second life Would you do it again? Or differently?

[Katheryne Helendale]

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. Absolutely. My early days in SL were a blast!

2. I think most of what I've done in SL, I would do again - mainly dancing and building houses. About the only thing I would have done differently is to put more effort, and even some RL cash, into promoting my brand better. But, I was an unemployed student taking online classes at the time, so I had plenty of time and not enough money.

3. I haven't left, officially. When I joined SL, I was part of a wave of people who came over when EA announced the closing of Sims Online, so I started with a strong group of people I could associate with, and many of us formed a virtual family. Unfortunately, as time passed, people drifted off and stopped logging in, so I have no community anymore. If I find a new community I can be part of, I think I'd log in more.

 

[Ayesha]

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. Absolutely! SL saved my life in many ways.

2. I would have kept my land business much smaller and opened a gaming sim at the beginning. I would have made a ton of money, spent a bit on my SL music venue, and been empowered to leave my abusive RL partner sooner. When the ludicrous gaming rules went into effect, I would have walked away a well-off woman with $200K+ in savings and just kept my Solace Beach sim. Sadly I waited until 2012 to start operating games, and only had two good years before LL messed it up. Ah, hindsight!

3. I haven't left, but I scaled back on my business and wish I had done so sooner. I get tempted to be more involved at times, but I have a lot to focus on in RL now and find the RL business environment more conducive to success than SL. I'm waiting for the next opportunity in VR to come along though as I do believe it'll be an important business platform in the future, especially for people with disabilities who can't work at traditional jobs.

 

[RyanSchultz]

I wouldn't have spent L$7,999 on an Infinity amulet avoid the Bloodlines blood curse. Stupidest purchase I ever made.

 

[Moondust]

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.

2. I wish I would have been more careful about learning all the ins-and-outs of buying mainland, and staying in the tier level I wanted to stay in, earlier than I did. I may still learn scripting one of these days. I never was very good at making and keeping friends - I could still work on improving this aspect.

3. I haven't left for any notable length of time so far. Sometimes I do take up residence in an open sim grid, but also keep fairly active in SL.

 

[Lewis Luminos]

1. Yes, absolutely!
2. I would have joined about 6 months sooner (to catch Duran Duran in concert), and I would have kept my first avatar as my main instead of starting over a couple of years later. I would then have picked up another alt in 2007, with my actual real name (my real surname came up on the list of available names in that year, but I somehow overlooked it).
3. Not applicable. No intention of leaving, at all.

 

[Robert Jung]

I have found a therapist and am much less crazy than when I fiirst joined SL. I'm still crazy; only not as much ;-)

I'm glad I joined, and I think I would have been interested in most of the thingg I tried to do early on, but instead of going crazy overboard, crazy perfectionist and burning the candle too brightly , then getting frustrated and giving up; I would have liked to have some moderation , not taken myself so seriously and maybe I could have actually finished all the things I started ;-)

Not to worry though; the present and future look pretty good.

 

[HEX]

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> IN A HEARTBEAT!!!!
2> HEX WOULD HAVE DOUBLED DOWN ON THE RENTALS HE RAN IN 2005-2006 INSTEAD OF BACKING OFF OF THEM, TBH. IT WAS THE MOST FUN AND SOCIAL INTERACTION HE HAD IN SL EARLY ON.
3> HEX STILL HAS A COUPLE ACTIVE AVS AND LOGS IN OCCASIONALLY, HE EVEN OWNS LAND UNDER HIS ONE PREMIUM ACCOUNT STILL, MOSTLY FOR REZZING STUFF.

 

[BrigMcD]

1. If you could go back to the day you signed up for SL, would you do it again?
Yes, I would sign up for SL 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?
I would do a lot of the same things. When I first joined, I spent a lot of time at Junkyard Blues. Made some great friends and spent a lot of time roaming the grid to see all the unique builds.

I started sending photos to Snapzilla, and ended up making friends with a lot of other regular posters there like Elliebob Bean, Gore Suntzu, Matthew Kiddoman and Kumi Kuhr. The friendship with Kumi led me to find Darkmere, where I was able to meet Lucifer, Io, Willow, P2, Sans, Mourna, Charlemagne and the other regulars there. I really enjoyed the time I spent with them. That's also what led me to SLU.

Junkyard is where I met Mir, who eventually opened The PMG Cafe. I started working as a club host for her once a week. One day I posted an invite on SLU to see if anyone was interested in meeting up on my night, and SLU Thursdays at PMG was born. I had so much fun spending Thursday nights with the members of SLU that wandered in and out of the event over the two years I hosted events there.
Snapzilla Album ~ Two Years @ The PMG Cafe

It's also where I met Duke, and I wouldn't have missed our time together for anything. My years at JY through the end of PMG nights were really the heyday of my SL. I had so much fun spending time with my friends, and we always found something to do.

The only thing I didn't do in SL is learn to create anything more complicated than a picture frame. I wanted to learn more, but there are only so many hours in the day, and I couldn't devote the time it would take to learn to make things well.

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 took a one year hiatus after Duke passed away. It was too hard to log in to Brigid without him there. I ended up making another avatar (Aoife Harvy) and eased back into SL over time.

I don't log in often anymore. I still love exploring the grid, but my friends list is full of offline people more often than not. I really miss the camaraderie from my earlier days on the grid.

 

[sldenizen]

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

Yes, definitely.

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 think I'd do everything pretty much the same:

• not have recurring expenses like owning or renting land
• not run a business, but enjoy SL as socializing
• role-play in combat meter sims (but I'd spend less on weapons and stuff)
• work the picks camping with a bunch of alts
• role-play in the many other strange, other-worldly, even hellish sims

Differently: I'd say no to the girl who wanted to dunk my head in the toilet that first month.

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've never really left. I have not logged in for months at a time, but only because I was busy or travelling or busy travelling.