Second life love, critique.
Kelly Bruce/Cantrell.
I had the unfortunate experience of experimenting with second life myself during the first year of my course, and at the end of it was thankful that I would never need go on it again or even think about it for that matter. However I now find myself unfortunate enough to have to again revisit second life in order to write this critique for a critical studies assignment. Oh the joy.
“Virtual Adultery and Cyberspace love” is a 40 minute BBC documentary that was aired in 2008 and features a few couples and their experiences with second life, the 3D virtual environment brought to us by Linden labs.
Carolyn, a 37yr old mother in the U.S. began using second life because she was depressed and fed up with her mundane life as a typical stay at home domesticated mother/housewife so she stumbled upon second life one day and soon found herself creating a sexed up barberella type avatar and flying around in second life chatting, shopping and living the life she so dreamed of.
She soon met a male avatar and they began a year long emotional affair, resulting in Carolyn spending more time in second life than in her real life with her husband and children. She was then willing to fly over 5,000 miles to be with this virtual other, and leave her husband and kids behind, whilst they waited for her return.
Another couple met on there, got together and then went back on second life to get married! And of course there are the people that build properties and design clothing etc to be sold on second life for linden dollars that can then be exchanged into real dollars.
So why do we hear about these kind of stories in the news? I even read one about private detectives setting up virtual agencies on there in order to catch out virtual cheating spouses, it almost sounds like a joke right? There are also strip joints and sex parlors on there that have been pre-programmed so that if you put your avatar into a virtual bed or chair that has the required action scripting built into it then your avatar will carry out the actions programmed, for example inappropriate sexual gestures or dance moves.
My view is that there is a minority of people with addictive personalities, a minority of bored repressed housewives with a poor quality of life, men going through a mid-life crisis, horny teenage boys, sex-obsessed middle aged men who pretend they are going on there for “business” opportunities when really they are just bored, have probably had too many affairs and visited one too many strip joints and are now seeking out some new form of sexual stimulation.
I mean let’s face it, how much money can you “actually” make on second life? And who would want to? From my perspective I think that all of this is a front to cover up the seediness that is really “second life” and yes I am going to get a grilling for that from those that like to spend time on there, because I guess it has educational benefits too, and some of the surroundings and scenery I have seen are fantastic and require real skill, imagination and dedication to build.
However just as money makes the world go round, and sex is the number one marketing tool in any advertisement, it is also the driving force behind late night cable TV, the internet, and of course the sex industry is probably the richest sector in the world, sex will also be the main driving force behind second life whether intentional or not.
I can see how some who are not used to the world of gaming or even computer generated movies and animation may become hooked on the 3D world that is second life and may find themselves in complete and utter awe of the graphical capabilities, but as a gamer myself I found the graphics laughable, and not one bit gripping, second life was not a place I would like to stay in for long as visually I find it a bit of an eyesore.
Again it depends on your personality, some may not be bothered at all by the blocky graphics and slow loading times, or the glitchy interface, they may instead be enthralled by the 3D building capabilities and ability to create whatever your imagination allows, and then to own the intellectual rights to your creation…
Me, I would rather blast some zombies on my playstation for entertainment or read a book about the fundamentals of cat behaviour, I just sincerely hope that this will be the last time EVER that I have to waste any of my precious time thinking or writing about the travesty that is second life.
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