I wrote the following entry as response to a blog post by White Lebed titled Virtual Worlds: Sex, Lies and Sundance Film Festival.
In the entry, White refers to a film about SL which addresses issues of addiction, sex, betrayal, and escapist fantasy as the main components of SL as we know it. While the creators of the movie focus on some aspects of life on the grid, albeit ones not experienced by all residents, it does once again cast a negative shadow on SL as a whole.
I would suggest and kindly ask that you read White's entry prior to my own to get a broader scope of what was discussed.
The name of the movie being discussed is 'Life 2.o' and you can see the trailer here.
My two cents worth:
While I find a rather distasteful and negative focus on SL to be the norm when portrayed in the media (and I am sick of it), I recognize that ignorance is often the culprit leading people to erroneous, if not outrageous, conclusions.
I came in to SL for academic reasons, but I remained primarily for the arts. It is the artists and their works that inspire my own thoughts. It is having unlimited access to an infinite repertoire of abilities and tools to create, and in ways not readily possible in a RL context, that has cemented my own beliefs about the worth of virtual environments.
Sure, people will socialize to no end. They will find solace to their own RL social needs in the company of others who share affective parallels with them. But they are not the only ones inhabiting these grids. What movies like the above fail to stress is that these same processes, whether they involve addiction, pornography, or clandestine lovers, will be enacted by people whether the context is virtual or real. I have to disagree with those who claim that a SL facilitates deviant behaviors because the the truth remains that some people will perform such behaviors regardless of medium.
As always, the uninformed will be the first to cast the proverbial stones.
Regards, and many thanks for expounding on this matter.
Theo After
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Not much reflection is needed to add that while I personally believe the arts rule in SL (this is my own and biased conclusion), education is making strides in the use of virtual environments such as SL for long distance learning.
