The Romulan Neutral Zone

Hello Seasprite!

You mentioned some TV show… I’ve never seen it… but I should tell you what I’m less interested in: Voice Chat, Web Cam, RL Pix, all those elements that encroach on the RL/SL border. A lot of peeps seem to feel that unless you give them a little bit of RL, that you aren’t really real or open or sharing… I feel the opposite… pushing on that border doesn’t give you a deeper understanding of the avatar, it just denies the legitimacy of the avatar as an independent entity and instead makes the avatar a slave to a superior flesh and blood, or as Senban likes to say, “meat” persona.

Slavery is a huge word, but, at least in a small way, this is correct. Facebook TOS does not allow for “fake” persons — you must be “real” and if they discover you not to be “real” they will (and do) ban you. This is a monumental discrimination against the most important emerging class of humanity in the 21st century.

As you know, I’ve started to think about a future work, “Ronin Avatar” — a Ronin, of course, is a Samurai with no Master… and I think my idea (no idea how we’d realize this! 😛 is of an avatar that has no master, that is not a slave / subservient / lesser entity to some “meat master” — but the avatar as a legitimate entity in it’s own right.

Physical does not equal “Real”; just as Virtual does not equal “Fake.” If the last time you ever spoke to your grandmother wasn’t face-to-face, but on a telephone: a cell phone or even granny’s old landline, then that wasn’t a “physical” conversation… it was a “virtual” conversation… but if you loved your grandmother… it might have been one of the most “real” conversations in your life.

Sometimes people have physical sex that is remarkably fake. Sometimes people have virtual sex that is surprisingly real.

My meat counterpart has a Facebook account. She’s so bored with her “real” friends that she never even logs on. I, on the other hand, cherish my “fake” Facebook friends. I genuinely care about them, I love hearing what they’re up to and seeing the photos of their latest adventures. If Facebook does ban me one of these days, either because I am a “fake human being” or because I add too many friends (the FB dweebs hate popular girls!) I will truly miss my friends.

So I’d prefer to skip publicity that pushes into the neutral zone. On the other hand, I’m happy to talk to any media, be it big time heavy hitter, or quirky and obscure.

Thank You!

— VB