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Friday, March 03, 2006

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Elde Eponym

Who uses Second Life more: Democrats, or Republicans?

I must ask this - who cares? Why must everything be cast in terms of red and blue?

csven

Actually, Oklahoma City is not a college town. Norman is sufficiently far away to negate that explanation. However, there are two likely reasons for it showing on the radar.

1) Tinker AFB is in the SE corner of the greater metropolitan area (about 20 minutes north of Norman). While the U.S. military closes bases, Tinker expands (there's even a Navy base to act as a refueling point iirc). There are also quite a number of temporary duty servicemen and women assigned there. SL would be a good way to stay in touch with family. Plus, the area doesn't have much to do in the way of activities. I used to know one game modder who was stationed at Tinker; he's now with Ritual I think.

2) Surprisingly, OKC has become increasingly populated with East Asians - Vietnamese and Indians in particular (it had Japanese and Chinese from way back; servicemen marrying women overseas and being transferred). Growing up there, most of my friends were Asian. My family sponsored a Vietnamese family in the early 70's. Back then they were an extreme minority. Not so anymore. And while visiting a few years ago, I learned that a whole section of the city had become a "Little Vietnam". Similarly, I'd been told that Indian companies were buying office buildings in downtown.

For these reasons, OKC is probably less like what people tend to imagine and increasingly similar to cities like Austin. It's extraordinarily low cost of living and stable, military-reinforced economy makes it an attractive destination for a variety of people. It's a long way from being the refuge of rednecks!

csven

As for Akron, having lived there in the latter half of the 90's, I'm not too surprised tbh. Not only is Kent State located there, but the University of Akron is pretty nice. Additionally, there is a decent alternative/goth/industrial scene in the area... I always considered it spillover from Cleveland's Lakewood area.

Also, some time back, I found that the area was well-represented on blogs like LiveJournal; mostly members of the goth community. It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine that people who jumped on blogging when it first became available are now in Second Life.

Maybe my comments on both OKC and Akron will spark someone to provide some additional info on both those cities and others and we can come up with a common thread. There are a couple of cities I would have expected but don't see (e.g. Toronto).

Tequila Jimador

ROFLMAO Hamlet, Carmella Soprano...

Elle Pollack

I'm surprised to see Rochester on there (I might even by counted among that number, having lived in that area of NY when I joined, but I've since moved to Arizona). Sure, there's colleges and a tech school (RIT) but it's not an area with a population I'd call "tech savy".

On the other hand, unless you live in the city proper, most of the area is small rural towns and farmland (the one I moved away from is far from the smallest but still rather boring), SL just might be the best entertainment in town.

Matthias Zander

Better late than never comment, eh?

I guess I'm there as part of the #19 - I originally joined while still living at home in Texas, but have since moved up to Rochester, NY where I attend at one of the colleges Elle mentioned (RIT). Surpringly, there's very few RIT students/faculty who use SecondLife that I've been able to find so far, so I don't think that that's the explanation.

Alex Bommerang

A reporter contacted me in my home town of Paradise, CA and was looking to interview local Second Lifers. Is there anyway he could contact them, or they could contact him?

pamElise

hmm I've not ventured into SecondLife yet ... only just found out about it ... sounds like a sure addiction of complications for me ... i have a few other complications to figure out first ...

But as to OKC I'd like to add this: I spent three weeks there with my father-in-law who should have died minimum of six times in that city ... three times in just that one visit. The medical community there can be very cutting edge when they need to be.

Two years ago I saw a large, poor &/or aging community sitting right next to a growing, high-tech community. Still, in general -- Unless I talked to the ICU nursing staff or the doctors, I was not going to have a chance to speak computer-ese.

So part of me is surprised ... and part of me is not at all surprised.

As to Oregon and Washington ... you might think art and tech ... i think gray wet days 60% of the time ... and this last winter was a record breaker.

This year I've created two rules for my perfect life: Never spend August in or near Dallas, Texas. Never spend January and February in or near Portland, OR.

Can someone explain why Bakersfield is on the list though?

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