The problem with Second Life

This post is part of the meta-post My Second Life or how we are creating a new generation of Otakus. This post contains my opinions of the Second Life experience.

After reading an article in this weekend’s Globe and Mail, I got thinking about the Second Life craze. I was somewhat worried to read about the mother of a family escaping into a virtual world to do things that she couldn’t do in real life. This is just another step further into the problematic which stemmed from MMORPG, or Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games like Everquest or World of Warcraft.

Don’t get me wrong I love video games and I do play them from time to time. However, I never interact with other people online, even if I do have an XBOX 360. I just enjoy playing by myself. My favorite games are RPG like Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The difference between these games and MMORPG is that you can put them down at any time and leave without thinking that you are missing something. With games like Second Life and the MMORPG, you always feel left out and need to be online as much as possible. You might have to schedule things with people in other time zones and be up at 03:00 AM in order to meet or play with them.

There is a difference between real life and online friends. You never really know the people online, because they could be anyone. A man could be pretending to be a woman etc. You never know.

I have read that companies, universities and other institutions are buying up virtual real estate in Second Life. It is quite surprising that this is actually happening. I heard about an island in Everquest being bought, divided and being resold in smaller plots. The cost of the original island? US35000$. It reminds of Tad Williams book Otherland.

Doesn’t anybody else see a danger in spending all your free time in a virtual world? We are creating a second generation of otaku, since most users of Second Life are in their early thirties. Second Life is just online dating gone amuck. Why would you want to go out to a club in Second Life when you could do the same in real life?

I put Second Life in the same basket as IM. Use them sparingly if ever. I already spend enough time in front of a computer and I don’t want to waste more time.

Naturally it is the architecture for the future of the web. It is like the Matrix from Cyberpunk. I will not be surprised that Second Life type games and MMORPG will lay the groundwork for an embryonic Matrix like internet.

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Relevant Posts

This post is part of a series on the Dangers of The Internet.

This post is part of a meta-post. You can either go back to the original meta-post or navigate the next section through here.

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Posted

July 31, 2006

technology

range

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Comments

15 responses to “The problem with Second Life”

DroidMechanica

August 1, 2006

Wow, I’ve never thought of it that way with things like video games because I always hear about the the “you’ll gain weight whilst just sitting there” and the fact that people have died by just sitting there playing RPGs all day. It’s really nice to hear new stuff on old concerns these days 🙂

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range

August 1, 2006

Thanks. I was just having some concerns about the widespread use of Second Life and people living in this game. I don’t think that using it for meetings etc is a problem.

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vaspers the grate, at the gates of timelessness

August 2, 2006

I agree with you completely, and have written about Second Life and Blog Psychosis and other related items.

What is called The Technological Imperative is now an established religion: what can be made must be made, and you must accept it.

Did you see the Wife Swap episode where a bitch was so into her virtual family and world, she sent her real kids off to daycare, though there was no need since she did not work or anything, just to spend more time with her virtual family.

YouTube has a good Australian TV show video about Second Life, I posted it on my site. People are sinking into the digital effluvium and no longer able to tell virtual from real, they are becoming delusional and obsessive-compulsive.

Online porn is having sex with a machine.

Now telepresencing is coming into fashion, projecting a holographic illusory embodiment of yourself into the room of the user.

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range

August 2, 2006

No I didn’t see that episode of Wife Swap. That is crazy though, sending your real kids into daycare so that you can spend time with your virtual friends and family.

It’s like the MMORPG gamers killing themselves when their characters die.

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Mentatoh

August 2, 2006

So far we had two people drop dead from playing RPG’s all day: one random Korean guy in an internet cafe playing on his game for days-straight (Korea is one of the most “wired” of countries, if no one knows this) and a WoW player whose name on the game is Snowly in America somewhere. I guess the deaths of many a person in the future whould be like this and wold outrank “ordinary” deaths. (like car accidents, etc)

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range

August 2, 2006

I’m not surprised, this will be a scourge in the future.

Modern day otaku who spend more time with online people that offline with real people.

Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy RPG, like Elder Scrolls, but I can put a game down for months and come back to it. For example, I never play video games during the summer, it’s nicer to be outside.

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Mentatoh

August 3, 2006

What if the world was wired on a global network in the future that resembles another world of sorts? Our bodies will wither away and die, unless we find a way to make ourselves immortal by transferring our consciousness (therefore sacrificing our individuality and what remains of the human race) into the net-world or something. Don’t worry, just a theory waiting to be pounced on 😛

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range

August 3, 2006

Hey,
I’ve heard that theory before and it has been examined by some science-fiction writers, including one of my favorites Alastair Reynolds. It could go further than that. Our minds are backed by by AI simulations every few months. When we die, we get cloned and our sims are uploaded into our cloned minds again.

Simulations will appear at some point too. That will be quite surprising. Once cryogenics is advanced enough, then people will be able to sleep for centuries and see the future. 🙂

I’ve read somewhere that our bodies stop ageing at the age of 94, or around there. We can still die of disease. I think from there onward, it’s just finding a way for our bodies not to degrade too much before getting to 94.

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Mentatoh

August 3, 2006

We’ll probably become like Spacers in that respect 😛 For the time being we will probably use the normal way of aging slowly; eating right, more exercise and using anti-ageing cream (or botox and surgery!) XD

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range

August 3, 2006

And longevity techniques!

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Troy

August 9, 2006

I think you are over reacting a bit. Sure there are a few people with O/C type behavior on some mmorpg’s but i would be much more worried about the mothers that are diving into a fantasy world using drugs rather than video games… I think this is a much more common and serious problem.

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range

August 9, 2006

Of course I’m over reacting a bit, I’m just putting my concerns out there. It’s not like I believe that in a few years, people will be permanently plugged in, but you have to agree that it is a concern. I don’t have any kids, but if I did, TV, internet and other media outlets would be monitored and used sporadically. Naturally, you can’t deny these things, but they are tools, nothing more, nothing less. You have to know how to use them.

Welcome to the Memoirs Tony, and no, I won’t delete your comments. As per my disclaimer, I only delete / edit comments that I find either not safe for younger readers or insulting.

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dating

December 18, 2006

Personally, I never use more than a single link in the comment I post because doing so can trigger spam catchers if the user has that plugin activated, whereas a single link will not.

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gamerz paradise

December 19, 2006

Personally, I never use more than one life on this if I understand this correclty. I just wonder why so many do not understand how this is. I guess that is the beauty of it all. Good post though!!

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Kisakookoo

January 24, 2007

Hi! Why I can’t fill my info in profile? Can somebody help me?
My login is Kisakookoo!

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