Emotional involvement in SL

Yes, there is a lot of emotional involvement in SL. I lost an SL friend recently. She died from injuries sustained in a car accident. She lived in the UK and I live in the US. We never met or spoke in voice or on the phone, but I took this very hard and cried lots of tears. I still get tears in my eyes when I think of her. I never thought a virtual relationship would affect me this way.

I occasionally will stop by the plot of land I bought when I first came to SL, almost a year ago. It came with a small furnished house so I was all set to go. The plot is now owned by someone else but seeing it brings back the feelings of wonderment I had those first few weeks discovering how things worked and exploring my little region of the world and sitting in my new house on my own land.

Hi Lindal. You sound just like my Mum used to. She was a teacher and believed the best of people until she got stabbed in the classrom. THAT is an emotional experience, not finding out that your SL partner has been unfaithful to you with a tiny shapeshifting werewolf succubus.

Pep (From my point of view, YOU are inside the cage)

Don't you think that you intentionally pissing people off on the forums proves you are wrong about emotional responses in online environments?

You're making this too black and white....it's not an either/or situation. Yes, being in a life threatening situation is more emotional, but that doesn't mean people in SL don't get genuinely attached to each other, or aren't hurt if things go badly between them.

Point: Colette

Please check my minimalist response earlier in the thread; it makes nonsense of your comment.

Pep (I too have an emotional response to those unable to read, comprehend or remember)

I am genuinely attached to the Dilbert that sits on top of my PC and I am hurt when my rugby team lose.

Pep (A question of degree)

This is like saying to someone who is going through an emotional breakup with someone that their emotions are invalid, because it would be worse if their child just jumped out the window to a nasty death. Yes, there are gradations of pain, but greater pain does not invalidate lesser pain or make it trivial, or justify implying that it is "[not] an emotional experience".

You EDITED this?

Pep (LOL doesn't do justice to the emotion)

This would matter if that response were consistent with the rest of your posts on this thread.

Colette (I think Pep is a troll)

Yay, way to purposely miss the point!

Every avatar in SL has a real person attached (unlike your Dilbert) and many of us have interactions which have resulted in some level of emotional or intellectual intimacy (unlike, I assume, you have with your rugby team as a whole). You're comparing apples and zebras here.

You already know I have you muted, but that doesn't stop me from seeing when other people have quoted you. To that end...

Pep? Please do all of us poor emotional wretches a favour and bloody well shut up. In fact, kindly just bugger off out of this thread and stop trying to turn it into yet another Mr Spock crusade of superior intellect and rationality vs the animal underbelly of weak human emotions.

Truthfully, a lot of us would thank you for it.

Skell (Returning you to your regularly-scheduled muting, and thank God for it.)

All of my posts are consistent; perhaps too complex an argument for a thread, however, that seems to want motherhood and apple pie.

Pep (Everyone has the right to an opinion; everyone has the right to be wrong)

(especially Pep)

Makes one wonder how you'd react to a real crisis. You know, involving things that actually matter or even marginally concern you.

For your mental wellness, man, find a well-written book and go someplace where you aren't emotionally upset by people who don't hang on your every word. Fact is, your pendantic writings are so stuffy as to bore the heck out of even the most attentive of linguists. Don't blame people in casual conversation for nodding off on you.

Congratulations on dragging down yet another perfectly reasonable thread on your obsessive quest for attention.

Folks - realize that by responding to a Troll, you're helping them accomplish two things:

-Focus all the attention (whether positive or negative) completely upon them.

-Derail the thread by switching the topic from the OP to the Troll.

If you look at the last page or so of responses, I'd say mission accomplished. Of course, merely by posting this reminder, I've become part of the problem myself

I've had the guy on my ignore list for weeks. If everyone stopped quoting him, I'd never know what he was up to.

Stands up and applauds loudly!!!

Why don't you focus on my opinions and arguments rather than me? I thought that was required thread behaviour . . .

Pep (or does an alternative point of view make you feel uncomfortable?)

/me points to the ignore button available to all participants

Pep (other mutings are available)

Quite magnanimous of you....many thanks.

Pep (and I think I know his main) made it to my Ban and Mute lists in world some time back. Now he's graduated to being Ignored as well.

/me dusts off her hands, satisfied at another job well done and another bit of her SL world beautified.

Pep - how did dems get da knife away from yews? Did yew foget takes yews meds dat day too?

Oy...he's an alt?

I think you're seeing all of the above in this thread alone, Derek!