It has been discovered experimentally that even normal life maintenance will be put aside in extreme cases due to lack of meaningful interaction. The young will begin starving themselves. Mature adults will either refuse to defend themselves or engage in seemingly mindless violence. Why is this?

Nothing to stimulate the social animal. We need to feel part of a group. Your brain needs to be stimulated. There is no goal, nothing to strive for. But is it just stimulation that is needed? Is one form of interaction as good as another? Are all interactions and activities equal? What distinguishes some forms of interaction as superior to others?

Love?

High vs. low vibration. Does it serve one?

A single player game can keep you interested for many hours, but it’s hollow compared to real human interaction. It’s why Second Life is so successful. You don’t feel hollow when you interact here.

Ultimately, we have to come to recognize things held in common. We have to have some form of common ground and common culture. For some people, massively multi-player games are more or less as meaningful as church services. They feel something when they recognize that they hold values in common with other people, even if these values are based on fiction.

Even so, in the back of our minds we know there has to be more than that, yes? This is why MMOG (massively multiplayer online game) communities are often so schizophrenic. The culture they share is immersive and creative.

I think killing monsters and grabbing loot isn’t a good basis for friendships. Exactly. Can you tell me how real life differs from that?

I suppose that’s kind of like working in an office. You may not get to know the people as well as you think. Indeed. So it is possibly even worse. At least the fictional setting eases some of the delusional beliefs that keep the anxiety behind “real life” considerations.

You can know someone for years in World of Warcraft (WoW) and not know them as well as someone you met in Second Life a month ago. WoW differs significantly from Second Life, but in what way?

We make the meaning in Second Life.

In WoW, there is always something to do, mainly striving for ever better gear. People don’t socialize.

Second Life gives us connections.

The formalization. The idea that there is something you are supposed to do, a role you are supposed to play.

You can make any game you want to.

You can get by in Second Life doing nothing but sit and chat. In WoW, you kind of have to join in the game.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~