Could it be my heart came with a Kelvinator sticker attached?
Not long after the little red light began flashing like Paris Hilton's answering machine, I saw a
short news article on a web-based Internet community called Second Life. Unlike web-based message boards or chat programs, Second Life (SL) runs like a sexy 3D computer game, minus the guns and high-score. Content is user-created, it has it's own currency (the Linden, or L$) and is basically everything real life (RL) is, just with a twist. I dove right in to investigate.That's a digital me to the right. Freaky huh.
I soon became hooked on SL and found myself spending any time I could muster logging in, making friends and building my own part of a virtual world. I identified this as an escapist approach to handling my current situation with The Jewish Scotsman, but it seemed harmless enough, and I was channeling my emotions into something creative and positive; albeit virtual. This is Chateau de Canard, my house in Caledon - a "Victorian/Edwardian" themed part of SL).
Sex exists in SL. Everyone asks. Yes it does. There's even a strong gay presence there (Provincetown, Impulse, Club Lava to name a few). People meet to chat, have sex (digital appendage attachments can be bought sold and traded), and often escape whatever it is in their RL that SL doesn't have. I began to question if digital sex between too consenting avatars would be considered cheating if one had a RL partner? For that matter, people form relationships in SL, and there are even virtual weddings (always the bridesmaid here...); does SL adultery mean you go to SL hell? Maybe meeting the virtual mother-in-law isn't so bad.
Not long after confronting The Jewish Scotsman about his wondering habits and we began to open up discussions, he questioned me about my late night visits to the PC. It had never occurred to me that the simple harmless life that I had created could be a source of jealousy for him. He was thinking I had been jumping online and organising a clandestine rendezvous, when in fact I'd been busily furnishing my virtual home. Understandable, after all that's how he organised his discreet meets.
I wonder if the inventors of the Internet could have had the foresight to imagine a connected world of information, pornography, love and betrayal. Where will this all lead to as advances in high-speed networking expand? How many relationships have been forged, and lost, because of the digital age? For that matter, how do I explain to my parents that I own a small slice of nothing and spend a lot of my time there?
It seems October 18th is very focused on all things financial (International Credit Union day, Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce day, Get To Know Your Customer day; to name a few). With the L$ becoming the hottest tradeable (and unstable) currency at the moment I expect it's only a matter of time before it gets it's own day too. I find it interesting to think that so many people (including myself) are willing to invest money and time into something that, logically, doesn't exist. My avatar and my Chateau all reside on a small server, sitting in a rack, sitting in a comms room. It does seem oh so real when you're engaged in the experience though.
Could it be the reality we know is the figment of a digital imagination? Why is it I always get caught in a cheating-boyfriend sub-routine loop? Maybe I need a debugger.
October 18th:
- 1993: DEC (Digital Equipment Corp) holds a press conference to announce their new MicroVAX system. Slower than most of today's mobile phones and noisier than a jet engine falling on a TNT factory...
- Halloween Safety Month... Don't carve a pumpkin, run with scissors - it's safer
- International Spinach Lovers week (also international "you've got something in your teeth" week)
- International Credit Union day... Makes cents to me
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