second life Would you do it again? Or differently?

[Kara Spengler]

1) Yes

2) I would have gotten high speed faster (although as it was it was the second thing I did online after getting hooked up, the first was a speed test) .... the old SLU has some pics of my logging on with dial-up

3) not sure if I have left, more of taking a sabbatical with random returns

 

[Veritable Quandry]

My first SL account was right after they dropped the sign-up fee. I did not have a computer capable of running SL well, and was in the middle of a job search, so it ended up tied to an email account I no longer have.

I created VQ for an in-world history workshop that looked at a variety of ways museums and universities were using Sl other than as classroom space. I really loved the potential, and there were some great educational sims that I frequented. Mrs. Quandry created her account at the same time, and began investigating virtual libraries.

Then SL killed the educational market, and I would only log in infrequently to wander Steampunk sims after that. It's been a while since I even did that, but I may look at a few Halloween sims this year.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

1. Yes, with reservations
2. I would have liked to have spent far more time learning how to create. It may have been all for naught when mesh arose, but from the tiny little that I did, it was very rewarding creatively speaking. I would (if I could go back) try not to mix rl with sl., alongside giving myself a healthy dose of skepticism and flat out refuse to get sucked into an unhealthy friendship/relatoinship.
3. Nah, I don't wish I had left sooner. Nor do I think I left too early. It was all fairly organic.

 

[Pancake]

Wow! So many replies. Keep them coming. I’m enjoying learning a bit more about all of you, and it’s helping me put some order to some chaotic thoughts of my own.

It’s interesting seeing a recurrent theme of wishing you had learned more skills or learned them earlier. That’s definitely one thing I struggle with, did I “waste” 20 to 30 hours a week for years of my life? See I never learned any skills, I was just role playing. If I’d have spent 20 hours a week writing I’d have finished my novel by now.

On the other hand, now that I’m not logging in anymore, I can’t point to anything and say “this is the more productive thing I do now”

 

[Selinica]

1) Yes. In an instant, especially if I knew then what I know now.
2) Avoid a couple of the more toxic people I had met but I'd stick to the same things. It worked out for me rather well.
Oh and not buy a catwa head since I got to find out there has been a bunch of issues after I had it for a while and issues in the past so that would have been nice to save the money spent on the head and hud, waited for the one I have to be released and saved a bit of money.
3) Still log in every so often. All the places I knew and hung out at are dead or in their last gasps so I usually stick to some games, sailing, and flying.

 

[Cristiano]

Wow, this is a really loaded topic for me.

I think one thing I would change is being so open online. I was really naive about it all, and it cost me dearly.

I'm not sure there is much I would change about my SL journey. The negative stuff happened outside of it. My time in SL was pretty magical, especially the early years where we were building something amazing that had never existed before. As SL grew, I lost that feeling, but it was still something totally unique to have been a part of. I don't regret that for a second. Good, bad, ugly, it's all part of the process and I cherish that time.

I haven't really "left" SL per se (and my sim bill reflects that because I keep procrastinating on tiering down to just my 4096 lifetime or something a little over that), but my time has been severely limited the past few years. When I do go in, I have fun and enjoy myself, but lately it seems the only time I have gone in has been for memorial services. I wish I still felt that spark of excitement and connection with SL. It's not completely dead, but very faint.

Ultimately, for me, it has always been the community of friends I've made that makes it all worthwhile. I started out in The Sims Online, then moved to There, then to SL, dragging various people along with me each time. I just recently reconnected with the very first person I ever met in The Sims Online, and it was like no time had passed at all. She recently came back to SL after a long absence, and the first thing I said is "Why does your avatar look like Melania Trump?".

I've also developed a strong attachment to the people in our Discord server. We talk, play games together and laugh, which I love. It's not the place, it's the people, and that has been a constant for me even as the environments have changed.

 

[Allison]

1. If you could go back to the day you signed up for SL, would you do it again?
Absolutley.. if I had not joined SL I'd still be trapped in a really unhappy marriage and never had the chance to travel the world, meet people who make me feel loved and whole.

2. If so, what in SL would you do more or less the same (eg: owning a sim, running a group, becoming a creator, getting involved in a business, getting partnered, etc) and what would you do differently?
I wish I never lost myself completely in the company stuff, I liked having my own line and I had a lot of fun - just lost time to keep up with it -- and lost touch with people. #frankenskin

3. If you’ve left, do you wish you had left sooner? Or do you at times miss it and feel tempted to go back?[/QUOTE]
I don't feel like I ever left either, but I lost my group of people I used to log in to see- - it was like getting out of work and going to hang out with my friends every day. It was a really lovely thing. #whokilledtorridmidnight

 

[Cristiano]

Oh I did have one thing that bothered me. Mistress Midnight never let me be part of Midnight City, and I've held a grudge ever since.

 

[Allison]

Oh I did have one thing that bothered me. Mistress Midnight never let me be part of Midnight City, and I've held a grudge ever since.

I see it so much differently - I didn't invite people or not invite people it was just people who were able to endure my nonsense long enough to become friends - never had anything against you, you just had your whole thing going on. I'd totally invite you now.

 

[Cristiano]

It's ok, I thought you were mean anyway. At least Aimee Weber gave me a store.

 

[Allison]

It's ok, I thought you were mean anyway. At least Aimee Weber gave me a store.

I was completely wrapped up in stuff goin on personally and if anything it was just not noticing if I hurt someone's feelings - never willfully mean

 

[Erich Templar]

1. Absolutely. I'd join earlier, if I could. I originally signed up about 6 months after its public release.

2. I don't think I'd do anything differently. I've pretty much enjoyed everything that I've done/has happened in SL. I guess I my only regret is that I didn't really make/keep up any in-world friendships, but that's just me being my usual hermit-like self.

3. I never left. I log in several times a week at least and potter around, doing odd bits of building, exploring new places, that kind of thing.

 

[Anya Ristow]

I signed up in September 2006, during a huge rush of new people. It was the best time to be in SL, and of course I would do it again. At least a few months earlier, if I could. Plantlife looked like watercolor on my 2005 Mac Mini, and I was lucky to get 1 fps in Ahern, but it was awesome. There were people in open chat everywhere, and in fact it was difficult to find a private place.

My 2008 project was a realtime "where is everyone?" web site. It used a bot to scan the map for avatars within the bounds of known, interesting venues, and reported to the website updates on where people were hanging out in SL. Part of the effort was to find new places and add them to the list, to visit them from time to time to update their coordinates, and to remove them from the list when they closed. Problem is, by late 2008, if I recall, places were closing faster than they were opening, and my list was so short the project wasn't worth continuing.

If I had to do it over again, I'd do this project as soon as the viewer was open sourced, and I'd work on it faster. On the other hand, I never did resolve how to make the thing known and used. It belonged in the viewer itself (and LL did eventually do the destination guide), but that wasn't going to happen. I was not a Linden pet, they have a fondness for easily gamed automation and my solution was curated.

 

[Dragon]

So I think just about every one here is, or was, a Second Life resident. I myself logged in daily from 2007 to about 2013, then tapered to a couple times a week, then once a week, then...some of you know how it goes.

So before I give away too much of my answers, here are the questions:

1. If you could go back to the day you signed up for SL, would you do it again?

2. If so, what in SL would you do more or less the same (eg: owning a sim, running a group, becoming a creator, getting involved in a business, getting partnered, etc) and what would you do differently?

3. If you’ve left, do you wish you had left sooner? Or do you at times miss it and feel tempted to go back?

1. Yes, I'd even have paid the $10 so that I'd be a lifetime member now with the perks that all implies!
2. I'd do maybe one personal thing different but the rest the same!
3. I'm still truckin', though I do get bored now and then, rawr.

 

[Shiloh Lyric]

1. If you could go back to the day you signed up for SL, would you do it again?

Yes. My then husband had the computer and had already joined. So I had to settle for watching him for a few months until our income tax refund when we could buy a 2nd computer for me. I would have joined sooner if I could have. I was fascinated with SL right from the beginning.

2. If so, what in SL would you do more or less the same (eg: owning a sim, running a group, becoming a creator, getting involved in a business, getting partnered, etc) and what would you do differently?

I would have done most of it the same. I briefly had a small store in the days before mesh and although I didn't make much, the creating was fun. I wish I would have gotten into SL photography earlier. It's one of my favorite hobbies to do in SL and a really good creative outlet but with no pressure.

3. If you’ve left, do you wish you had left sooner? Or do you at times miss it and feel tempted to go back?

I did leave, but it was forced on me. MY ex was controlling and jealous and he didn't like the idea of me making friends in SL, so made the decision that we should leave SL. So there was 2 years where we didn't play. I always missed it, though, so jumped at the chance when he offered for us to rejoin when we were going through a difficult patch. He thought it would give us something to do together, and it did for a while. But ultimately, nothing helped us out in the long run, but I'm still in SL. Not every day, sometimes not at all during the week, but almost always on the weekends with my SL partner, who's been a big part of my life for 5 years now. I still like dressing up my Barbie Doll, I still like exploring and listening to music, and I still love taking photos to share on Flickr, but it's just not with the same intensity as it once was, as in anything, really.

 

[Tris]

1. Yes
2. Maybe change some details, like NOT buying some stuff or doing certain things, but in general it was (allmost) all worth it as i learned a lot.
3. Had to leave for allmost a year because of some stuff in RL, but got back and still enjoy it.

 

[Sean Gorham]

If I could do it again, yes, I would. Even today, SL lets me do things I can't do anywhere else. I may not log in as often as I used to, but it's still enough. I'd probably try to get more involved with people and events - social anxiety is still something I struggle with. My only regret is I didn't sign up with SL sooner.

 

[Knutz Scorpio]

1. If you could go back to the day you signed up for SL, would you do it again?

Definitely! Only regret was I couldn't get the higher speed internet connection I needed sooner.

2. If so, what in SL would you do more or less the same (eg: owning a sim, running a group, becoming a creator, getting involved in a business, getting partnered, etc) and what would you do differently?

Most fun I had was creating stuff and experimenting with all forms of creating. One thing I'd like to do differently would be to spend less time trying to be a jack-of-all-trades and more focus my efforts on items I would feel comfortable trying to sell.

Maybe I'd try harder to be social, not try so hard to go about Second Life solo. Occasionally I'd go to an event with one of my goals to make some friends, come off feeling awkward as fuck, and go back off to solitude for another long spell.

3. If you’ve left, do you wish you had left sooner? Or do you at times miss it and feel tempted to go back?

Never actually left though for several years I focused more on a grid that failed recently, since then I've been to to get re-enthusiastic about SL again but it feels like it has run its course for me.

 

[Han Held]

1. If you could go back to the day you signed up for SL, would you do it again?

Yes, absolutely.

2. If so, what in SL would you do more or less the same (eg: owning a sim, running a group, becoming a creator, getting involved in a business, getting partnered, etc)

I create prim crap (sometimes converting it to "mesh"), I'm involved in several social groups, I've managed things and run events.

Those are all things I'd do over again.

and what would you do differently?

I would have kept my original account, and I would have resisted the urge to turn on my computer right before I flew out of my place (which shorted it out -leaving me without an SL capable computer for 2 years).

I would have gotten involved with building sooner, and with forums, groups etc too.

Wow, this is a really loaded topic for me.

I think one thing I would change is being so open online. I was really naive about it all, and it cost me dearly.

It's very funny; I have the exact opposite problem. My first experience with BBS's was a guy who'd talk to me from hacked accounts. He was showing off in hopes we'd sleep together (then never showed up when he could have). This is before I was even on the net, but it's informed all of my time online.

So I've very deliberately kept a distance from people, which I sometimes regret. I don't take many chances and there's a wide gulf between the RL me and Han Held (though Han Held has always reflected a part of me; which specific part has changed over the years) and when I see people meet through SL and meet/talk IRL I feel a twinge because I'm missing out.

I've revealed more of myself over the years, but because I'm a caregiver to my RL friends there's always going to be that gulf, that divide which I wouldn't change but is a definate loss.

 

[Amanda Dallin]

1. If you could go back to the day you signed up for SL, would you do it again?

2. If so, what in SL would you do more or less the same (eg: owning a sim, running a group, becoming a creator, getting involved in a business, getting partnered, etc) and what would you do differently?

3. If you’ve left, do you wish you had left sooner? Or do you at times miss it and feel tempted to go back?

1. Yes, I'd sign up to SL again in a second. It's been a hug part of my life for almost 12 years now.

2. The only thing I'd change would be to learn to script better. I've had some great friendships and relationships in SL and still do. I miss a lot of people who have either left or pass on but I still have friends in SL and I've been partnered with Sandrine since January 2007 and still love every minute with her.

3. I never left SL. I've logged in almost every day since November 20, 2006 and still enjoy every moment. Where else could I run a small city with a few friends and then in my free time hunt down pirates on the seas of SL. I think having totally separate lives in two different worlds within SL has helped keep my interest. SL gives me social outlets I don't have in RL. I live in a very rural area and i'm disabled. SL has either kept me sane or totally driven me over the edge but I'm enjoying it too much to notice.