I do agree that it’s not always appropriate, but that is circumstanial in my mind. I have young friends and old friends on HOME, and am completely honest with all of them. I’ve recently found out that I was lied to by someone I consider a friend. Several of us were actually. Personally, I could give a rats behind for the most part. I’m not mad, but disappointed a little. The reason I don’t take it hard is becuase I pretty much expect that 99% of people on the internet are lying to me anyways. If you think people on HOME are generally honest and good then it’s your own dumb fault, and you left yourself wide open for the sucker punch they just handed you when you found out they were a 16 year old dude who is on heavy medication for mental problems, posing as a 25 year old femal flight attendant from Denmark who looks like a supermodel. My avatar looks nothing like me, and that’s obvious right away when you see it. I do that for a reason.. so people know right away that I’m not pretending to be a hunky firefighter type. On the other hand, people who I consider friends and let into my personal spaces can easily see the pic I have posted of myself on my wall. That’s the real me, and I’m proud to put a face to my avatar for those I consider friends. People are too afraid in this day and age to be honest, and frankly… it’s pathetic. I won’t hide who I am, I like me… and I embrace it.

I’ve recently run into several friends on HOME who have become… flirtatious with me. This is a risky and weird place to be for me. I don’t understand online dating and don’t pretend to. I do know this though… until they send me a pic of them holding a copy of today’s paper with the date on it, holding up 3 fingers like I requested… I’m not buying who they say they are. If you want to even entertain the notion of romance on the internet with me, then proove you aren’t some dude looking to have a lol at my expense.

It comes down to this. If you want to believe someone is who they say they are then have at it. But don’t come crying to others when your dreams are crushed because you are gullible and didnt take the right steps to get informed or protect yourself. And don’t give me this bleeding heart BS about lonley teen girl who got crushed either. We are all lonely, male or female. She just wasn’t smart… period. She has no one to blame but herself for getting hurt.

Life sucks, but it’s how we learn and toughen up and become smarter about our environment… real, or digital.

My Avatar is cute to look at. But i know he’s not me, just a representation of what i would ‘Like’ to be.
But i am still the same person underneath.

My reply to you is of someone elses experience, of her reprecussions of divulging information to a complete stranger on a virtual World, for the most part, she works as a pizza Delivery girl. Shes in her early 20’s and lives in California.

She met a guy online and they talked for months on Secondlife, reaching a point in which he would like to meet. She felt confident enough that they could.

That night, before she was even ready to go anywhere, there was a knock on the door, she answered to find the man she had supposedly been talking to online, standing on her doorstep.

Within moments, she was beaten and raped.

From that day onwards, she never revealed any Real life information to ANYONE, regardless if they were male or female.

That said, my personal feeling about this situation, based on what little info I have, is that they’re both at fault. I wouldn’t necessarily knock the guy for being unemployed. A lot of people are or have been recently unemployed right now through no fault of their own, including a mutual friend of ours, Keara. But it is -- I’m searching for the right words here – downright silly, to let yourself develop feelings for someone without even knowing what they look like.

If two people are interested in having some sort of online relationship, then information like photos, ages, and locations *has* to be exchanged early on. Not doing so is dishonest, and virtual relationships, just like real-life relationships, don’t survive if they’re based on dishonesty.

For some meeting people are easier then others, there are many reasons why this is, and for the sake of time and typing I won’t get into those reasons.

Technology has taken that initial “fear” out of socializing. Now we simply log into a program, like face book, twitter and Home, and we are instant socialites. Although unlike going outside and meeting people, online one can create a persona and act out in ways that they can not, or dare not in real life.

Social networks like Home and other avatar based programs have taking away the accountability of the users actions. Anyone can log in, create an account, an avatar and be what ever they want, good or bad there is no real life social repercussions, it makes it easy for anyone to get away with anything. Of course, the ones who violate the rules, or act unbecoming to others, can be banned by the programs moderators. Some will even be shunned and blocked by groups or clicks in this created E-community. Unlike real life the once unruly user can recreate him or her\ in a mater of minutes with a new account and a new avatar.

Im not saying home is not fun, it is and it can be for many. We just got to remember its not real, it’s a fantasy virtual world, controlled by a power switch. You turn it on and off, its here for your entertainment. With that take everything at face value and just enjoy yourself. When it becomes more then that, your favorite social network becomes an Anti – social network.
Have fun in home, control your avatar, and don’t let it control you. Remember to turn it off your PS3 from time to time and get outside and meet some real life people.

So, “Where are you from?” gets interpreted as “What’s your time zone?”, and I reply, “East Coast US”. That’s often all the other person wanted to know. If they say, “Me too, what city?” then I’m willing to zero in.

Likewise, “How old are you?” really means, “Would I be interested in you romantically?” So I answer, “I’m a lot older than this avatar looks. I’m guessing you’re in your teens, so I’m old enough to be your grandmother.” It takes a truly feckless youngster to persist in this line of questioning after such a revelation.

As for the “S” part of ASL, when someone asks, “Are you really a girl?”, I type “(checks) Yes. I seem to be.” If they laugh, they may be worth talking to.

And now that I’ve got that bit of internet meme-ery out of my system (because it’s been screaming at me from the moment I read the title), here comes the serious response.

In the earlier days of the internet, the ASL questions were typically asked up front because outside of a user name, there really wasn’t anything else to base a person on. With Home, because there is more than a name, but a three-dimensional digital representation of ourselves (whether that avatar is a true to life rendering is another matter) and because not everyone in Home has experienced the days of the old chatrooms, people generally expect to be treated as they would be if the conversation was actually taking place face to face. And so getting in another person’s digital grill and asking questions that are normally reserved for *after* you’ve had a fairly decent conversation is considered quite rude.

Maybe those pre-programmed inquiries also show the cultural differences between Sony’s head office in Japan, and here in the west? I don’t know, but it’s not impossible.

As for the supposed “misrepresentation” of a person designing their avatar, I can see how younger users (and by this I mean late teens-early twentysomethings) would be upset by this, as well as those who simply lack the ability to suspend their sense of reality. We tend to see things not as they are, but how we are. If we’re the type of person who designs our avatar to look closely to what we look like in the real world, we tend to think others do the same thing. To me personally, it sounds like both parties of the story you opened up with lack the emotional and mental maturity to “speak their truth” -- as it were -- with regards to the situation. Which, in my experience, is the norm for individuals of their age range, regardless of the generation they’re from.

I have one friend in Home whom I’ve no clue as to what he looks like -- his avatar is always dressed as a Black Knight, or wearing a Frosty head, or he’s in a cat suit. I know he’s male -- I’ve heard his voice -- but I’ve seen no pictures of him, nor have I seen a proper human rendering of his avatar. I know what his fiancée looks like more than I do him! And you know what, I don’t care if I ever do find out what he looks like -- he’s just great fun to chat with and hang out with.