Beyond Immersion: Coming Full Circle

Absolutely

Last night, in fact, my Partner and I were in world in our homes, just relaxing and talking on voice. We had enjoyed a busy evening earlier and were winding down. We said very little, but our focus was definitely on each other. My Partner commented on how wonderful it was to just "be" and enjoy each other...even not saying very much.

I'm not sure this is exactly what you're thinking about, Desmond, but interestingly I was at JCNY yesterday and by the front entrance is some kind of in world cell phone that allows one to "speak" to others in world. I was having real trouble with signs rezzing for me and in a hurry so I didn't look into it but thought it was interesting...although with voice and other means (such as Yahoo) to speak, it seemed unnecessary except as a gadget.

Right next to it was a room to purchase perfumes for SL. Do we have scent capability in SL now and no one told me?!?

I hope not. Not many people have bathrooms/showers in their houses, if they even have houses.

those have been around since I can remember, they were here when I first joined

kinda silly seeing so and so walks by and you smell such and such

*shrug* but to each their own I guess

Not exactly...what those are, are particle poofers. The type of particles they emit depend on the "scent" you are wearing. Given that we don't actually have a "smell" peripheral, it's not that bad an idea.

I find myself in awe everyday just how close I can feel to someone on the other side of the world to me. I can close my eyes and feel her next to me, I feel every brush of her touch, every caress, every touch. I feel the warmth from every smile, hear the sound of every laugh (ok ok so that might be cos we are on voice mostof the time).

I am rarely consentrating on th graphics of SL, but onthe connection with the people I talk to, particularly my partner.

It is becuase of this I wonder how people can be so callous, people who can hur ech other with malious. I woder if they can feel those connections to other people the way I do and why they get a thrill out of hurting another.

I'm with Conifer on this. I'm totally immersed in Second Life as a whole and only rarely, rarely, feel immersed in chat or with another person. Sometimes I wish I could achieve that level of focus, but my current disposition may prevent it.

The closest I've gotten is a rapport with a group of people rather than individuals -- like the wacky fun weird blurtophone concert that Marianne and some of her friends put on at BL08, and other spontaneously fun times. This is largely because of them and not anything I acheived on my own.

Still it's immersion complete and total. I enjoy it a lot and I love to accept the world at face value. A dragon is really a dragon to me, and a beautiful woman is still beautiful even if he's a middle aged pizza delivery man in real life.

I'm glad you folks love your one on one style of connections too though.

Great...just what we need....even more things that poof and lag...lol.

Thanks for the explanation, Lindal. I was scratching my head going...errrr...HUH?

What a beautifully written post!

I agree, very well written.

But, that said...no....I remain pretty detached too. SL for me is eye candy. I've met some amazing folks whom I am honored to call friend....but in the day to day (which is lately not often at all) in SL.....I'm doing my own thing, by myself, working on some sort of creative project with my characters and photography.
For me....any PC based game, be it SL or some first person shooter....is all about the eye candy. I love the graphics....I love that I can manipulate my charachter and surroundings in SL....it's a big canvas for me. But, immersion.....no. I am not one to immerse myself in much of anything to begin with because my personality is detached in general. But....I know it happens.....I have witnessed some pretty intense stuff in SL and I know from my own experience that the human heart & soul can indeed jump the wires and connect in a very genuine and deep way. (met my fiance on the web, not SL...not a dating site, long story, but in simple terms, we met via the web, 7000 miles apart)

It's all really how one views immersion. For me...it's all visual and creative......I am immersed when I'm focused on a project..... but I'm also able to log off any moment and focus on my immediate surroundings and 'real life'. I don't get wrapped up in SL....I love love love it....but it's entertainment for me....a brief escape....an artistic outlet.

Immersion is just a matter of concentrating intensely on a person or object. Heck when I am scripting, really, really working my way through a complex problem, my daughter can come up and say something and I might not hear it. The connection with another person in SL can be extremely intense at times. But this shouldn't be that surprising considering that it even happens with written letters sometimes. People were falling deeply in love with each other long distance for a couple of thousand years before SL came along.

me too.
a sl-centric international multitrack e-recording session sure sounds like fun...

i think a pair of virtual reality gogles and electro gloves would massivly help with the emersion tho

Never had it happen. Sure, there were a few young ladies who I'd probably F**k in a heartbeat at the time, but for the most part the only thing I get out of SL is socializing.

Always.

Absolutely. My best friend in SL lives 3000 miles away. We've never met in RL, although we'll have that opportunity next summer (we're both attending a conference). Although we have contact via email, external IM, and phone, our time in SL is precious--the rest of the world melts away more easily for me in SL.

Yes it does happen, and it is wonderful.

<purge>
Having found yet again (in the last few days) I have been deceived by a close SL friend for a long time about their RL in order to gain sympathy and attention, when in fact I really required to know nothing about their RL at all, I am glad for the insulation and protection you can get from being able to keep your RL seperate from SL to a large degree (which is largely what I do).

God I feel stupid but there you go, learn and move on until the next time - gah!

oh...</purge>