Scylla Rhiadra

Yeah, this is the woman who spammed my Flickr with hate posts. She seems to believe that pretty much any woman she meets in-world is a "dude," actually, and there's pretty much nothing that doesn't attract an obscenity-laden rant from her. She's a deeply unpleasant transphobic and homophobic troll, and I'm sorry to see her frankly pathetic videos getting oxygen here.

How many women have awoken to discover that they have been in love with an ass? The full quote, which is from A Midsummer Night's Dream, is spoken by the Fairy Queen Titania as she is released from an enchantment cast upon her by Puck (at the bequest of her husband, Oberon): My Oberon, what visions have I seen! Methought I was enamoured of an ass. Titania had been magicked to fall in love with the first creature she saw upon waking, who happened to be the simple, dull, and unattractive labourer Bottom; Oberon has been quarreling with his wife, and is "teaching her a lesson." To make the humiliation of Titania more complete, Puck gives Bottom an ass's head. This is my partially updated rendering of that narrative -- almost in time for Midsummer Night's Eve!

Hung out with my guy tonight while he ignored me and watched some stupid sportsball thing. Boooooooooring . . . 🙄

I am unconvinced, honestly, by this "LL wants 'better people' here" narrative. I think there was a period, ca. 2008-2010, when LL was trying to sell "Enterprise" versions of SL to corporations, pushing the platform at educators, and promoting the idea of the place as the "3D Web," when this actually was more truly an aim of the company. That died a pretty quick death, though. I've seen little indication that they want to "replace" us with "better people" in quite some time. What they do want, as any online business or platform wants, is people with more disposable income to spend on leisure, as well as creators, merchants, and businesses willing to invest in the platform. But that's not quite the same thing as suggesting that LL itself sees us all as "weirdos" who are a liability to the platform, and in dire need of "replacement."

Cinn is correct: this is the first year they've permitted Adult areas. And yes, I actually do think that's an indication of a shift in attitudes. As too was the decision last year to permit full nudity in the "Adult" section of these forums: that was also a fairly notable shift, even if it was only here. In theory, targeted advertising, of the sort that is actually the raison d'etre of social media data harvesting. Sell furries in SL to online audiences likely to be interested in that. Advertise avatar customization to segments of the market who are playing games and such that seem to suggest an interest in that. And, of course, promote sex where people are looking for that online. But that's expensive, and a bit complicated to do.

Well, ok. So what's the cause of that? Many might argue that this perception is an adjunct of the reputation SL has garnered as the refuge of oversexed fetishistic weirdos. I'm not saying that's true, but it may be part of the problem Surely, in any case, that perception does not derive from an under-promotion of sex here. No one, surely, is saying, "What sad sacks! These losers don't have nearly enough sex in-world!" Promoting sexuality in SL is not going to make outsiders think we're "winners," with healthy and active RLs.

Oh, I think that's true. At the height of the Metaverse hype thing, it was getting a fair amount of mention, anyway (not always positive, and some of it implying that SL was no more). I get the sense that Rosedale is still being wined and dined on the strength of his connection and history with the platform. But that's free publicity. @Silent Mistwalker says she's seen some actual paid advertisements, which is more than I can say, recently anyway.

It's a good question, actually. I don't think there is much in the way of what you might call broadly targeted advertising: I don't remember the last time I saw a real "ad" for SL. But then I'm not a gamer, I don't use Steam very often at all, and its entirely possible I'm just not in places where it does appear. I think what LL does do, in theory, is count on word of mouth or whatever to bring people to the site, and then hope to snare them with the public relations material here. I'm not sure how effective that's been to date. But maybe someone knows more about this than I do (which wouldn't be difficult!)

I think perhaps you'd better steer clear of windmills for a little while, Luna! Yeah, it's not a zero sum game though. You can immerse yourself deeply without ever necessarily falling into madness.

May I strongly recommend Inara Pey's blog. She's thorough and she adds enough additional commentary to assist in making it all make sense.

This could be the Avatar of the Future. Think how low lag it would be!

Well, as others have already said, yes it impacts me emotionally, in a way that is similar to the experience of nature in RL, but obviously not the same. I think that the part of us that responds to virtual reality simulations of things is more or less the same part that responds to the experience of literature, plays, movies, and even two dimensional art. When we watch a movie, or read an engrossing novel, or admire a landscape painting, we are always at some level conscious that it's not "real," it's a fiction. But we make a sort of tacit agreement with ourselves to "believe" it sufficiently that it still affects us. It's what Coleridge called "a willing suspension of disbelief." The "willing" part is important: we consent to the illusion, and remain always conscious at some level that it is illusion. It's not that we're being "fooled" in other words. Imagine if our responses to, say, a horror movie, or a particularly bloody play, were the same as the real thing. We'd be traumatized by art, and by simulation! This is kind of what happens to Don Quixote, who comes to literally believe the romance novels he is reading. He becomes deluded and mad. The "willing suspension" protects us from that kind of response, so the emotional impact is like a simulation of the emotions we would really feel confronted by the same thing in RL: what T. S. Eliot called "art emotion." I'm not much of a beach girl, but I love forests, and I love gardens, and being in these in SL gives me real pleasure. It's not exactly the same pleasure as a real garden or forest would produce -- but it's a sufficiently good imitation or simulation of it that it produces many of the same effects, such as a sense of calm and peace.

Question from a mutual friend. Did anyone check to see what body Patch was wearing? Was it NUX?

But whose lifetime?

Don't forget to enable damage, and include a wearable shotgun by the door.

I could, but "wide eyed" to me has nearly childlike connotations of awe and amazement and surprise. It's the sort of thing C. S. Lewis might have said in his Narnia series. I'm hoping the build will produce that kind of feeling. As I say, I'm really a pretty simple girl. 🙂

Yeah. I haven't been yet -- I'm hoping to have time to drop by tonight, and I'm looking forward to seeing it. I still think that the concept is a pretty cool one, and I'm hoping the implementation doesn't disappoint me. In the "big picture," it's the shift in strategy, and indications that LL actually maybe has been listening, a little, to complaints (here and elsewhere) about the new user experience, that is most important. I'm not skilled or knowledgeable enough to catch many of the issues that Drayke notes: I'm more likely to wander around muttering "Shiny!" under my breath while looking around wide-eyed. (I'm a very simple girl, really.) But things like low quality builds I probably would catch, as would most new users: I think these are more likely to have an impact on new residents than whether or not your cursor changes when you hover over something. This is, hopefully, a prototype, and they'll learn from it. And possibly they'll change some things at the existing build as a response to criticism? But on the whole, I'm pretty excited about this, and, loathe as I am to be out of step, I think LL and those who put this together (esp. the moles) deserve credit and thanks.

Thank you. Arielle is most definitely one of a kind, and a unique and distinctive voice here. We would be poorer (and I mean this very genuinely) without her. I think the same can be said of Drayke. And I think critique, including his, is valuable and even necessary. But I do think that, to be effective, it needs to be couched in ways that don't make it sound merely like grousing. We're very good at grousing here generally, and perhaps not so good at constructive criticism.

Yeah, it's just you.

/me flutters her eyelashes at Sid in a particularly winsome fashion

..that's handy to know! In my day, we just called it "Back of the bleachers, behind the dumpster."

As one does. That's fine, if so. But the entire premise of this discussion has been about changing the way in which LL promotes the platform, in practical terms, including comparisons with other virtual worlds and games. If this is really about "sex gets no respect in SL," we can agree or disagree, but it changes the entire dynamic of this thread. I've been arguing that there are potential costs to a shift in advertising. Need I have bothered if we're all convinced, including even the OP, that that's not going to happen?

No, but I AM trudging into SL because I want to hear music, or go dancing, or buy something nice for myself, or build something, or take a picture . . . I have no doubt that, at the front of many people's minds as they hit the "Log in" button, is the thought "I want some nooky." I am equally certain that for a whole lot of us it is not even being entertained as a possibility. Even if that is, in fact, something that we DO end up engaging in during the subsequent session in-world. Then why are we even having this conversation???

I've had men try to pick me up on Twitter. On Twitter, for God's sake, presided over by a guy currently in the running for Unsexiest Man of the Year. No one needs to be told that there is sex online, anywhere. They already know.

I think this is kinda the point. Yes, sex is ubiquitous, in RL as well as online. If I walk into a RL supermarket, probably 80% of the people there are having sex regularly! And occasionally daydreaming about it, talking to friends about it, etc. Crazy, eh? But that doesn't mean that the vast majority of them are living for sex. It's just a very important part of their lives. Just like, for a great many residents, sex is an important component of their virtual lives. For the vast majority of people I know, really, SL is just like RL in this regard. In fact, I think LL should play up the fact that sex and relationships here are rather like our "real" lives. How about, Second Life™. Join for the Sex. Stay for the Foot Rubs.