The Fort Worth Weekly isn’t a publication I generally read. This is no disrespect to the publication, it’s just that it’s not on my radar. However this week’s edition has caught my eye because it has a feature about Matthew Broyles, a singer songwriter who performs in Second Life : Second Life’s a Stage. The tag line is also eye catching : Real-world performers are making real-world money in virtual reality.
The article makes one or two faux pas’ in the eyes of some parts of the Second Life community, the first is with calling Second Life a game :
Broyles and the virtual concertgoers are part of an elaborate computer game. In Second Life, their avatars are human-looking, and they interact across detailed replicas of real-world places like New York City and Chicago. Unlike most computer games, which emphasize fantasy universes and defeating opponents, Second Life is for folks seeking to re-create everyday experiences via virtual reality, including music concerts.
Personally I think people take the “Second Life is not a game” meme a bit too literally and it’s really not worth getting your knickers in a twist over, but hey that’s me. The more important part of that quote is pointing out that Second Life allows people to re-create everyday experiences via virtual reality, including music concerts. That’s the beauty of a user created virtual world.
The second part where the article rubs people up the wrong way is actually based on a quote from Matthew Broyles and again I don’t think this is worth getting your knickers in a twist over :
Broyles, who also performs in the hillbilly hip-hop outfit Shotgun Friday, said most of his friends dismiss his virtual pursuit as frivolous, but he’s quick to remind them that behind every “pixel person” is a real person.
“A lot of them are shut-ins, disabled, or otherwise unable to leave the house and see gigs,” Broyles said. “So I’m performing for people who aren’t ordinarily able to see shows. I find they are more appreciative than some bar crowds who are there to drink and make out.”
Really, all we’re seeing there is that Matthew points out there is a real person behind the avatar and that some people who enjoy the virtual world experience would struggle to see gigs outside of a virtual world due to personal circumstances. Again this is one of the beauties of virtual worlds. One use case cited for the more immersive future is the ability to see music concerts from remote locations. Obviously the idea is for the attendance to be far larger than Second Life can manage, but Second Life is already delivering this use case.
Matthew Broyles is sometimes joined by Beth Odets-Brown and Beth explains in the article how she performs for private gigs and virtual weddings. There’s also interesting commentary from Ursula Cinquetti, who explains that she likes to attend concerts in Second Life because she’s an introvert in real life and Second Life allows her to explore experiences that she would be uncomfortable doing so outside of the virtual world.
This really is a positive piece and raises use cases for Second Life that are so often overlooked. The more sterotypical view of Second Life comes in the form of an article on Kotaku by Patricia Hernandez : I Was Wrong About The Sims :
I knew it was a popular series. But for whatever reason, I’d just never played it..
…okay. Maybe not “for whatever reason.” There’s an actual reason, I’m just ashamed to admit it. I avoided The Sims purely because of the stigma I always associated with it. Growing up, I dismissed The Sims as some sort of “girl game” that I wouldn’t be caught dead playing. Or worse, I considered it something that only “weirdos” who liked things like Second Life would play.
This is the sort of thing that makes me groan inwardly and outwardly to be honest. Second Life does have an image problem, we all know that, but so does The Sims. Yet if people spend any reasonable amount of time in either experience they should be able to figure out that there’s far more to them than the sterotypes suggest.
If people were to experience virtual music, art, support groups, communities, charity drives, fantasy adventure and Orcs in Second Life they’d realise that just like real life, Second Life is inhabited by a wide variety of people with a wide variety of interests. Obviously we don’t get so many Orcs in real life but do not underestimate the importance of Orcs in virtual reality!
Second Life has the advantage that people can create their own experiences, either through their own creative skills or those of other residents who create the tools, props and items to create something in their own vision, that’s the beauty of Second Life and that’s why Second Life is not a game of course. Second Life is many things to many people.
The experiences of Matthew Broyles and Beth Odets-Brown highlight that Second Life has far more going for it than many realise, but will those who have shut their eyes and ears to the possibilities within Second Life ever realise that or will they still rent-a-quote along the lines of “Second Life? Is that still around?”