This evening Sky Szimmer visited us, for the first time, in the shape of a fox. Soon after, oldtimers Storm and Riddle joined us, and Storm showed Sky how to conjure up a storm, in terms of smoothly swirling white wisps.
Sky Szimmer: i like this idea of sl. i like the exercise
Pema Pera: Great, glad to hear that!
Sky Szimmer: i’ve been trying it out though i fade in and out
Sky Szimmer: say, who built all this stuff
Pema Pera: A woman by the name of Dakini Rhode
Pema Pera: she lives nearby
Pema Pera: she spent a LOT of time building many things here — this is just one building
Pema Pera: and she was kind enough to let me use this for my meetings
Sky Szimmer: neat.
Pema Pera: she also leads a zen session every evening
Sky Szimmer: so playin as beings. have you been having fun lately
Pema Pera: yes, I have!
Pema Pera: On the web site you will see bits and pieces of dialogue.
Sky Szimmer: i have read a couple.
Pema Pera: How nice, to be friends with the Sky!
Pema Pera: There he comes
Pema Pera: Hi Ridlle!
Pema Pera: Riddle
Pema Pera: And hi Storm!
Pema Pera: Storm, meet Sky
Pema Pera: what a great combination!!!
Storm Nordwind: Hi Sky
Sky Szimmer: hi there
Pema Pera: Now with the Riddle of Storm and Sky — perfect!
Storm Nordwind: Hold on - I’ll invoke some wind as well
Pema Pera: nice Storm, Storm!
Pema Pera: Sky, can you make Sky?
Pema Pera: I know that Riddle can make Riddles!
Sky Szimmer: i am sure i can. why not.
Riddle Sideways: ooooooo very nice wind
Storm Nordwind: Four kinds of rotation in one - if you cared to analyse
Pema Pera: ah, is that how you scripted it!
Storm Nordwind: This was for round a statue
Storm Nordwind: I have since replaced the statue but the whirlwind was too good to lose forever
Pema Pera: L-)
Since Sky was new to SL, we talked about the process of getting used to moving around in-world and really taking up residence.
Sky Szimmer: i must say this idea of merging sl and rl is very interesting to me.
Storm Nordwind: I find no separation in the relationships for a start
Storm Nordwind: And in notion, what really is the difference between my perception of one world and the other?
Pema Pera: my original idea was to explore PaB primarily in RL and talk about it with like-minded people in SL but . . .
Pema Pera: . . . of course we can explore in SL as well
Sky Szimmer: as i was recently born in sl, i am looking forward to seeing how this will change the perception
Storm Nordwind: Please give it time. There seem to be several stages in this
Storm Nordwind: There are even academic studies that have addressed precisely this awareness profile as people come into SL
Pema Pera: I have been amazed as to how clear the stages are
Pema Pera: like walking from one room into another
Sky Szimmer: can you explain this a bit? since i am new, what do you suggest that i explore
Storm Nordwind: First of all I suggest you get very familiar with the controls…
Storm Nordwind: moving the avatar smoothly and especially manipulating the camera very fast
Storm Nordwind: You will quickly notice that you will try and use the same controls in other non-SL applications - at least when it becomes very intuitive!
Sky Szimmer: yes.. i have to play around a bit
Storm Nordwind: If I had $20 for each time I tried to zoom into a browser image - I wouldn’t need to work ever again! :)
Riddle Sideways: lol
Storm Nordwind: There comes a stage where you “care” for the avatar in ways you didn’t expect at first
Storm Nordwind: It’s a level of identification
Storm Nordwind: Not just clothing it or reshaping it either
Storm Nordwind: But when it falls you may feel that you have fallen
Storm Nordwind: Then you will start to see no boundaries between the avatars and the people behind them
Storm Nordwind: And you will be able to discern characteristics of those people without them having to tell you
Storm Nordwind: And that comes as a surprise to many
Riddle Sideways: I feel very scared for the WOW people
Storm Nordwind: Oh? Please explain :)
Riddle Sideways: World of Warcraft people caring for their av and being it back to RL
Riddle Sideways: with all the killing etc.
Storm Nordwind: yes indeed Riddle
Sky Szimmer: i am a bit confused by “discerning charac. of those people..” what people
Storm Nordwind: Sky, what i meant are things like this…
Storm Nordwind: for example…
Storm Nordwind: some people can regulaulry tell the age or real gender of the person behind an avatar
Storm Nordwind: without any clues other than text or dress or movement
Storm Nordwind: These things are of course obvious (usually!) in RL but how often in SL?
Storm Nordwind: And yet the depth of preception is uncannily deep for some
Riddle Sideways: SL is getting dark
Sky Szimmer: i can’t say that would be surprising, as in RL, our experiences are build on social expectations
Riddle Sideways: the automatic assumptions we make when we meet a monk or a fox
Storm Nordwind: But these are illusions and reality - or such as we agree it by convention - can shine through
Pema Pera: and people don’t change much here, even if their appearance changes ;>)
Riddle Sideways: yes their being stays and we are noticing that
Sky Szimmer: would we expect otherwise?
Riddle Sideways: no
Storm Nordwind: I’ve made the whirlwind a source of light :)
Riddle Sideways: ty
Riddle Sideways: tonights dreams might be toooooo vivid :D
Riddle Sideways: so, SL will be very dark for 11 hours now?
Storm Nordwind: No just for one hour
Storm Nordwind: SL days are 3 hours long. Nights are 1 hour long
Sky Szimmer: got to run. nice meeting you all.
Pema Pera: me too, yes, thank you all for coming here!
Riddle Sideways: me too
Pema Pera: thanks for all the good advice, Storm!
Storm Nordwind: Please come back and let us hear the fruits of your own investigations Sky
Pema Pera: I wish I would have heard such a summary when I was in my first week in SL!
Storm Nordwind: This is true Pema. But there are so many things to know, would you really have read it all?
Pema Pera: no, that’s true too
Pema Pera: I guess the role of mentor is as much to provide assurance — i have been through this too — as information transfer!
Pema Pera: in fact, for me, after a while, Kat played part of that role
Storm Nordwind: Mentoring is very labour intensive but wonderfully rewarding
Pema Pera: yes, for both sides, true
