They say compassion is a virtue, but I don’t have the time

I suspect that my wife is suspicious of social network sites like SL and FB because she assumes that real emotions and real connections occur there. I am suspicious of them for exactly the opposite reason. Part of the beauty of digital age technology is the distance – both physical and emotional. Its like standing on the edge of a very interesting party hurling bon mots and pot shots at will, knowing that you can bolt at any time. I find that I am more likely to engage folks in these spaces who enjoy this kind of superficial connection. This hearkens back to the notion of a play-full space in which riffing on what someone just said is largely the point. But I do realize that there are people in here (in this great vast metaverse – yea I just read Snow Crash) that seek true and meaning-full connections. This is where it gets a bit weird for me – it is also where it gets a bit theoretical.

The Prague school was a collection of talented and brilliant semioticins that studied things like literature, mythology, folk tales, clothing, and performance. Their theory of how a “stage character” is created has a lot to do with how avatars function. Built on a tri-partite system that involves an actor, a stage figure, and a character in which the stage figure is what the actor creates (based on text, body, voice, movement, etc) and the character is what the audience sees and hears. Both stage figure and character are interpreted – which leaves a great deal of room for miss-reading, miss-interpretation, and play. When and if true connections happen in cyberspace they are rarely unmediated. Swiping the tri-partite system and applying it to virtual worlds I find that the technology presents a user, an interface (things like programs, browsers, etc), and finally an avatar (like a character – an easy object to project on). The point here is that what is often taken for a singularity (a character, an avatar) is in actuality composed of multiple pieces. I find that as long as the banter remains on the level of superficiality this system works for me – but beyond that my suspicions are aroused. I doubt, I bracket, I filter – I approaching everything in these spaces with a wry phenomenological eye. It is not a matter of wondering if what I am seeing is true – but suspending all judgment that any truth can be found here at all. This is part of what I like about setting the camera so that I can watch my avatar – I am always at a distance peering into another world. And then I get an IM.

This is a feature that I shut off in FB almost immediately. Its too insistent, too demanding, too – “answer me now!” for my tastes. But for some reason I like it in SL. I like the fact that there can be multiple conversations going on in the same space. What unnerves me is the implied privacy of the IM space. In RL I let very very few people inside that tiny, fragile, private space of real thought, real emotion and I am always caught off guard when folks I barely know try to open that door. No offence – I realize that some people are more open than others and that part of the draw of virtual worlds is a kind of anonymity that allows real connections to develop. I am not sure I am here for that. As discussed below – my avatar is basically in Stempunk mode – but slowly evolving into a kind of clockwork avatar. My hope is that this appearance will be a tip that there is nothing beyond the metallic exterior except a cold-hearted machine driven by gears and cogs. It will respond to the given information, but offer nothing of any depth. And I wonder about this – are those in SL looking for true emotional connections more likely to appear “normal” (or human, or some digital equivalent)? But right now I love the dancing – when it

is good it is a shared space where people banter, riff on each other, give each other shit while listening to some good tunes (check out the Black Dragon Tavern on a night when Shannon and melqt are there – you won’t regret it). The beauty of these encounters is that they are

effortless. I find very few times of the day when I can just sit and listen to music and not feel like I should be doing something else. In SL the

dancing occupies that need to produce – to do something – the rest is just fun. As I become more comfortable in this space my approach to it may change. I may develop life-long deep connections to people I don’t really know. I doubt it. But for now the dancing will suffice.