The Dirty, Little Secret of Second Life

Drama is life with the dull bits cut out. 

Alfred Hitchcock

          OK, if you’ve read this far, you’re probably curious about what I’m referring to.  You may also be aware that I’ve written about sex, BDSM, nudity, trust, friendship, and loss in Second Life (SL).  So, you may be wondering what salacious material I’m about to spill. 

          Well, here it is.  You decide if it’s salacious enough.  Here goes. 

          The dirty, little secret of SL is drama.  Yes, drama. 

          Now, everyone may be wondering how I came to this conclusion.  It’s simple.  As I’ve been wondering across the Grid for almost two years now, I’ve been meeting many residents and visiting locations.  Many residents in their profiles indicate “No drama” as a consideration for getting together.  I’ve also seen sims and groups stating that drama is not permitted.

          So, what is drama inworld?  I have to admit I haven’t seen much myself but then I’ve  never met Abraham Lincoln  either but I’ve read more than a few books about him and I kinda sure he existed. 

          From what I’ve seen drama is about people acting out and torturing one another.  Sounds a lot like Real Life (RL) doesn’t it?  Something tells me this isn’t unique to SL. 

          Who’s involved?  From my unscientific survey it appears that almost anyone can be involved.  (I hope you didn’t think I was going to single out one particular group now, did you?  How dumb do I look?  Wait, don’t answer that!) 

          I have found accusations of drama in the fashion world, role playing, and vampire families to name but a few.  Some might argue that griefing  might be a form of drama.  So let’s say that pretty much anyone inworld can be a candidate for drama.  (Look the entire US Federal government might be accused of too much drama these days.) 

          Now let’s talk about this for a bit. 

          Is drama good or bad for SL?

          An argument could be made that drama inworld is healthy and normal.  Suspense is built around our activities and makes us want to come back to see what happens next.  Is this any different than an interactive form of RL reality TV? 

          Contrary arguments could be made that drama in SL is not healthy and we already have too much in RL.  The arguments could continue that the behaviors are meaningless and add no value to the SL experience.  Could these behaviors even drive people away and potentially hurt them. 

          Finally, does this even matter?  After all, it’s only a game some may argue.  There is also an argument that there are real people with real feelings behind all those avatars. Maybe it’s for the residents to decide.  After all, SL is a community. People vote with their feet.  If they don’t like a sim or a group of people, they’ll go elsewhere.  (Unless they’re masochists but that’s another story.) 

          For me, I always support healthy interaction among residents.  There are real people behind our avatars and we have to remember.  Maybe in role play where there are rules and expectations, drama can be expected.  Otherwise, in RL, I personally avoid poor behavior.  I would do the same in SL if I encountered it. 

          What do you think?  Please send your comments.  I’d love to hear them. 

As always, I’m grateful to all for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.

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.

Humor in Second Life

Humor is reason gone mad.

Groucho Marx

           

After I wrote my last story speculating about whether or not Second Life (SL) could ever be considered a civilization, a friend dropped a note saying I’d gotten awfully serious all of a sudden. She had missed my humor.  (Some of my readers are really loyal!)   

This got me thinking about humor and SL and about the inherent humor contained in SL.  (Don’t worry, this is not going to be a very serious story.  Or, at least I don’t intend it to be.)

Think about this.  About forty years ago, Allen Funt of Candid Camera fame, directed a film called What Do You Say to a Naked Lady? which recorded people’s reactions to encountering a naked woman in unexpected, everyday situations.  It was a little controversial (guess why?) and became something of a cult classic.  Now, flash forward forty or so years to SL and guess what?  One can bump into naked women, not to mention men and assorted other creatures, all over the grid.  Is this any less funny than Funt’s opus?  If a movie can be funny then what about an entire virtual world?

How about a few other examples of humor in SL? 

Let’s start with a few of my past stories. (It’s my blog, I can plug my own stories!)  Remember Sex in SL?  I wrote about the use of birth control and Viagra inworld.  People loved it and thought it was hilarious.  All I did was call out what was already there.  (Alright, maybe I did a little digging but you get the idea.)  Then there was my Interview with a Mad Scientist.  (I’d like to see 60 Minutes top that one.)  Or, how about Live in a Box?   Only in SL could that one be funny. 

How about some of the avatars that residents present themselves as inworld?  Vampires, nekos, and furries to name but a few.  I mean no disrespect here because I have friends in all categories, but I have to admit I’m amused by the variety of personal representations chosen inworld.  And, let’s not forget some of the lavish costumes worn by some of the more conventional avatars. 

Here’s a controversial recommendation. What about griefing?  Yes, I know it’s bad behavior, unethical, and illegal in a few cases.  But, you have to admit there’s something funny about the sky over a too serious news conference being filled with flying phalluses. 

Finally, if all of this is just too New Age for you, SL has a traditional comedy clubs just like Real Life (RL).  Kickstand\’s Comedy Club has scheduled comics, open mic nights, and has comedy films every day.  There’s something for everyone!  

Alright, some may say that these are just examples and they may be humorous by themselves but they don’t make SL any more of a humorous place than RL.  (I have an opinion about RL and humor but I’ll save it for another time and place.) 

Let’s just stop and think about that for a minute. We’re talking about a place where grown-up’s (calendar-wise if not mentally) go around playing dress-up as virtual avatars.  They have fictional back stories and get into all sorts of situations.  Just look at me and some of the situations I got myself into!  There has to be humor in all of this, right?  If there isn’t then I obviously don’t know humor when I see it. (Don’t say it!) 

In closing, I submit SL is a humorous place.  A very humorous place.  Why?  Well, at least for me, SL makes me happy (Don’t worry, I have a perfectly well adjusted RL too.  Significant Other insists on it.), and I’ve been known to smile and laugh while inworld. That has to be humor.  Let me put it another way.  Who goes into SL to be unhappy? 

           

As always, I’m grateful to all for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives. And, for all the humor that they with me and others! 

Below are a few pictures of some of the communities I’ve visited inworld, which at the time seemed a little humorous.  I hope you find them that way too! 

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.

Photo No. 1 webspelunker Preparing to Visit Ancient Alexandria

Photo No. 2 Tintable Condoms – Who Knew?

Photo No. 3 Virtual Birth Control

Photo No. 4 Somebody Missed the Boat!

Photo No. 5 What Do You Say to a Naked Person?

Photo No. 6 Mad Scientist’s Tentacled Pet

Photo No. 7 Mad Scientist’s Submarine Pen and Bomb Lab

Is Second Life Viable as a Civilization?

Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor.

Arnold Toynbee

          Recently, I came across a newly published book, Civilization: The West and the Rest by Niall Ferguson This is a very interesting read which I strongly recommend to students of the world we live in today.  The author’s premise is that there are six characteristics which differentiated Western civilization from the rest of the world in its original success and that the West has lost its edge as other societies have now acquired these and is pulling ahead. 

          After my recent stories about friendship and social life in Second Life (SL), this book got me thinking about civilization in SL itself.  I mean why couldn’t SL be a civilization?  And, if it can be, is it sustainable? 

          Niall Ferguson’s six characteristics are competition, science, the rule of law, consumerism, modern medicine, and work ethic.  I’m going to look at each of these in the context of SL to see if SL could be considered a sustainable civilization. 

          First is competition.  Is there competition in SL?  I can say yes.  There’s certainly enough shops about and services being offered to prove that point.  But, with Linden Lab (LL) being able to arbitrarily take over a market (i.e., currency trading) or shut a business activity down (i.e., gambling) is there true competition inworld?  What exists in SL is reminiscent of the New Economic Policy (NEP) brought forward by Lenin and then eliminated by Stalin in the period after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.  The threat of the monopoly powers of a command economy always lurk about in SL.  Copyright protection and a stable currency are other prerequisites for competition.  One would be hard pressed to say either exist inworld.  Anyone remember the copybot issue? 

          Second is science.  Does SL have science?  Yes, but…  (Always with the qualifier.)  The original science behind SL was innovative for its time.  Mesh and machinima were highly regarded additions to the original base.  But, (Here it comes.) will there be more?  Will it be enough?  Where is the new innovation?  Mobility has been missed.  How does SL coexist with social media like Facebook and Twitter?  Is SL like the West in Real Life (RL) which is losing its lead in science to late comers to the party?  Is SL going to go the way of ancient China, inventing marvelous devices like rockets, movable printing type, and paper currency only to see others reap the advantage and eat its lunch? 

          Ferguson’s third characteristic of a civilization is the rule of law.  The rule of law permits investors and businesses to know that their investments will be protected from wrongful seizure and there will be redress for bad behavior.  Here SL is a non-starter.  There seems to be considerable frustration among residents about how to resolve issues among themselves or with Linden Lab. Notwithstanding the policeman and jail in 1920’s Berlin there’s not a whole lot of law enforcement in SL. 

          Next Ferguson raises consumerism as a characteristic of a civilization which is forming.  Again, the variety of goods and services available in SL seems to imply that this attribute exists.  My question (I always have questions I’m a writer after all.) is can this be sustained?  What new goods and services can be offered?  Will there ever be a device like an iPad in SL?  Will residents made the investment of capital and time to build new products and services inworld? 

          The fifth characteristic is modern medicine.  At first glance, this might be dismissed as irrelevant in a virtual world.  (I almost did.  I’m prone to rushing to judgment.  Just ask Significant Other.)  But, with a little imagination (Occasionally I have a little.) this concept could be extended to the idea of viruses.  Could we consider problems like lag and griefing to be epidemics?  How are they dealt with?  The lack of an infrastructure to deal with issues like this is another negative against SL being considered a sustainable civilization. 

          The final characteristic is a work ethic.  Here, I feel very positive about SL’s success here. One only has to visit the multitude of sims inworld, 1920’s Berlin and Ancient Alexandria are but two examples, to know that a strong work ethic is alive and well in SL.  In fact, I believe that is the one characteristic that can overcome the shortcomings with the others. 

          Let me recap.  Out of the six characteristics of a successful civilization developed by Ferguson, SL has some semblance of all of them except for the rule of law.  The lack of the rule of law precludes a stable, safe economy for the investments that could be made inworld to build a true SL civilization and sustain it. 

          Can this be overcome? I don’t know.  I won’t be negative and say all is lost.  But to succeed, the residents of SL will need to come together to develop the components of a legal system.  (Be warned this means lawyers!  Always a necessary evil in successful civilizations.)  And let’s not forget LL.  They’re always out there just over the horizon.  I’m drawn to a comparison of the thirteen colonies in America and England in the eighteenth century.  (Apologies to my British readers.)  A group of independent minded individuals who are willing to work hard but are stymied by a remote and aloof power more interested in its own political squabbles than in the welfare of all.  (I wonder if I could be this revolution’s Thomas Paine?) 

 
          In closing, I believe that SL could develop into a civilization, albeit a virtual one.  I think the die has been cast and virtual civilizations will arise.  For SL, the question is will it become one of the greats, long remembered and highly regarded long after it declines as do all civilizations.  Or, will SL be one of those flash in the pan civilizations that sprang up briefly and whose ruins now litter the deserts of the Middle East? 

As always, I’m grateful to all for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.

Below are a few pictures of some of the communities I’ve visited inworld, chosen to highlight SL’s civilization. 

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.

Photo No. 1 Renaissance Faire, Stained Glass Windows Display

Photo No. 2 Downtown Esoterica

Photo No. 3 Manchu Picchu

Photo No. 4 Ankh-Morpork Suburbs in Winter

Photo No. 5 Madeleine’s – Club

Photo No. 6 Osho Mediatation Island

Photo No. 7 1920’s Berlin – Brandenburg Gate