last november i quoted Philip Rosedale who said
Smart people in rural areas, the handicapped, people looking for companionship, they love it. But you have to be highly motivated to get on and learn to use it.
that’s a heck of a generalisation and he went on to discount a Stanford grad’s sacrifice and hard work in going to school and that hiring a Brasilian kid made more sense. perhaps that makes sense when you have a posh life and did not have to work hard to put yourself through a degree or you prefer to pay as little as possible to get ahead
his attitude was cavalier, in my opinion, and certainly is not one of community. a community approach would first look in your own backyard, then your region, and then your country. maybe that bespeaks Linden Lab’s inability to be community-focused (ie, the SLCC cancellation for example)
what rekindled this issue for me was Mera’s repost of Broken people in Second Life?
Mera writes brilliantly about a point that i would like to make in a slightly different way. like Mera, i believe virtual worlds attract a fairly representative sample of the average population. i also acknowledge that virtual worlds do allow for many people to engage with the world, just like facebook, twitter, or blogging does. it’s computer-based so that means you can do it from almost anywhere regardless of your personal challenges or of regional challenges (by regional, think of places in the world that it may be difficult to have a bikini shop or sell real estate)
rather than saying only highly motivated people who are lonely, in the country, or the impaired will endure learning how to use virtual worlds (a la Philip); i would frame it as a wonderful tool that enables a large number of people to be expressive and creative
It’s also worth noting that learning a platform as expressive as Second Life or Opensim doesn’t have to be as hard as Linden Lab has been making it. There is a vast untapped potential to use both the platform itself and other channels like video to make learning fast, easy and fun.
ATupper
17 Jul 12 at 2:52 pm
i second that sentiment Al!
it is not that hard to learn it – yes, it is more complex than Farmville but so is writing a proper business letter in Word!
it certainly can be fun and easy to learn =)
Ener Hax
17 Jul 12 at 2:56 pm
The biggest problem with such statements as made by Philip and others, the categorizations, is that they leave others out. They exclude, they don’t include.
Whether its SL, OpenSim, AuroraSim or any other virtual world platform, they are inclusive, yet some people just don’t understand that.
Everyone understands how to download and install software. By doing so, anyone can visit a virtual world. They don’t have to be builders. They don’t need any special skills or talents or umpteen dollars for software and computer systems. Just run a viewer and go visit.
Yet some people still try to exclude. That’s a shame, really, for they simply do not see all the potential that is there.
Sarge Misfit
17 Jul 12 at 3:27 pm
[...] read Ener’s blog here and she touched up on someone disagreeing with the term ‘broken people in second [...]
Broken People in Virtual Worlds! « Eros Deus
17 Jul 12 at 5:22 pm
So I have to be broken to get a kick out of virtual worlds ehh?
This Broken People generalization stuff ticks me off a bit.
There is a quote by Leonard Cohen:
“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”.
So maybe its ok for me to be whatever Rosedale’s version of “broken” is.
I’m not a second lifer, I’m an OpenSimmer, but still…
Yes, I’m from the country. I am also an RVer. I know the forests, the rivers, and a thousand and one beauty spots in the cities and the countryside, There are a few states I’ve still not seen, So I guess I’m broken.
I’m a traveler:
I’ve made love on one of the seven hills of Rome, while the Sun rose over Saint Peters, So I guess I’m broken.
I’ve done a Spanish Waltz in the city lights of Paris, So I guess I’m broken.
I’ve thought Ballroom dancing in the heart of the city, So I guess I’m broken.
I’ve designed independent power systems, So I guess I’m broken.
I’ve taught people about eastern snakes and wildlife in a State park, So I guess I’m broken.
I’ve acted, danced, and been a lighting tech for more theatre shows than I wanna count, So I guess I’m broken.
I’ve helped blow the windows out of an entire city block with professional Pyrotechnicians in the film industry, So I guess I’m broken.
I’ve played a man eating beetle at midnight in a LARP, So I guess I’m broken.
I’ve brutally heckled Hercules (Kevin Sorbo ;) So I guess I’m broken.
I am also a bit of of a code geek. I get a kick out of figuring things out. Its one of the ways I play, those silly broken code geeks.
Last weekend I lost a floaty race on the river, so I guess I’m broken.
My avatar gets a real kick out of this virtual world funness, so I guess he’s broken.
My avatar has traveled this cool thing called the hyper-grid by inner-tube, so I guess he’s broken.
My avatar is a huge fan of stupid looking hats, so I guess he’s broken.
My avatar made NPCs that call people Patoodie Head, so I guess he’s broken.
My avatar has Visited Tiki bars, and Art museums and all kinds of cool worlds, so I guess he’s broken.
Sure is damn cool to be broken.
A toast to letting more of that light in.
Araxie Longoar
17 Jul 12 at 6:34 pm
call me broken anytime – i like all of you too much to be anything else =)
Ener Hax
17 Jul 12 at 6:49 pm
:)
ZZ Bottom
18 Jul 12 at 6:56 am
[...] through a few winters, and has given me an outlet to be creative in… so from the bottom of my broken, lonely heart Thank you, Philip. __________________ Drama is easy with eyes closed misunderstanding all you [...]
W00T Thank you, Philip Linden <3 - SLUniverse Forums
22 Feb 13 at 2:34 pm