Reader Submitted: Relaying in Real Life and Virtual Life

 By Bain Finch

My first Relay was in SL 2011. In 2012 I helped bring Relay to IWz. In 2014 I join my local real life Relay group, and been involved with all 3 groups, every year, since. This year, I've pulled back some, and will be the first year, I will not hold any planning group role.

For the most part, both RL and VR Relay are exactly the same. We joke about no bugs, weather, parking, but we do have lag, and we do have sim crossing parties. For the uninitiated, lag is just want it sounds like, so many people are on one sim (server) the system can't keep up. Sim crossing parties slightly different beast. Each sim is a different server, so when moving from sim to sim, your avatar and all you are wearing, needs to be handed off to that new server. When that fails, people pile up at the sim boarder, trying to enter, hence, sim crossing parties.

But you want to know something, the challenge of keep walking the track and dealing with lag and sim crossing issues, pretty much equals the challenges of dealing with weather, and temperatures, while walking, all night long.

The one thing VR Relay has over RL is our campsites builds. Most campsites are season themed, reflecting the Team's reason for Relaying, filled with advocacy information about cancer, health choices, mission messages and more. The biggest uniqueness for Relay on virtual grids is ability to communicate locally, within groups, group notices with tie-ins to social media, blogs and more, right across the whole grid, with the same abilities of using the fundraising dashboard, is virtual Relay's greatest strength. Virtual Relay transforms ones advocacy's signage, into a portals, able to span the world, free of language barriers.

The one marked difference, from the virtual Relay I noticed, was during and following lighting of the Luminaria. Wasn't until my second RL Relay, that I noticed it. Once the Luminaria are lit, the track begins to stratify and have distinct lanes. The outside lanes are for the runners. The middle lanes are for the walkers. But that inside lane, next to the Luminaria, that for the Luminaria shufflers. Moving one step at time, reading each and every Luminaria as they go. Silently advancing, bit by bit, read, step forward, reading the outpouring of love, all mindful of each other, while the walkers are pacing their laps, further out. After a bit, I find myself on that divide between the Luminaria shuffle lanes and the walkers coming at me, just looking at all their faces. Right there, I could see it in their eyes, that quiet, unspoken connection of the heart.

In the wee hours of that night, when I found myself sheltering from the cold and light rain, alone with my thoughts, I found my thoughts bouncing back and forth between all my Relay experiences, that I now realize, Relay's greatest strength is it's sense of community it creates, it's sense of belonging. As an individual, I can build a house. But get a bunch of folks together, and we can move mountains, build a pyramid or a coliseum in short order. Together, we can help each other, each doing our part, all adding together, all the while, reaching our goals.

Lite one candle, you push back the darkness on a space, lite a bunch of candles, you brighten up the whole night.

Bain Finch

What Second Life Means From A Disabled Person's Point of View

It was about a year ago Deaflegacy first came to Second Life. As someone whom is deaf in real life, Deaflegacy found communicating with others quite different in the virtual world. In her latest article, she describes from her point of view what Second Life has meant.

Read Deaflegacy's article in People.

Reader Submitted: Less Painful Than Real Life

Second Life is like what we get on to have fun and explore  but no one every realized it is just like our world. It has almost the same places but more nudity. But the thing is different is the violence.

Do you know the crime that is happening every second? Do you know what is going on in the world every second? In SL there is crime, but only for doing the wrong things and being bad. But in our world it is the same thing, but worse. There is war, killing, disease, And some people may be offended by the color of their skin, or what they wear, or if they like guys or girls or both.

Now that is what I call labeling. When you label, you are telling someone what they are or how they feel. It is like bulling, and on SL that is very easy. The person that is bulling, you can not reach.

But in our world we handle it with violence and hurting.

On SL, we can get pregnant fast sometimes. But in real life, we don't always get what we want. We think that real life is hard. But in SL, it is easy. It is not it is the same way you may think that you just have it easy. But you do not. We have to pay one bill on SL, But in real life, we pay a lot.

Things do not always go the way you want them to, even though you know something is right, but it is also wrong.

THE END

Toriishere

"The Real Life Danger of Virtual Worlds" by Frolic Mills

Frolic Mills, the former editor of "The Best of Second Life" magazine, known as Juan Delgado in real life, recently posted a thoughtful commentary on Facebook on the subject of virtual reality addiction. Contacting him, he gave his okay for it's republication here.

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Having lived my real life successfully out of virtual worlds for the past 10 years or so, I think qualifies me to write this essay about the potential dangers of virtual worlds. I always hear "expert" psychologists and other specialists (who have probably never even played an online game) say that it produces addiction, anti-social characteristics, withdrawal from family and friends and even, that it even encourages criminal behavior. I don't doubt for one bit that there is always going to be a minority percentage who will prove all of these studies right. Just like there is always a drug addict, an alcoholic, and a pill junkie we all know, I am sure there are people who surrender to the fascinations of virtual worlds to the point they have no desire to entertain the idea of the real world any longer, and even modify their real life behaviors accordingly. I get it, but I don't think it's the majority.

Most of us, virtual users, lead well balanced lives. We love our families, we go out when we want to, we participate in the real world just like the guy next door. But yes, and I admit it, if you want to be on top in any virtual world, you must put in a LOT of hours. No question about that. But the difference between wasted time and real life pleasure is always purpose, and here is where it gets confusing for the non virtual user "specialists". It is not the same that you spent 1000 hours killing virtual hookers with a car, than socializing to meet friends or even your real life spouse from a virtual world. It is not the same if you admired someone else's creation and spent a lot of money making your avatar beautiful, than being the creator of beautiful things and making a fortune thanks to your virtual artistic skills. It's not the same at all; However, all of these examples, have two things in common, for all virtual users. The first and foremost is entertainment value, and secondly, and the most dangerous one, is the idea that real life can be totally fulfilled from the comfort of your computer, just a few meters away. Again the difference between insanity and survival will always be measured by your purpose and the amount of time spent on it. It is crazy to spend sleepless nights killing mobs to the point you don't go to school next day; it is survival to spend sleepless nights creating a better virtual world, which in return aids to your real life economy or any other heart felt purpose, like love, helping victims or charity events. There are thousands of other examples of effect/cause in virtual worlds, but I will let each person reading this essay, decide where their cards fall.

So what is my point? Well, there is a danger that I have never heard anyone speak about, and that, in my opinion, is the underlying reason to all "virtual world behavior studies" and that is, the fear of loss of creative freedom.

Of course I know, virtual worlds give a false sense of accomplishment, I also know people sometimes get lost in their virtual fantasies, but this is not what I am talking about, these are not the people I am referring to. I am talking about really talented artists who were able to create amazing real life survival with their virtual creations. There is nothing comparable to the joy of successfully sharing one's own universe or viewpoint with millions, from the comfort of your bedroom. I am afraid that once this has been achieved and it is over; the real world, or any other world, will never be as interesting anymore. Very dangerous indeed!

Please keep in mind that even Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and other very successful virtual creators still have to leave their homes in order to get to work. It also seems like the world is fascinated with examples of how people started their great businesses from their garages or basements. Well how about this? Thousands of people I know made plentiful real life livings and even millions of dollars with their laptops by their side, while sipping coffee in their own beds, and all this, without the headaches of running a Forbes top 100 company. Fascinating - Isn't it?

Yes! But if you are in the top 1% who actually made it big in virtual worlds, and then lost this privilege for whatever reason, the world may never be the same for you.

What do you guys think?

Juan Delgado / Frolic Mills

SL Video: "The Drax Files: World Makers (Episode 31 - Tom Boellstorff)"

(Click here if the video fails to load)

The latest Drax Files from Draxtor Despress, Aug 12, 2015, "New Drax Files on the question what is REAL. Comment and share with a skeptic if you like. ... Anthropologist Tom Boellstorff sees no difference between doing ethnographic research in Indonesia or among the residents of a digital universe like Second Life."