So I recently got into the PS3 beta of second life Home, Sony’s advertising space virtual world that connects all PS3 owners.
It’s all right. It’s nothing that I’d spend money or time on.
But, I did check it out, so the first thing I did was create my avatar. Through various tweaking and fiddling, I managed to create something that looked like an uncanny valley version of me.
If you squinted.
And were drunk.
But, being the overachiever I was, I had skipped out on the mandatory tutorial, so I was prompted (rather, not allowed to log in until I completed it) to take the tutorial before I could enter the Home beta. During the tutorial process there was a bit of confusion and I ultimately, I entered into the PS3 virtual space with an entirely different avatar, this one, a female.
I’ll be honest, I play games with female protagonists. I will usually defer to a female model in games that feature character creation. So, I thought nothing of entering PlayStation Home with a female avatar.
I’ll summarize. For the first time in my life, I was embarrassed to be a man.
It’s all new for me. Guys trying to start conversations for no reason other than I happen to have a female appearance. Guys frequently stopping in front of me as I attempt to read or watch advertisements in the virtual space. Guys running up to me looking at me, running away, and then running back, with their friends to look at my model and not even say anything.
And don’t even get me started about the dancing.
My avatar was just that, an avatar. No special sexy clothing, no ridiculous bust to waist to hips ratio, and in fact, I thought she was rather plain.
After about half an hour of constant annoyance, I decided to log off. The next day, I found I had about four messages from random people insisting that they wanted to get to know me better.
Astounding.
To my female friends who frequent the internet, you have my sympathies.
Seriously, I had no idea.