Virtual Communities

[judas69]

As technology becomes more ubiquitous, free time more a luxury and human interaction mediated to an even greater extent as a result, online virtual communities will continue to play a large role in satisfying social and psychological needs of humans around the globe tomorrow, as it does today. Right now for example, there are special groups of individuals who are perminantly confined to their homes due to illness, or some form of physical limitation and really, have little choice but to seek out these virtual communities as a means for interaction, if this is of course something they sincerely desire.

As with everything, there are pros and cons, but I think in this case the pros do outweigh the cons and can literally give these people a new life, one without the excessive cost of transportation and all the prejudice that sometimes follows. As with the game SecondLife, one I highly recommend everyone try out since it is free, it's main mode of transportation is flying. After you've customized your character to look identical to yourself or how you wish you looked, you can break him or her free from the impossible, restraining aspects of physical life and coast off into the sky to begin your journey, finding others to interact with along the way.

One thing that did sort of take me by surprise was how immersed people were and how much they likely treated this world, as their real world. Having now interacted with a number of people, though my exposure was relatively brief, there did appear to be very little separation as they all for the most part, acted very much the same as you would have expected them to in ordinary life.

I was at this night club yesterday (and by the way I'm very new to this game) where I saw this guy wearing wings who basically looked extremely homosexual, so I laughed to myself and moved around to get a good view of the front of his avatar. Oddly though, whenever I moved to go in front of him, he'd quickly move to the side like he was hiding something, and this happened many times before I caught a look. When I finally got in front of him, I saw that he had this large penis sticking out of his pants pointing straight up into the air. I almost died laughing, but he was clearly ashamed by this so, I held back my comments. Maybe he was anticipating an insult from me and was trying to avoid it, who knows.

Another example, the other day I was flying around looking for people and somehow ended up in this guys home, which apparently was off-limits or something. Anyway, so I'm there with my guy (who was wearing a chicken head at the time, and holding a bottle of jack daniels) just looking around at all the porn he had on the walls when he came at me out of nowhere, with a gun he was quickly loading! His name was "pimp" something, and he was calling me names like he was from the hood or something, and this naked girl, who came running out beside him was like, "please don't shoot him, daddy", which was somewhat disturbing in itself. Anyway, he's like "get off my property, bitch!" ..and I was like, "Oh, so this is your house?" ..and he was like, "Well, it's not your house now is it, bitch!". It was hilarious, I was laughing the whole time and he clearly was angered, and although it dawned on me to say "you do know this is just a game, right?" ..I'm sure I would have been shot on the spot right then and there, and I really had no idea what would have happened so, I did what the half-naked black man in chains told me to do, I flew away.

Go download the game, it's free, perhaps we'll all meet in it or something, who knows. I'll stop here with a few questions you guys might want to think about:

Is technology more a force of unification than separation when it comes to human interaction? Can we say more communication in this way is healthier, though it surely restricts us to mere text in some cases, or is physical proximity and contact to another living, breathing human a necessity, even if it's not as frequent when considering basic human needs? Is a virtual community a community at all and if so, to what extent does our technology influence this distinction?

 

[bcmetalforces]

Cool comment on the whole second life thing.
I was involved in an online community for a few years
( www.thepalace.com)..seriously thinking of adding it as a feature to our webspace once it's done instead of the traditional chat. It's not a laggy as second life and has way more options avatar wise. Mind you its not 3d its a 2d virtual chat. There're are some excellent things happening online if you can find people who are just being themselves.

 

[Narziss]

Dear judas69,

"Virtual reality" is not a wonderful alternative to real-life relationships, it is an addictive cybernetic drug that destroys the mind - the cognitive faculty that defines a person as human rather than a brute.

Why do you want to waste your precious time - your life! - masturbating online with virtual faggots? These people are completely sexuo-politically impotent, they don't give a damn about their race, their country, their civilisation, or even the future of their families, because they're more interested in immersing themselves in these insane fantasy worlds than they are in pursuing their own true self-interests as human beings.

The economy has been falling apart in terms of real production rates, machine tools, and infrastructure for the past forty years. What do you know about it? How will you support your VR addiction when economic-moral collapse finally flares in your direction and costs you your job, your future, and possibly your life because the government doesn't work, the utilities don't work, and there's nothing left of any facade of economic relevance in your neighbourhood but Kentucky Frieds and adult video stores?

Find out about the real world. It's far more engaging, invigorating, and joyful than mucking about inside some pathetic nerd's binary-coded jerkoff VR fantasy world. I mean, Jesus, try actually playing Dungeons & Dragons wiuth real people around a real table for a change!

This virtual crap is a tool and nothing else. Anyone spending any significant amount of time in it is living in despair, and does not seriously care about the world or their own place in it. Such people are livestock, waiting to die, and the most interesting thing about them will be the way they die - screaming "Why me? What did I ever do?" no doubt.

Ach!

Try this link to get a handle on what's really going on in the world, and what's worth pursuing - beauty, truth, and goodness, for a start!

Schiller Institute and FIDELIO Magazine Home Page

Narziss, rc
s t o r m f r o n t.org/forum/showthread.php?p=3557925#post3557925

 

[bcmetalforces]

Narziss

Why do you participate in this online community? Probably for the same reasons others go to places like Second Life or even chat rooms. Forums and the like are pretty much the same apart from not being instant.

People need to find others that relate to their interests. That's normal. Sometimes to persue or discuss with others who are interested in the same things i am, i must find them online. This can be for a variety of reasons. Time constraints are one obvious reason. Another would be the lack of others in my physical area that like what i like.

What's so threatening about that? I don't feel any particular need to protect my 'race' or "country' by only interacting with those in the same genetic pool. And if my country can't survive if i interact with people in other countries it doesn't need to survive.

I repeat my question: Why are you here? Isn't it to exchange ideas? maybe to learn about news in our metal community world wide? discuss and explore bands you may not know? It would be the same if you were interested in any other subject.
And it wouldnt necessarily lead to *gasp* homoeroticness - unless, of course you wanted it to

 

[Blowtus]

I find communication in this way extremely valuable. It makes ideas available globally, allows people with similar goals and interests to come together when that may not be practical in 'reality'. I believe it increases the power of individuals with a desire to think.

 

[speed]

This is quite an interesting thread. Can online communities replace real social interaction. Well, I know this community has replaced a large amount of my real-life serious philosophical discussion--much probably to the benefit of those around me, hehe.

Narziss

Why do you participate in this online community? Probably for the same reasons others go to places like Second Life or even chat rooms. Forums and the like are pretty much the same apart from not being instant.

People need to find others that relate to their interests. That's normal. Sometimes to persue or discuss with others who are interested in the same things i am, i must find them online. This can be for a variety of reasons. Time constraints are one obvious reason. Another would be the lack of others in my physical area that like what i like.

What's so threatening about that? I don't feel any particular need to protect my 'race' or "country' by only interacting with those in the same genetic pool. And if my country can't survive if i interact with people in other countries it doesn't need to survive.

I repeat my question: Why are you here? Isn't it to exchange ideas? maybe to learn about news in our metal community world wide? discuss and explore bands you may not know? It would be the same if you were interested in any other subject.
And it wouldnt necessarily lead to *gasp* homoeroticness - unless, of course you wanted it to

I think you're being much too tough on Narziss, and throwing a bunch of other stuff in his face that's unconnected to his post. And I actually have always found it interesting that we have a member of strmfrnt, some jewish and other ethnicity persons around here, and we all sort of get along.

 

[bcmetalforces]

You really think i was hard on him? Hmm i wasn't racist or name calling.
I'm try'n to figure out what you mean?
~laurie

 

[judas69]

It's pretty clear Nariss is just a little bitter about technology, as I find a lot of people today are for many reasons but if not, I ask what else is left? Socialization? Humanity? Productivity? Addiction? I think you're erroneously making technology out to be the bad guy, the scapegoat, and this game out to be a contributing factor in the decline of civilization as you see it, when the reverse is true.

Socialization. Humans need it, though perhaps you're indirectly answering a couple of my questions in your response. Maybe you could clairify your stand a little more and give us something to argue. Again, socialization is necessary and this goes surely without argument, but you could argue however that technology is detrimental at certain extremes, or maybe all together, give it a shot but I think we need more than just an opinion.

Humanity. Well, again if your beef is with humanity, you're shooting the messenger. Maybe, rightfully, you have trouble relating to the lower class in the most general sense, those who care more about the feeling, than the thinking that is required in life; more about their own pleasure over extraneous consequences. Either way, this is humanity and you should include yourself in it, and accept it for what it is with all it's faults, because as distinct as you think you are, you always overlook the obvious in favour of yourself. As mindless as some of these people maybe, what else do you think they should, would be doing, if not playing games? Studying microbiology? People do as people do, and surely follow no script but the one given at birth. Humanity is of course not perfect, and everyone does have the right to their own individual pursuit of happiness, even if it is mindless, simplistic and unbecoming. I should point out however, that games do raise IQ and are a great way to exercise the mind at least in terms of memory, hand eye coordination and fine motor skills.

Productivity. This game, like other hobbies and interests act as motivation to sustain themselves enough to keep playing, and to buy the latest game. A lot of the underlying technology of gaming, is also advanced by gamers who just "waste away their time online". Take the phone, for example. If we didn't have useless mothers chatting it up about their favourite soaps, we would have put limits on accessibility and the developing infrastructure which leads to great advancement in society. Even when you consider gaming in itself, you have to realize and accept that it is not the game that changes the person, it is the person that seeks out, and develops the game. The contrary would be making products no one wants or cares about; tell me how this benefits civilization?

Addiction. Not everyone is an addict in this game, but it is addictive. No one is saying addiction by any stretch of the word is healthy, especially when it's at the expense of family, their career and of course their own physical, mental and social well-being. Again, for whatever reason, in your mind it is acceptable to play D&D (of all the grand ways there is to "waste" ones time) over linking up, using and supporting this great technology; one that allows and encourages your opinions on this forum as mentioned by someone previous.

So in conclusion here, I understand where you're coming from believe me, but I think you're too hard on the negative side because of how this may look at face value, over it's longterm impact on technology and social evolution.

 

[Arthyron]

Is technology more a force of unification than separation when it comes to human interaction? Can we say more communication in this way is healthier, though it surely restricts us to mere text in some cases, or is physical proximity and contact to another living, breathing human a necessity, even if it's not as frequent when considering basic human needs? Is a virtual community a community at all and if so, to what extent does our technology influence this distinction?

I believe this depends on the individual. To some, this technology allows a gathering of like-minded people for the purposes of entertainment and fellowship. To others, it's just another case of techno-babble.

Although, to the former group which benefits by meeting like-minded people, it could also negatively affect them, as it could potentially detract from real life relationships and responsibilities they may have.

I don't think any specific generalized statement can be made about virtual communities aside from "they're interesting, and have the potential to be very very strange."

I believe it is a community, as it fulfills most of the requirements as denoted by the definition of the word "community." It largely depends on what you define as "locality" or "proximity" (as both words figure prominently into the definition of "community"). Is occupying virtual space the same as occupying real space? I believe so. After all our minds themselves are abstract, intangible concepts that give our identities definition, and they themselves occupy no physical space as far as we're aware thus far, so keeping that in mind (bad pun, I'm sorry), I think a virtual space is just as valid as a physical space when it comes to the definition of "community."

 

[Black Core]

ok, I've been a member on many forums and am admin and mod on a few too, played lots of online games and have a few own websites.

My thoughts are this:
Forums, personal webspaces (like Myspace) are a great way to get to know other ppl who share the same interests as yourself. Ppl usually go look for these kind of ppl when there aren't any in there own surroundings. Ppl always feel the need to converse about something they find interesting and if they don't find those ppl in their own neighbourhood, they'll try to find them in other areas like the internet.
In this case I find it very usefull that there are forums, myspace, etc.
Sometimes even ppl are found that do live in your own neighbourhood but you didn't know em because you both have diffrent friends.

There are also a few downsides to all of this. Ppl who like someone else on a forum are often misunderstood because emotions and certain ways of saying something are misinterpreted. Smilies do help to solve this problem but there are never enough smilies as there are ways of saying a sentence. Sarcasm is often mistaken for just trying to be funny while actually it was intended to hurt someone.

Some ppl also try to meet with other ppl and this can indeed be fun but some ppl act diffrently on a forum than in real life. There can be various reasons for this. Appearance is certainly one of them. On a forum you don't show yourself like in real life. Pictures are shown usually but yet, it's not the same.
Besides when you post a pic of yourself, no one here will say you are ugly just as a sign of curtousy which is fine actually.

Also crimes are involved in online communities, there are many ppl who try to get personal information to stalk someone, steal from someone or rape someone. Pedophiles are making more and more use of the internet because little kids are way too trustive when it comes to internet, they don't know about the dangers of it. Of course the chances that someone will come and ask to meet you who is a pedophile is really small, the chance still exists.

So as a conclusion I can say online communities can be used to get something you are missing but it also contains certain dangers. I think we should all be aware of these dangers if we surf the web. The use of common sense is vital if you communicat online

 

[Narziss]

Dear bcmetalforces,

I’m here because I wrote an essay describing the principle of mental interaction that stimulates my renewed interest in Heavy Metal music, and wished to share it, and, hopefully, discuss other philosophical and music related matters with people of a given level of interest.

My critique wasn’t leveled against online communications or communities per se, only against the tendency people allow these things to breed in themselves, to lose themselves in unedifying fantasy worlds that are completely alien to anything resembling healthy intercourse. The Internet is a Godsend to many people who are isolated in some manner, of course, and to intellectuals in particular for its unending source of rare information and political interconnections, but is only healthy if the person retains a primary focus of actually dealing with the real world and its real concerns, even if only in terms of play.

Don’t take my critique against online interaction as being any greater than my critique of that class of people who are just as indifferent to reality offline and who, for instance, intoxicate themselves regularly with television, alcohol, or marijuana.

Dear judas69,

Technologies are being crafted and marketted today with the intention, from the perspective of the elites, of dehumanising the population to ever greater degrees. Use the analogy of a market for ever more sophisticated torture tools; such a market is not morally neutral, it is part of a bad process. People who drug themselves into oblivion are part of this process, and they help infect other people by normalising this behaviour.

No one has the right to the pursuit of happiness as you describe it. Whilst as I write in my essay referenced above, the flesh (Ego) merits consideration - as I can see it, more consideration than most classical humanists are willing to give! - this has yet to be enshrined as a discovered human right as such, but remains a peripheral concern very worthy of exploration. And, regardless, the “pursuit of happiness” mentioned in the Preamble refers to the happiness described by Gottfried Liebniz regarding human cognitive development and, as Friedrich Schiller described, the development of true political freedom. It’s not an enumerated human right to become a heroin addict.

Humanity has reached a crisis point where the fact that most people live out their lives on a subhuman level, an animal level, is becoming highly dangerous to civilisation itself. A civilisation of Homer Simpson-style yahoos is fundamentally incompetent, and invariably selects incompetent leaders who will also act animalistic, to the point of acting traitorously whether intentionally (Cheney) or out of sheer incompetence (Bush). Bush isn’t even human! He’s a “good old dog” that the subhuman electorate voted in precisely because they intuitively sense that he doesn’t know anything, just like they don’t know anything. Thus, he’s nonthreatening.

What should people do? They should discover what a human being is, for one. Then they should start thinking about the real issues that civilisation has to deal with, including taking some significant degree of interest in the relevant classics of literature, art, and science so that they have a fighting chance at understanding these issues and contributing to the debate about them. People who don’t do this retain their rights, in theory, but in practice they are both insane and worse than useless, monkeys at the helm of the Carpathia. And when you point out that there’s a big iceberg nearby, and that another big ship just sunk after colliding with it recently, they go hysterical and scream at you about their “right” to be insane!

My playing of D&D reached a crisis point about the time I started to become politically aware, and I wondered what use it was. I could either abandon it, or try to raise it to a higher standard. I did the latter, and it became a vehicle for self-development: desultory Socratic political-metaphysical discussions, a simulation of individual, group, and regional political-economic dynamics, and socialisation. I have a theory that D&D-style games are potentially a very valuable form of art – a new kind of classical art – that can facilitate education and concern about the real world. This sort of thing is impossible in an online pseudo-roleplaying environment, it relies on real interaction with real people – storytelling, not cinema.

What it comes down to is that people simply don’t value their time, or their lives, other than as a wad of tickets to be spent on one pleasurable distraction after another, with no sense of reason or responsibility to their descendents. I value my time enough to find it preferable to seek to work on things that actually matter. I have my vices and hobbies, but, I have also worked to make more important things equally appealing, despite all of society’s best efforts at convincing me to remain a politically impotent little mouse squeaking about on the poopdeck.

Narziss, rc
s t o r m f r o n t.org/forum/showthread.php?p=3557925#post3557925