George Linden - out of game, I salute you. The heartfelt battle being waged over this point shows just how much we love our second life. Don't you feel sometimes like you're playing Sim City?
George Linden - in-game, down with the Evil King! A new government, I say! A government of democracy where we will make our decisions for ourselves rather than waiting on some invisible entity to bestow them upon us! We will fight with scripted muskets upon damage-enabled lands for our freedom, a grand battle with those who would stop our secession from the union! (No Dixie or slave references please.) And it will be a battle that will be spoken of with pride among those who took part in it. Newbies will be in awe of the history of SL when we speak with nostalgia of the Great Revolution!
Everyone else - sit back and enjoy the revolution. Don't take it too personally unless you're in-character. For those of you who aren't acquainted with this outlook, it goes like this:
Your in-game persona is different than your out-of-game persona. You look different, you have a different environment, you go by a different clock and do different things. When you are in the game, you are playing a fictional character. When playing the game, you are IC, or "in-character", and when acting out of the game, you are OOC, or "out-of-character". For example, IC I am a raving liberal rebel who decries taxes, but OOC I realize I'm just playing a game.
Now there's nothing saying you HAVE to seperate your in-game life from our out-of-game life. But doing so might help you keep your sanity! Moreover, it'll help keep the forums relatively CIVIL. Just because we have strong opinions on game factors and political alliances doesn't mean we can't come to the forums and discuss the game in good humor!
I imagine the SL-forum connection more like a game of chess, where a dream of locked warriors fighting for their lives is broken with a handshake of mutual respect. I see it like those old cartoons where when the time-clock goes off, the sheep dog and the wolf drop everything and punch out on the clock to go have coffee before returning to pound on each other. Being able to enjoy the game while still respecting one another as players who enjoy the same game will continue to keep SL great.
