Socially|Mundane

I always have believed that online, people tend to not really be themselves. The basic anonymity tend to magnify our own personalities. Those personalities at first were made-up, fictional opposites in most cases, at least in the beginning. Then we tended to lean more toward ourselves. But either way, our interaction with other people have always been far more intense than it could be or will be in real life face-to-face.

With the advent of Second Life, this is truer than ever before - and the magnification and intensity of what we feel has gone up exponentially. It doesn't matter whether it's the good, the bad or the ugly. I've already written about this here on this blog. In that case, it was a socially awesome situation. Of course, with the news of the whacked-out stalker/kidnapper that has been all over the news recently, this is a socially f'ked-up situation.

Isadora of Isadora's Doorway blog focused on this a bit:

Isadora of Isadora's Doorway sez: "I tend to agree that SL has become too open for everyone, including those who can be sick in the head, to come in. In a way, I also agree that Second Life also empowers, enables and feeds to their deluded mind, in a way that is different to us.

I know what you are communicating here, Isadora. But you are wrong. Second Life affects them the same way it affects us. The difference is that they already are fucked-up in the head and have serious societal issues.

I know many people who come into SL and experience things in a far more intensive way than normal. No matter if it's love, hate or everything else in-between.

Isadora continues: "True, Second Life affect all of us in one way or another, and such changes that SL has injected into our real lives impacts us in ways we don’t really understand. We hear of stories about how people with disabilities turn to Second Life and feel that they are equal to us abled bodied people in the grid, that people are able to unleash their inner creativity, find true love, learn to actualize their great SL to their FL, and change for the better." [sic]

Actually, we do understand it. In fact, that's part of the blessing or shame of it. The fact that we do understand it, what it does to us, to our minds, our real lives are definitely affected by it whether we want to admit it or not. it's why there is so much real, good work being done and 'miracles' being accomplished. it's why education is so successful. Because the Second Life experience is intensified to the Nth degree.

What happens in second Life is far more intense, mentally and emotionally than the exact same activity in real life, save some of the wilder things such as flying or teleporting, et cetera.

Isadora also says: "However, it doesn’t impact us in a way that makes us want to hurt people and animals"

Wanna bet?

Obviously, you are mistaken here, otherwise the story you are reporting on - the stalker/kidnapper scenario, never would have occurred. Your article is a good one. And much of what you say is spot-on. Except that your readers, if they don't already, should understand this:

Whatever your mindset is, when you enter Second Life and spend some time in-world, your mentality, emotion, intellect, all of it will be fine-tuned to what is going on on-screen. There are no distractions such as smell, the need to eat or sleep, the temperature around you, the weather. Additionally, practically everyone in Second Life is the perfect, beautiful looker.

All that is left is the mind and personality. Thus, we focus on that. it is the only real thing that comes through in our interractions. Thus, those interractions with regard to emotion are incredibly acute, fierce, extreme ... pick your word. They all apply.

Thus, someone looking or a relationship will find one. Even those not looking for one tend to faqll into one. The level of that relationship will intensify whether we want it to or not. There are many whose best freinds are met through second Life.

The thing is, whatever your persona, wonderful, friendly, always upbeat and happy-go-lucky or mentally fucked-up - whatever it is, it will become magnified. and, because we are not dealing with computer-generated characters, but rather with real people...

See where this is going?

A psycho bitch always will be a psycho bitch. Second Life simply brings it out of her into the open.

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