Clueless Gits

But it's not really a house, is it? It doesn't serve any of the functions that a RL house does. It's not shelter from the elements. It's not the place you keep your stuff. It doesn't protect you from prying eyes.

Your SL house is an art installation. It's a personal statement. It's a blog entry. It's where you display your stuff. And it's being placed in a shared space available to people around the world. What does it have in common with a real life house other than superficial appearance? Your SL house has more in common with a webpage than it does any real world object.

And the whole "if I build it up in the sky it'll be private" thing is silly wishful thinking. Maybe it was more difficult to explore the skies pre-2004. Maybe. In a world where everyone can fly or own a hovercraft, trying to define the skies as some kind of privacy region is both presumptuous and futile.

That might be, but when on the other hand you enter such 'installation' and there's actual owner of it present, who politely asks you to leave because they'd like to have some private time in their own place... there's really no room to argue that one should do anything but comply. If just out of common courtesy.

That is merely what SL is to you. For me a house in SL is a place to go to have some privacy. If I wanted to display stuff to the general public make a personal statement I wouldn't put it in a pixel replica of what people use in rl to establish a private domain.

As I said, that is your opinion, and you are free to think that way. Obviously, it is not a view shared by everyone or security orbs and scripts would not exist, yet they do. People would not use skyboxes for some attempt to have a little privacy, yet they do. Just because they aren't 100% successful or because people disregard their desire for it, doesn't negate it. All it does, to my mind, is make me wonder about those who refuse to give others a little private space if they want it and refuse to believe them when they say they want some privacy once and a while. It's a big world, there is plenty of room.

Really, I don't understand the need to impose my view of real life or Second Life on other people if they disagree, if it makes no difference to my personal experience. It is clear to me that people, maybe not you, but other people, desire occasional privacy and a little respect for their "virtual home" regardless of what you or anyone else thinks about that concept. I am happy to respect that, I have no need to fly up as far as I can so I can peer into obvious skyboxes or walk inside a stranger's house while they are in it, to enjoy SL. Just like the real world, I can admire someone's home, and they can want me to admire it, without me walking into it while they are getting undressed, having a personal coversation, doing something without distractions, getting.. intimate with someone or any of the other things you may do in SL or RL.

And btw, your argument that everything in SL is "shared space available to everyone" applies to the real world as well, we are all sharing the same planet, yet I don't invade your personal share of that planet without repercussions if it's on private property. People pay serious money for their "virtual" real estate in SL, too.

But that begs the question...why are you trying to have "private time" in a publicly accessible venue?

Put a big texture on the side of the cube that says I don't want to be bothered, go away (If you speak within listening distance my security system will engage).

Why is that any business of yours?

Better yet, just make it a monster Impeach Bush sign.

Wrong. It serves many of the same functions: it holds my furniture and whatever artwork I like to have around me, it provides me with a quiet area to work on a project (and even leave pieces of it around) without having to stop what I'm doing and chat, it gives me a place to go when I want to be alone and think, retreat from the world, or, god forbid, spend a little private time with friends.



Probably... and I've resigned myself to the fact that people will come by and look, even though my skybox is at a fairly high altitude. Like it or not, people are nosy. However, I would hope that anybody who's lived among other people in the real world would have the good manners to leave if they see that I'm there, or at least IM me to see if I'm free.

If I wanted to be readily available to chat, I'd be hanging out on the ground. If I'm in my skybox, I don't want visitors unless I invite them there. I don't think that's presumptuous. That's what I pay land tier fees for.

Those signs seem to be on the endangered species list. I haven't encountered one in the SL wild in a long time. I remember when I couldn't look anywhere without seeing one. Just goes to show how precarious second life can be.

Okay. Make it a random cycle of ads and shock photos.

I understand the symbolism of a house in SL. What I'm saying is this:

If you come to SL expecting to impose your conventional, real world ideas about privacy on your tiny sliver of hard drive space in the Linden Lab server farm, you're in for a struggle, both with other residents and with your own preconceptions. SL doesn't work that way. It's built to share. The tools are designed for dissemination and presentation. By trying to play house in SL, you're actually working against the platform.

Because you're posting about it on these forums.

That is a non sequitor. Really, why do you care whether or not people want privacy? What harm does it do to you???

I will, however, give an example of a situation in which I would want privacy in Second Life. A woman and I who hang out with the same crowd don't get along and it's bothering her husband and my boyfriend. If the four of us wanted to get together and discuss it we would talk about things that wouldn't be anyone else's business but ours. Things like personal feelings. How is that wrong and why are so many people hostile about people wanting to have private conversations?

Another example would be if an SL friend had cancer or had a family member who has cancer. Maybe a small group of friends would like to talk to that person and offer him support without informing the whole damn metaverse about their personal life.

Visit my property in Second Life. It's in Barcola. Now visit my property in real life. It's in Boston. Which visit took more effort?

Second Life is very much about making things accessible to others.

I honestly don't mind people looking when I'm not home. I did the same thing when I was a newbie. But getting pissy when someone's home and asks you to move along? I think that that's out of line.

Just make it the color of the sky.

Really, then why is LL selling virtual real estate, charging taxes on land and selling private islands? "Playing house" and "Having a Business" are probably the most popular "games" within SL other than "dress the avatar" and all of them cost real money. Real money that pays for those servers. Does LL make it "easy"? No. But they are hardly discouraging it, quite the opposite. They make several things difficult that they trumpet as "features", you know.

It seems to me you don't approve of that reality, but that is the reality from the standpoint of someone new here. I don't know what SL used to be, I'm just stating how I see it now.

I really don't understand why this question keeps coming up. Why is it so foreign to imagine that, even in a virtual world, sometimes a person may just enjoy being alone? SL is a wonderful place to escape from the problems and distractions of reality... sometimes that escape is through socializing with SL friends, and sometimes it's through just being alone in a private spot and taking some time to think.

One could ask, in reply... why should I be obligated to be accessible to others at all times? Why is having 'private time' not okay? If it doesn't disturb you, then why do you care?

Here's a scenario: you're sitting alone in a little cafe in your RL city, doing a little paperwork or just having a drink and thinking. You're busy or preoccupied or otherwise not in the mood to have a conversation, so when a stranger stops at your table, you politely say so. Would you think it was perfectly okay for him to sit down and start talking anyway, just because you're in a public place?

The key element isn't whether you're in a public or private space, really; what matters most is that you've asked the person to leave. People should be polite enough to respect others' wishes, no matter where they meet.

Didn't see this one when I made my previous reply. I for one don't expect the same conventions to apply. I'm just baffled at the hostility and suspicion that people are met with when they express a desire for privacy in second life.

And when has Linden Labs indicated that "playing house" is working against the platform????

I didn't say it was plywood, I said it was featurless. It's actually a nice warm cherry, with all of the textures neatly lined up.

Hey, don't blame me. Someone came to the forums to whine about the invasion of their Second Life privacy. I'm just offering reasons why it's unreasonable to expect privacy in SL. Sorry it's tough news for you to take.

There are better platforms for private communication. Instant messaging, video conferencing, and Skype would all be better choices, just to name a few.

See, warm cherry says to me "C'mon in and light up a cigar."

The thing is, I personally don't care what you do in SL, for the most part. If you want to play house, that's cool.

What I'm saying is that trying to shoehorn some semblance of real world privacy in a virtual world that's not built for it (and then bitching on the forums that it doesn't work) is self-defeating.

Linden Lab would never say anything of the sort. It's just kind of obvious that if you want real world privacy in SL you're gonna be disappointed, because the way that the SL mainland is built favors exploration, presentation, and sharing.