A Virtual Life, An Actual Death.

This is an article which some may see as silly, and others may find to be incredibly deep. In the end, it speaks volumes to the pantomimes we play online as well as in real life.

One poignant piece which is only tangential to the entire article is

"I have seen many people spill their guts on-line, and I did so myself until, at last, I began to see that I had commodified myself. Commodification means that you turn something into a product which has a money-value. I created my interior thoughts as a means of production for the corporation that owned the board I was posting to, and that commodity was being sold to other commodity/consumer entities as entertainment. that means that I sold my soul like a tennis shoe, and I derived no profit from the sale of my soul."

The article itself contains quotes, and one one quote does have an F word in it, used in what I believe to be an appropriate manner, however you should know this before viewing.

However, it is an amazing article, and I recommend if you begin reading it, that you read to the end.

The Article

reply to post by HunkaHunka


What an interesting article, thanks HunkaHunka

I recently finished reading the book Holographic Universe and i can't help but think about it whenever i hear of stories like this.

It seems that we are creating alternative lives for ourselves, lives that are becoming blurred and deformed and we are unable to tell what is real and what is not. Its a dangerous game to play.

I am currently working on a thread about such topics, i would love to use this article within it

Thanks again.

Interesting article though I hate it when people use techy terms as if you know what they are talking about.

First, we are assuming that the girl stopped taking her meds, as oppossed to the pharmacy giving her crappy overseas medication or something.

Second, the article is portraying that the girl died as a result of her online life. But really, her online life was a result, or an escape of her rl.

As for the relationship, I did think it inisightful that she gave others advice out of her own suffering.

I don't officially believe that companies make money off our drama. Just like the news, it if wasn't interesting, we wouldn't be coming.

It has to be interesting to be our beneficial escape.

My final thought is this. As a long time member of Second Life, I have seen a lot of relationships come and go. Most last a few weeks, lucky if it is a few months. Most people break up, leave, and come back and find someone new. Very very rarely do they last that long. To keep an online relationship lasting that long, there has to be somethign really there. I honestly believe she was truly heartbroken.

But anyone who frequents a virtual community knows, it is always a risk. Nothing is permenant. You will come in one day to find your favorite club evaporated. Everything is very static, including relationships.

She took the risk. And she knew it.

Experienced members tell everyone: this is not just a game. There are real people behind those computers.

There is a new psychology field about avatars. People see them as extentions of themselves.

Also there is a mantra, real life comes first. People push to keep you from neglecting real life duties.

Really, if we only listened to people when they were totally down on themselves and whatever hobby, we would be led to believe that every hobby from basket weaving to playing a guitar is blood sucking, steals your soul, eats away your time, steals life from you, makes you lose touch with reality, etc.

It is a sad situation but I wonder how alive she felt when everything was going good. Like when they were building the island, she must have been flying. But as good as things get they can get equally bad and you have to be able to ground yourself and not lose it. Like waking up from an awesome dream, you feel bad because you realize it was just a dream.

Originally posted by nixie_nox

Also there is a mantra, real life comes first.

This is the mantra I have taught my son.

It is, in the end, an ordering of the priorities.

Although, in this situation, I believe the lady, because of some of her RL situations, backed herself into a corner where the only priority left in her viewpoint was the SL reality.

We can always change...

While these avatars in fact have real people behind them, the anonymity it provides ( just as here) allows people show a side of themselves they would not typically show.

I have no experience with Half-Life, but I have played many other MMORPG games. While behind the avatar, character, or toon that you play you can do and say things that will not (in most cases) come back to you in your real life.

I have become disenchanted with these games because I believe you see how a person really is. People put on a show in their real life because there are consequences. In the game you can create a new character and start over. I do see more and more is the action of self service. There isn't a community feel, helping one another it is all about self gain.

I feel that people take these types of games to an extreme because they very well could be escaping something in their real life. This could be the root cause but I am not certain. I remember when I first started with the game Everquest. It was all i could think about, I would go without sleep for days to play the game. I look back now and realize how much time I actually lost to that.

Technology is providing a means of escapism for people. Instead of meeting life head on and dealing with the challenges they hide in virtual worlds where they expose themselves to people, once exposed they run the risk causing themselves more emotional trauma.

Originally posted by Doom and Gloom
While these avatars in fact have real people behind them, the anonymity it provides ( just as here) allows people show a side of themselves they would not typically show.

I have no experience with Half-Life, but I have played many other MMORPG games. While behind the avatar, character, or toon that you play you can do and say things that will not (in most cases) come back to you in your real life.

I have become disenchanted with these games because I believe you see how a person really is. People put on a show in their real life because there are consequences. In the game you can create a new character and start over. .

I play an online game - have so for some time (as you can tell by my avatar). People really do show their true personalities under the cover of anomynity. I've actually pointed that out to several people over the years and they get upset and say "its just a game!", but there are real people behind those avatars.

We see it here as well - ever notice some of the vicious, demeaning and scathing replies some threads get? If that person was standing right next to you, there would be a lot more discretion, and accountability.

reply to post by Lolliek


I completely agree with you. Technology is destroying our ability to treat one another with respect. These games and forums demonstrate it daily.

The portion quoted in the OP is true, I particularly liked this part:

I created my interior thoughts as a means of production for the corporation that owned the board I was posting to, and that commodity was being sold to other commodity/consumer entities as entertainment. that means that I sold my soul like a tennis shoe, and I derived no profit from the sale of my soul.

Welcome to the internet, if you're not posting or "generating content" for your own website then you're working for someone else. Most of these sites, ATS included, work on what is called "User Generated Content", that content is used to increase visitor and membership numbers which, in turn, are used to sell ad space and demographic data.

It's why I'm reluctant to start threads on ATS, just because I sometimes feel like a chump working for free. It's my own laziness that prevents me from starting my own site and ATS is a pretty great community so I do enjoy posting here.

On a different note, is there anything wrong with creating a new life for yourself, one that in many ways may be more fulfilling than dull reality?

With each year we get closer to full corporeal transcendence through technological means, if the virtual world and the real world were indistinguishable by experience would you not have a desire to "leave this life" and live one more fulfilling?

reply to post by Shadowflux


When the power goes out that wonderful falsely fulfilling life come crashing down. Play have fun but do not take it too seriously. If ever there is an opportunity to plug in and leave the real world behind, well I will have to respectfully decline.

I encourage others to plug in, cut down on my commute!!

reply to post by Lolliek



I agree with you and Doom and Gloom completely as a long time gamer ( beta WoW up till a few months ago and SWG before that amongst others) you do really see a side of people that they don't normally show, however that knife cuts both ways. I've seen people that online were the most awesome they could be, helpful, polite etc, and have met them at "meet and greets" and they were total asses in person.


The anonymity of the internet allows you to be whoever you want to be, sometimes I think that it magnifies the weaker part of you, for example people who are rather timid in person are suddenly boisterous and loudmouthed and viceversa. That isn's carte blanche for all people just my opinion, because some people are just nice and some are just asses.

I am not addicted to games but I do enjoy playing them, they are an escape of sorts for a little bit ( when I have time ) from the world around me, and I have met some really great people and some really bad ones that make my sword hand twitch, but some people get addicted due to any number of reasons ( poor home life, relationships etc) and they take it overboard and it gets sad.


At the end of the day, it's only going to get worse as the world progresses towards higher technology there will eventually be a complete disconnect of humans from humanity. What was that movie last year where people had "avatars" that went about the world for them ...something with Bruce Willis, I can totally see that happening.



**side note I have never said anything online that I wouldn't say to your face,how I am here is the same as I am IRL with the exception that I am a bit more quiet in person until I get to know you ( bad stutter from childhood that shows itself in new social situations from time to time )

Doesn't it say a lot about society when people feel most comfortable when under a blanket of anonymity.

reply to post by LiveForever8


I think that's been the case ever since the concept of society was born.

That's why we wear clothing, to hide the pieces we don't want to show, whether for shame, cleanliness, or mystery.... we all wear our masks when we interact within a social context.

reply to post by HunkaHunka


Personally, i wear clothing so i don't freeze to death. And clothing can be one way somebody can express themselves, their individuality.

But yes, we all wear masks. We all conform to social standards, and if we don't we are quickly ostracized as a libertine.

I am also a long time user of Second Life, in fact, my avatar name here is the same in Second Life..
I have seen so many people come and go, and even real life dramas from their online lives.
One woman in SL, actually went to her virtual boyfriend's house and hid in it to abduct him.

"She spent four days finding out the victim's address and then broke into her ex-boyfriend's apartment and waited for him to return, police said.

FULL ARTICLE

It becomes a way of life, I can see how it is an escape, and maybe to some it goes further.

Im there primarily to work, since Im a content provider, but in the beginning, it had effects on me, also. I wanted to be there all the time.

I think I remember when Carmen passed, I didnt know her well, as I never was into the Gorean thing. May she rest in peace.

For some the virtual world is more exciting than the real world.

For example, in world of warcraft I can battle on a distant field filled with danger wielding weapons of magical glory while face pwning the enemy. Not to mention I am side by side with my Horde comrades this whole time.

I can act as a stealthy assassin with my rogue or cast powerful spells as a mage. I can be a master of the natural arts or a beacon of healing light! I can be a dark evil conjurer of demonic forces or a soldier of evil. I can be a mighty warrior or a tamer of exotic creatures that bend to my will! I can join forces with others to conquer vast dungeons with all kinds of peril fighting powerful foes and then downing them to loot them for magical items of epic coolness!

I can ride on the back of a dragon across a vast world where I am free to do whatever I want!









In real life, I'm just a normal guy doing normal things in a normal world. Everywhere I look is nothing but bad news that is only getting worse. My government is constantly lying and stealing from me and there is nothing I can do about it.

Which world seems more fun?

Is it any wonder why people get sucked into the virtual world?

Hell wow even has its own band! The solo at 2:20 is awesome!





[edit on 9-9-2009 by DaMod]

Great story. Lol, I miss playing Second Life.
2nd line.

Originally posted by h1satsu
Great story. Lol, I miss playing Second Life.

2nd line.

Well come back, I"ll hook you up with clothes! lol

Yea..sad story..sighs...

I played WOW for awhile..but it got boring, and in SL, you can create your world..

reply to post by LiveForever8


Why do people have to be drunk to be outgoing?
I really see nothing wrong with it.

I see nothing wrong with someone creating an online character to be someone else.

It offers an escape. In these communities, people can be vampires, clowns, fairies, slaves, masters, builders, inventors, kings and queens of their own islands.

It is a wonderful escape, and a not a very expensive one. I have no problem with it, your in a fake world, why not a fake personality?

In second life most of the women look like models(those that are not furries, nekos, vampires, or what have you) and it gives them a chance to reflect the beauty on the outside that they feel on the inside.

reply to post by nixie_nox


People don't have to be drunk to be outgoing at all.

And as for seeing 'nothing wrong with it', there are definitely negative aspects to Second Life and all other similar virtual worlds.

Yes it does offer an escape, but is that really a good thing? You can run but you can't hide.

We are not cats......we have one life, why not live it to the full?

Anyways, it has its positives and its negatives, but it does say a lot for society.