As this is a personal blog, do not expect the following to be an objective essay using the scientific method (for clarification: FL=First Life)
Last night I was dancing with a friend I have only known for a short time. As things often go with dancing in SL (though for me dancing is just that: dancing!), he started trying to seduce me. [Alarm!] While chatting along a few topics came up, like him having a gf in SL (I do not know his marital status in FL) and being polygamous [Alarm!], and finally him stating this is a game and this is not love but just feelings of love - HUH?! [Alarm!].
I know there exist different views on this topic, but I wonder if people stating that this is just a game and these are just pixels are not trapped in self-betrayal. From my point of view this is exactly what leads to an insensitive and unempathic treatment of others in VR or maybe on the web in general.
Statement 1 - this is a game
SL is not a common MMORPG like The Sims or WoW. While in those "games" you can choose a (pre-built) character to RP, there are still restrictions. Usually you have some sort of given story, environment, devices and thread along which your character plays and interacts with other characters (like many do in SL on RP sims) and it is much more like acting in a theatre play: you know the character, you know the background, you know the rules and you play along, writing the story as you go more or less. Now, are all the people in SL consenting on playing in some sort of RP? By far, not. How else would it be possible to do education, fundraising, music, readings in here? Those are all things transferable to FL (how is the shooting or slaying of monsters transferable?). People get to know each other in SL, fall in love, meet in FL and even get married in FL then. For me, this is an extension of my FL, I can go to a gallery or a museum, a reading, a theatre play, a workshop, which I might not be able to visit in FL for various reasons. VR gives us the possibility to create and emulate a real environment, to interact with each other, to create and to learn. It is an expansion of the web and all those 2D places like myspace, facebook, twitter, email etc., it is a new immersive level of the web and networking as a whole.
Statement 2 - just pixels
My keyboard cannot talk, and pixels do not hear. I am always aware that there is a person sitting at a keyboard just like me. Maybe in some future the PCs or whatever those might be called by then will start to communicate on their own (oh hell, you like that dystopia?), but at present it is not so. And though we lack taste, smell, touch in VR, we cannot deny we are humans interacting with other humans. I like to state that porn is just pixels, too, but it seems to work for many, doesn't it? And as the graphics improve and the cartoonish look vanishes more and more, it gets evermore realistic. Yes, most of us do not look the same as in FL, we all look nice and pretty, handsome -but it is still part of our personality we show in what way ever. The artist creates, but he cannot hide completely behind his/her work, something of the personality will always shine through. If you are bullying or harrassing people in here IMHO you are either a bully in FL too or you act out what you may not allow yourself to do in FL, but it is still YOU doing it.
Now, I have a few questions for you to answer to yourself (and by friends I mean FRIENDS, not just the contacts we all use to have on our longish "friends list"):
- If a supposed good SL friend removes you from their friends list without a word or obvious reason, how do you feel about it?
- If someone in SL calls you names and is generally obnoxious, aggressive, insulting, how do you feel about it (and I mean really feel about it, besides ToS and abuse reports you can write)?
- Do you keep contact with your friends online other than in SL?
- Have you ever met or would you like to meet any of your SL friends in FL? Are you even planning a trip already?
- Do you know FL backgrounds of your SL friends? Do you share parts of your FL background with your friends?
- Do your SL earnings contribute to your FL budget?
You can surely come up with more questions.
I do not confuse anonymity with playing a game. People may have reasons to stay anonymous and I respect that, the web is full with stalkers and crazies, and some of them use SL for their cruel and unhealthy conditions and ambitions. Even in that SL is not very different from FL, we get the whole package.
And those people might well state that this is just a game as an excuse for their misconduct. Sorry, I do not accept such an excuse. It just shows me the general state of mindset they are in (or maybe our world is in).
As for me, I am human still, no matter what my avatar looks like, it is a visual entity of my personality. If you think this is just a game and we are all just pixels - please, stay away from me. This is not a game, and I do not like to be game either.
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