I made a posting in the SL forums saying I am looking for informants to do my ethnography (link) and got two replies so far. Hopefully, though, a couple more will reply. So far being connected in-world at the same time seems to be an issue.
One of my informants did give me some useful tips - she told me to fill out my profile so that more people would be interested in talking to me.
In general it seems to me that most SL residents are patient and accepting of new residents.
On my second day I went to The Shelter, a location reputed to be newbie-friendly (and it is) and I struck up some conversation with those who were there - they were having a dance party. I asked them what they do in SL, what keeps them coming back to the "game". They told me SL is NOT a game - especially since there are no set objectives in the world.
One resident took interest in me and decided to send me some IM's - he told me that he loves coming to SL to dance. I asked him why ... to me I just couldn't really understand what could be so great about dancing around with an avatar on a computer screen...how is it fun? Wouldn't you rather dance in RL? He told me he loves dancing in RL, a lot more than in SL. I still have a lot of questions about why he loves coming to SL to dance though, although I didn't press him much further about it at that point. Maybe he just enjoys connecting and dancing when he doesn't have time or money to do it in RL? I don't know.
Today:
Today I went to the Body Rocker's club in SL. When i showed up everyone was line dancing, so I decided to join them. I edited my avatar and made her look presentable so I didn't feel too out of place among the other avatars - actually, I blend in pretty well, I think, though maybe I am a little more clothed that many other avatars. I expected there to be a lot more conversation going on in the Nearby Chat, but no one was really talking besides the club staff.
Later I plan on going to the Metaverse Music Expo, which looks something like Bonnaroo to me. A bunch of musicians come together and perform for three days.
While waiting for performance to begin at the Metaverse Music Expo, I decided to go exploring...I searched for events going on now and saw something called Fight Club so...you know, I obviously had to check it out.
It ended up being a strip club though xDDD Guess I should have clicked "more info" :P
FIGHT CLUB FRIDAY at Nirvana Strip Club! (*dancer,dancers,strip clubs)
Time:2/24 6:00 a.m.
Duration:12 hours
Location: ! [ ~ NIRVANA Strip Club ~ ] ! on Grand View
Host: Web-GettinJiggyWithIt™ (webdesigner.wylie)
Category:Nightlife/Entertainment
Cover: FREE
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the prestigious Nirvana Strip Club for "Fight Club Friday"! All of our Angels will be dressed down and roughed up a bit as they striptease through out the day! We'll have toughness competitions for our guests including floor wrestling, arm wrestling and street fighting games! While your here, grab a free "Fight Club" edition Nirvana tank top from the sign by the games. Think you got what it takes to challenge one of our Bad Girls to a competition? Put a L$200 contribution in their tip jar and find out!! Come kick back and play at Nirvana all day long... See ya there!
