A long time ago in a blog far, far away I used to play Second Life. I had a silly avatar and a little house and had some fun. Well last year I decided to log back in and check in on my Second Life self... and I hung around a bit.
Just to demonstrate how far SL has come, here's old SL me (top of the range ten years ago!)
And here's the new me (well one of, I like to mix it up):
My home is a little larger than it was before. Two floors just aren't enough when you've got a horse to ride around on. So I thought I'd share a little tour around my island...
First up is the Roman Terrace, a place that's good for dancing and Christmas Tree displaying.
Then there's my still sparse beach house... I still can't quite work out why you need a house in Second Life... you could hover the furniture floating in mid-air and it'd be just as usable. But old habits die hard...
My pond! Inhabited by some Lovecraftian monsters (hey I can put what I like in there, they are quite troublesome if you get too close...)
My latest acquisition (from the latest round of FaMESHed) needs filling up but my hanging chair is hiding in my inventory... until then it's just a cat in front of a fire and a water tub... but it is pretty...
Of course I have a forest!
My stone pavilion is also pretty cool.
And finally at the far end is this area... it's just... huge... and it tends to be where I hang out when I'm working on my avi.
And what do I do on Second Life? Well I've actually got a home on a medieval sim too and hang out there with some friends. I create new avatars. I go on scavenger hunts. I go to "club nights" to chat. But most importantly... between 8pm - 10pm every Sunday I go to the 3Bears club night where we have the silliest, funniest conversations that always send me to bed smiling before the week ahead.
So yeah... this is a fairly big part of my leisure time now. And it makes me happy.
Second life is one of the few things I always considered playing (not even sure if that is the best way to name it), but never did. I did use PlayStation Home a lot while it was online which has similar (albeit less) features, and liked interacting with its community.
ReplyDeleteI also say playing, though some people don't like it being described that way. So many people use it in so many ways, it probably isn't the best description but then what is?
ReplyDeleteThe real problem with starting Second Life now is the complexity, language and culture. You have to invest time in learning about different aspects (like gacha, mesh bodies, Bento and soon animesh). And some residents have a real anti-noob vibe (going away and coming back means I've got to experience things as a noob and veteran at the same time which makes me more sympathetic to be players) . But I still think it's worth the time and the brain cells as if you find your niche Second Life is a great place to have fun.