As they say inworld, "Heh."
I'm heavily into Second Life, but I think the parody is funny and reasonably (not all of us give up our first lives, you know!) accurate. And though as a company Linden Labs certainly deserves criticism in some areas (notably on how unprepared they were for dealing with the consequences of all the hype, and for an apparent lack of a comprehensive business plan), I'm not at all surprised that they responded this way.
If you just dip into SL with no roadmap, don't expect to be hooked. The attractions, for me at least, fall into two categories:
1. Finding really, really wonderful examples of human creativity and expression. These require digging for, given that they are buried under mountains of virtual stripmalls, casinos, clubs, and dimwitted doofuses. To get an idea of some more interesting things, check out the Baedeker at http://secondtourist.blogspot.com/, or try any of the Caledon sims, which are themed Victorian Steampunk. Go to the planetarium at Spaceport Alpha. And of course, there is much, much more.
2. Building. Modelling in 3D is fun. (I assume that the scripting is just as much fun for scripters, but it makes my eyes cross.) I think it's so much fun that I've bought an island. There are technical limitations, but still, there is an amazing amount that can be done.
Is it overhyped? Absolutely. Companies are jumping in because this is what's hot, but most have no real understanding of how it works, either technically or socially, and consequently have no idea of how to use it to their benefit. Go to the Reebok sim and there's a huge store that sells customizable shoes. And a bit of window dressing. Why would anyone be surprised that there's no one there and that it's not doing much for them beyond the buzz of the opening? It's dull as ditchwater. Yet there are so many things that they could have done to give people things to do, and generate lasting presence and buzz; create virtual basketball games for people to play, show video of sports highlights... you see what I mean.
SL has wonderful potential for some uses: I'm very interested in how it can be used in education, for example, or in things like presenting interactive virtual exhibits in parallel with real-world exhibits. There is value there, despite the fact that so many are not using it to its potential. But it's important to remember that virtual worlds are in their shake-down stages: where the real value resides is still in the process of being figured out.
I understand the arguments about whether he's gay being a part of his character, except that I'd rather not have "gay" be a character trait. Being gay should be the least important, least interesting part about you. The Republicans aren't going to make that easy, but I don't see a reason for anybody to help them with that.
anaea, as far as I am concerned gayness is not a problematic character trait. LYING is a problematic character trait.
There are two conflicting issues at work here. I think most of us agree that lying hypocrits, whatever the activities they are lying about, either explicitly or through simply not telling the truth, should in theory have their hypocrisy exposed. It is also true, however, that because of an anti-gay environment, being outed can have devastating effects on an individual's life.
Both actions, exposing or not exposing the hypocrisy, will cause damage somewhere. You are arguing that the damage caused to an individual by an antigay environment outweighs the interests of exposing a liar and the potential damage he does. I disagree. I would argue that the damage done to a whole community outweighs the damage done to the individual.
I am a (generally) out lesbian. I believe that people, in general, should not be outed if they choose not to be. I also believe that any gay person who actively demonizes and works against the interests of gay people should be outed, just as I believe that anyone who may go bankrupt if his financial machinations are exposed should be outed if those machinations will destroy the life savings of investors.
I'm so mad I could spit. I don't have a lot of time to read blogs, and Creek Running North was high on my bookmarks. It's not that easy to find writing of such beauty and clarity.
Anything else I can thing of to say about it is unprintable.
This is sad and shocking news. My deepest sympathies to family and friends.
PNH said: My only immediate travel plans involve the annual gathering of the American Library Association in New Orleans.
Which is in fact a strange not-quite-American place with lots of vestigial French, but a different one.
Yeah, but the vestigial French came from Canada!
Here's a pet peeve I've nursed for years. In the 70s/80s CBC radio news announcers started pronouncing "junta" with a j as in James. I complained. They explained to me that this was a new corporate policy as Canadians weren't familiar with Spanish pronunciation and to say it correctly would be much too confusing for us to cope with.
I suppose it prevented spelling mistakes, but I still twitch when I think about it.
**It wasn't just that episode but nobody wants to hear all the details of the genesis of Xena AU fic.
If they do, they can read about it (and subgenres) here:
http://www.whoosh.org/uber/whatuber.html
Fanficcers are wannabes. Their draw is reliant on the original creator's draw--without that crutch, would anyone read them?
Well, first of all, I'm aware of contingents within at least one TV fandom where the vision of the original writers was ultimately rejected and the show was no longer watched by a substantial number of disenchanted fans (an attitude and practice I did not share, but there it is). Those fans created an alternate self-contained universe, given form through fanfic. So in that case the original creator's draw simply did not exist for a large number of people.
But hang on, more to the point... wannabe whats? What are fanfic writers trying to be? Wannabe writers? Good writers? Entertaining writers? Those are all the kind of "wannabes" that apply to any writer, presumably. And for which success is determined by the writing, not the wanting.
Wannabe "authors?" In the sense of recognized, published, royalty-earning, respected in the wider literary world? Ironically, although other kinds of writers can be want to be "authors" in this sense, that is the one thing that fanfic writers are disqualified from being—and that disqualification is generally recognized among them—by virtue of the fact that the characters are appropriated and the distribution generally fits within the "gift economy".
Wannabe storytellers? Yeah, I'd go with that one. And a few (as in the larger writing world) do a fine job of it.
There’s quite a difference between using standard tropes and techniques and writing fanfic. One is purely derivative by definition, the other is making use of the basic stock storytelling elements of our language and psychology to tell a story.
One could argue that fanfic writers are simply more honest about their sources.
Or one could take the perspective that the real differences relate to the quality of the fiction, whether it is defined as "original" or "fanfiction".
Fanfic writers appropriate other people's characters. Legally, they do not own the appropriated characters, should not feel practical entitlement to them, and may not attempt to profit from the appropriation. However, all this gets clouded by emotions.
Writers have an emotional investment in their characters. This may lead to a defensive and rabid protectionism, especially if they see or are afraid of fanfic writers taking a character in directions that are offensive to them.
But if the characters are well-written, readers end up with an emotional investment too, and this can lead to a kind of emotional appropriation of the characters.
It is when a sense of emotional entitlement gets conflated with practical legal entitlements that things get really messy, and respect and basic courtesies (legal or otherwise) get lost.
As pericat said to me, another factor is that fanfic readers and writers reinforce each others' emotional investment until that sense of entitlement achieves a life of its own. I've seen fans froth at the mouth about the direction that authors take a TV character in, because they Know That It is WRONG. (Think of what are to begin with only mildly irritating characters in a TV show: in the fan world, that irritation can be reinforced and amplified into a hatred of them that can develop until the fans are incredibly resentful toward the writers. Why hasn't this !@#$% been axed?—we TOLD you to get rid of them, why didn't you, you idiots?) That kind of self-perpetuating emotional miasma in a self-contained world can lead to a situation where fans feel nothing but anger and contempt toward official writers... and, of course, vice versa.
Emotional factors like this can generate a great deal of stupid and/or bad behaviour on all sides. But they go a long way to explaining why the urge to extend stories is so strong and so hard to suppress.
Thanks for expressing this so well.
Whatever moves us or matters to us will show up in the stories we tell, whether or not we have a socially approved outlet for those stories.
"But what would happen if...?"
When that question grabs you by the throat, finding the answer is what is important, not whether the context is original.
I don't know about roaring hamsters, but baby rats bark when they are distressed and looking for their kin.
Hedgehogs sneeze aggressively when upset. It's a kind of explosive, jerky, "tschew!" that makes their quills stand up. As a defensive mechanism it is, um, not exactly frightening.
Congratulations on PB! May he provides loads of fun for all.
(But I must say I am having some trouble putting the concepts of "hamster" and "roar" together.)
Caroline wrote:
Omigodthere'sanonlineeditionoftheOED...
*hits self on head*
There is indeed, but unfortunately you have to pay to subscribe, unless you are affiliated with an institution with its own subscription.
You can get free access to parts of the OED till February 13th. Limited by letter, but still enough to keep one busy. Enjoy!
http://www.oed.com/bbcwords/
Isn't it nice to see a moment of purely gratuitous beauty, coupled with a sense of fun that drags us straight back to being kids? I watched it grinning and thinking, "It's gorgeous... and damn, I wish I could do that on my street!"
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