Up For Discussion: Alt! Who Goes There?

Last weekend, I learned that someone had outed my alt to a few people, two of whom already knew about it. The harm at that end was not major because I've more or less regarded it as an open secret anyway, that people who didn't care didn't know, while people who enjoy alt hunting probably figured it out already. I also don't use my alt for any truly deceptive purposes, so it's not like I was caught with my pants down about anything.

I use my alt for two reasons: 1) because different sides of my personality come out when I'm using each avatar, and I have ended up with a different social dynamic when I go to places; sometimes I just feel more connected to the social group with one than with the other; and 2) because Lette Ponnier is really frigging busy, and it's nice to have a lesser-known av that doesn't have to do announcements and host games but can still play trivia and talk with the friends who know that both are me. I can deal with trivia business to whatever extent I want with my alt, and if the person I'm talking to wants to get too professional on me, I can just say, "Sorry, but I left that info in my other inventory."

There were other reasons that I was upset about what happened; in particular, there was disclosure of RL info in the mix, too, for which I ARed his ass. What made me really upset, though, was the moral arrogance he conveyed throughout the entire thing. He seemed to consider the use of alts inherently wrong and deceptive, regardless of their purpose. When one of his confidantes informed him that she too had more than one av, he merely expressed shock and ended the conversation. To my knowledge he hasn't chatted with her since. Plenty of people don't use alts and don't ever want to, but this attitude of moral righteousness was a first for me. It seems like it hadn't occurred to him that alts, far from being the tools of the wicked, are often part of the day-to-day of SL. The room I was in when I heard about what happened contained at least nine people whom I knew had more than one avatar... and that's only the people I knew of.

So here are some questions, and don't forget that if you want to post anonymously, you may do so. How do you feel about alts? In trivia or otherwise? Do you have any? What do you use them for? Do you have any experiences, good or bad, that have contributed to how you feel about them? Are there things that you're ok with people using alts for and others you're not? If so, what? If you don't have alts, why not? And because this is a trivia blog, I'd be especially interested to know how the use or non-use of alts figures into playing or hosting for you, including whether your awareness of alts affects how you run an event.

Now posting from:

Rev, Nelly, Maggie, Pinklady, Sharon, and Carrie avoid the diner smells by hanging in the lot

Sharon's Diner holds trivia most weekday mornings from 9:00 to 11:00am, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Doldari/113/120/67

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