Socially|Mundane

Kill yourself.

Well, not all of you, of course, but rather that part of you that is so cynical and negative (I know: redundant terms there.) Second Life is such a wonderful wonderland upon first entry, but gradually dulls and seems to grow darker with time, the way brass will dull and tarnish without a constant polishing.

Zara Mistwallow has a great post on her blog regarding how we just don't really talk to each other anymore, how we've become indolent in our little virtual worlds inside the big virtual world as far as our social attitudes go.

Side note: nope, not trying to use overly-fancy words. But rather trying to avoid the trap Tateru Nino writes twice about in her blog, a traps I myself fall into quite frequently, with regard to using the proper word to obtain the "right shade" of meaning in my writing.

It's no secret that our little wonderland is full of wonder... and 'deviance' all over the place. Much of which is really only perception and the actual 'deviant' activity never really occurs at all. For example, I am currently entertained through role play in the "Barbary Coast Project", which if you look-up the real history of it can be rather 'off-putting' to 'sensible' people. The way I see it: did Schindler's List offend you? The Color Purple? the mini-series Roots? It's about experiencing history and, well, having something a bit more exciting than "Mother Goose" stories to role play.

This is one of the reason the Gor role playing theme is so popular and often some might say "thrilling" at times. It's why the "slave" meme is so ridiculously prevailent on the SL grid. And not only in the Gor role-playing sims, but all over the place in every imaginable and conceivable theme, such as the Furry "culture".

I've even run seen listed in search results Furry BDSM and Gorean-themed sims. How, whatever turns your crank, drive-on and have your fun, it's your sandbox.

So this morning I am working on updating scripts in my products and an IM comes through on the "Barbary Coast Project" group chat. A simple, straight-=forward question:
My first thought is: thank you for checking. really, it's is wise and kind of you to do so rather than just popping-in and running around as though nothing is amiss. In the end I was able to give this lady-furry some ideas on how to find what she was looking for.

But my first reply to the group channel was as such:
The reply from the one asking the question was an expected "no need for a smatass answer".

And she was right in every way.

I have a rather abrasive sense of humor. Most people I know in SL and possibly first life either love me or hate me. Likely more the latter - until they get to know me. But either way, my comment was uncalled-for, even though I was genuinely going for humor.

Which brings me to the way we all are becoming less friendly as we weather our Second Lives. Hence, the comments Zara made on her blog. We communicate with strangers far less than before, and we tend to take comments in a negative way automatically, rather than first assuming it was meant in jest (though my comment definitely appeared to be a snarky one, I'll admit.)

So, like the beautiful, shiny brass railings you might find at movie cinemas, fancy banks and barber shops, perhaps the Second Life exerience begins to tarnish with age and we are simply procrastinating the effort to break-out the Brasso and soft linnen to polish it up?

art: "Gifts 4 Heartbeat"; "Chainsaws & Jelly"