Maybe December and the time around Christmas is when the children of all ages dream of model railroads. In a rather insightful post a few weeks ago, my dear and close friend Zippora compared being in SL to playing with trains:
"But wait... did I just mention "Second Life" and "model railroad" in one line of thought? Suddenly something became clear to me: SL is simply the contemporary equivalent of building model railroads! [...] We don't want to make our hands dirty any more and hide safely behind our computer instead. But the crafting virus is inevitable and we start building our little dream world there: on our screen. Instead of gypsum and glue we use prims and to make things move the electric circuits are replaced by scripts. Basically it is all the same."
Zippora is on to something here. What is definitely one of the major success factors of SL is the ability to - literally - build your own world, and collaborate in buildings. There has been social media interaction before (chatrooms, IRC), there have been 3D worlds before (Myst or any other 3D game), there has been the ability to create before (Photoshop, Blender), there have been online games/worlds before. Only SL brought it all together, brought it all in one place, provides a world that the inhabitants build themselves, and where everybody can see and share what the others did.
I know a few people working on model railroads, and usually it is a lonely task. Those railroads are not for playing - they are for being watched in awe. Often the builders are organized in clubs, but the worlds they build are their own. The world we build in SL is open to everybody. The social interaction, based around - and even inside - our own creations, makes this fascination. The comparatively crude building tools level the playing field. Everybody can build, everybody can contribute, the starting threshold is small. If you feel your creativity flow, you rez a prim and simply start. That is the magic of SL!
And that is the reason I see newer virtual worlds like Blue Mars critically. Yes, Blue Mars looks fancier, way fancier. Yes, Blue Mars is faster. But Blue Mars is not a world built by the residents. Blue Mars is a world built by an elite, and our role is to admire (and eventually pay) for it.
SL might seem crude. SL might seem full of horrible (and sometimes perceived as inappropriate) content. But it is us who build it! And if I want to go and redefine "ugly" by building an abomination of a statue, I can.
And that is freedom.
6 comments:
I can't do but agree with you. Even a complete zero concerning computer graphics like me has managed to build her own cozy place *smiles proudly and forgets for a moment about all the people who she adores because they are so much more talented* ;-)
/me continues ;-)
I think another success factor is the feeling of immersion. You can't literally walk around in your atomic model railroad. And what's more, you can even do less together with friends.
That's also an advantage of SL compared with the "regular" online social networks if you'd ask me: it gives the opportunity to have shared experiences with friends without ever meeting in real life.
/me pauses and wonders if she should make a blogpost out of this comment... hmmm
I have to pick up on a point Zippora made in her last comment. Second Life is indeed a place where we can, as residents have shared experiences. I have to say it's one major thing that helps my relationship. A relationship that is real life, but due to circumstances at the moment a relationship that is spent a large part in SL. The ability to make memories and share experiences here make Second Life truly amazing.
Collaboratively speaking Second Life is second to none however it could be improved. I enjoy watching an idea form and pass down a chain of friends, each one adding their own little expertise's to the project and bang at the end you've got something amazing.
It isn't perfect but it is special and it means something.
The power of shared, in-world experiences also resonates with me ... which is no surprise to Peter, as we just had this discussion this morning:) I can spend the entire day chatting with a person in IM -- but it can't really compare to, or completely replace having our virtual bodies in the same virtual space at the same time. That is probably one of the most surprising things I've found in my personal relationships in SL ... but it is undeniable.
Terrific and thoughtful post as always, Peter :)
It's an interesting analogy, and I think that people are pretty much on the mark that one of the main differences between building the little train layouts of meatspace and building in SL is the level of socialization: that construction and modeling projects in the virtual venue do tend to offer more opportunities for social interaction during the course of a project (although you will find examples of model railroaders who do work in teams, and conversely, SL who work by the themselves in splendid isolation).
I think the larger distinction however, is not the opportunity for social interaction in the creation process--the really big difference arises in the course of the utilization and evolutionary processes that can take place in SL builds after they are completed.
Yes, you can build a great 19th century railroad and its adjoining environment in real space in your basement, but you can't bring in folks to actually ride the train and interact with your build and each other within the tiny environment. In SL, You can blow up the virtual train if you want (without ruining an expensive model locomotive), you can keep your build evolving and changing at minimal cost (your time and not much else). You can have train robberies, or easily change your train from something carrying toxic waste to a happy circus train..and so on and so on...
Of course, there are limitations imposed by the nature of the building tools and the physics of both a real world building project and a virtual building project--however, the limitations of the real world project are going to be far more restrictive than those we encounter in a place like SL.
As far as Blue Mars, you are correct that this analogy certainly highlights what their biggest challenge is going to be. I suspect building in BM will gradually get easier for a larger number of us (as they come up with some simplified tool packages, and more of us simply come to grips twiththe idea that we need to learn yet another way of making stuff).
However, the truly deadly limitations on that platform seem to be things like the clunky system for moving around, the inability to easily interact with stuff, etc.--the tools related to what you do in that world besides building. Unless they expand and enhance those elements of the experience, even if more of us embrace the skills to create there, it's just going to be a really pretty place to stand around and chit chat and admire the crap that has been built.
It does seem so far like it is a step forward in some aspects of VWs, but in other ways, it is going backwards a bit.
Peter: Like Minds --- In October I posted a piece about SL and Model Railroading ~grins~ " If SL continues as is in the Entertainment category without finding a significant reason for growth we should all stop thinking content creation & micro-transactions will change the internet & the world & see it as just a hobby, the digital version of Model Railroading.
Model Railroading Magazine 2008 circulation: 146,648
National Model Railroading Organization nmra.org Membership: 14,486"
http://jeanricardbroek-architect.blogspot.com/2009/10/clarity-market-focus-for-second-life.html
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