Is Eternity Boring?

We have had some heartfelt postings on here by people who appeared to be making genuine claims that they'd been banned from SL as a result of a malicious abuse report. For them, the mortality and fragility of the SL existence has been all too real.

I have a vague notion that I intend to stay in SL for a maximum of 10 years, no matter how good a time I have here. That gives me 8 years to go. However I'll review the situation nearer my deadline - assuming I'm still around in SL, or indeed SL itself is still going. I hope it will be - and with SHADOWS!

I don't know if I'd actually cancel my account - more likley I'd just keep it going as a basic one and make the occasional come-back appearance at my old haunts.

Well, Pep, you right again. Wow. Chalk another one up. But I just wonder how you can dislike "the things do"?

Let's use teh topic of the thread as an example. Is a world that offers all advantages of perpetuality boring?

I keep busy and creative. I have tried to improve the arts in sl by purchasing over 500 pieces of art from numerous creative people who come to sl. Maintaining that collection is a task that keeps me occupied. I dialogue with a number of people who come from various parts of teh world on their art. With teh average cost of a painting here at 500 lindens you can see I am generous to artists. I think that is a socially responsible behaviour.

I have maintained a partnership with a very intelligent man for two straight years. It's certainly NOT boring to be friend with this person who is in reality an academic and a Renaissance man. If I known him in real IF I had known him at the time when he was a young man I would have been honoured to marry/partner him. Trust me when I say that he is living proof NOT every person who comes to sl is a "basement dweller". Life with him in sl is NOT a desert of vast eternity. But he is 64 years old and I am faced with many REAL issues when I am with him because I am 29 now. SL is a conduit for us. So thank you "eternity" for allowing us to be together.

I'm not a "clubber" or a hang-out-on-a-beach person. My life and my living has driven me to a reclusive reality. I am not complaining BUT sl offers some companionship. Its definitely NOT boring. I am a high-end busy personality and feed off stress so SL provides a respite for me when I am "coming down" from work/travel/work/travel. Boring? Nope.

I actually do use many of teh ideas I formulate here both with my partner and with threads etc. Its a fragment of opinion that has opened up to me. I can't exactly walk up to a complete stranger in teh street and ask them if they liek sex with dragons. Or ask them to divulge their deepest angst-ridden selves (oh, I dont ask that in the forums, I save that for my friends in sl itself). This awareness of others helps me to be creative. So boring? No. People are as varied as the ocean itself as John Donne implied. Wonderful beings - especially when they are NOT perfect and when they make mistakes. Then they are lovely and human and souled and all teh ways we know ourselves. Not boring at all.

But I am mortal - in real I have died twice and been resuscitated so I know what it means to actually die because I was conscious moments before my "death' in real. And taht mortality will carry through here in this life. Because life demands an end to that life - NOT a passing but a dying and makes everything more worthwhile. Sl is another window - "wasaychigan" in one of the languages I know. A window to look through and look beyond. If I "die" here I will go. Simple as that. I've stayed alive for two years so I must be doing something right. And in my "line of work" in sl a year or so ago that was difficult!

That is what I meant when I asked my question. I guess I must give great cause for dislike.

(Added to my answer; I cant speak about my reality but I am equally passionate in my physical life and have given some pleasure to many people. That has been my "saving grace."

You answered your own question for me, thanks.

Pep (I am sure one or other of the infinite number of eternities is not as boring as this one)

Man, the last time I saw this kind of thread it was started by someone who was obviously a somewhat naive griefer who was so far out of touch with reality they thought they could talk LL into letting them REALLY grief people for good.

I never thought I'd see an otherwise sane person suggest it.

There's been too many people I've known in SL dying for real to make simulated death even vaguely attractive.

Don't take Pep personally, I have seen a few comments by him in many topics that make me think he isn't too enamored with the female gender no matter who is wearing it. I think they make nice armcandy and cook and clean well but outside that nah

That was mean. Seriously.

/me is not at all sexist - didn't you read what I said about the difference between not liking people and not liking the things they do.

Pep (Doesn't like the stupid things males do either)

She specifically asked the question.

Pep (If you don't want answers, don't ask questions)

My Dad died on September 7th. I've been thinking about eternity a great deal recently, Argent.
Oh, and on September 6th (one day before my Dad's death) I was involved in an accident and had to be revived at the scene since I was clinically dead.
So I reckon I am amply qualified to raise thread.
(I should explain my accident had nothing to do with his dying - he had early onset dementia and his death was a blessed release for all of my family, including him since he was one of teh most brilliant of men of his generation.)

Jig, my condolences on your loss and best wishes for a full recovery.

Thanks Brenda. I didnt really want to get too real on teh threads but in teh case of some threaders I thought I had to.

I am not sure what to say on teh subject however. I spoke to my partner in sl this mornign who reinterated his disapproval of my intention should some whack-job griefer knock me off or whatever in sl. He understands teh point I make - that we mustnt take ANYTHING for granted. Heavens! I may be posting to a person who is a para- or quadraplegic. or someone with a terminal disease. If so, then teh question I ask IS valid and pertinant. I have "died" twice in real both times without due warning. It certainly concentrates teh mind.

My Dad had a bad time in the end. His brain "calcified" rapidly. He was much older than my Mum, and she was bravely his advocate all along. We still process this nightmare. But as a family we are NOT unique to knowledge of that dreadful illness.

SL has been an escape. Its all I meant with the question. How do we really process this whole issue? Its a more serious topic but I am certain Lindens would approve of my asking it.

That's actually scary: you're the third major-auto-accident victim I've encountered recently in SL. And September is a bit early for the holiday season to be responsible.
We're all "angels trapped in a dying animal" and so qualified to raise this thread. I just don't think of avatars as any more "immortal" than their players, so I honestly don't see the point in creating that much of a simulation of RL in SL.

I number four non-routine and quality-of-life reducing hysterectomies and two cancer treatments amongst my (apparently limited number of) sl friends in the last three months, as well as the premature death of two close friends of sl friends in that time. And those are just the things I know about. Several sl friends have "disappeared" with no explanation when there was nothing to suggest that they were unenamoured with their virtual experience. The age profile of sl participants means that this should not be surprising really.

Pep (Doesn't fall into the trap of wanting immortality if it isn't associated with eternal youth)

Well put, otters. And also the other poster who noted that our RL mortality carries over to SL.

We're all still human. Humans die...and are incapable of imagining their own nonexistence.

The upshot of that is that I think it's pointless to have your avatar "die". She's no more eternal than you yourself are, anyway. If you "die" in SL, but contiue to live in RL, then you haven't died, you just stopped playing. If you die in RL, your av dies with you. And then you get to find out what's on the other side of those dark gates, and SL won't be of much concern to you.

I don't know about my avatar.. but I'd sure as heck find the concept of being in this life for an eternity very, very, very boring. I love learning, but as a human I get to experience only so much of the world/universe around me, be it because of the limits of the human body or the limits of the human perception.

Everything, everyone has a story to them. Some might be just boring, while others might be rich with pain and joy. Each story is precious, if only to the person or thing that experiences it.

/me's second favourite movie is Groundhog Day

Pep (eternity = endless loop?)

We don't die till LL pulls the plug.

I think the biggest threat to SL and other virtual worlds is greater regulation of the internet, which looks inevitable in future.

Sorry about your father Jig and I hope you recover speedily from your accident.