Virtual Worlds, Burnout and Serendipitous Joy

Chatting it up in Craft

I've had dozens of conversations this year with people who have lost enthusiasm for Second Life after two or three years of engaged participation. Although the stories vary to some degree, I think that behind the loss of enthusiasm is the loss of beginner's mind. We lose the initial sense of wonder as we fill our fresh and open minds with habit and preconception. Our initial naive openness gives way to jaded judgements. And in many cases, the virtual side of the candle we've been burning at both ends must be capped before the whole thing goes up in flames.

I've experienced all of the above. In fact, I hardly ever just hang out in the virtual world anymore. These days when I rez it's almost always to work on a project or attend some specific event. So when I went to check out Craft, a newish grid catering to the virtual art community, my intention was to take a quick look around for project fodder and then get out of Dodge. What actually happened was that I ended up bumping into a few interesting people and had a great time chatting.  And it brought back viscerally the mostly forgotten sense of serendipitous joy that was the hallmark of my first months in Second Life. What a wonderful gift.

The Winter of My Discontent

What has been will be again,

what has been done will be done again;

there is nothing new under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:9