Lions, and Tigers and Avatars???

I recently set up my Second Life account with an avatar named Jozi Oakleaf. Initially, having an online persona on Second Life seemed really weird to me. The idea that I could live in this virtual world and no one would know who I am but only who my avatar is made me a little uneasy and it seemed weird. Since joining Second Life, I've realized that it's not strange, but it opens up a new way to interact with average people or academics.

When I made my avatar I knew that I wanted it to have characteristics that are similar to mine, but not exactly the same. I felt that it needed to be similar to me so that I would be able to add some of my own uniqueness to the world of Second Life. But he needed to be different than me to stay with the novelty of being able to maintain some anonymity while interacting on Second Life. The tie dye shirt and jeans are a reflection of me and everything else he is wearing just seemed to fit as I brought my avatar to life.

Initially I wanted the avatar to be named Jo because of its androgyny and I just like the name Jo. Then I saw the last name Oakleaf and thought that it was really cool for a last name. Unfortunately the name Jo Oakleaf was taken so my professor saw the name Jozi and I thought that was a good idea for a name.

This is my avatar sitting on University of Richmond Island.