Second Life Allows Computers To Be Dicks Too
From NewScientistTech:
A software bot that masquerades as an ill-mannered human user within the popular virtual world Second Life is being used by UK researchers to investigate the psychology of its inhabitants. The bot starts a conversation with human users and deliberately invades their personal space to see how they will react.
The bot is designed to mimic your average Second Life player:
. . . SL-bot was sent on a mission to find other avatars that were alone. As soon as it did, it greeted them by first name, waited two seconds then moved to the virtual equivalent of within 1.2 metres away. It then recorded the other avatar’s reaction for 10 seconds afterwards, and sent the data to the researchers.
It apparantly took a “scientific” study to discover that…
. . . users are, on average, six times more likely to shift position when someone comes to within 1.2 m. That backs up the idea that people also value their virtual personal space, say the researchers.
Huh. But apparantly female avatars are just a little sluttier:
Yee previously asked undergraduate students to roam through Second Life using avatars armed with scripts to record the physical position of anyone standing nearby. This revealed that female avatars protect their personal space less than male ones, a sex difference that reflects behaviour in the real world.
Of course “behaviour in the real world” by females is usually exhibited by…you know…females. Whereas gender behaviors in Second Life tend to be a bit more…alternate.
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Amber you shouldn’t even be writing during the strike.
The WGA strike does not involve blogging at all. And even if it did, wouldn’t you be in violation by commenting?
Yes blogs are covered if they are considered to be creative. “Pencils down” means “pencils down.” There are no exceptions. My comment does not fall under the strike because it is not creative. I would never turn Amber in but trust me. Hollywood is a cruel world and there are thousands of other writers out there who would love to get her in trouble and get her blackballed. Many careers have been ruined over less. If she knew what was best for her she would yank this post.
You call this creative? What kind of writer ARE you?
Anyhow, since she’s not getting paid or making any money for this, AT ALL, and it has absolutely nothing to do with Hollywood with the exception of a couple of posts about her “script” (still suspicious) I don’t see how anyone would be able to remotely connect or associate this with crossing a picket line. Sure, “pencils down” is fine and dandy until it starts to mess with a person’s First Amendment rights, under which this blog is DEFINITELY covered. Not to mention only a complete douchebag would try to keep someone from working over their personal blog. Of course, you can’t cross the street in LA without running into a dozen douchebags. I don’t think, however, that any of those kinds of self important douchebags would be interested in or even accidentally come across a little gaming blog.
Besides, during the actors’ strike, I went to a right-to-work state to shoot a commercial. Everybody tried to scare me with talk of black lists and union retribution. My agent (still my agent and still getting me work, BTW) said, basically, “Fuck that noise. Do the spot.” When it was all over (the strike), nobody gave a shit.
Modern Unions are generally ineffective, anyway. What did the last (albeit only threatened) writer’s strike get anyone? That would be REALITY TELEVISION. Thanks a LOT, WGA!
Zenith, please take this offline. Email me if you need to, but please stop hijacking my blog. As a writer you should know how disrespectful it is.
OK, I promise, after this I’m done.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=12287
Last half got eaten:
Comics are creative writing and not covered under the WGA strike. And the creators referenced in the link above blog too. And I guarantee I can find other sources, including WGA members, that’ll back this up.
…Hey I remember when this blog used to be about gaming
They don’t belong to WGA. I can almost guarantee Amber does. That means she is violating the strike. If not the letter of the law then the spirit. That counts for a lot in Hollywood. Do you belong to WGA Amber?
Zenith… This isn’t a blog about Amber’s career. That gets in here sometimes, but this is her blog to do with what she wants. Today’s post is not about the WGA. It is about how Second Life is messed up and isn’t it fun to laugh at. When she posts about writing or whatever, then related comments are appropriate. When she posts about other things, posts about writing or whatever are inappropriate. Especially when she’s asked you to take it off and the blog and to quit hijacking her comment threads. Don’t reply to this comment. If you have some kind of burning desire to talk about Amber’s career, she’s indicated you can email her. Lay off a bit, man.
So hey, how about those wacky Second Life scientists and how they’re gettin all up in everyone’s grill and such? Man is stronger than woman, but only woman can create a child. Does that seem right to you? Yeah…uhhhh…I got nothin.
I used to play Ultima Online and there was a definite personal space issue in that game… That may have been because anyone standing next to you could steal stuff from you. Certainly a learned response after all your possessions go poof.
RE: Zenith You might want to read the article/what Dave T. Game said. Many comic book authors are members of the WGA but they can keep writing for comics (even though many comics get turned into movies/TV shows) because WGA doesn’t cover comics. Last I knew WGA doesn’t cover blogs (and as far as I know no blogs are even being turned into movies).
So Amber has every right to write for her blog.
Hijack continues. Link at 11. The link being the WGA page related to strike rules. Nothing about blogging, unless (I guess) you’re doing it for “struck company.”
Nada, baby. Which strikes me as sensible. You can’t make writers stop writing; you can just stop them from “delivering literary material to a struck company.”
Meanwhile… back at the post topic… I’d love to be ignored and/or abused by a bot in SL. Odds are that it’s spelling, grammar and overall behavior would be better than average.
“I’d love to be ignored and/or abused by a bot in SL. Odds are that it’s spelling, grammar and overall behavior would be better than average.”
A valid point… I also wonder what gender the bot avatar was and if that effected how many moved away.
Seriously? WGA and blogging? Actually, I can see how you made the connection somewhere along the road…
Nope, I don’t really.
If even bleedin’ comics aren’t included, how can you even think of including blogs in the fold? I mean, you can’t even include regular writing unless specifically associated (as mentioned above) with “a struck company”.
And the letter of the law, or spirit, or whatever, really isn’t obligating anybody here.
THat’s a good point, Fenyx. Or if the avatar was attractive or not. Here I mean not whether it was a “h0t ch1xx0r” but if it was, you know, generally about as attractive as, say, a young national news anchor (which I think people of both genders would say bother genders of are not repulsive) versus something intentionally hideous/boated/pussy or intentionally unsocial (My God! It’s full of stars!). However… I have no idea if studies of this kind have been done in real life, so anything you discovered about a virtual environment might be kind of contextless.
Then there’s always what I like to call the Furry Factor. I mean–if you were to compare a study in RL and SL, how do you account for the reactions of anthropomorphic foxes? WHATEVER the Furry population in SL might be, and how minuscule that statistic might be, it is certainly larger than the matching statistic in RL.
Is that really how you spell “minuscule”? My spell checker says so, but it looks weird.
I want to be in the study where you have a RL hot chick rubbing up against random guys to see how many of the guys move away.
Amber, you think you would be up for some experimenting?
Unfortunately WGA forbids me from random-guy-rubbing until current contract negotiations are concluded. Otherwise I would be so down for it.
When I first saw Zenith’s comment, I thought it was a joke. But as I read on, it appears to be a serious comment. What a hug surprise. It is union’s right to strike, but it is also Amber’s right to blog. If even the blogs (Which I can’t see in anyway harms the strike) are forbidden, isn’t it a bit NAZI?
Nice Firefly quote, moxcamel. Not sure if it’s really appropriate, but it was obscure and amusing. Early, though only appearing in one episode, was one of my favorite character from the show.
As for Second life, it’s not nearly as popular as it’s made out to be. It’s just another over-hyped media construct.
The question of the bot’s avatar sex is a good one. I think that would definately have an effect on the reactions. Perhaps they used an androgenous avatar appearance. Anyone have pics of the avatar used?
Oh yeah, Zenith, give it a rest already.
If even the blogs (Which I can’t see in anyway harms the strike) are forbidden, isn’t it a bit NAZI?
I invoke Godwin’s Law! WOOT! I WIN!!
Nice Firefly quote, moxcamel. Not sure if it’s really appropriate, but it was obscure and amusing.
I thought it might be jarring enough to help poor Amber steer the conversation back on target. But it looks like even she has conceded defeat.
Opps my fault. The second immediate thought I had when I read the comment was mind police, or maybe attempt to violate first amendment rights but all that requires extra typing so n word was used.
Now let’s try to get it back on track, anyone using the hello kitty addon for WOW?
[...] Second Life Allows Computers To Be Dicks Too [...]
Sorry, I cant see why people play SL at all. I mean, if you really want to get out and meet people, then do so. All it takes is to get away from the computer and be social.
Now, I can understand the anonimity that the internet grants people, and I guess it allows for all the “unbridled safe sex” you can have, but to me, it still sounds just a bit off, and doesnt make a hell of alot of sense.
Ah well. To each their own I suppose. Enjoy what ever thing you enjoy then
For some reason, I think Zenith is Amber’s sponsor in some twisted, sick, demented 12 step process that is being paraded about as a strike.
“No, Amber, don’t reach for the pen! Be strong! Pick up that phone! Call me! It’s an illness to want to write! Your mom doesn’t NEED to hear from you! That’s your dependency talking!”
Zenith’s right, Amber. You shouldn’t be blogging. You’re so going to get chucked out of the guild, scab! I mean, you don’t see successful movie and television writers like Bill Martell, John August, Jane Espenson, Josh Friedmann or the WGA Strike Captains still blogging do you?
Oh… wait….
Zenith’s right, Amber. You shouldn’t be blogging. You’re so going to get chucked out of the guild, scab!
Nah… they won’t boot her from the guild. They’ll just dock her some DKP.
[...] ever so popular Second Life. A giant virtual world of avatars and social mish-mash. I ran across this article that talks about how scientists in the UK are using Second Life as a tool to study social [...]
[...] http://ambernight.org/2007/11/05/second-life-now-allows-computers-to-be-dicks-too/ [...]