Blog
Speaking of Virtual Things
This is horse related, I swear. Stick around for the ride. I’m pretty sure I’ll get to the horses bit.
So, psychology fascinates me. People, they are crazy. All of ‘em. Me, too. And the internet brings out the crazy in everyone, especially when they think they are anonymous. I don’t post much on forums, but I do read them; they are more entertaining than many novels.
There was a time I thought about majoring in psychology instead of English, to be honest. I remember the time exactly… [mist, mist, mist, sepia glow, twinkly lights, twinkly lights, FADEBACK]... So there I was, at 9 p.m., sitting down for my third final exam of the day. At that point, do you really care what you get? No, you really don’t. Exam: Psychology 201. Student’s state of mind: snarky. Question: Describe your theory of personality. Answer: I believe in self determination, which says that although there may be consequences for my actions, I still don’t have to answer this question in any detail.
Grade: A.
Well, something like that. I might have passed the class despite my answer, not because of it, by by golly I did pass the class.
Unfortunately for me (or fortunately for the world… can you imagine me as a therapist?!), I realized that majoring in psychology would involve having to deal with Freud’s legacy. I hate Freud. It’s a bunch of hogwash. I hate Freud so much, that whenever I was asked to write an English paper on a book I also hated, I’d write a Freudian analysis of the book. I proved, several times, that good rhetoric outweighed sense. It was a joke for me; I mean, I would laugh my way through writing the paper, because the whole thing was so absurd. And then I’d get an A on it. Meanwhile, people who believed what they were writing would get C’s. See, English isn’t really about believing anything. It’s about persuasion. I can write persuasively, when I want to.
So, ultimately, no psychology major for me. I just know enough to know that I find people fascinating.
You shouldn’t be surprised, then, to know that I find internet forums and chat rooms equally fascinating. They ARE psychology, pure and simple.
And so, after several years, I finally checked out Second Life, which is a chat room on steroids. You get an avatar, you wander around a 3D world, you can build stuff. I think I saw Hobbittown in one of my random jumps from place to place. It’s a virtual world where pretty much anything goes. Since you can sell the things you build, apparently people can make money on it, too, which makes it a very commercial virtual world.
I’m not kidding: there are ads all over the freaking place.
What I find fascinating about it? Not the conversation—that’s as dull as rocks everywhere I’ve gone in the world. No, what I find fascinating is that in this world of users building and scripting and creating their own little virtual utopias, there’s a riding community. I’ve seen barns with barrel patterns and jump courses. I’ve seen the horses, tack, riding clothes, barns, accessories, etc. that people have created and are selling to other users (did I mention how commercial this place is?).
I get the appeal—can’t afford a real horse? Have a virtual horse. It’s not much different than the sim-type games where there’s no real point or goal. If you’re chatting with horsey friends, why not chat while trail riding your virtual horse along the beach? It’s like any other virtual/sim/role playing situation out there.
What’s fascinating about it all is that in a world where anything goes—elvish worlds, sex clubs galore, replications of the world’s wonders, role playing key moments in history—there are people whose imagination and desire focuses on… horses. Trail riding. Simulating shows.
These aren’t elaborate sims—I don’t think you have to feed or muck out your horse or anything like that. But I do find it fascinating that these sims exist.
Or presumably exist. No one ever seemed to be around the couple times I logged in. Maybe they were created and then abandoned.
That’s humans for you: given unlimited possibilites, what do we want? The real world.
(Also, footnote: Second Life, although it has its interesting moments, contains many R-rated areas; there are areas that are not appropriate for all visitors, and areas that are sure to offend many people. Before you dive into Second Life, understand that it’s a world where anything, apparently, goes. And “anything” does not mean “anything I agree with/approve of.“
Freud would have loved Second Life. Can you imagine the fun he would have had with it?
What? I don’t like Freud, but I can appreciate situations that would have made him die of bliss.)
« Ow Am I the crazy stalker person? »
Comments
No comments yet.