W8-Pary- Photoblog

 I am going to focus more on the Queer community since I want to do an autoethnographic observation for the last assignment. So this week I found a monument which is built and dedicated to killed transgenders. They could be victims of murder or suicide. Beside the well-detailed building technique, there was real thought behind the posters and notes on the walls.

 The written language was in a grieving but also supportive style. There were a large number of names of victims on top of  each candle. It is interesting how a small room in SL can raise awareness  towards a whole category of identity.

I searched for LGBT communities to focus on communication. (observing a place is beneficial, but interactions are required for deeper understanding of any landmark in SL)
As you see below, I finally managed to find a group with different sexual identities.
The interesting points about this group of avatars were:
1- They have established a place which is not searchable and therefore not easy to find which makes the place more personal for avatars.
2- Avatars were quite friendly in the first contact. Two of them were more talkative and the rest were more listeners and would mention some sentences just as the sign of agreement with main speakers.
3- They made comments about my avatar's appearance and certainly a classic avatar did not seem to be preferable from their point of view. ( One of them mentioned that I could be the Police!I don't know why would police officers check people in SL and even if it is a real thing or not)
4- They did not use microphones and all the chats were in written format. Although I tried my best to keep up with the chatting style, it was overwhelming not to look as a rookie in Second Life.
 5- They asked a lot of questions to make sure how I could find them and I tried to be honest (I did not say why I was there). They also tried to figure out my real life (or as they say in the chat RL) age, gender and sexual identity.

I will go to that landmark more often, it was the first time I was interacting with these many avatars in SL. This could be the reason I was a little nervous and could not communicate in a more chilled way!