Second Life
Doug
My friend, Chad Nuss, recently entered the blogosphere and posted some interesting thoughts on the cultural phenomenon of on-line gaming and viritual Internet interaction. He mentions an article in the Wall Street Journal that recently reported the impact these virtual realities are having on our society. The article went on to say that there are now around 30 million people involved in on-line gaming within virtual worlds. One such site called Second Life boasts over 8 million registered users.
Chad says,
Second Life allows users to enter into a virtual world where they can create and control an online personality. Many of the features of Second Life mirror the characterisitics of real life. The article notes that within Second Life users can get jobs, attend concerts, own pets, pay mortgages, or any number of other activities experienced in reality. Second Life users can form long-term friendships and enjoy dating relationships with other users. In fact, as the article reports, it is common to find users getting married, divorced, and engaging in cyber sex.
Why are so many people seeking out these virtual worlds through on-line gaming? Chad shares this important incite:
Written by Doug Wolter - Visit WebsiteOur love for online gaming reveals to us our inherent longing for the Garden. Virtual worlds imitate the purity of life before the Fall by pretending to remove the immediate consequences of sin. However, we must remember we will not find an ideal world apart from the crucifixion. The cross guarantees for us a coming new world removed of every hint of sin. (Rom 8:18-30) In the meantime, everything we touch will continue to be affected by sin–even it is by the click of a mouse.
August 26th, 2007 at 12:19 am
LMAO.
“Our love for online gaming reveals to us our inherent longing for the Garden.”
Let me see, we have SLex. Most are not very happy with gambling being abolished. I’m not in there for God’s sake, but for mine. It’s a world without limits, especially no ‘moral’ ones. You can experiment to your liking, be it with gender or with scripting or with social interaction, or with design, or with lack of gravity or with…
Those virtual worlds are about creativity, exploring – others and yourself -, creating, sharing, experiencing, … but, luckily, not about God.
We have Linden Gods, not Christian Gods. We don’t need Him. Really. Please! I think he has still a mess to clean up in First Life, before He starts to interfere in Second.
If Second Life were the Garden of Eden, Eve would have never been kicked out. She would be making RL money out of it though. =d
August 26th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Vint,
Thank you for your response. I appreciate your honesty. Although it’s hard to dialogue in this context I did have a few questions for you. You mentioned that in Second Life there are no limits and no morality. Would you agree then that the world we live in has moral limits? If so, where did they come from? You also mentioned how this world (First Life as you put it) is messed up and that God needs to clean it up. How did this mess start and how is God responsible for it? Lastly, I wanted to ask you, What are you pursuing in Second Life, and have you attained it? It seems like the virtual world is an escape from this world we live in. All people seek happiness. And all of us long to to live in a world that gives us freedom from what burdens our souls. So has Second Life satisfied your deepest longings or left you empty and wanting?
August 27th, 2007 at 12:36 am
If god is almighty and has made man then each and ever fault of man is ultimately gods fault.
If god wanted to end suffering, he (or she) could. He (or she) doesn’t do it. Instead he (…) made us to suffer, which proves that he’s quite a sadistic person.
I have no respect whatsoever for an entity with such an inherent character flaw. Neither should anyone.
August 27th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Anonymous,
You sound as if you have been very hurt by a Christian or Christians in the past. Am I correct? Christians are people, just like you, far from perfect. The fact that God has given you an opportunity (just as He did to Adam and Eve) to seek Him is proof that He loves you, whether you choose to recognize that or not. He is perfect, and you can find rest in Him just as I have. I am not perfect, but my perfect peace and satisfaction come from Him – and now my suffering only works for greater joy and satisfaction God. (Rom. 8:28) He is mighty to save, if you will let Him. I love you where you are at, even if you feel Christians are jerks. GOD’S love is so amazing.
August 27th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Doug,
it is wrong view on second life and virtual worlds as on substitution and/or compensation for something we miss in so-called first life. Though I will agree that some people are doing that, it is just a minority of residents. And there is nothing inherently wrong or sinfull from any perspective one can take (I believe your and mine are very different). Don’t blame the tool for what has been done.
August 27th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Would you agree then that the world we live in has moral limits?
No, but the societies we live in have. Where to ‘moral limits’ are an average of it’s members. (And the member’s morals on their part, or often based on the society’s morals.)
I say Second Life has no morals, as it’s society is that large and deverged, so that it’s impossible to take an average. Add to that that society has no way to control and/or punish behaviour that goes against it’s morals – you can just create another account with another name – or that some people just get into Second Life with the aim to do bad things (be it out of greed or just for ‘kicks’), I think we will never have an ‘average moral’. And thus no moral at all. If there is any, it is each seperated Second Life citizen, and it’s based on his First Life moral with a bit adjustements towards the virtual world (which most of the time means moral is more freely then in First Life).
You also mentioned how this world (First Life as you put it) is messed up and that God needs to clean it up. How did this mess start and how is God responsible for it?
How did this mess start: probably when on the sixth day (if I remember correctly?) he created man. As for the responsability for this mess: just look at what people do and have done in His (be it that he is catholic, muslim, or whatever) name. God was just an excuse, created for people to suppress, to wage war, to keep people silent, to stop us from thinking or to not needing to think. To not have to explain our behaviour. To not need to take responsability. To not have to think about what makes us ‘man’ not ‘animal’. If there is any such thing. I’m sorry, that I have to conclude, that over the thousand of years, Gods did mankind more bad then they did good. So we are responsible for creating God and the mess.
What are you pursuing in Second Life, and have you attained it? So has Second Life satisfied your deepest longings or left you empty and wanting?
That’s a very personal question, that I would probably not even answer on my own blog. What I am pursuing? Partly it is the exploring I wrote about earlier. The new things, the discovering, … Also there are a lot of interesting people on it. Yes I know, there are also a lot of interesting people in First Life, but as an example: recently someone asked me if we would have talked if we were sitting next to eachother in a bar. The conclusion was: ‘No. Probably not. As we would not have had – at first glance – anything in common to start conversation on.’ And then there is the creating part. There is an enormous freedom to create. Be it personal stuff, or helping to shape ‘a world’ as we would like the world to be. But even with that, we realise it is a virtual world. In my Second Life, guns are highly encouraged, as you can not kill anyone. In my First Life, I would not even want to own one. As First Life, it’s a combination of both, and although they do sometimes are comparable or they communicate, my deepest RL (real life, first life) longings still differ from my deepest SL longings. And both lifes leave me empty and wandering sometimes. Yet I prefer to think about that emptyness, in stead of filling it up with a deity solely created for that purpose.
August 27th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Vint,
I am writing to let you know that I am still thinking through your response to my article on Second Life. I wanted to take the time to make sure I understand where you are coming from.
I agree with many of the responses. If God still has a mess to clean up in this First Life, if as Anonymous says “every fault of man’s is ultimately God’s fault” and God has chosen not to stop our suffering, if God is just a made-up concept in the mind of man used to fulfill up some inner emptiness, then I would not want anything to do with him either. I would actually be pretty ticked off at him…or I would just ignore him altogether.
When I think about these descriptions of God, I would have to agree with you by asking the questions: Why would anyone want to worship a god like this? Why worship a god that can’t clean up the mess of this world? Why worship a god that only serves to fulfill my needs? Why worship a god used to serve our purposes? Obviously, this god is a very weak, worthless, pitiful, small god used to only make us feel better about ourselves or to help acheive our own personal ends.
Unfortunately, this is not the God found in the Bible. This is not the Jesus Christ of the New Testament. So, you are assuming many things about the Christian god that are not accurate to what the Bible describes. Whether you agree with what the Bible teaches or not, I would ask that you first learn what the Bible says about God before you attempt to diagnose what it is about this Christian god you don’t like or want. Until this happens, we will continue to talk passed each other because we are thinking and talking about completely different conceptions about God.
August 27th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
This vision of god reminds me of a vision of the first matrix (the scent when Morpheus is tied to the chair, Mr. Smith talking his life story)… why first matrix failed when everything was perfect? It was humans that refuse the system. Simple as that.
August 28th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Mark,
Whether Anonymous has been hurt by a Christian is irrelevant to his or her logic: an omnipotent and omniscient god that creates a universe has responsibility for everything that happens there… and “free will” isn’t a valid counterargument: if there is such a god, none of us has free will.
August 28th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
I dont consider myself a religious person, but what is my RL’s philosophy of life is of no significance here. Nevertheless I do reckon that religion was/is a major building stone of our actual societies.
Besides the atrocities done in Gods name, and where Vint refers here to, religion also has brought good things to humanity.
I am thinking of schools, hospitals, patronising the arts,..
Though, I better rephrase this: it brought good things via people who had a humanistic view on it.
By people who really applied what e.g. Jezus showed regarding taking care of others, sharing etc..
In fact, for what I recall of it, he focused on that, He didnt judge that much about “moral” issues.. didnt he let prostitutes and other “sinners” join Him?
Yet, many times, God and religion merely serves the benefits of the ones who have the power. And it is here that the concept of sin comes in.
It is used to scare people. To deprive them of a better future, heaven, whatever they long for …
To make them walk between the lines so that the rulers can keep enjoying their privileges.. Religion, morality and sin as a tool of mass control..
Now of course, in real life we need some agreements about conduct, in order to coexist with our fellow humans.
It is the NOT living according to the laws of the jungle that seperates us humans from the animal world.
So a set of rules are needed to run a community.And in old times these were based on religion, or better, rules of conduct were implemented into religious text..
Because that was what people feared the most; the wrath of God
However, SL is a different kind of society.. a different kind of world. Call it even Utopia if you want.
But the thing is, we are there just because it gives us a (virtual) way to be different. To do things,unleashed from the conventions that restrict us in daily life..
Maybe for some this may lead to e.g. electronic promiscuity, or other activities that common society in RL considers to be vices, but many also experience a big creative drive in SL.
Or engage in a lot more social contacts then in the real world. And I am referring to talking, exchanging ideas, opinions,… here.
Why? Just because of the lack of all these restrictions that we experience during our day-today worries. Be these restrictions legal, moral, or just common sence..
Its in a garden, in the open, that flowers bloom, not in the forbidding enclosure of a cellar.
If we start implementing all our regular codes of behaviour into SL, making it a mirror world, just a copy/paste version of real life, will it still be a 2nd life then? What will be the use of it?
Of course one can reply: yes, why do you need Second Life? Why do you want to escape of the real world?
But, doesnt the same question go for a lot of activities? Travelling, going to the movies, reading a book, even the Bible.. all we do out of a desire for something better…
Longing is of Human Nature..
And, just for curiosity, a last question: what is sin?
Is it going to a foreign country, suppress and kill, all on the pretext of protecting liberty, civilisation and moral values (based on a twisted interpretation of the Word) ; (In God We Trust..,remember), and to continue running petrol guzzling SUV’s..??
Or is it, in a phantasy world, exercise free will and enjoying the pleasures of life, both gifts that God supposedly granted us???
August 28th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Unfortunately, this is not the God found in the Bible. This is not the Jesus Christ of the New Testament. So, you are assuming many things about the Christian god that are not accurate to what the Bible describes. Whether you agree with what the Bible teaches or not, I would ask that you first learn what the Bible says about God before you attempt to diagnose what it is about this Christian god you don’t like or want. Until this happens, we will continue to talk passed each other because we are thinking and talking about completely different conceptions about God.
Saltandlightlbc, under the motto ‘know what finds itself at the base of your cultural inheritance and you society’ I did read the complete bible (Dutch translation, I must admit) at age 14. Yet I think a God is not defined in theory, in a book, but by the acts that are done in his name. A god can never be something static, as it changes as the people’s perspective on the deity changes. So I know what he is according to the bible – my interpretation of that, and I’m sure there are many, according to whom thought you the bible -, and I dare say there is not one God, not even one catholic God, there are as many as people believing in/creating Him/Her.
Shortly put: I know who he theoretically is, and I still do not ‘want’ him. I do realise that a lot of my society’s (and thus also a lot of my) morals that formed over the years are based on the christian tale, so if it’s any comfort to you: my moral values are still largely based on a story which I do not believe in.
*goes to sit together with Veronique to figure out what sin is* :p
August 29th, 2007 at 4:47 am
Melissa,
I am sorry but your logic, just like mine is not perfect, since you are a finite non-omnipotent being just like me. I think I will go ahead and trust the omnipotent One on this one. He has ALWAYS proved to be faithful to every word He has ever said. I cannot say the same for anyone else.