Category Archives: Philosophy

Virtual World Directions

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Ciaran Laval in his blog has an article on Neoliberalism And Cardboard In Virtual Worlds And Games. Despite the title it is about the direction virtual worlds are going. He quotes from Elliot Murphy’s essay on computer games and politics:  Always a Lighthouse: Video Games and Radical Politics. This may give us another hint on Sansar’s economic model.

A cunning plan

A cunning plan

In America I suspect many will confuse the liberalism intended with the popular liberal/progressive ideology the mainstream media touts. In a 1984 style, radicals and socialists have taken over the word liberal for their use in describing socialism/collectivism, which are not liberal. But, in Ciaran’s quote we see neoliberalism is being used in its more classic meaning, i.e., the core tenets of neoliberalism: privatization, deregulation, commodification, and a celebration of personal profit. My kind of thinking.  Continue reading →

Thought Controlled Elections

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Many of my friends and acquaintances in Second Life™ are liberals, socialists, and/or Democrats. I often wonder how that is possible. Communists and socialists have killed more of their citizens and become dictatorships more often than any other political system (look it up). Minorities support the Democrat Party, but it is the party promoting and clinging to separation of economic class, races, sexual orientations, religions, and even recently calling for racial segregation in K-12 schools. (Reference, reference) It was the party of the KKK and a number of famous Democrat politians have been members of the klan. How are these incongruities possible?

NO CENSORSHIP!

NO CENSORSHIP!

A basic truism is united we stand, divided we fall. Thousands of years of history show the validity of the truism. But, every place I look the Democrat party, socialists, liberal organizations, and of course anarchists and radicals are striving to dividing us. But why do so few notice?  Continue reading →

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Manipulated: the Defense in Your Mind

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Canary Beck points us to an article by Auryn Beorn: Defend yourself from manipulators. It is interesting that this pops up now. A friend of mine just pointed me to The Federalist’s article by Stella Morabito titled How To Escape The Age Of Mass Delusion a day or so ago. Both of these writers are working with the presupposition that people are manipulating us. I’ll expand on that later.

Bobby and the Aversion Therapist

Bobby and the Aversion Therapist by Robert Goldstein, on Flickr

Auryn starts off with entitlement. Auryn describes the entitlement people I have a problem with exactly as I see them. The TL:DR is give an inch and they’ll take a mile, cause you owe them.  Continue reading →

Second Life Chat & Abuse

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Massively OverPowered has an article by Editor-in-Chief Bree Royce titled: Why MMORPG’s Still Need Traditional Chat. The article is about the problems of jerks annoying people in global chat. We have our share of those people in Second Life.

Je suis Charlie..

Je suis Charlie.. by VOIDAR // Ashley Carter, on Flickr

I find the article interesting because I think it reflects what is going on in RL. Chat in virtual worlds is different. But, it is still humans conversing. Humans may feel they can get away with more in anonymous chat. But, their basic behavior and thinking does not change at login.

Nor do our solutions for these problems in virtual worlds differ from what we propose and experiment with in RL. People in games seem to be learning that the final step in the progression of language restrictions and attempts to control abuse is removal of the ‘global’ chat system. In RL we are imposing restrictions on Hate Speech just as we try to restrict it in game worlds. It doesn’t work in either place. In both places all forms of conversation are injured.

In RL it gives governments and bureaucrats control of what is said. In games it is moderators that have the last say. Bree’s take is that life is better with messy annoying chat than without it.

Second Life Bits

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Land

Second Life™ has a valuable virtual real estate market. Yet, SL is not the only virtual world with real estate issues. ArcheAge is coming up on a new land rush and the problems of players losing existing land holdings.

lostdreams11

lostdreams11 by Sannita Cortes, on Flickr

In SL we often hear ‘the rent is too damn high’ exclaimed. I’m one that disagrees and believes the free market gives people control of what they pay or receive and most equitably distributes land and sets prices. Continue reading →

Net Neutrality: Curbing Free Speech

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Many in Second Life™ were and are pro Net Neutrality. The ideas associated with the words Net Neutrality are noble sounding but dig in and you find they are out of touch with the reality of the laws being passed and basic economics.

(image gone…) Bound III by Sacha Audeburgh, on Flickr

In America we are seeing the US State Dept. making the first rules to kill free speech on the Internet and turn it into Government Approved Speech ONLY. Of course, they have chosen an emotional issue many liberals can get behind: gun control. Is it OK to ban this type of speech? I suspect many liberals will think so. They are banning hate speech, the first step and that OK with many, now gun related speech, don’t you wonder what is next? Obviously free speech is going away, if we allow this trend to continue.  Continue reading →

Fashion and Political Correctness

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Fashion is big in Second Life™. I am never sure if SL is leading RL trends or following them. I think I can provide examples of both cases. But, I’m not that big into fashion, so I would be arguing the point with limited knowledge. That is usually a popular path that leads to disaster.

Izzie's - Geanna Frostbite Skin fair for C88

Izzie’s – Geanna Frostbite Skin fair for C88 by Lila Quander, on Flickr

I am politically active and I am seeing lots of liberal/progressive writers coming down on fashion designers and bloggers. The new politically correct term dividing people is now “Cultural Appropriation”. Writers like Taylor Bryant have bought into the idea and are helping out by promoting aversion to Cultural Appropriation.  Continue reading →

Is Second Life Sex More Fun than RL Sex?

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Someone got the idea to run a poll of which sex is more fun, RL or SL/Virtual sex. RL won, no surprise there. But, 36% thought Second Life™ sex was more fun… hummm.

On a side note: It is the owner of Basilique, the place where the Lindens are doing their meet up today, that conducted the study: Canary Beck.

Maria Korolov posted a link to a recent study of sex in SL in her: Survey: virtual sex less fun, but more liberated.

The full study she refers to is here:  Second Life sex versus real life sex. It is long and well worth reading. I touch on JUST the parts I found really interesting.

Goddess Xita

Goddess Xita by Alice DiXita, on Flickr

No surprise, they found in a 2012 study and this recent study that sexual practices in Real Life and Second Life differ. So, you are not the only one that is more kinky in SL than RL.  Continue reading →

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