The Deeper Meaning of Second Life

I have no idea but I just wanted to ask for people's thoughts on this. New people frequently ask me what is the point of Second Life and I always respond "Just like your First Life you determine your own meaning of Second Life." Am I weird or what?

When I was new my goal was to get as many clothes as possible but I soon saw that this took money so I got a job. I hated my job but got some money to buy more clothes so I moved on to my next goal which was to buy some land. I bought my land, built a house, but what next? Since I can't create or build a thing I wandered around going to Naked Schoolgirl events pondering the deeper meaning of it all. My next step came by accident when I met my partner who can not only build but who has multiple brain cells, unlike me.

Now I have a partner, money, fame and fortune but what next? Is there more or is this it?

Im new to this and after reading your post, I damn near don't even want to try it.

First, you have to realize that RL has no meaning, except what you give it yourself. When you are comfortable with the stupefying implications of that, you'll see that SL is just a lesser-dimensional form of RL -- you interact with other consciousnesses, and create a meaning for the time you spend in SL. Granted, you are a bit limited in the details of your expressiveness, but creating/building stuff is a cool bonus that's generally much trickier in RL.

In my case, I have three innate driving forces:
(1) a strong desire to entertain/amuse and help others, not just with SL, but with establishing their own interpretation of RL (to me, positive behaviour modification is just as evil (vis a vis interfering with someone's "natural" development) as negative, because it's still modification -- but it makes my life easier ). Some might argue that behaviour modification due to human interaction is "natural" in and of itself.
(2) the desire to create prim-based mockeries of reality (mockeries in the sense that they are much-simplified/far less elaborate than their RL counterparts), as well as "impossible" things, or stuff that's too expensive/impractical to create in RL.
(3) the desire to be enterained/amused by others -- to see/hear them do all manner of zany things, especially stuff I haven't seen/thought of before.

FWIW, I have none of those, really, yet I long for nothing (so far). *shrug* Realize that if you live in the "west", your life has been dominated by the implicit message that you must chase after all manner of things, and you can never be happy, but must always keep up with the Joneses.

Well let's see. I have a deep and meaningful ongoing relationship with my inventory full of free stuff.

I also attend Coco's University of How to Build Houses.

I play Bingo! Bingo is meaningful. You spend a lot of time while losing pondering the randomness of numbers, and the meaning in that. Are numbers REALLY random?

I watch home ec movies and rail at them in an attempt to resolve the lifelong scars caused by my college home ec class.

All of this is apparently deeply meaningful to me.

coco

i think you're taking internet WAY too seriously.

Yep, you sure are famous. Which leads to my next question. Who the fuck are you?

Wow, this sounds like someone that is about to take up religion.

Seems to me the question should be "Do you want more?" Are you happy in your routine?

Just like my theory for RL, if you are happy that's all that matters. Screw those bastards that look down on you because you aren't going to church or volunteering at the homeless shelter or drinking too much or spending way to much on women and gadgets and cars and bars and that you are up until all hours of the night in pursuit of the aforementioned activities and come into work 20 mins after partaking of those activites smelling of a french whore and whiskey and hair messed up and..... uh... oops... what was I saying.... oh yea... as long as I'm... uh... you are happy!

Second life is my life, as i suffer from agrophobia , and i cant get out to socaillise. For me sl, is my way to socaillise and to enjoy at least one good thing in life.

The worst and the best thing about SL is that is IS so open ended. I just finished writing up something on my blog (link is on my signature) that touches on some of the things you brought up.

It IS tough to be at the WA and answer that question, and I think that your answer is a good and a valid one. I'm not sure where all SL is advertized but I have noticed that many new folks come in here ready to "play" this "game" called SL.

I can be disconcerting to be handed an empty canvas or a blank sheet of paper and have someone say draw, paint, write whatever you want! That's pretty much how feels I would imagine when coming in as a new person and finding out there isn't some sort of goal to SL.

I take your answer a bit further, and ask a new person what they are passionate about in RL or do they have any "I've always wanted to do/be/experience _____" type desires. That can be a place to start. That can also be a place to start for you or anyone else who needs to re-kick start or revamp their current second life.

I put aside my Fun Clothier hat for a bit, and have decided to put on my Fun Builder hat for awhile. I've also decided to persue the passion I've always held for helping noobies with more gusto and hope to give back something to SL. I was helped by so many people just starting out and my initial experiences here were great because of that.

Basically I'm just putting out some suggestions for ya Susie I've got a folder full of projects that I want to do at some point or other, so contact me in world and maybe some of those might spark some interest for you.

HUGGSS

I will be quick to paraphrase Bruce Lee and say that the best style is no style at all. Similarly, in embracing contradictions, I have also learned that the deepest meanings can be the simplest truths, and there are just sooo many paradoxes about humanity (or lack thereof). So, in SL, it's nice to have such a buffet of choices and you can pick what you want. I go for an inordinate amount of watermelons but that's just me, see... there are all sorts of "fruits" you can taste here and more. If you wanna limit yourself, you can do that as well -- force yourself to build with cubes only or travel around the world without teleporting. You can impose that on yeself.

If you wish to be a pious priest-king here, that is available. Same if you want to be a rowdy rocker or an advanced piece of mechamachinery. If ya got lots of L$, maybe help some newbies out and give back to "pay it forward". Some people get a kick out of roleplaying divorce (!) and deliberately screwing up their Second Lives because they like the thrill of feeling out of control. I know I'm like that sometimes, coming from a very routine and orderly background and all. Ordered chaos, structured craziness, and there's always going to be fringes that appeal -- or don't -- to your personal preference. Maybe make some more self-discoveries in the process, things you never knew about yourself until you know!

No one here does everything. We're all pieces of the puzzle.

But you can sure give it your best shot . . .

I'll keep it simple. I've stuck around for nearly 2 years because I'm constantly wondering "what will 'they' think of next". "They" can be the Lindens or whoever invents the next big thing in SL. SL is constantly evolving. Its not all good, but it does change.

^ a quote of Andrew Linden's, which is taken out of context but nevertheless appropriate:



And:

Quark from Star Trek: DS9 said: "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

^ a quote of Alphonse Karr's, which is taken out of context but nevertheless appropriate:



and btw:

Alphonse Karr quotes
Alphonse Karr, journaliste, écrivain des jardins et du jardinage, poète, artiste non dénué d'humour
(What does "denue" mean?)
Alphonse Karr, bamboo named after
Alphonse Karr, portrait

I think this guy is my new hero.

Life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?

^ Second Life is like Steller Sunshine's beanstalk.

My goals for what they're worth and in no particular order,

Do good.
Make what is beautiful.
Tell the truth.

Oh and don't let the turkyes get you down... for the most part that means stay out of the forums! ^_-

If you have not already seen them I would urge anyone trying to grasp what SL is and can be to rent or buy two movies:

The 13th Floor and
What Dreams May Come

Both are quite good in themselves. They both need to be viewed several times to fully grasp the implications of each ! And they both can provide insights into SL. Of course you will have to do some hard thinking on your own, and perhaps, open your mind to other philosophical or religious viewpoints.

SL can be, like RL engaged in a very basic way, build, talk, play games, etcetera, or you can explore the meaning of our very existance in SL. And of course everywhere in between.

SL offers an infinite range of possiblities. It is a universe within a universe and it's boundaries are continuing to expand to infinity!

At the least "Go with the flow". The wonder of the infinite is yours to behold!

if you get turned on by:
1. creativity & expression
2. meeting & interacting out with cool people
3. continual exploration of a diverse world with diverse creations
4. being on the frontier of technical evolution in the form of metaverse, virtual economies, local currencies, online societies, etc
5. trying your hand at new roles like entrepreneurship/architect/fashion designer

then you will find meaning and pleasure here

if you prefer a TV spoonfeeding you entertainment, or you just wanna shoot-em-up (fun, but very different), then I would not recommend SL.

comes down to that for me.

It's an entertainment medium - it doesnt have a deeper meaning than that.



Amen to that.

you could host charity events for RL causes, since you're so rich and famous.

LOL!!!

SL has no deeper meaning than chatting in Trillian while working on a model in 3ds Max. SL just happens to be a more entertaining (if proprietary) way to do that, giving thousands of people a giant public whiteboard to play on.

Watch out though. If you take SL for what it is (a computer game/chat program) and refuse to write a 700 page philosophy book on it, you'll be called a simpleton and retard by certain people.

Although I have to admit, the drama and egotism is entertaining. It's better than TV.

i don't really see what the problem is.

so one person looks at two people talking and says, "yeah, they're having a conversation, big deal" and someone else gets all excited studying the body language, verbal tone, and environmental/socio-economic context of the participants...

so what? if someone wants to examine deeper meaning in this, let them. It can be your simple entertainment medium. It can be their window into human behavior.



Someone once asked Jackson Pollock "what is the meaning of modern art" to which he responded:
"Modern art to me is nothing more than the expression of contemporary aims of the age that we're living in."

Now I laugh and say, what the hell does that mean. An art historian could write a book on that sentence. Does that make the art historian an idiot simply because I think the academic mental gyrations are B.S.?


Edit: if someone who wants to write their dissertation on SL does the reverse and calls you an idiot for not buying into the academic theory, well that is just as intolerant, and perhaps that is what you are reacting against

I think the best description is someone mentioned above for SL is that it is a simplified dimention. It's an extension of your RL, with different (albiet simplier) rules. What makes SL fun is these rules, both social, economic, and physical, are different then our perception of the real world. I think the driving force here is the same driving force that causes spouses to cheat in the real world for example. There is a available alternative that will allow you to experience things that you normally cannot (even though it is in a much simpler way) - and that is compelling to the human mind.

You have to ask yourself, if (when) a tool like SL advances to the point where you are no longer capable of telling it from your perception of the "real world", is it just a game, or is it an "extended existence". What if you perceive the game world is better then the real world and you can no longer tell the difference, and you don't need to worry your physical body in the 'real world' at all? Would you start searching for another mini-dimention INSIDE that mini-dimension because it offers somthing (specifically a change to normally unchangable variables) that compells you?