A bad article. I'd like to see what he'd do in Tibet - visit for a week
three years ago, come back to 'check it out' - and publish on the results.
This is just stupid, sorry. Better on IDC. There's almost a sense of
gloating here - we don't have to pay attention to _that_ anymore.
Here's the thing, which he notes: "
There are no goals, no objectives, no points to be won or levels to be
completed. Yes, there's a degree of social interaction - although
precious little of it in these glossy showcase areas. I found more
people at a place delightfully labelled "Cumdumpsters" (which promises
"rough sex, humiliation and rape") than I ever did on visits to any of
the Showcase sites."
This is precisely what makes SL interesting - there's no teleology at all.
If you're there for points or killing, forget it. If you're there for
social or body or just being in a virtual world, it's great. And, given
humans' predilection for escape (Potter, Rings, Avatar), it's at least one
of a number of futures.
As far as his unbelievable blushing about nasty sex - you'd find the same
thing on websites, newsgroups (when they were active), IRC, MOOs - this
stuff just moves on (CuSeeMe is a good example). Sex drives the Net - so
what?
I'd highly recommend The Second Life Herald, and My Tiny Life (about a MOO
of course) for in-depth online experiences which are highly applicable to
SL. There's also I, Avatar, which I personally didn't like, but it's at
least an introduction for some.
- Alan
On Wed, 6 Jan 2010, marc garrett wrote:
Whatever happened to Second Life?
Barry Collins
It's desolate, dirty, and sex is outcast to a separate island. Barry
Collins returns to Second Life to find out what went wrong, and why it’s
raking in more cash than ever before
Three years ago, I underwent one of the most eye-opening experiences of
my life – and I barely even left the office.
I spent a week virtually living and breathing inside Second Life: the
massively multiplayer online world that contains everything from lottery
games to libraries, penthouses to pubs, skyscrapers to surrogacy clinics.
Oh, and an awful lot of virtual sex.
Back then, the world and his dog were falling over themselves to “be
a part of it”. Rock stars were queuing up to play virtual gigs,
Microsoft and IBM were setting up elaborate pixellated offices to host
staff training seminars, Reuters even despatched a correspondent to
report back on the latest in-world developments.
more...
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/354457/whatever-happened-to-second-life
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