Friday, June 12, 2009

Second Life is Real Life

In and out of Second Life there is a common separation of Second Life and Real Life. I can't and won't accept that they are separate.
I am interacting with people. They are not programs. This is not the SIMs
There are role players..
There are people living out repressed facets of themselves.
There are people discovering who they are.
There are well rounded people.
There are a LOT of people carrying grief. Scratch the surface and you find it is there.
There are people who want to be completely anonymous.
There are liars who intentionally conceal and mislead.
There are some seriously crazy mixed up people.
There are ordinary people wandering through life.
I could tick a couple of the above for myself and others.
So they ...we... come into a place which is called Second Life. And we form communities. Interact.

And then there is this reference to RL as if it is some other thing. I completely reject this. SL is in my RL. Just as my work is part of my RL.

oh dear.. I can feel a rant coming on...

Hauls up short and says more briefly.....
People in SL who forget that the people they are "playing" with are not programs which are switched on and off as they leave the room or tire of playing with deserve a swift kick.

People in RL who think that because it was called Second Life, that it is some kind of other, unreal social interaction need educating. I hear " I don't need a SL, I barely have time for a real one". It makes my blood boil.

SL is a cup of tea with a neighbour, a BBQ on the weekend, a phone call to friends overseas. It's a sad day when you don't have time for that.

1 comment:

Wildstar Beaumont said...

It is not surprising that many people consider SL just a game. It is difficult to understand it for those who have not experienced it. One needs to live it and to start caring about the human beings behind the avatars to realize how different it really is