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The Elevator Effect In Second Life
There is an good video on NPR about how real human reactions translate to the virtual world. It's interesting in view of the question posted here about rape in Second Life. The video covers a little experiment in SL where a reporter gets together with a psychologist to see if some unspoken human rules apply in the virtual world — such as staring or standing too close to someone. Perhaps surprisingly, in this world where you can be or do just about anything, you can't break these unspoken rules with impunity.
To me she sounds like a girl who knows exactly what she wants, and what she wants to 'pay' for it.
(leaving out that they are going to see each other again and obviously both enjoyed 'the transaction')
Now what's wrong with that?
If you mod this up, your slashdot background will turn into a beautiful sunset!
...that has been occurring since the online world began back in the BB days.
The online world was fairly civil until AOL got access. This is not a troll. The difference was dramatic. Kinda similar to the effect the Kennedy killing had on the country.
> To me she sounds like a girl who knows exactly what she wants, and what she wants to 'pay' for it.
> Now what's wrong with that?
I didn't say there is anything "wrong" with it, I just said it was prostitution... which it is. Prostitution is perfectly legal in many countries. You can make up your own mind whether it is wrong or not.
I'll probably be modded down for this...
Still damages your in-game reputation, just like it would damage your real-life reputation. As the GP said, someone won't smack you in the face in real life normally. They'll just get pissed, make fun of you, avoid you, and tell other people about it, causing them to do the same. Basically, kill social interaction. How is that NOT possible in a virtual world?
Problem is , people think that when they are in their car they also can happily break these rules. Even though they know it's not just rude anymore but outright dangerous. Standing-too-close = tailgaiting. you can KILL people with that behaivoir. and honestly, upset the guy in front of you and he can jam on the breaks and teach you a lesson.
All that studies like this prove is that if you are not close enough to punch the person in the face for their bad behaivoir or to keep them under control, fellow humanity becomes raging jerks. Something that almost all of us old farts learned a while ago.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I imagine the fact there is some real world interest in Second life beyond playing a game being one of the main reasons why it keeps popping up on Slashdot.Dear God, next we'll find out that people are offering sex on MUDs and MUCKs!
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
The really interesting thing about such virtual, anonymous worlds like Second Life is, that although we *could* be someone else, we decide not to. Newbies in these world often try to be a completely different character, however, over time they get very, very close to their real character.
I'd say, it's quite simple: In normal life, we chose who we are. Most people have fixed patterns which affect their behavior and therefore their daily life. Over time, these patterns get more and more restricting and make people lose their authenticity.
So, there's certainly a wish to break out, and that's what these virtual worlds promise us - but changing or breaking patterns can never be done by changing worlds. We see that every day, when people change their jobs, their partners or their homes - after all, most end up the same.
Even if there's a "Third Life" and a "Fourth Life", maybe hundreds of them, they will in the end be all the same, simply as we are who we are.
However, if we are shaken up so much, that we have to drop some patterns, or really decide to make a change, this and all other worlds will be different - instantly...
I interpreted it is meaning it is "nothing more [interesting] than prostitution" -- ie, there's no particularly compelling reason it would be featured on slashdot because there's no novel social or technical thing involved. Perhaps your reading is the one with unintentional bias?
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
You deal with it. Just wait till one day when you fail to see, due to your obviously apparent recto-cranial insertion, that the tractor trailer you're tailgating has slowed down quickly. And bam, suddenly you're under the trailer.
Yeah, you die from that. Enjoy being the asshole that pisses everyone off, doesn't get anywhere any faster, and endangers their own life, all for the sake of being an asshole.
But hey, you keeps it real. TO THE EXTREME@!@!@!!!12
... still waiting for this free-as-in-beer free beer I keep hearing about.
I don't really like having my car damaged and/or dealing with the inconvenience of driving a POS rental with cigarette burns and god-knows-what stains on the seats. It's very rare that I have anyone behind me to begin with, because I'm just not a slow driver, but in the event that I'm on, say, a two lane road with someone in front of me and a tailgater behind me, I tend to just tap the brakes enough to illuminate the brake lights. Usually that works, but if it doesn't, I do the brake hard/accelerate hard combo (if they're far enough away). If that still doesn't work, then I just find somewhere to turn off for a minute to let them pass. As the GP mentioned, he still tailgates, so there's no point in seriously inconveniencing myself just to try to teach someone else a lesson that probably won't work anyway.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
I thought that at one time. Then one night after a function, i was having drinks and a few of the others from the function was there.
Well, to make a long story short, they started talking about some asshat in an online game they all played and after chiming in, I found out they were talking about me. Or at least a character name I used everyone in a while when I wanted to piss people off.
I don't think they knew they were talking about me because some words were pointing out that I wouldn't be having a good time if they did. The entire night i had to wonder if they knew who i was or was it just coincidence. I was usually drunk during the times I used that name so i could have done way more then i remembered. I kept thinking they were coming over to start a fight whenever I heard their voice chatting away close to me.
Anyways, I didn't sweat it much but I never went online just to piss people off after that. The chances of meeting someone from the same game without organizing it is unreal, or at least I thought. I think the only thing that grouped us together outside the game was a charity function I got roped into going to. It wasn't in my town and they weren't in their hometowns. But there we were all together from different parts of the state and had something in common without trying to know it.
If you ever come to the UK, don't try that. Purposefully braking in front of someone like that is commonly referred to as "brake testing" them. You'll end up splitting the insurance costs.
I honestly don't think people on Slashdot are all that interested in it. I think they astroturf this site. Most people check out Second Life...find it fairly boring and poorly implemented and walk away. People are too busy playing World of Warcraft to care to post articles about WoW. In Second Life, there is real money involved so it makes sense that they try to sucker more people in to it. I think that is why I don't like it. It reeks of the real world. I play games to escape the real world...not enter another one that is run off of greed.
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