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Slices of Life
Catch up on previous
installments in this article series.
Zero Grace finally has a Web
site and a new home in DarkWood.
Fizik Baskerville offers space
to think and dream. And colour-themed
packs of content for Second Life.
Nephilaine Protagonist is one of Second
Life's finest fashionistas. Pixel
Dolls, anyone?
Wagner James Au's New
World Notes features a 3-part article on using Second Life as an educational
tool. [1,2,3]
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I've "tiered up" as they say in Second Life,
meaning that in addition to the annual fee I've already paid, I am now
forking over an additional $5US for… well, nothing, really. Another
512 square meters of additional virtual land and more primitive 3D objects
to scatter around it. I am finally able to build something a little more
interesting than an empty manor house. Now my grounds contain an amphitheatre
and faux entrance to an underground (i.e. non-existent) factory. Someone
call a doctor, I'm building a dollhouse for monsters.
Between Heaven and Earth
Linden Lab plays a god-like role in Second Life—it created the
world, after all, and its demigod legion of in-world Lindens wield awesome
power. Each is more or less an autonomous representative of The Powers
That Be, and is tasked with maintaining harmonious order in Second Life's
realms. And they are not alone. Cherubs, angels, and heralds—better
known as Second Life Mentors—are not officially Lindens, but offer
a helping hand to average citizens in order to promote a healthy community.
It can't possibly be easy being a Linden or Mentor, what with cries of
"help me" or "talk to me" ringing out wherever they
fly. But then, being an ordinary user is tough too. The balance between
heaven and earth grows ever-precarious as more and more users pour into
Second Life. While the Lindens might be pure of intent, they aren't always
consistent in their dealings with mortals—sometimes they're cryptic,
and sometimes they don't respond for a long time… if at all.
Cristiano Midnight is a Second Life community-member who spends nearly
$200US monthly on land. Earlier this month, he made a public plea to the
gods of Second Life via the SL Forums:
"Linden [Lab] may have created this wonderful technology and have
generally been very open [and] accessible, but when it comes to customer
service and consistency, they are severely lacking." Cristiano cites
as example rising costs for veteran SLers, land speculation and price
gouging, worsening network lag, bugs, and ailing customer service. "There
is no excuse for emails to go unanswered to support@secondlife.com,"
Cristiano writes, "but you will find many people who will tell you
that their questions, complaints and pleas have gone unanswered - not
for one day or a few days, but never answered. We receive [Terms of Service]
warnings and even suspensions without being told what we actually did.
That is beyond unacceptable, and that policy alone is enough to make me
question why I am giving money to this company. There are several threads
about this issue right now, and honestly it cannot receive enough negative
attention."
Days of uncomfortable silence on the Linden front followed, but at last
Cristanio Midnight received word from the heavens. Robin Linden conceded
that more staff are needed at Linden Lab as well as a greater in-world
presence, and informed the community that more intelligent automation
was being considered with regards to reports of user misbehaviour.
And there was much rejoicing.
Who Am I?
Since creating mini-Web-sites comes as naturally to me as farting, I
belted one out (a Web site, not a fart) for my Second Life presence
Zero Grace. Faced with writing a "Whois?" section for the mini-site,
I really had to sit back and think. Who am I in Second Life? Who is Zero
Grace? How exactly does one describe one's identity in Second Life?
It's easy to define terms. For example, an agent
is the user's presence in Second Life, but it isn't an avatar. An avatar
is the visual representation of an agent, for example a clown, zombie,
lifeguard, super hero or zebra. That's fine for technicalities, but what
do these terms mean in the "fuzzy" sense? The way I see it,
when I connect to Second Life, I am represented by a formless agent named
Zero Grace. This agent is an instrument, a puppet, an empty vessel—basically
what I pour myself into in order to be able to enter Second Life's cyberspace.
I then adopt an avatar I've created in order to project a certain image
in Second Life, much in the same way I'd wear clothes: A suit and tie
says something totally different than a biker jacket, white T-shirt and
ripped blue-jeans. Just like I wear clothes, I usually put on an outfit
fitting the event or location I'm in, so for a dance party at Club Digital
Gunfire, I have a blue-skinned cybergoth
avatar; for fantasy-genre locations I often wear a tree-man
outfit; for panel discussions and urban settings I've got my "mini-me"
avatar; and for just kicking around the house I wear a zombie
outfit (or whatever other monster costumes I've made).
The only realistic avatar I wear is a Second Life version of myself—in
a quite literal sense (my own face and body type have been replicated),
unlike the widely-used "idealized" avatar that most users seem
to wear. It's pretty hard to find "average"-looking avatars
in Second Life. Most avatars are unnaturally good-looking, and I'd hazard
a guess that this is because most people who play Second Life wish they
were. It bears mentioning that although every user has a slot in their
in-world profile for their real-world photo, very few are bold enough
to actually display one.
Second Life is not a role-playing game for me, although it is for others.
My behaviour in Second Life compares and contrasts my real-life behaviour.
My real-life sense of humour, curiosity, sarcasm, and creativity are more
or less intact in Second Life. That being said, I'd never talk to strangers
in real life if I had the choice. I am much more friendly and kind in
Second Life. In a way, this part of my personality is as idealized in
Second Life as other users' appearances.
So, who is Zero Grace? I've come to think of him as a Homunculus:
"In the scientific sense of an unknowable prime actor, [a homunculus]
can be viewed as an entity or agent.
"The term appears to have been first used by the alchemist Paracelsus.
He once claimed that he had created a false human being... The creature
was to have stood no more than 12 inches tall… However, after a
short time, [it] would turn on its creator and run away.
"Today the term is used in a number of ways to describe systems
that are thought of as being run by a 'little man' inside. For instance,
the homunculus continues to be considered as one of the major theories
on the origin of consciousness, that there is a part (or process) in the
brain whose purpose is to be 'you'. The homunculus is often invoked in
cybernetics as well, for similar reasons." [Excerpts
from the Wikipedia covered by the GNU
Free Documentation License] |
