Described as a potential barrier, "culture" is used to refer to the experience of arriving in SL and not knowing the etiquette, codes etc. This made me reflect on my initial experience of SL. It felt like arriving on another planet. I always think that in alien films we betray our complete egocentrism as a race, and a curiously concrete perspective on life. Creatures are always variations on humans (or insects for some reason), and show human motivations (domination often), emotions and social systems. I suppose that for the purposes of entertainment the aliens have to stay relatively humanoid for us to engage, but I'd like to see David Lynch make an alien film. This diversion from the subject is intended to illustrate that we don't function very well outside our comfort zones, and SL, despite its faithful reproduction of an Earth-like world (with a fantasy element) is still difficult to engage with if you are not already familiar with such environments. I read this article in a state of total ignorance, much like I approached SL.

My gaming experience does not extend beyond seeing adverts on television, and playing Scrabble and Solitaire on an iPhone (I recognise that my tastes are quite analogue). Due to this lack of direct experience, the only real difference I can discern between MMOs and MUVEs is that one is more clearly goal-drive (I started making a derogatory comment about the qualities of such goals, but there are those that would view getting a score of 400 in a game of Scrabble as indicative of an ill-spent life, so I will desist). Warburton provides a helpful table to extrapolate the differences, although I question the delineation between approximations to the self. When I entered SL for the first time, I didn't know what to do, where to go, who to speak to, or why I was there. I have arrived in completely foreign countries with more sense of what should happen next.

 I find myself returning to a question I asked myself last week - why do some web-based formats for expression, communication and action just not attract me? I have taken to this blog like a duck to water (with no claim to the quality of the output), feel at home with discussion boards, skype, e-mail, Wordpress, wikis etc. But, I struggle with Twitter, Second Life, never really got to grips with texting (too much to say for one thumb to cope with). Is my verbosity only suited to some formats? Is impatience a factor (sometimes it takes twice as long to agree something by text compared to e-mailing or speaking on the telephone; and the delays in SL when using it through wireless were agonising)? I do have a low threshold for tolerating not being able to do stuff. If I can't master something fairly quickly, I'll dismiss it (not unrelated to the impatience factor). I'm very goal-driven, and some communication tools are directionless without having the natural flow of "real"conversation that will sustain momentum.  How do I temper what suits me personally with what will be best for the students I teach? On the one hand I need to feel comfortable with the communication tools I am using, but on the other hand, each student will bring their own likes and dislikes, which will not always accord with mine.