So I've read a couple articles lately about Second Life and I just don't get it. I think that's probably the first key there is that I read about it and don't do it;I'm not going to do it. Also, I've never been into the chat room phenomenon and I guess this was the logical step from there. I can understand that aspect. What I can't understand is that people spend real money to buy virtual real estate and clothes and just stuff, virtual stuff. In Second Life, one way people spend and make money is by buying land and constructing buildings and then selling the land. All the land is virtual, but the money is real. Businesses are making virtual presences in Second Life as well to catch the techies in their favorite environment. Even politicians are getting in there to pump up their following (sheep). How did this happen?
The other part of Second Life that I don't understand is that people have built churches and actually conduct religious services. One participant said that he didn't have much of a religious presence in the community in which he lived. He enjoyed gathering with others from his religion online. But here's the thing, in virtual reality, you don't know who people are at all. You don't know what they really look like, you can't read their body language to see if they are just fool of bullshit. To share in a so-called spiritual experience when the person sitting next to you in church as an old lady could be some dude that likes to go around and mess with people.
Such is the nature of virtual anything, so I guess that's what I can't get my head around. One of the authors of the articles I read tested out Second Life for his editor. The funny thing was that he got so wrapped up in the being online, that he lost his real-life girlfriend; but was still excited about some "girls" he had met in Second Life.
So they say that this will be the next big leap for the internet. Since real-life businesses are on board, that usually indicates that a lot of money will be pumped into something and it will be huge. But I'm not all about the social hookups and spending my money to buy virtual things and essentially living my life on the internet. I already probably spend too much money on things I don't need that actually exist and if I want to meet someone from across the world, maybe I should go to their country...I suppose I'll be one of those old goofs who will never catch on to that, what do you call it, interwebemail, those dang computers thing.
The other part of Second Life that I don't understand is that people have built churches and actually conduct religious services. One participant said that he didn't have much of a religious presence in the community in which he lived. He enjoyed gathering with others from his religion online. But here's the thing, in virtual reality, you don't know who people are at all. You don't know what they really look like, you can't read their body language to see if they are just fool of bullshit. To share in a so-called spiritual experience when the person sitting next to you in church as an old lady could be some dude that likes to go around and mess with people.
Such is the nature of virtual anything, so I guess that's what I can't get my head around. One of the authors of the articles I read tested out Second Life for his editor. The funny thing was that he got so wrapped up in the being online, that he lost his real-life girlfriend; but was still excited about some "girls" he had met in Second Life.
So they say that this will be the next big leap for the internet. Since real-life businesses are on board, that usually indicates that a lot of money will be pumped into something and it will be huge. But I'm not all about the social hookups and spending my money to buy virtual things and essentially living my life on the internet. I already probably spend too much money on things I don't need that actually exist and if I want to meet someone from across the world, maybe I should go to their country...I suppose I'll be one of those old goofs who will never catch on to that, what do you call it, interwebemail, those dang computers thing.
1 comment:
The picture is the avatar of some writer who wrote is currently "living" in Second Life to write a series of articles. There are a lot of writers experiencing Second Life for their articles.
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