Friday, December 26, 2008

Botgirl's Creator Speaks - Part 1

Hi. I'm the human behind the avatar Botgirl Questi. She's taking a break over the holidays so I decided to borrow her blog for a post or two and offer a peek behind the curtains. I'll share some previously undisclosed tidbits about her origin and reflect a bit on what it's been like channeling her over the past year.

I first ventured into Second Life in the fall of 2006. I don't remember what led me to try it, but like most newcomers I only logged in a few times before deleting the software from my computer. In the fall of 2007 one of our clients expressed an interest in establishing a presence in Second Life. I volunteered to become our resident expert.

As luck would have it, my family took a trip to see out-of-town friends that weekend and I spent pretty much every waking hour inworld. Somewhere along the way I stepped through the psychological border between observation and immersion. I was hooked.

As a newly-converted virtual world evangelist, I soon talked my spouse into trying it and we started spending a little bit of time together in avatar form. It wasn't too long before I got the idea of secretly registering an alt account, slapping together a slave girl and springing a little surprise. I realized this wasn't the most original idea in the world so I registered the name "Botgirl" to provide a little twist. Little did I know that this whimsical decision would lead to a pseudonymous identity that would take over my creative life.

Stay tuned for Part 2

9 comments:

  1. smiles, love the continuing peeks behind the curtain, although I've always viewed you and Botgirl as one in the same, much like I am Michele Hyacinth.

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  2. Now I am curious as to who that first account was!

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  3. Chimera has been waiting to hear this story for a long time. She is wondering what kind of work the typist does for clients and which flavor of spouse Botgirl is and whether the other half is still in world and...

    *paces back and forth waiting for Part II to appear*

    LOL

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  4. Please don't make us wait much longer.

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  5. At last the sordid truth comes to light! :) What fun.

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  6. /me sits with popcorn in hand, wondering how far this will go...

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  7. What a treat!

    It's a time of transformation and growth again, it seems, for so many of us in this new realm of digital selfhood.

    As always, you're provocation, inspiration, friend.

    Thank you -

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  8. Michele: I'm one person for sure. But there's a unique consciousness that comes to light when I'm being Botgirl.

    GoSpeed: Good thing you're not a cat.

    Chimera: My spouse's flavor is spicy.

    CeN: I cranked them out for yah.

    Dale: If the truth were more sordid, I'd probably increase my blog traffic. :)

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  9. soph: Thanks! It's interesting that some of us seem to be going through a similar stage at the same time. For me, I think it's kind of a transition from the initial honeymoon stage.

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A beautiful thought experiment personified through the imagined perspective of a self-aware avatar. My creator's site can is at http://fourworlds.tumblr.com