Last names are back!

Tags

last names, names

Some wonderful news from Linden Lab; the last names are back from today!
Well, for those of us who have a premium account.
Which may not sound nice if you don’t have one but I think it is a good idea, more about that later.

Anyway, in short, for years people who joined SL had to pick from a list of last names, which is why my name is Jo Yardley.
I never would have chosen Yardley, but I assumed I’d be spending some time in English sims, as I’m a Anglophile.
Had I known I’d be living in 1920s Berlin for a decade, I would have chosen something a bit more German!

So if you have a premium account and are willing to pay about $40 you can change your first name and pick a new last name, again from a list of last names.

OMG I could be Jo Jazzhands!
Of course I can not change my name, not after having had the same one for over a decade, a name connected to 1920s Berlin, Time Portal, some publicity stuff I’ve done, etc.
I don’t want to brag but my name is known (and feared) by a few people, not to mention that I’ve been part of a vibrant active roleplaying community.
Frau Jo Yardley has lived in 1920s Berlin since 1912, she can’t just change her name!

I like last names and always thought getting rid of them was a bad idea, but unfortunately Linden Lab still has not made me prime ultra uber-consultant.
Meeting someone with the same last name as I have was always a lot of fun.
On the other side, if someone misbehaved in my sim, I would absolutely go bother people with the same last name about it, complaining to them about their rude cousin, always as a bit of fun though 😉

I love display names, they’re a great gadget for the roleplaying community.
But they also allow people who have partnered or consider themselves family to carry the same last name.
I bet some people will spend hours refreshing the page till they see the name they want, perhaps the last name of their husband or wife so they can be properly married, without the need of display-names.

I’ll just remain good old grumpy Jo Yardley, I won’t be changing any names of alts because it’s too expensive, but I’m sure this change that has been long awaited will be just what some people want.

For more information and details make sure you read the official announcement by clicking here.

Facebook agrees to talks with Drag Queens regarding the use of real names

Tags

"second life", drag queens, facebook, identity, names, virtual reality

Just a few days ago I wrote about the problems Drag Queens, artists and many other people are having with Facebook because they are being forced to use their real name and can’t use their stage name, nickname or in our case, avatar name.

Of course this wasn’t news but I mentioned it because I felt that we now shared a goal with a group of people who’s voice might get more attention than that of us Second Life avatars.

And I was right.

Their uproar has exploded across social media, hashtags galore (#‎mynameis) and when a group of them started planning a demonstration outside the Facebook HQ (imagine how fabulous that would have looked) Facebook Supervisor David Campos got on the phone with them and promised to meet with Sister Roma (the lady behind most of the ruckus) in person.

So of course, cynical me has to say that this doesn’t mean anything.
But publicity means a lot in this game and getting them to talk about it and perhaps think a bit harder about a proper solution, is a step in the right direction.

Of course our virtual identity means a lot to us in Second Life but when you look at the long list of people to whom it is so much more important to be able to use Facebook under a different name, it becomes more and more wrong that they are not allowed to.
And even if I was not in Second Life, I’d still want to support this thing.
As Sister Roma said;

This issue affects a lot of marginalized, creative, and professional communities, including transgender people, bullied youth, activists, LGBTQ people who aren’t out everywhere, survivors of domestic violence and stalking, migrants, sex workers, artists who work under pseudonyms, and various professionals who work in sensitive professions (eg. mental health, criminal justice, etc.) who may want to interact with friends without being found by clients. Facebook claims that its “real name” policy helps protect people from bullying, but this is a form of targeting our communities that can actually make us much less safe. Facebook is today’s public forum and they can’t exclude us — who are they to say we or anyone else isn’t “real”?!

So bravo Sister Roma and lets hope that what all these people are trying to achieve eventually will benefit us avatars as well.

Thank you Herr von Rosenheim for the tipoff!