/by Heidi Ballinger
Should I adopt my Second Life name to real life? (maybe just as a middel name).
LOL, I know….. and it’s not the heat who have make me more crazy. This is a question I have thought about for a longer time.
I was born in SL the 6Th March 2007, and I wanted to keep my first-name “Heidi”, and at that time I could only choose between 4 bad last-names, and “Ballinger” was the best of these bad names.
After I while I could not imagine any other names than “Ballinger” – I had just grown into that name.
Today I use that name on MSN, Skype, Google-talk, e-mails, gaming-places and also as avatar-name in other Virtual Worlds.
It’s stated on my business cards, my e-mails signature etc.
Actually old friends from RL has asked me:
“Oh Heidi, bad girl, you didn’t told us you were married”? (because they have noticed my new last-name). LOL
In Denmark I think more people know “Heidi Ballinger” than they know “Heidi Hansen” (from TV and media), and a little confusing to write both Hansen and Ballinger everywhere.
When I call companies who has participated my fairs, they don’t know me when I say “Hello this is Heidi Hansen” – but when I mention “Heidi Ballinger” they know who I am…
This question would never have turned up if I had chosen a totally fictive name.. it would have been a different situation.
I spoke with a friend about this some while ago and he asked me:
“but Heidi, what if Second Life close – then what?”
Well I do not worry about that. If that should happen it’s still a name people know me from, and I use it so many other places.
Still thinking, not sure about anything, lol
Have a nice weekend! 
Hamlet Au writes about this on his blog:
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2008/06/would-you-chang.html
The name-changing are coming closer.
The other day I added a good friend on LinkedIn (well he almost deleted me because he didn’t knew “Heidi C. Hansen” (only know me by the name “Ballinger”).
And in Denmark I’m not aloud to do business / sign contracts with another names than the one “I’m registered with”.
Heidi,
I am now recognizing the confusion of real life names and metaverse names, such as Second Life.
Upon first setting up my Second Life account and avatar name, I was completely surprised I couldn’t carry my real world name into SL. I have not come across another social network that didn’t allow it, if available.
As a eLearning developer, I want my name and my company name to be used, after all I am in all actuality dealing with “real” people behind those avatars. It takes time to build relationships and strong networks. People entering the metaverse should not have to basically start over in virtual life.
I am in the process of filing for a Custom Vanity Name, to use my real life name, within Second Life. The fee is minimal at a annual cost of $50.00. In my case, well worth it, when using Second Life as a extension of my “real world” business network for Innoventions.
Why not do the same, then promo the change, giving you more advertising and starting the process of recognition with your “real world” name and brand?
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Custom_Name_Program#Custom_Vanity_Name
I began the use of a ‘Nom de Web’, that is, a name to use for the many forums, mailing lists, and profiles used in the web, many years ago in order to guard against identity theft and spamming. Additionally, I encourage the use of disposable or temporary email addresses for much the same purpose.
Other industries or professional affiliations have used the technique for a very long time. In literature, film, TV news, radio, prfessionals have used other names to help keep their personal lives more private. In the case of striving for name identification, a business professional must decide how to manage the nuances of this.
Personally, I have chosen to move forward with a stategy of investing Farnham Farrjones with the bulk of my Web 2.0 and 3D identification. Using the image, name and email identifiation as a coordinated effort for communications. But I am not in business, per se, I am a blogger, group moderator and consultant. There are some sucessful precedents for this in the VR community, and who can argue with a ‘family’ of professionals, such as the Lindens, for this type of idenitification.
As with all things, we are what we know and how we perform, and that is something that is priceless in any professional arena. Excellent post Heidi, and an ongoing topic for consideration in the Knowledge Networking group.