

Whether that’s the sort of Identity Tourism Cecilia is looking for remains a mystery. Personally, reporters asking vague questions makes me suspicious. However the proof will be in the pudding, Second Life has been generating a more positive press lately and this may continue that trend. However it turns out, as long as there’s an article, we’ll probably be in a “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” scenario.

If you want to respond to Cecilia then visit either of the forum threads I linked to earlier in this post.

*UPDATE* Cecilia responded on Twitter :

@Ciaran_Laval Hi Ciaran. I have no intention of portraying SL negatively — in fact, the opposite. Thanks!

— Cecilia D'Anastasio (@cecianasta) April 1, 2015

So this might turn out well.

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