Avatars Behaving Badly

SL is one big holiday camp. Free from the constraints of normal society, people behave badly. It’s like how people will behave far worse to you on the phone than they ever would in real life. Yet I think that because we are so not used to interacting with strangers on a social level, we are more sensitive to real and imagined slights than we would normally be.. but not enough to treat others with the respect due.

As for honesty, that’s the one thing that has definitely been left behind in RL…

Supposedly there are 2 types of people here, the immersives and the extensionists (I think that’s what they’re called). Yet as far as I can see, there really is only one kind of person. Those that are looking to make up for whatever is missing in their lives.

I’m amazed at how many people want to know where i am, where I’m from, what I do, how old I am, what my marital status is – yet they don’t want to volunteer the same details.. They can’t understand why i don’t want to give the information, and in common with all sad inadequates it then becomes a quest for them.

I cannot believe the lengths people that people go to avoid being honest. My poor avatar has been pursed by so many different people using so many different avatars. I wouldn’t mind if they just acknowledged they were trying out a different persona, as one did, but mostly they just have a new avatar and the same voice. Because of the games and nasty tricks my poor avatar has had played on her, I treat every new encounter with suspicion as I don’t know if the game is running or if it’s someone just trying to take me for a ride..

Whichever it is, it’s dishonest and downright stupid. If these people really wanted to get to know me then they should be honest in their dealings with me. As they’re not, I can only assume the worst.

It happens constantly. They all seem to make the same mistake – they forget just how inadequate newbies are – you can always tell a newbie, because their first questions go along the lines of:
‘where can I go to find people – there doesn’t seem to be anyone wherever i go’
‘what’s there to do here?’
‘How do I earn money/are there jobs here’
and they’re terrible with the controls, don’t know how to do a lot of the simple tasks and have really basic questions.. what they don’t have is great hair, great clothes and a great skin..

I think I discovered the dark secret of SL – no-one actually has any friends! They all claim they do, but I doubt if it’s true… I’ve has a couple of cryptic comments about friends lists – and a couple of not so cryptic ones. I’ve come to the conclusion that people have lots of friends in their lists, but no one to talk to – let alone ‘socialise’ with.. It’s hard to meet people in SL, most places with people are either clubs or welcome areas – although I’ve not done the old RL fall back of courses yet – that one could be the secret!