[LINK] Reqiuem Pace Second Life

[Crispin Harris]

Sigh...

> Kublai Karu is the avatar of The Canberra Times Online editor Ben Davey.

I think that Ben Davey is experiencing the normal (and expected)
3-month enthusiasm dive in SecondLife...
Kublai Karu
  Born: 6/19/2008
  No payment information on file
  No visible group memberships
  No profile information
  No interest checked
  No favourite places bookmarked

There are some very interesting aspects of SecondLife that show us a
lot about humanity, and how we (as a race) respond to new things, and
how we drive to experience and benefit from them.
SecondLife is incredibly open for new building and experience, but is
limited in a number of ways that are (for the most part) unavoidable.

In my view, the biggest limitation in SL is that the PEOPLE that use
it, are limited in their understanding and perception of the virtual
world by their requirement to view it through both their own
world-view, and their understandings of reality.

This means that houses in SL have Kitchens, and bedrooms - I have even
seen toilets in SL (and not just for the kinky)

Yes, a lot of SL is based around sex - and if that is what you are
keyed to look for, you will see it everywhere.
SL is also:
 - a place of communication (rather like the LINK list in many ways);
 - a place of exploration
 - a place to share hopes and dreams with others who think the same as you
 - somewhere to meet people you would never otherwise meet
 - a place you can create art, architecture, interfaces, imagery that
are not possible in real life. (search for "npirl" - and trawl through
some of the landmarks there)

You have to get off the beaten track - and, sometimes, talk to some
scary avatars.
You never know (and these are from avatars I know)
 - that blue humanoid fox may actually be a research scientist,
 - the pale be-winged androgene may be a Senior intellectual property lawyer,
 - the brown bear may be a specialist in wooded-terrain fire-fighting
 - the cute little fem in purple and green knee-socks (who yesterday
was a boy) may be one of the leading pyrotechnics technicians in the
US
 - and the 8yo holding the teddybear just might run a large restaurant
chain in the US mid-west.
 - the red demoness is just as likely to be a professor holding a
chair in Sports Psychology as any thing else,
 - and the steam-punk gentleman could just have been doing
packet-switched networking when Vaxen and PDPs ruled the roost.

However, you have to talk to them to find any of this out.

I have over 20 years of professional experience in networked systems,,
and there are groups in SL where I am "the young whipper-snapper",
where I talk (often in awe) with people who did wire-wrapped
circuit-boards and a for whom "patching the system" involved a
soldering iron, a CRO. and a length of wire.

I am continuously amazed, not by finding 40+, 50+ or even 60+ year
olds, but when I come across the 20-somethings....

In summary - SecondLife - is like the rest of the Internet: it is a
place in which you can blow down barriers that may otherwise exist, OR
you can make barriers stronger than any that physically exist,
admitting only those who agree with your views.

/me (sheepishly) gets off my soap-box

Cheers,


On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 10:22 AM, Roger Clarke <Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au> wrote:
> Days of Our Second Lives
> Kublai Karu
> The Canberra Times Panorama Magazine
> 4 October 2008
>
>
> I now take solace in the anonymity of the aimless drifter.
> Overstimulated and far from satisfied, I will continue to teleport
> through this blank galaxy like Mad Max with a time machine.  Major
> Tom without military experience and/or a drug habit.  Adieu.
>

-- 
Crispin Harris
crispin.harris at gmail.com
"Well, you know... most Catholics are so boring, you kind of expect
them to be fairly reasonable and not, say, frothing papal fanboys with
the IQ of a turnip. So he had me fooled. Not any more, though."
Thanks to Eric The FruitBat (etfb.livejournal.com)