I knew the day would come. No longer sufficient to sit on the fence, to claim immersion when I augment too often, my theory of the spectrum a cop-out, and today the day arrived.
Linden Lab, as part of its sudden push to poll its residents is asking a lot more questions at log in – earlier this week it was whether my avatar is the same gender as me. Now, kudos to the Lab. There’s nothing like having some actual data against which to start thinking about strategy and resident needs.
But today, the lengthy survey included everything from how many Lindens I make to whether I teach to what I spend money on (including the choice of ‘adult entertainment products).
And then the kicker question: what statement best describes my experience in Second Life.
Blast the Lab! How can I answer this??? Thankfully, they let you choose as many as apply, but will my survey be thrown into the dustbin when they see the inherent contradiction between my avatar being an extension of who I am, and enjoying the fantasy aspects of SL?
I wonder whether this is what they call existential anxiety.
You read my mind again, Dusan, been thinking about this in relation to a UI for SL. There is no “inherent contradiction”, you are the perfect, resolved SL resident. Sometimes you immerse, sometimes you augment, sometimes neither, sometimes both.
They were always superficial and pretentious descriptions anyway, made up by people who think that an ability to label and categorise implies some kind of insight. At best they describe a (usually transitory) mode of involvement – but they’ve NEVER described a type of person and we should publicly ridicule anyone who thinks they do!
Sorry, having a bit of a Prok moment…
Spot on! I agree too. But I think that labeling sometimes happen naturally, boundaries between labels are always fuzzy. Some folks might find it useful as pointers may be to add some focus in a discourse. All categories are constructs, that is a given. But not all categories are equally useful.
R