moggs oceanlane's photostream  

flickr | eloquence | my second life spiel | books | movies | music | contacts, groups, blah | contact me

:: About me ::

I am Moggs Oceanlane, resident of Second Life (SL). I'm 50% avatar, 50% human and 100% Moggs. Oh... and I'm definitely real. I am independent and highly sociable. I'm an information junkie and hate 'not knowing'. I love hearing what people think, seeing what they are doing and what they've created. I'm curious about almost everything and I love animated conversations. Feel free to contact me via flickr, in-world or on other spaces where I participate/lurk on the web.

:: Flickr ::

I use my stream more to share information than images (it just happens that the information comes with an image).I'm a happy snapper... or a snapper of stuff. Whichever. I'm here to be in awe of others and share a little of myself while I'm doing it. I have a flickr account so I can view my friends - and other second lifers - streams. Most of my posts come with a spiel - a story, links, information.

I've been trying to remember to hit the favourites button when I find something that leaves me in awe... or makes me laugh... or intrigues me. Feel free to peep at my favourites and share my Flickr experience.

I follow lots of SLers - so many I could never possibly keep up - but I love the randomness of the recent posts and look through them when I login to flickr.

There's no rhyme or reason as to who is listed as a friend or a contact... regardless of the label you wear, you all see the same stuff.

And YES - if it's a second life related group and you invite me, I'll probably join. If you are a SL resident, I'll probably follow you. My curiosity is insatiable.

On flickr I am an administrator and moderator of groups - and a fan girl of many things.

:: Eloquence ::

Myself and my real life sister (Magrat Myoo in SL) have make our mainland space Eloquence available for residents to use as a home base or a place to hang out between doing things, open boxes or if modest, use the change rooms. We haven't really done much to the land and it seems neither of us have spent a lot of time there in the last few years - but we continue to pay out tiers. The welcome spaces annoyed me sensless when I joined and I left them pretty quickly and I like the idea that others are using our land to escape the (un)welcome areas too. We have a designated box opening area; change rooms for the modest (accessible via a door and/or teleporter from the box opening area) and space to just be. Feel free to join the Eloquence group if you wish to set any of the Eloquence spaces as your home location (World > Set home to here) - whatever :) Make yourself at home - our only rule is respect other residents.

:: My Second Life Spiel ::

I see Second Life as many things and look at it as an education/business tool, a community, a game, a creative environment and much more. I love the creativeness and general willingness of residents to help one another out.

In many ways, Second Life presents opportunities for you to mix with people whom you simply just wouldn't encounter in your real life due to geography or life style. Many people have reported that their confidence and real life communication skills enhanced by their experiences in SL.

SL is not a game - it's a virtual environment that is used for a range of applications including gaming, chatting/communication, education, artistic endeavours, forums and business meetings, film making/Machinima and it's true, it can be used for cyber sex too. Virtual environments, social networks, etc really are a more sophisticated version of pen pals of old... which is kind of nice, don't you think? The diversity of people in Second Life and what they do in the virtual environment is huge - to make one judgement about all residents and all activities demonstrates a lack of rational thought.

The people I associate with in world range from their 20s to their 70s. Some are highly educated, some have minimal education, some are deeply religious, some are atheist, some are from low socio-economic backgrounds while others come from privileged backgrounds. Some are also my real life work colleagues, friends, sisters and (gasp) parents. (My parents come in-world to play family games that we used to play in person but due to geography now play online).

Many openly share real life pictures and/or information and go on to form real life friendships while others choose not to ... sometimes it's nice to not be put into a box because of age, gender, religion, sexuality, disability or any of the other things people like to make assumptions and judgements about.

The Second Life community isn't about the platform, it's grown beyond that. It's really about the people, the knowledge and the community itself.

Second Life has been advertised on the US Autistic website as being a potentially positive environment/tool for those with Autism and Aspergers. At an educational event I attended in-world a number of people were discussing how they worked with disabled groups and bedridden individuals who loved the environment as they could operate in the virtual world without the discrimination they received in the real world.

I love my life which includes both the physical environment and the virtual one. I don't love one or the other more or less - they are different aspects of the whole that is me. I love Second Life and adore the people I've come to know via this environment without apology. I readily talk about second life with people from my physical environment.

Favourite Books & Authors I'll pretty much read anything - even the back of a cereal box if there's nothing else about. I like fiction and non-fiction, literature and trash. I can't think of a genre I won't read. I used to read a lot more... I'm not sure if lately it's a time thing or just a life thing but I haven't been reading as much as I used to. I power through a book pretty fast once I get started.

Favourite Movies, Stars & Directors I'm not so much into who the actor is as to how well I relate to characters when it comes to TV and movies... like my reading habits I watch a bit of everything - I enjoy variety.

Favourite Music & Artists I'm addicted to Triple J Unearthed - a site dedicated to new and unsigned Australian Musicians. There's some great talent there. I like most genre's of music - and in particular enjoy stuff that makes me feel, think or laugh. I also love last.fm and hype.com for discovering new-to-me music.

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