If the tabloid press had their way, everyone would believe that Second Life is only good for making you neglect your children and for finding someone married to run off with. Fortunately, the residents of Second Life won’t sit back and let stories like that be the norm.
As well as its huge educational value (dozens of universities have in world campuses now), Second Life has a thriving community of writers and this community continues to grow in size and talent! Whether it’s theatre, poetry or prose you enjoy, there are events going on in world that will be right up your street.
Take poetry, for example, a genre often regarded as inaccessible to many people. Yet, in Second Life, people from all walks of life attend events to read their work at the open mic or simply to listen and enjoy the work of others. Such opportunities simply do not exist for everyone in real life. The Blue Angel (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Windermere/223/192/34), owned by Persephone Phoenix, has been running a regular open microphone poetry event faithfully every Sunday since 2006, in which anyone is invited to read absolutely any type of poetry. Skylar Smythe has been running ‘Some Like it Hot,’ an erotic poetry event at various locations for well over a year. The Hotel Chelsea (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lanestris/20/122/132) held a huge poetry read for its unofficial opening and this was covered by the New York Times journalist, Saki Knafo. And more recently, Hemingways (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Viana%20Islands%20EE/228/31/1500) opened its doors as a live music and spoken word venue by holding an informal open mic poetry slam. And these are just a handful of the dozens of events taking place every single week.
The options are there for the prose writers too, thanks to Alas Zerbino’s weekly Writers Symposium and new Hemingway’s event, ‘Anything Goes Prose,’ to name just a couple.
And the opportunities for those interested in either watching or taking part in the production of theatre are countless. How often can the average working class people afford to go to the theatre in real life? Not very often. Yet, in Second Life, people can enjoy all the creativity of the theatre from their own home. More recent productions in world have included Hypatia of Alexandria, a play in sonnets by Skylar Smythe and I Gave at the Office, a farce written and directed by Lailu Loon.
It astounds me when people who have never once taken part in Second Life refer to it as ‘a waste of time’. Interestingly, in my experience, the people who do so are those who choose instead to pass away their hours in front of some hideously predictable reality TV show. Because that, of course, is a wonderful use of time. Events like this are a magnificent showcase for the talent already operating within Second Life and go to prove that, contrary to the misconception that Second Life is full of hermits and nymphomaniacs, there is real creative value to this virtual world.
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Dousa Dragonash
True! I also help run a spoken word venue called O’Casey’s, places like the ones mentioned in the article bring a lot of colour and worth to Second Life.
October 2, 2009 | 6:53 am
I take you point about people who feel fine criticizing folks who take part in Second Life as “wasting time.” You might like to take a peek at an article I wrote for the Alphaville Herald last year entitled “Get A Life: Any Ideas Which One?” http://foo.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2008/12/oped-get-a-life-any-ideas-which-one.html
Trying to decide what is and what isn’t “a waste of time” is ultimately pointless – it all depends on the individual, not the pastime itself.
October 4, 2009 | 11:02 pm