I Met Dr. Phil in Second Life!
Mr. Draxtor Despres asks me to help him out from time to time with certain projects he has going on. Recently he messaged me to help him with locations so he can show a celebrity around Second Life. That celebrity was none other than Dr. Phil himself. His avatar even looks like him, don’t you think?
If you’re not familiar with Dr. Phil McGraw, he is an American television personality, author, psychologist, and the host of his own television show, aptly named, Dr. Phil. I’ll be honest, I’ve never actually watched his show. But I had heard of him because I had seen him on Oprah when he first started.
Anyhow, Drax asked me for a few locations so we took him to Gos to try on sunglasses, to a welcome area where he had some funny conversations with people (as you can see in the first image), some fantasy sims and he also went to 1920s Berlin! The funniest part was watching everyone react to him at the welcome area, I believe it was Ahern. Nobody believed it was really him and they were all busy calling him a newb. I was there and giggling to myself. He was trying to ask them questions about Second Life and how they felt about it and no one really gave him a straight answer. So you know, next time you are in a welcome area and you see a celebrity avatar visiting and trying to have a conversation, don’t be so quick to judge and think he’s fake! It was definitely a funny and fun experience. I think Dr. Phil enjoyed himself, and Ms. Jo Yardley was also very nice to him when he visited 1920s Berlin. (UPDATE: Marianne McCann also helped Draxtor with Dr. Phil as well. She helped him fly over mainland. See Draxtor’s tweet for reference.)
The reason Dr. Phil was in Second Life is because he is actually doing a show on Gaming addiction today and Ebbe Altberg will be on it talking about Second Life. Linden Lab says it will mostly be positive, but I have to admit, I am a little scared to see what he will say. There is a short clip of Ebbe on the Dr. Phil website, which Draxtor has uploaded to youtube so you can see, I’m embedding it below.
The Dr. Phil show is supposed to air today at 12pm EST (I was wrong, the new one is at 3pm EST), which is my timezone. I think you can look up what time and channel it will be on in your timezone on the TV Listings website.
Let’s all hope this show doesn’t make Second Life look too bad and hopefully will make people more curious about it, at least enough to sign up! Drax did a great job of showing him around so let’s hope for a positive experience all around!
Related Links:
– Linden Lab announcement
– Dr Phil’s website
– TV Listings
Updates about the show:
– Dr. Phil tweeted about his avatar in Second Life:
Thanks to @SecondLife for creating a #DrPhil avatar for today's show! Don't miss it! https://t.co/zekQVznDcG pic.twitter.com/Oyj3RZKTI6
— Dr. Phil (@DrPhil) July 14, 2015
– Ebbe encourages Dr. Phil to speak with him again about virtual reality:
@DrPhil @SecondLife Thank you Dr. Phil. It was a pleasure meeting you. Let me know if you want to talk more virtual reality. #vr
— Ebbe Altberg (@ebbealtberg) July 14, 2015
– I watched the show and live plurked it all at this link. Dr. Phil didn’t say anything negative about gaming, virtual worlds or Second Life. He just said that it’s the ‘abuse’ not the ‘use’ of gaming that is dangerous. He also had some other gamers on, after Ebbe, that talked about how they have full, successful real lives but still balance a healthy gaming lifestyle along with their real lives.
– Someone put the entire episode on YouTube if you guys would like to see it. I am not sure how long it will be up there though, so check it out soon if you plan to: https://youtu.be/QFKI5glyf7o
I didn’t know you were on the east coast! 😮
And yes, I agree. I hope it doesn’t make us look bad. I hope someone youtubes it. LOL
Lol must been a lot of fun. I must admit I would be sceptical too, if it was the real Dr. Phil I ran into. I see people with Celebrity names all the time. Is there any way to see the program if you are not in US?
Way to go Chief Ebbe and way to go Berry-Drax Team! lol
I’m hoping right along with you, that even in the darkness of the subject matter of gaming addiction, that whatever ‘light’ is shared as far as experiencing Second Life in a positive way, will bring our community the recognition it truly deserves.
Celebrities are in SL but they have unknown name ^^ more easy to be discret, it’s a Second Life. But in this case, i’m pessimistic, it’s like : “hey people, i’m a Doctor, i’m coming to see you people of gaming …” i don’t know but i’m feeling strange in front of this introduction.
A long time ago, i have received a journalist from a online regional paper, for an interview about a place i have managed (Arcachon). We were so happy to explain all activities we were doing, the power of SL … And finally the article was a pure shame, deformed, with false details without any deep search.
Omg! I found this really great and a I bet new residents will come after today.
https://joyardley.wordpress.com/2014/02/22/famous-people-who-used-second-life/ this a blog that was posted in 2014 show you that some celebrities or well know that have used second life too.
Wow, brilliant stuff! I loved what Ebbe had to say about SL and how it can help people. The creativity aspect is so true too… I’d go as far as to say I’ve learnt new skills because of SL such as photoshop, I know I wouldn’t have taught myself those skills had I not joined SecondLife. Another of my fave things about SecondLife is that I have formed true friendships there. I have three girls on my friends list who I know I will be lifelong friends with and I hope to visit them RL someday despite the distance. We have supported eachother in SL and RL, SL gave me the most amazing opportunity to form connections and bonds with these inspirational women and for that I will be truly grateful! Another thought-provoking post Berry, loved it and can’t wait to see what Dr. Phil has to say. Keep us posted! <33
Strawberry,
Please keep us up to date when this comes out and a link to the video to be viewed online comes up. I’m not much for catching things on the actual “TV”. Sounds really interesting.
PS can an addiction be positive? I am addicted to my wise and talented friends, they really enrich my life!!!!
The truth behind this post is that Dr. Phil actually came to SL to find you, specifically, Berry. Virtual intervention.
Indeed, we had a small flight over the old mainland of Sansara, from Abbotts nearly back to Ahern. It was fun.
Skeptical, yes…..hopeful, yes. But being aware of the history of Dr. Phil type shows if one can’t provide sensationalism ( the more negative the better) then the show is not a success.
The hope is, he proves me wrong.
Dee♥
i am VERY skeptical especially after seeing that short clip. What Ebbie said emphasized the positive. Bu what Dr. Phil like a typical US talk show hosts latched on to was addiction. What will probably result is that all SL resident are addicted to both the “game” and kinky virtual sex. -And people wonder why I don’t bother to have cable TV, sadly this show will reinforce that decision of mine.
lol Strawberry I have never been able to decide if he is good for everyone or the therapy equivalent of professional wresting… just my 2 cents 🙂
Pingback: Excessive Gaming | The Legacies in SWTOR
I watched the show and live plurked it all at this link: http://www.plurk.com/p/l3ftvr
Dr. Phil didn’t say anything negative about gaming, virtual worlds or Second Life. He just said that it’s the ‘abuse’ not the ‘use’ of gaming that is dangerous. He also had some other gamers on, after Ebbe, that talked about how they have full, successful real lives but still balance a healthy gaming lifestyle along with their real lives.
Dr. Phil’s shows have become a bit more sensational I must agree. Gaming addiction is relatively recent in this “brave new technological world” but the medical community is becoming more aware of the problem. As someone who doesn’t log in regularly or daily I don’t think I am one of those unbalanced people. However I do know they exist and there are quite a number of them in SL. But live and let live and to each his own. Unfortunately anything pleasurable has a potential for abuse.
I love the aspect of SL that Ebbe described, the educational and imaginative. Without losing sight of the beauty of of the real world, my own journey, art and travels I enjoy immensely what SL and virtual worlds offer as another aspect of my “travels.” (this has included the “myst” world I explored,- created by Cyan and Rand Miller)
Great article! I wish I could have seen him on SL!
Apparently it wasn’t as bad as I feared from wat others are saying. May TV talk show hosts strive less for the sensational. I’m not going to call Comcast and have cable installed. Buy I am pleased not smiling but steam isn’t coming out of my ears either .
Someone put the entire episode on YouTube if you guys would like to see it. I am not sure how long it will be up there though, so check it out soon if you plan to: https://youtu.be/QFKI5glyf7o
Pingback: Draxtor Despres Shows The Second Life Related Parts Of The Dr Phil Show » Ciaran Laval
Pingback: Second Life: The Dr Phil Episode | The Luci Logs
I cannot tell you how much trepidation I felt as I loaded the episode to watch, Phil can be pretty unforgiving and somewhat “gotcha” at times. I was so utterly relieved to see how this was actually handled though, kudos to them for not shredding gamers for simply being gamers as much of mainstream media tends to do. They addressed some very serious issues in a reasonable and generally informative manner.
Pingback: Divided We Fall | CozeySL
Hi PinkRayne and Marianne (waves).
I watched the whole video and found it interesting that they didn’t represent any women as being gamers. He probably couldn’t find any so quickly perhaps. I have been into gaming when it first came out with the original PONG to start, handheld devices, owning full sized arcade games, playing various computer and gaming networks, BBS’s with multiplayer games, etc.. I have lost relationships over it mainly because the others were so needy that I can barely have any “me” time. It’s also been a way to have my own businesses as well (it’s ok to work a lot of hours, but when you want to play its not ok for most partners, but its ok for them to have “hobbies”). I get a lot of enjoyment from it and always have.
Pingback: Excessive Gaming – Shadowz Abstract Gaming Blog