My first destination was this lovely island home under a beautifully rendered sunset which I hadn't realized was private before unintentionally interrupting what appeared to be an intimate moment between two avatars. The setting was actually quite stunning in high graphics, and I wish I hadn't deleted my screen capture of the surrounding landscape. (I was, of course, summarily banned from the premises before I could take another screen capture). Some of the landscape and architecture can be seen in the picture below. From my brief intrusion, I can definitely see how sl can be a space for the creation of idyllic spaces and fantasy fulfillment. It also raises the question of what property and privacy mean in the virtual space. It feels strange to me that I can by default teleport to any destination, and only after the fact was I evicted from the premises. To me this is a strange mechanic for what is supposed to simulate private property in the virtual world, and seems to be a welcome invitation for trolls.
I took another sunset from a different location to kind of give an idea of the view, though it doesn't capture the beauty of the rolling hills and spiraling architecture.
This incident I think more than anything helped me understand, if only a little, the nature of intimacy in sl that we read about in this week's readings by Boellstroff. Virtual relationships beyond friendships seem a foreign concept to me. But the above private space impressed upon me the degree of investment into its creation and likewise into such relationships.
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