O My America, My New found land?

How do you anticipate the SL world to alter (as a predominant American societal model) as more and more countries become significantly more capable of maintaining a consistent tecnological presence on the internet? What do you forsee happening as "new economies/societies" gain footholds here.

For example, in the art produced here, the growing presence of Australian aboriginal and Polynesian artists is beginning to have an impact. This will alter the conceptual approach of artists in SL in general.

So what other ways might we see differences?

More non-English speakers will try to hit on you at inappropriate times.

I'm from Britain. I find the in-world experience very cosmopolitan. Obviously there's a bit of an American bias but I feel almost as though the Grid is a virtual nation in itself.

I believe in cultural diversity in the same way I believe bio-diversity is a good thing. Any influx of differing viewpoints can only be beneficial in the long run.

I already have more friends from other countries, than I do from the US!!

American wot?

depends where and what time you hang out.. i dont see more americans than other ppls

Even hanging out during my daytime hours, I see more people from elsewhere than US, really.

My Mistress is Aussie, another friend (Unrelated) is as well, as well as a couple of Her friends, I have a couple scottish friends, plenty of English friends, a Korean/German friend, and so on. I've only somewhere around 4 or 5 friends in SL that are American, really, and probably thrice that from elsewhere.

I don't anticipate much of any change in SL as 'more' come in. Perhaps more scammers will start to notice SL more thoroughly, and we'll have Nigerian scammers saying that their sim has a treasury of billions of L$, but they need a deposit of a few thousand to authorize such a large transfer through LL...

But really, SL is already extremely diverse. I don't anticipate much, if any, change in the ratio of American to otherwise anytime soon.

At one time I remember reading that the German population was the largest.

i think it is impossible to honestly answer this question without being taken task as a 'racist' or whatnot. yes, 'racist' wouldnt be the correct term in any case, but it is the one that will tossed about in any case.

are you sure?
i recall latin americans making up the bulk of sl.

Well this is from 2 or more years ago and I read it here in the forums. I am not sure what the current statistics are.

edit to add-http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread.php?t=184447&highlight=german+population

It mentions compared to North America, so I don't think it includes South America also.

Hello Jig,

I completely agree that while, by population, US citizens don't make up the majority, the US does still set the tone culturally.

An admittedly trivial example being that the Linden exchange requires that I pay US$ in order to buy L$.

My fear is that despite new technology's ability to support communication between distinct heterogeneous culturally diverse communities, we will eventually tend towards a single homogeneous culturally diluted society where much is lost.

On the other hand though, I think on other threads you've interestingly mentioned how the current economic climate might have a tendency to instill protectionism and even a degree of parochialism back into society as we close the doors and prepare to look after our own (sorry if I've misunderstood or misrepresented your view).

Anyway, aside from my blathering I did come across this very interesting video on youtube which provides a much more interesting perspective, it's worth a look if you haven't seen it already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpEnFwiqdx8

Stephen

We will see even more abysmal spelling, poorly constructed arguments and incoherently presented views.

Pep (But they will have the excuse that English is not their first language, unlike you)

For some by-nation usage statistics, see http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pxbDc4B2FH94OkiJffGTwWg&gid=1 ... it's only current as of August (or July?), but it's the best I can find now that the key metrics page has been stripped of any actual information, and the secondlifegrid Metrics page uselessly links to the Technology blog which is for now similarly devoid of any content.

To summarize, US-based residents make up 40% of usage hours, four times as much as Germany in second place, followed by UK, Japan, France, Brazil, Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Australia, etc.

I disagree with this premise.

QFT, never felt any 'dominance' of a particular nation


.

I still see a big seperation between the different cultural groups in SL. Usually this separation is by the language they speak, sometimes by their general timezone. As an example, Brits and Americans mingle fairly seemlessly, but due to timezone considerations, most aren't around each other that often. I use to date a British girl and the club I frequented a lot was predominantly British (meaning I missed most of the events due to work).

I've poked around some of the other places. I was curiously searching for "Host Clubs" in SL the other day and ran into a lot of Japanese people (unsurprisingly). It's no surprise that they stick together due to their common language and cultural background.

The latin community also tends to stay sectioned off in their own little niche. Really, I guess if there is a big enough presence, those folks tend to mingle with those they find commonality with. I can't really blame them.

I have ran into a number of folks that cross that culturally divide. Mostly Germans and a couple Italians who speak surprisingly fluent English. That's really the lynchpin, isn't it? If you can't communicate well in a medium that depends mainly on written communication, then people find it difficult to get to know you.

I have to say my experience with SL has been one of very diverse and cosmopolitan society. I meet people from every corner of the globe.....and it all feels very natural to me.

Certainly time zones and language are going to restrict us.......but the very fact that we're all in this together, so to speak.....makes that sort of a moot point. Yeah....of course folks are going to only be active during their own peek hours.....but we overlap constantly. In the roughly 12 hours I have each day to potentially be in SL.....I can cross any time zone and be among any group of people. The appeal of SL to me is the global experience.....the fact that anyone from anywhere in the world can be anywhere in SL at any given time.

I have never come across any kind of racism or discrmination nor have I ever felt in the least uncomfortable just because I was wandering an area filled with people who don't speak my language. In fact....I LOVE it! I love love love the culteral blender going on in SL. Last night I finally took a wander in Cicada.....OMG! What an amazing amazing place. It was thrilling to see the influences of the middle east in the architecture and over all design of the sim......to me....it was absolutely breath taking.

But......I am also an enthusiastic traveler when ever I get the chance. I have zero problem traveling in foreign lands.....trying a new language.....figuring out different currency....I delight in it. My view of the world translates into my view of SL. I think life is too short.....and our planet and peoples too beautiful .... to ever be affected by petty racial attitudes. It makes my skin crawl.

I would say too.....over all.....anyone who dares venture into a global virtual community has got to have a similar open minded view.....otherwise....well......lets face it....anyone who has any kind of problem with another culture or area of the world....is gonna find it very difficult to wholly embrace SL. I'm sure they exist in SL.....and they probably stick to comfort zone areas where their small mindedness is not challenged.

But I digress..... SL is no more 'American' to me.....then it is Japanese or German or South African or Indian..... it is sooo different because one does not have to go to any great effort to travel to a foreign land.....We are already there......and collectively we are re-defining what the 'World' is to us....in a very positive way, I think.

I only wish that translators were better and they could circumvent mangling certain phrases into the realm of the ridiculous. Lately, I've gotten to know a girl from Italy, but even as fluent as she is, it's sometimes hard to understand one another when the conversation gets fairly deep. I know she could put her thoughts much more eloquently in Italian, but I don't know Italian. What we need are vulcan mind-melds!

Thanks for those current statistics Qie. I wasn't sure where to look for that.
Jig, how do you see artists changing their concepts? Are you referring to following fads for instance?

As a short avie (I'm 4'8" - 5'0" in world depending on the way I measure myself. I think 4'10" is about right), I notice very large cultural differences in SL.

Until recently I spent a lot of time in Brasilian areas (I'll probably go back to doing this, but I've gotten side tracked). I have never been asked if I am an adult and no one has remarked about my height. I suspect that Brasilian clubs and bars in real life DON'T PROOF. It is common at an outdoor street dance to see child avies. Child avie paraphenalia is sold in regular Brasilian shopping malls. On the other hand, one almost never sees a full blown furry, quad, or tiny among Brasilians.

The Japanses sims up in Niseko (Niseko Hirafu, Niseko Hokaido etc...) all permit rezzing. The lovely Niseko Hirafu skis with their amazing animation work on the mountain but require four rezzes and four attachments. Try this anywhere else in SL and most of the time you can't get the skis out of the box. Of course, if you accidentally leave anything out in one of these sims, expect a very ugly note. There is no trash in Niskeo despite the fact that the place is essentially one large sandbox. I've also noticed that at least one Japanese avatar is the same height as I am. She was far more lightly built and wore school girl clothes. I suspect that no one gave her any static, asked her age, or tried to pigeon hole her as a "loli" or "anime character." I am slightly on the plump side inworld.

I stick out in the German and Dutch sims, not just due to my height, but due to my color preferences. German human avies almost all have either platinum blond, black, or unobtrusively brown hair and wear conservative colors as well. I don't go in for neon but I like really rich jewel tones and I have no problem with hair in colors that nature forgot.

Most of the insults (I don't really get that many, but I'm surprised when I get them at all given that SL is a world where I can run across a quad zebra, a person in a wheel chair, a Gundam robot, or a vampire all in the same day.) I receive are from English speakers, mostly likely from Americans. The latest one really bothers me because it was so obvious.

If any one is interested, I've been proofed for adulthood once and it was on an American sim. I responded: "Of course I'm an adult. Height is a very poor indicator of age." Of course I know my own culture's rules about dress well enough to make myself look like a short adult. The American proofing taboo is ever present in my own head.

I wonder what happened to China...

Would also be interesting to see what percentage of the overall population contributed to those hours. I bet the U.S. isn't #1 in that metric.

I disagree with the conclusion that things will become more cosmopolitan and less americo-centric, because I don't really see it as that to start with - I think SL already IS cosmopolitan.

I work for a company that has six sims of traditional japanese gardens, the owner is dutch, the team that work there are belgian and japanese, and I am a british-born american. Visitors come from all over the world, and always have. Yes, there are language issues, of course, but mostly they are dealt with using good humour.

To me, this is one of the strength of this whole thing - it really does bring people together.

I find this amusing.

You do know the US isnt even in the top 10 countries by connection speed anymore.... and for over all users its 247 Million online is surpased by Europes 390 million and dwarfed by Asia's 650 million internet users...

Maybe when the US catched up to the rest of the world we will see more americans around eh?

Second Life is in the US, physically, but it really feels like another country to me. Another planet, even.