I once had a friend in Second Life... I knew her alts and I knew her RL husband. I listened to her RL issues like a good friend. No drama or incidents. Then one day on Facebook she announced - on her SL avatar's profile account - she was weeding out her contacts and that anyone she did not converse with in voice would be dropped. Suddenly I was no longer real and didn't count among the people she knew; soon I would not exist. She was promptly dropped on social media and inworld; if someone didn't regard me as a person then they certainly weren't any friend of mine. And they aren't.
Therefore I'm no stranger to marginalization based on my method of communication. So when you come along and tout the wonders of diversity in Second Life and the many ways we communicate and make the world smaller despite those differences, then try to bait me into voice over and over, what should I think? We've had discussions in Facebook and Twitter on topics that I'm passionate about, but instead of asking for clarification it always led to an invitation to your podcast. Your sentiments on diversity are NOT sincere; if anything they are disingenuine. You are telling me whatever I've contributed in conversation was meaningless because you don't approve of someone who will not voice chat.
Let me tell you what I am about Drax.
The written word in peril. I am ITS champion among others. I see the crumbling of a language where an entire generation is incapable of expressing themselves beyond a level of depth without little pictures. They think they're clever to respond with a stock animated gif. On Facebook they never express a unique thought but rather paste other people's thoughts in memes one after the other on their timelines, then disappear for another week. I am about mourning the death of the soul through the extinction of prose and the marginalization of people who seek to preserve it. The persona I use online was adopted with that in mind. It is a story of being unique yet accepted.
I used to be an admirer of you
Drax (I am not a fan. I mostly hate fans. Fanatics lack objectivity or the sense that whom they admire are people that simply stand out in a crowd). You were my goto when family and friends didn't understand how Second Life worked and were confused over it not being a game while looking like one. Most of those we struggle to explain Second Life to have played nothing more than Solitaire or Freecell after sharing photos with family via Email. With your podcast you had your hand on the pulse of Second Life Residents and discussed trends and policies each week.
Then Sansar took over and your media output saw a shift in attention. The monthly World Makers projects ceased and there was mention on occasion of some new project: a feature length film a la World Makers. We saw a couple of teasers several months apart.
Your finger was no longer on our pulse and there was no reason for me to follow any further. Certainly SL would promote your finished film in a blog and via Email once it was out there, just as they had your monthly short films.
The way I see it if you were honest about your passions and said you moved on then that would have been different. Even if you were still the best one to call on for Second Life discussion because your void here hadn't been filled, so be it. But to claim nothing's changed in the direction of your virtual pursuits is simply not the case, and no amount of denial or derisive tone changes a backlog of social media. I know where you'd rather be.
It takes someone like me to notice. Someone who lost a champion.
No, I won't care to discuss it on a podcast.
Addendum:
Drax' response was simply that I did not appreciate he and his team working on the feature, then a block and - report? Really?
The response was a bit mystifying if it wasn't tone deaf. We
know he has a feature film project about Second Life Residents; it's right above in my text. And tbh one cannot appreciate a project until it sees completion and has been experienced. But the question now becomes: Does he consider working on the film a substitute for a Second Life presence and when he's done for the day does he run into Sansar to clean his palate?
I also wonder what Drax sees or wants out of a virtual world. Is it to navigate it as close to the real world as possible? Is this what people fiercely defending VR want?
Second Life - and all 3D virtual worlds since decades - have brought people together who could not otherwise. I have a RL friend in the midwest who I meet online two or three times a week because we can. It's no longer just a phonecall on birthdays and holidays.
Next month will have been three years a dear friend in Second Life was lost. During the memorial service many things came to light: Her time was divided between art projects and volunteering at Virtual Ability on an alt (actually, the one I knew was the alt). She became desperately ill and disabled from the side effects of a drug she was prescribed, but you would never have known it. She could use her arrow keys to walk up to you like anyone else and type chat and be part of society with no hint of any deficiency. Sometimes that's all anyone needs or wants. Sometimes that's what fulfills one's dreams or brings back some functionality or humanity to someone made incomplete by circumstance. (I've been there but fortunately it wasn't chronic)
People who cannot speak or breathe well enough to speak, or had a stroke and perhaps don't sound clearly through a microphone, or navigate English better read and typed, or are just shy and have greater spontaneity with the written word. Or lag... there can be any number of reasons why someone will prefer to keep on typing and decline voice chat.
Likewise navigating as an avatar through a virtual world. Maybe just being able to see a representation of your deepest self walk or fly or ride a shuttlecraft. The mind fills the rest in. It doesn't need to involve turning the head or holding onto controllers.
I'm not looking to be realistic, just believable and most of all accepted. Some want to be what they look like in RL, to place their actual selves into a fantasy world. Some want to be silly and some want to be a profile pic in motion. That's what I love about Second Life.
Those reading my blogs know I'm not looking to be some bigshot club DJ. I'm there to bring something so that people can forget their problems for an hour or two, then come away with a smile. I can count on one hand the number of times I put on my set list anything ripped from YouTube since the last eight-plus years. I don't care what other DJs think and I ignore their attempts to "test" me.
I'm not looking for fights or to run a show. I'm certainly not into glory calling someone out. But to become marginalized because someone lacks empathy (which came as a complete surprise) and drives the topic away from the point just to put on airs of indignance?
Here it comes...
🙄
For all of you who love Second Life and what it's brought to your lives, helped you explore the real you, made your lives complete, fixed the broken, or just brought you closer to people who were otherwise out of reach: I love you all. Maybe what it brings is all we really need. Happy 15th Birthday Second Life and THANK YOU.
