Popular misconceptions about Second Life...

A- that there really is a big bad baddy to kill at each end level.

- that cybersex is mandatory in SL.

- that there is gold in them there prims.

B- that my hat really does look good with this prim hair.

- that maybe grey people are just poor dressers.

- that spamming the local text in clubs with YYYYYYEEEEEEEEAAA HA SMACK
50 million times is not cool.

ho hum
dog

As a realtor, this one drives me up the wall:

If I sell all my land the day before tier is due, I won't get charged tier for it.

group A: "this is a really good place to sell rl branded sportsgear ... perhaps I'll do a survey..."

group B: "I'm sure all the people I made friends with as a happy-go-lucky newbie are just dying to receive constant spam about my not-quite-dead-yet club / generic t-shirt-and-mini-skirt ensembles shop"

Related misconception: SL is a really interesting social phenomenon I can write about for college... perhaps I'll do a survey.

Someone can kill me in SL and take all of my stuff right out of my inventory.

Lindens aren't real.

There aren't actual people on the other side of the screen, so it doesn't matter how I treat them - it's not like I can hurt them.

A:
If you spend time in SL, you couldn't possibly have anything going in real life.
B:
If a content creator asks to be compensated at a level even approaching rl minimum wage, they are being unforgivably selfish and greedy.

It isn't? You mean the $L 10,000 I paid to the Secret Fraternity of Second Life was a scam? That can't be! They gave me a secret handshake and everythng!

sr

Everything is possible you can do anything you want with SL

I don't really mind people outside of SL thinking these things, but it's annoying how often I run into people in SL who still appear to believe them.

Group B - pick the one that best suits your current point of view:

Copy/Mod/No Trans is best
No Copy/Mod/Trans is best
Full perms is best

Saddest misconception of all...
That I don't look like Butch in RL

voice in second life is it's most important tool, well one day, well maybe…

If a female avatar doesn't respond immediately to your solicitation of "omg ur hawt u wanna f***"? by hoping on the pixel sex poseball. it has nothing to do with your pick-up line, it means she must be a guy IRL.

The people or the currency?

Whatever hobby or pastime we have, some people will think it's sad and stupid.
Model railways, golf, collecting china, collecting costume dolls, wine conoisseurship, historical re-enactments.....to the unimpressed they can all seem as wierd as liking SL!

AMEN!!!

and fyi...a kick ass pc 4gb ram nvidia 8200 with dual core..$450 at best buy and can handle anything i see in SL....zero lag after running over 50 tests using every kind of effect i could attach. 120,000$L of them to be exact.
never crashed once. and all that on a full sim.

If you build it, they will come.

If you TP them, they will come.

If you sell it, they will buy.

I have acted in a play in SL (Midsummer Night's Dream) and other residents say two mind-boggling things:

"I didn't know there were plays done in Second Life."

"So — do you do it in voice?"

(You may doubt the last one — but you'll have to believe me: it is a very common response!)

Goup A:

1. SL is just for computer nerds or rabid game players.

2..SL is a waste of time but vegging out in front of TV is normal and okay.

3. SL is not important if I'm not interested in it.


Group B:

1. Even though I have no fashion sense in RL, this outfit looks great!

2. Creating my avatar with big hair and huge boobs has no relationship to guys hitting on me.

3. Everything LL does is aimed at me personally and if they just tailored SL to my needs, it would be a huge success for everyone.

4. SL will stay stuck at a particular moment when it best worked for me instead of changing and evolving.

Amen to this. SL is very much governed by real life laws. Also businesses think they are exempt from TOS for some reason.

The only TOS or RL law anyone running a sim or business seems to respect across the board is the under-age one. Some won't let anyone under 18 on a mature sim no matter what takes place there, they are that careful. Yet they will ignore all other TOS and laws being broken.

The story's too complicated to tell here, I'd just like to say that SL businesses are very much beholden to TOS and RL laws also.



Ooh yes, good one. Also, a misconception is: If a female av does not respond to being grilled for her 'deets' (name, age, photo, city, etc.) then she must be a guy. No other possible reason like, oh, safety, or privacy.

all to often in both groups:
"SL kids are here for sex, afterall it is what I am here for"
"SL kids are pedophiles"

variations more commen to group B:
"SL kids are not alowed nomatter what they do"
"All SL kids are underage in RL"

Shouldn't there be a full-stop somewhere in that last sentence?

"Relationships are not real"

"There is no drama"

"You can't get hurt in SL"

"It's not cheating"

Along those lines but skeevier...

"You can't be sexually harassed in SL - just TP out."

"No one can find you if you mute them/remove them from your friends list."

Second Life Misconceptions.

1) There is some form of due prcess in Second Life. There are rules in Second Life, maybe not the laws of the state where I reside but some sort of rules set up by the Lindens or a moderating crew who settle disputes, prevent rip-offs, and supply a rudimentary replica of the dispute resolution and right to redress that is common in most jurisdictions of the United States

By the way, private organizations frequently do enact laws and rules so this is not far fetched. I've also been a Wizard on a command driven MU** and on the Grievance Committee of at least one online social group. I've also had a very bitter experience with private due process online and a very good experience. I've even seen private due process at work in the workplace via labor unions and management.

Second Life is essentially lawless. Half the posts on this board deal with a lack of due process. I'm glad I bought this board before I bought land. Learning there was no landlord-tennant law (I once challenged a real life eviction and won because the landlord did not follow the terms of his own lease), was one more point in favor of buying 512 on the mainland. You don't miss all that beaurocracy until it is not there.

2) The same protections that work in real life that keep me from stumbling into content I don't want, will also protect me Second Life. This is a bit complicated, but think...how many times a week do you stumble into a whore house or strip joint in real life, or a store with lots of naked pictures on the wall...unless of course you want to be there? What keeps you out of such places in real life is NOT a PG or M neighborhood rating though there is zoning. More likely you see the sign that says Strip Club or Adult Videos and Novelties and you just walk past that establishment. If you live in Nevada, houses of prostitution are clearly marked and listed as such. No one not interested in that sort of thing need go there.

On Second Life, the stumble-in factor is very high. Last night, I wandered into a night club set up in my neighborhood and found out after walking around that it was a whore house. It is not in operation yet. I could just tell by the architecture, but I had to travel upstairs before I could see that it was not a typical dance club. The other clue was that the place took "applications." If I had not been a somewhat experienced avie, I would not have picked up on that clue.

3) What we (and the plural is intentional) do effects no one but ourselves. This is simply untrue. If female avis run around nearly naked showing off Barbie Style bodies and doing very sexy dances, they create an atmosphere of pervasive sexuality that makes it hard to do other activities. This is NOT pornography, but individual actions in aggregate have an effect of making the mainland a poor place for business and education. As a reasult, most coroporations and nonprofits and even Christian groups have their sims on islands.

A second example is what I call Expletive -You Building. Obstructive builds that don't let users cross lands (think big walls), ban lines, security orbs, green desert with a no fly option (no ground imrovements) all make walking across land away from roads problematic. This makes it harder to form neighborhoods and communities (They don't have to be planned). It makes it harder for new users to look at what others have built since the builds may be behind banlines or are unreachable. Walking around is free recreation. Not being able to walk makes SL more expensive. Lack of walkability also makes it harder for avatarim to stumble into businesses located far from the roads. The penchant for privacy and using up every last square meter for private use, works against creating a cohesive and friendly community.

And yes, Second Life has made me rethink communitarianism. I'm not much of a communitarian in real life, but some communitarian values and law and order would make Second Life a better place.

Group B: If one wears bling from head to toe, so they glow like the lights on Broadway, that other people will think that their the coolest person in sl.