Where is depth and meaning

Just been thinking... it kind of hit me that there seems to be little depth in Second Life. Are parks the only places I can go to get away from countless malls, clubs, and other money making machines? SL is one of the best things since sliced bread without a doubt, but with everything great comes something nasty, and I've realized here it's about money...(duh ) Many people here seem motivated by the ability to make real life money. But it just gets old after a while...

I'm hungry to see SL with innocent eyes. This may be a foolish thing, I mean, this is a game after all... And of course, there are always places like the Atlantis sim... Maybe I should make lemonade out of the lemon and create the depth I seek...

I just wanted to know if anyone feels the same way...
Maybe I am missing something

You should ask your self this stuff about the RW.

You are not the only one, while some of us have to go about it in other ways to make ends meet to see our dreams, you are not alone in wanting a nice corp free world to enjoy and have fun in.

The beautiful builds may provide the appropriate settings for the mind to view however the depth is found inside of the person sitting at the computer terminal. Connecting the green dots of like mind is the issue. I see the opportunity for like minds to connect in spite of the separation of their physical selves via the internet to be one that is underutilized. Perhaps it is not the innocent but rather the mature mind which implements this aspect.
Is it neccessary to have a commerce free environment? Isn't there room for both to exist in the same realm? The necessity of work and money does not invalidate the other components of my life. I don't see the necessity for exclusivity.

*applause* Well said, Margaret.

Make Something Yourself Then.

Squawk! Polly wanna cracker?

Then again, perhaps SL isn't the best place to develop a meeting place for mature minds. It seems that SL would be more reflective of its makeup if it were displayed as a very narrow corridor.

You write like Shakespeare...let me reach for my Cliffs notes, heh (it's a compliment)

I think I understand what you're saying...though I'm not sure. I'm not saying SL should be exclusive. If I wanted a game with depth and nothing else, I'd play something like Underlight. Balance is always good, but I don't really see it in SL. That's all I'm saying.

When you speak of "connecting the green dots of like mind", do you mean forming a group?

Shakespeare? Whoa; I think before I write and try to choose my words carefully but it's a long way from the ghetto streets where I was raised to that. My english teachers would be proud so I'll thank you on their behalf.

Splat1 brought up a commerce free environment; my comments were more directed at that post than to you, Nimue.

SL is lacking in the area of connectivity outside of Tr/sl/bingo and pixel sex. Take note of threads regarding alternative events, using find to locate a product, or the land for sale tool. Whatever the search, be it for green dots of like minds, service rendered/given, or products, SL sucks (for lack of better an olde english alternative description). I am able to envision a more fluid connectivity which surpases the boundaries of RL.

Are groups the answer? Ummm, no. At least not from my experience with them, which is admittedly limited. Perhaps they're hindered by the same limits that individuals have here. For all the creativity that exists here, I am surprised that there hasn't been more cooperation and less "squawking" from the warring factions. A good start would be to have the forums as a place to express one's thoughts without fear of attack by cranky, bitchy game players. Wouldn't that be welcome, Nimue?

I've thought about this myself from time to time and how I feel about it... admittedly the SL world is full of things that might seem shallow to some. It just doesn't feel that way to me because whether it's packaged in a mall or people dancing for hours in a club or a silly sculpture on someone's lawn, when I look at it I see self expression. I might not like everything that gets expressed or the way it gets expressed, but even the most banal things in SL are still the result of someone deciding what to do and taking a stab at it. That makes everything in SL seem very human to me.

On another level, no matter what people are actually building or doing in SL, I've met more articulate, intelligent, funny, smart and wonderful people here then I've ever seen gathered in one place before. That makes it hard for me to think of SL as shallow even if we're all sitting around playing barbie goes to the mall.

I agree with Chip and would like to say that one's peception = one's reality.

It's all in what you want to see.

It really is all you make of it. It can be as shallow or as vivid as you want it to be. That's... well, what Second Life lets people do.

I would say anyone who's concerned that Second Life is too shallow should sit down and imbue the world with their own vision of it. That's my "escape," and I limit my visits to only a handful of sims.

Try it. Even if you're in a sandboxen, put some stuff together for others.

And it will slowly get better. The tools provide their own share of problems that hamper creativity - but they're slowly being fleshed out. Havok 2. New rendering. Patience will be quite rewarded, in my opinion.

Everything is fine in moderation.

Some places are overkill with the usual. Personally, I'd like to see more orignal content even if it's something that exisits but a modification to it. Although it's not that important that it makes or breaks the SL experience.

Thus my love/hate relationship with the public sandboxes. No malls or casinos. (Shooting is another issue.) Sometimes you see something that is just beyond creative. You meet someone making a modification of what SL has already, but they are making it their own. Some people can design weapons like no one's business. The person in the next sandbox builds what looks like a Roman palace.

That is what makes SL different from other 3D worlds/metaverses. That is where the depth and meaning comes from. Even if it's someone's imagination, most things I see when people are creating it doesn't end up on sale. They do it "just because" they can.

Kinda like the people who climb mountains. They do it simply because the option and the chance they could do it, exsists.

SL is like that in a metaphorical sense.

Some people go over the same old hills hoping to gain something.
Others want and choose to climb the mountains. Simply because they know there is more than just the hills.

Very narrow indeed. And I'll tell you where the depth *isn't* -- it isn't on these forums LOL.

I used to be very, very idealistic about the meetings of the minds in games like these.

Now I'm not.

Now I see them as venues for great harm.

People should realize that when splat is talking about understanding those who want a "commerce-free environment" that he himself is wooting it up for his group just selling out a whole sim full of parcelled and deeded places in a gated community.

It's not the shallowness that worries me, it's the closure, the tunnels, the cul-de-sacs, the little grouplets caving in on themselves with stupid little lame jokes.

Then picture a lot of those, cut and pasted.