Second Life = Deviant Life? Have YOUR say

Oh come on, he was good in Dogma.

QFT!

That was a great movie.

Today's Questions:

1. Some people suggest that Second Life encourages deviant activities. Do you feel your behaviour is less inhibited in Second Life than the physical world?

A. Absolutely.

2. Some people suggest that Second Life mirrors the physical world. Is your experience of Second Life remote from, or close to, the physical world in which you reside?
2. Remote but with some elements.

3. There is 3D avatar creation technology in Second Life, do you want an avatar that closely resembles you, or realises some new desired image?

No.

4. In the communities of Second Life, there are various norms and rules, how do they shape your views about deviant activities?

I pay little attention to norms and rules imposed by others in SL or RL. I abide by my own which may or may not reflect those of contemporary society.

Hope that helps.

I was reading quickly and skipped over the "BDSM" before "Czech weekend getaway" and I was trying to figure out what it is about those deviant Czechs that would make us want to go there for a weekend.

http://www.owk.cz/index.htm

There are... less intense... BDSM B&Bs in New York State as well... for those who don't wish the full Czech Deviant Experience.

/me chuckles and moves along

A little too good if you ask me. I think perhaps he made some kind of unholy arrangement. Damien, what do you know about this?

I deny any knowledge of those events.

There seems to be some confusion, debate in the video comments section about what the animals are.

(anyone think the SL Forums are mean? look at the comments in that ferret video linked above . . or . . um . . look in this thread. heh).

It's stoatally obvious to me.

Ah, they are all long thin hyper animals. I can never tell them apart.

Well since you are using a medium called TEH INTERNETS it might be useful to go back in history a bit.

Questions from somewhere around 1995-1998:

1. Some people suggest that TEH INTERNETS encourages deviant activities. Do you feel your behaviour is less inhibited in TEH INTERNETS han the physical world?

2. Some people suggest that TEH INTERNETS mirrors the physical world. Is your experience of TEH INTERNETS remote from, or close to, the physical world in which you reside?

3. There is nickname creation technology in TEH INTERNETS , do you want an identity that closely resembles you, or realises some new desired image?

4. In the communities of TEH INTERNETS, there are various norms and rules, how do they shape your views about deviant activities?

*YAWNS*

Yep looks like a stoat to me:

http://www.taxidermy.co.uk/mammals/full/white_stoat.jpg

Talking about hyper animals thou.......... Switching from weasel family to rodent family. We used to have rats, which are highly intelligent and very gentle creatures. The only problems with rats is if you have ADULT MALE rats...... My ex suffered from a horrible inferiority complex after they grew up and hated them from that point on

Quote from a rat website:

"The first sight of a male rat can be a shock to the uninitiated. Those testicles, giant pillow-like things hanging behind the rump, seem to take up one's entire field of vision. Rat testicles -- also known as torpedoes and goolies -- give rise to a lot of humor and embarrassment"

OK let me try a more serious answer.




This kind of behavior is called griefing in Second Life. Deviants are called griefers. Griefing means deliberately disturbing, damaging or hampering someone else's experience of Second Life. It can mean harrassment, insult or attacks with scripted weapons. Activities like deception, lying, theft and fraud are also considerent against the social norms in SL. The same goes for invading someone's privacy.

All these activities would fit your description of "deviant" very well.



No, I feel the same level of inhibition in both worlds when it comes to deliberately hurting or damaging someone else.



When it comes to antisocial behavior the rules are very similar in both worlds.



I cannot see any relevance in that question. Behavior should never be linked to physical appearance. This is called prejudice, both in RL and SL.



Yes. The way antisocial behavior is being dealt with in SL is extremely interesting. You should get in-world and find out for yourself. There is a lot to study there.

I have first dibs on the watermelon colored boxes!

You may not know for sure . . .

Pie ( . . . but you can in ferret)

I disagree.

Pie (Merely by entering SL as an avatar you initiate a lie, and it grows)

Apparently you are unable to read.
it is no matter of winning or loosing, you let the forum get to you way to much. That is why you should leave for a bit, in my opinion. Not because I say so, but because it would be better for your own piece of mind.
The initiative for Chris is the most perfect example of how this forum and its users can be a community. It shows that people do care. Whether you want to see it or not.
Finally, I could not care less about your dyslexia. The only thing I did care about it your 'teh', which you admitted in another thread you did on purpose. And I cared about the fact you did not use spelling correction even when knowing your posts were full of errors.


Of course Second Life is just another business. Not some idealistic platform.


What I know of you is what you told in the forum, not more, not less. And I do not pretend to know you either. I do know that you do not read what I wrote though.
What I said is: "It is only the freaking forum you know?" (well, I mistyped and said greaking). Meaning: It is not real life, it is some web pages you can easily close. Don't get fed up by it.
No one says it is a gang or something either, though that is the easiest defense of people who do not get what they want. "It's a clique, it's a gang". Gimme a break.


If it is a broken-down shagged-out idea, I really do not understand why you make such a fuzz about it. One paragraph ago it was a global community, now it is a shagged-out idea. Go figure.

Finally, about the nasty little bitch part.
In my opinion I always tried to be friendly to you. The way you react to me, does indeed show a nasty streak. So maybe you are right, I don't know. And to be honest, I care less and less.

Didn't you post that as the wrong alt?

(So Mark Twain and William Shakespeare were liars?)

Adding my QFT to Oryx's here.

And adding: The OP was purportedly researching deviance in an emerging online community. One might suppose him to be interested in the formation of mores and taboos in communities, and how those communities enforce those social norms.

He said he'd studied the response to other surveys in these Forums.

So unless the OP is an idiot (which I doubt), the web survey was a prop. It's this thread that is the instrument.

Actually this is interesting, I'm surprised there's so many pages of worthless chatter. I'm doing a study too for University into whether Virtual Environment are enhancing our evolution or robbing us of our humanity.

I think the first thing to remember is that Second Life was started by Philip Rosendale because of his love of Virtual Worlds as a kid. He wanted to create a place that would in many way reflect real life, but also go beyond the boundaries of what one can achieve in Real Life (Flying without need for a plane, for example).

Second Life is diverse to say the very least. It is all designed by its people and so this means we've ended up with a salmagundi of things from realistic to, frankly, bizarre. One example of realism is the Linden Lab Office. It was designed for use by other Lindens in-world and was built as an EXACT reproduction of the meeting/conference room at the San Francisco Battery Lab, even to the point where they have a special relay that sends to the sound to the Second Life version of the office in 3D surround. In this way we can see how Second Life can be used to recreate a first life scenario.

Then you have your myriad of fantasy worlds, everything from alien planets to alternative histories (such as Steampunk Genre Victoriana). Diverse collections of ideas that are only actually possible in an environment such as this and this is why Second Life has become such a valuable creative tool.

One one level, Second Life has allowed people to expand their creative thinking well beyond what is achievable in Real Life. In this way it is not any different from any other 3D building program other than that it is rather more crude. On another level it has become a valuable tool for business and education. IBM have a number of sims dedicated to building, education and business that are beginning to pioneer success stories in Second Life.

But it seems all of this gets lost in the press for the seedier side of Second Life. Does Second Life encourage people to be Deviant? Certainly not. Second Life encourages you to use your imagination. The tagline is 'your world, your imagination'. The seedier sex side of Second Life has been in the press quite a bit and perhaps this has cast the platform in a bad light over recent times. Some people have often feared that this might effect the future of education of Business and Education in Second Life but I don't think this is so. Why? Look at the internet. One of the Internet's largest industries is Sex. The Internet is littered with sites dedicated to all manner of pornographic subjects and yet it is still an invaluable part of everyone's every day life on social, business and educational levels. I don't think Second Life having a sex scene is any different to the Internet having a sex scene.
Second Life is a blank page. It is an empty book and its users are its authors. It is up to the user what content they put into it.

Does Second Life encourage people to be deviant? Again no. But it does serve as something of an unwitting catalyst for deviation of the mind to various levels including the seedier side. Finding oneself in a world where the impossible is suddenly possible combined with the anonymity of hiding behind a 3D model that is essentially 'you' in that world, I find that it rather sets people's minds to thinking about all of the things they would never dream of trying in First Life. I friend of mine has a female avatar in Second Life. While this usually sets up the red flag of alarm, he is rather honest about this and is a regular user of voice without aid of a voice changer. He simply prefers looking at a woman. Does this have any deviant qualities to it? Possibly. But then show me a straight man who doesn't like looking at a woman. Does this make him a crossdresser in Real Life? Certainly not. It merely means that he has taken the initiative to think outside of the box. To create something different to what the thought processes would normally come up with. It shows a level of creativity. The standard choice to make when presented with male or female if you are a man is to choose male but people choose female for different reasons.

Yes. there are people who fully immerse themselves in Second Life. It becomes their first life and while it is tragic, it comes about for many reasons. Escapism. Many people have had tough lives and Second Life, to them, represents a clean break where they can be someone new and make new friends and forget about an otherwise horrible past. Some people have disabilities. There was a story not too long ago about a man who could not work who found the ability to walk in Second Life rather refreshing. Most of it, and when i say most i would say 85%, is innocent fun. Yes, there is the lie of pretending to be a woman and many people have got snagged in this lie in the past (not me, thankfully). There was a story in a Second Life tabloid about a man who had been dating this woman in SL for a year and was going to marry her in RL and live with her, ecetera. Only...she was a man in Real Life.

Unavoidably Second Life DOES have its darker side. But in this way it reflects real life also. If you give people something in Real Life then a number of those people will undoubtedly try to ruin it or abuse it in some fashion. It is just part of the way some people are to constantly want to tear down that which is good for their own gratification. There will always be 'Crime (griefing)' in Second Life just as there will always be crime in First Life. But Second Life still does serve as a catalyst for ordinary people to go way beyond their bounds of reason and try something that would be considered even taboo in Real Life. If you look at the Second Life Police Blotter on the support page 'Indicent Report' then you can see a list of the most recent disciplines and the reasons for being banned (it doesn't show names). Sometimes you see the word 'age play', in there.

(Continued...)

This is a tricky subject. Age Play. Does being banned for age play mean that person is a pedophile in real life? I would say no. But i would also add that the potential is certainly there. Some people argue that their Second Life is COMPLETELEY separate to their first life. That they are a different person in Real Life. I think this is false because whatever you do anywhere and in whatever format or medium you do it in reflects on you as a person. If you act like an ass in Second Life, nobody is going to assume you're probably a really nice person in Real Life. In the same way that if you get banned for age play in Second Life, people are going to attach stigma to that person and it wont be good. The Real Life/Second Life divide has led to many complications. It is often used as a justification for people to 'fall in love' on Second Life despite being 'happily married' in first life. I believe they call it 'SLove'. However, there are a number of problems with this. The first and foremost problem is that adultery is adultery no matter how you try to justify it. If you are married in Real Life and claim to be happily married, then there is no good reason why you should be chasing skirt in Second Life. Some people I have spoke to in this very situation say say 'But it's just a game. It's just fun'. My response to this is always 'Would your wife agree with you?'. Since 99% of the time their wife/husband is not aware of these activities. Some people are not happily married and find love in Second Life. They see it is a second chance and often end up making plans to divorce in real life and move away. Love DOES happen in Second Life and it doesn't always end in total disaster. I found my SL and RL wife in Second Life. I fell in love with her for her personality rather than her avatar and we're rather happy here in RL. We both still use Second Life and are both still partnered to each other. Because we are happily married we don't see any reason to go messing around with other people.

Then there is the extreme. The taboo subjects that aren't necessarily illegal (depending on where you live) but are most certainly not considered 'normal'. People will have families in Second Life. It is a strange social grouping but for some reason people seem to throw themselves into these roles of being part of a faux family. Some people go further and incest (even in a roleplay sense) can occur. Whether it makes the people involved Real Life Perverts to be put on the sex offenders register, I don't know. But I would certainly say that the potential of a pervert is there even if they are a descent person in Real Life. I knew a woman in Second Life who was rather pleasant and quite intelligent to talk to. I one day discovered that, inside of SL, she rather enjoyed having sex with farmyard animals and furry avatars. Her claim to this was that she was simply exploring her wild side and would never do it in Real Life. But I had to ask myself if this was really true. People DO things in Second Life because the desire to do it is there. That Desire is real. The illusion of virtual reality often perpetuates this desire to be stirred into action quicker than it would if it were a Real Life scenario. But in my opinion is that any desire is a Real Life working of your brain. Justifying it with the use of a virtual world is irrelevant and I often think that these people would probably do the things they do in Real Life if presented with the situation.

So in conclusion. Does Second Life equate to Deviant Life? Yes. But then that is what Second Life was designed for. It is a deviation of Real Life. However. Deviant does not necessarily had to have bad connotations. Could YOU build the Eiffel Tower by yourself in Real Life? Probably not. In this way, Second Life Deviates.

Does Second Life encourage people to Deviate?
No. But its formate does serve as a catalyst.

Does Second Life reflect Real Life?
In of itself? No. Not at all. Second Life by itself is a blank page. Nothing more. Socially? Of course. We have explore in these posts everything from crime to perversion to education to business and general socialism. In this way it most certainly reflects real life. You could attach a label to Second Life as being a platform for perverts, but much, much worse happens in Real Life. Usually the label is attached by uninformed journalists who have had a bad experience with a Second Life prostitute anyway.
Second Life, is only as good as its people. First Life is only as good as its people. In this way the two are the same. You get perverts and criminals in SL and you get perverts and criminals in RL. But let us not forget that also in both worlds we get builders, designers, artists, musicians, visionaries, professors, teachers, police (Linden Labs G-Team), your average joe on the street, entrepreneurs, politicians, businessmen and women, psychologists, mediums, the list goes on and on.


Second Life is most definitely Deviant Life. But deviant in so many good and constructive ways.

Nope

*FANTASTIC* liars!

Pep (That's why their books are in the "Fiction" section of the library)

Holy crap Soap.... *while read the essay later...*

If it's not presented as fact, it's not a lie, except in Lee Killough's novel "Deadly Silents".