Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Second Life
"Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by 353,589 people from around the globe." --http://secondlife.com/whatis/
The creation of virtual realities like Second Life appear to be potentially both good and bad for society. From the Second Life participant, spending the money to "live" in a virtual reality is justified by their desire to escape from the real world, which may or may not be advantageous for them personally, and thus presents a high that cannot be achieved without elicit drug use--which is otherwise potentially dangerous, though perhaps just as expensive as existing as a virtual player in Second Life...I don't know. However, how is there a differentiation between removing oneself from reality through drug use and spending countless hours consumed in unproductive online gaming. Is gaming not a form of high? It would seem likely that the creators of Second Life would want you to think not:
"We think there are fundamental elements in successful sites: 1. a tangible sense of community to form into groups and to talk live; 2. a marketplace. There needs to be some sort of an exchange marketplace that allows people to trade with one another. It doesn’t have to be valued in US dollars, but there needs to be a marketplace; 3. whatever it is that’s being traded and valued must be user-created; 4. the site must be fundamentally unstructured, which allows people to be intellectual and curious. Second Life is magically unstructured, like a park, and therefore users can create their own relationships with it. "
...Or, we could organize a game of good-old American baseball (or paintball, or shooting guns, or fightclub) at the park near Main Street, and afterward, partake in something of subtinence and live a little--instead of spending countless hours staring at a computer screen, emptying our bank accounts in submission to the reality that real life sucks sometimes. How can so many people waste any potential they might have had to do something great with their lives, playing games instead? Rediculous. Oh, and the people at Maxis are kicking themselves in the arse for wasting their time making The Sims...
The creation of virtual realities like Second Life appear to be potentially both good and bad for society. From the Second Life participant, spending the money to "live" in a virtual reality is justified by their desire to escape from the real world, which may or may not be advantageous for them personally, and thus presents a high that cannot be achieved without elicit drug use--which is otherwise potentially dangerous, though perhaps just as expensive as existing as a virtual player in Second Life...I don't know. However, how is there a differentiation between removing oneself from reality through drug use and spending countless hours consumed in unproductive online gaming. Is gaming not a form of high? It would seem likely that the creators of Second Life would want you to think not:
"We think there are fundamental elements in successful sites: 1. a tangible sense of community to form into groups and to talk live; 2. a marketplace. There needs to be some sort of an exchange marketplace that allows people to trade with one another. It doesn’t have to be valued in US dollars, but there needs to be a marketplace; 3. whatever it is that’s being traded and valued must be user-created; 4. the site must be fundamentally unstructured, which allows people to be intellectual and curious. Second Life is magically unstructured, like a park, and therefore users can create their own relationships with it. "
...Or, we could organize a game of good-old American baseball (or paintball, or shooting guns, or fightclub) at the park near Main Street, and afterward, partake in something of subtinence and live a little--instead of spending countless hours staring at a computer screen, emptying our bank accounts in submission to the reality that real life sucks sometimes. How can so many people waste any potential they might have had to do something great with their lives, playing games instead? Rediculous. Oh, and the people at Maxis are kicking themselves in the arse for wasting their time making The Sims...
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A very good post.
Yes, it is hard to escape the feeling that some people are spending to much time, money and emotional energy online.
But we seem to be redefining what it means to be doing "something great with their lives." It may seem ridiculous to dive into an online world, but millions are doing it. It it inevitable? Is it all bad? What about if an individual can strike a balance? Isn't it more creative than sitting in front of a TV for hours and hours?
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Yes, it is hard to escape the feeling that some people are spending to much time, money and emotional energy online.
But we seem to be redefining what it means to be doing "something great with their lives." It may seem ridiculous to dive into an online world, but millions are doing it. It it inevitable? Is it all bad? What about if an individual can strike a balance? Isn't it more creative than sitting in front of a TV for hours and hours?
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