New Article: "SL's loyal users embrace its decaying software and no-fun imperfections"

[CaerolleClaudel]

48 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Yiffing?

Yeeting usually means "tossing away"

Yiff, yes, thx!! I thought yeet had to be wrong, because, yeah, I see it a lot, but couldn't think of the right word so just used the one that was close lol.

[CaerolleClaudel]

47 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

LMAO YEET. Sorry. 

OK that's enough, I use the rung word all the time (see what I did there?)

But yeah, your reply is awesome! (not being sarcastic, I found it just too funny, thx!)

[CaerolleClaudel]

48 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I think that's exactly right.

In a broader sense, it's not really "about" SL at all, but rather about the culture that has produced it, and us -- and how digital media, virtual worlds, etc., are both reflections of that, and responses to it.

Thx! As I said earlier, whatever it's flaws (and as the cliche goes, 'they are legion' lol) I am really glad you shared this article with us. I enjoyed it quite a lot.

[CaerolleClaudel]

49 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

The normal term is just, "Yiffy"!

I used to go to the GYC - "Gay Yiffy Club" and drop a few L$10k's on their 'sploder just to watch 20 people or so TP in and pile on top of each other, as close to the 'sploder as they could get. I'd usually apologize to the host and DJ before doing it.

I never saw "yiffing" there though.  "Yiffy" has generally just come to mean, "furry fun".  Like an in-joke. ("Yiff" is supposedly the noise a fox makes while um.."yiffing".)

"How are you doing?" "Yiffy, thanks!"

 

Wow, thx Love!! I am extremely ignorant when it comes to Furry culture. I have gone to a lot of clubs with Furries there, and had an intimate encounter with one once, but that is about the extent of my knowledge and experience. I was mostly trying to be funny, but my attempt was poorly done and probably inappropriate. If so, I apologize.

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, CaerolleClaudel said:

Wow, thx Love!! I am extremely ignorant when it comes to Furry culture. I have gone to a lot of clubs with Furries there, and had an intimate encounter with one once, but that is about the extent of my knowledge and experience. I was mostly trying to be funny, but my attempt was poorly done and probably inappropriate. If so, I apologize.

Not at all!

[CaerolleClaudel]

48 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

If you read the article but never tried Second Life, would it pique your interest enough try it?

That's a great question, Love. I wonder if it is like a gestalt sort of thing, though? I have sooo much experience with SL, and started so long ago that I don't know how I would naively react to this article.

One thing I do know, is that an article on SL or seeing it mentioned a lot or something like that got me interested in the first place. Really, all I knew was that it was something new and interesting, and I am always looking for that sort of thing. I had no preconceived notions when I came into SL; I didn't know about the sex stuff, or just how wild and open SL was, about avatars, nothing. When I came in though, I loved it.

Although the avis and accessories were not beautiful like they are now, I had a lot of fun with my system avi, and did not even get a custom shape for quite a while. I spent a LOT of time trying to adjust the prim clothes and hair, and just figuring out how the mechanics worked. I shopped a lot, I seemed to be able to find clothes that fit my style far better back in the prims days than I do now that we have mesh. I have said this before, but I think I probably had more fun the first 3 - 4 years I was in SL than I have in all the years since put together. To be fair, after 2013 I was gone from SL for long periods, but wow, I so loved the culture of mid-to-late-aughts SL.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

13 minutes ago, CaerolleClaudel said:

OK that's enough, I use the rung word all the time (see what I did there?)

But yeah, your reply is awesome! (not being sarcastic, I found it just too funny, thx!)

Lol, I'm so sorry for laughing. It just tickled me because I yell YEET all the time. 😂 I knew exactly what you meant to say there, though, and that just made me laugh harder. *gigglesnorts* 

I make up words all the time when I'm tired (especially when I'm tired omg), so please don't feel bad about mixing things up!

[CaerolleClaudel]

42 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I almost always read it as, "Ineffable MOLE"!

Me too, and I thought it was weird that a Linden would be posting in chat other than to moderate. I finally noticed 'mote' though.

[sirhc DeSantis]

Document Journal, called, “One of the hottest magazines in the world (Vogue)” 'nuff said

[Love Zhaoying]

3 minutes ago, CaerolleClaudel said:

That's a great question, Love. I wonder if it is like a gestalt sort of thing, though? I have sooo much experience with SL, and started so long ago that I don't know how I would naively react to this article.

One thing I do know, is that an article on SL or seeing it mentioned a lot or something like that got me interested in the first place. Really, all I knew was that it was something new and interesting, and I am always looking for that sort of thing. I had no preconceived notions when I came into SL; I didn't know about the sex stuff, or just how wild and open SL was, about avatars, nothing. When I came in though, I loved it.

Although the avis and accessories were not beautiful like they are now, I had a lot of fun with my system avi, and did not even get a custom shape for quite a while. I spent a LOT of time trying to adjust the prim clothes and hair, and just figuring out how the mechanics worked. I shopped a lot, I seemed to be able to find clothes that fit my style far better back in the prims days than I do now that we have mesh. I have said this before, but I think I probably had more fun the first 3 - 4 years I was in SL than I have in all the years since put together. To be fair, after 2013 I was gone from SL for long periods, but wow, I so loved the culture of mid-to-late-aughts SL.

Yes, a lot of oldbies like me tried SL with  very little infiornation, maybe a couple ads.

[CaerolleClaudel]

4 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Lol, I'm so sorry for laughing. It just tickled me because I yell YEET all the time. 😂 I knew exactly what you meant to say there, though, and that just made me laugh harder. *gigglesnorts* 

I make up words all the time when I'm tired (especially when I'm tired omg), so please don't feel bad about mixing things up!

Honestly I keep scrolling back to your GIF and laughing. Just hilarious. Thx for posting it, and for having some fun with my malapropism!

[Roxy Couturier]

5 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I DO think its argument is undercut by a failure to recognize how SL has evolved, and continues to evolve. And I don't think we live in a "time capsule" to quite the degree it suggests.

SL, like time, is a weird soup.

You can find builds that date back to before 2006 and then be on an ultra modern sim that includes everything from well textured mesh to lighting to background sound with a full sim surround that looks exceedingly better than all but the most ultra-realistic games.

Lazy articles that don't bother aren't a thing i like to bother with.

[ValKalAstra]

2 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

And THAT is precisely her point. We've adapted to it. Our culture has developed partially in response to it.

How often have you experienced someone TPing into a crowded place and apologizing with some variation of "Hi to everyone I haven't greeted yet, but you're all still rezzing"? That's literally a social convention that exists ONLY in SL, because of the flaws in the platform.

That's something I've always wanted to write a paper on, emergent social norms born from imperfect systems. For example the video game Dark Souls had very limited ways to communicate. It was either gestures that were very limited or etching temporary scribbles into the world that you had to construct by picking from a list of words to slot into a sentence structure.

That has spawned such a vibrant and rich microcosm of rituals, memes and concepts and that's frankly fascinating.

I'm trying to come up with examples for SL and it's difficult. Perhaps there is a certain transhumanist aspect in how casually we talk about replacing body parts and constantly changing our shape to fit a mood including something like casually taking off breasts or plucking out eyes for new ones and so on? Maybe that's born from the janky implementation of mesh (I admit, I didn't read the article yet!) .

Maybe it's in the ways in how we self discipline and self regulate, by keeping our complexity low and scripts in check. Heck. Even just needing scripts to function on a basic level and the entire eco system of animation overrides exists because of the janky way animations work in SL.

I probably should head to bed at this point though but flawed article or not and I'm gonna read it, the concept of social patterns born from imperfect systems is so utterly fascinating.

[animats]

3 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

How often have you experienced someone TPing into a crowded place and apologizing with some variation of "Hi to everyone I haven't greeted yet, but you're all still rezzing"? That's literally a social convention that exists ONLY in SL, because of the flaws in the platform.

I'm amazed that hasn't been fixed yet. It's not a bandwidth problem. When you're stuck at pink cloud, server to viewer data transfer is not happening much. It's an instance list problem - the server just isn't telling the viewer about some objects.

[Madi Melodious]

I think I lost 20 IQ points reading that.   Another hit piece written by someone that doesn't really know anything about SL.   Honestly, I could have written something better by putting the keyboard under my butt and bouncing a few times on it. 

[Paul Hexem]

5 hours ago, Luna Bliss said:

I don't know that she intended it, but to be heteronormative certainly isn't a good thing:

adjective. het·ero·nor·ma·tive ˌhē-tə-rō-ˈnȯr-mə-tiv. : of, relating to, or based on the attitude that heterosexuality is the only normal and natural expression of sexuality.

 

5 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

To amplify a bit what Luna has already said,

heteronormative != heterosexual

The last is a description of a particular flavour of sexuality, and is neither "good" nor "bad."

The former, on the other hand, is a way to describe how a culture can compel an acceptance of heterosexuality as the only legitimate kind of "normal" behaviour, with the implication that everything else (homosexuality and bisexuality) is a transgression, inferior, or in some sense wrong.

So the article isn't dissing heterosexuals. It's dissing a culture that refuses to recognize the equally valid status of other kinds of sexuality.

Let's be real. She's definitely the type that thinks heterosexual is bad, and that's the whole reason for the article- she heard SL is ridiculously diverse and wants to score some sort of virtue signal points for recognizing it. She doesn't understand it (or games at all, seems like) but it's an opportunity to use words like "heteronormative" and talk about how good "alternative cultures" are.

[Luna Bliss]

[AnthonyJoanne]

Within a minute of starting to read that article I encountered perjorative word choices and indications of an attitude which hinted at ignorance and arrogance.

A quick search for the authors profile did not disabuse me of that notion.

I'll cut it short ... SL is not a single entity. It is quite possibly the most diverse (in the REAL meaning of the word and not the current day distortion of it) example of human creativity currently on the 'net under a single banner.

If someone hasn't seen the incredible variation of what's on (or has been on) the grid in SL that's because they haven't looked, or haven't had their eyes open to what was around them.

In response to small minded arrogance like the author, I find myself channeling Roy Batty in Bladerunner ...

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe ... builds of everything humanity has ever made or dreamed of ... sentients exploring every possible mode of existence ... worlds that came into existence and then were lost in time like tears in the rain"

It's a fitting fate that people like Bucknell can't see what is, only what their bias and preconceived notions permit them to see. It's also their punishment, and I find that fitting. But I never claimed to be a nice person.

 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

56 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

talk about how good "alternative cultures" are.

This is correct, more or less. Heteronormativity is a term from the early 90s that derived from a particular field of academic work -- Queer Theory -- with very definite ideological "leanings," if you like. It values diversity of all kinds, and argues strenuously that Western culture has worked hard, for literary centuries, to suppress alternative values, identities, and lifestyles.

The rest of your post is frankly ill-informed, simplistic nonsense.

Heteronormativity isn't a "cuss word" or an insult created to be thrown about on social media. It is, again, a term with an academic origin that relates to cultural systems, not to individuals. It has a very complicated and rich field of meanings associated with it, and figures prominently in certain kinds of academic writing.

If someone "accuses" you of being heteronormative, they aren't "accusing" you of being heterosexual.

They are accusing you of being, knowingly or not, a homophobic bigot, and someone who supports a culture and ideological system that works very hard to suppress alternative voices and perspectives.

Literally no one cares whom you sleep with, Paul, or what turns your crank. They just don't.

They do care if you're complicit with a repressive political and cultural system.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

6 minutes ago, AnthonyJoanne said:

I'll cut it short ... SL is not a single entity. It is quite possibly the most diverse (in the REAL meaning of the word and not the current day distortion of it) example of human creativity currently on the 'net under a single banner.

Um.

You do realize that this is essentially what the article is arguing, right?

Quote

The ambient indeterminacy of Second Life is always what made it a place worth preserving. Perhaps that generosity of opacity—and the generative affect of existing in a world that feels forever out of joint—could offer us the perfect place to respawn, reimagine, and reworld our own.

 

Edited May 14 by Scylla Rhiadra

[Love Zhaoying]

Just realized even the title is both insulting, and sums up the article! 
"Decaying software." "No fun."

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Just now, Love Zhaoying said:

Just realized even the title is both insulting, and sums up the article! 
"Decaying software." "No fun."

Thank GOD we never hear anyone complaining about the lack of things to do in SL here on the forums or in-world!!!

Or about the increasingly glitchy and aging code base, how TPs are borked, group chat doesn't work, etc.!

Whew!

😏

[SlammedSam]

1 minute ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Thank GOD we never hear anyone complaining about the lack of things to do in SL here on the forums or in-world!!!

Or about the increasingly glitchy and aging code base, how TPs are borked, group chat doesn't work, etc.!

Whew!

😏

Right? XD

[Love Zhaoying]

4 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Thank GOD we never hear anyone complaining about the lack of things to do in SL here on the forums or in-world!!!

Or about the increasingly glitchy and aging code base, how TPs are borked, group chat doesn't work, etc.!

Whew!

😏

Omg, the author is a Forum user!!

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Just now, Love Zhaoying said:

Omg, the author is a Forum user!!

And (emphatically, in a very insistent shouty voice) NOT ME!!!!