On The Scale of SL

Pet Peeve No. 9

9.  People that argue about their AV height.

I told you I would eventually get through all my pet peeves, and I wanted to do this one because of some things I saw this week, but it’s been hard to stay on topic while writing it.   I think mainly because there are a few ramifications on this issue that bother me, especially the suspicions surrounding WHY someone would argue this and the places where I’ve seen these folks.  So I’m going to do my best to stay on track here and completely block out the other creepy stuff that tickles my brain and makes me really want to get on a soap box.  Because frankly, after doing a little research I realize I’m not the only one that feels this way, and the forums are full of people that feel the same.

And before you hunt me down in SL and flame me and point fingers at me, I want to say that I do dig the DDBG scene, and I have no issue with a full-grown, adult-looking avi dressing/acting cutesy.  My avi is not super-tall, certainly shorter than the guys.  I am short in real life (5′ 2″), and I like being short.  And for the record, I’ve seen plenty of short or petite avis with small boobs that dress and look mature and I would never question their character’s age.  I also don’t have beef with someone playing a child in a child-friendly environment.  Aaaand, if I ever went anywhere where my avatar’s height/age was questioned, I would NOT argue, I would adjust or LEAVE.  It’s their fucking house!

But this isn’t supposed to be about the ambiguity of the apparent age of an avatar… right?  So, let’s not go there, shall we?  Let’s stick to this “scale” argument that people so like to use to explain WHY they have a short avi–which in a lot of cases is just an excuse for the apparent age of their avatar, but right… not about that!

Every now and then we run into a profile that has some long-winded rant about avatar height.  Chances are that it’s there because they’ve been questioned and accused on several occasions on their character’s apparent age,  (or a shit-ton) so they are tired of explaining themselves.  The person often times argues that being 7′ 0″ tall is “unrealistic” or “freakish”.  They stomp their Mary-Jane shoes  (oops! sorry, I wasn’t going there, huh?) and pout, and adamantly deny being a “child avatar” , and then they add to that that just because they don’t have ginormous boobs and ass it doesn’t make them a child.  They also go on about how they want to be more like their real life selves, have their height be more like their own.  If the pick was this short… eh.. but it’s not, the page is often FULL of excuses, explanations and mathematical calculations on scale and what-the-fuck-ever.

So, lets agree with this person for just a moment, they do have some quasi-valid points, so let’s just humor them, huh?

1.   A foot is a foot, a meter is a meter.

2.  7′ 0″ IS unusually tall for a human female (or male for that matter).

3.  5′ 6″ – 5′ 8″ is a more average height for a human, AMERICAN, female.

NOT an accurate depiction of a female Avatar on Earth

If you ask me, and you didn’t, but you are reading my stuff, and well… yeah, I get to say what I want,  but if you ask me the point that these people are missing, like completely, like… by a few meters/feet, is that “scale” is about perception and necessity.   Different ethinicities/gene pools have different “average heights”.

Check out this table of average heights around the world.

The “average height” of a male in the Netherlands is 6’0″, but the average height of a man in Guatemala is 5′ 2″, for females it’s 5′ 6″ and 4′ 6″ respectively.   So, a woman from the Netherlands visiting Guatemala is “freakishly tall” compared to the local women.  A foot is a foot, a meter is a meter, but that doesn’t matter here, does it?  They are being measured with the same unit.  They say the ideal kitchen counter height is one that you can rest your bent elbows on comfortably without having to bend.   If this is the case, then they would be much much shorter in Guatemala than they would be in the Netherlands.

So… if we see that Second Life isn’t ANYWHERE on Earth, or maybe treat it like  its a different country–why not?  It has it’s own currency, and if we see that avatars are NOT human–they appear to be humanoid, mostly (lots of other stuff out there) but they are not flesh and bone, they have a completely different genetic make up (pixels!), you’ll realize (or not, because well, you don’t want to), that your argument on avatar height is invalid.  “Average height” in SL is different than “average height” elsewhere, just like average height in the Netherlands is different than average height in Guatemala.  Our furniture, cars, and other items in SL, are  “scaled” to fit an avatar’s “average height”.

So, like a Guatemalan visiting the Netherlands, YOUR avatar is freakishly short among the other avatars.  YOU look like a little girl sitting on a California-King size bed, especially when you wear your plaid skirt, Mary Jane shoes and pigtails (sorry, went there again!).  So, if we were to translate scales from SL to RL, with the ‘average’  7′ 0″ male avatar comparing to average 5′ 11″  male human, that would make you maybe 3′ 5″, or 4′ at best, and would be charged the kid’s price at Golden Corral–every time, without even being asked (my daughter is 4′ 11″ and she was still asked at 18), and would not be let into any clubs without your Driver’s License, Birth Certificate, Passport, an affidavit from the doctor that birthed you AND a carbon dating test.

No, those aren’t children, and no, that’s not a giant, and no it’s not Guatemala, and they are NOT SL avatars either.

And I haven’t even touched on the fact that you know what?   Part of the argument is how they want to be more like their real life selves–and I don’t see any acne, saggy boobs, flat butts, bow-legs, crooked noses, thunder-thighs, weak-chins, etc, etc on these avis.  You made your height more like your real life self, wanting realism, but… is that a puppy dog tail butt plug and ears you are wearing all over SL?  You do that in real life too?

The advantage that you have in SL over RL, is that while you can’t stop people from offering you the kids menu in real life,  you can stop the people of SL from pestering you, accusing you, and banning you.   You can delete that pick off your profile and use it for something more useful, and you can stop arguing by simply adjusting the sliders on your appearance editor.

It’s fantasy.  Get over it.