Doksie (Mum to be). Hi. I signed up to Emma's vision of following the pregnancy because it seemed like a great way of examining the way in which the Mama Allpa hud works, and also because it was maybe a great psychological exercise. In real life I'm a Mum already, of teenage girls, and I'm always concerned that there's going obviously be some sexual activity in their lives without there being any responsibility. Yeah, I was young too once, and when the hormones are jumping and passions aroused, it's hard to resist natural urges. I remember drunken nights where things happened that shouldn't have, where there was bad choices of boyfriends, and where periods arrived late, complete with all the anxiety it caused. I joined SL precisely with the intention of fulfilling fantasies and I run a main avatar who does everyday avatar things (which has previously included cyber too), but I did like the idea of an alt who was a 'wild child' and would do all the things my main avi wouldn't. My main avi is an extension of the real, kind of normal Mum person I am, but 'Doksie' would be different (look up a definition of a 'doxy' to understand exactly how I named my avatar and where I saw her SL going). So while I wasn't new to cyber, it wasn't an everyday occurrence with me.
I managed to get Doksie to lose her virginity and get pregnant simultaneously. How often has that happened in real life? We hear about things like that happening all the time. It generally doesn't happen to married women, in the marital bed, edging up on 30 and with normal fertility. Sometimes it takes months to get pregnant (and that was my own, eventual experience of trying to get pregnant). But often some poor girl ends up surrendering her virginity in a messy, fumbling way in the back seat of a car and the first time she does, she's expecting.
Doksie has only had one lover so far, so I know exactly who the father of her unborn child is. And despite him taking a paternity test with me at Mama Allpa, and being aware that he's a dad to be, there has been no further SL contact. Job done and responsibilities shunned. Again, that replicates real life on so many occasions.
And so Doksie has moved into the first trimester of her pregnancy. Mama Allpa have provided a folder containing details (and a comfortable pair of pregnancy trousers!) with full explanations of the changing body shape, how best to roleplay the pregnancy and other stuff besides. In that respect the 'aftercare' from the hud has been superb, and some real, intelligent thought has gone into the entire process. I'm assuming there will be further folders as the pregnancy continues in the second and third trimesters. This is excellent work by the designers, and I have to say I'm delighted, in that respect, with my L$249 purchase, which now looks like a steal.
And one other aspect of it that has impressed me is the referral to what you should do in the event of a real life pregnancy. With the hud has come some sense of taking responsible actions. They make it clear that real life pregnancy is not a game, and that there are important issues to be addressed.
One aspect I would encourage the designers to explore -and this may be controversial- is of making it possible to abort. This is the solution in so many instances in real life to unplanned pregnancies, and it's also what I would imagine is a time of great anguish to so many young couples. Given the opportunity to play this scenario would maybe add an extra dimension to the hud and teach people that there are decisions, decisions that will haunt you forever, to be made. Perhaps, once the hud server has established paternity, the female (alone, as may often be the case in RL) should have the opportunity to abort, and where she does, the father gets a message to his hud saying this is about to happen, giving him the opportunity to support or reject the decision. Further messages to the parents -'your aborted child would have been one SL year old today'- might be further reminders of the responsibilities attached to sexual activity and parenthood. Personally, I'm all on for making the Mama Allpa hud 'standard issue' on entry into SL, for both sexes, so that avatars learn to take responsibility for their sexual activity. I'll be back with further reports on how I'm progressing to birth of my SL baby.
Doksie was in conversation with Emma, via a series of IMs, and the text was made into a narrative whole by Emma. Doksie has already seen the completed blog entry and is happy with the way in which her words have been represented.
Emma adds: 'I've tried to contact the father, whose name was provided by Doksie, but he has thus far failed to respond, despite being online when being contacted on one occasion. I intend to keep attempting to make contact throughout Doksie's pregnancy'.
No comments:
Post a Comment