w w w . on l in e t h e r a p y instit u t e . c o m
0 . 2 , d l r o W l a y t i l a Re el g a N a n DeeAn ony h t n A te and Ka
In Life 2.0, a new documentary, director Jason Spingarn-Koff follows people for a period of over a year or more as they manoeuvre life lived in a mixed reality. DeeAnna attended a screening at the IFC Center in New York during their Stranger Than Fiction season, and Kate attended the premiere at the British Film Institute (BFI) in London, in May and August respectively. The film is an intimate look into the lives of three people who are brave enough to share their stories from their experiences in virtual reality environments.
One of the scenarios is that of two people - each married to someone else - involved in a cyberaffair, virtually entwined from hook-ups in Second Life to using webcam technology for face-to-face encounters when saying goodnight in bed. Their love affair takes them out of cyberspace for several in-person encounters. Emotions are high and limerence, that state of intense romantic desire for another person, is clearly evident. This is an affair of great proportions - emotional, cerebral and physical - filled with the excitement and consequences of infidelity. Another young adult, who is engaged to be married, logs into Second Life and soon he has created an “alter”; an 11 year-old girl who he describes is a part of himself. This story line is richly psychodynamic, offering a glimpse into the impact of virtual worlds on the lives of people who have experienced childhood trauma. The vulnerabilities of the adult male, his alter child female, his “real life” fiancée and other avatars the child befriends in Second Life are
T I L T MAGAZ I N E nov e m b e r 2 0 1 0
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