So, onto my quest to turn around my negative image of Second Life. Right from the very beginning, when I register for Second Life, I am engaging in (using Caillois' term) mimicry. I had to choose a First name and the system will generate a Last name for me. As a Singaporean Chinese, I immediately have to suspend my disbelief (more about that later) and role play as a 'westerner', if you may, even before I started playing the game. Right from the start when I enter the Second Life world, people are just standing around staring at each other. It is as if either talking is taboo or just waiting for someone to break the ice. Being the reserved and shy person that I am, I did not make the initiative to break that ice and I promptly teleported elsewhere. Yes you fly and teleport everywhere. Well, you can walk but flying around is about the only fun thing in SL.
Since exiting that Tutorial Island, I was thrown into another island. I had no idea what to do or where to go.There were quite a few people around again standing and staring into empty spaces, as if doing their virtual meditation. Again no one is talking to one another. Feeling bored, I search for Singapore under locations and ended up at Temasek. I promptly left the place upon arriving. It is a dead town with no one there (maybe more of the fact that I was there at the rush hour of 5am). I searched for Japan under location (for you see I am studying the language right now, so I think I may want to have a space to practice it) and ended up at Tempura Island. I noticed behind the coordinates of that island (every place is an island, hmm interesting dont you think?) had a “mature” behind it. I check my search properties, I have left Mature unchecked. Hmm... is the game trying to tell me something? Anyway I promptly exited that place again.
I ended up at Help! Island. Things get a little interesting here. I was suddenly approached by a female and she start speaking to me a lot. Except that I dont understand her language. After I apologized and inform her that I cant understand her. She replied with a crisp “ You Hair”. I was taking a back. Firstly I was somehow not my avatar but a blob of white smoke. I cant even change my appearance. I was like the Wisp in WC3. After a little exchange, things start to lag badly for me just as I was in conversation with a few others regarding learning of a new language. And then I lagged out.
Moral of the story? Do not bet your chance (Alea? hahaha) at a Second Life with a laggy computer.
Connecting back to the readings, it seems as if mimicry is the predominant form when engaging in a persistent world. It is obvious that I am trying to role play as a habitat of the Second Life world. I will have to add a point to Caillois's mimicry in the importance of suspension of disbelief on the player's (me) part. To mimic and simulate something, one has to let go of the 'present' reality and embrace the 'alternate' reality. I would argue that ilinx is also present as I myself did spin around and fly round and round, not too different from a child spinning around to achieve that dizzy effect.
Two questions for discussion.
1) Should Ilinx be a separate form from the other 3?
2) It seems to be paidia and ludus are treated as mutually exclusive in Caillois's point of view. However I do see paidia in ludus and vice versa, should they be treated as opposite end of a single spectrum or common factor of a larger system?
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