I haven't blogged in two weeks! I haven't been around much at all: the Other Personality's terrifically busy, and my time's been drastically limited.

Which sucks, because *I'm* terrifically busy.

Extropia's gone from one to six sims this month, and it's my job to get them rented up. I'm organizing two major events, each, oh, five times the size of anything I've done before. I'm paying tier on a gorgeous empty mall, and need to get commercial tenants in. I've got a page-long list of people I need to meet with on various things. And, I have a family that means the world to me, who I want to put first - but some of putting them first means working to keep me and the Chairman solvent, and get some other people paying tier in Extropia! So, not a good time to have my time squeezed to practically zero.

Anyhoo, I had the honor of participating in a panel debate yesterday at Orange Island, on Augmentation vs. Immersion. I was thrilled and a little intimidated to be included (and many thanks to Lillie Yifu for recommending me!): the moderator and panelists were people I deeply admire: Tom Bukowsky (Tom Boellstorff), author of the upcoming Coming of Age in Second Life, who moderated; Gwyneth Llewellyn and I represented the Immersionists, and Hiro Pendragon (Ron Blechner) and Giulio Perhaps (Giulio Prisco) showed up for the Augmentationists.

We'd discussed a number of debate questions in advance, from the narrow and legalistic to the political to the abstract - but we ended up being given five minutes each to speak freely, then time to respond. Between the makeup of the panel (all friends, all easygoing people), the lack of questions that got at disagreements, and the enormous amount of unmoderated audience participation, nothing really came of the hour. The best thing to be said about it was, everybody got to talk, and nobody left thinking that one "side" or the other was weird, hostile or illegitimate.

So, I'd chalked up the experience as "pleasant but insubstantial," and went fishing. Now fishing? That was a good time ($L1 scripted rods and open fishing on Tycho Beach, right by the flagpole)! But, argent_bury  asked for a chatlog, and responded with a critical analysis of the issues that *should* have been raised yesterday.

Go read her post. I'll wait right here. It's really worth it.

I think her first point cuts to the heart of the real distinction in perspectives: is SL for you a place or a tool? Everything else, from standards of identity and trust to "A/S/L," follows from that.

Despite the huge differences in our personalities, and in our lives in SL, Argent and I see the world in just about exactly the same way, so her nine points are mine as well. I'll just add a few paraphrasings:

• I live here. Maybe to you it's Vegas, or Tijuana, a place to avoid responsibility. To me, it's home. So, if you treat me and mine like you're on Spring Break? It won't go well. Also, I have a responsible job with a group that's made a significant investment in SL. You want grounds for trust? There you go: I'm a stakeholder here.
  

• You can talk to me about your life and whatever's important in it. I'm happy to listen and to help. When I reciprocate, I'll share about my life too - which, see above, is *here.* I'm not holding back; I'm giving you all I've got. And yes, I may freak out on you about how busy I am, how I'm feeling the burden of my job, how I wish I had more family time, how I wish I had a weekend to spend tied up, gagged and fucked brainless. You ask for it, you'll get it. :P

• I think the business community, where I spend a lot of my time, is the wrong place to look for people who don't respect immersionists. The business people who don't get SL, who talk trash about  finding, say, a goth chick with wings and neko eyes at their meeting?  They're not inworld. The people who are, they understand that SL is a foreign market much like any other, and when you do business in one, you learn and respect their customs if you want to make a sale.  The business and content creation communities get that, and I've never had anything but respect in them.  Government and education?  You'll find a lot of two year old playdo avs, ignorance and disregard for customs. They don't have to respect or serve their customers in the same way in their first lives, and they seem much more likely to be oblivious to the culture in SL as well.
  

That's all I've got.  If your principles or perspectives are different, please answer Argent's meme call, and drop a link in the comments to her post.  *This* is the discussion we didn't have yesterday at Orange Island, and the one that needs to be had, for us to build trust across differing world views.

I haven't done one of these in ages -

The questions were hilarious - like they were written by someone who knew me all too well. I'm *such* the ENFP!

You Are An ENFP

The Inspirer You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends. You are also unconventional, irreverent, and unimpressed by authority and rules. Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives. You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're quite the storyteller! In love, you are quite the charmer. And you are definitely willing to risk your heart. You often don't follow through with your flirting or professed feelings. And you do break a lot of hearts. At work, you are driven but not a workaholic. You just always seem to enjoy what you do. You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist. How you see yourself: compassionate, unselfish, and understanding When other people don't get you, they see you as: gushy, emotional, and unfocused

via gira  :

Link: The sexual interests Test written by master-tom on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test View My Profile(master-tom)

via Lillie Yifu's blog, with the understanding that I'm in a *very* happy committed quad, and excluding my family from the list, since I already have the smartest, sexiest, cutest, kinkiest people in SL in my bed:

Name the avatar that you would most like to have sl sex with for.....

1. Their av: This is a tie: Lex Berchot, who I've drooled over since the day she came to one of my parties wearing pretty much nothing but fetish boots, and Aniketos Moxie, who is just *the* most gorgeous guy in SL!

2. Their mind: Another tie: Vannesh Cannoli, whose blog "System and Lifeworld" is so smart it gets me off, and John Zhaoying, who's intimidatingly brilliant and wickedly funny.

3. Their poetic/mystical/creative spirit: No tie here: Nepherses Amat.

4. Their social success/success in sl: Could I be double-teamed by Desmond Shang and Scope Cleaver? Mmmm.....

5. Their libido, that is the thing they seem to want to do from how they talk and act: Lillie Yifu - it'd be *amazing*....

6. Want to go against type for you. That is, if they are normally a top, you would want them to be your bottom, if they are straight and your same sl gender: TertiumQuid Becloud, though he's gay and partnered - I would *so*....

7. You would go against type for: John Zhaoying, totally. I'm so not into buff guys, but in a *heartbeat*!

8. You would most want to do a nothing-but-sex week with, who you are not currently having sl sex with: Vanni, Lex and Thalia: we could go a week without doing the same thing twice!

9. Threesome, which two. They don't have to be from the above list, but can be: Threesome? How limiting! Hmm.... I'd say Nicki Petrichor and Aniketos Moxie - I have *no idea* what it'd be like, and that's fascinating -

The tenth question:

"The forbidden," the one that, you'd like to publicly confess to, but the consequences would be toooooo awful. Examples would be your best friend's partner, a professional contact, someone you know rl who is here... Someone who you want, but have never been able to confess it too. Don't post... Just answer with whether they are online right at the moment that you post your answer: This so doesn't apply - I'll publicly confess to anything! :)

Have a happy and safe New Years, all - see you in 2008!