15 Comments

• 

  The L (i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb208/ongaru/IMVUsucks.png) | Reply

  Saturday, 22nd August 2009 at 8:06 AM

   

  Second Life never appealed to me anyway. When I play a game, it’s to enter a simplified world. A world where, just for a little while, I don’t have to worry about work, or family life, or any of that.. So why would I want to waste my game time re-creating the very things that stressed me out in the first place?

  And what if Real Life causes me to have to put gaming on hold for a few months, and I come back and everything’s changed? More stress! It’s a video game–it shouldn’t penalize me for not always having the time to play it. That’s why I prefer games that “pause” when you’re not playing over games where the virtual world is constantly changing even when you’re not connected.

  The only other reason I can think of for MMO’s…well, the picture I linked to above pretty much says it all.

   
• 

  Autumn Heartsong (heartsongshymnal.blogspot.com) | Reply

  Saturday, 22nd August 2009 at 10:51 AM

   

  First…loved the picture, The L posted! The caption was just too funny!

  I find the concept of Second LIfe fascinating and disappointing at the same time. On the one hand, it’s like writing an interactive story…you create fiction cooperatively through the electronic medium. That has some appeal to me. I can be anything from saint to street whore in my story; writing with someone else just adds complexity and surprises, a sense of “realness” to it. The disappointment, as The L refers to, is that it takes off on a life of its own; you can’t pause the game to take care of sick kids, or for a second job, study, meditation, volunteer time, or even – gasp! – quality time with your realtime family and friends.

  As with most everything, the fault usually lies with the user rather than with the tool. I know of a growing number of cases where Second Life is being used to create training simulation scenarios for corporate training, and being used quite successfully in those settings.

  To say that Second Life and other virtual worlds are bad is like saying you should destroy your hammer because your window broke. You shouldn’t be hitting your window with a hammer. If you stick to nails, a hammer is a very fine thing to have. If we learn to balance our real life with our fiction, no matter what medium we prefer, the fiction can still serve.

  It’s that pesky accountability/responsibility thing again. Why can’t a witch ever get a break?

   
  • 

    Sitara Haye (sitarahaye.com) | Reply

    Monday, 24th August 2009 at 10:04 AM

     

    I can see SL being used for training scenarios, but as an alternate reality in which to *LIVE*… that’s where I have to shake my head ruefully. It’s not even “real”. There *are* no sick kids, getting fired, cats and dogs puking on the floor, tampon strings breaking, physical pain such as migraines, etc.

    I agree that people can use it responsibly. The emphasis is CAN. For those that CANNOT, it adds a further layer of illusion and deep level of the well from which to extract yourself. People do horrible enough things to each other in real life, and there’s a lot of drama that occurs on SL and other virtual reality games primarily because those games are so devoid of the small daily stressors that get us “fed up” with normal daily drama. So folks need something to make it exciting. If people are POSITIVE, they can find POSITIVE happy things to create that storyline… but really — in this society, that shit don’t sell. Look at the movies — explosions, angst, drama, intrigue, espionage, affairs, cat fights, drugs, theft, the list goes on — these are the things that “create interest”. High drama, high fear, high negativity. When you don’t have a good script and you get to write your own, do you remember to keep it earthed and go to the bathroom? Do you write in the parts where you pull your underwear out of your ass-crack? Do you remember to spill the water while filling the dog’s bowl because that happens in real life, or do you gloss it over? When you gloss over the earthy parts and can control how much unglamorous stuff that happens in your SL, then you fall back to these other things to “amp up” your storyline.

    Only in SL, you can have as much angst and drama as you want… after all, you don’t have to look at the people you’re hurting, you don’t have to hear them cry, you don’t have to be in the circle of the pain you cause.

    Personally, I believe it takes an incredibly mature person to dissociate on these kinds of games and most of the society isn’t there by a long shot.

     
    • 

      Heartsong (heartsongshymnal.blogspot.com) | Reply

      Monday, 24th August 2009 at 2:19 PM

       

      Truthfully, I agree with you. While it is a personal responsibility to hold the balance, it’s one that is frequently not met. Are we as a race not “evolved” enough to handle such a powerful tool? Is our ability to create tools outstripping our ability to use them properly, in a balanced and responsible way? Like other proverbial cats we’ve discussed on this list, this one’s out of the bag and most likely won’t go back in. How do we help move ourselves and our species forward to the point that we don’t feel the need to create a virtual world where we are consequence free?

       
• 

  Colin Bondi (bodhidude.wordpress.com) | Reply

  Saturday, 22nd August 2009 at 5:11 PM

   

  This is so sad to me. Its a reflection of just how dissociated the society has become, disconnected from life and from the natural world. It also reflects dis-empowerment in my view and an unlived real life especially because it is mimicking the actual world. Why one would feel a draw to create an artificial life in an artificial world instead of creating what they want in the real world is very revealing. Well also because doing it in the real world requires facing fear, pain, the unknown and all the things we most often would rather avoid. I really see this as a call for help from the collective unconscious and a call to wake up to what is being denied.

   
• 

  Avren | Reply

  Saturday, 22nd August 2009 at 11:27 PM

   

  All I have to say is Ever Crack. Remember how huge it was when it came out. I knew a woman who played everyday for hours. Her husband once told me she was on the night shift, and when he came home from work he played the day shift. I came to their apartment only once, it was so filthy I almost gagged when I walked in. The stench? A turkey from Thanks Giving a WEEK earlier. It had been on the counter for DAYS! She was so lazy, she would rather stay in a home full of filth all day and play that game all night. I don’t think I should have to mention that in REAL life she was rather heavy and also very unwashed, but on the game she was a slim elf. The sadness of her life is still with me 7 years later. All I can say is I pray she has finally moved on and is truly happy now.

   
• 

  Gregory Murray | Reply

  Sunday, 23rd August 2009 at 1:02 AM

   

  Great message, Sitara. I agree 100%. I think Colin’s analysis – about how it reflects dis-empowerment – is also very sharp. I would only add (but this is already implied in Colin’s statement & embodied in Sitara’s blog) that it not only reflects, but also perpetuates & increases, this dis-empowerment. So….one escapes to the virtual world because one feels dis-empowered in this one…and this action actually increases the dis-empowerment one feels & has, thus increasing the misery & need for escape. It is a vicious spiral downwards.

  I would ask one further question. Who benefits from our dis-empowerment? Who is feeding off the life-energy we surrender in this process? Whoever or whatever it is, we must regard it as a negative force, whether unconscious, conscious, or collective, that is very detrimental to our spiritual growth and, practically speaking, detrimental to world balance and our survival as a civilization.

  I have a tendency to see things as black & white, light vs. darkness. I know there is grey area and I miss a lot of subtleties. But I still believe there are two major agendas at work in the world, with powerful individuals at the helm of each….and perhaps most of us only get a whiff in the breeze about the inner workings behind the scenes. But the real struggle takes place in our daily lives…it is where the battles are fought, ground gained or lost, etc. So Sitara is right, our first priority has to be to straighten out our own lives, to get personal power….and we can’t do this if we lead double lives.

  I’m sorry my posts are so long. I don’t seem to be very capable of inciteful, succinct commentary.

   
  • 

    Heartsong (heartsongshymnal.blogspot.com) | Reply

    Tuesday, 25th August 2009 at 9:16 AM

     

    Gregory Murray said, “…our first priority has to be to straighten out our own lives, to get personal power….”

    This statement – and well put, Gregory – is so true. Our “personal power” is at the very heart of our walk. It’s the power of choice, of accountability, of knowing the difference between things we can control and things we can influence, and having the wisdom to apply both control and influence in alignment with our higher goals and ethics.

    Sorry for the off-topic placement of this comment, but the phrase just struck me.

     
    • 

      Winter MoonWolf | Reply

      Thursday, 27th August 2009 at 1:55 AM

       

      Heartsong, this is Gregory Murray. I’m just going with this other name that’s been in my back pocket for awhile…and decided I’ll start using it online.

      Thank you for your kind words. As I’ve begun to walk this path, I’ve been examining my own emotional reactions (and how I choose to act on them) to events and non-events around me…in short, to those things I cannot control, or things which, for any number of reasons, don’t meet my expectations. And although I’ve always understood rationally & intuitionally that personal power is about self-mastery rather than mastery of others, it is another thing altogether to experience it, to witness & feel the transition when I begin to lay claim to it…to watch my Lower Self squirm as my Higher Self begins to shine the Light where it most needs to go….. )

      By the way, since we are off topic, I wish to observe publicly what I’ve often noted privately, that your comments on Sitara’s articles here are Especially Keen & Penetrating, as a rule. I always enjoy reading them, and more often than not, get something from them.

       
• 

  Alii (aliisilverwing.blogspot.com) | Reply

  Tuesday, 25th August 2009 at 5:08 PM

   

  I should preface this reply with two things: I’m a dedicated gamer and, unrelated, I dislike Second Life for reasons other than those already put forth.

  I can see how Second Life could be used to de-stress and provide a safe and protected outlet for those who wish to live out fantasies. That’s not to say that things can go wrong when the outlet becomes a vice, but I’ve known balanced theme roleplayers, individuals who create for the joy of creating, and people who claim their space within Second Life because it’s logical and comfortable for them. It’s not that they don’t have successful lives outside, but they exist and have a presence within SL. An hour a day of leisure can be healthy, something that’ll preserve your sanity. Perhaps it exists as an alternative way of grounding yourself when you can view things from the perspective of an avatar who is both you and not-you.

  SL is also very different from many other virtual life-type communities, primarily because it’s a sandbox and not a game. When you’re dumped in there, you have to find your own ‘fun’. I’ve heard it likened to the expansion across the US plains during the pioneer days. Second Life could be considered part of the Wild Wild West of virtual worlds. Nothing is regulated and the community polices itself. Which means that there IS alot of ‘losing yourself’ like any time people venture to the fringes.

  My personal opinion is that throwing yourself fully into an imaginary world is a symptom of greater problems. Depression coupled with a convenient escapism, perhaps. Some people have addictive personalities, too, and honestly become addicted via rewarding brain chemicals that many people who enter into these virtual world release as they play.

  If someone DOES lose themselves (and it’s not as rare as it should be, unfortunately) I believe that a helping hand should be extended. Help, though, is sometimes not accepted – or perhaps is spurned – because the assistance hinges on convincing the lost individual that offline is important. Sometimes… it hurts too much to live offline and the battle is lost before it has even begun. (Heh. Can you tell that I’ve had experience with this sort of thing?)

  Of course, I come at this topic from the perspective of a gamer. I have the attitude that these types of social games can be /fantastic/ for any number of reasons. When someone loses perspective and is consumed, however, the entire community mourns. But hanging out with your friends online by establishing virtual community isn’t any less legitimate than establishing one offline. You’re just usually further away.

  The positive anecdotes of people who extend and receive help from their virtual neighbors don’t necessarily outweigh the negative in sheer volume, but every time the community erects a monument to a passed friend, ships the equivalent of a casserole or gives refuge to someone they met online… For some people, bonds of a tight community can’t – for whatever reason – form outside of a controlled virtual environment.

  Yes, losing yourself in a game to the detriment of everything else sucks, but alternatively there’s a lot to be said for the people no longer slipping through the societal cracks because of virtual worlds like this.

   
  • 

    Alii (aliisilverwing.blogspot.com) | Reply

    Tuesday, 25th August 2009 at 5:08 PM

     

    … Gah. Apologies for the novel.

     
    • 

      Sitara Haye (sitarahaye.com) | Reply

      Tuesday, 25th August 2009 at 6:48 PM

       

      You’re not the only one who speaks their full heart here. You’ll notice, no one complains.

       
  • 

    Sitara Haye (sitarahaye.com) | Reply

    Tuesday, 25th August 2009 at 6:49 PM

     

    I had not thought about the virtual world being an alternative to people slipping through other societal “cracks” and into other, more socially damaging habits. Definitely something that never crossed my mind!

     
• 

  Knevolyn (cotbm.org) | Reply

  Wednesday, 26th August 2009 at 10:50 AM

   

  Never played Second Life, but I’ve played online games like World of Warcraft. The problem with games like WoW is that they are consciously designed to keep people on a treadmill of work, reward, more work, slightly bigger reward, even more work, etc. You can get sucked in and before you know it you’ve spent a LOT of time there.

  “All things in moderation,” as they say. The average America watches almost four hours of TV per night. There are lots of ways to waste time. And so many of the things we use as time-wasters are valuable primarily only for escapism… TV, movies, novels, games… they’re all fictions, designed to take us away from our own lives and into the lives of other people.

  So, yeah, I’ve wondered many times what it is about our lives that make getting away from them so popular. And why, then, don’t people instead try to make their own lives something that they wouldn’t want to escape?

  Brains need a little down-time… but I like to think that’s what sleep is for.

   
  • 

    Sitara Haye (sitarahaye.com) | Reply

    Wednesday, 26th August 2009 at 4:07 PM

     

    I know that I’m personally incapable of being all-task, all-the-time. I do, however, have serious issue with escapism to the point of self-neglect. Not good, not good, not good.