Separation

Maybe it's because I'm avoiding RL work or maybe it's just because I'm just that deep. Either way I've been doing a lot of thinking today. Like about relationships. In SL, I mean.

SL relationships can transcend into RL relationships. I've heard friends tell me as much. And it can work. And be brilliant. But is it possible to keep SL relationships as SL relationships? Is your avatar having a relationship with my avatar, or is it really you and me?

I guess a lot of the answers to those questions come down to who you are and who your avatar is. Is your avatar purely a pixelated representation of your flesh and bones reality. Or are they something else? The true you, you'd want to be? The true you, you'd not dare to be? A false you, created for an SL detached from your true self?

We all wear masks in life. I guess SL just makes it harder for others to see behind those masks. RL masks can hide the person, but SL masks can hide the shape, the skin, the gender, ...

In so many ways I try not to wear RL masks. I am what I am. I crave approval so I leave nothing hidden. Somehow. As such the SL me is in so many ways the RL me. But this is where my dilemma lies. The SL me doesn't have to be the RL me. Should it be? I don't know. Do I want it to be? Again, I don't know.

And back to relationships. My current thinking is that my RL self should not put my SL self in a situation that my RL self would not put my RL self. I should not do something via my mouse that I would not do in good old-fashioned, honest-to-goodness 3D reality. If I would not right-click / touch in the universe why should I in the SLuniverse?

But what if temptation, or even a potential SL relationship should seek me out? Do SL masks relieve morality boundaries? Do graphics soften reality? It is still me interacting with you, at the end of the day. The medium may change but the sentiment remains, whatever masks we're wearing, whatever role we're playing. Do I believe that enough?

OK, nuff mindspill.