R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I promise I won't get too long winded on this one.
I have found that with many people in Second Life (both men and women), the idea of proper respect is thrown out the window. I don't mean not saying 'Excuse me" if you bump into someone else's avatar, but all-out rudness and criminal behavior (and by criminal, I mean doing things that would get you arrested in a New York Minute in Real Life). Yes, the Virual World allows us to safely engage in behavior that normally would never be attempted in Real Life, but there is a limit to what you can get away with and not be considered a jerk, a pervert or completly insane. For example:

1) Soliciting sex in a public place that is not explicitly designed for public sex. I mean seriously...in Real Life, do you ask random women in the grocery store for sex and then get huffy when they say no? I thought not. If you do, please stay 100 feet away from me at all times.

2) Griefing in a sandbox. People are working here! Next time you are at work in Real Life, I hope some dorkfish decides to come up to your desk and throw wads of wet tissue at you and see how you like it.

3) Random rudness. Like the guy that decides to harass you because you have a group tag that he doesn't like. Or if you are a shemale. Or if you don't have prim hair. Or any other hundreds of other things that people just randomly decide to pick on you for. I guarantee that if you did that in Real Life, you would either get arrested or get your ass kicked from here to St. Olaf.

Those are only three examples of how people act without respect in Second Life. "But Synn," you say. "How do I know if I am being rude?" That's easy: if you wouldn't like it done to you, if it could get you banned from a sim, or if could possibly result in criminal charges, you probably shouldn't do it. I recently had to mute someone because they wouldn't stop telling me about thier reactions to my avatar, IE: they thought my avatar was pretty sexy and was causing some...reactions...in Real Life. Thier excuse: "Look what you were wearing! What did you expect?" Part of me wishes I knew who this person was in Real Life so I could make sure to alert the local authorities. Talk about creepy...

Sock it to Me,

Synn