I was active in Sims Online when I heard about SL from some of the other sims I hung with. I looked into creating an account, but they wanted my credit card information, and I just couldn't afford a monthly SL subscription along with my TSO subscription, so that was the end of that. Until 2008, when EA announced the closure of TSO. A bunch of the people I was with talked about meeting up in SL, so I gave it another look, and was relieved that they allowed free accounts by then. So I created an account, created a (rather butt-ugly) avatar, and wandered around Newbie Island for a bit until one of my TSO mates teleported me to their home, a sandy island with a multi-story apartment building everyone lived in. We formed into a family and moved around together. Being part of a family in SL was a lot of fun and kept me logging in. With some of my sisters' help, I bought a nicer shape and skin, and got a job dancing at one of the clubs we all hung out at.