I was uneasy when I saw Gwyn's title I'm Bored. No, not you, not after all these years and not after all the things she said and still have to say. Luckily, Gwyneth is just exploring how and why some residents are bored in second life. Though I can count on my fingers the days I haven't log in in last nine months, and though I enjoy second life in more ways than one, I must admit that I found myself bored couple of times.
Maybe it is natural after all the time spent inworld. I don't watch TV nor playing games other than logical quickies to shake my mind in long writing periods. So, my needs for TV and games fun are fulfilled exclusively in second life. But second life is not a TV. Second life is interactive and asks activity from the resident. The way we enjoy TV is completely different.
And sometimes, I just need to be entertained, to be passive consumer whose only interface is one button: next TV program when I dislike the current. Mind you, that one button and occasional volume up/down is a bit different from pie menus, walking and flying arrows, camera moving… left hand on keyboard and other one switching from the mouse to the keyboard and back.
With rare exceptions, second life is fully immersive experience. And being bored doesn't mean that there is nothing to do in second life, there always is and will be. Grid is growing faster than we can follow it. Being bored means I am not in the mood to explore, interact and type. Not in the mood to be active. It is ok sometimes just to be driven. It is something like doing nothing in second life but with somebody else taking care of your fun. Will somebody take me for a ride?
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