Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Sleep talking

Last night, I was offline doing a First Life volunteer thing. Tonight, I had an interview and audition for another DJ gig. I have to decide whether to take two regular shifts a week—one more in addition to the Velvet gig. I might not have much Second Life time left, but it's a good, high-profile gig. Ye gods, I might even need to talk on mic. Pretty soon, lots of people will be doing that, whether I like it or not. Oh, it's hard to be a dinosaur. And I'm not even a year old! When I joined SL last July, not even a million people had yet signed up. Look at it now.

It will be interesting to see what happens when integrated voice goes live on the main grid. We'll have to see how many places it's enabled. We'll have to see how non-speakers will be treated by speakers—and vice versa. In FL, hearing and deaf people engage in conversations (think of Marlee Matlin's character on the late great West Wing). In SL, will speakers and typists still communicate? My brief experience on the voice beta grid was not promising.

I really don't want to be babbling at my computer all evening. I prefer to type. It makes a little sound, but mainly I'm listening to music. If voice conversation enters the picture, I'm not sure how it will be. But again, we shall see. No way to know in advance.

I'm much less concerned about age verification, at least for now. Normally, I don't go to any places that I would consider pornographic or very violent. The problem might come if places I do want to go get flagged "adult" in a cover-your-ass kind of move. And I might need to get verified in order to keep writing for PixelPulse Magazine. We basically only deal with "adult" topics. The bottom line is there's some information I don't want to hand over to a third-party verifying company. Hey, I'm older than dirt, OK? It's annoying to have to prove it.

Nothing stays the same for long, least of all SL. I'll just have to keep evaluating whether the experience is worth the price. And now I really am fading....ZZZZZZZZ.

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