Has Second Life Ever Made You Sad?

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened. 

Dr. Seuss  

I’ve been blogging lately about feelings and emotions in Second Life (SL.)

(Significant Other is hoping that I’m not giving advice.  What happened to our friends in Real Life (RL) that time had nothing to do with me!)

You might say that I’ve been opening up the hood (or bonnet for my British readers) of our psyches inworld and checking underneath. 

(Significant Other sighs and wonders aloud why can’t I just cover fashions like every other SL blogger.)

But, I’m finding that I can’t do this without touching the emotional third rail of sadness

inworld. 

(Significant Other screams and runs from the room.)

And, that third rail is has SL ever made you sad?

But, what is being sad all about?

In RL, loss of a loved one due to death, the end of a relationship or friendship, or the sudden and traumatic loss of part of our lives due to fire or storm as examples can give rise to sadness. 

Or, being treated unfairly or bullied can make us sad in RL too.

Then, there’s just being lonely and feeling left out.

It happens to all of us sooner or later.

How we manage it and move on from it determines how we live our lives in RL.

But, what about SL?  Can we have these same feelings of sadness arising from inworld events?

I submit that we can.

We can lose SL friends to death in RL.

Good friends can disappear never to return leaving us wondering why and hoping that they’re well.

Relationships and friendships end as frequently as they do in RL.

We can lose everything inworld to crashes, griefing, or identity theft. 

And, of course, SL is no haven from loneliness.

Maybe the only occurrence that can cause sadness in RL that we can’t experience

inworld is illness.  But, I’ve met many inworld whose sadness stems from RL illness. 

SL is not a game.

It’s very real for many of those who reside here. 

SL is an extension of our RL selves.

I always go back to what someone told me when I first rezzed in all those years ago, “Remember that behind every avatar is a real person with real feelings.”

I’ve never forgotten that advice. 

Our bodies may be virtual but our feelings are very real!

We can hurt inworld and experience sadness.

Which is why the rest of us should always be ready to step in to cheer someone up, and maybe, just maybe fall in love sometime!

What about you?

Have you ever been sad because of SL?

If you’d like to share your story, and I’ll guarantee anonymity, then please send it along and I’ll write another story! 

Thanks in advance and I hope everyone is happy out there right now! 

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives. 

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

My flickr Photostream is located here.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

            If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life  please click here.

            Open roads and kind fires!

Have We Met Yet in Second Life?

There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met.

William Butler Yeats

I’ve been thinking about the friends whom I’ve met in Second Life (SL) over the years. 

(Significant Other is still amazed that residents admit publicly to being friends with me.  What can I say?  Some folks just love to flaunt convention.)

Some of them, I’ll still in contact with on a regular basis.

(We’ll ignore Significant Other’s witticism that they just didn’t see me coming and were too polite to run away in the opposite direction.)

Others, I’ve neither seen nor heard from in years. I hope all is well with them!

Then there’s another group of people.

People whom I’ve met in my travels and either just exchanged a brief hello and a chat with us both going on our separate ways afterwards without coming friends or folks who just don’t like having too many friends inworld.  Nothing wrong with that!

But, what about everybody else?

(Significant Other looks startled.)

Yes, all the other folks inworld whom I haven’t met yet!

Yes, there’re a lot of them and I’d love to meet them!

Here’s why.

I’m a wanderer and explorer inworld.  I invariably end up in empty sims.  (Too many empty sims IMHO)

My goals inworld are to visit new places, meet new people, and have new experiences.

The latter two are hard to do when you can’t meet anyone!

My overall goal is to meet more people and share my experiences with my three loyal

readers (I love all of you!) in my blog.

So how about this?

(I haven’t seen Significant Other this scared since… Well, I’d better not go into that here.)

Drop me a notecard inworld telling me who you are and what you do inworld.  (I get my IM capped a lot so notecards are the best way unless you’d rather use my email address below.) 

Maybe we become friends or maybe we don’t.  I’m fine either way!

But, maybe I can bring your SL experiences to my three loyal readers in my blog.

How would that be?

SL is all about relationships. 

Without them, SL is just like the ghost towns that populate so many places in Real Life (RL). 

We’re all social, aren’t we?

So, drop me a note and let’s meet!

For you folks out there who are too shy just send this along to your friends!

Thanks in advance!

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives. 

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

My flickr Photostream is located here.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

            If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life  please click here.

            Open roads and kind fires!

What’s the Craziest Thing You’ve Ever Done in Second Life?

Being crazy isn't enough.

Dr. Seuss

A thought came to me the other day.

(This is normally where Significant Other starts to look worried.)

During my time in Second Life (SL), I’ve met many people who are there for many reasons and there to do many things.

Some of these things are a little crazy.  OK, a lot crazy in some cases.

(See where I’m going with this?)

This all got me thinking about what’s the craziest thing we’ve ever done inworld?

First, a definition, what is crazy?

(I’ll ignore Significant Other’s suggestion for the moment.)

Like art, I know crazy when I see it. 

As most people probably do whether in SL or in Real Life (RL).

The corollary of that being everyone pretty much has their own definition of crazy.

(Can you tell that I almost failed Logic at university?)

Let me share a few examples of what people inworld have told me they consider as doing crazy things inworld when I’ve asked.

Let’s start with the ordinary. 

This includes activities like hot air ballooning, paragliding, horseback (or dragonback riding), and role playing. 

Get the picture?

These are all things that we’d do in RL but for things like time, money, health, dragons don’t exist, and similar limitations.  We might not be able to do them in RL but we wouldn’t be embarrassed to talk about them with RL friends and family.  (Well, maybe we wouldn’t bring up the dragon.) 

Next up are the not so ordinary activities that we do when asked about the craziest thing we’ve done inworld. 

Not surprisingly, these are usually sexual in nature.

(What you’re surprised?  You should go back and read my earlier stories.)

They start usually with visiting nudist resorts inworld, move onto experiencing sex in any number of different ways, BDSM, gender reversal, and I’m sure I’ve missed a few long the way. 

This is where folks generally really explore both themselves and all that SL has to offer here. 

Generally, folks wouldn’t dream of doing these things in RL or even talk about them with others.  Although, I’ve met a few uninhibited souls who do. 

What about you?

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done in SL?

Would you tell us about it?

You can stay anonymous if you wish!

Drop me a line and I’ll share your stories with my three loyal readers.  (All of whom assure that they only live vicariously through my blog.)

Oh, what about me you say?

Probably running around nude inworld. 

Of course, I only do it for professional reasons to get the stories my three loyal readers enjoy.

OK, there are a few other things that Significant Other would rather I not divulge despite Significant Other’s enjoying while shoulder surfing.  (Significant Other glares.)

Maybe next time! 

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.  

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

My flickr Photostream is located here.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

            If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life  please click here.

            Open roads and kind fires!

Are You Seasonal in Second Life?

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.

Albert Camus

Recently, as is my wont, I wandered around in Second Life (SL).

I thought it was very quiet.  Not many friends were inworld and not too many others were about either.  (I’ll ignore Significant Other’s observation that folks were just avoiding me.  Who’d want to do that? Please don’t feel any need to reply.)

I wondered why.

It’s just turned summer here where I live in Real Life (RL).  There were also Fourth of

July celebrations here as well in RL.

Could it be that RL seasons affect how many of us are ever inworld at any particular time?

Let’s discuss this!

Yes, we have seasons in SL.

Some sims have the same season all the time, some mimic the RL seasonal cycle, and others are simply at the whim of their owners. 

RL seasons, on the other hand, tend to be more predictable.

Like where I live in RL, we have four pretty much distinct seasons. 

(Significant Other requests that I mention summer is not Significant Other’s favorite but the remaining three are fine.)

Some places in RL, like Singapore and Florida, have pretty much the same weather all year round.  The amount of rain they receive and storms occurring may be the most distinguishing features of their seasons. 

What does this have to do with us?

Many of us appear to have our own routines in RL based on the seasons.

RL tends to draw some of us away when we receive better weather allowing us to go

outdoors.  Warmer temperatures not to mention longer hours of sunlight. 

If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say that RL warmer weather probably causes many of us to stay away from SL.  (Let’s face it, SL has beautiful beaches but they don’t quite compare to the feel of sand between your toes in RL!)

The weather gets colder and the days shorter, we come back inworld.  A variation on the RL snowbird theme!

What do you think?

Do RL seasons affect when we come in or not to SL? 

Does SL population numbers fall off during better weather?

What do you do?

Drop me a line and let me know!  If I get enough replies then I’ll do a follow up story.  I’m curious where we all go! 

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives. 

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

My flickr Photostream is located here.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

            If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life  please click here.

            Open roads and kind fires!

What Anniversaries Do You Celebrate in Second Life?

An anniversary is where you look back at having either fulfilled Cinderella or Lord of the Flies.

Fernando A. Torres

A recent spate of anniversaries in Second Life (SL) got me thinking. 

(Significant Other wonders aloud what will get me thinking about our anniversary.)

We’ve had the fourteenth anniversary celebration for SL, 1920s Berlin’s annual observance of its founding, and, of course, the sixth anniversary of my blogging inworld.  

There are plenty of other less formal anniversaries in SL too.  There are rez dates, partner/marriage anniversaries, and numerous others that I’ve probably overlooked in my

meanderings.  (I’d like to point out here that I’ve never missed any anniversaries with Significant Other.  I may have come close but never missed.) 

This has gotten me thinking about what do all these anniversaries mean to us?

In Real Life (RL), celebrating an anniversary is all about remembering an event or recognizing an ongoing relationship.  We come together with friends and family and have a good time.  These are happy occasions for the most.  (While in RL, sad occasions are often remembered by anniversary observances, I haven’t come across any recurring memorial observances for either events or people.)

Is what we do in SL any different from RL?

What do we do inworld?

We come together, we remember, we celebrate, and we do it over and over again, year after year?

Still with me?  (Significant Other’s face has its “What’s the point of all this?” look on it.)

Why do we do this?

In answering this, I’m not going to distinguish between SL and RL. 

Something else, have you ever stopped and considered that only sentient creatures (that’s us humans) observe anniversaries?  For example, when was the last time your pet dog got upset with you because you missed its birthday?  Do you even know its birthday? 

When we have anniversaries, we’re remembering happy times for the most part. 

We’re remembering the people who were with us then even if they may be gone now. 

We’re reaching out to our community for emotional support.

There’s that word “community” again!

We’re just not disconnected individuals inworld.  We’re not pieces on a board in a game somewhere. 

We’re part of a community, albeit virtual, but we belong!

And, that’s why we observe anniversaries inworld, to remember that we belong somewhere! 

Please drop me a line and let me know what anniversaries you observe in SL especially if it’s not one I’ve mentioned!

If I get enough replies then I’ll do a follow up story, or, better yet, invite me over and let me meet you and your community! 

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives. 

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

My flickr Photostream is located here.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

            If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life  please click here.

            Open roads and kind fires!