Thinking Out Loud...

I have been very busy inworld lately, between some building projects and trying to work on some new things for the shops. I have been more low-key lately in general, as I mainly just want to create and be with close friends that I care about. I'm still quite active in Steelhead and I love participating in the community there.

I've been busy in RL as well, between travel, RL writing and art projects, and spending time with my family. I also think I must have lost my mind as I will be taking the Foreign Service Officer Exam in two days, which is like...well, Jeopardy! with its almost quiz show-like questions, which to me--you either know or you don't. You can prep for it, but I don't think you can truly "study" for it. All of these pressing things on my RL time have been making me think again about what I want from my SL.

You know, I'm usually pretty positive. However, I often see how we treat one another while in SL, which is often in unnecessarily ugly and/or hurtful ways. I don't know if it's the relative anonymity of it all or what, but insecurities, egos, hurts and misunderstandings seem to be even more amplified in here. I often find myself thinking after reading about or even experiencing something: "For what? Why does it matter so damn much? Why do/should I even care?" I came to a simple conclusion: I can't. I often feel...tired.

Our SL is what we make of it and our purposes within it varied. All I know is I just wish to be happy while there, otherwise, why bother? I'm no angel, by any means, but I want my own SL to be a bit closer to heaven than hell. You can't change others, but you can change how you deal with it.

Just thinking out loud.

SL and Positivity

So many times when SL is discussed, negative aspects of it are often mentioned. Whether it's a shaky infrastructure or the latest resident rebellion or bad publicity of the moment, it makes you sometimes wonder why folks are even bothering to continue to be inworld at all? When trying to describe SL to others who aren't involved in it, I find that I tend to think of the good things about it and how it's helped me in my RL:

It's made me even better at Photoshop.
I was a graphic designer for years, but the things I've created inworld have challenged my skills in PS and helped me to become better at it.

I've met and made friends with some very interesting people from all over the world.
If I walked away from SL right now, I know that I have some positive, encouraging friends that I'd be happy to count now as RL ones as well.

It makes conversations about difficult topics easy to have.
Often in RL, we might feel reluctant about bringing up difficult subjects due to a feeling of being judged, embarrassed, or retribution of some sort. Due to our relative anonymity inworld, it just feels easier to more freely discuss hard topics. Technology like this has the power to help us understand each other better...not drive us apart.

Creativity inworld spurs/inspires my creativity in RL.
I find that building and creating inworld inspires my writing and artwork in RL. Being surrounded by so much inventiveness gets me going!

The altruism that others exhibit is often amazing.
My experience over and over again in SL has always been that people are more than willing to explain, give, and share with one another and their inworld community. Can you imagine if more or us behaved like that in RL too?

I feel more "plugged in" tech-wise.
I've always had a love of all things tech. My involvement with SL has made me more aware of things trend-wise in that regard, and not in a bad way.

Learning about yourself and what you're capable of inworld can be transferred to RL if you are open to it.
I think a lot about using the lessons I learn inworld about myself to benefit RL me. Why not use the positive aspects of SL you for RL you and make it work for the positive?!

It's can be absolutely fun-filled.
In the end, SL can be just plain fun and I still see it as a big world filled with interesting places to explore and learn.

So, what has SL done positively for YOU?

Sophrosyne's Salon: "Coming of Age in SL"

Being a SL explorer, I am always interested in discussions about interactions and the various sub/cultures that exist here in SL, so when I saw a notice for a salon held in Extropia Core by Sophrosyne Stenvaag, I had to attend. The speaker was Tom Buchowski (RL: Tom Boellstorff), who is a RL anthropologist at UC Irvine who did an ethnographic study on SL and as a long-time resident himself, wrote a book entitled Coming of Age in Second Life.

He found that he had to change very little about his research methods and that it has been hard to get his colleagues and others to see past what they think SL is, as well as the stereotypes of people inworld as such things as "geeks, loners or elitists." I asked him to tell us about the broader patterns that he saw and he was excited, saying the following (in brief):
1. Place: Our world is a persistent environment that goes on whether we're logged in/out and it is not bound by physical law
2. Time: "Synchronic sociality" and how despite our worldwide physical locations we have to come together at the same time. PST is the virtual worlds' GMT.
3. Embodiment: Flexibility of how we can present ourselves literally in any form and how alts challenge that by being multiple embodiments.
4. Techne: I personally found this concept the most fascinating point."Techne" is a Greek concept of "craft", as compared to "episteme", which is knowledge and science. As a RL & SL creator myself, his notion of how the virtual worlds' emphasis on "techne"/creation could become central to social relations and interactions/beliefs was really thought-provoking to me.

Please visit his site (above) for more information about his work, and if you would like more info about the salons and Extropia Core, please visit their site as well.