Submitted by VW Sands, Vibrations Surf Alliance (VSA) Founder
A friend asked me recently "what happened to SL (Second Life) surfing?" Not really sure exactly what he meant and needing a bit more specifics my obvious response was, "what ya mean?".
He said "well ya know what were we doing back in the old days that made it so damn much fun?"
Instantly I had the info I needed to give him an answer. Not THE answer mind you, just my 2 cents.
In the early days it seemed to me that we all had a much better understanding of what SL surfing was and was not. We understood that the moves that can be made on a surfboard in SL were limited by the scripts in said surfboard.
Surfing "competitions" were like any other form of competition in SL. They required ZERO skill (unless you consider hitting the arrow keys on a keyboard as a "skill". I mean sure, there were folks putting together cool combinations of moves but......the moves were scripted animations in the boards.
Understanding these basic facts meant that taking any of it seriously was never even considered. We surfed, screwed off and played this "game" never having the normal pressure of any kind of ego-driven, skill driven, prize money, trophy hunting BS that most RL competition environments normally entail.
When competitve SL surfing (or Sailing, go-cart racing, bowling, whatever) and the folks that were here doing that stuff understood that none of it required "skill" and was "Luck-Of_Lag" the mood was very much different than it is today.
Now days folks run out and buy Monster-Tower, water cooled i7 computers with 8 GB video cards and have a 100 mbit fiber connection and bitch when they get a score not to their liking. What they don´t seem to understand is that their super-hardware doesn't mean squat ( if only to provide themselves with decent Client latency) when they are surfing on a sim with horrible server side latency.
Add to that the fact that in most cases there are 3 judges sitting in 3 different locations using 3 different ISP´s and 3 different connection speeds. So what the judges "see" and what they (the gamer-surfer) see´s in their client window is........you get my point.
Now somehow this new batch of surfers (sailors, racers whatever) seems to think that monster hardware and tons of skill is required to "win". With that mentality comes of course all of the pitfalls with any type of competition, both in SL and RL.
So my answer was quite simple: "Back in the old days we surfed to have fun with our friends around the world and didn’t really give a rats ass about the rest."
Simple really. Take none of it seriously and have tons more fun.
Seriously?
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13 comments:
VW, Nice analysis and summary of today’s competitive surf community. However, I would like to add that I think a lot of surfers are gathering together like we did in the “good ole days”. Sometimes to party (Gia’s Fire Dance), sometimes to celebrate (Shi’s Rez Day), and sometimes to learn how to surf the boards and waves better (surf camp). And then there is these alt. surfing events (Surfari or Humming Bird Point’s comps) These surfers and others ARE having fun. And Yes some take it all too seriously. So perhaps they are having fun in their own way. Who knows? Perhaps we were more open and inviting than surfers are today. Or as the lovely Cie pointed out, that there are far more good surf sims out there today, so that reduces the reason to congregate at just a few sims.
Flynn Sheridan
Agree with you 100% Flynn. As the number of surf spots increased so did the number of places to hang out of course. I would also venture to guess that perhaps because we were far fewer back then we had a tighter "family" vibe going on but who knows.
I guess my point was that when it all gets (got) so serious that the forums are flame-fields and judges have to wear rubber noses and glasses to avoid being mugged....well that´s just not whats it´s about. Not for me anyway.
There are still a lot of great folks in our community and tons of fun to be had for sure. In any case I´m personally having as much fun as ever ;-)
/V
Keeping in mind the prize money offered to winners of comps are to get participants who will only score behind the usual suspects
Anonymous, We rarely post anonymous comments, however, I hope for the sake of further discussion, you identify yourself so we can continue to post your comments. We appreciate you reading SurfWatch and taking the time to comment.
That chip must be heavy as hell, You're slippers and crosswords are waiting for you.
Dear Chip, while I admit to some confusion about your comment in relation to this post - a chip off the old block is an idiom referring to "someone whose character resembles that of their parent", and I'm not clear on how the weight of the chip plays into it unless one perhaps has a weighty chip on one's shoulder which refers to "the act of holding a grudge or grievance" but it can also mean "a person thinking too much of oneself (often without the credentials)", the slippers and crosswords sound heavenly to me if to no one else, and I for one will take you up on that! Thank you for reading SurfWatch and for taking the time to comment.
Chip on my shoulder....Chip? You read the part about "I don't give a rats ass" ?
Remember that ;-)
/V
Enough of a rats ass to write that fairy tale.
It is quite sad, a world we have the power to influence in so many positive ways, yet people will choose to put their time and energy into belittling something they "don't give a rats ass about". Nothing like a good stir of the pot is there? ;).
Anyway, you stay off your feet and look after that back. The mammoth weight of that chip will do serious damage to the spine. I wish you good luck Quasi.
Listen up "Chip".......Your questioning my integrity while hiding behind an alias tells me two things: Firstly you obviously don´t know me and secondly you don´t seem to have have the cajones to stand up for your nonsence.
Now then, I have to much self respect and to much respect for Kitty and the folks at Surfwatch to get into a pie-throwing contest with a knucklehead hiding behind an alias so with all due respect and to quote my dear friend Doxxi Dryke: Shut up and Surf.
See ya out there. I´ll be the dude surfing circles around you on an ancient SSi.
/V
"Concerned Surfer" or Anonymous and "Chip", SurfWatch does not typically post anonymous or pseudonym comments and requests those commenting to stand by their comments by using their Second Life name (not an alt or descriptive term). The topic of changing technology and the impact on a virtual sport has been around since the inception of the sport and will no doubt remain a topic of valuable discussion. Thank you for reading SurfWatch and taking the time to comment.
This is a bit like watching the Hawaiians deal with the Haoles.
We play this game with passion and as in RL things evolve. As we go through the Wonder Bread of Second Life, we can see one constant...human behavior. We see belittling, hypocrisy, love, laughter friends and former friends as well as enimies. I have even heard recently of rape happening and not in a RP situation.
Humans doing what humans do. After giving my time, effort and contributions to the SLSA I walked away to the delight of many, but trust me, none so much as to my own delight and satisfaction. Guess what? The waves are still out there goin' off like a frog in a sock and I'm havin' a blast! Ya'll can talk about how "talented" someone is on their keyboard with an HP 5 and that's fine...it's still a game folks...and we're all still the humans "playing" with the illusion of control.
Going forward, have fun, disparage less, be kind more and it becomes a better game.
Mahalo,
JT
Anonymous, we fully appreciate you taking the time to read and comment. As explained earlier, SurfWatch does not typically post anonymous comments and requests those commenting to stand by their comments by using their SL name. Please consider resubmitting your comment along with your name.
I just made an attempt to have a polite civil discourse with an opposing view with someone who called his opinion "consenting". First of all, I would hope someone who has a blog would not only know how to write it but how to edit content. Second, I would hope they would able to engage in a civil discourse. Epic fail on both counts. Rather than discuss politely, he chose to block me. I actually did understand what he was trying to say and supported some of it. It is, after all just a game.
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