Building Tip: Little Pink Boxes! Building Flop: Millennials & Creativtity

Location: House of Usher

A problem with group building is how often we forget to "share with group" when we lay down a prim.

Today, I worked with Jordan, the student assistant helping with the House. Mostly we were testing textures and making sure our permissions were correct. I created a visual cue for her (and me) to remind us which prims need fixing. A free script for floating text sits inside the full-bright pink cube, so we can indicate a location with some level of specificity.

There's nothing pink or even bright in Poe's tale, so we won't mistake this tidbit for the scenery.

As we built, I had a fascinating conversation with Jordan. Like many her age, she does not see the point of SL, and though she's a good builder, she finds the creation tools tedious. I only agree with that final point, especially after spending hours chasing down flickering edges and closing gaps in walls.

Her first claim made me sad, as I'm always sad when I encounter the imaginative impoverishment of an entire generation of "taught-to-the-test" Americans.

Jordan and I talked at length, across the tops of our monitors, about the lack of creativity that has marked the educational experiences of too many Millennial students. Jordan agrees that she and her peers have never done much imaginative play. One result of this is a goals-oriented approach to all work at school and social activities beyond it.

SL, with its culture of creative play and creative chaos, just seems beside the point--the point of getting ahead in life--that Millennials crave.

That, readers, is a problem far larger and scarier than any virtual world, and there's no pink box that can fix it.