Second LIfe 2
So I've started reserving a Laptop with the DLC to run Secondlife. Even that is proving a bit difficult. But Reisert is particularly helpful--and he knows Second Life. I'm going into this blindly without any expectations, and I'm looking forward to exploring (not playing--word to Mark Pepper) Second Life as a pedagogical/playspace.
I'm curious about a number of things: how does one get initiated into the land of SecondLife? What kinds of access issues are there when trying to utilize something like SecondLife? Although SecondLife isn't a game, per se, are there "rules" for that discourse community?
Comments
Discourse Communities, plural
Are there rules for that discourse community? Well, yes, but I'd first point out that it's more a matter of rules for those discourse communities (yep, plurality, gotta love it). Which is no different from first life, right? First I'd reckon there's general rules that are not too different from first life ones with any kind of people. Stand too close to someone you don't know in SL and just like they probably would in physicality, they're gonna back up. This always fascinates me how we feel our avatar's virtual space. Go up to a random person and start being aggressive or general asshole-like, and yep, they're probably gonna respond how you'd expect someone too anywhere.
What's probably more interesting is the spoken or unspoken rules you'll encounter depending on what kinds of people or groups you meet. Some people have strict no-talk-about-first-life rules. Some people are like open books. Some groups of friends are very close, and just like in first life, they may be leary of letting you in. Talk to someone who's partnered with someone, and expect there to be possibly be some very real jealousy, hurt feelings, or fights. Or take some of the more colorful subgroups you'll find in SL. The rather gigantic bondage/fetish group certainly has discourse rules. The furries and nekos have their own too.
That's the briefest of insights, because I know a huge part of your project is discovering this stuff on your own. But they don't call it Second LIFE for nothing and that's why many of us SLers insist it's not a game. The more time you spend there, the more you inhabit your avatar and become a social being, the more you realize how similar it is to first life in some expected and unexpected ways.