It seems that SL with voice is the latest buzz. I have thus far avoided it, and unless someone gives me good reason, I'll probably continue to to so. Don't get me wrong, I can understand the attraction: it potentially provides an additional depth to the way we interact in a digitally flattened world. A popular video parodies this single dimensionality well. Brillaintly funny, to me the most striking feature of the video is how free of aural clutter it is, the opposite of our real lives. And honestly, so much of Second life seems empty for this reason, even when you are surrounded by other avatars.
The problem I have is two-fold. First, Voice in SL inherently breaks the "secondness" of SL. Second Life is, for many, an escape from our various realities, and quite frankly, I'm not sure I want your voice echoing in my study. That might be too real. No offense, but I've assigned voices for all of you, and in some ways, I don't want to be disappointed. More on this point is spoken of in this Wired article (thanks Trinsic!).
The second, oft-overlooked problem with Voice are the very things that people crave: its ease and immediacy. Text chat is cumbersome. It takes time to get your ideas across. As a result, chatters generally have to embrace both efficiency and thoughtfulness to get their thoughts across effectively. For example, you don't see a whole lot of swearing in SL chat because for most people, swearing is just posturing or wasted breath. Sure, there are places where the language is more mature than others, but you don't get cases where every word typed by someone is "fuck" or some derivative. People are typically more careful about what they say because it takes more work to say it.
On top of that, I think people actually "listen" more in text chat. I can't actually state this from any position of experience regarding SL Voice, but contrasted with real life, it seems like people actually pay attention to whatever is typed. Maybe its because the written word carries so much weight for us. Or maybe because we carefully read type for subtle nuances, as it is devoid of the overt tonal emotional content of speech. Or maybe simply because you can go back and re-read text you might have missed or misunderstood on the first pass. In any case, when typing, it's nice to know that people actually hear me.
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3 comments:
I didn't think I'd mess with Voice, but the peer pressure got to me; next they'll be goading me to shoplift candybars.
[Voice... inherently breaks the "secondness" of SL] Well put, and here's another take on that thought.
'Til the advent of Voice, I had lost the sense of real people 'driving' their avatars while sitting somewhere else, in front of a keyboard -- even when they might say as much, e.g. 'brb, finding chocolate'. Even in IM conversation with someone wandering in another sim entirely, my mental image is of that avatar strolling around and chatting away -- not the human being hunched over a keyboard somewhere in RL.
Voices seem to jerk me sharply out of that fantasy -- suddenly I'm talking to a young Canadian fellow, not a rangy avatar with his simulacrum on his shoulder, or to a harried mom halfway across the world, not a dancing kitty right next to me. Even when the words are exactly the same, I end up feeling that the people I'm talking to in text chat are different people from those I hear in my earbuds.
As far as content is concerned: there are many worthwhile conversations I've had in SL that I would never, never, ever, ever have had if spoken aloud. It is curious that while Voice is often characterized as more intimate, it might well be a barrier to intimacy in SL at some level. (I mean here intimacy as between confidants and friends -- I've no opinion whatever on more romantic effects!)
In a few cases, there have been some less-than-worthwhile conversations whose Voice versions are horrible to consider.
Well, Voice is all very new ,and I am giving it a fair go at this early stage. But nothing so far has demonstrated that it is essential, or even meliorating.
Over and out.
Tracking back the Wired article (through Krista-Lee Malone) led to another interesting take on Voice, contrasting its impact on gamer worlds like WoW with that in more social worlds like Second Life.
(And the author uses the word pace properly, which always warms my heart...). While he wrongly dismisses the concept of the "magic circle" in Second Life, his comments on gamer worlds may be more applicable to SL than he thought. Perhaps he's more familiar with There.com -- and perhaps we in turn are fated for that same ASL-oriented take in our virtual world too. I hope note.
See Mike Fright -- with further
reference from there, including this forward-looking article from back in 2003.
You write very well.
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