Emotional involvement in SL

I can say quite honestly that SL is the most immersive virtual environment I have come across in the 10 years of my internet life, which makes it almost impossible to avoid being enraptured by everything.

Have other members (ie residents) suffered the emotional highs and lows that can arise through the interaction with other residents? Personally, I have experienced true joy, anger, despair, inspiration, and even heartbreak, and lots of other sensations that I never expected to encounter.

Am I unusual in this, or is this a common theme? Sorry if this is an old topic.

Perhaps Luckily, perhaps not, it all seems to happen 10 times faster than real life too, eventually you get used to it or go seeking other aspects of SL to explore.

No, Derek, you are not alone in this. It's been said before - SL is a virtual world, but there are people behind the pixels. Any emotion that exists within the heart of the person behind the avatar can be and often is expressed in his/her relationships with other SL residents.

This is my first experience with a virtual environment. I'd never participated in usenet groups or online fora before, either.

I was overwhelmed by the beauty, creativity and level of detail in the builds I came across here in SL, much like I felt the first time I went to Florence, Italy as a tourist (in RL). Staggering.

I've made good friends here. That was completely unexpected. Now I cannot imagine my life without them.

There has been drama. Oy, has there been drama. Didn't see that coming, either.

I've laughed, cried, loved, cursed, and laughed some more; I've learned a lot about myself, and each day is a new opportunity to soak up more knowledge.

To be honest I have everthing I need in RL as far as love and friendship is concerned, and I'm certainly too old and unimaginitive and maybe honest, to engage in an online romance.

This doesn't mean I'm not open to new experiences in SL, and already I've met fascinating people who, given some time, I'm sure could become more than acquaintances

Perhaps I'm too conservative or not "getting it" though, or maybe too cynical, but honesty and transparency are critical for me in any true friendship, and I'm not sure how that will work for me in an environment where it seems the facade is even more important and opaque than in RL.

I think this is actually something I have to learn, but right at the moment, I'm not sure I can trust anyone enough to call them a friend if I don't even know whether they're male or female in RL.

This isn't a demand for transparency from everyone, and I don't reserve politeness, communication, enjoyment of another's company based on gender or any other label, nor would I hold back on friendship based on these things in RL.

In my naivity though, I'm not sure I can become true friends with someone who is in fact a simple mental representation of any facade or fantasy they feel they want to act out in SL.

I know that the reply may be that even in RL we are all simply players, and the world is just a stage, but at least when I meet someone in RL I can be sure we're at least in the same play. Again though, to each their own on this.

I've heard that some people believe that they can sense the truth about someone down the wire, the spirit perhaps. Again I'm not sure of that, I've heard too often of intelligent people who feel this way and pride themselves on this 6th sense only to find themselves at the very least surprised, disappointed, hurt when confronted with reality.

As for being hurt, angered etc by people in SL. Again this boils down to engagement. Imay enjoy someone's company, I may like the incarnation of themselves they choose to play out in SL. However, until now, I've never been so invested in SL or the individuals themselves to feel anything either way should things go wrong.

I think Tegg raised a reality for me at any rate by mentioning the acceleration of emotion cycles in SL. Is this some special new dynamic we are experiencing, or is it simply that the emotions and investment we share with each other are of a lesser, more shallow variety whatever words we use to describe them.

I get emotional when I hear a newbie say "hey, look I can fly"

Yes, but is it cheating?

Have other people suffered the emotional highs and lows that can arise through the interaction with other people? Get real. Once you are clothed and warm and fed, everything else is only ever interesting because other people are somehow involved - as partners, as subjects, as an audience, as a reference group. Even when we're looking for alien life, we're really looking for other people, with other people. There is nothing but other people out there in the world, other people and things we might want to give them to get the things they made.

There is no difference in substance between any known social environments, including the one that rests on physical atoms and not on bytes and pixels to do it's thing. Just in form, the medium. It has it's own highs and lows, influencing how things work, but it's just another form. And SL has the most well-developed form to date...

For the most part SL is very enjoyable, talking to people, going to events, exploring and things. Most of the time recently I've spent working on scripting projects, but then I enjoy that too so it's not a bad thing.

Unfortunately SL can get some drama now and then, usually people who are immersing themselves in SL because of RL drama and it ends up blowing over into SL in silly ways. It's worst when a friend explodes over what is really a tiny issue and has a falling out with another of your friends, as it's hard then to mediate when usually both are being stupid but there's no easy way to tell them this, as each of them pressures to pick a side.

I personally avoid drama where possible. I like my store, I like my home, I like scripting, and I like my friends. If my friends have fallings out or are going through tough times, then I'll listen, and comment where I can, they're my friends after all. However, I generally avoid getting involved in group endeavours, as it is too easy for drama to arise in such situations.

Is the Pope Catholic?

Pep (Is there REALLY any point in this thread?)

Well I am gaining a lot of insights into other people's opinions, which is of value to me ...

If you find no point in this thread, then why post ...?

PS ... or are you my FIRST troll, haha

This I find interesting. I agree, life in SL seems to go much faster than rl. I wonder if anyone has an explanation for this.

I think I read on a web article somewhere, it is linked to the way information is processed due to the immersion. Information bypasses a lot of the protection systems we use in RL, and so is assimilated more quickly. This leads to acceptance at a faster rate, hence things seem to develop more quickly.

That is my interpretation anyway, even if I got it wrong.

I certainly have experienced many emotions during my sojourns in SL.

But all those things you describe have also been experienced by people
participating in text-based chat rooms, blogs, mailing lists and phone
conversations. =)

- Infrared

. . .and watching TV, and movies, and plays, and reading books, and sitting in bars, and . . .

Pep (Second Life is a subset of Life)

Second Life makes me so angrrry!

why wont it work!! why!! why!!! WHY!!!

Yes. No. Yes.

Questions answered unambiguously and conclusively.

Pep (I suggest you close the thread and open another one with a different question, one which focuses on your apparent need for vicarious pleasure)

I came here looking for an adventure game found another world. I have fallen in love, been so angry I wanted to punch someone, felt sadness for someone's misfortune, been so amazed my eyes grew wide and my jaw dropped open, laughed until my ribs hurt and found great contentment and satisfaction.

Anyone who stays in SL for any length of time is going to discover that we are people. We aren't hunting orcs, there's no goal or quest. It is a micro-society involving real people, and whenever you interact with real people, you're going to react in very human ways no matter what your avatar looks like.

Haha you seem to relish getting personal. I will not continue dialogue with a troll though.

I've definitely experienced heightened emotions since coming to SL. I laugh, I cry, I love, I dislike (never seem to "hate" anyone...it's a non-productive emotion), I share, I help where I can. My second life is just as important to me as my first life.

My comments are uncontroversial, relevant and on-topic, intended to answer the specific questions you asked.

Pep (Perhaps you *are* too sensitive for this sort of thing)

Yes: The realization of something deeper behind the bytes of code which make up an electronic representation of pseudo-beings in a microcosmic virtual world, and searching for confirmation of a newly-found dimension to it all. Much as one human suddenly realizes there seems to be something "out there" and looks to a fellow human for validation.

"Am I the only one that feels this way?"

What a uniquely human question for an avatar.

What is the point of the thread? Humanity.

Beautifully put and I entirely agree, Steely.

Pep (You are answering my question not the OPs though)

I have learned not to hate either. In my early days on the forums, there was a group of people who took a dislike to me and made my life hell. Naturally there was good reason for me to hate them, but it didn't seem worth the effort, I just left them alone. When I have come across another resident with hate issues, I have tried to talk them back down to ground level

LOL