I think Avatars break social hierarchies only because we are whoever we want to be in the program. I also think avatars use the existing hierarchies. For example, a person who wants to pay for a subscription, or a nicer wardrobe will ultimately have a different experience than someone who looks like they are living in the subway tunnel. Also, I was spoken to as a woman. As a man, I had to reach out. 

In Nakamura's article, it seemed that the "cheating" on a game is looked down on but it is mutually beneficial to the player and the gaming industry. Even though there may not be any "Gold Farmers" in Second Life, you can still cheat by buying items or upgrading to the subscription. This is a real conflict of what is right and what is wrong. Where are the morals? Cheating is blurry in the gaming world, so no doubt young gamers will develop the same view on other aspects of life.

What I saw from Dibbell's article was that virtual trauma can be just as real as real life trauma. The feelings of acceptance and rejection are carried from the avatar to the player. The addiction to the online world can leave a person feeling empty. When the game is turned off, and the dorm room is empty, loneliness and self pity step in. 

Turkle would say that we can use our avatars to experiment with new ways of life, new attitudes and personalities, take them for a test drive before trying them out on the real world. I would like to tell her that an "online attitude" is not a "real life attitude" no matter how connected they may be. There are real consequences in real life and you can't click "shut down" at the end of the day.

Avatars can be an example of Barad's "Representationalism". Although in Second Life, there was an actual person on the screen and not a lot of words, I could still see how you would create your character, list attributes, manipulate clothing and body feautures. I would argue, however that the line between just words and actual things get cloudy with emotional situations.

I think that Gaboury would see avatars as a chance to have a level playing ground. There are no radio buttons to click to determine the sexual preference of your avatar. I do think though that there should be rooms (maybe there are) that can be a meeting place for gay people using the avatars. But perhaps it is unnecessary because of the amount of experimentation that goes on among players. 

Maybe McPherson and Earhart would say that the avatar experience is challenging in that people will mostly try to be on top. Because of such narrow mindedness and racism, more people will try to go for avatars of a lighter complexion to "fit in". I imagine that a majority of users are not urban latino or african american. Thus, the majority of avatars are also not african american or noticeably latino. (Even though latino could have any skin tone. Any shade of hair, any eye color... etc)   

Devin Arriaza