Plans and Profiles
I was writing a list of ideas, things to write in this blog, while I was in the (eventful) process of coding the whole platform. Nowadays I'm not sure if I want to bring those topics up. It feels like their time ran away despite I haven't written about them.One of them was the always present topic of profiles in SL, from the perspective of a chat that was held nearly three years ago in Basilique (my, time flies!) There were three main questions. What impressions do you get? Do you judge? Do you care?
I'll begin by saying that I started filling my own profile in ways that nowadays make me smirk. I tried to sound unique and I ended up copying a lot of cliches from others' profiles. Not so bad for consistency. With time, I filled it with the main store and contact details, and left some space for personal details in a few of my picks, not caring if I sounded unique or not. I decided against defining myself, that is the only rule in my profile.
I see so many profiles, no, SO MANY profiles, in caps, full of people saying that they're basically the best person you'll ever find in earth. Honestly, I prefer if you let me decide how I feel you are. Specially because all the backstabbing creatures that I've found in SL had in their profiles that caring, honesty, and loyalty were their things. I've come to distrust profiles, unless they are humorous. Those I take more seriously.
What impressions do I get? That we're the worst judges of ourselves. We don't have the needed self criticism to either be sincere and say that we're people you shouldn't trust, or simply not say a thing at all. Instead, most profiles are full of caring, loyal, honest... you name it... people. I have a simple question then. If everybody is so wonderful, where does all the drama in SL come from?
And oh, the drama. You say "no drama" in your profile, in any form? I don't believe you. I know you will create drama. I will try to stay away from you and save my jokes. Drama is a part of our lives, in case you didn't know, so your "no drama" claim only makes you suspicious of being the center of it.
Do I judge people by their profiles? Of course I do. I'm human, I judge. I will not believe anyone that says that they don't judge. We all judge. But that doesn't mean that I won't interact with you. In the end, your profile is the image you see of yourself, but I'm interested in the picture that I can get on my own. So even though I know it's risky when someone believing to be caring, loyal, and honest approaches me, I'll interact. At times I've been wrong, and met wonderful people in the way.
Do I care? Depends. If you say you share logs because entitled, bad reading skills or your mom needs them, I know I can't trust you, so I will take care of not telling you anything private. We will never be friends. If you say you'll harass me if I say something to your family, well, it's good to know. I don't use the mute button often, but I won't mind to use it once your babbling stops to amuse me. If you say you're a Dom, I will smile and let you live in your bubble of innocence. And so on. So yes, I care, even if only because your profile is actually telling me a lot about yourself. Probably not what you expected, but a lot anyway.
And you, what do you think? What impressions do you get? Do you judge? Do you care? Feel free to share, and have a great day :-)
Posted by: Auryn Beorn on 18/01/2018 at 12:00:00 - 0 Comments