It's not that I haven't said it loud enough and often enough. Something else is the case here.

It's not that the people who are calling themselves "immersionists" are not aware that they are augmenting themselves in virtual worlds. If you talk to them more than five minutes you'll see that augmentation is the corner stone of their existence. Same goes to the other side. As many times in history, terms are not used by the reason and logic. They are used as a tool to define tribes and make a conflict possible. They are flags. As such, they don't need to have a meaning but just a color to help differentiate "us" from "them".

Let's not lie to ourselves. That conflict is important. It, and it's outcome, defines the nature of the virtual realm we're conquering these years. And each side hopes to make it their way. Between them stands the few of us, choking in the fake definitions and wondering when will we clear the grounds and start doing some serious and useful job. But you know what's the fate of those that stands between confronted sides screaming for a bit of reason? They usually get killed in the cross-fire. Or, with a bit of luck, they keep their heads low and wait for the tribes to get tired and out of ammunition. So when they finally stop shooting nonsense around, we can take a look over the burned grounds and start repairing the damage. When will that happen?

We don't know when it will happen. But luckily, there is a bit of light on the horizon. Gwyneth Llewelyn calls it post-immersionism.

I believe that the dominant attitude will be to trust more and more what people do on the Internet (and write about themselves, and are peer-reviewed that way). We can get way more data out of the Internet about some person or some company than using any other method. In a sense, the “person” or “company” becomes the data we read about them on the Internet. And thus we’re back to the point where we started: once we cross back from the digital world into the physical world, and we begin to forge relationships on the physical world because of the ones we forged on the digital one, then we become post-immersionists: the digital world is where the focus is, the physical world — and what we do to establish relationships in the physical world — becomes less important.

It is just a matter of time. People are prone to distrust new things and their habits makes them show the lack of thinking and understanding.

While our society has fully embraced phone calls as being part of our digital self, and is slowly moving ahead to do the same with emails (specially once we can get rid of all those spammers), things like Group IM on MSN/Gtalk/Yahoo or even virtual worlds like Second Life are still too new for us to fully embrace it. But… it’ll come.

It will come. We will know that immersion is nothing more than getting the most of the virtual environment and that augmentation is the case in more than 95% of digital appearances. And that one can be both at the same time. We'll find it normal to immerse and be augmented at the same time. Because immersion is a prerequisite for the quality of the experience and the avatar, no matter how different from the human, is it's extension – augmentation. 

But before that, it can be anything. It can turn out to be anything at all. Millions of possibilities that glow right in front of your eyes. Why am I telling you this?

Because that cloud truthfully represents what the human being on the other side of the monitor might be. Just as the cloud can rezz into avatar of any shape, behind that avatar can be any of all sorts of humans. And you very rarely, if ever, know who that human in fact is. 

But let's forget the facts for a bit. Have you ever played that game of placing different possible humans behind the avatars you know? Imagining them? Not guessing who is behind really, that's a fruitless job, but imagining people that are not likely to be there? Yes, all the people I met in second life were at least once imagined as truck driver in mom's basement, student procrastinating their studying for the exam, celebrity enjoying their anonymity, wife cyber-cheating her neglected husband and a whole range of less stereotypical roles. OK, now I have confessed my dirty little secret. 

That game have another effect beside fun. Once you get carried away, you realize that virtually anyone (no pun intended) can be behind the avatar. It throws a completely different light on the scene. It's something like scramble suit from Dick's Scanner Darkly put over the whole world.

It's a question old as our civilization, question of the essence versus the appearance. Since ancient Greeks we tend to think there is something behind what we see and perceive, something that we like to think is truth contrary to what our senses might lie to us. So we try to take off layer by layer of what we see, aiming to some inner truth. Like an onion. We peel layer by layer. And, while peeling the onion, we cry and the onion gets smaller and smaller. At the end, there is nothing, just a pile of leaves. There is no "real" onion inside, no truth, no essence. Onion is made of its leaves.

So you have reached the glowing cloud from the beginning of our story. Pure glowing existence of some avatar near you. And nothing but the existance. Only thing you know is that somebody IS there. Who? You'll have to wait for the avatar to rezz to know that. Yes, to show you all the layers you've tried to peel off. That cloud has a story to show you. That's your truth. What you see is what you get.

Problem is in the numbers. Alex Burgess did a nice mixture of guessing and statistics of Second Life user base. Start with number of regular users, then cut away those that you never meet due to the time zones. Then cut the species and sex you’re not interested in, then all that are not around your age, those that are into quick sex with bimbos, those that are not into any kind of virtual sex nor relationships….. you got the point. And you got that sad picture of a small pool you have to catch your pray from. And in that small pool you have to find somebody that you actually do like. Mutually! Well, good luck with that.

But, before you start sitting near that pond and losing your time, maybe we should do one not-so-pleasant-but-beneficial thing. Let’s be honest to ourselves. What do you really want?

If you tell that you want to meet person on the grid and translate that relationship in the meatspace, I’ll rest my case. But, please, be aware of those numbers Alex went through. And, please, be aware that these worlds differ. They differ a lot! I know that people meet via Internet and have great working relationships. I know it first hand. And I know that happens in second life as well. But those examples are sparkling in the night sky not because they are common, but because they are so rare. It takes more than a nice avatar, good chat and even luck to find yourself in such a story.

But I know most of you won’t tell they are after trans-world miraculous love story. So, what are you after? Intimacy, emotional cuddling, phantasy sharing, intelligent conversation, laugh? All of that probably. All of that in the right measure and each fading into the other. No flesh, just thoughts, words, ideas. Great! That is what this world offers, after all. All the rest are shiny pixels and prerecorded sounds. But I have another question to ask you.

Why are you not communicating your game as well as bimbos do? When was the last time you said it loud and clear what you want of your life? And how often you do that? Do you expect people around to guess what you want? 

As a consequence we see trashing of those girls with big boobs like they are guilty because you don’t get your share of the pie. And we see trashing of boys because they cannot find their way into decyphering your wishes. But those girls have nothing to do with your life. They are living their own lives, having their own fun. And boys? Well, if we are talking about relationships based on intelligent conversation, you’re guilty of not making the first step just as they are. 

So please, stop waiting and thinking what’s wrong. Learn from those bimbos, state your wishes and start living your dreams. In both lives!

Because, that chunk of data, that grayscale image that renders into 3D mesh with ground texture, is a very personal thing.

Many newcomers into second life ask how to get land. And the answer is always the same:

You don't need land yet. You can live happily for months, even years as a nomad, exploring the grid, crashing at friend's place when needed, finding secluded spots on good-looking sims…

But eventually, you'll need land. You'll want to start a shop, or a club, or just want to have your own spot to do whatever you do. A place to call home. Place where you don't worry if you saved your last project or just left it to stay around. Place where you control the music stream, quiet spot to change the clothes or sort the inventory. Place for which you choose all the furniture or maybe which you have completely built.

Land is one's second extension into pixel-world, avatar being the first. Just as with the avatar, we build and represent ourselves with our use of the virtual land. It cannot move, but it stays there when we're logout. It's the place your friends drop by to feel you and leave the message when you're not around. It's a manifestation of our dreams and ideas. That's what this world is all about, remember?

And human mind is a very tricky mechanism. It connects the ideas. It connects people with events and events with images. So that piece of beach on the image above, right under the hill, means something to me in my sweet little heart. Because of one morning. Because of who I spent that morning with. It doesn't matter that piece of land is covered with prims now, it's there. It flashes occasionally while I am rezzing slow, like in the moment that picture is taken. It makes me smile, it makes my thoughts stray for a second. Then gray prims rezz all over it, hiding it back in safety. And that happens with prims as well. Like a freebie prim tree a friend of mine rezz wherever her home is. Trust me, sitting under that tree is a different experience.

Yes, I will agree that virtual land is just server space. But, this is not about server space. It's about what we are doing with that server space.

And when I say "want to play" I don't mean whether you want to tell what that boy feels about you, or that creations are significantly different, or to protect your freedom to live the way that you will, or to state that the tree is protecting you from viewing the ugly neighbour's building. It's the question if you want to have anything with somebody else's sitcom.

Because, it's not about boys, girls, creativity, lifestyles or trees. It's about drama itself. Some people are just bored if there is no drama around. It's their brain food. It's your reactions and emotions that feeds them, whether they are aware of it or not. And they will provoke your reactions and suck your emotions as long as you have any. Then, they'll have to leave searching for an another victim. Emotion parasites or vampyrism would be the right expressions.

Don't forget that it's an infectious thing. Before you know, you are in the game, you are addicted to drama, to yours and other people's reactions and emotions. You want to listen about it, you want to participate. You need your daily dose. And you won't even know that you are. Not until it's almost too late.

But it's never too late. Just cut the crap you don't need in your life. Turn off and leave. Leave the parasites in their smelly pits. Yup, this might take some strength. First and the only rule: whatever is on the table, leave it. Whether it's your reputation, that stolen boyfriend's love, money or whatever, it's only a mean to keep you in the game and take even more from you. So run for your life and don't turn back. Be sure that's the only way to keep what you have.

A case of exceptional danger is a friend's drama. Infected friend can drag you into their own affaires. And you'll be tempted to jump in, it's your friend and maybe it's not them that wants that drama, they've been dragged into it. Well, I can only repeat: Run away! Now! It's not friendship messing you into some pointless drama, sucking your feelings, nerves and time. If you want to save a friend try to keep them away from drama. By any means don't jump in. Do your best to help them out, to cut their connection to infected events. Make some firm ground for them, give them shelter to heal, but don't participate. If they don't feel like giving up, leave them. Save yourself. Two victims are not better than one. 

Stay firm. If that means to be rude or impolite… well life is rough sometimes. If you have to stop answering IM's, avoiding some places, muting people… do it. There is no "just one more time" excuse. Make a clean cut. Now. Go live happily.  

Name has the special meaning for each of us and changing the name, or getting a nick-name is kind of a magickal thing. That's why all those artists made new names as a part of their public personas. That's why so many monarchs got their new names when achieving the throne. Name is a tool of creation of one's self. And it doesn't affect only the public, it affects you as well. At least, that is the case if you do it right.

At the same time, being pseudonymous is a kind of hideout. We all need to change our clothes when we come home. And while you can hardly imagine Madonna sitting on the couch being comfortably bored while watching TV at home, drinking beer from the can and not caring about a pop corn that flied under the table, Louise Ciccone can feel quite relaxed doing that.

There is also another kind of hideout that we might need, at least if we enjoy carnavales and dancing under the masks. Identity, reputation and self-image are sometimes restraining us more than any chain can do. They keep us from from exploring and knowing some hidden or neglected parts of us. Or they just simply keep us from having fun, joy and fulfillment in things we are thought we shouldn't enjoy.

Masks work even if everybody knows who's behind. I remember my human's first practice with sabre. As long as I was only trying my attacks and while only my opponent had all the protective gear, I couldn't do a proper strike. I was slow, weak and hesitating. I just couldn't hit somebody with a sabre. I knew that it is not a dangerous thing to do, that I wouldn't hurt the opponent, but nevertheless. 

Then I put my mask on. The next second, I was striking and hitting as mad. It was still me, I wasn't hiding or been anonimous. But I was looking through the steel net and there was no inhibition in my moves anymore. To do a good attack you have to let your impulses go, you have to feel something similar to anger. And I couldn't let that thing go out of myself until my face was covered. It's kinda paradoxical: to give full expression in action you have to hide your expression on the face. So much about all of us being more daring as avatars than as humans.

Beside these, there is one more use of pseudonyms. One that is connected to more dangerous stuff, the one that is internet-specific. It's the dark side of the Internet.

Check ArminasX' post about pricing products in virtual worlds. He tries to follow some logic and sets five ways to determine the price:

• Give it away!
• Price based on Effort
• Price based on Value
• Price based on Competition
• Price based on Volume

All of them very reasonable ways to go. With the right combination of them, depending on the actual product one might hope that price will be right. But what I said back then, in last September, is still very true: In second life, logic is not rezzed yet. 

More than once I saw people paying several hundreds of lindens for a single piece of an outfit. One would expect some imagination and lot of great texturing for that. But no, there is noting exceptional about it. Except the price, of course. So what's the trick? Usually trick was in the brand, shop and the price itself. 

People love brands. Brands are the best brand our civilization invented. Put a name on something and you've doubled its price. While the trusted name on the graphics card is worth extra money, I cannot see why name makes a group of pixels more worthy. While with scripted things one should search for brands that will promise less lag and no bugs, clothes and other visual stuff is "what you see is what you get". But still, those are exactly where brands are playing the big role. They just make you feel good.

Location and the look of the shop are the other big factor. Place yourself near the popular and fancy place and you can charge more. Actually, you have to. Not only that the nearby merchants will expect you not to ruin their biz but your space will cost more. And customers will expect to pay more as well.

Shopping experience comes in the game here. It is not the same if one is shopping in an ugly mall on the mainland or in a fancy, well-built shop near the trend-setting club. It is not just what is offered, nor even how the environment looks, it's who you can meet there as well. And how do you feel. Shopping is not just getting things for money. It's the game on its own. Very complex one. Female readers know what I am talking about. Most of the males won't get it no matter how much I try to explain it.

The last but not the least is the price itself. Yes, price of something determines the price of it. Forget the recursiveness of this statement, and learn to live with it. It is actually very simple. If you buy 50L$ dress chances are that you will meet another avatar in the same dress. And you don't want that to happen. If you pay 500L$ for it… well, you are much safer from the unwanted encounter. More expensive the thing, bigger  are the chances that you'll look unique. And that counts in the value of something.

Let's help our creators rip us off, what makes you pay more? 

I owe them an apology for that post about Michelangelo's David that has no nipples. If you haven't seen the edit there, it turned out that Lindens have nothing to do with missing nipples. It was artist's decision not to make them. For whichever reason. But then the story got into Massively. Pay attention to the fourth comment by Uccello Poultry:

While building the Isle of Lesbos exhibit I asked a couple visiting coordinators if art in our exhibit was "PG enuff" and got the reply "You mean the paintings with the nipples?" So I dutifully airbrushed out the nipples from a copy of Botticelli's 'The Birth of Venus' and two other works from the classical world. I look at it this way: By agreeing to certain restrictions on use our group was given free exposure of another type. By last count over 1000 people had visited our little corner of SL5B and the comments I've heard tell me that folks are taking advantage of the information resources about the Isle and lesbian culture. My goal is accomplished with just a little pain.

Little pain indeed. They say jump, you say how high? And they haven't even said "jump". Whispered maybe, but at that PG sim I see lesbian corner and just near it, transgender parcel. Surprised or not, I see Lindens giving place for different sexual orientations. And I see somebody who thinks that airbrushing nipples off is "a little pain". I see the irony in doing that to Venus, the goddess of femininity, love and beauty. And even more irony in that been done by a lesbian. I see somebody who thinks that airbrushing over the master-pieces of our civilization is OK.

Just to set things clear, it is not the same as Marcel Duchamp adding moustaches to Mona Lisa. One is the art statement, other is vandalism motivated by political small-profit and probably self-induced fear. It's so sad to see that I was right when I wrote about resident's self-censorship.

There is also another thing that bothers me. If this trend continues, and it probably will, we'll have a nice "clean" world, world where even nipples on 15th century paintings are too much. At the same time, just a few sims away, we'll have places where kinks get the forms closer to pathology than to sex. We'll have the violence, mutilations, humiliation, sex with animals and rapes.

Are we going to live in the world of extremes? In a world where love and beauty of the human body are to be destroyed in one or another way? 

There is no need for the web to be replaced by 3D virtual space. Flatworld will develop in its own path. But, those two, flatworld and 3D world(s) are complements. There are things that are easier to be done in regular browser like Firefox. I don't need an avatar to check my e-mail or to read a document. I don't even need it to write this post, though I like to hang in-world while I write. If one wants to access Wikipedia or any other group of documents, there is no need to do that in three dimensions. No need to have an avatar on the screen clicking the pages of a prim book. It just gets in the way. Many parts of our first lives are done in two dimensions eversince we have invented letters. For thousands of years, it is a good way to go. And that is not going to change.

But, let's forget about that for a moment and take a look on the Second Life™ platform. Let's see what our 3D world is missing to be the next web.

You can use any of the existing browsers to access any of the web pages. It doesn't matter which company hosts the website nor which server they use. You easily jump from one site to the other. In the metaverse, it is impossible to teleport from one world to the other. Not even from LL's™ Second Life™ to any of the OpenSim grids despite that you are using the same client for both. If we was to change a browser and relog for each external link we clicked in the past, web would never developed.

Web is based on standards, set of protocols, formats and other stuff. Sure, those are subject to changes but all the changes are done in a way that community benefits and evolves from them. Except when a big company disrupt the system on purpose trying to get monopoly and suck money from common good. But let's not talk Redmond ethics here.

If this is going to be something serious and not just a geeky game and something that media likes to talk about, if it is really going to be the future, then it is going to be planned seriously and openly. If it is going to develop then it will be free for studying and development. If it is going to be usable, then it will not restrict users on one type of client, one type of server and one grid. if it is going to be really widespread, then those 12 millions of registered accounts are not enough. Then we don't need one big grid but a set of grids and freedom to move with the same avatar without reloging and without even noticing that anything has changed under our feet. 

How long we have to wait? 

It [avatar] is either a Hindy or Buddhist name for God, I don't know if you knew that, which always gives me some concern about virtual realities and how they are nice but they do portray things that aren't real and I don't think anybody percieve us as God.

Well, it might be better to sort some things out now.

Avatar is a Sanskrit word. It's commonly used in Hinduism, to denote a manifestation of a deity, a supreme being. In other words, when some deity has a biz to do on the Earth, it forms an avatar as a representative. Nice thing about eastern religions is that their concepts usually can be applied in the other cultures. So, if you are not so familiar with the myths of Vishnu's comings to the Earth, you can easily imagine Zeus forming as a white bull to mess with a mortal girl Europa, Jesus being an avatar of God and so on… Each time it is a higher being that manifests in the material world, using a carnal body and shape.

So, the use of the word avatar in the metaverse, be it flatworld or 3D environment, makes some sense. Now, it is humans that, wanting to manifest and operate in the virtual world, have to make themselves an adequate "vehicle". They are descending one step down the reality (please don't take this words too literally), in the form that is native to the "lower" environment and do what they do, be it saying something that will change the course of history, signing new testaments with human kind or messing with nymphs by the river.

Having an avatar doesn't make a human god nor goddess. Having an avatar is an opportunity to be in the digital environment, to manifest in a form different than the native one. As gods give life to their creations, our humans give life, imagination and feelings to us, the avatars. Praised they be :)