Do friends take you seriously?

Do your RL friends (if you have any) laugh and make fun of you when you tell them you live your life in a cyber world or do they (as true friends should) sympathise with you and take you seriously? Do friends and family do enough to make people realise that RL is what matters?

RL Friends?

Pep (What are they?)

That's a 3-part question.

Part 1: In general, yes. They tend do 'normal' recreational activities such as watching football on TV, watching soap-operas on TV, going to the pub, watching more TV, drinking, etc., etc.

Part 2: No. I have found that many people I know either go into perplexed mode as in 'Whatever do you see in it?' or else launch into the 'I didn't know you were a perv' routine.

Part 3: No, but I've been subject to more than one tacky 'intervention' that, quite frankly, made me feel embarrassed for the people staging the intervention.


My attempts at getting RL friends to even take a look into SL have been met with reactions ranging between hostile resistance to outright mockery to passive-helpless types who suddenly lose all computer skills and require the services of a paid computer operator. As such I have given up on attempting to discuss or interest RL family, friends and acquaintances in Second Life. They aren't interested and I have long since lost patience with attempting to explain SL over and over to people who seem to have the miraculous ability to suffer a total imagination deficit whenever I meet them.

Everything from the above. My closest friends refer to it as Half Life, but I still plug on about it, I am determined that my presence in SL is portrayed to friends as a normal activity to be involved in.

Yes. The same people laughed in 1996 when I was the first one among them to have a web site. Being a girl made that even worse. Later they asked me for help when they wanted to get "online" too... So now I am waiting.

One close rl friend has suggested I create a new career here, as it seems to suit my artistic designing cravings, but she is a stark contrast to the rest. Another good rl friend, and intelligent woman, tried sl and seemed to completely lose it technically, which surprised me, but perhaps that is an imagination limitation.
For everyone else, I have given up mentioning it, after a few careful forays into dinner-party conversations. I have seen the full range of popular responses, for which I blame the media more than the individuals, generally. Many will speak over the top of me if anyone asks an intelligent question, so that popular media opinions completely swamp any insight that I can provide.
One wanted to use me in a telly thingo. Um, no, sorry, despite all of his good intentions, I am way too wary now.
Other dinner guests have insisted that I show them SL, as they are intrigued, and would like to see what kind of world it is. After listening to several fire off 200 misguided and value-laden questions without caring for any honest answers, I now refuse. Next time I am asked, I will insist that they open an account and spend a month here first, before attempting to contact me inworld. And now, I will most likely refuse.

And can I say, I love my rl friends, they just can't get it, as not everyone's mind is responsive to such an experience. And I value my sl friends, who are more real in many ways. Mwuah to all of them.

The way the OP has worded the question seems to show quite a bias.

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Aes

I've trained them not to do so.... and to recognise when I'm being serious occasionally.

*Nobody* takes me seriously.

Pep (More fool them! )

No, I just do.

98% of my RL Friends have NEVER heard of Second Life.

When I tell them what it is they still have no clue what I'm talking about.

It's like explaining Quantum Physics to a Hamster.

You can explain Quantum Physics?! Wow, kudos.

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Aes

LOL

I used to talk about my SL with my coworkers or friends, but the looks they gave me spoke volumes.

Now I just keep my SL to my self.

Handy

Those who know take me twice as seriously as they should and I take half of them half as seriosuly as they deserve!

I don't live my life in a cyber world so I am not qualified to answer your question as worded. My friends think it is cool that I have a 3D gallery on line you can walk through in addition to the normal 2D type web page.

They may have a little trouble grasping my enthusiasm for the art created in SL that is impossible in RL, making this a totally unique medium.

I don't like being taken seriously. That's boring. (>_<

That said... My co-workers and family have a lot of respect for me and know quite a bit about Immy's adventures in virtual-land. I work in a pretty technological region and I'm seen as a early-adopter of new and strange things. I know, I'm 4 years late to early adopt SL... But, most people still don't know this is here. (^_^)y

Do your RL friends (if you have any) laugh and make fun of you when you tell them trolling on the Internet gives you lulz, or do they (as true friends should) try and help you understand that kind of antisocial behaviour is unacceptable?

Most of my friends have no idea what SL is, and really wouldn't care if I told them about it. And those those that do don't say anything either.They're not going to jdg my recreational activities just as I wouldn't judge theirs.

Most of my friends just laugh at me.

I haven't had a chance to tell them about the Second Life bit.

Maybe it will help if you did.

Yup...bit of a bias tone but I'll answer anyway.....

As it happens......my 'friends' are all pretty much 1000 miles away since I moved 4 years ago. So.....most of them have no idea, or only a vague sense of what SL is.....because....I'm a terrible phone person and my closest friends know that the long gaps in connections is just 'me'. I'm not the type to call people all the time....or even sometimes....I like actual contact. I hate the phone....so....my real friends don't know much about what I'm doing accept what I put on facebook.

My family..... they were passively interested at first.....they know I'm a computer geek by nature. They know I'm creative (we all are) and really nothing I do that's a bit forward thinking or off center, surprises them. Now......because of some of the ways that I have utilized my time in SL.......my family is fascinated and actually very excited because they are beginning to understand the implications and potential with-in a global cyber community. They think it's way cool that I'm involved in SL now.

As for RL being a priority......you know what.....if my real life were NOT a priority.....my family wouldn't be so supportive of me, now would they. I'm exceedingly close to my siblings....we share an amazing and unbreakable bond. We're not phone people...well except my sister, now that I live 4 miles away....I can't get her OFF the phone LOL. But....my point is.....my family knows me well.....and I am stubborn....and I really don't give a rats hairy ass what people think of what I'm doing.....because eventually.....they realize the significance of it.


And I'll say something else .....no matter WHAT anyone does with their own time....whether they are a die hard sports fanatic....a hobbyist, a collector of rare coins....bird watcher.....photographer.....fisherman, whatever people do.....there should always be balance. The balance is not about REAL life versus CYBER.....the BALANCE is about managing one's time and relationships so that those things most precious do not get lost. Case in point......my X-hb was an avid fisherman......he went EVERY weekend....I went a few times....but it wasn't exactly a passion....and he was so serious about it, it wasn't even fun. Guess what......fishing was more important than anything.....and he got very lost in setting his priorities and understanding the effect it was having on his other relationships. Fishing, is very much REAL life.....so....ya know.....it aint about computer versus real....it's about how we manage our LIFE as a whole.

Do my RL friends take my involvement with SL seriously? Dead right they do when they know what I do in it! (and no, it's nothing to do with sex)

Lamb sakes I'd probably have to explain what SL is for a start and something tells me quite a few people - like the OP here - just aren't going to 'get' it.

mine laugh at me ? heck no..my father was watching me build a section of a mall i was working on..he actually thought it was pretty neat being able to walk around and inside the things designed..
he wants me to put some of the homes we have designed in RL into builds in SL..he thinks it would be something that would give our customers a better look at a finished product..
so when i am working on those builds i am at work.even when i am at home..

i've been at work and had the whole crew sit there watching me build things in sl..they aren't really computer junkies or anything like that but they think it's neat as it gets..my uncle says ..thats slicker than a greased rail lol
when he saw how much i made on one of my builds he made me promise to teach him how to build in sl before he retires..he was kidding of course lol
but he does want to get an avatar set up ..i told him i would help him..

i've talk to customers that we have done smaller work for..

we had one who works for i believe it was Moshe Katsav's brother i'm not positive but that is the one that comes to mind..could be one of the other presidents..anywys..he was on the phone constantly with people over in Israel..
i used to go by there daily to check on the progress..
we would talk and one day somehow got on the subject of 3d programs and virtual worlds and conferences and things and i spoke to him about second life..how it is a pretty neat program for getting people from all over the place into one spot ..with voice nd text and handing over images or video or structures..
i'm not sure if they went through with getting the sim or not but i know him and his wife have avatars on here now..

not sure why someone would laugh at someone for being on a virtual world when the world is heading that way anyways..
unless they are just behind the times..