This is the 13th in a series of largely demographic interviews that are conducted with established residents, to find out more about them and their involvement with Second Life, and to contrast the differences between their views and experiences and those of the newer residents. The questions may be tailored slightly for each interview; responses may be edited for purposes of clarity.

I find Marianne McCann to pretty much be an average child. She has "my mommy and my daddy, my sister Robin (Howe) and my brother Pygar, I also have a nana, and aunties and uncles, too."

"Nearly every night me an my siblings and parents are together. At least at the end of the evening for tuck in." She loves school and going on camp. In some ways, though, she is a child star, excelling at building in Second Life, and displaying fantastic organizational talents, as she did during the Second Life Third Birthday.

She says,"For me, I jes wanna see people knowing dat us kids is okay, for the most part.You'll find most of us are pretty normal, when you get right down to it." I certainly found her to be a delight to talk to, and, yes, to be a normal little girl, albeit a particularly intelligent one.

Second Life Name? Marianne McCann

Second Life Age? 533 Days

Label your subculture in Second Life. (Can be all the cultures you're involved in, or some part thereof.)
Well, I'm a child avatar. I dun tink there's exactly a label for it, especially, cus some terms have become kinda tainted. I usually use "Second Life Child" or "Inner Kid".

Do you have a favorite Second Life celebrity and why? (This could be a Linden you like, or perhaps someone well known in your community, etc)(Content creators are covered in the next question.)
Hmn... there's a lot to choose from. I'd probably go with Robin Sojourner, though, cuz she is both a mentor and a friend. She is amazing and brilliant, an also someone I love tons.

Do you have a favorite Second Life content creator (scripter, builder, artist, machinima, music, etc), and why? (Anyone whose work you personally like.)
Well, like many, I'm a fan of Starax's works. Though lately I've become fond of Light Wave's Greenies sculptures, and Arcadia Asylums amazing freebies. There are sooo many great content creators, though. Hard to choose!

What do you prefer to do in Second Life as regards content creation (scripting, building, artistic, machinima, music, OR NONE, etc), and why?
Oh, I LOVE to build. Workin on dis island has been a joy. I've made most of dis playground we're on ([Livingtree Sim]). There's someting special about building with my mind all the time. Anyting I can imagine , I can make! Mostly, I design things I liked as a RL kid, or that I wish I had as a RL kid. I kind of like to have that frame of reference that reality gives me when working on stuff.

What sort of events (if any) do you prefer to attend?
Well, I always attend the fireworks shows here ([Livingtree Sim]), but I have to, because I run them. But I like to go to art shows, and sometimes concerts and things with my family. I also really really like some of the kid specific events and stuff. They just had a big Summer Camp, but I hadda miss it . And you have school, and other things.

I attended HardKnock Elementary last year. It's just like a RL elementary school, with classes, and recess, and a cafeteria, and so on. A lotta folks dun know about the kid stuff out there, because people always think kids = gross stuff. But what you'll find is a lot of stuff is almost amazingly normal.

What would prevent you from attending an event? (Technical, ethical, mood considerations, other people, etc)
Well, for one thing, a lot of places are now banning short avatars an child avatars, so dat keeps me away. And I'm obviously not going to attend events in clubs or bars ... and mature themed places and events are right out [*grin*]. Mostly I don't try to limit myself, but I'm not going to go to a place where I'm not welcome.