“People are suckers for fonts.”

Yeah, but has there ever been a congressional subcommittee about South by Southwest? Has there? No there has not.

(It’s not so much that I want to dredge up old topics, as that I’m far too cheap to go to the bookstore to research my term paper on Russian politics of the late 20th century.)

Just saw this: the comments over at the Washington Post story (which was, in fact, quite a bit more sarcastic than Lum) are a lot more favorable about the obviousness of the awesomeness of Second Life and the cluelessness of anyone who would dare question the necessity of this hearing. And I cannot help but think it’s because it’s more fun to lecture than to listen.

People know that if they took their utopianism here, they’d have to engage in conversations involving folks who know and build virtual worlds and can see through the exaggerations. They wouldn’t be able to lecture morons who don’t understand the concept (pfft). It kind of sucks having to admit that there are other people, who don’t love your perfect game not out of ignorance, but because they know something you don’t.

But mostly, I’ve learned that conversations about virtual worlds with people who know nothing but Second Life are just so damn boring. It’s like trying to talk about pen-and-paper RPG design with a kid who’s never played anything but red box D&D. It’s their character did this and their character did that and they got this and that magic item and there was a rust monster over and over until you just can’t help but walk away.