lumpy_journal

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 * January**
 * 1.26.08 - In which I visit Freebies, watch people trying to make money, and get a free tux.
 * 1.27.08 - In which I visit Ron Paul, sit in on a meeting of the Metaverse Broadcasting Company, and first learn about the broadcast market in SL.
 * 1.28.08 - In which I make a friend who gives me a tour of the club she is opening.


 * March**
 * 3.19.08 - In which I meet two clothing designers and talk with them about business life.
 * 3.27.08 - In which I "go shopping" and talk with a few customers about their shopping/community experiences in SL.

 =**1.26.08**=
 * April**
 * 4.03.08 - Reflection on community experiences in SL and RL. This entry is not in-world.
 * 4.04.08 - In which I visit a non-English sim and go to a party.
 * 4.08.08 - In which I visit a few stores, buy some products myself, and speak with a shopper about his thoughts on shopping in SL.
 * 4.09.08 - Reflection on theoretical concepts. This entry is not in-world.

Went to a place called 'Freebies' today to look for some ways to possibly get some free money / stuff. I've read about things like 'money trees' that are legitimate ways to grab a few extra L$ - but from what I've read it seems that these things are a needle in the haystack of ATM scams.

When I got to the island I noticed some people sitting on a bench and it looked as though they were earning L$ for sitting for a certain duration. You can "camp" on this bench to earn L$2 per 15 minutes. I decided to pass for now, as L$2 doesn't seem like much compared to the prices I've seen around the Grid.

Although I much enjoyed the freedom that the dress gave me, I was enticed by a free tuxedo in the corner of Freebies. Suave + Free = Score.



I saw a sign advertising Rolex watches earlier when I was exploring Freebie. I read an article in some magazine awhile ago about brand names and Second Life (apparently there is a life-like Apple store in SL - Heavan!) and seeing this sign made me wonder, what makes it a Rolex? What regulations on SL are there in attaching RL brand names to SL objects? This is something I need to look into. Cheap, fake Rolex watches are apparently a commodity that transcends real life!


 * Update:** Something to think about:


 * Should trademarks and copyrights in RL transfer to SL?**

Initial thoughts: - If someone were to ever make money by advertising a product they made on SL as something in RL, is there a legitimate argument to say that they would not have made that money if they didn't use that brand - and therefore, they are stealing? - As mentioned in Kentucky Capalini's journal, no one really cares what you look like in SL. Does anyone really care if something is a certain brand name or not when you're in SL? My initial response to that would be both yes and no. No, I don't think people in SL would care if you had items that had RL "status" brands on them (i.e. Rolex, Gucci, Oakley, etc.) BUT I could definitely see brands that appeal to fanboys of different sorts being popular. For instance, if I suck at building or making clothes or whatever, and I want a t-shirt with the Apple logo on it, would I be willing to pay top L$ for it? You bet I would. - Summation of initial thoughts: I don't know if I would say yes or no to the original question or not, but I think companies in RL could have a reasonable claim to get pissed if someone ever made serious money off of stealing their brand name. I'm not sure I think serious money could be made off of doing it though - this is something I'll have to investigate some more.

 =**1.27.08**= I teleported to an island called [|Ron Paul] - curious to see what's going on here. I saw groups of people on my map but spent forever trying to figure out how to get in the buildings that they were all huddled in. The only person I could actually get near for awhile was in a room dedicated to giving various sex scripts and such. Needless to say I didn't want to spend much time talking to the guy who found enjoyment out of the room called the "Spank the Money Club."

I finally ran into a group of people on Ron Paul having a meeting. They were the "Metaverse Broadcasting Company." It was kind of interesting to talk to them. They apparently make videos and then stream them into SL. This was some serious stuff. They had a President and VP and everything and during this meeting they were discussing show ideas, which they had a lot of, and assigning people to start producing them. The two shows they were focusing on getting some episodes produced were one referred to as "the youtube one" and one called "Thats Hot." The discussions ranged from getting teams together for production, talks about how many episodes need to be filmed and even who in MBC could compose music. Considering the question I thought about yesterday, I found it very interesting that the group even mentioned something about getting something copyrighted.
 * The Metaverse Broadcasting Company**

I need to find some more information about this. Apparently there are lots of broadcasting companies in SL, and you ca buy "channels.' They mentioned their rivals, SLTV and a new company Metanetwork. Metanetwork apparently has 6 channels, and is new company that they think is going to be their biggest competition.

Wasn't able to sit much longer though. There was discussion about one of the people needing to check their IM, and a little bit later that person ejected me from the area. Oh well. Some very interesting stuff I can look into more as the semester goes on.

 =**1.28.08**= I was on SL a lot today, this seems to be turning into a bad habit. After going to a bunch of useless places for awhile, I finally ran ended up at a place called [|A&E Sports Club] and talked to the owner for awhile. The club opens this Friday and has card tables, clothes for sale, a mud wrestling put, and even a bull ride.

She seemed very sure she would be able to make some money running the club, mentioning things like how she is hiring dancers and such. I'm still a little skeptical of how places like this make money, but I think it is only because I haven't experienced it. I'm definitely going to plan on heading back here next week when it opens and check it out.

I think this visit here gave me a good opportunity to get "into" SL in a way that I feel like I need to in order to do this project well. I need to understand what other people in the game are thinking not just through observation, but by getting to know them. She was very eager to talk about her business plans and it's giving me a good perspective about what kind of mindset people in SL have coming into this. Interesting stuff.

 =**3.19.08**=

Went teleporting a lot until I found something interesting and ended up at a clothing shop owned by someone named [|Simone]. She had a business parter (Lissa) and both were eager to talk about some of their thoughts on the business community in SL. Here are some excerpts of our conversation:


 * Me:** You: how did you all meet?
 * Simone**: Just through other designers. Word of one another travels fast when you show talent, like Lissa did :)
 * Lissa:** either that or well... other designers get jealous. ;)




 * Simone**: Hmm, it was pretty commercial, then **(note: 2004)** too. I think a lot of content creators made a lot of noise about being artists, but what they did was for money. The corporate presense has left very little scarring on the landscape. Mostly because they don't knopw how to market here, don't wish to spend the money necessary.
 * Simone**: presence, sorry.
 * Lissa**: I do it for money...
 * Lissa**: screw art
 * Simone**: *grins*
 * Lissa**: I think there's a resistance to RL corporate presence
 * Simone**: I think there wouldnt be any resistance if they got to know the community and helped it achieve what they wanted.
 * Lissa**: possibly...
 * Simone**: For instance, they could take one of their build's worth of cash, and hire a nasty attorney and go after the content thieves, and win the hearts of every content creator on the grid.

//Note: I cut out lots of this and it is not meant to be taken as a word-for-word script of what was said.//

Here's some things I'm noticing: SL is HUGE. I have such trouble finding spots worth staying for more than 15 seconds. But these two are telling me that the community of designers is pretty close-knit - so much so that good designers get well known, and fast. Despite this, there is clearly a disconnect between artists who do do it for the art it for the money. Obviously we have the same issue going on here IRL as we see it in SL. I wonder if there is any angst between money-makers and pure artists.

I'm also interested in seeing how others respond to the community of RL corporations that, according to these two, don't do very well in SL. This is some interesting stuff. I'm eager to see how it develops further.

 =**3.27.08**=

Visited [|a store] that sold a large variety of stuff ranging from toys to clothes to sexual items such as things to make your skin shiner, or dip make it look like your body is dipped in chocolate. I was unable to find anyone working at the store, yet there were a few people shopping. This is an interesting experience in SL, that seems to happen a lot. Oftentimes there are no workers in stores where people are selling things, yet people are there shopping. What type of disconnect does this cause in the business community? I'm not sure yet.

I stayed around and talked to a few customers, mostly trying to find out //how// they find the store. I'm interested in this because I'm wondering if people find stores by word-of-mouth or just by searching. Everyone I talked to found this place through the search of some sort; none by anyone telling them about it.

I spoke with one girl who was very new to SL (her 4th login) and English was not her primary language. She was confused about how she ended up in a store when she was searching for a school. I took the opportunity to ask this fellow newbie about her relational experiences in SL, as in, had she find most people in SL to be friendly and easy to talk to. She commented that people were much friendlier in SL, and we talked a little about the different experience in SL and RL as far as talking to strangers. In SL, not knowing someone doesn't seem to create much of a barrier at all like it does in RL. I asked her if she thought that in RL,people //want// to be outgoing toward strangers but are too intimidated often, and SL breaks down that barrier. She thought this might be true, but said that she was from a "very friendly" country.

While it seems true that people don't have the same barrier in SL as they do in RL as far as talking to strangers, making it easier to make random connections with people, it's also true that SL has some institutionalized barriers against various relationships that RL doesn't have. For instance, a lot of shopping in SL is without an employee there, so rarely does it seem that people are returning to a certain store because of a particular service-related relationship they have formed. This person I spoke to also made an interesting point when she said:


 * Person**: yes, easier, but ... in relationships in sl not too deep
 * Person**: the... i told u, my english is poor. sorry

 =**4.03.08**=

I'm doing some journaling right now even though I haven't made it in-world today. This is purely some theoretical work I've been contemplating that I want to get written down. I'm focusing here on the institutional features of SL which work increase or decrease restraints on the community:


 * 1) Most stores or businesses that I visit in SL are completely empty. If there are people there, most of the time the people are NOT the store owners themselves. Why is this? In SL, we see a world were certain problems such as //theft// are not problems. For instance, in the real world, there is absolutely nothing that can stop my from walking into a store, physically grabbing an object, and at least attempting to walk out. There are no constraints on my ability to grab/touch/destroy anything. Therefore, all constraints must be instituted by society.
 * 2) In SL, however, we have institutional constraints which cannot be overcome. Just as there is nothing that can stop me from taking an object from a store except another person intervening, in SL, if the permissions are set on an object correctly, there is //nothing// I can do that will allow me take the object. Nothing. Because this is a digital world, we have the ability to prevent people's actions in a way not preventable in RL. In RL, we can take steps to stop people from doing certain things (making laws against them and having an effective police force, build walls preventing people from going into places, locking doors, etc) but ALL of these things can be overcome if someone tries hard enough. We can only //strongly discourage// people from doing things, we cannot //totally prevent// it. SL, on the other hand, can prevent actions. Completely.
 * 3) Why is this relevant here? Well I'm thinking about community building in SL, specifically business-life, as I have noted in previous journal entries. One thing that I've noticed is that there are almost never employees working at their stores. This is because they don't have to be there like in RL, to ensure that things are not stolen and are paid for. SL has institutional features which get rid of the need to always have someone there watching the store. But this also causes businesses to lose the relationship that we see in RL with business-owners and their consumers. If you don't need salesmen there, all of your energy is going to be focused in making your products look great in the advertisement - not on building a relationship with your consumer.

So while it seems true that a virtual world creates an environment where it is //much// easier to talk to complete strangers than it is in the real world, it has also created a community which gets rid of a lot of necessary, personal interactions we see in RL.

 =**4.04.08**=

Visited a [|sim-world]. The first sim I visited with people there - but unfortunately no one spoke English. Here are some general observations:




 * In this sim, as with most I've visited, //flying is disabled.// In order to promote some type of "realism" in the sim, they have taken away the "unreal" version of flying.
 * Unlike other sims, I don't see anything which says they will throw me out. This is an interesting thing I've noticed about some sims though, as seen noted in Kentucky Capalini's journal: you will be booted if your dress and appearance is not appropriate to the sim.
 * Of course, everyone, even in the sim, will find a way to make money. Does this distract from the community they wish to create? One can only guess, because no one can understand my language.


 * Here's an interesting point about SL business-life: I can buy things without ever needing to speak English - I don't even try. This is store is driven by visual advertisements, and because of the lack of human interaction needed, which I discussed previously, there is no reason to communicate with anyone. We see elements of this in RL - as stores are increasingly moving toward visual images in advertising (more effective not just in persuasion, but also reaches a broader base) - this is even more true in SL where human interactions aren't necessary to buy things.

An interesting thing to note about SL is how EMPTY it is... but every once in awhile you stumble across an area FULL of people. What brings these people together? I visited [|this place], the name of which I'm not sure, and there were TONS of people there. Here's a picture, although the picture didn't actually capture everyone that was there for some reason.



I will update with more thoughts on this group later.

 =**4.08.08**=

Teleported to a place called [|Save Our Shame] which appears to be an area devoted toward activism about the cruelty about eating meat. Putting this note here purely for Clementine's reference.

Ended up in a shopping region NEED SLURL to look around. I've put a little money into SL so that I can buy things when necessary, so this time I actually experienced some of the stuff I've been observing. I hung around a shop for awhile and saw a Santa Hat selling for 49L$. I went to click and buy it, I got a notice that said the money was taken out, and my inventory had the hat. That simple. And guess what? No one was around to make the transaction happen. There was no needed for any human interaction, I had my hat, and I was gone. Seller and buyer relationship? Absolutely none. And there's no need for it.



Profits in SL never translate to "having enough money to eat." With this in mind, it is likely that people have a lot less reason to focus on "the bottom line" - thus a lot less reason to pester the snot out of you when you go into a store. In fact, stores are empty and that seems to be okay.

Personally, in real life I have a different reaction toward the human relationship in places I go. At Best Buy, or any electronic store really, I hate people bugging me. I don't want to talk to them. When I go to get my haircut, I love the relationship I've built with the people who work there. It makes getting my haircut fun, not just a place to pay and look better afterwards. Both places, the relationships are built because they want to have "good customer" service - but I react differently for different reasons. Why I do is not important. What is important is that SL eliminates BOTH reactions in a lot of cases. I don't have the option to build a relationship with store owners, because a lot of them aren't there. I'm also not pestered either, so that is a plus.



In [|this store] I met a shopper named Steve. He answered a few questions for me.


 * Me:** how did you find this place? just searching on the map or did you hear about it?
 * Steve:** actually i found it because a friend had it in their fav 'picks
 * Steve:** so i came to look
 * Me:** Do you and your friends trade a lot of interesting places with each other?
 * Steve:** yep, word of mouth
 * Steve:** u often hear comments at various places
 * Me:** ah. so at like events or clubs you'll hear people talking?
 * Steve:** yes, talking about a club or a store
 * Me:** are most of your friends in SL friends you met here, or do you know any of them from RL?
 * Steve:** only 1 from rl
 * Me:** the rest met on SL at just random places you were hanging out?
 * Steve:** yes totally
 * Me:** I have a good friend of mine IRL who I met online several years back. Would you say many of your friends in SL have turned into close friends of yours?
 * Steve:** yes, ive been in sl for 16 months, and could say 6 are very close
 * Me:** wow. that's awesome
 * Me:** lastly, when you come to stores in SL, a lot of them are empty it seems. How often would you say you visit stores where you meet and get to know the owner before buying a product?
 * Steve:** very very rarely
 * Steve:** but i dont find that a problem

Good interview. I'm very intrigued by his last comment there that he doesn't have a problem with this lack of relationship at all. It could very well be that getting rid of this maybe, forced consumer-producer relationship is for the better.

 =**4.09.08**=

Work again seems to be a great place/time to do some out-of-world reflection.

I'm thinking about my interview with Steve yesterday. Two things I want to look at doing in my next visits in-world:
 * 1) Visit some dance clubs and just hang out, listen to people talk, and observe how friendships might be formed or //at least// try and see how people manage to tell each other about various places/pass landmarks, in the way Steve described. Maybe I should question people about where they've been in search of suggestions?
 * 2) I want to do my best to find a //lot// of shoppers over the next few days and ask them one simple question: "Do you find it more enjoyable, or less enjoyable, knowing that when you shop in SL there is little chance of actually talking to the owner/producer of the product you are buying?"

Like I said in my previous entry, there are ups and downs to have this disconnect in SL, but my hunch is most people will find this to be a positive thing. This is interesting though - rarely do people say they like a disconnected relationship more than the opposite, but in many situations, this might be the case. In //Fight Club//, we have a rebellion against a consumer culture which has largely generated disconnected relationships which Durden revolts against. //Shock Doctrine// details how the Bush administration (or more specifically, disaster capitalists) treat entire societies as nothing more than a number, or a bottom line. Lessig could largely be seen as making a statement in //Free Culture// that rejects the disconnect in culture that very strict copyright laws have created. And yet, are disconnections always bad? Maybe we don't want to be connected with the owner of their new clothes, they just want the clothes that look that best.

I fear I'm rambling and this doesn't seem focused, but it doesn't matter here. This is also what I'm thinking: It seems that by saying "I don't care about having a relationship or connection when I buy my stuff," we might be seeing in SL a culture that is largely //more "consumeristic"// than RL. Think about it. We pay money for things like yachts or cars in SL, which don't even come close to serving a purpose like they do in RL. Sure, owning a nice car in RL is largely a way to "show off" or just to indulge in your materialistic desires, but at least the car drives you to work, or performs some useful task. When you buy a car in SL, you are the "worst" element of "consumer culture," aren't you? You are doing nothing but indulging your desire to own //stuff//, and apparently, you could care less about the relationship between the creator and the created; the producer and the consumer; the owner and the owned. You want stuff, so you teleport to wherever you want until you find the best looking stuff you can find. You buy it without ever talking to the owner/seller, and you leave to meet up with friends where they can see you wearing/using your stuff. This is consumerism on steroids.

Are we escaping the aspects of RL that seem "fake" to us by seeking a "more free" or "less constrained" virtual world? I'm not sure this is the case.