Kick the can

(This was originally from the Metaverse Messenger. I do a whole page for them, so go an check it out, 'kay?)

Of course, you know as well as I that kids are not allowed in-world -- that is, the flesh and blood teen and younger folks. No, this is about those of us who have chosen to be kids within the world as we know it. I am writing this in an attempt to change that, and give at least a little insight into why me and others like me choose these particular avatars.

Let me use a classic television analogy: in the original Twilight Zone episode, "Kick The Can," a group of nursing home octogenarians start to play the kids game in the title. In the process, they end up back in the halcyon days of their youth.

This is the intent of a majority of those with kid avatars as a primary character. It is a chance to recapture youth lost, or gain childhood experiences not previously had. It is, quite simply, a chance to let one's inner child out to play.

When I joined Second Life, playing a kid was not at all something I had considered doing. I did not even look at that as being an option until meeting two separate real life friends in-world, and seeing them playing kids. We talked a bit about this, and they offered some of their motivations. I liked what they had to say, and it led to me doing the same: a chance at youth and innocence regained within a virtual world.

This is not to say that everyones' intentions are as pure, although those with more erotic interests would appear to be in the minority. For most of us, the idea of a sexual element to any of our young second lives is appalling. Certainly for all that I have talked to about motivations. When we're in character, we are embodying the role. We are kids: acting like adults in a child's body is the last thing we'd be interested in. Applying adult thoughts and motivations to any child is a fool's game - and this applies to Second Life kids just as easily.

So what do we want? What is it that draws people to play kids on Second Life? Simple: we want to hit the playground once in a while, be cared for and nurtured by our in-world families, and have fun with our virtual peers.

We simply want to kick the can.