Somewhat disingenuous of you to accuse me of bias no? In fact I would categorize such a statement as belonging to the category of a religious doctrine. You seem to have decided to categorically reject opposing viewpoints rather than defend your own.

As for that rubbish about the sun rising and setting: I’m not sure I follow your point, but I should point out that there is a difference between mere facts, such as electronic learning; and the arts, who wouldn’t prefer a live concert to a cd? “Live” music is not live on Second Life, its like listening to the radio.

Oh, and what, pray is the difference between a reviewer and a critic? Its irrelevant as you called me a reviewer, not a critic, in your first comment but I’d be interested in hearing the difference. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines them as materially the same thing.

That is the kernel of the whole dispute, it is not a dispute about Second Life per se but rather a dispute about ontology, the nature of being.

It is my contention that the “being-ness” of Second Life is deficient because it is not real, or tangible or actual. It is ephemera. Nothing in Second Life exists whatsoever. It is all fiction. All fiction is nothing more than reality seen through a scanner darkly and not real.

As for your assertion about porn? Well, let me just say that if you want to hurl insults at me rather than take apart my argument, fine; but let me remind everyone that empty vessels make the most noise.

He defended his point but I do not think he tore into me at all. I maintain my original stance. Slacker is a critic and not a reviewer. There is a difference you know. If Slacker did indeed spend four weeks on the grid and was unable to find anything more worthwhile than porn and perverts then I take say he wasn’t looking for anything else. If you look for the negative and expect the negative then all you will ever find is the negative. If you cannot separate the wheat from the chaff then how do you make your way through life? The world is a shallow place if you never delve beyond the obvious then your existence is pretty pale. The point of reviewing something is presenting an unbiased exposition so that people can make up their own minds. If you want to be critical that’s fine too, just call it a critique and not a review.

“Live music, Lectures and Classes are pointless unless they are real as the goodness of these things is wrapped up in their intense lucid actuality.”

You’re joking right? Let me guess you also don’t believe the sun has risen simply because it is daytime? So all the people earning their degree via an online educational institutions are what, just wasting their time? Whatever worth is taken from any lecture, class, concert or demonstration is what you gain from it. If you are determined to believe that you gain nothing from online instruction or from a virtual class room environment then you will never prosper from the growing trend of distance learning. If I learn how to make a paper airplane from a lecture and demo in Second Life that does not invalidate the data I received. That paper air plane still flies. If I attend a history lecture on the Crusades the knowledge I take away is no less than if I sat in a classroom listening to a professor speak from 20ft away. I admit that I would not want to take a massage class or a dance class in SL, but you may not disregard virtual education tools without painting yourself to be completely closed minded.

http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Institutions_and_Organizations_in_SL#UNIVERSITIES.2C_COLLEGES_.26_SCHOOLS

Those rotating boxes are the lowest common denominator of guerilla sales. No wonder they are all that was noted or noticed. You did research right? I mean you opened up google and did a search on companies actually using Second Life or maintaining a presence in Second Life right? As for the economy well I am not going to point out that the Second Life housing market is in much better shape than the current issues caused by sub prime lending.
I really didn’t intend to get drawn into an argument about this. I even made a resolution to not give a rusty rat’s ass about what critics of SL think or print. If they do not spend any more time in SL that is great because that means there is one less judgmental ass I have to deal with on the grid. But Martha’s comment sort of pissed me off. Aggressive I may have been but none of the other.

I will continue to enjoy Second Life so it is moot. I will continue listening to live performers in Dublin, Ireland (I am on the west coast of the U.S.). I will continue to support programs like Relay for Life in SL. I will also continue to make friends enjoy their company and yeah be a total perv now and then.

There are none so blind as those who will not see.

The game sound juvenile, so it should be a hit. I like the part about the money. It is virtual central banking. It now liberates the central banks from the cost of paper and ink! Can massive inflation be far behind? This may be the only aspect of the game worth watching. It is also a bureaucrat’s dream come true: total wage and price control without the possibility of a black market. Do these characters pay any taxes?

In addition to the crusades, the more recent fads would be the dot com bubble (this internet thing is going to be big! How can we lose? It will never end?) and the on going sub-prime mortgage mess.

At least the crusades had the aegis of the Pope. The sub-prime disaster is only the fault of the politicians coupled with the stupidity of the bankers. The dot com, or as one called it, the dot con, fad was brains of the perfidious coupled with the greed of the stupid.

I think you are being too hard on the game’s tendency to have bodies appear sans clothes. I am not sure it is a bug. It could be the real draw of the game. Perhaps I should add puerile and salacious to juvenile.

A. It is all factually accurate.

B. I don’t play up the adult aspect, I present it commensurate with the level of adultness present on the grid.

C. Attacking my eloquence is so puerile I’m not even going to comment on it

D. My powers of observation have nothing whatever to do with ability to control the navigation system. The tutorials are not at fault, what is at fault is the design-engineering.

Paragraph 2:

A. No they aren’t I have a top of the line Cable link and I have tried Second Life even in off-peak hours for my cable provider.

B. Yes, I am, once everything is downloaded interaction is smooth between 15 and 20 f.p.s. unless there are too many complex objects nearby.

C. Based on my own considerable technical knowledge I would suggest that the latency issues are related to the fact that there is usually not enough bandwidth on the public internet for n’th generation applications.

Paragraph 3

A. In all the time that I spent on the grid I noticed none of these. Doubtless they exist, but this does not address the fact that these things are not actually real. Live music, Lectures and Classes are pointless unless they are real as the goodness of these things is wrapped up in their intense lucid actuality.

B. I spent about four weeks on the grid.

C. The marketing potential for tech oriented businesses is irrelevant, like all reviews this review is from a perspective, in my case I have tried to represent things from the perspective of an intelligent average person.

D. I think that I did actually address the marketing potential rather indirectly, I mentioned “obnoxious rotating cubical advertisements” and discussed the disaster-in-the-making economy in depth.

E. Yes I can. The Crusades were a massive popular delusion that lasted for years.

Your latency issues were probably on your end. Are you running a system capable of handling SL? They are extremely up front with their tech specs. Also, do not forget that many Cable/DSL services now seem to have several levels of bandwidth use. Do you have a connection and a graphics package that handle the amount of information that SL is sending out?

The most annoying thing about your review is that you have completely left out the chances to listen to live music, lectures and classes. You obviously spent a minimum amount of time on the grid without bothering to get to know anyone or delve into the marketing potential for tech oriented business. Since the grid has been active for a little over four years I really don’t think you can call it a “craze”

Spend more time in SL, you might change your tune.