Tech -- Culture -- Humour
A fat guy and his skinny buddy were showering in the gym.
The skinny guy asks “Dude, how long has it been since you saw your dick?”
The fat guy says, “I don’t know, it’s been a long time”
The skinny guy says, “Why don’t you diet”
The fat guy says, “Why, what color is it now?”
The stereotype of the Furry, whether inside Second Life or out, has been abused out of all proportion. Let us establish a new stereotype of Furries. They have a tendency towards shyness and reticence, understandable given the substantial drubbings they have received, but perhaps also part of their natures. When they create representations of themselves, they tend to use anthropomorphic personifications.
So far, so good. Remember I’m talking about a stereotype here – I’m not intending to describe any one individual. To continue, the stereotypical Furry is not obsessive when it comes to sex. Or, perhaps, anything else. They have more of a tendency to be tolerant and accepting. That’s what you’re into, they ask? Great, hope you enjoy it, and play safe – don’t hurt anyone doing it. Specific Furry individuals have commonly had other traits: curiosity, generosity, respect, common sense.
So much for breaking the commonly-held stereotypes surrounding Furries. What do Furries have in common? What attracts them to being Furry, whether they be Furry fans or follow a Furry lifestyle?
Humanity – is it a base condition?
Every Fur, from one end of the spectrum to the other, exists inside a human body, and necessarily has some traits associated with that form. Whether the Furriness manifests as a desire to dress differently and to stand out from other people, or as a knowledge that the person has an other-than-human soul, every Fur has some human traits, and as such, like all humans, has a tendency to act in predictably human ways.
As with any grouping of human beings, some of the individuals in this group are nasty, petty, obsessive, and can possess a whole host of other negative traits. This is the aspect of Furriness that is often portrayed by the media, and that’s unfortunate, because it all boils down to stereotypes generated based on input from a minority of cases.
On the flip side, humans like to identify themselves with traits that they see as being positive. Who can say that they did not play dress-ups as a kid – Pretty Princesses, Cowboys and Indians, Jedi Knights – and pretend to be heroes or distressing damsels or even villains, with all the connotations that underlie those ideas?
Positively Furry
Animals – whether for reasonable or unreasonable reasons – are often associated with human traits – the lion is noble, the hyena cowardly, the dog loyal. Sometimes these traits are actually possessed by said animal, but in just as many cases traits are allocated based on looks, or, other misguided reasonings. Whatever the purpose of allocating these traits might have been, we have been handed down a rich variety of animals and associated traits to work with. As we said earlier, being Furry is not a single fixed idea, there is a spectrum. At one end of the spectrum, we have folks who put on and take off their Furry apparel and personas as easily as changing clothing. Indeed, they see Furriness as a temporary condition, perhaps putting it on to indicate how they are feeling, or to change how they are feeling. They identify or resonate with the traits portrayed by the animal or parts thereof that they don, but are not attached in identity to one form. At the other extreme, we find those people who fully identify with a single representation, and the traits that go with that representation. Somewhere in the middle, are those who resonate with a representation, but do not feel that they are in an incorrect body.
A very brief history
The use of the term “Furry” dates back to perhaps the early 1980s. Tthe practice of dressing up as an animal, or adding parts of animals such as ears or tails or masks to a costume in order to symbolise taking on the characteristics of that animal, dates back so far that the origins are lost in time. Even today, in the remnants of the ancient religions, we see shamans and other tribesfolk taking on animal roles and appearances, to tell stories, and to add to the flavour of those stories. The ancient Egyptians gave their depictions of their Gods’ animal parts, linking the appearance of those Gods to the traits those animals where believed to have. More recently, mummers would often dress-up as a part of their plays, donning animal masks and other parts at times, to elucidate their tales. More recently yet, the cartoons and shows popular with children are filled with a veritable menagerie of characters – in essence, animals have taken the place of heroes and villains from the stories of older civilisations, and children are often being encouraged to identify with animal characters instead of people from those older stories.
In conclusion
When we are young and naive, the world is a big place, full of external forces that tower over us. First there are our parents or guardians who, like gods, know everything. Then there are the more advanced role models: bosses, rock stars, actors, and others who manage to masquerade as our power archetypes. They represent to us our own undeveloped sexual, artistic, or professional powers, aspects of individuality we do not yet possess. For a while we give them authority over us; we give them our energy by buying their albums, supporting their causes, and recruiting others into their reservoir of power. On subtle levels our ritual acts of patronage even project part of our aura in their direction. (God Forms of High Magic)
And so, animals have become role models to some of us.
We’ve all dressed up, or changed our hair cuts, or bought new cars to make us seem more confident, or cooler, or more appealing. When we want access to a particular trait, either externally or internally, we put on the trappings associated with that trait.
Being Furry is an uncommon choice, but for most Furries, the genesis is commonplace.
I’m going to make a fairly safe prediction: on Friday 14th November Australian businesses and government departments will experience a spike in leave of all varieties. And here’s why:
Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion pack for World of Warcraft went on sale midnight Thursday. Most specialist game stores opened at midnight with significant crowds in some locations (more than 100 were lined up at my local game store, one of three in the area).
We’d love to hear your thoughts – are you taking a day off to experience the new content?
1st baby: You begin wearing maternity clothes as soon as your OB/GYN confirms your pregnancy.
2nd baby: You wear your regular clothes for as long as possible.
3rd baby: Your maternity clothes ARE your regular clothes.
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Preparing for the Birth:
1st baby: You practice your breathing religiously.
2nd baby: You don’t bother because you remember that last time,
breathing didn’t do a thing.
3rd baby: You ask for an epidural in your eighth month
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The Baby clothes:
1st baby: You pre-wash newborn’s clothes, colour co-ordinate them, and fold them neatly in the baby’s little bureau.
2nd baby: You check to make sure that the clothes are clean and discard only the ones with the darkest stains.
3rd baby: Boys can wear pink, can’t they?
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Worries:
1st baby: At the first sign of distress–a whimper, a frown–you pick up the baby.
2nd baby: You pick the baby up when her wails threaten to wake your firstborn.
3rd baby: You teach your three-year-old how to rewind the mechanical swing
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Dummies:
1st baby: If the dummy falls on the floor, you put it away until you can go home and wash and sterilise it.
2nd baby: When the dummy falls on the floor, you squirt it off with some juice from the baby’s bottle.
3rd baby: You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it back in.
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Nappy changing:
1st baby: You change your baby’s nappies every hour, whether they need it or not.
2nd baby: You change their nappy every two to three hours, if needed.
3rd baby: You try to change their nappy before others start to complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.
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Activities:
1st baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics, Baby Swing, and Baby Story Hour.
2nd baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics.
3rd baby: You take your infant to the supermarket and the dry cleaner.
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Going Out:
1st baby: The first time you leave your baby with a sitter, you call home five times.
2nd baby: Just before you walk out the door, you remember to leave a number where you can be reached.
3rd baby: You leave instructions for the sitter to call only if she sees blood.
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At Home:
1st baby: You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby.
2nd baby: You spend a bit of everyday watching to be sure your older child isn’t squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby.
3rd baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the children.
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Swallowing Coins:
1st child: When first child swallows a coin, you rush the child to the hospital and demand x-rays.
2nd child: When second child swallows a coin, you carefully watch for the coin to pass.
3rd child: When third child swallows a coin you deduct it from his allowance!
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GRANDCHILDREN: God’s reward for allowing your children to live!
(From our sister site, Metaverse Health)
This article in the Canadian publication, the London Free Press, describes in detail a couple of case studies of gaming addicts. The case studies themselves paint a fairly standard picture of someone with a compulsion for intensive gaming, though some effort has been made to provide balanced coverage of the issue.
The premise of the article is the establishment of a support service for gaming addicts in London, Ontario – apparently the first such group in Canada. What caught my eye was that the wife of one of the addicts described in the article, Wendy Kays, has written a book called Game Widow. (we’ll hopefully be reviewing the book soon).
The term ‘game widow’ has been around for years and it’s increasingly resonating with the broader public. It further emphasises the need for more research in the area as well as a vigilance toward not typecasting all gamers as addicts. Terms like ‘game widow’ also accentuate the gender divide in some gaming genres. There are surely ‘game widowers’ out there but they’re likely to be in a distinct minority.
One final comment to the author of the article – online roleplaying did not begin with Everquest in 1999.
A boss wondered why one of his most valued employees had phoned in sick one day.
Having an urgent problem with one of the main computers, he dialed the Employee’s’ home phone number and was greeted with a Child’s’ whisper.
‘Hello?’
‘Is your daddy home?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ whispered the small voice.
May I talk with him?’
The child whispered, ‘No,’
Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, ‘Is your Mommy there?’
‘Yes,’
‘May I talk with her?’
Again the small voice whispered, ‘No,’
Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked,’Is anybody else there?’
‘Yes,’ whispered the child, ‘a policeman’.
Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee’s home, the boss asked, ‘May I speak with the policeman?’
‘No, he’s busy’ whispered the child.
‘Busy doing what?’
‘Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman,’ came the whispered answer.
Growing more worried as he heard a loud noise in the background through the earpiece on the phone, the boss asked,
‘What is that noise?’
‘A helicopter’ answered the whispering voice.
‘What is going on there?’ demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive.
Again, whispering, the child answered,
‘The search team just landed a helicopter,’
Alarmed, concerned and a little frustrated the boss asked,
‘What are they searching for?’
Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle…
‘ME!!’
Learning together apart: Distance education in a virtual world – Kim Holmburg and Isto Huvila
Holmburg and Huvila’s study, as related in the article link above, focuses on distributed learning opportunities for distance education students, ‘distributed learning’ meaning that multiple tools are used.
Background information
Some of the tools compared in the study were traditional face-to-face classroom teaching – asynchronous systems such as blogs, wikis and discussion forums. Synchronous systems include chat rooms, video conferences, and lectures and classroom teaching in digital environments like Second Life.
Overall, students in the past have reported that the use of distributed learning has caused them to be more engaged with the class material. This seems unsurprising – the more learning modalities they are exposed to, the more learning styles a student has access to. Synchronous systems in particular were useful for encouraging interaction between students.
Lectures run in Second Life were found to be distinctly advantageous for distance education students. Students report preferring face-to-face classes, however they also found Second Life to be a more ‘fun’ learning experience compared to the other modalities they were exposed to. Additionally, lecturers found that students were more likely to participate in lectures run in Second Life than in face-to-face classes.
Using Second Life creates an interreality for the users – users are immersed in a digital environment, but are also making use of the real world. They are neither in one reality or the other completely. Digital environment experiences, being used the way they are at present, are best interleaved with real world experiences – students getting solely one set of experiences or the other will be missing out.
The major reason for students to prefer face-to-face education over distance education is because of perceived technical problems with remote connections, rather than a difference in perceived quality of overall educational experiences.
Some researchers have found that digital environments that the students engage well with, will positively impact on students’ emotions. Others fear that digitally mediated distance education will lead to emotional distance.
Holmburg and Huvila’s Study
This study had 30 participants – 28 female, 2 male. Of those, 6 had technical difficulties responding to the survey. Moodle, Second Life and one day of face-to-face teaching were used during the course. A classroom was built in Second Life, in which the lectures were held; the classroom closely resembled real-world classrooms to increase familiarity and emotional engagement. The course was arranged by the Centre for Open University Education at Åbo Akademi University.
Respondents were born between 1952 and 1984.
Each student was given instructions about how to use Second Life, and was expected to get to grips with it before commencing lectures.
Respondents felt that the Second Life client was not too difficult to use. Face-to-face education still rated as ‘better’, though Second Life rated as ‘better’ than web-based educational methods. Second Life was rated as the most fun method. Sixty percent of respondents felt that Second Life lectures could replace face-to-face lectures.
The assumption was made at the outset of the study that using Second Life – manoeuvring an avatar – might be challenging for students who were non-gamers. This turned out to be incorrect.
Second Life itself provides many opportunities for different modes of learning, however there are still benefits to be gained from face-to-face communication, when that is easy to organise, since this adds yet more modes.
Second Life provides significant benefits where distance education is involved. If travel time is short and travelling easy, face-to-face teaching is to be preferred. Nonetheless, Second Life increases the fun in learning, an outcome which in and of itself increases engagement and participation amongst students.
In conclusion
The authors of the study state that fun “is always a desired outcome.” This does not always seem to be the case: for many years, anything ‘fun’ has been questionable in educational circles. Hopefully, studies like this in which the fun of an activity is shown to have a positive impact on learning outcomes will go to show that education can be fun and worthwhile at the same time.
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