You know I have been in SL for over a year now and it never ceases to amaze me, I still see a beautiful sim and am speechless with the creativity and ability of some people. Like the recent Tyche sim built by Ao Kilara and Straylight too.But over and above this beauty and creativity the one thing that stands out is the pettiness of people. In real life I have spent a lot of time in schools with various age groups and SL reminds me a lot of playground activites - the little groups where you either belong or you don't and god help you if you step into someone elses territory.
The most obvious place to see this kind of behaviour in SL is in the fashion sector, possibly because its one of the biggest of these 'groups'. Most, in fact nearly all, designers and models are lovely people to talk to and are willing to help newcomers to the group - but heaven forbid you make a mistake, wear the wrong clothes or, unknowingly, support the wrong person.
As a whole these are probably the most unforgiving of the groups, make a mistake like this and you find yourself osctrasized or forever tied to the mistake you made.
This happened recently to a friend of mine ( no names mentioned) and she found herself wearing a dress from a texture thief - now you might say 'so what' the problem arose because it was a high profile event and of course the other designers there were horrified that the thief (who will also remain nameless) got to show her theft in such a public manner. For the designers as a group to be upset is understandable but to publicly humiliate the person wearing the dress?
Someone not of the modelling/fashion world would not have known the controversy surrounding this so called designer and no-one told her before the public event.
I know that my friend was very hurt by a lot of the comments and after getting a lot of 'he said she said' it boiled down to one designer who refused to acknowledge she had made a mistake.
Again 'so what' you might think, but my friend may now lose a large contract she was working on all because one designer will not admit she acted rashly and didn't find out the facts before she sent accusations, not to mention the fact that her feelings were hurt and her honour stained forever.
Yes I know as do you that memories, in SL especially, are short but does the fact most people will forget about it quickly repair hurt feelings or stained honour? No but an apology goes a very long way!
Maybe we need to remember who are the adults here in our SL playground and who are the kids?
This is not the only time I have been aware of this kind of pettiness although this was one of the most public and high profile. So much boils down to 'he said, she said' but at the end of the day most seem to think that because they are avatars, and no-one knows who they really are, they can act however they choose. This kind of attitude is seen especially in griefers and newbies, but if you look close enough you will see it in a lot of people, just under the surface, but there nonetheless. They need to remember that what goes around comes around and although we are avatars in SL we have real feelings.
