How Real Is SL For You?

I'm glad this is not my first MMOG because it is somewhat too real, too much too wonder about, there are so few limits, imagination being the biggest one. All of that amounts to one extremely addictive, very real like, platform.

I can't imagine starting SL with no previous exposure to other MMOGs. I wouldn't be able to handle it- hell, I lost 1.5 years of RL to a dumb downed Playstation2 version of Everquest (my first MMO) and then about 3 years to star wars galaxies (2nd MMO) before I finally snapped that Real Life is important AND fun too. (and those mentioned games by industry standards of today are subpar)

I was about to drop MMOGs for good until I stumbed accross SL. About the only thing that keeps me playing SL is the community, and their willingness to network. (other MMOGs its mostly about one upping each other) I never had luck with that in my past games, I always felt like a MMO reject.

I'm somewhat immune to alot of the mental vortexing that is common in all MMOs- mainly the "OMG There Are So Many Personalities To Meet" factor that can be the main draw of any MMORG.

Not to say I don't like meeting players, its just that I'm over the awe of that which allows me to socialize in FL also, something I had stopped doing until recently.

My Real relationships with my fellow Players end firmly at "just friends".

While my avatars may have various levels of affection for other avatars, that is always just fiction. No more 'real' to me than a character in a Mickey Spilaine detective novel.

Pretty much my exact same feelings. It's a game, it's a platform, it's the way of the future..........all true in their own ways. But, in the end, it's fantasy and imagination.......not real life at all. I love SL but I know I will never find my real life love of my life here. I will not find my real life fortune here. But I can find my real life enjoyment through my imagination.................which could include my love, my fortune and most anything I can imagine (or haven't even thought of yet)

Good points for sure. I come from the other side of the coin, I had NO RPG, MMORG, orOnline social experience. (I have never even been in an internet chat room) before coming to SL. While the emotional impact can be powerful, this is a retreat for Rl, not a replacement for it. My real life, both social and work give me built in breaks from SL, to help keep it in perspective. Among my friends I am on varying levels of intimacy in terms of sharing RL info, if it develops in that area fine, but if it is srtictly In world, that's fine as well

You're all fucking nuts!

You think you could have found a slightly less nasty way to say that?

I do aplogize. I was just role playing being a dumbfounded sane person.


I'm really a dairy cow in Second Life.


MOoooooOOooooOOooo

It wasnt the dumfoundness that was the issue.

Have fun with the dairy cow thing. I beleive there are clubs for that.

Yes, I clearly need to practice playing the role of a sane person.


But for now I'm having fun being a cow.


MooOOOOooooOOOOoooo

hahaha

You should never use big words you''re too young to understand

And that should just about conclude this thread. Thank you all very much.

I probably wouldn't have said so when I was new, but now that I've been here awhile, I have to agree... yeah, SL is pretty real to me. Logically, I know it isn't a 'real place,' in the same way that the city I live in is real, but when I'm here, inhabiting the body of Ilia, it feels real enough.

Someone else mentioned the Matrix, and I think that's a perfect example... in that same way, SL challenges you to rethink what 'reality' is. It's made to be totally immersive: we have almost total freedom, there are no goals and not many restrictions. SL is designed to suck us in and make us believe it's real.

When Trinity and Neo entered the Matrix, it became real to them, even though their physical bodies were actually sitting in a chair somewhere. It's as if the existence of the place is determined by how the brain perceives it, rather than where the physical body is. Taking that into account, I don't think it's too weird to see SL as 'real.'

This would be a fascinating topic for a regular in-world discussion group.

Until someone can prove to me that I am not spending real money and real time to play SL I have to accept it as something real. Is watching TV or reading a book real? If those activities qualify as real then SL certainly does.

The real money you spend and time you spend in SL is certainly real. Just like your example of a television movie or book. But is SL real? Let me ask if the image you get from a good book real? Is that image you see on tv real? I don't think so. The concept of written communinications and electronic communications is very real.......but the images we gather from those mediums only exist in our minds. It's imaginary..........very close to our dreams when we sleep. It's not real.

It's not any different from "escapism". We all come to SL to get away from real life in some form or another. Even the few who actually make some real money in this world. A book writer engrosses us with written images........he's not really in that image. Just the provider of the image. Same goes for the electronic (television) image provider. Sure you can get wrapped up in all those images and "believe" it real.......but you are mistaken if you really belive what you are reading or seeing. It's in your mind.

And the folks really making money in SL don't get that fact confused with what is real and what is not. They are contributiing to the image for the users (co-writers to the image being presented). And profiting from it just like the book writer or television script writer.

Spend money on entertainment..............fine. Spend money thinking you are experiencing something real, then I'm just not with you at all.

People who cannot tell the difference between real and unreal are usually known as psychotics. I think what most people want to say is that the SL experience is compelling. Just like a good movie, book or computer game is compelling - many people have spent time absorbed in these activities when they should be doing something else. When you "should be doing something else" to the extent that it hurts yourself and your family and friends that is called addiction.
So SL is a peculiarly compelling media - probably more so than any other type of media that we have had in the past. This is why it is a phenomenon that merits careful consideration. Even our friend the cow is so compelled by it that he/she/it has stuck around the third page of this thread to make its moos known.
No its not Real - like life is real: not by a longshot but it has a vast potential for both good and ill to those who participate.

just my 2 cents.

It is not necessary for an experience to be tangible to be emotionally real.

As in your own example, a movie can make you cry.

Knowing that person on the other end has real emotions about the things your experiencing too, is much more powerful than that.

Of course SL isnt tangibly real as in an avatar isnt a human body. I dont think anyone is claiming that.

Im not disagreeing with you that perhaps the words we use arent necessarily perfect. But people who feel real connections to what happens in second life arent crazy, necesarly.

The number of digits on the left of the decimal point in my SL balance alerts me to the fact that I am not in a real place. The absence of any bills to pay in SL also causes it to have an unreal quality.

Those who are currently financially uninvested in SL but want a more truly immersive experience might want to borrow money and use it buy large amounts of land: the presence of debt and bills to pay will make it seem a lot more like the real world.

SL has a reality at a certain level of consciousness for our RL agents, I'm told.

I am not religious and nor is my RL agent, but since I've been here, I've seen a parallel with religions, which offer, through holy texts, a kind of non-electronic virtual world full of myths and characters.

So SL and other virtual worlds can possibly offer a retospective psychological insight into the mental processes and weaknesses that lead to religious or other superstitious beliefs!!

Real? No..but the persons behind the avi's are...I'm fortunate enough to have found some great friends here...ppl that I will meet in the near future. Also I agree with the statement that SL can be quite overwhelming, especially when you're new. I love meeting other ppl in world and will continue to do so, however, I can still find the logout button.

Mandy C

Well it`s not fake. It may not be physically tangible but it is touchable emotionally.


You wouldn`t call AIM/yahoo chats fake- "Oh jk that was a joke, we didn`t really talk" ....you`re dealing with real people.

I`d rather refer to "rl" as "fl" because I am real and using sl, so to say "real life" is kind of strange. i`d rather say 'second life' and 'first life'




I guess ultimately it just depends how you look at it.

The frustration is reall. So is the dissapointment.

The lag is definitely real -

Especially today

I hear reports from RL that there is also feedback from SL to RL - things like people expreriencing lag in places like supermarkets, especially if trolleys have faulty wheels. Also I've heard of people in RL who look at things and work out how few prims they would need to make in SL! I found myself doing the same when I took a short holiday back in RL land!