Less "Virtual" - More "Real"

Okay I may be shot down for saying this BUT are we becoming too "virtual" in our approach to SL? I have read the threads tonight and taking account of the grumbling sessions and the achingly sad ways people try to make this game a reality, are we perhaps (just PERHAPS) losing sight of SL as an experimental computer world that provides us with a different approach to life rather than a suburban "hologram-reality". How do we get back to being a group of people pushing the envelope of connection rather than try to force our REAL world into this world (which ends up a square peg in a round hole situation). Instead, how do we apply what we learn/experience HERE to the reality we actually exist in rather than vice versa - or is that even remotely possible?

find a way for sl to cut off our personalities and emotions and belief systems and our standards and morals then we can be the experiment i guess

Then we must face the fact that our virtualities and our abilities to communicate are limited. As a social experiment it proves we have common denominators but fail to create uncommon evolutions.

we could ban everyone with a Myspace account.

or maybe everyone who hasn't gone on a RL date in any manner in more than 10 years.

or anyone who thinks that SL and eharmony go great together like chocolate and peanut butter.

I went on a date the other night. It wasnt harmony that worried me - it was boredom.

meant Eharmony like Eharmony.com

My point being that I think the people looking to meet RL Girlfriends/Boyfriends are bringing a lot of this need for RL into SL.

Yeah I agree about boyfriend stuff. I also fear we bring our prejudices BUT also our expectations. So in-world attitudes horribly close to REAL attitudes. I preferrred the older sl world of Nekos and Lycans, Crazy artists and surreal dadaism. Laws and regulations and threats of AR and stuff like that too much like nosy neighbours in reality. Maybe I am just tired tonight ...

I don't know. I always have enjoyed getting to know the real people behind the avatars. I usually have no use for the gameplayers not looking for much more than fun to kill boredom. I have always viewed SL as a supercharged chatroom that allowed us to express ourselves more fully than its predecessors, but to each their own.

But - forgive me for saying so - most real people arent that interesting, are they?

Sure they are. Not everyone has the means to leave their homes to have full social lives in RL. This is a wonderful alternative and I have gotten to know alot of very cool and interesting people in SL that has extended beyond it as well.

Quite a gap between getting to know people and learning about their RL and using SL like a 3D eharmony, whole lot of room for stuff in between.

Theres also a difference between people being comfortable only sharing parts of their RL they want to with close friends - which definitely was the old SL

And some pressure to display more and more about your RL for the world to see, ALA Myspace.

I dunno, Jig. You complain about people forcing RL attributes, attitudes, and habits into SL, saying that SL should remain completely "virtual." Does your version of "virtual" mean "not - realistic?" What if a person living in a cramped apartment in New York City wants to experience ranch/country living? What if an adult wants to re-experience a childhood? What if an engineer wants to live the life of a fashion designer? How is that NOT fantasy? So what if it doesn't involve a gorn avatar with wings and fangs? So WHAT? Who are YOU to decide what is fantasy, what is valuable, and what is not? Honestly.

[Edit: This line: is what really ticked me off. Achingly SAD? Aren't you, like, in your twenties? When you've actually LIVED A LIFE, THEN you can judge. Until then sweetheart, you need to stop passing such quick judgment on those who use SL to experience lives they could not have lived nor will ever live.]

So how does Second Life suddenly make a real person more interesting?. Attaching a pair of ears to their head and ocasionally saying "Meow"?.

I'm personally tired of all the vanity in SL. I want to see more people coming into SL and being open about who they really are. I'm tired of seeing all these 40 year old overweight women projecting themselves into cutesy avatars and spending huge amounts of cash on virtual clothes.

I have nothing against overweight 40 year old women. Yet they clearly have. We should learn to accept ourselves for who we really are. If you don't want to walk around in a fat avatar then go put a monkey avatar on or something. But just stop lying to everybody and more importantly, to yourselves!

Have fun!!

So what do YOU look like, 2k? Better yet, post us pics of your RL self next to pics of your SL self.

LOL - go ahead and walk around telling people that they aren't interesting. Most (e.g. all) human beings have interesting stories to tell about their lives. If you honestly can't see that, then gee, I guess maybe there are a few beehive huts off the western coast of Ireland that you might like. Pretty crappy internet service, I hear....

co-sign

What I'm finding more and more disorienting is the fact that it's all so fluid, all so potentially deceptive, all too engaging, and all too "real". Clearly lots of people are comfortable with this - but I'm beginning to become morally and cognitively dizzy, after about 14 months. I think I'm going back to indoor gardening for the rest of the winter...

Hmm <imagines GF in Catgirl suit> Yep works for me !

Hey, I'm not claiming to be anybody or anything. I'm just here to type messages!.

Now if I had a photo of a Brat Pitt lookalike as my forum avatar then that would be sad. Especially when you consider that I'm an overweight 40 year old in 1st life.

On a snowy day, there's much to be said for the Thompson & Morgan catalog and a pot of Lapsang Souchong.

As for SL as Eharmony.com: Let a hundred flowers bloom. Not why I'm here, and would be kind of a shame if new residents get the impression that SL is some dilute extension of RL, but if they're here for that (for now), fine. Maybe they'll buy something before they get bored and frustrated and gone.

Oh, and for goodness sake, I don't want to know about your real life. And don't expect me to tell you much about mine. The interesting parts I'd *never* tell you, and the boring bits I'll make interesting with, uh, creative confabulation. Whatever did you expect?

I have had an avatar-based approach to SL from the start. I try to make my SL experience full enough to not need to talk about RL, except in terms of vague generalities.

However, I like my SL input to be credible in RL terms, so I don't morph into different body shapes etc., and I don't fly around without jetpack and outfit (except in emergencies!). I like what I see to be believable, in the main, even if it's impossible to achieve in RL. I've said before that if you spend hours making a realistic looking hovership it can be a bit unsettling to find it being overtaken by a pink rabbit on a green jelly cube!

Sadly the Pixel based Avatars we see are run by real Humans, that includes all their weakness, strengths and prejudices.
Sometimes though when my first, second and third life stress me out I wish for a fourth life. lol

Those sort of moments really make my SL
It's wonderful. The wackier the better.

Just remember that "unsettling" does not mean "bad". Unsettling situations can be welcomed as provoking a different perception that can lead on to better things.

I'm compromising by using near-RL buildings for some rentals I'm working on. However, I have enough plots spread out that I can experiment with a few 'more-SL' structures as rentals. If they work, I'll migrate everything to 'more-SL'.


As far as I'm concerned, everything from RL apart from respect for others is disposable in SL.
That doesn't mean that I'm an exotic avatar living in a mind-blowing build. It just means that I take a relaxed view of everything that is not core to my being.

But if that's how you wanted to portray your Character, who cares?In SL you can be whatever you want. Why is that such a bad thing? I'll go with what Oryx said. She's summed it up. Most people I've met here ARE very interesting,and sometimes it's their choice of appearance that makes them so.

You see 40 year old overweight women....where? How do you know what ppl look like in RL or even what sex they really are never mind age and weight....
And Id never want to encourage ppl to stop spending money on things people have created...unless of course its badly made