Episode 60 - Attack of the 50ft Leaky

Beth is back from holiday and has been sleuthing and snooping all week. Following the leads thrown up in Episode 59 about thick, thin and leaky avatars in Second Life - yes. There does seem to be a new Tribe in town. Beth hadn’t really come across them before, but then, she hasn’t been in SL more than a few months. So she’s unsure whether this is old hat, a new conspiracy or some sort of backlash. But Beth has noticed a particularly prevalent attitude. In profiles, on blogs, during conversations. Beth calls them the Revelators. You know the ones – “I’m pretty much the same in RL and SL”; “Oh – are you talking to my pixels now? Or to me?”; “You have to remember that there’s a real person behind this avatar, you know”; “I love alts. I hunt them down and barbecue them"

The blogs in particular seem to be awash with posts about the ‘ethics’ of revealing RL predilections inside SL. And the alarming trend seems to be that revelation is considered far more ‘ethical’ than non-revelation. Now Beth has a theory. She thinks there are three kinds of people who are evangelically enthusiastic about unbridled exposure and the non-existence of privacy. Stalkers. Complete nosey parkers. And advertisers.

Now, Beth may be old-fashioned. But she really doesn’t see a need to make life any easier for creeps, peeping toms and lazy racketeers. But this meme is out there. Virally marketing its insipid way through Second Life. The new SL viewer is a prime example. RL info is the second box now, not the last. Suggests a change in emphasis, don’t you think? Are advertisers interested in the vital statistics of virtual characters? Of course they’re bloody not. Do they care that you “Like to meet people, go to clubs and am mainly here to have fun – IM me!” No. They want to see “Dutch, male, 38, married with 3 kids” or “23 year old Texan girl who likes antique teapots and poodle racing”. NOW they have someone to sell to!

The stalkers would seem to have an obvious agenda. Although Beth thinks it’s a little too easy to tumble into this category without being wholly conscious of the fact. The current technology certainly aides and abets privacy invasion, secret tracking and guerrilla communication in unexpected and often jaw-dropping ways. One avatar stood calmly by and described Beth’s underwear to her one day. This proved hugely embarrassing as her ‘socks’ and underpants had entirely over-the-top names. Something of no consequence in her Inventory – but completely cringe-worthy in Local Chat. Are nosey people actually asking for these features? Or is it out there just because the technology had been developed and someone wanted to see their ‘double range super-snooper’ out on the internet?

Beth thinks this Cult of the Over-Exposed is a sign of the times in RL and SL. Too much ‘Reality’ TV. Way too much Facebook and Twittering. Beth is of the opinion that instead of being a sublime way of passing round crafted and relevant information, these social networking tools have been high-jacked by people with uncontrollable emotional diarrhoea and an inability to prevent themselves from spontaneously ejaculating every whim and caprice from their unremarkable lives. If it occurs to them, then it must automatically be special or interesting. Sadly, Beth has found, this is seldom the case. And unfortunately these same public vomiters and soul-barers often come with a matching set of pompous and overinflated expectations that everybody else should behave in the same socially incontinent way. Good grief! They want us all to become permanent-broadcast nudists! They want us to rip open our Byronesque shirts and expose our inner workings like the worst kinds of phlemn-hacking poets! Beth (as regular readers will attest) is not going to have any of THAT nonsense!

Back on SL, profiles and blogs are full of preposterous double-standards masquerading as ‘ethics’ at the moment and Beth would like to encourage her readers to challenge them. In the nicest possible way, of course. After all, these are just thin and leaky avatars who are taking their social networking assumptions into a world that actively supports imaginative, creative and genuinely interesting people. They have a lot to learn.

If someone claims that they are ‘the same in SL as RL’ then perhaps the suggestion could be put to them that they LOOSEN UP A LITTLE. Send them a landmark to Curio Obscura, Signature Skin Labs or Weirdiculous. Try on some clothes, some personalities, a Horseless Travel Gown. See who else is in there. Live it up!

If you meet one of those refugees from Facebook who sees every avatar as a walking opportunity to ‘unload’ about their crap boss or their unrewarding love life, then gently point out to them that SL is a wonderful place to ESCAPE from that kind of stuff and give them landmarks to Greenies Room, Racers Island or Nakama. Or better still, direct them to Avatars United where they can exchange bollocks with the rest of the moaning minnies.

If someone pleads “Don’t lie to me” or “Don’t give me grief” or (the classic, and appalling badly spelled) “dont like hassel, aggresion and atitude” - you might want to mention that expecting everybody else in the rest of the entire world toa) figure out what might be upsetting to this one individual and
b) be on their constant guard against it
is SOMEWHAT UNREALISTIC. People have different opinions, talk rubbish and are utterly mistaken in RL. Why would it be any different in SL? This attitude is particularly galling when these delicate flowers appear to regard any role-players, explorers or alts as evil, deceptive, persecuting villains who are deliberately trying to trick, cajole or con these ‘pure’, ‘honest’, ‘ethical’ Revelators. Nah – Beth thinks that the only people doing the deceiving are yourselves. Go to Erie Isle, Dark City or Insilico and revel in the delights of fantasy and make-believe.


And for those completely misguided souls who feel the need to monotonously point out the blindingly obvious: “the you on the screen is just as much you as in real life”
Well, duh – who were you expecting? There isn’t anybody else there at the keyboard, you know. Avatar’s Operators aren’t channelling the souls of dead people or having thoughts beamed into their heads by space aliens or being possessed by demons. But some have things like ‘personalities’, ‘characteristics’ and ‘imaginations’. It’s OK. It’s human. Don’t be scared. These are things that can be played with and enjoyed. Try it. You might like it. Go to Renaissance Island, Immersiva or Provence Coeur.

So Beth encourages you to resist these faddish Revelators and their baying for unrestrained, wanton and dissolute lifestyles. Sensible, socially competent, boundary-respecting role-playing folk should not be made to feel they are in the minority or in the wrong. Say ‘no’ to the paranoid, the predatory, the prying and the peddlers. Well, at least you stand a chance with the first three. As for the Advertisers. Sigh. We are just going to have to live with the Advertisers...