I suspect this post may generate more comments than other recent posts. In which case I apologize in advance (the last time this happened was about evolution; the time before was that awkward bit in the Bible).
I have, until recently, been running on a slightly pathetic Windows 98 machine. It has, by now, seen better days. Recently I was offered (for free, gratis and for nothing) a slightly more recent machine complete with Windows XP.
I will pause while those of you running Apple machines (or even Linux) stem the tears of mirth from your eyes.
Pause over.
I decided, with all of this hitherto unreleased computing power at my fingertips to have a look at Second Life. Registration was straightforward and Ariadne Charron was created. Ok, she may not look quite how I want her to (the pale blue skin is definitely going to have to go once I work out how to do it) but I was able to move around and do stuff (albeit clunkily - not the fastest graphics card in the universe).
And that's where the appeal comes in. You see, for the life of me, I cannot work out what to do with this virtual world. I read, from frequent users of said world, that the idea is "to interact". How does one go about this? It may be the curse of the introvert but I tend to find that in first life, unless I am attempting to purchase something, see someone I know, or am completely mind-numbingly lost, that I don't normally walk up to people in the street and say "Hi!". Why should I then find it de rigeur to do so in a simulation?
But even if I get over this "British Reserve", what then? What exactly is the point of SL? What do people spend (waste?) many hours there for, at the expense of interactions in first life (assuming that this is first life and we are not all avatars being controlled by higher beings)? This is where the appeal comes in - not that SL is appealing, but I'm appealing to readers to enlighten me as to the merits of this "videogame without a resolution".
You see, I really want to "get" second life. I realise it is not an on-line game in the traditional sense of the word, but at the moment it seems to me to merely be a way of spending a lot of time producing stuff that would probably have been produced in a fraction of the time in first life.
I realise that the sheer numbers of people who are members of SL would suggest that it is me who is mistaken and that SL really is a good thing - I just need someone to show me what it is good for that cannot be achieved as easily in the real world.
Ok, these are my heretical rantings. I await convincing arguments.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
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9 comments:
Nope, I don't "get it" either. I wander around from time to time, in an attempt to try to engage with it, but it leaves me cold. The stuff that Siobhan and others create in SL is undeniably impressive, but it does absolutely nothing for me. I can't get past the "wall" that makes it anything more than a fancy multi-user 3D modelling tool.
Which is sad, in a way, because I'd like to get the same sense of purpose from SL as others seem to.
But equally there's a lot of other worthwhile things to spend your free time on... if SL doesn't work for you, I say don't try to force it. :-)
I didn't "get" Second Life, I found it very empty, unfriendly and awkward to use so I didn't bother and I've removed the code from my machine now. However that was me and I know that others rave about it, they really enjoy the ability to create the world about them.
I cant even run it. Its not compatible with my graphics card or something.
I think I'll survive!
Like the rest of these heretics, SL doesn't interest me. I've never tried it but then again I have never felt any urge to do so either. It all just seems incredibly pointless to me.
Like Becky, I think the what Siobhan does in it is impressive but I still go glassy-eyed and skim over every post I see about it on her blog.
Don't have enough time to do other more meaningful things (to me) like interacting (said tongue in cheek) with my family. So I've resisted the very small temptation to even look inside SL.
Don't even consider fretting about it. :)
I've walked around in SL from time to time, and while it's nice and everything, I have to say I don't get it either. It's lovely to go to Siobhans place, or should I say Kisas, and see what she's done. A long time ago I sat and visited with her in SL and that was fun, and having her give a tour of her place another continent away was cool. For simple conversation though, I'd rather use an IM client while my graphics card does something else. At first I thought there would be some potential for dressing in SL, but it just doesn't do it for me.
Second Life? More like Get a Life!
Ok, time for a vote FOR Second Life :o)
It's changed a lot in the year and a bit since I joined. It's grown a lot in "real estate" and users and lost a lot of the friendly feel, which is a tragic but commercially inevitable shame.
That doesn't mean it has less to offer, quite the contrary in fact, but it's all a hell of a lot less obvious to see. Without a plotline, or really anything useful in the way of a guide, most people give up at their selected "welcome" area, and I don't blame them one bit. I might well have done the same if that had been my first experience.
The clue's in the name you see. It's a second life, with more potential in many ways than your first one, and less idea what to do with it. If you're the kind of person who spends half their real life drifting around bored and wondering what to do then the chances are pretty high you'll do the same in Second Life. This is where it gets a bad rap, of course, cos that's EXACTLY how a whole bunch of people end up in there these days.
On the other hand, if you are someone who likes to explore potential, in yourself and your life, then SL has a world to offer, quite literally, and "all" you really need is some folks that are ready to spend some time with you, to get you started. There are a lot of those folks in there too. Sadly, finding them is not always easy.
For me, Second Life offers something very special, and I know it's true of a lot of the older residents. It offers the potential to realise dreams we feel we might never realise in real life. By doing that we gain the confidence to realise more of them out here too. Whether your SL dream is to design and build a beautiful home, to run a shop, to design clothes, to live as a non-human, or just to fly, having that opportunity is good for the soul.
I don't escape there, or fantasise there, I visualise and realise there. Even if you don't know what your dreams might be, there is no other place that comes remotely close to realising the beauty of other people's dreams. You just need to know where to look. To me, at least, that is what Second Life is, more than anything else.
I am always happy to help, and I know there are many many others who feel the same. I am no more able to strike up a conversation with a stranger than you, but often we will find you if you have the patience to stay a while and explore a little. We were welcomed and helped when we started and we treasure the chance to pay that forward.
It's not for everyone, and it is a terribly lonely place to try to "escape" to, but is also an amazingly rich and diverse world that will give back all that you are willing to put in and more. Like real life, it's not easy, it's often painful, but the journey is amazing.
All just my opinion, of course :o)
Ha, Wolf got here first!
What he said :-)
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