Second Life is the New Prozac?
March 31, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
More than a few autistic people, parents, and professionals have noted that software and technology has helped them or an autistic child learn about real-life situations (from emotions to street traffic). CNN recently reported about Naughty Auties, a “virtual resource center for those with autism” created by 22-year-old David Savill of Gloucester, England, using the virtual world of Second Life. According to Savill, the ” graphical representations of real people create a ‘comfort zone’ that can coax users out of their shells and get them communicating with others.” On the basic of this, Silicon Valley blog Valleywag suggests that Second Life’s backers should market it as “market it as the next Prozac, and sell it to Eli Lilly”—-as if to say that, for autistic people, Second Life is like a kind of psychiatric drug. It’s a tongue in cheek comparison but unfortunate. And what does Valleywag mean by the “autistic and near-autistic with Asperger’s syndrome”?
I responded to the CNN article because online education/therapies and autism are my particular research interest. My funded research has followed autistic individuals’ online habits as we try to determine what does and does not help students with ASDs.
I drifted this way as an HFA individual, often severely impaired and non-verbal, who worked as a computer programmer. Online spaces seemed like they were ideal for people lacking normal social cues — or, like me, with movement and verbal ticks. Online, I imagined I might be “equal” to other students.
Online spaces, however, are still loaded with social cues and norms. I find I still need to memorize those cues, as do the students with whom I have communicated.
Second Life also triggered seizures and curious symptoms in the students and adults I studied last summer. I had a 90% rate of participants reporting physical and/or emotional difficulties in the online setting. Most chose to exit the interactive online communities, preferring text-based systems into the future.
I did find those diagnosed with AS “lasted” longer online and were more likely to engage in online games. Those diagnosed as “HFA” or “PDD-NOS” were the least able to participate online. Intellectually, I had thought they would succeed quite well.
I couldn’t continue on Second Life, due to migraines and seizures. That discovery is definitely going to shape my future work.
OT: The Asperger’s quote you cite points to a problem in the tech press, dating back to the early 1990s, when profiles of various programmers and analysts included “self-diagnosis” tales. In fact, they still do: the creator of BitTorrent always mentions his “certainty” that he has AS.
When I conduct research, I need an “official” (research, not clinical) diagnosis to include someone in my data. I tend to get overwhelmed with volunteers in tech fields with no diagnoses, who are then upset when I try to explain I need more than their self-diagnoses. I don’t mean to offend, of course, and hope these people do seek evaluations.
@C.S. Wyatt,
Thank you so much for writing about your research and your experiences with Second Life (which I myself have never used—-for that matter, I’ve played video games exactly one time). From a conceptual point of view, it seems that it would make sense for a person with difficulties with social interactions to be involved in something like Second Life. I find the colors and animations give me something of a vertigo; my own son is not interested in animations on the computer and generally prefers to see photos and clips of real people and things and places.
Wyatt’s comment is very good.
I read the “article” on Valleywag. Not sure what was new or interesting or note worthy in that article. The comments were even worse. Seems people who know nothing about autism are writing about it and worse people who know nothing about autism are then commenting about it. It was quite pitiful.
It looks quite a bit like the Sims 2, a very popular computer game (not online though) that is virtuallly equivalent to a dollhouse with living dolls, each with motives, aspirations, etc. I’ve used the Sims 2 extensively with my son since he showed an interest in it at about age 4. He initially had his sims living on empty lots with nothing but toys and pinball games. Eventually he learned to build houses for them, noticed that they needed beds, toilets, etc., to function, and now has several families in the game that are functional (if not normal–their houses tend to look something like Rubic’s Cubes).
While I tend to avoid online games, I think we may give Second Life a try.
I played Second Life and disliked it. I prefer online games with a more defined setting or story. It mostly had a lot of lag and the animations and graphics in general looked awful. It was also the first and only game where guys (or at least male characters) actually tried to hit on my female character in the cliché way. Couldn’t take 3 steps into the tutorial before they started trying to block my character and sending me lewd PMs (not to mention in awful English). I tried it for a good long while to give it a fair chance, but I just don’t like the concept. I prefer games like URU, the now-dead Seed, or the still-in-development Adellion.
I’ll second Norah’s disappointment. Though I found it to be a really dull experience. (Nobody sent me any lewd messages, why not? I’m a guy? /lol)
I have more meaningful interaction with people on MMORPGs. (Everquest, Joint Operations, etc. there are others) That is when my main computer isn’t down.
The massive multiplayer online role playing games usually have community chat channels, and ‘guild’ or ’squad’ channels, so it is kind of a natural thing to overhear someone asking questions and getting answers, and maybe even one will soon be volunteering a response to help someone and get that ‘feel good I’m a helper’ motivation going on.
The main drawback to any of these though, is that the computer operation/typing skill has to already be there.
Panacea? Definitely not. Therapeutic? Yes for some. Danger? Potential exists to learn not so nice words in ANY of the interaction ‘games’. Parents advised to learn how to set the bad word filter or PG restrictions before letting the young loose on them.
my 16 yr old has aspergers, he has social issues, on second life he has met many people in the furries/scalys section. He won’t go to school because he’s addicted to the site. He hates us,his parents, only cares about his friends on the site, wants to run off to live in the UK or Canada and live with these guys. If I take away his computer time, he hits me (mother). The guys he’s talking to only hear his side of the story, they do not know he’s not going to school, that he’s been arrested for hitting me when I would not buy him a laptop or a new mother board. Now I have to pay for truancy fines. I can’t help him, I’m afraid of him. I know it’s only a matter of time and he will be back in jail. This time he will not come back home. I will have him go elsewhere where someone else can restrict his game use, and get an education.