My NPR geek moment

[rowanf]

scifri11-9_005.jpg
Originally uploaded by rowanf.

OMG! My avatar's question to Dr. Oliver Sacks got onto Science Friday! How fun is that! Dr Sacks was talking about his book, "Musicophilia". And so I asked:

This is Rosmairta in San Jose. I have a soundtrack in my brain pretty much all the time. I'd feel rather lost without it. But I have gotten the impression that not everyone has this experience of always having music in their heads. Does Dr. Sacks have an opinion on that?


Okay, to back up. Back at Burning Life, one of the people I worked with was Bjorlyn who is one of the inworld hosts for SciFri. I thought that sounded totally cool and today I finally didn't have something happening at midday and could attend inworld. We crashed a bunch of times so I was glad I was listening to the program on the radio. *laugh* But wow. Oliver Sacks is one of my heros, I am fascinated by his brain research. I would never had made a phone call... you all know my profound phone phobia. Second Life really does provide opportunities I'd never have otherwise. :-)

Comments

[eve-prime.livejournal.com]

Her name is Marjorie Taylor; she's an expert on imaginary friends. She's pretty new to SL too.

[spiritmoving.livejournal.com]

That IS very interesting - I can see the connection there. Second Life is kind of a bridge between imaginary friends and having friends who are outside of the main part of your life. And where you get to all play imaginatively with each other! What fun! I'm pretty new to SL myself, rather fascinated with the possibilities.

[eve-prime.livejournal.com]

I'm much more accustomed to MUDs, which have a text interface and much more obvious ways to experience being inside of stories. SL still feels aimless to me, which is actually something I'm interested in researching.

[spiritmoving.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, IT is aimless - you have to find your own aims. Just like life, really. I see it being used as a way to create community, for one thing. And for me, it's very handy as a way to hang out with my partner when we are separated geographically. Phone calls are limited, but we like to spend time together. So we can hang out together in SL, with Skype going at the same time, and it's really a nice way to connect when we're apart.

[spiritmoving.livejournal.com]

Look me up on SL - I'm Ayla Nightfire.

[eve-prime.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm Liriel Weatherwax. :)

[eve-prime.livejournal.com]

The feature of socializing with people one already knows makes a lot of sense to me. My best friend lives on the other side of the country, and yet we manage to spend a few hours together most days, with Yahoo IM and our MUD.

But for people who don't have someone to meet, I'm wondering how it generally works for people to create their sense of identity in SL. That is, a person can take the initiative to talk to people they find, to go to events, and to join groups, but there isn't an obvious path into it, and a lot of people seem to just explore a bit, then never come back. I think that people often need a sense of "personal narrative" that motivates them to return, and that it would make sense for the Linden people to program a bit more of that into the game.

[spiritmoving.livejournal.com]

Yes, I see what you mean. Actually, I would say that what you are describing is true for a lot of people in RL as well. They are isolated and don't know how to connect with people. My partner was introduced to the Elf Circle by a mutual friend who thought he'd feel comfortable there, and he has developed quite a lot of connections there. They have greeters and are generally fairly welcoming to newcomers, so if someone wanders in they may come away with an sense of having a real interaction with someone - and would be more likely to return.

[eve-prime.livejournal.com]

That sounds so much nicer than being followed around Orientation Island by a sometimes naked guy who keeps propositioning all the women.

(Thanks for the thoughts - I'm going to sleep now. Good night!)