Why did you originally start in SL and did you have any specific
goals or hopes for your experience?
I originally started in SL out of curiosity.
It was a free download at a time when "free-to-play" was a rarity and
games were expensive.
Were you role playing a character or was your avatar the real you?
A bit
of both. My avatar has never looked like me - he's way more handsome. I added
some cat-ears to my avatar after a little while just to be a bit different from
the cookie-cutter hordes but I didn't consciously adopt a different persona.
Looking back now, do you think there was another reason you went
in and stayed as long as you did?
Not
really. Because there wasn't an ongoing cost to stay in, there also wasn't an
imperative to get out if I wasn't getting my money's worth.
How did SL help you?
I met a
few interesting people who helped me with Photoshop.
Did SL harm you in any way, if so how?
It
could be a bit of a time waster that lead to a few late nights but that's all.
What was the best experience you had?
No
single experience really sticks in my mind. Aria is the only long term
"connection" I made in SL and thus of course is the "best
experience" but apart from exploring some really nice (but empty) sims,
generally SL lacked any "wow" factor.
What was the worst?
Because
of the Australian time zone I found SL to be incredibly empty and lonely. A
very good analogy I read was that for me, SLwas like visiting a football
stadium the day after a big game. You know something pretty exciting happened
here, but right now, the place is empty except for some guy walking his dog on
the other side of the ground.
I found
some really nice and pretty sims but they were always eerily empty. The places
that had people were not that interesting in that they were either sex
orientated or were music clubs. Music clubs are ok for a while but they aren't
a reason to keep logging in.
What was the cost, if any, for your RL? Or was it just totally a
benefit?
I
stayed up later than I should have a few times but I didn't have any personal
dramas.
I am sure you lived through, perhaps even survived some or many of
the dramas that unfold in SL, can you speak to a couple of things about those
types of incidents. Firstly the perpetrators and secondly the victims. What
would you like to say to them in terms of helpful, brotherly advice?
I followed a few SL dramas and find the sheer
pettiness both amusing and depressing as they highlight how small minded so
many people in this world really are. As Aria knows, I have a disabled child
and measured against that scale nearly all SL dramas are depressingly petty and
small minded. The people who get involved in them should go and visit their
local disability care unit so they can be truly grateful for what they have and
learn to walk away from petty crap. No drama in SL can compare to Multiple
Sclerosis or Cystic Fibrosis for example.
Do you miss it? What specifically do you miss?
I only
miss swapping innuendos with Aria. Email doesn't have the same sense of
immediacy.
What has LL failed to understand about the potential of SL?
This is
tricky because SL's strength is also LL's greatest failing. SL is completely
created by the residents and LL have a very "hands-off" attitude to
generating user involvement. I think they need to be more involved in creating
communities and creating and running events. Events like Burning Man and SL
Birthday and some of the "fairs" like the Fantasy Fair are the best
things in SL and there needs to be more of them. There really should be
"something" happening every week.
LL
introduced the showcase to let people know what is happening and then did
nothing while it was spammed by sex sims and clothing stores so that's all that
I ever saw being advertised.
All the
best communities tend to pop up despite LL & SL's infrastructure. They have
to pay real money to LL every month and they have to engage their members.
Combat communities exist despite the costs and infrastructure (lag and sim
crossings for example). Similarly the sailing communities exist despite the
same hurdles. I wonder how many readers have ever tried sailing? I found it to
be a great use of SL but again, I was doing it on my own and seeing empty towns
and empty race courses and wondering what goes on there?
I think
LL needs to step in and run more events. For example, I now spend my time in
World of Tanks (which is also free to play) and although it may not appeal to a
lot of your readers there are a surprising number of parrallels with SL (and
there are a surprising number of female players once you start using voice
comms). Unlike LL the company that runs it - WG - does a really good job of
"engaging" with their community.
- They
encourage and support the creation of communities called clans with an ongoing
"clan-only" competition with rewards that are the equivalent of
(small amounts of) Linden Dollars. (They realise the return to WG is much
greater than the cost).
- There
is always a trickle of new content being released and promoted.
- There
is always an "event" running or coming soon and it is constantly
being promoted.
- They
regularly have small discounts that encourage people to spend a bit of money
even though the game is free to play.
- They
think of ways to involve everyone on a random basis. For example they sometimes
run competitions where WG emplyees (and trusted non-employee volunteers) will
enter random games and give away stuff to whoever either kills them (from the
opposing team) or defends them (if on their own team). They don't have to do it
a lot just enough that most people will meet one or someone who has.
- They
run competitions between organised teams and then enter teams themselves with
bonus prizes to any team that beats them.
- They
provide bonus codes valid for short periods (like a weekend) which when
redeemed grant you 24 hours premium account and/or bonus (non transferable)
items. If you aren't there you miss out so that's a reason to be there. They
also give bonus codes to new sign ups.
- They
stream content out to youtube and live streaming sites show people what they
are missig out on.
- They
promote in other media.
The
point I am trying to make is that LL's failure to engage with their users is
the biggest thing holding SL back. LL simply isn't providing any reason for
anyone to either go to SL in the first place or to go back there. They are
relying on their users to do everything.
What about society as a whole, what should they know about SL?
They
should be given reasons to go to SL but warned just how unregulated it is. It's
not a safe place for minors.
I
know that you were involved/exposed to the fashion industry during your time in
SL. What is your take on the whole dynamics of the group.
The
fashion industry is one of the most robust, dynamic communities in SL. It has
"events", new content and drama and even conflict. Humans thrive on
conflict but because this is unregulated, self-created conflict it often isn't
healthy conflict.
Do you think anyone can come into SL, work hard and get ahead or
is there more involved than that?
Like
everything, in order to succeeed in SL you need unequal measures of ambition,
skill and dedication. Anyone with those can get ahead (however you interpret
'getting ahead').
Did there come a point when you knew that the shine was pretty
much gone for you? Did you do anything to try and rekindle that or were you
prepared to walk away at that point? In hindsight do you think you should have
left earlier?
Eventually
the emptiness and lack of "pull" meant that the opportunity cost of
not logging in to other games meant I just stopped logging in to SL. I might
still log in if there was a reason to but LL aren't giving me any at the
moment.
Romantic relationships in SL ... What is that all about and do you
think they are healthy, fun, dangerous or all the above?
It's
internet dating by another means. It's not healthy if you're married like I am
but no worse than any other form of internet dating if you aren't in a
relationship.
Anyone from SL still make an active effort to keep in touch with
you? Any long lasting friendships or have you completely moved on?
/me points to the owner of this blog.
Would you be happy to see your daughters plugging into SL and
being as excited about it as you once were? Why or why not?
I will
not let any of my kids anywhere near SL! It's no place for kids.
Do you think people really understood who you were while you were
here? If not, what are some of the things you think people missed and you wish
they had known?
One did. To be honest though I didn't meet
that many people more than once.
Looking back what do you think SL could have been, maybe should
have been for you?
It lacks people in my timezone and without
them it was never going to be much.
What are you doing now? Do you think SL contributed in any way to
the path you are now on? If so, what and how?
Now, I'm playing tanks in a community (clan)
of about 100 people, every night we talk, joke and play tanks together AND most
nights we play a few matches in organised teams against other teams from all
over south east Asia. One night we played against a team from the Philippines,
then one from Malaysia and then another from Mongolia. In some ways SL is like
a rainy day that makes you appreciate the sunshine, in other ways (like dramas)
it showed me that people are the same all over because we also have our
periodic drama fests.
Any final comments?
I'm
amazed that SL has lasted as long as it has and I really hope LL take a more
active hand in running and promoting it.
OTHER INTERVIEWS:
If you, or someone you know, would like to take part in these interviews, please contact me online in SL as Bliss Windlow, or on Facebook under the same name, or at my email: blisswindlow@hotmail.com. Whether you want your name used or not, is totally up to you. I will not edit your responses excepting that I will now allow for anything that is aimed at someone currently in SL by way of naming them for some wrong doing. The purpose of this is dicsussion and exploration, not a witch hunt or retribution.
