« Savin ur monehz | Home | Second Style #11 now available! »
Iris Ophelia in the New York Times
By Celebrity Trollop | September 8, 2007
Managing Editor Iris Ophelia is prominently featured in a lengthy article about Second Life (free registration may be required to see the article) in the business section of the New York Times. One of the themes in the story is that Second Life is all about acquisition — and being acquisitive is really the true force of social movement. I don’t really buy that (without really meaning to pun) — do you come into Second Life just to buy things? And if not, what do you come into Second Life again and again for?
Topics: External Resources |
maybe it is that i’m poor, but i come into second life to /do/ cool things, and to feel that i can affect the direct environment..
/me shrugs
Posted by: rosemary galbraith on September 9th, 2007 at 1:32 amWell clearly we’re all here for the sex.
I’m kidding, of course - I’d rather create than masturbate. As for being here just to buy things… well I don’t think anyone would list that as their sole purpose for playing (although (international supermodel) Haver Cole’s “first day in SL” story might suggest that some of us are… NB: Haver, please don’t fire me from pwnd/evict me/cut my card.) but I do think it becomes just an everyday part of our SL.
While writing this comment it made me start to think about why I log in each day a little too hard. So before I dissolve into an existential crisis, I’d like to suggest that consumerism is just another way to be part of the community - supporting the content creators, sharing and writing (from dragging your friend to the store you’ve just discovered to all the blogs and forums devoted to new products (not just fashion)), etc.
Posted by: Kota Buck on September 9th, 2007 at 2:02 amI keep coming back for the people: cool, creative, talented, inspiring, kind, awesome people who I’d never have met otherwise. I see SL as an artistic community the way Paris, London and other cities have been in the past, except here it is international. It is a very exciting movement to be part of and contribute to, although it’s true that the shopping is rather good hehee. ;)
Posted by: Georgette Whitfield on September 9th, 2007 at 2:23 amIt’s all about the fame darlings. The adoring fans, the gifts from devoted admirers……. what ELSE is there? Oh, the husbands of course…
Posted by: Swirly Cyclone on September 9th, 2007 at 3:14 amI came for the punch and pie.
Posted by: Angelica Biondetti on September 9th, 2007 at 3:30 amAn amazing friendship . . . love . . . delight in all of the creativity . . .exploring . . . and I save money! A new pair of shoes . . . 300L . . .$1.38 and they would kill my feet in real life!
Posted by: Bronte Alcott on September 9th, 2007 at 9:00 amI come into second life to meet people from around the world and talk to them, to explore the creativity of others (builds, photography, art), and to do things I can’t do in the real world: fly, go to Africa, fly a TARDIS, own a horse, own a giraffe. It’s so much more than just buying things. Although I do love shopping.
Posted by: Tardis Noel on September 9th, 2007 at 9:32 amI actually think I do come in for the shopping, and the making outfits. I also come for the people and do fun things while still making sure I look cute. When I have a bad day I go on an sl spending spree, how different is that than people that go play shooting games to relieve stress? The oveall tone of this article annoyed me (although it was nice to see Iris :D ) because not everyone wants to be a unicorn you know. Why is is to wrong that we come to second life to have fun and if shopping is fun so what.
Posted by: Hethr on September 9th, 2007 at 10:35 amIt is in the “Your Money” section of the Times, so that would be their take. One of the popular magazines would look at SL from a different angle.
I was amused by: Ms. Fitzpatrick, the landlady, “I felt I had to … buy the hair and the suit, or my customers might think I’m too weird.” The first time I met my own landlady, she wore silks. :D
I enjoy spending money and having many more opportunities than I do in RL to wear a gorgeous gown, but that certainly isn’t what keeps me coming back. SL is a fascinating new world to explore, filled with talented people who constantly demonstrate how caring and compassionate and giving they really are.
Posted by: Casandra Shilova on September 9th, 2007 at 10:44 amBeautiful in her first life *and* in Second Life. Way to go, Iris. Congratulations. XD
Posted by: Lux Yao on September 9th, 2007 at 12:28 pmI have a problem with the “keeping up with the Joneses” part. While I do have a nice home in SL, it’s definitely nowhere near a McMansion, and I don’t own a car or boat, or even have a gardener.
Posted by: bex hathaway on September 9th, 2007 at 12:41 pmAnd I own very little jewelry, all of which is “bling-less”.
Do I shop? YES…but I’m a girl for goodness sake ;).
SL offers me an opportunity to talk to people with differnt lives, different global time zones, different backgrounds, different beliefs, different cultures. Where else can a life learning experience be so easy?
Well hmmmm… I think the original draw to come here was boredom with my grind rpg’s like World of Warcraft and many others (oh god so many! I’m a gaming addict). The draw of those games was the roleplay, the teamwork to achieve goals, meeting people from all over the world and, yes, the crafting.
Coming to SL I was first amazed at the freedom of it. Meaning, it was not a scripted walk from point A to point B gaining points and equipment and skills along the way. I could be and do whatever I wanted from the moment I arrived. I think I spent my first 2 weeks in Bad Girls Club just amazed to watch my avatar dance (yes I’m that easily entertained =P)
I of course met some really cool people, started itching to be creative and found my passion in feeding my need for clothes, clothes, shoes, clothes, hair, CLOTHES!and… well more clothes. In this unique and amazing world I could actually decide or make whatever I wanted to wear and look however I wanted to look. Pretty damn cool.
So I guess I come for the creative outlet, I stay for the friends I’ve met, and I continue on admiring (and buying!) and just plain enjoying the absolute freedom of creativity I see and the joy I get from creating things as well. I certainly don’t stay for the stability and lack of bugs hehe. But this place offers something unique that you just don’t find anywhere else.
Posted by: Solange Cerveau on September 9th, 2007 at 2:47 pmWhen I started SL it was because while I wanted to have something to do when nap time for my kiddos came around (other than just cleaning house, since 5 days a week means it doesn’t need to be cleaned every day*lol*)
These days though I’ve been using it as a learning platform. Because of SL I’ve been teaching myself photoshop and wings. I’ve actually started looking into classes at a local college to start a graphics design degree because of it. As an artist it inspires me and compels me to to create. ^-^
I love to shop and in sl I can shop for a whole lot less, lol and I don’t have the closet issues! *though there are days I wish I had some of my sl clothes in rl!*
Posted by: Ekio on September 10th, 2007 at 7:12 amI joined when my RL spouse was interviewing at Linden Lab, but I didn’t really get interested until he began working there, by which time he’d met a whole bunch of folks that I gradually got to know (we partnered up in SL too, BTW).
So there was certainly a social component initially, and there still is. But I have to say the fashion scene is a big draw. As a kid I wanted to become a fashion designer, but wound up a journalist (I’m an editor at a computer magazine). Now, however, I am learning to create clothes myself (I too am expanding my Photoshop skills) and I love to shop: It’s cheaper than shopping in RL and frankly, clothes look a lot better on the SL me. For the latter, I find this and the other blogs invaluable (and would love to contribute if someone needs the help).
Posted by: Dierdre Gausman on September 10th, 2007 at 12:19 pmLux, you’re my new best friend btw. *^^*
Well I have to say I don’t entirely agree with the tone either, just on a personal level, and if she’d asked me about stuff I do in SL outside of consumerism I would have had plenty to say, but admittedly she does have a point. It’s a tough pill to swallow, I think, because we don’t see it that way, but there’s some truth to it, looking at SL as a whole.
And she didn’t misquote me or anything, which I really appreciate, since that has happened maaaaany times before. I can say for a fact that she did a lot of work on that article, even if it does make some of us uncomfortable. ^^;
Posted by: Iris Ophelia on September 10th, 2007 at 1:19 pmThe Times piece is the best of a kind of article about SL I’m sick of. It is true that lots of people are buying and selling a lot of “things”, and the fact everything is virtual does put a consumer/status psychology in sharper focus, but I think that angle’s really been played out in the media.
I wish a couple more people in the MSM would write about the amazing creators in SL and the valuable human connections that get made in SL that could not have been as possible without it. It’s ALL about the people. Maybe if that point was made more often, fewer people would hit Orientation Island only thinking about coin.
Also, my “landlady” (sounds so quaint) has massive gonzangas and it doesn’t freaking matter! It’s the content of character, be it ruth or furry or tiny or gothic lolita.
With all this considered, Iris continues being an excellent correspondent and representative for SL. Yay, fellow Canuck! :-)
Posted by: Valerie Bethune on September 11th, 2007 at 11:25 amIris, isn’t SL all about communication? And isn’t fashion just a -hopefully highly sophisticated- code of communication? Buying in SL is just like buying more words (fashion, animations, etc) and more blanc books to write in(land, architecture)for creative selfexpression.
Posted by: Lorna Lubitsch on September 12th, 2007 at 12:07 amIt really is that easy ;)
And:
Swirly, i am a devoted admirer :)