The internet as a whole and the web most specifically has come increasingly under attack by governments worldwide. Anyone who cares about freedom of thought and expression (this means you, all you sexual libertines on Second Life and Warcraft and all the others!!!) had better start looking into how they can keep a screeching, electrified old corpse like Joe Lieberman from turning the net into just another shopping mall where dissent is limited to ineffectual protest against the State.
Free Julian Assange!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Second Life
I read not long ago a column by Tyler Brule in the Financial Times in which he mocked Second Life. Well. Maybe if your Real Life job is essentially what Second Life offers, you can afford to be snide. Tyler is a jet-setting publisher-cum style maven to international capital. I don't follow the gay scene in SL, but I'm sure there are any number of Tyler Brule clones there.
More recently, I read an article in the NY Times about how broke-ass chicks like me are able to have fun shopping for clothes in Second Life when they can hardly afford to buy new socks with their unemployment checks.
I thought of this because someone in SL approached me and asked me a lot of questions, saying he was new. It made me think of how SL is percieved by someone on the outside. He wanted to know where he could get 'killer threads' like mine without having to pay. Naturellement! Anyway, I sent him some landmarks for Freebie Malls, the equivalent of a pusher giving you free heroin. In no time this gentleman will be draining his Paypal account to buy helicopters and tanks to feed his roleplay habit. Or bondage gear to satisfy his other urges. Thanatos and Eros, the eternal idols...
More recently, I read an article in the NY Times about how broke-ass chicks like me are able to have fun shopping for clothes in Second Life when they can hardly afford to buy new socks with their unemployment checks.
I thought of this because someone in SL approached me and asked me a lot of questions, saying he was new. It made me think of how SL is percieved by someone on the outside. He wanted to know where he could get 'killer threads' like mine without having to pay. Naturellement! Anyway, I sent him some landmarks for Freebie Malls, the equivalent of a pusher giving you free heroin. In no time this gentleman will be draining his Paypal account to buy helicopters and tanks to feed his roleplay habit. Or bondage gear to satisfy his other urges. Thanatos and Eros, the eternal idols...
Sunday, November 14, 2010
George Hamilton's New Girlfriend
Speaking of Virtual Reality, has any one seen the cover of the new Vanity Fair? How old is this woman? And what happens when you tug on the loose thread sticking out of the back of her neck?
Saturday, November 13, 2010
As Above, So Below
That quote is atributed to Paracelsus, the Swiss Alchemist. The question I always take away from my experiences with virtual worlds is this; "What are we, really?" In virtual space, I am an entelechy with volition, will, a soul or spirit even. I'm manipulating a little packet of electrons visible to others within the limitations of a lot of technical equipment I don't understand for the most part.
So how different is this from my material life? ("RL")? Are the bonds I form with other minded beings out there any less real? I think not. I don't talk much to people I know about this stuff, but I occasionally hear disparaging comments. Rememeber when the internet as a whole was the subject to a great debate that still echoes? It was variously a great liberating tool to link us each to another. To free us from the chains of time and place. A big flowery weapon in the hands of agents of social progress.
That or it was a sinkhole of sexual degradation, scammers and frightening depictions of horrendous violence. (And to this last, recall that MacLuhan reminded us in the 60s that any action is a form of violence, the root of the word being Latin for 'to act')
So how has this all panned out? I think we can see that as Terence McKenna predicted in the early 90s, the answer is "both/and". We are relentlessly spied upon by agents of corporate and state power. But we're able to trasncend things such as meagre circumstance, physical handicaps or agoraphobia to weave a complex and very dense network of interpersonal contacts. We can sow love and lust, hate and fear, paranoia or empowerment. We can engage vicariously in activities that hitherto were reserved for the wealthy. And we are doing it faster, and more purposefully than as a civilization we'd ever thought possible half a century ago.
The internet as a physical system is endlessly the subject of attempts by moneyed interests to turn it into a huge shopping mall, but their clumsy attempts seem to be falling far short of their successful capture of earlier electronic media. Rather the net seems to be turning out much more like print in an earlier time. Marshall MacLuhan said that television had reverted society to an analogue to a medieval visually based mode after centuries of a print based culture. The new electronic media seems to be wanting to split the difference.
So how different is this from my material life? ("RL")? Are the bonds I form with other minded beings out there any less real? I think not. I don't talk much to people I know about this stuff, but I occasionally hear disparaging comments. Rememeber when the internet as a whole was the subject to a great debate that still echoes? It was variously a great liberating tool to link us each to another. To free us from the chains of time and place. A big flowery weapon in the hands of agents of social progress.
That or it was a sinkhole of sexual degradation, scammers and frightening depictions of horrendous violence. (And to this last, recall that MacLuhan reminded us in the 60s that any action is a form of violence, the root of the word being Latin for 'to act')
So how has this all panned out? I think we can see that as Terence McKenna predicted in the early 90s, the answer is "both/and". We are relentlessly spied upon by agents of corporate and state power. But we're able to trasncend things such as meagre circumstance, physical handicaps or agoraphobia to weave a complex and very dense network of interpersonal contacts. We can sow love and lust, hate and fear, paranoia or empowerment. We can engage vicariously in activities that hitherto were reserved for the wealthy. And we are doing it faster, and more purposefully than as a civilization we'd ever thought possible half a century ago.
The internet as a physical system is endlessly the subject of attempts by moneyed interests to turn it into a huge shopping mall, but their clumsy attempts seem to be falling far short of their successful capture of earlier electronic media. Rather the net seems to be turning out much more like print in an earlier time. Marshall MacLuhan said that television had reverted society to an analogue to a medieval visually based mode after centuries of a print based culture. The new electronic media seems to be wanting to split the difference.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Something that occured to me recently was the difficulty in conveying emotion or feeling. In the material world of course, we can display a bewildering variety of emotional states though the most minor movement of facial muscle, a tilt of the head, roll of the eyes...
Despite some clever efforts, I've not seen anything that really overcomes this. Thus we have text based 'emotes', that is, denoting some expression of state of feeling and setting it aside from your avatar's speech. This works generally well, but in a busy or heated discussion can often degenerate into those cute little combinations of characters we Gen X cynics used to be so annoyed by when they first started appearing on aunt Em's e-mails.
Voice chat is becoming more widely available, but has many limits. First of all, as a forty something, the idea of sitting in the home office and yakking away about fighting orcs in medievalese while my spouse sits in the next room doesnt appeal all the much.
What we need is to >think< and the avatar speaks, the gestures and facial tics are made. Not long ago, what was thought of as cutting edge VR was esentially an empty office building. Now I can go on Hajj in Second Life. Get busy programmers!
Finally- once I get this all sorted out on my iPhone I will post a lot more often and in-depth.
Good night and good luck!
Despite some clever efforts, I've not seen anything that really overcomes this. Thus we have text based 'emotes', that is, denoting some expression of state of feeling and setting it aside from your avatar's speech. This works generally well, but in a busy or heated discussion can often degenerate into those cute little combinations of characters we Gen X cynics used to be so annoyed by when they first started appearing on aunt Em's e-mails.
Voice chat is becoming more widely available, but has many limits. First of all, as a forty something, the idea of sitting in the home office and yakking away about fighting orcs in medievalese while my spouse sits in the next room doesnt appeal all the much.
What we need is to >think< and the avatar speaks, the gestures and facial tics are made. Not long ago, what was thought of as cutting edge VR was esentially an empty office building. Now I can go on Hajj in Second Life. Get busy programmers!
Finally- once I get this all sorted out on my iPhone I will post a lot more often and in-depth.
Good night and good luck!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Online Heartbreaks
All that steamy stuff going on out there! I got my own first taste of it playing the Neverwinter Nights online game. I was honestly not prepared for it until I was propositioned. I rolled with it. Enjoyed it. And started looking for it.
It didn't take long to find it. Lots and lots of it. And in the process made some intense friendships and also got creeped out from time to time.
Just lately, someone whose online persona I've been enthralled by for at least two years got together with me in a serious way and we sort of connected cosmically. We've both used the word, which you don't just throw around easily in these situations. We've all seen the news reports. "World of Warcraft Lovers in Suicide Pact". Scary right? Actually the Terri Horman thing here in Portland really put my guard up. And with good reason. Lots of people get burned online. And psychic vampires abound.
But don't we have all these problems in the material world as well? So when my paramour decided to go heavy into a relationship that seemed like a replay of "Story of O", my alarm bells went off. My heart sank into an abyss. Why do good girls have to be disciplined?! Especially when they've done nothing wrong. And I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about her.
We discussed the thing. Everything's good between us. But this thing I don't understand. Maybe in time it will be over and I can make this person see herself for the imminent goddess she really is.
This post is barely coherent, I realize, but I'm just pouring it all out. I don't know if anyone even sees this stuff. Maybe it's just as well they don't. But if anyone who happens by has had a similar experience, I'd be eager to know their reactions and thoughts. I hope to post more about this issue. No names or anything. The other person concerned my read it. I don't think I've let any cats out of bags.
It didn't take long to find it. Lots and lots of it. And in the process made some intense friendships and also got creeped out from time to time.
Just lately, someone whose online persona I've been enthralled by for at least two years got together with me in a serious way and we sort of connected cosmically. We've both used the word, which you don't just throw around easily in these situations. We've all seen the news reports. "World of Warcraft Lovers in Suicide Pact". Scary right? Actually the Terri Horman thing here in Portland really put my guard up. And with good reason. Lots of people get burned online. And psychic vampires abound.
But don't we have all these problems in the material world as well? So when my paramour decided to go heavy into a relationship that seemed like a replay of "Story of O", my alarm bells went off. My heart sank into an abyss. Why do good girls have to be disciplined?! Especially when they've done nothing wrong. And I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about her.
We discussed the thing. Everything's good between us. But this thing I don't understand. Maybe in time it will be over and I can make this person see herself for the imminent goddess she really is.
This post is barely coherent, I realize, but I'm just pouring it all out. I don't know if anyone even sees this stuff. Maybe it's just as well they don't. But if anyone who happens by has had a similar experience, I'd be eager to know their reactions and thoughts. I hope to post more about this issue. No names or anything. The other person concerned my read it. I don't think I've let any cats out of bags.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
OK. I took my sweet time starting this, but I had an enchanting evening in Second Life and thought I would make a post about Second Life quickly.
I am curious to find out more about how Second Life came about. It seems badly designed as a 'gaming' platform, yet I'd be surprised if less than half of what goes on there could fall under that rubric.
I am curious to find out more about how Second Life came about. It seems badly designed as a 'gaming' platform, yet I'd be surprised if less than half of what goes on there could fall under that rubric.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Here I go....
I've decided to start making a sort of diary...oh alright, blog...about my and others' experiences in online worlds. I'd like to discuss my little adventures, what they mean to me, others, the culture and other related topics.
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