"It's just a game."

You know, I've noticed this! I've been on the web since 95, and I'd estimate that I've met at least 40 people that I have met irl as well. But if someone has very little online experience, they're always like "OMG! How could you do that?? What if it was a serial rapist????" etc. The thing that makes me laugh is that some of these people have no hesitancy whatsoever about going into a bar and hooking up with someone. Earlier today even during a "I've met people online" convo here at work, I mentioned that meeting people online? actually has more control than at a bar or other place. If someone creeps me out, well they don't know where I live, they don't know my real name (well most of the time anyway LOL), etc. I can turn off the computer at any time and break the contact. *shrugs*

My husband, no make that soon to be ex-husband said the same thing when I started playing SL. He couldn't understand why I didn't want to watch sports or inane tv shows 7 nights a week while he played online pool. I tried explaining that it was more than "just" a game, and that I was able to interact with other people in an everchanging extremely fun environment. Needless to say there were other issues at work here, but since he has come to realize SL isn't just a game. My significant other in SL has become my significant other in RL. I've made real friendships over the past year and a half, I'm still completely hooked on SL, and look forward to meeting more of my SL friends.

angel

Oh I agree completely. But some of the most fun I've had in games has been when the game allows me to go "off the track" and blow up stuff that's not part of the mission objective.

About 10 years ago, a friend of mine had a copy of the game "Vette", in which you could drive around in a corvette in a 3D environment. They had a free-drive mode where you could alter gravity, increase traffic, and all sorts of things. We liked setting gravity really low and then running into other cars and seeing how far we could push them.

The total freedom in SL is what attracted me.

Those who think it's a game call it a pointless one.
Those who don't care to see what it is seem closed minded to me (am I wrong in that?).
Those who DO see what it is, are taking part of something that is unique, and inspiring, and what many see as a starting point to a future metaverse.
And no one gets it when you explain it to them unless they've tried it.

It does not seem to be a game to me, it's a life. A second one, perhaps?
It's an odd and sexy beast, this SL of ours.

Adam

Yay! Can I adopt you as my FIC-entitled Linden??

The whole freakin house is on mute now!

I have seen two types of folks who say that it is "just a game".

1) People who don't play SL, and simply don't understand it. you can't really get too mad at them, unless they are really jerks about it. That's the point where misunderstanding becomes intolerance. Many folks were taught that there is "something wrong" with people who recreate on a PC or console in the first place. This doesn't help.

2) People who do play SL, and wish to excuse anti-social behavior. If they can compartmentalize it, whether consciously or not, it leaves them an "easy" out.

Personally, the latter type irks me a lot more than the former.

Really...the whole game thing is so subjective. To some, life is a game. Real life. To others it's a struggle. And yet to more it's a chance to excel. And to many it's all three.

Second life, first and foremost to me is a canvas, waiting for our individual brushes to stroke it's surface and bring texture and color to it. The same can be said for our relationships within Second Life. We breath life into the world with our words, ideas and actions. We make communities, using our personalities, affections, dislikes and loves.

We are the artists, and LL has provided us with a broad and exciting medium with which to express ourselves.

Chat program..sure. Developer platform...sure. Game...sure. That's what makes it all so unique and special. It is anything you want it to be..at the drop of a hat..or the stirring of an idea.

I agree David, my two examples about "it's just a game" were in respect to those who use that phrase in a condescending manner. I should have said "I have seen two types of folks who use it in a demeaning manner".

If someone tells me it's a game for them, it doesn't bother me in the least, as long as they're not using it in the "you're a loser" context.

That sums it up for me too really 100% agree with ya.

So no longer will I say "I think Second Life is a game"

I will say "I think Second Life is a toy"

much better

Siggy.