I’d like to think it is possible. What a wonderful way to utilize that oh so amazing invention called the internet? Isn’t that a beautiful sentiment; two people finding each other online and each supplying the missing piece to the other? Seriously, what if it really is possible to meet someone in a game and then find out they are exactly what you needed? So many people need that. Second Life is a world where your avatar is who you want it to be. You can look any way you want to look, be any size you want to be, and act any way you want to act (within the constraints of the rules of Linden Labs and the sim you are in, of course). The idea that all of this is possible is indeed a wonderful one.
But there is a flipside to this wonderful fantasy world. The people that come into this game to try and find what they are missing sometimes get hurt. Their real life feelings get involved, and if the person they thought was their everything turned out to be some @$$hole who just likes to toy with people they are crushed. This person who genuinely needed someone to be there for them ends up in an enormous amount of pain. Before I started playing online games I was under the naïve assumption that all people were inherently good. But, after seeing that very scene play out over and over I realize that people are actually jerks if you can’t see them. They think that since they are sitting behind a computer screen they can do whatever they want without consequences. What a selfish way to think. The ‘avatar’ you are messing with is actually a real person with real feelings.
I suppose the purpose of this particular blog (rant) is to just pose this challenge: When you are online and you are playing with someone on a regular basis for a while keep in mind they are actually a human being, and they do have feelings. No matter how much you try there is going to be some transference from your online life to your real life. Try not to crush anyone in your quest to be the baddest there is, or even in your quest to just have a good time.
