Archive for 'Philosophical Issues'

Op/Ed: Finding Real People in Second Life

by Jessica Holyoke A complaint I have heard from the 'Get A Life' crowd is that the people you meet on Second Life aren't real.  Because you may never have seen a photo or know their name, they don't count.  I once mentioned  to a close friend of mine the snow storm another friend of mine [...]

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Remembering Carmen Hermosillo

The Herald is sorry to report that Carmen Hermosillo (aka humdog, aka Montserrat Tovar, aka Montserrat Snakeankle, aka Sparrowhawk Perhaps) has died irl. Below the fold are my memories of Carmen, starting from when I met her on the WELL back in 1993. Others of you will have very different memories of her because you [...]

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Op/Ed: Tortured Thoughts

by Jessica Holyoke, Gorean kajira Torture has been on my mind lately, not only due to my Gorean excursions, but also in real life as well. Back in June, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was on the U.S. news magazine show "60 Minutes."  He was asked why is the U.S. government allowed to torture….I [...]

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SL Herald – the literary backbone of virtual worlds?

Mario Gerosa Interviews Urizenus Sklar on the New New JournalismDoes this explain all the damn poems? by Idoru Wellman, Dept. of Literary Salons and Euro-Trash Intellectuals Mario Gerosa (Frank Koolhaus in SL) wears many hats (some virtual). He is real life editor of Architectural Digest Italia He has also made headlines here and elsewhere with [...]

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Drama & Dismemberment

Euripides’ The Bacchus and the future of SL theatre by Night Morrisey Agave sorts through a box of her butchered son’s body parts, cradling his severed head I must admit… I approached the MUSOFYR Productions recent staging of Euripides’ The Baccus with serious skepticism. I’m a theatre major – a degree that left me spectacularly [...]

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Does Autism Speak in SL?

Metaverse is a battleground for Autism Speaks and Autism Speaks Doesn’t Speak For Me groups by Violet McGinnis There are two sides to every coin. Granted, you won’t oftenfind the tails side of a coin loudly denouncing the actions of the head side;that’s where the analogy rings untrue, especially in the case of the heatedbattle [...]

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Why Griefing = Drama: Broken Immersion

A virtual “world” creates an environment where griefers can do the most damage by Mudkips Acronym [I recently invited the founder and retired leader of the notorious PN invasion/griefing group to write an expanded version of his recent thesis on the serious business of griefing. Here is his response - the Editrix] “Griefing” takes many [...]

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Mony Mayfly: A Story of Addiction

by Sigmund Leominster This night I learned a bitter-sweet lesson. I learned that five hugs equal one kiss. And one kiss equals goodbye. But this is not a story about me. It’s a story about an addict and, to some extent, about every one of you reading. You’ll recognize aspects of yourself in this narrative [...]

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What Scares Me In SL?

Players who treat others as toys by Aurel Miles dancing in fear When I came to SL I assumed I was not afraid of anything here. After all, it never gets cold, you can’t starve to death. You can look as you please, go where you want and nobody can injure you. Play lemming as [...]

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Second Life as Prison Life

Podgorecki and the original Second Life by Urizenus Sklar, post-Prokofy FIC watch bureau You may have thought that Philip pulled the name “Second Life” out of the aether, and maybe he did, but he wasn’t the first. Today I was reading about a Polish sociologist named Adam Podgorecki, and the Prok bells in my head [...]

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