Yeah. It's... creepy, really, to be in a slightly crowded area (5-6 people) and see most of them just... standing there, looking in random directions. And even though the crowd's supposed to be smarter on 2L than on places like There, I still saw my share of dorkageness.
This makes me wonder about an aspect of electronic socialization that Neal Stephenson brushed on in Snow Crash. One of the things I've always found interesting, in one direction or another, about MU*s is that, while presenting a physical space, they largely strip away all the kinesic elements of social interaction. (What's evolved in the place of that highly complex dance is a mix of complex poses and sketched allusions to real gestures -- a mix that changes from place to place and time to time. I stopped MUCKing for a few years, and when I returned, felt that the rituals had changed significantly.) I sometimes get antsy in social situations, trying to place my body in a way that's neither intrusively close or too-coolly distant. In the brief experience I've had with graphical MMORPGs in the past, I've found myself, absurdly, anxious about trying to do the same thing in digital space, but I got the impression most people didn't bother. Those were "work" games where the interaction was driven by trade and group-formation; do people in a "social" game like Second Life pay more attention to kinesics?
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Date: 2005-03-15 05:06 am (UTC)This makes me wonder about an aspect of electronic socialization that Neal Stephenson brushed on in Snow Crash. One of the things I've always found interesting, in one direction or another, about MU*s is that, while presenting a physical space, they largely strip away all the kinesic elements of social interaction. (What's evolved in the place of that highly complex dance is a mix of complex poses and sketched allusions to real gestures -- a mix that changes from place to place and time to time. I stopped MUCKing for a few years, and when I returned, felt that the rituals had changed significantly.) I sometimes get antsy in social situations, trying to place my body in a way that's neither intrusively close or too-coolly distant. In the brief experience I've had with graphical MMORPGs in the past, I've found myself, absurdly, anxious about trying to do the same thing in digital space, but I got the impression most people didn't bother. Those were "work" games where the interaction was driven by trade and group-formation; do people in a "social" game like Second Life pay more attention to kinesics?
Also, good morning, tasty Mooncat.
Good morning to you, pretty Spider. :)