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Thousands Of Disabled People Are Living In 'Virtual Utopias' In Second Life (backchannel.com) 55

"For many disabled residents, who may spend 12 hours a day or more in Second Life, the most important moments and relationships of their lives happen inside the virtual world," reports Backchanel. "For them, the fevered fantasies of a decade ago have become reality: Second Life is where they live." mirandakatz shares this article: Wagner James Au, who has written extensively about Second Life, estimates they may account for roughly 20 percent of users. Some active members estimate the number higher -- at as much as 50 percent... Abundant research shows imagining movement, without actually moving the body, can have positive effects on motor skills, balance, and learning... Studies suggest the therapeutic benefits of virtual reality extend beyond movement disorders -- to chronic pain, cognitive functioning in people with ADHD and PTSD, and social skills for people on the autism spectrum.
The article describes a 90-year-old former nurse, now living in a retirement community, who's spent eight years living in a Second Life archipelago called "Virtual Ability Island" with over a thousand other members. "Watching her avatar hike trails and dance gave her the confidence to try things in the physical world that she hadn't tried in a half decade -- like stepping off a curb or standing up without any help."
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Thousands Of Disabled People Are Living In 'Virtual Utopias' In Second Life

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  • I saw this in my RSS feed and accidently opened the previous article and read, "a fan has finally completed a MAME version of Atari's unreleased game Primal Rage II this week" and thought, "now, that's a utopia I can appreciate!" ;)

  • by JoeCommodore ( 567479 ) <larry@portcommodore.com> on Saturday February 18, 2017 @12:03PM (#53892295) Homepage

    SL is a very large diverse place there are various cultural communities as well as social communities. Virtual world is a good description as you can be satisfied sticking to one area or exploring and learn and experience different stuff.

    Many are interested in the social aspect but there also is a large creative group: The appeal of doing 3-D virtual virtual building is very satisfying, The in-world building components and controls are VERY easy to learn and with the SL scripting language you can make your creations animate, makes sounds, perform tasks, interact, etc.

    If you search around you usually can find a community that suits your social and creative needs. While searching you might stumble into some really weird stuff too. I myself spend most of my SL time as a humanoid squirrel, either as 1 1/2 foot tall "tiny avatar" or a bit taller furry like one, and hang around the sillier communities - when on Second Life you don't have to live it like real life.

  • by dizzy8578 ( 106660 ) * on Saturday February 18, 2017 @12:03PM (#53892297)

    Disabled IRL I enjoyed years of virtual adventures there. However perhaps due to political climate change in the US, the current expansion seems to be actively hostile to those who are not physically able to play at an arbitrary level. Not gonna quit or threaten to, but it is a sad realization that the toxic atmosphere that infest trade chat is reflected by the Devs barricading even low to mid level crafting recipes inside 5 man dungeons.

  • Walking simulators (Score:5, Interesting)

    by tsa ( 15680 ) on Saturday February 18, 2017 @12:15PM (#53892371) Homepage

    Thanks to my heart disorder I can't walk far and I can't run at all. Walking simulators like Obduction and the Myst games provide me with the chance to walk for a long time through beautiful environments while exploring them, without getting tired. It feels liberating. I don't like sports on TV or in games though because they bring up bad memories from my childhood.

    • by psavo ( 162634 )

      Obduction is any good? I remember getting my first CD-ROM, 4x and a friend loaned me the MYST. Started playing at 18 and got to the end by 8 in the morning.

      • by tsa ( 15680 )

        It's quite similar to Myst. The worlds are huge though, and as detailed as Uru was. It's also drawn in the same style as Uru and they used many of Uru's sounds as well. If you like Myst it's definitely worth trying.

  • by sciengin ( 4278027 ) on Saturday February 18, 2017 @01:31PM (#53892667)

    Was SL not this ungame that was hyped by the mainstream media a few years ago?
    I was not aware they still had thousands of users much less thousands of disabled ones.
    Honestly I am surprised they did not quietly shut down yet.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Was SL not this ungame that was hyped by the mainstream media a few years ago?
      I was not aware they still had thousands of users much less thousands of disabled ones.
      Honestly I am surprised they did not quietly shut down yet.

      SL is active and thriving and it's members are happily enjoying the many benefits of a virtual world.

    • by tsa ( 15680 ) on Saturday February 18, 2017 @03:26PM (#53893019) Homepage

      Myst Online [mystonline.com] has been around for over 10 years and is still thriving.

    • Right, because it doesn't appeal to activities you consider important, it just doesn't make sense that it would appeal to anyone else on the planet. Are that many people really not as enlightened as you?

      Just for grins you might try reading TFA, and learn something about why it's still popular enough to be profitable for Linden Labs.

      • Just for grins you might try reading TFA, and learn something about why it's still popular enough to be profitable for Linden Labs.

        Jesus, dude, CHILL OUT!

        All he said was he was surprised it was still around, he didn't shit on it and suggest all SL users are neck-beards in their mom's basement, or something (or is that YOU?)

        As one who is not involved in SL, it didn't occur to me that unlike MANY MANY similar ideas, it hadn't faded into history for whatever reason. But that's not meant as an insult (as clearly you took it), simply an observation from someone who never got into SL. To each their own.

  • I just tried SL for the first time last month, and had to abandon it in the tutorial. The UI and movement controls we're intolerable. I come from a long history of MMORPGing, with familiarly in diverse control schemes (from UO to WoW to ESO), and yet I just couldn't get used to SL's movement and camera controls. I'll return if/when they ever improve.

  • The "Virtual Ability island" referenced is run by a non-profit: www.VirtualAbility.org [virtualability.org]
  • Lots of the people I've met in SL (and on the island mentioned) create disabled avatars who use virtual wheelchairs;
    they mimic their RL disability in SL. They're not running, walking, hiking, or flying. They are rolling around in old-fashioned
    mechanical wheelchairs. Exactly the opposite of some imaginary personal utopia. Their enjoyment was just the fact that
    they could instant-message the avatars standing (or sitting) next to them.

  • is ever so close.

"The pathology is to want control, not that you ever get it, because of course you never do." -- Gregory Bateson

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