One wonders where you got your information…

The point is more important than the way it is said.

“Addicting” is a verb. It can be used in sentences like “I am addicting my dog to cocaine by putting it in his doggie bed so he always comes home at night to sleep.” The word “addicting” should not be used without an object or else the sentence is incomplete.

“Addictive” is an adjective. It can be used to describe nouns like SecondLife in the title of this article.

I wish I could fix grammar on the internet as easy as I can in real life. In real life all it takes is a sharpie or some spray paint. Online is more difficult.

We cannot say “SL is addictive” (compare for example, with “heroine is addictive”… no contest). But at the same time, we cannot ignore its addictive properties.

First to realize is the concept of addictive personality. There are those who will never be addicted to anything. There are others who can get psychologically addicted to soap operas (psychological addiction is a very real addiction).

So while we can’t say hands down that SL is “addictive”… we can say it is “potentially” so… especially for those with addictive personalities (personalities prone toward addiction).

Consider certain aspects of Second Life that are potentially addictive:

* Highly creative environment. Take an artist and put him/her on SL, and they have a creative palette like never before. Even if they aren’t addictive in nature, the artistic drive can be overwhelming.

* Socially addictive. As Tux pointed out, that can be a major factor. While SL may be virtual– emotions are very real. Any time emotions become involved in a process, psychological addiction can take place.

* Anxiety soother. For those who live solitary, depressed or otherwise unhappy lives, the “happier” environment on SL can be very “addictive”… pulling attention away from the needs of RL. For some this is a positive thing (consider the aged shut-in or physically disabled). For others, this can be very negative (those who trade RL for SL.. certainly a sad state of affairs).

So yes, while SL may not be “addictive” by nature, it certainly can be VERY addictive in reality. The short of it: if someone finds real life needs are suffering because of time spent on SL… the solution might be– as with any addiction– to give SL the boot.

I ain’t hurt myself yet.

Meanwhile, the District of Columbia, since the Heller decision overturned the gun ban there earlier last year, has seen a 25% drop in violent crime, the largest one year drop in crime in an urban community in history. Funny how that happened.

Yet the retard ranters who have screamed at LL to ban everything that made SL great, have taken the same approach to things in SL as (likely they are the same people) people took to using gun control to “fight crime” in prior years. As a result, SL is turning into the same decayed, stagnant, non-fun place as any city suffering from urban blight.

Second Life is the Detroit of MMOs.

I’m not really sure what killed it. The bot explosion, the expulsion of gambling/banking and the money it was bringing into the world, the departure of Philip and the loss of the “Black Sun” feeling that he brought to SL, maybe it was voice driving away people who suddenly found RL intruding into their fantasy world. Whatever it was, SL is now pretty sad. In 2006 I probably had 20 or 30 overnight sessions when I would log on after work on Friday and log off sometime late Saturday morning and stumble to bed for a few hours before scampering back in the evening so I wouldn’t miss anything. In 2009 and so far in 2010, the longest I’ve spent in world at any given stretch would maybe be 2 hours before getting bored with visiting clubs awash with chat spamming bots. The only club I go to now that reminds me in anyway of my early experience in SL is IOL, but even there, when the DJ finishes their set the place empties out quick.

No, SL is not addictive, but I wish it was.

Yes, I have been to Allentown, Camden and Philadelphia. Chester I don’t believe I have been to, but not out of avoidance. And yes, they can be all very dangerous places. Just ask the third year Temple law student that shot someone a few weeks back.

But another place I have been to is London, England. The thing about London, and the UK in general is that there is a handgun ban in the country, even though I am not sure of the specifics. So now they are searching for knives.

My point above regarding SL is leaning towards a gun rights stance, which is a very contentious issue in the states, if you haven’t noticed. And what I said is factual. The rural everywhere else in Pennsylvania wants continued access to their guns. Philadelphia does not want all of the guns. Will gun control lessen gun deaths? of course it will. Whether gun control will lessen all violent deaths is another issue. Then there is the follow up issue of why do the Swiss have less gun violence but similar access to guns? Its a complicated issue, and something not boiled down to a few humorous points. But I thought it was a good frame of mind for the story, which is the person, or the shooter, is to blame for the act, but the act is easier with the device.