10: Giant Parrot Attached to My Head and Other Second Life Adventures

The Proteus Effect, as described by Yee & Bailenson (2007), asserts that the way one behaves in a visual online environment is partly dependent on the appearance of one's virtual character. They state that users "may conform to the expectations and stereotypes of the identity of their avatars" (Yee & Bailenson 274). For example, attractiveness is typically associated with confidence and friendliness. Indeed, in their experiments, they found that users with more attractive avatars tended to move closer to their peers and disclose more personal information than those with less attractive avatars. Similarly, height is often associated with self-esteem and competence, and people with tall avatars were found to be more aggressive, confident negotiators than people with short avatars.

I chose to explore the virtual environment Second Life to see if I could detect the Proteus Effect at work. After choosing a standard male avatar, I was dropped onto a tutorial island where I learned how to walk, change my appearance, and fly. I then began to explore the rest of the world. For fun, I gave myself a muscular torso and pink hair. I flew around for a bit, and came across a variety of typical Second Life sights and sounds such as the following:


Even though I was a muscular, tall guy, I didn't feel quite as confident as the Proteus Effect might imply. I think that this was partly due to the fact that it was my first time in Second Life and I was a little scared to just start interacting with other people. But this all changed when I discovered a store with a huge array of free items, including vehicles. One of these vehicles was a giant dead parrot. Now, I'm not sure if there was a way to get on top of the parrot as if I were riding it. I didn't quite get that far in the Second Life tutorial. All I know is that somehow, this huge creature eventually ended up on top of my head, driving its talons into my skull.



Suddenly, I felt a huge boost of confidence. You can't get much taller than if you have a giant dead parrot resting comfortably on top of your head. I began to act more aggressive, running into and around other people. I said things like, "Help! There's a giant parrot on my head!" which were, regrettably, generally ignored by my would-be saviors.

My larger-than-life appearance lifted some of the initial hesitancy that I experienced when first starting up Second Life and definitely made me braver in exploring my environment. Still, when I was parrot-less, my behavior did not vary much regardless of the changes I made to my clothing, physique, and looks. Some possible explanations for this could be that, as a new player, I was usually paying more attention to the world around me than myself. Also, my back was usually facing the camera, leading me to either forget or not care about what I looked like.

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