Second Life and the "elevator effect," for avatars

My NPR colleague Luke Burbank is hosting a new, experimental kind of show on the network, code-named Bryant Park Project until they come up with a better name.

They have a blog where they're periodically posting these cool, smart little video segments.

I really like this video they uploaded this week, about the sociology of personal avatar space inside Second Life. They explore how people playing SL get really creeped out when someone's avatar stands too close to their avatar... just like in real life. This phenomenon is what's known as "the elevator effect." Link.