When Second Life becomes your first life - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Resolute 14 · 08-10-2007, 09:23 AM

http://online.wsj.com/public/article....html?mod=blog

I've been on some pretty good binge Starcraft/Warcraft/WoW sessions, but this is a tad much...

zukes · 08-10-2007, 10:18 AM

wow

chris lindberg · 08-10-2007, 10:21 AM

Do you have to sign up to read this article, I just see a blank page?

badnarik · 08-10-2007, 11:52 AM

"You try to talk to someone or bring them a drink, and they'll be having sex with a cartoon."

lol

sadora · 08-10-2007, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris lindberg

Do you have to sign up to read this article, I just see a blank page?

Same thing happened to me. Just press the refresh button and it should work. Interesting article. I tried playing second life a while back but found the graphics just plain and boring...nothing on the sims. Even with that game I can't see myself ever playing it for 10 hours a day. There's something seriously wrong if living in virtual reality makes people happier than facing their real lives.

Buff · 08-10-2007, 12:22 PM

I tried it out, and I was initially addicted. I explored and explored, yet quickly came to the realization that it doesn't have anything good to offer and I quit. I think I played for a week or two, and it wasn't addicting that I couldn't wait to play it again, but when I started playing I had a hard time shutting it off for the night. Though I get that way with many games.

CaptainCrunch · 08-10-2007, 12:31 PM

Wow, I don't know whether to laugh, Cry, or go demand thier lunch money.

Thats pretty pathetic on all fronts.

worth · 08-10-2007, 12:47 PM

Quote:

More than a quarter of gamers said the emotional highlight of the past week occurred in a computer world, according to the survey, which was published in 2006 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press's journalPresence.

WOW. I'm a gamer, but seriously people, get a life. And not a second life, a real life.

CaptainCrunch · 08-10-2007, 12:49 PM

How long til some zipper head invents some kind of VR gimmicky sexual attachment so that you can really go at your virtual partner. Because nothing would be cooler then some real wife walking into the office only to see her fat naked husband hammer away at his desk while yellling Tenaj your the best.

Gross.

But its got a robot chicken feel to it.

Top Shelf · 08-10-2007, 01:38 PM

Crazy stuff.

After reading the article though, I was intrigued that the woman Tenaj (Janet) was from Calgary. She also has not locked down her facebook settings, so anyone in the Calgary network can see her page.

Facebook is the devil

JD · 08-10-2007, 03:07 PM

So are we that far off from the Matrix-type scenarios where you plug into your virtual world and actual live there?

I've gotten this way with video games, but only for a day or two at a time. If you don't reach a point where you crave real interaction with the real world, you're probably approaching sickness. IMO, anyway.

Azure · 08-10-2007, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buff

I tried it out, and I was initially addicted. I explored and explored, yet quickly came to the realization that it doesn't have anything good to offer and I quit. I think I played for a week or two, and it wasn't addicting that I couldn't wait to play it again, but when I started playing I had a hard time shutting it off for the night. Though I get that way with many games.

Same here. Except I came to that realization after playing for 6 hours one night.

Besides...I would rather spend my time playing different games, than trying to hook up for some cyber sex with a hooker on Second Life.

McG · 08-12-2007, 03:15 PM

i am a huge gamer and we all have a game that gives us the "just one more move" or whatever...but this was sad.

seriously, are these people's real lives so pathetic that they prefer to spend their time in a computer world over the real one?

CrusaderPi · 08-12-2007, 03:34 PM

So the chick dropped $480 in real money, to buy an island for $120 000 in play money? Did I read that part wrong, or is she that stupid?

CrusaderPi · 08-12-2007, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by McG

i am a huge gamer and we all have a game that gives us the "just one more move" or whatever...but this was sad.

seriously, are these people's real lives so pathetic that they prefer to spend their time in a computer world over the real one?

The thing is real life is boring. Dude probably has a boring job, we've seen his wife, and a limited future. I can see the lure in tuning out for a while. Heck I just put my kids down for a nap so I wouldn't have to deal with them. (They were awful crabby though).

Dan02 · 08-12-2007, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Wow, I don't know whether to laugh, Cry, or go demand thier lunch money.

Thats pretty pathetic on all fronts.

whys that? who are we to say what someone should do in their spare time. I used to spend 20-40 hours a week at pubs/bars, the average american spends 40 hours a week watching TV, so instead of those options, this guy plays second life. Its his life I don't see why he shouldn't be allowed to play it as he wants.

Although i must say i do find having a virtual wife who you've never even met when you're married is a little weird.

I think some people don't understand that this real world is indeed part of our real one, just as going to a hockey game or out for drinks is. I am mildly entertained at the people who think the guy has no life just because he doesn't spend it in a manner they determine to be acceptable.

Regorium · 08-12-2007, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrusaderPi

So the chick dropped $480 in real money, to buy an island for $120 000 in play money? Did I read that part wrong, or is she that stupid?

Did you know that gold selling in WoW is an incredibly lucrative business? This isn't new by any means.

Not to mention people pay real money for accounts and such, sometimes upwards of several thousand dollars depending on how good the characters are.

CrusaderPi · 08-12-2007, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regorium

Did you know that gold selling in WoW is an incredibly lucrative business? This isn't new by any means.

Not to mention people pay real money for accounts and such, sometimes upwards of several thousand dollars depending on how good the characters are.

Well, in the case, I've got a semi used account on CP for sale. Comes complete with 300ish posts, -7 reputation points, and 7th place in the current fantasy baseball pool - although I'm currently laying a whuppin on DroopyDrew so I should be moving up to a playoff position (sold separately).

$15 OBO

GreenLantern · 08-12-2007, 10:36 PM

I started online games with Diablo, where I met a group of guys who I played UO with for about 6 years and still talk to on a daily basis. I know as much about them as my "offline" (for lack of a better term) friends, we've helped each other through tough times with advise and shared some laughs over jokes, just like I would with my "offline" friends. I've known them, about 12 or 13 guys, for 12 years now, thats longer than some of really close "offline" friends. I have a really good buddy i've known since we were 4 or 5 move to Australia and now we chat daily online and have skype convos to catch up. Is it any different talking to him than it is to these guys I met through a Video game? Does that make it wrong that I don't have that initial RL contact?

This is different then leading two marriages, I have never really been into that, but I do consider these guys close friends and I think the bond that is friendship is formed off of a common interest that is shared between two people. Wether its sports, games, music, or views on life, I don't think that it being over a computer screen makes it any less of a friendship.

Anyone else who has played MMO's can understand where I am coming from, people have pen pals, lots of time people they have never met, is that person not a friend?

FireFly · 08-12-2007, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

I started online games with Diablo, where I met a group of guys who I played UO with for about 6 years and still talk to on a daily basis. I know as much about them as my "offline" (for lack of a better term) friends, we've helped each other through tough times with advise and shared some laughs over jokes, just like I would with my "offline" friends. I've known them, about 12 or 13 guys, for 12 years now, thats longer than some of really close "offline" friends. I have a really good buddy i've known since we were 4 or 5 move to Australia and now we chat daily online and have skype convos to catch up. Is it any different talking to him than it is to these guys I met through a Video game? Does that make it wrong that I don't have that initial RL contact?

This is different then leading two marriages, I have never really been into that, but I do consider these guys close friends and I think the bond that is friendship is formed off of a common interest that is shared between two people. Wether its sports, games, music, or views on life, I don't think that it being over a computer screen makes it any less of a friendship.

Anyone else who has played MMO's can understand where I am coming from, people have pen pals, lots of time people they have never met, is that person not a friend?

We meet people here all the time....