18 posts tagged “web/tech”
Link: Ustream.tv.
All you, all the time. On Web video. Freaky.
This harkens back to the days of Jennicam but it is not necessarily a camera in our bedrooms. It is a camera in our lives.
Link: Twitterati.
All Twitter news, all the time. This is becoming a Twitter Revolution.
Link: The 12-Minute Definitive Guide to Twitter | dev.aol.com.
I think this blog is now becoming my repository for Twitter info interesting things online. Swear I do have interesting things to say myself - just can't think of them for the moment.
Link: Tom Watson: More Twitter Poetry.
I just love Tom Watson's take on Twitter with his Twitter Poetry. Enjoy!
Link: Hacking Twitter for Fun and Profit.
10 Things to Do With Twitter. Hmmm...can I think of more?
Link: The Hyperconnected | TIME.
Twitter is everywhere.
Link: disambiguity - » Ambient Intimacy.
Ooo- I love her term "ambient intimacy." I wish I still had half a brain left post-baby. I'd love to write some of my thoughts about Twitter but they are so fleeting and more visceral.
I'm having a hard time putting into words why I'm so drawn to it. But there is something compelling about being part of an "inner circle" where you are privy to the moment by moment thoughts and actions of others, particularly other people who you are interested in. It is all about belonging and being heard...
OK, I have to preface this rant by saying that I love the concept of virtual worlds & I love gaming. I spent the late 80s/early 90s in MUDs and MOOs; I was a fan & follower of Mark Pesce in the heady days of VRML discussions & I was ready to build my own virtual reality Web site; I've been a sci-fi fan since grade school (Ray Bradbury) and later Neuromancer changed the way I perceived computers and life; I've played video games for eons, starting with Space Invaders and Asteroids; kicked ass and spent all my laundry quarters in college on Gallaga. Love arcades, love Web-based Flash games, so this stuff is not new to me.
Last night I tried out Second Life because I've heard about, read about it in the news, and then someone twittered about it the other day. I downloaded the software, told my husband about it, and thought I'd show him how virtual worlds work. I had picked my basic avatar already - "The Girl Next Door" - and as soon as I arrived, my avatar began forming, naked at first, then jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt appeared on a thin form.
The first thing I did was figure out how to change my appearance. I made my avatar shorter and thicker, darkened her hair and eyes, lightened her skin. As I was doing this, I became aware of a male avatar hovering around me. At first I figured he was new, too, and we were all just fumbling around. But he kept bumping up against my avatar.
I ignored him for a while as I began taking the tests in the orientation level to move forward in the game/world. This guy avatar was still there everywhere I went. I made my avatar walk to the opposite end of the island. He followed. I read through the instructions quickly so I could figure out how to communicate. And the first thing I said on my first day in Second Life was "Buzz off!"
Hey, I lived in the city for 13 years. I can handle assholes who harass me on the street. I've taken self defense classes. I know how to set boundaries. I've been online since 1987 - I know how to "be safe" - and in all the years I've never had any real problems, even when I really put myself and my true identity out there in cyberspace. Of course, back in the early 90s, I was the one advising women to use gender-neutral names and avatars to avoid this very kind of childish bullying from cowardice jerks who get off on being aggressive in virtual worlds because of some deficiency in their real-world life.
So I'm trying to ignore this jerk, and meanwhile my husband is starting to read what the guy is saying to my avatar - to me... - in chat.
"Nice ass. I could F--- your ass all night long."
OK, this is my husband reading what some other guy (I'm assuming it was a guy) was saying to me (right, my avatar that looks more and more like me as I keep altering its appearance). In the real world, my husband would have decked this guy. One quick martial arts move and a broken nose later, this guy would be wimpering for mercy. But here's my husband - who isn't really into the Internet and doesn't understand why people would talk to strangers online much less spend their time frequenting a virtual world - totally helpless as he watches his wife's avatar (in his mind, his wife) getting sexually harassed and practically molested online.
Once I realized ignoring this guy was futile and that my entire first experience on Second Life was quickly going down the toilet, I looked up how to report abuse on the system, found the form, filled it out in graphic detail and submitted it. I had already told the jerk if he kept harassing me, I'd file an abuse report. That did not deter him in the least as his avatar rubbed up against mine, felt her up, chatted obscenities, chased her across the island, stood in her way and blocked her path.
I have to say at no time did I panic or get angry, just mildly annoyed. And in no way am I comparing this form of harassment in any way to the horrible stuff going on with a female blogger right now - real-world harassment - but I'm just sickened that my first experience with Second Life had to be so disgusting. And even more disheartened that it happened in front of my husband who was already thinking this whole Twitter thing was bad and that Second Life could only be worse - much worse.
His greatest fears were realized as he watched some guy feel up his wife. He could not separate avatar from person, virtual from real, because in his mind it was one and the same.
I shut down the game. Now I was angry. Why did this have to happen in front of my husband? If I had tried it out first and it had happened, I'd have reported it and then moved on. I want to try it again. I don't want to give assholes the power to keep women off Second Life by creating a hostile environment for them. But it can be very disempowering to encounter that kind of treatment when you first arrive in a new space, virtual or otherwise.
And I'm ashamed to say that while the harassment was going on, I found myself returning again and again to change my appearance and make my avatar even shorter, wider, cover up more skin with the tshirt, anything to make her appear less attractive, less of a target. I don't think men have any idea what this feels like, what this can do to a person. Even though it is technically "make believe." Or is it?
I'd jump back in the fray without hesitation if it wasn't for my husband's feelings. He is very hurt by what happened - angry, frustrated, confused. And I feel like if I were to go back to the game, he'd feel somehow betrayed by me.
My first time on Second Life sucked, that's for sure. But I really don't want this brief experience last night to define my entire experience with the game - or change my views of virtual worlds.
The irony of all of this is that Friday night I lectured about how the Internet is the same today as it was 12 years ago in many ways. I opened my talk by saying that "The Internet is Like a Gun." Guns aren't inherently bad but there are bad people who use guns in bad ways. The Internet is not inherently bad. But there are bad people who use the cloak of anonymity afforded by the Internet to do bad things. Should this stop us from using it? No, of course not. But does it make you think twice and do the virtual equivalent of looking over your shoulder? Sure. There are bad people out there doing bad things. And last night, I found one of them on Second Life.
Technorati Tags: second life avatar virtual world gaming women harassment
Documentary in the works on Net Neutrality. Worth watching NOW.
