2/13/2009

I started messing around with Second Life again. The first time, I gave up because I didn't like the interface. The interface still sucks, but I thought I'd give it another go. A friend of mine is writing a 3D simulator, and it reminded me about how I've always wanted a better chat environment. Second Life has too many distractions, and most games with chat support are designed for the gaming aspect.

I'd rather keep to the chatting. I want to meet new people, but I want to meet people who actually have something to say. And I want to have a place where I can set up shop, so to speak, and watch people walk by. I want to be accessible, more than just being in someone's list of people on-line. And yet, I have important things to do, so I don't want to be distracted by the non-chat aspects.

I just finished watching a movie called The Other America.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/57634/the-other-america
Mostly, it reminded me of what it was like to be a teenager without life experiences and thus, without anything to say. The characters had their problems in the way that only teenagers without problems can have.

So Second Life and this movie got me to thinking about what it means to have a life, in the way someone might say "get a life". It's subjective, of course, but I suppose it has to do with filling your life with some respectable thing, as judged by the speaker. It doesn't necessarily mean having having an active social life, or even being happy for that matter.

So I look at myself. I'm a very happy person. I live a comfortable life, but I'd be happy no matter what because I have inner peace. I don't have a job, so I have a lot of time on my hands. I spend most of my day, every day, writing software and hatching my latest scheme to change the world. A big part of my focus is role-playing. I refer to the game and not the therapy method, but I mostly intend to use the game as a type of therapy. I see it as something that can grant people experiences outside their own limited lifestyle as an exercise to open their minds. The currently popular games focus on the game aspects, which mirror my feelings about on-line games.

I think the secret is to invent an arena for role-playing. I call in an "arena" because I've used the word "framework" too many times in my life as it is. Basically, I need a simple set of rules that people can quickly understand. Once they feel comfortable with what's possible, I feel it would be much easier for them to get started. And eventually, they wouldn't need the rules.

But is concerning myself with such things a "life"? As far as the game of life, I have a house but no wife or kids. My car is an xB, which looks a lot like the game piece in life, so that's something at least. I don't plan on winning any awards or being famous, like in Monopoly. So, I've succeeded in not incurring anything that distracts me too much, which is always my plan. Maybe that's what it means to have a life, to have free time. And it doesn't really matter what you do with your free time to have a life. Maybe having a life is just having the freedom to do what you want to do, even if it's just doing nothing all the time.

I don't post enough to justify commenting on daily happenings, but I like to through some things in there for posterity's sake, just to see what my life was like. I had 10 cups of coffee before eight AM today.