What happened to Second Life culture?

What is happening to Second Life?

Despite less tringo events and more club events rising, the culture of Second Life is still low.

Many have been saying this, many have proclaimed this is the end of Second Life, and Second Life has been invaded by the lowest common denominator. I do not agree to either statement.

However, the social culture of Second Life is shallow it seems.

I personally would get tired of going to clubs in Second Life, as even going to clubs in real life gets tiring after going every weekend, though perhaps this is for some people. However, these people do not seem to consider alternative activites….which could be because there are no alternative events or activities to attend on the general events list.

I know some specific groups hold events which they only announce on their group’s channel, but this is unfortunate as it makes the Events list only clubs and tringo.

Designers and Scripters are often busy, and usually only keep a small circle of friends as they are so busy and do not always have time to go out depending on how heavy their workload is. Otherwise these people might be interested in doing alternative activities.

I feel the culture of Second Life could be improved if there were more unique events following real world events as well as common hang out spots for niche groups where for instance you can just pop in and there is always someone around like taverns, lounges, bars, etc..’

When I came to Second Life I expected to see these common hang out or gathering places catering to niche groups, sort of like chatrooms. Like a spirituality one, a science fiction one, a book discussion one, roleplaying one, etc. etc. (I believe there were these in the Sims, no?)

Though all I see are what you see on chat networks, the most common chatrooms which are the clubs.

What about the festivals of foreign cultures as events? What about More discussion events…such as book discussion events, interest discussion events, etc.

Even groups where people talk about specific problems and share ways of handling them.

Even those some refer to as the “LCD” are interested in discussing some other things than just going to clubs. I refuse to believe that the thinking population of Second Life or at least those interested in something other than the day to day clubbing and such is less than at least 40%. It is just these people are not being engaged or have the opportunity to do anything else.

Even chat networks have more variety than what Second Life seems to be displaying at the moment, which is very unfortunate.

Some others may be able to shine some light on the situation?

I would prefer engaging discussion rather than blatant cynicism from any one...

Hi Athel, nice to see you're still around.

It seems to me that people are just breaking off into smaller groups that don't necessarily hold "events." From my little nook of SL, I'm seeing a lot of people getting into SL marriages and relationships, or forming little cliques, not necessarily based on common interests so much as they happened to run into each other around the same time and had fun together. I also see some "hang-outs," though again, not broken into chat-room ghettos so much as by circumstance drawing people together, as in RL. The Elbow Room, Midnight City, and The Shelter come to mind. Then there are groups that hang out and organize builds and parties, but don't broadcast them to SL at large.

It's not that SL has no culture, or is overrun by the lowest common denominator, it's just that as SL grows and ages, many networks are going a bit underground. I've had discussions about literature, SocioLogy, archaeology, psychology, and life in general over the last week or so, mostly with people I barely know, and I'm not all that social.

Is it any different in real life



It would be cool to have show room or convention events, for example best designers showing their latest car designs, guns, clothing etc. I am sure these would attract big crowds but would also require quite a bit of logistics. A great way to advertise your goods too.

If someone can create a killer script like been able to play soccer, baseball or football then that would create the ability to form teams and sports matches. We can have SL tournaments. Best players would even be hired with big bucks like in real world. How about some car races? These probably have to await improved animation engine.

I personally like to see Black Sun club recreated, where all the cool hackers hang out and exchange their code

If there still is a 'culture' or groups that discuss or do intelligent things that don't necessarily involve dancing or tringo or yardsale(my ass!), then I'll definitely come down from my hidey-hole where I spend most of my time building and scripting to amuse myself.

Hit me up anytime I'm online if you've got something interesting happening.

Hi Athel, I've been wondering if you were still about as well. I attended a show at your jazz club featuring Astrin Few once and was very fond of your place and looking forward to listening to real jazz with other fans. However subsequent drop ins found it empty so I figured that jazz fans in SL, as in RL, are few and far between.
I agree that SL would seem a good venue for the niche groups you mentioned to congregrate and interact. But that component of society hasn't taken root yet. My guess is that part of it is the defiency of the communication structure and the task oriented nature of the game as you mentioned. The social needs are pretty much met through small groups which develop over time. People who would enjoy and benefit from your described activities just don't think to seek them out and support alternative events because they've already filled their plate.

We left it in the fridge too long and it got all moldy.

Not to mention, your suggestions didn't indicate whether cheese would be served. Or pie.

There is coming spiritual events and culture in Alcona
Look in find and search on Tibet, Club Absinthe, Sky Lounge
Whe are building and working hard to get this done.

If it's any help I'll see if I can hurry up Eric and his apprentice Alfie who are supposed to be building The Sleeping Troll pub on the Achemon/Oslar border. They seem to do nothing but drink tea. The area is developing into a laid-back gathering place with a couple of ATMs for convenience. August fair planned if the organisers can stop building elsewhere and shopping. You're welcome to drop in and see the area in the meantime. IM me and I'll show you around. Oh a mention of Ham Rambler's Blarney Stone pub would not go amiss - I believe it's opening very soon.

It seems to me that the current events would be better if only people attended them. I had a Numbakulla gathering last night which had three people there! Oh plus one who stumbled in by mistake. If people would just come along...if only. I have had mentor events which have had three attendees too, and events to discuss what sort of events would get people interested at which I have been one of two.

If people want more than just tringo/bingo/slingo...they have to support the alternatives. Or better still, set one up themselves .
Cali

Perhaps we should have a group for people who want more culture in SL and support each others' endeavours.

For those who don't know me, I was born, raised and still live in Portugal. It's a really tiny country, you can go anywhere in it and be back the same day
In Portugal there is a whole lot of stuff that we simply don't have, products, subcultures, fads.
It's always been a mostly peripheral area in history, and only the most mainstream of mainstream gets here... things that have been tried in other countries and proven to have a very high, very widespread appeal, with a good chance to succeed. We only have one flavor of Coke. We never had the D&D thing in the 80s, and heck, the NES got here in 1992!
SL is like Portugal. It's still way too small for all sorts of niches to appear, let alone be profitable. And if they aren't profitable, it will be a lot harder for these niche groups to outlast their founder.

And here I thought we do things in SL because its fun.

Seriously, if you want to see something and its not there, get up and do it yourself. There's no profits or economy to concider other then, possibly, land costs.

Just do it.

I think Second Life is alive and well. It just tends to be more reflective of real life than the average online gameworld. That's why I'm not particularly concerned about events (or lack of same).

SL continually evolves and changes. It is as diverse a community as any you will find in real life. There are social butterflies and hermits, workhorses and laid-back types, intellectuals and non-intellectuals, liberals and conservatives, religious and non-religious... you name it and you'll find it here.

It's all good.

Athel, could you expand upon what you see as the difference between a "club" and a "gathering place"?

What makes a club a club? What sets a "common hang out spot" apart from a club?


My hunch is - these places already exist. Problem is, 'club' is a very generic term in the context of second life, and can apply to a wide range of venues.

There is a Mentor Event on 6-28-05 at 9:00 PDT that might draw a few people.



Who says culture in SL is dead?

Oh boy, more cyber sex...

Mentor event? My god!

Obviously misclassified.... but perfect case for a 'report improper event' button, IMHO

I suppose there are groups that are running events for themselves, but it is hardly enough and not as widespread as I thought it would be. Newcomers to SL get stuck in one dimension of SL and contribute to the current way the culture is by getting stuck there. I expected to see a lot more interaction in Second Life, as far as public gathering spaces and regular hang outs as well as a lot more group interaction.

I feel like if we create virtual spaces then those virtual spaces should be used to an extent.

See my signature

Culture costs too much in land fees. (misses Tir Na Nog and all the pagan festivals )

Mr. "Name Withheld" from the bOObies content needs to learn where his caps lock key it. For the love of Mike, PLEASE run events through the same filter as posts for excessive capitalization!

And, hey, yo... I got plenty of cul-chah. I'm from Philly, yo!

Thank you.

-Flip

The SL culture is very, very different than it used to be. I'm not just talking Beta either.

Back in the day it was unusual to be a standard "gamer" that approached SL without any desire at all to understand how it worked and what could be done with it to expand the boundaries of interaction, and all that stuff.

Now, it seems the majority of the active and visible population falls into that category, that is, people with no interest in the underpinnings of SL or all the metaverse evolution stuff. They come to SL as a place strictly for socialization and/or titillation as diversion, and for the fact that avatar customization in SL is more extensive than pretty much any other game; if TSO had the extent of customization and attachability that SL does, we'd probably lose 1/3 of the SL populace.

SL is indeed a very different thing than it used to be, and imho, it ain't all good. I mean, you go to a club, see a slideshow of avatars dancing for hours, have some lingerie clad avatar start asking you for tips...I just don't get it, I mean she's probably played by a guy as an alt to get money. Though some of the clothes are pretty cool.

In SL culture, clubs are where you find fast food. Breasts have become mass-produced Big Macs with mayonaisse sauce, and poontang has become french fries fried in the same old lard.

MMM - mostly mall mentality.

Culture = MMMM (M4) - mostly mass-produced mall mentality

Clubs in SL are fast food joints. Breasts are mass produced Big Macs, mayonaisse sauce is extra. Poontang is like french fries, cheap, plentiful, and fried up in the same old lard, over and over.

There are exceptions.