It's a concept that we've been drilled with since child hood: be yourself, do what makes you happy...but at the end of the day how realistic is it? We have to worry about "real" things like school, bills, careers, relationships. And what if being super hero, zombie-killing warrior or blue native on the island of pandora just isn't...within reach? If that's the case, then you can always turn on your laptop and escape into this fantasy land where you are free to exist in whatever way you'd like.
But how does this affect us in the real world? Kogod student by day, virtual gaming junkie by night, it just seems odd. And what do these games tell us about ourselves? If you enjoy playing Grand Theft Auto every night and stealing cars and killing women..does that mean that deep-down you're a cold hearted murderer?
What about being a second life junkie? Does the fact that you're willing to spend real money to make fake houses and live in a fake world say something about your social life? It seems to me that there might be better ways to spend that money, like taking a real person out to dinner.
The fact of the matter is that we all enjoy the idea of creating a better, more perfect version of ourselves. And if plastic surgery isn't for you, then maybe second life is.
PS. Get excited for our SL class. If you aren't already, then watch this.
Hey, Second Life is a lot less expensive than plastic surgery. Our virtual avatars are capable of anything from space exploration to inter-planetary war to winning an Olympic event. It's certainly less expensive in the game than in real life.
ReplyDeleteI'm not hating on second life and if you couldn't tell from my link to the office- im actually really excited about learning to play. but the fact of the matter is that you are spending REAL money to live and interact in a virtual world. And then people have the nerve (not you.) to complain about not having money for other things. priorities and balance- i feel like that should be the name of my blog.
ReplyDeleteSeems you have picked up on the lovely phenomenon of escapism. Before people would escape with books, now we escape with the Internet. Of course the levels of escapism are different. There are those that go full out and get themselves an avatar in Second Life and there are those that conform with Facebook (which is great way to procrastinate...).
ReplyDeleteYou can explore space in second life? Really? This game is more in depth then I thought. Can escapism be a bad thing though if you get too carried away?
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