[MD] Inorganic, organic, social, intellectual,.... virtual

[Peter Corteen]

Hi Marsha, so you admit it!! Earth women should be noted for their
directness not for their circuitous sarcasms.

I am largely apolitical; I only began voting about about 8 years ago and
there have only been two general elections and two London mayors in that
time; I am interested in politics though and follow the news quite closely -
I respect politicians generally for their ability to be so assertive in open
conversations with many people without losing their train of thought -
excluding Bush of course - that is an ability I have in very short supply. I
am practicing those communication and social skills at Humanist group
meetings and, very recently, on Second Life. I do have a few real life
friends too!

I take your point about the anonymity aspect of SL. I am reading a real life
book you can hold in your hands about the writer's experience of SL both
from within and without the virtual world; the most recent chapter is about
his deliberate infiltration into an SL Mafia to see how they extorted real
money from people. It is a potentially dangerous place and if you pursue a
dubious line you can get into real life trouble. On the other hand you can
work on genuine friendships in SL too.

To make the virtual experience more real people spend real money for virtual
clothing or house possessions. You don't see hardly any older looking
avatars in SL even though people will admit to an often much older real life
age when asked. At first, I had very ordinary clothing and didn't think it
important, after all it was only a game; after a few days I approached a
couple after the guy shouted my name as I went by; they were both dressed
very well and it was a delight to look at them; the guy said after a while
that my skin looked weird and offered me a new skin, I accepted but repeated
that this was only a game and my avatar was not the real me - he just said
'ah' with a disappointed tone (because by this time we were on voice over).
At this point I realised that I had not made the effort and that the main
drawing point of SL was the visual aspect; there is art and virtue in SL
too.

-Peter



2008/9/5 MarshaV <marshalz at charter.net>

> At 07:53 AM 9/5/2008, you wrote:
>
>> Marsha, you make me think you must be a real earth woman.
>>
>> -Peter
>>
>
> Peter,
>
> Ohhhh.   You were matching my sarcasm with sarcasm.
>
> I think it's dishonest and cowardly to hide behind an anonymous identity
> and to enact deeds of great courage in a world constructed on a computer.
> Especially if, in real life, you do not call your Senators and
> Representative, and, worse yet, if you do not vote.  But I guess boys will
> be boys.
>
> If you, Peter, are one who does actively participate in government, I
> apologize.
>
> Marsha
>
>
>
>
>
>  2008/9/5 MarshaV <marshalz at charter.net>
>>
>> > At 02:34 AM 9/5/2008, you wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hi Arlo,
>> >>
>> >> you have obviously been around these virtual worlds for some time and
>> you
>> >> raise some interesting points about the notion of identity. I'm still
>> very
>> >> new to SL but I found that it's possible to change the avatars body,
>> skin
>> >> and clothing in a few clicks which can be confusing for people who you
>> met
>> >> previously with a different appearance so already I started to make an
>> >> avatar that looks close to the RL me (minus some wrinkles) as I feel
>> >> uneasy
>> >> about pretending to be something I am not. Having said that I will
>> >> probably
>> >> end up with a few accounts where I can project different, more
>> idealised,
>> >> personna under a different SL name.
>> >>
>> >> Like in RL you will find people who want to deceive others for their
>> own
>> >> ends. SL is a moral world and you have to work in order to enjoy it.
>> >>
>> >> -Peter
>> >>
>> >
>> > Greetings Peter,
>> >
>> > Today in real life men are getting face lifts.  Instead of pretending,
>> you
>> > too can be as pretty as Joan Rivers.
>> >
>> > Marsha
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >  2008/9/4 Arlo Bensinger <ajb102 at psu.edu>
>> >>
>> >> > [Krimel to Peter]
>> >> > If you are looking for a real "second life" you might consider World
>> of
>> >> > Warcraft.
>> >> >
>> >> > [Arlo]
>> >> > May I suggest Cenarion Circle server-world? There you will meet a
>> >> helpful
>> >> > and kind shaman named Aenea (named after the heroine in Dan Simmons
>> >> Hyperion
>> >> > quadrilogy), who has attained the highest level currently possible in
>> >> her
>> >> > world, and who is now eying the depths of Serpentshrine Cavern.
>> >> >
>> >> > There are many papers examining "identity" and the ideas of
>> >> > representational avatars for various identity constructions. Even way
>> >> back
>> >> > before MMORPGs, researchers were looking at MUDs and MOOs as areas
>> which
>> >> > problematized the notion of "one body, one identity". Indeed, the
>> notion
>> >> of
>> >> > "identity" itself is fairly problematic, since even "IRL" we assume
>> >> > sometimes largely different identity roles. Which is "us"? One? All?
>> Is
>> >> > there "one core identity" that rules them all? Sherrie Turkle's (now
>> >> > "ancient" by web standards) piece in Wired "Who am we?" (
>> >> > http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.01/turkle.html) was one of the
>> >> first
>> >> > popular pieces to consider that "identity construction" is both a
>> >> socially
>> >> > negotiated process and a plurality of personae none of which could be
>> >> said
>> >> > to be "any more real" than any other.
>> >> >
>> >> > By the way, if you missed it here is a funny clip from The Office
>> (US)
>> >> > where Dwight talks about his foray into Second Life (
>> >> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3d_fqDcN1s).
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
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>> > .
>> > .
>> >
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>> stars.........
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