Is
it really possible to tell someone else what one feels?
Leo
Tolstoy
Recently, I had a
misunderstanding with a good friend in Second Life (SL).
(Significant Other asks why
should SL be any different than Real Life (RL).
I won’t digress here.)
We were having a conversation
and I was joking. A little later, I
noticed my friend seemed a little withdrawn and terse. (Significant Other is amazed that I
noticed. I may quit blogging when
Significant Other is around.) I asked
what was the matter not thinking I was in anyway involved. (Significant Other
says, “Typical!”)
To my surprise, my friend said
they were offended. What I had taken as
kidding they had taken seriously, very seriously! (I’m deliberately masking my friend’s
identity and not
My friend and I discussed the
matter and I apologized. (Significant
Other does give me points for this,)
But, this got me thinking
about how limited our ability to subtly express our emotions and feelings
inworld is. (I’m not copping out here
and blaming SL.)
How can we do this especially
when we move from bland, everyday greetings into closer personal relationships
in SL?
Let’s discuss this for a bit!
The problem starts with how we
communicate our feelings in RL.
We have a rich variety of
methods available to us.
Besides our words, there’s our
voice, facial expressions, eyes, and body language. Not to mention all the possible combinations
thereof.
(Sex has many other
expressions of feelings and emotions in RL too.
But, since I’m still not that kind of blog, I won’t go there!)
Now, in SL, on the other hand,
our options are somewhat more limited.
We have text and, for some,
voice.
That’s it!
And, yes, we can use primitive
late Twentieth Century emoticons too if we want. (e.g., :) ;) Get the picture?)
There are animations inworld
but these pretty much have minds of their own.
We’re trained from an early
age in RL how to express our emotions and feelings. Most of us figure it out reasonably
well. Some even make a living make a living
out of it as actors and actresses.
However, inworld, the RL
options are closed to us and we’re pretty much left to our own devices.
So, what happens?
Confusion, hurt feelings, and
misunderstandings can result when we try to express ourselves beyond simple
greetings and conversations. Even voice
can only take us so far. Just ask anyone
who’s ever played the party game telephone.
What about you?
Has the inability to
satisfactorily emote feelings inworld ever caused you difficulties?
How do you subtly express your
emotions or feelings inworld? Do you
even try?
Please drop me a line and let
me know!
If I get enough replies then I’ll
do a follow-up story!
But, for now, just keep
emoting!
As always, I’m grateful to all
inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was
passing through their lives.
I can be found on Google+ as
webspelunker Ghostraven.
On Skype I’m webspelunker
Ghostraven.
I welcome feedback from
readers, please either comment on my blog or
e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com
.
If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.
Open roads and kind fires! If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.
