Quick update before bed! :)

Hello everyone! I thought I would post a quick update before I went to bed today!

Today I explored Linden Labs ehh.. Linden Realm, I think it’s called, to see what the new tools for creating mobs had created, and to see if it was any fun.
Well, it was beautiful and actually pretty fun! XD
I ended up earning 31 L$, of which I spent 10 on a handheld image projector, so that is pretty sweet.
That’s like enough to upload a texture or object or something, idk lol :D

I also went to see Batman Rise of the Dark Night, and it was a phenomenal movie, extremely well done!! I love it, it was written well and was enjoyable.

I didn’t get any pictures of Linden Realms, as I was running from the Rock Monsters that will chase and “kill" you (teleport you to a nearby respawn area.

I was reading more of The Making of the Metavers on my iPad, taking notes and highlighting and stuff, and it is very very interesting!!
History is so interesting! (not only SL’s history, but video game and tech history too! But that’s a story for another time (well it’s like a ton of stories, volumes… but whatev lol))
It was talking about LL’s first attempts at socially engineering Second Life to be what it thought it should or would be, and the extremely negative reaction of the Residents.
It tells of the abuse of most all of the features of the early systems implemented in Second Life by the userbase, with people running around in mobs mind-raping people with mass attacks of negative rating them (had to be in proximity to rate someone).
And business owners paid people to “camp” out on their property, to increase traffic and get the rewards offered by LL. (camping = being paid to just hang out)
Ironically, it probably wasted more RL money than what you made in SL just running your computer for the time necessary to earn anything useful.

People often muse that it’s best to make money in real life if you want to have Lindens$, because the jobs in Second Life don’t make as much money and are more time consuming.
Devote yourself to your RL, and spend any excesses you may have on SL if you wish.
(at least, I read something like that on an article google gave me for how to make money in second life)

One of the most interesting aspects of Second Life and of the whole SL experience is the whole concept of the self, the ego, and one’s identity with the world and one’s beliefs.
There are people who are racist if you decide to wear a black skin to see what it’s like, and there are people who gender-bended (role-played as the opposite sex) and fell in love with other people of the same sex within second life!
There are people that have met in SL and then have gone on to overcome international boundaries and to become married!
It is certainly not a game, the effects psychologically are too strong to ignore.
(this is where a “video games are bad for you” complaint could be thrown in, but it’s opposite could be furthered here as well.)

I think it’s effects on us and our emotions result directly from the fact that we are constantly interacting with actual people and humanoid things that, since they are human, say the most interesting and touching things.
It’s the souls of the avatars, the humans that inhabit them, that transcend the confines of the virtual world and embellish Second Life with more than a mere existence as some trivial game.
It’s still bad to spend too much time in SL, but it can be fun and rewarding, I suppose it’s not too bad if you are uber rich and have absolutely nothing to do. (like you already achieved your life goal, raised a family, and completed and Iron Man for fun)

The learning curve for content creation and for scripting is such that I am not surprised that so many people shy away from engaging in such activities.
It is very time consuming and hard to master.
(I haven’t really gotten far yet, but I suppose I could watch tutorials.. but then I feel like I am cheating or something @~@ idk, stupid psychological weirdness I suppose lol)

It would be good to learn for project design and management, and to learn Scripting in general. But it takes a lot of time to do!
The whole Linden Realms side of Second Life is more geared towards the consumption and entertainment portion of SL users, those who cannot or do not want to create and build the metaverse. (Which is perfectly fine, and arguably even more enjoyable. (although odd if they only are interested in the “game” part of SL and not the community, the beautiful creations, and the rewarding process of building something in SL itself.

SL does have advanced building tools, it’s just awkward because it’s like trying to figure out how to use Autodesk 3ds max with no manual: soo many features and tabs and options, it’s very confusing at first!
Luckily the whole framework that makes SL possible, the internet, is an amazing and wonderful resource for tutorials and help!
One of the interesting things about the internet in my opinion is that even if what you are looking for isn’t out there yet, since the internet is connected to actual human beings, much like SL is, you can get help and information from asking questions and joining communities online etc etc.
The other users of the platform are willing and happy often to share their knowledge with you and nurture you, to welcome you into the fold.
It is in this way that knowledge  can transcend the boundaries of the mind and physical regions. However, it is all dependent on your desire and choice to or not to ask for help.
Being sociable is important.

I personally have found that, just like in Real Life, I am socially awkward in Second Life!
How strange really, my Real Life experiences have psychological impacts on my Second Life experience: my mind does not distinguish between virtual and physical interaction, but rather chooses to be awkward and nervous, worried even, when interacting with anyone that I am unfamiliar with.
Maybe SL will help me get over my issues with being sociable. Who knows?

The whole idea that putting on an Avatar other than the one that you feel is you, and it’s subsequent effects on how you feel and what you think of the experience, are very interesting as well.

Well.. I think I squeezed enough out of this topic for now!
(it was, after all, supposed to be a quick blog post!! XD)

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

~James Dodon :)