Second Life: Conflict

Conflict occurred on a regular basis in Second Life. Some people would call it “drama” and write paragraphs in their profiles about how they wanted a drama free existence in Second Life. I always found this funny, thinking to myself that if someone writes this in their profile, they themselves must in fact know drama very well. Since we lack in Second Life certain means of making ourselves understood, i.e. we basically only have chat and voice, interpersonal conflicts generally took place due to some form of misunderstanding, which grew out of proportion, but was then generally easy to resolve. I also observed conflict taking place between Second Life lovers. Suspicion, which at times induced paranoia, seemed to be the most common reason for these kinds of conflicts. But conflict could also be provoked by griefers or gossips. This kind of conflict truly deserved to be called drama since it was in some sense fabricated and meant to entertain a larger public. Griefers or gossips would thrive on this kind of conflict since it provided material for their blogs and momentarily put them at the center of attention. It seemed the best way to deal with general conflict was to attempt to resolve it in a realistic way and without taking things too personally. In terms of the griefer and gossip drama it would get trickier. There was an innate need one had to defend oneself against false accusations, one wanted to set things straight publicly. This was a mistake. Griefers and gossips should be ignored completely. Ultimately, conflict, or drama, was part of the intricate Second Life fabric. It was a common occurrence that seemed impossible to avoid.

Photo above by Flora Nordenskiold.