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Hey! Look, folks! An Original(ish) Idea

And Way Beyond Creepy / Dustin Rowles

Trade News | December 18, 2008 | Comments (32)

I’m both fascinated and more than a little weirded out by the virtual reality game, A Second Life, which — from what I can deduce — is kind of like Sim City, only you’re playing with real people. You can court folks online, marry them, start families, and basically carry on another life in an alternate, virtual universe — it’s kind of like the Pajiba comments section. And people take this shit seriously — over on QuizLaw, I’ve written about a couple of legal cases involving Second Life (and a Japanese version), where one woman was arrested for killing her virtual husband for having an affair with a virtual mistress, and another case where a woman who met her husband on Second Life ended up divorcing him after she found out he was having an affair with another woman. In Second Life.

See what I mean? It’s serious goddamn business.

And I won’t argue that Second Life and its intersection with a person’s First Life wouldn’t make for a compelling film. The movie in question — which will be directed by The Pirates of Caribbean’s Gore Verbinski — will be based on a WSJ article about a woman who joins a support group after she discovers her real-life husband is involved in a virtual marriage, one that entails paying the mortgage, shopping together, and walking their dogs. According to Variety, the article by Alexandra Alter focuses on a married man who spends as many as 20 hours a day on a computer, existing through an avatar who is a thriving, musclebound entrepreneur. In reality, he is a diabetic, chain-smoking 53-year-old.” Steven Knight (Eastern Promises) will write the script.

You have to consider it cheating, right? I mean, there’s no question. Right? Of course, if Mrs. Pajiba-hyphenate found out I were having an affair on Second Life, I dunno if she’d ditch me for having an affair or because I was addicted to Second Life.


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Comments

I think that Mrs. Pajiba-hyphenate would be well within her rights to dump you for even being remotely interested in Second Life. Second Lifers are the kind of nerds even Pajiba dorks look down on.

Posted by: courtney 2 at December 18, 2008 9:15 AM

Steven Knight (Eastern Promises) will write the script.

Does this mean we should be expecting naked steam room fights and direction by David Cronenberg? If so, this might be interestingly fucked up. (And Viggo Mortensen will have to put on a LOT of weight.)

Posted by: Mike R. at December 18, 2008 9:17 AM

another life in an alternate, virtual universe -- it's kind of like the Pajiba comments section.

But...Skitz and Wendell are real, right? Right?!

Posted by: meaux at December 18, 2008 9:21 AM

Does this mean we should be expecting naked steam room fights and direction by David Cronenberg?

Please?!!!! And more naked Viggo????!!!!

I don't know what exactly I think about divorce over the virtual second life thing. I would definitely feel there was a big problem with the marriage if a partner needs to have a complete, alternate existence. I would certainly be bothered and upset. I think it's a situation I'd have to figure out if it actually happened, as opposed to hypothesis.

Posted by: Cindy at December 18, 2008 9:34 AM

They should have make a movie about how I failed out of college because of my EverQuest addiction.

True story.

Nowadays, I actually got bored with Warcraft and stopped playing it. Oh how I have changed.

Posted by: Snath at December 18, 2008 9:38 AM

Nowadays, I actually got bored with Warcraft and stopped playing it. Oh how I have changed.

*sniff*

They grow up so fast.

Posted by: admin at December 18, 2008 9:50 AM

I am so blissfully ignorant when it comes to video games. The only reasons I know about World of Warcraft's existence are the commercials and that South Park episode...

Posted by: Pants at December 18, 2008 9:58 AM

"Marriages don't break up on account of infidelity, it's just a symptom that something else is wrong."

Credit where it's due for, yes, being pretty original (though I'll be disappointed if someone doesn't chime in to say that that's like the third movie on the subject this year). I get the feeling though that it'd be about as much fun as the segments with Robert Crumb's brother in "Crumb".

If my movie's unhappy I'd rather it not be mundane, but I prefer it to not be unhappy. But then I'm already a fatalist, I don't need the encouragement.

Are nerds worse than dorks? Is there a Pajiba geek? An Executive Pajiban? It's been a source of comfort for years to be able to say "but THEY...are dorks", like if you have the misfortune of visiting a comics store that also sells anime and provides gaming tables and find yourself overhearing a gaggle of walking stereotypes you want to get away from(I had the same illuminating experience waiting in an autograph line at Dragon*Con one year).

And must he be both musclebound and an entrepreneur? If you want to create such a realistic lifestyle why not just be inventive and reasonably fit? That'd be dull? Virtual mortgage payments and dogwalking aren't?

Don't look over your rectangular gold wirerims at me, bucko. Try divorcing your wife like an honest cad would!

Posted by: Jay at December 18, 2008 10:00 AM

Second Life is boring. It's Dave Chappelle's internet skit except animated. Your life has to really suck to be addicted to that site.

But in defense of the Second Life-ers: don't we all spend inordinate amounts of time watching movies, the stories we wish we could live out? Don't we (as consumers) pay billions of [insert currency here] for actors to bring our fantasies to life and make them seem probable? Hip? We all are hypothetical.

Posted by: ThunderSacTriumph at December 18, 2008 10:11 AM

This sounds like an interesting concept. I know some people might be calmed by Steven Night writing the screenplay, but my main complaint about Eastern Promises was the screenplay. How I saw Eastern Promises: Steven Night took a destructive, violent, Russian mob film with high stakes and made it dull, boring, and lifeless. Now imagine him taking a fake web life and making it the key point of a drama about real life. Snooze.

Hopefully I'm wrong.

Posted by: Robert at December 18, 2008 10:17 AM

another life in an alternate, virtual universe -- it's kind of like the Pajiba comments section.

I like to think that we are far more interesting than those whose lives revolve around Second Life. We hang out here to combat boredom and for simple enjoyment in our lives, not to live that life that we could only be living if we got our collective tailfeathers out of the computer chair and went out in the world and actually worked for something. It's a hangout site for those than need entertainment during the workday hours. Second Life is an excuse for being pathetic.

Posted by: Melody at December 18, 2008 10:21 AM

Is there a Pajiba geek?

*waves*

I may not be the ur-dork, but I can see him from here.

Posted by: twig at December 18, 2008 10:38 AM

We hang out here to combat boredom and for simple enjoyment in our lives, not to live that life that we could only be living if we got our collective tailfeathers out of the computer chair and went out in the world and actually worked for something.
The same could be said for WoW players, Guitar Hero, etc - personally I die a little inside each time I log into my toon and see how many seconds, minutes, hours, days, MONTHS my toon has been active. All that time that could have been spent doing something OTHER than sitting in front of a computer. Destroying the Alliance. *sigh* ah well.

Posted by: Stella at December 18, 2008 10:41 AM

another life in an alternate, virtual universe -- it's kind of like the Pajiba comments section.

Uhh, excuse me? I don't know about the rest of these losers, but every damn word I commit to the comments sections is the damn truth. I do have a PhD in Scandalous Hotness, I did in fact invent the female orgasm (you're welcome, ladies,) and I do in fact spend my Easter vacations on Mir.

So screw you losers for being fake-ass motherhumpers; my shit is on the real.

Posted by: Clee Shay at December 18, 2008 10:44 AM

Blasphemy! The female orgasm was invented by Dr. Joyce Brothers and her virtuosa fingers of auto-erotic pleasure!

Posted by: My real is on the shit at December 18, 2008 11:01 AM

Pajiba is not a second life for me. It fills the gaps between updates on my work computer (which is slower than hell). Pajiba also allows me to be snarky, whereas I have to be polite to my clients I'm typing to on my work computer. The minute I felt like having an affair with one of you guys, would be the day I kill my computer. That's right. Virtual suicide.

Posted by: BWeaves at December 18, 2008 11:09 AM

BWeaves, I agree with you on the computer destruction. I have an HP printer than is begging for me to take it, a baseball bat (real wood, none of that cheap aluminum stuff), and some hard-core Gangsta rap to a field and Office Space it.

It died 2 hours after I spent $50 for ink during the middle of printing a 40 page report. I hate HP.

Posted by: Melody at December 18, 2008 11:13 AM

If I ever had a hypothetical 2nd Life "affair," my wife would dump my ass not because I was electro-cheating, but because I'd turned into an unspeakably lame jive-triflin' pussy.

Posted by: firedmyass at December 18, 2008 11:25 AM

basically carry on another life in an alternate, virtual universe -- it's kind of like the Pajiba comments section.

Ah, another Dustin joke destined to be over-analyzed.

I see the biggest difference being that everyone here skips the pretenses and fully discloses that we are all diabetic, chain smoking, brown bag drinkers. There I go projecting again.

Posted by: branded at December 18, 2008 11:38 AM

Okay, since I dorked myself out earlier I might as well chime in here with my two cents.

I play City of Heroes. For the uninitiated it's basically a superhero version of WoW. As someone who played with Mego action figures as a kid, and the Champions RPG in grade school, high school and college, AND someone with thousands (yes, it's true) of comics in my collection, it's basically a childhood fantasy come true to "play Champions with Mego figures", as I like to say.

And yes, I roleplay with some of my friends...both real-life friends and ones I know only virtually. And wonder of wonders...my WIFE plays City of Heroes too with her OWN ACCOUNT.

All of this, and even *I* look down at Second Life players. I don't get it, at least I'm pretending to fight crime and prevent alien invasions. They're...mowing their lawns? Buying property and paying taxes?

Yeah I have enough of that in REAL life. Gimme my cape and mask, motherfuckers. I'm headed to Atlas Park 'cause it's my fantasy time.

Rant over. Thanks for letting me share.

Posted by: Green Lantern at December 18, 2008 11:46 AM

"an unspeakably lame jive-triflin' pussy"

Hahahahaha! That is the best insult ever firedmyass. I'm totally stealing it to use on undeserving random strangers!

Posted by: Pants at December 18, 2008 12:14 PM

I tried Second Life once, for about...an hour. I was completely creeped out by it, to be perfectly honest. That, and the animation is really horrible, and I had far more interesting things to do.

The movie does sound interesting. I'm surprised someone hasn't done it before, what with all the parodies Second Life and WoW have had in cartoon shows...

Posted by: figgy at December 18, 2008 12:42 PM

I did Second Life for a group project (it was required by my professor). The building and educational side of it was interesting. As a teaching tool it was pretty decent.

If you go outside of educational places people with bad English will try and have sex with you. This made my scavenger hunt looking for free stuff for my avatar and the model my group made extra fun.

Posted by: Kayanne at December 18, 2008 12:55 PM

Also, wasn't this an episode for one of the CSIs?

Posted by: Kayanne at December 18, 2008 12:57 PM

...

And that about sums up my opinion on Second Life.

Posted by: Skitz at December 18, 2008 1:25 PM

Does this mean we should be expecting naked steam room fights and direction by David Cronenberg?

I'm pretty sure the naked steam room fights already occur on Second Life. Only instead of Russian mobsters, it's some blonde-tipped douche avatar and a Japanese fuck-bot who both fly, accompanied by labored breathing.

Posted by: JustBill at December 18, 2008 2:29 PM

Dustin good point! So you spend more time on the computer than you do in actually meeting people or having your own life? This Second Life stuff is for people who've probably given up on life I take it. Zoinks, sounds like something I'd be up for any day now (thanks to the crumbling economy, might as well engage in a pointless exercise of living my life the way I want to without all these pesky obstacles!)

Posted by: ph at December 18, 2008 6:09 PM

"Does this mean we should be expecting naked steam room fights and direction by David Cronenberg?"

Does this mean you don't actually read articles you comment on? Verbinski is directing, or at the very least, tipped to. Fucking 'tard.

Posted by: ben (thpbt) at December 18, 2008 8:18 PM

My sister is marrying a guy she met in WOW, my other sister is dating a guy she met in WOW (different guy ofc). So basically WOW is meet.your.soul.mate.today.com with awesome epix as bonus for your loot-whoring little heart.

Posted by: Irina at December 19, 2008 12:30 AM

My sister is marrying a guy she met in WOW, my other sister is dating a guy she met in WOW (different guy ofc). So basically WOW is meet.your.soul.mate.today.com with awesome epix as bonus for your loot-whoring little heart. All for just 11.99$!

Posted by: Irina at December 19, 2008 12:32 AM

Sorry for the double post, hate my internet.

Posted by: Irina at December 19, 2008 12:38 AM

I play City of Heroes. For the uninitiated it's basically a superhero version of WoW. As someone who played with Mego action figures as a kid, and the Champions RPG in grade school, high school and college, AND someone with thousands (yes, it's true) of comics in my collection, it's basically a childhood fantasy come true to "play Champions with Mego figures", as I like to say.

Posted by: Lisa Marie at December 24, 2008 4:30 AM