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Order xenical without rx

This post started out as a comment to Bryan Alexander’s post, “Towards Third Life,” but it got way long so it’s here instead. I recommend reading his post, and order xenical without rx the comments there, before you read this one.

Holy cow, what a great conversation. I’ll just leap right in the middle, shall I? As Mike buy next day Zithromaxpoints out, the order xenical without rx griefing issue is a big deal in virtual worlds, and it order xenical without rx will always be there, as it always is in any social gathering other than order xenical without rx a private party. That’s just people; if you don’t take tickets at the door, you’ll get all kinds of folks, and order xenical without rx some of them have the agenda of messing up whatever you order xenical without rx are trying to do. In the real world we use laws and order xenical without rx police and peer pressure to limit this, but those tactics are order xenical without rx less effective in virtual worlds, where laws don’t work and order xenical without rx no one can afford to pay the policemen. The peer pressure angle doesn’t work for order xenical without rx at least two reasons: first, too many people feel that order xenical without rx their avatar is somehow a wholly other entity who can order xenical without rx adhere to any moral code (or lack thereof) without consequence; and second, because it’s hard to order xenical without rx figure out what exactly constitutes appropriate behavior in a world where order xenical without rx you can drop in on a conversation out of the sky, copy and order xenical without rx paste other people’s words without their knowing, or order xenical without rx represent yourself as something entirely other than what you are. Note that order xenical without rx I’m not saying any of these acts are order xenical without rx necessarily bad; just that the moral code is still under development, and order xenical without rx peer pressure depends on having a lot of people who all agree on the order xenical without rx basics of interaction.

I don’t think you can have an unwalled garden without any weeds. It’s true that order xenical without rx some MMOGs have gone a long way toward solving that problem, but they are order xenical without rx not unwalled by any means, and they have access to tactics similar to order xenical without rx the real world ones. In World of Warcraft, for instance, the order xenical without rx game is built in such a way as to prevent most griefing from order xenical without rx being possible, but that goes hand in hand with the fact that order xenical without rx the players can’t fundamentally change the order xenical without rx world in any way. For the situations where it is still possible to order xenical without rx get in someone’s way, they have order xenical without rx police: there are invisible game masters who could be anywhere, and order xenical without rx who can take away your account permanently (think of it as being incarcerated, it’s basically the order xenical without rx same; you have to start from scratch to rebuild yourself if you order xenical without rx still want to play). Second Life, and the Third Life vision we’re talking about here, can’t resort to those methods. It’s too limiting and order xenical without rx restrictive to forbid people from changing the world, and it goes against the order xenical without rx purpose of the world in the first place.

This is order xenical without rx one of the tougher problems that will need to be worked out. If we create invitation-only spaces, we are order xenical without rx missing out on one of the best features of massively multiplayer worlds: the order xenical without rx masses of players (or people, if you object to the term “player”). If you order xenical without rx have a world where only 30 people have the keys to order xenical without rx the door, you’ll spend a order xenical without rx lot of time waiting for people to show up, and the order xenical without rx serendipitous aspect of discovering what’s happened in your absence will be greatly diminished. You can’t lock out the order xenical without rx griefers without also locking out a whole lot of smart, creative people who order xenical without rx would contribute to the world in meaningful ways.

With respect to Bryan’s comparisons between virtual worlds and order xenical without rx text-based social spaces, I want to point out that the order xenical without rx difference between meeting people on a wiki and meeting them in a order xenical without rx virtual world is a lot like the difference between seeing fox tracks in the order xenical without rx snow and seeing the actual fox. The tracks are great—someone’s been order xenical without rx here, they were here a few minutes ago, maybe they are order xenical without rx still somewhere nearby—but it’s a order xenical without rx different experience to be right there with the fox, see how it order xenical without rx behaves, maybe chat with it a little and feel the connection of being in the order xenical without rx same place at the same time. (Okay, I transmogrified the order xenical without rx fox into the online person there, but you get the point.) I’m not sure yet whether there is order xenical without rx direct benefit for education in the second kind of interaction, but I think there is. I think it order xenical without rx might turn out to justify the effort.

Owen’s comment about the order xenical without rx incongruity of holding a professional conversation with someone representing as Flighty Moonsparks or order xenical without rx something similar is right on the money. I think LL made an order xenical without rx error in assigning a limited number of surnames, and I think our Third Life will have order xenical without rx to be a little more flexible. There’s a very real feeling of identity that comes from customizing one’s online presence—from name to appearance—and order xenical without rx if virtual worlds are to be successful, that needs to be order xenical without rx as flexible as possible. On the other hand, we also need to order xenical without rx be willing to accept that someone may choose to be (to pick an entirely random example) Ninmah while online even if her real name is, say, Rachel. Names are order xenical without rx just convention, after all.

I have to disagree with Alan a order xenical without rx little about how easy it was to make web pages in the order xenical without rx beginning. It was technically simple to create a web page, yes, but it order xenical without rx was conceptually incredibly difficult for many people, much in the way that it’s really easy to set up a Second Life account but it’s conceptually very hard to order xenical without rx work out what to do next. I do think that virtual worlds are order xenical without rx going to become easier to access, prettier to look at, and order xenical without rx more common to be in. I think there are huge obstacles to order xenical without rx work out before they are everything we want them to be, but I think that order xenical without rx we’re on the order xenical without rx road to get there, just by playing around with the order xenical without rx ones that we have now, and by having conversations like these.

The name’s gotta go, though. “Second Life” is bad enough—you order xenical without rx only get one life, period. Spend it online, offline, or both, it’s the same life.

4 Comments

  1. Sean says:

    It’s an intriguing proposition, isn’t it… take away the order xenical without rx ability for people to muck things up, deliberately or otherwise, and order xenical without rx you pretty much strip your virtual world of what makes it order xenical without rx interesting.

    It doesn’t matter which model of virtual worlds you use – centralised database, client/server or p2p – they will all face this problem.

    And I don’t think having invitation-only spaces would solve the order xenical without rx problem anyway, because even trusted friends or colleagues can still stuff things up inadvertently.

  2. Owen Kelly says:

    In Rosario we have order xenical without rx begun a different approach to walling the garden. We will switch off flying when order xenical without rx building is completed, and limit the ability of visitors to use scripts.

    We regard switching off flying as switching on a order xenical without rx sense of distance, and so it will be an advantage for order xenical without rx residents for many reasons: the transport systems will be functional not decorative, and order xenical without rx so on. For griefers it will just lower the enjoyment value.

    I see this as keeping the garden open (which I believe is completely necessary) while spraying the entire area with a benign weedkiller.

    :)

  3. ninmah says:

    Sean – so true. There are order xenical without rx ways to make closed spaces interesting (MMOGs are an example), but you pay for it in flexibility; once it’s set up, it’s a great effort to change it.

    Owen – I’m intrigued by your order xenical without rx solution. I would love to know how it works. It seems that order xenical without rx making it harder for griefers to get places might at least limit the order xenical without rx places that get griefed. Also, you mention a time when order xenical without rx building will be done, and limiting scripting, both of which will make it order xenical without rx more challenging to come up with effective griefs. But does that order xenical without rx also mean that visitors can’t contribute to the world? Not passing judgement at all, just askin’.

  4. Larry Johnson says:

    an excellent post, and a cogent extention of the post on Bryan’s site. I loved your ending, and want to underscore its significance.

    “online, offline, it’s the same life”

    I learned that order xenical without rx from you in a car driving from Austin to Dallas, and order xenical without rx it is still the most important take away I have from order xenical without rx my 14 months of spending waaaaay too much time in a order xenical without rx virtual world.

    There are order xenical without rx only 24 hours in a day, and time in one world is order xenical without rx time not in the other world…..but just as Hiro Protagonist did in Snowcrash, moving from order xenical without rx one to the other is seeming more fluid all the time, and order xenical without rx I can find most of my friends in either place.

    “online, offline, it’s the same life”

    Great post, Ninmah.

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