Second Life vs. Real Life

March 14, 2011 at 2:39 am | Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

When listening to professor Gilbert’s speech on Second Life, so many thoughts were rushing through my head. First and most importantly, what is Second Life? I had no idea that a virtual world where people could live out different virtual lives than the real ones they lead, or even incorporate virtual aspects into real life situations and responsibilities. Secondly, do people view second life as real life, and real life as secondary? Do people get addicted to it? Why would anyone want to spend all of their time playing a game that simulates real life, rather than just living their actual real lives? (Of course, upon further inspection, the answer to this question is easy: people already immerse themselves in online games, communities, and worlds. The same thing could be said about Facebook–why do you spend all of your time tagging and commenting on photos or writing on people’s walls when you could be conversing with them in person, in the real world rather than online?)

From a more psychological and deep-rooted view, as professor Gilbert stated, the idea of a second life raises questions about humanity, human interaction, and what defines the two. What is real? What is dehumanizing? How do you know the difference between real and virtual?

Luckily, professor Gilbert was able to answer all of my questions and entertain me in one of the most fascinating speeches I’ve heard on such a mind-boggling topic. Since, according to professor Gilbert’s predictions, in ten years there will be more avatars than human beings, the virtual world will be massively larger than earth, and there will be great economic commerce in the virtual world than in the real world, I am so glad to now be in the loop of the technological and new media wonder that is Second Life.

The idea of a virtual world that can be so addicting and seem so real that people spend so much more time with their virtual baby than their real one that the real child actually dies is frightening. I remember how much time my brother and I used to spend playing the Sims, and my parents worried that we were being too antisocial. It helped when they realized that all of our friends were equally obsessed, and we could all play the game together, as sort of an exclusive to children only, Sims community. My uncle was extremely addicted to the Sims for a short amount of time, and I remember my Aunt would express her frustration that he was spending more time with his online Sims family than his real one. This was something that I thought about when listening to professor Gilbert speak, but he is correct about the fact that there is a big difference between games like the Sims and World of Warcraft and Second Life. First and foremost, Second Life is not a game, and it establishes this by a) being free and available to everyone, and b) more importantly, existing without goals that one must complete in order to succeed in or win the game. In the Sims or Warcraft, it becomes so addicting because it seems impossible to stop. You have to conquer a new demon or make sure your household makes enough income in a certain amount of time. However, with Second Life, the motto is “your imagination, your world.” It’s not a game, you can stop at any time and come back at any time. There are no goals, and only about six general rules or terms of service. However, although this separates Second Life from other games like the Sims or Warcraft, I still find it hard to believe that it is anything but extremely addictive, if not more so than the aforementioned actual games. After all, if it wasn’t, how else would someone accidentally kill their real child while being a superb parent to their online one?

However, in defending not the fact that this tragedy occurred, but the existence of Second Life itself, professor Gilbert made an excellent point that really resonated with me and helped establish Second Life as more of a reality than an online universe in my mind. He said, “You can’t close down the physical world when something bad happens, so why would you shut down the virtual world? It’s as good and bad as the real world, but just another manifestation.”

This is true. However, I still don’t know if I want to enter Second Life yet. First of all, I find this life hard enough get through, I could not imagine having a second life, even if it is virtual, to try and navigate. Secondly, there are still so many things I don’t understand about it. Thirdly, it seems dangerous. Yes, there are rules and regulations that if someone breaks there are consequences and a shut down account for, but professor Gilbert himself said that if that happens, you can just go to a new internet address and create a new avatar. The idea of mass murdering avatars running around online and recreating themselves over and over again to wreak havoc on the online world is scary!

The Frontline special was also fascinating, and I found myself agreeing with so much of it. The MIT students were not offended by their friend texting at dinner because they said they do the same thing. I think that this idea of multitasking and needing to communicate with the world all the time via texts and social networks on one’s cell phone is a new thing and also a cultural difference that many adults (not all!) do not get. For example, my dad thinks it’s extremely rude when I talk to him and text at the same time, but my friends, like the MIT students, don’t think twice about it, and neither do I because we all do it!

One of the things in the Frontline talk that really resonated with me was the idea of multitasking. Ever since I was younger, I have always been a big multitasker, and I thought of myself as good at it, like many of the students in the video. However, according to professors and studies done, it has been found that students actually aren’t as good at multitasking as they think. Multitasking is a HUGE thing on the internet and with technology, so this finding was really interesting to me. I will keep it in mind the next time I have four internet windows pulled up and am on speaker phone with someone while texting someone else!