Second Life

I was introduced to Second Life when we started working on this project during the spring 2009. I had read about Second Life and snapped up some bits of information about the virtual reality from mainstream media before we started. Logging on to Second Life and creating an avatar was a bit like and role-playing game. As I moved into the world I learned to find free stuff, got myself some hair some clothes and started making myself "a home".
I don't know why I found it necessary to make a home base, but it made sense at the time. As we continued working I learned to construct forms and build stuff, but what really got me going was when I learnt how to actually change and modify the landscape itself! I thought it would be incredibly useful and played around making mountains and valleys for several hours. However in the end I did tire of it. What was the point of it? Why did I want it to exist? Because of its visual effect? It just isn't enough to be able to see it and experience a visual effect when it has no implications on your physical being - you could just as well be looking at a photograph.
Second Life as a place to meet people is a bit like a 3D chatroom, though it allows for more signifiers and symbols to build your identity. It's quite interesting to see how people build up their avatars and how they talk about them. Some talk about them as if it is them in the avatar - their virtual self, others talk of their avatar in the third person as someone else, someone they have invented. To me I found it weirdly uninspiring to be in a world where almost anything goes and anything is expected, nothing surprises anyone, nothing matters, because it isn't real. So I struggle with the virtual and with understanding its meaning to people. I wasn't seduced by it. I was disappointed. I haven't quite figured out why yet.
As a venue to make art I think it could be incredibly exciting and incredibly difficult to gather an audience, and even more difficult to make something impressive within Second Life. Lots of the galleries in Second Life are like Real life galleries with images on walls within houses - I must admit I have trouble getting it. One of the really wonderful things though is that you can make things hover - no need for plinths or threads to keep you work off the ground. And its easier for the audience to see work from above. However, again, a lot of these things which would be impressive within Real World just looses me in Second Life - I am not impressed and not fascinated. The artworks, though to scale, has no impact on my body, and I find it hard to relate to the artwork through the screen.
But Second Life fulfills a function and is a meeting place and thriving economy. Obviously a lot of people use it and I am curious about them and fascinated about how they navigate their real life and second life.