Cyberian strangeness
Izzie was listening to a most fascinating program on the radio about some rather quirky developments in the world of online games. While the Iz knows very little about such online addictions, we are not immune from the affliction - this Serpent Diary (and LJ in general) being one of our favorite Cyberian locations for lurking
I understand that nobody has ever broadcast a network program from within a game, so that was one of the achievements. I think a lot of people who contacted me after the program were fascinated by it. I mean revolted and fascinated as well, because of the sheer, probably what they believe is the waste of human energy going into living in an alternative life online. But at the same time, we’re coming to the realisation that for some people, their online life is more real than their real life, or as real.
( Strange beings )
The Izzie also finds Cyberia to be a most fascinating place. Not quite sure if we should regard it as a bunch of shadows on the wall of Plato's Cave or some sort of spirit world where distance does not matter and where you get to meet the essence of creatures and exterior factors such as age, gender and ethnicity are mainly irrelevant. Folks can reveal such things but Izzie often has images of teenage chat rooms full of 60 year old men all pretending to be teenage girls.
However, sometimes we get reminded that these spirits live in a very material world. On a recent visit to one of our usual Cyberian nooks - the dungeons of Azkaban - was confronted by a big padlock on the doors and a most unexpected message. It was not a Ministerial Decree but a massive drive failure that had led to the unexpected closure. It also brought back memories of the Ujournal saga as this server also hosted various diary services and has not been backed up since some time in 2004. The evil black hole of Cyberia strikes again. So, while in the world of muggles, this is a minor inconvenience - the loss of lots of squiggles - in Cyberia - it's a major disaster - like being on death row - the execution date being the possible discovery that the drive is totally stuffed up after all and the data unrecoverable.
Another thing the Iz finds amusing - the abilities that are of value in Cyberia are often not much use in the other world. As they were saying about that program - it used to be imagination that counted in the imaginary worlds within Cyberia but now it's who has got the biggest and bestest graphics. Like - in our own case - can potter off downtown or to the local shops to get stuff we need - no Mercs or pearls mind you - just everyday stuff. But online, Izzie is a pauper. Folks who do not have credit cards or choose not to use paypal - no matter how rich they are offline, are pretty low on the pecking order in Cyberia. Mind you - there's lots of freebies out there and lots of places to lurk that do not require loot.
*wonders if the World Webmaster has sufficient back up drives of the server that Izzie lurks in. Everyone gets to crash sooner or later but lets hope there's another fifty years before our files become totally corrupted and unreadable*
I understand that nobody has ever broadcast a network program from within a game, so that was one of the achievements. I think a lot of people who contacted me after the program were fascinated by it. I mean revolted and fascinated as well, because of the sheer, probably what they believe is the waste of human energy going into living in an alternative life online. But at the same time, we’re coming to the realisation that for some people, their online life is more real than their real life, or as real.
( Strange beings )
The Izzie also finds Cyberia to be a most fascinating place. Not quite sure if we should regard it as a bunch of shadows on the wall of Plato's Cave or some sort of spirit world where distance does not matter and where you get to meet the essence of creatures and exterior factors such as age, gender and ethnicity are mainly irrelevant. Folks can reveal such things but Izzie often has images of teenage chat rooms full of 60 year old men all pretending to be teenage girls.
However, sometimes we get reminded that these spirits live in a very material world. On a recent visit to one of our usual Cyberian nooks - the dungeons of Azkaban - was confronted by a big padlock on the doors and a most unexpected message. It was not a Ministerial Decree but a massive drive failure that had led to the unexpected closure. It also brought back memories of the Ujournal saga as this server also hosted various diary services and has not been backed up since some time in 2004. The evil black hole of Cyberia strikes again. So, while in the world of muggles, this is a minor inconvenience - the loss of lots of squiggles - in Cyberia - it's a major disaster - like being on death row - the execution date being the possible discovery that the drive is totally stuffed up after all and the data unrecoverable.
Another thing the Iz finds amusing - the abilities that are of value in Cyberia are often not much use in the other world. As they were saying about that program - it used to be imagination that counted in the imaginary worlds within Cyberia but now it's who has got the biggest and bestest graphics. Like - in our own case - can potter off downtown or to the local shops to get stuff we need - no Mercs or pearls mind you - just everyday stuff. But online, Izzie is a pauper. Folks who do not have credit cards or choose not to use paypal - no matter how rich they are offline, are pretty low on the pecking order in Cyberia. Mind you - there's lots of freebies out there and lots of places to lurk that do not require loot.
*wonders if the World Webmaster has sufficient back up drives of the server that Izzie lurks in. Everyone gets to crash sooner or later but lets hope there's another fifty years before our files become totally corrupted and unreadable*