The topic is play. Plato has a saying and I’ll paraphrase. He said you can learn more about a person from an hour of play than a year of conversation. What do you think of this friends?

Yeahhh, get me in a game of monopoly and you’ll find out! Part of why play is like that is it’s a “Game”, so it’s implied permission to do whatever you will. This is why we get such strange behaviour at times in the virtual world of Second Life. They go with the idea it’s a game, and well, they are right. Where they are wrong is thinking it’s a special case situation. That the game is confined to Second Life.

Whether bloodlines or Second Life, it’s still real spirits in the “games.” I agree.

How can you take life seriously? You aren’t going to get out alive, I promise. What is serious in life?

Death and taxes? The serious matters? Hmm… What is serious about taxes? If they are so serious how is it so easy to get behind and it take them time to figure it out? If taxes are serious why do those rules ever change and why are there so many ways you can account for it?

Actually many treat taxes like a game. They are basically, and what are the consequences? Usually just being penalized more money.

But isn’t a game supposed to be fun? Taxes aren’t fun. Who says games are supposed to be fun? I know a lot of people who are very serious about their games.

I think my Mother was the one who told me that games are supposed to be for fun and that fun doesn’t hurt. If it hurts it is neither fun nor a game. Your mother had some wisdom there, and I will go into that.

My horror situation is a perfect example of someone forgetting that. Married men come into Second Life, have affairs with other women, get all bent out of shape if their Second Life lady strays. After all, he has not strayed in Second Life, and vice versa too. Bizarre, huh?

In my case he thought I strayed. That alone was enough to set up the impending disaster to come. It is a game, but often the games we play aren’t fun.

It’s like double standards at work too. It seems if a woman strays in any way it’s a big deal. If a man does it’s “not serious”. There is still a double standard in Second Life as well as real life. Second life is a virtual parallel of real life. It is really the same game of life with, in a sense, better tools.

Rules of play. That’s where it gets confusing. Different sets of rules for different people? There are multiple sets of rules, this is true, and it’s also one of the primary reasons why the play of life isn’t fun. To paraphrase Shakespeare, all the world is a stage and the people merely players. This is a truth, but the play for the most part is badly written. Second Life is at least in a sense more honest. The virtualness of reality is agreed upon there, but real life reality is virtual also.

We make up our stories in real life too. Indeed we do, and we will hurt people if they don’t suspend disbelief in our stories.

The guy spoke of made up a story. He liked his little romance and was not in touch with the reality of it. When someone else wrote a passage he didn’t like, I seriously doubt he was friendly. It’s a broad story. People often fail to relate to a real person as they are anyway. They have a relationship with a character in their script.

What do we do that isn’t play?

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~