Must Read! SL, Escapism, Disneyland, Rubber
by Alphaville Herald on 03/08/05 at 4:12 pm
Ha, this essay By David Thomas in The Escapist is a must read for every denizen of Second Life. It’s the best writing on SL I’ve ever seen (outside of the Herald, of course). Sample passage:
“Man, I never paid for any of my dicks. Girls buy them for me.”
In Disneyland and on the street, our fantasies are moments of experience captured in the amber of memory and held as precious jewels. On the canvas of Second Life, people extract those fantasies and recreate them in a sort of Jurassic Park of imagination.
When Jack talks about his collection of penises it’s not because his fantasy is to have a box of cocks. No, his fantasy world is filled with interesting and exotic women ready to equip him as they see fit. Why women would want a customizable unit, I can only imagine. And why a guy like Jack… [you'll have to read the article if you want more]
Neal Stewart
Aug 3rd, 2005
Holy shit! This guy David Thomas is my hero. I almost fell out of my chair.
I think I finally have a worthy forum sig-file quote: “Second Life is a new kind of porn.”
Hoo-wah.
Uri, you only linked to page 11. It starts at page 8.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/4/8
I think the article describes a vision of SL more than the reality of SL. But it’s his vision and a vision that many of us share. And we’re part of the real SL.
This is interesting:
“Because if you want to understand Second Life, look at punk rock. It’s the closest thing in media that’s not Second Life to what Second Life is. That’s because both punk and SL are about freedom. Punk fetishizes the freedom to do anything – Anarchy! Second Life allows the freedom to fetishize anything. SL players, being people, have taken that as a sacred cause.”
If you go here:
http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/punkthe.htm
you can read about swastikas and nazi regalia in the original Punk aesthetic (‘A punkette asked why she wore a swastika replies “Punks just like to be hated”‘.). And yet it is of course currently a TOS/CS violation to display a swastika in Second Life. A bannable offense.
But I suppose the author is correct to identify the actual players as the ones taking that freedom as a sacred cause. The other day I saw two wonderful Clydesdale Horse furrys decked out in full nazi regalia in-world. They know that there are pockets of good company where they will not be abuse-reported.
What I wouldn’t give to see a Furry Nazi Pony sitting on the bus on the way to work tomorrow morning. I’d skip work and drive to the local white sand beach.
“Fantasy stops time and we fall through the floorboards of those mental shanties of expectation.”
Sami Suavage
Aug 4th, 2005
David Thomas’ article ..WOW..I especially loved the part about his trying to describe the SL experiance to others; it IS like trying to describe a dream to someone.The more you try to illuminate, the more the dream fragments away. An elusive endevor at best, altho David succeeds quite nicely. ~sami ~
Walker Spaight
Aug 4th, 2005
I love The Escapist but I thought that article missed almost everything that’s important about SL.
Neal Stewart
Aug 4th, 2005
Do tell, Walker
Walker Spaight
Aug 4th, 2005
Well, it’s like visiting New York City and saying “Wow, it’s got Times Square and ghettoes and prostitutes and regular people too and hey some cool bridges and skyscrapers” but completely leaving out the fact that New York is also where many of the most popular books, newspapers and magazines are written and published, there’s more art/artists in one place than almost anywhere else in the country, it’s the seat of the most powerful economy in the world, many popular television shows and movies are produced there, etc., etc., etc.
Cultcha, Neal, I’m tawkin cultcha heah.
Urizenus
Aug 4th, 2005
I know, he didn’t mention the Herald once. That’s like writing about ancient Athens and not mentioning Homer, Plato, and Aristotle. Where’s da cultcha, where’s da cultcha!!?
Walker Spaight
Aug 4th, 2005
egg-ZACK-lee!
budka groshomme
Aug 4th, 2005
Obviously he has never been to Burning Man or he wouldn’t have made the punk relationship.
Neal Stewart
Aug 4th, 2005
Heh heh. Well, it’s ‘The Escapist’ and the story is about dreams and fantasies. About escaping the daily rat-race and exploring our inner lives. It’s the imagination culture.
You can’t visit Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory and talk about Wonka’s annual net profit, the inferior taste and nutritional value of the products at Wonka’s competitor, or how energy efficient the Snozberry machine is.
“There is no
Life I know
To compare with
Pure imagination
Living there
You’ll be free
If you truly wish to be”
Chawclate, Walker, I’m tawkin chawclate heah
Prokofy Neva
Aug 4th, 2005
Yeah, it was ok, it had a good beat, you could dance to it, I’d give it about a 7…but I really want to know where that glass skyscraper is. I think he made it up. I don’t see any woman in a teddy in a glass skyscraper, either. Ok, maybe he didn’t make that part up. But, some of it sounded um…shall we say like a “composite story”.
I’m mortified to discover that I bought my own dick. Didn’t everybody? Wow. I guess you never really know how much of a loser you are until you discover that *all the other guys had their dicks bought for them*. Well…I had a ho once pick out a tan skin for me. Does that count?
montserrat
Aug 4th, 2005
i read the page that was there.
it is very truthful.
i like it.
Neal Stewart
Aug 6th, 2005
SL Forums thread on the article:
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http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread.php?t=56546