The best things always happened unexpectedly when
traveling. The trick was to keep
planning to a minimum and allow plenty of time and opportunity for random
encounters, happenstance, and the pursuing of sudden whims.
Richard Grant
Depending on one’s viewpoint, one year is
either a very long time off in the future or it has been the blink of an eye.
For me, since I posted my first blog about my travels
and experiences in Second Life (SL) the time has been the blink of an eye. Something also tells me that the next year,
while now seems a long way off, will go by just as quickly as I continue my
journeys inworld.
I thought having just past my first
anniversary of blogging about my adventures inworld this would be a good time
to stop and reflect about how I’ve spent my time inworld so far. (Warning, this blog will resemble one of
those flashback episodes on television that we all hate so. However, there may also be teasers about
future episodes, er, I mean journeys.
So, dear reader, you decide whether to read on or not. I’m awful aren’t
I?)
I began writing because I wanted to share
with a larger audience my wanderings about the grid. Why was I even on the grid in the first
place? Well, traveling about in Real
Life (RL) is not an option for me as it once was. (Significant Other expects me home on a
regular basis and quite rightly insists on a forwarding address those few times
that I do get about these days.) Also, I’d
read the blog of Bunky
Snowbear who had tried to walk across the SL grid before giving up. I thought to myself, “Why not?”
SL was only meant to be the first step on a
journey across the entire Metaverse
itself. But, SL offered opportunities and
challenges to me. How do I even get
in? How do I make myself look
presentable? Then, the big one which has
driven away so many noobies, what do I do once I’m inworld? Can I get a job and cover my
costs?
Next thing I know, I own a house in Nowaki
and I have many friends whom I’ve met as I’ve crossed and recrossed the
grid.
After figuring out how to exit SL’s arrival
center, my next challenge was what
should I look like? I wanted to do
this on the cheap (A virtue of mine in RL as well. Significant Other has another word for
it.) Fortunately, there are many diverse
and free options here inworld. Despite the raised eyebrows (Quite a trick
inworld.) of some of my SL friends, I created a new look for myself. My red eyes always draw comments. (Yes, I know it’s a cheap trick but I couldn’t
rely on my personality.)
So, after finally getting my looks sorted out
(Some might say that they still aren’t.
They’re just jealous.), I decided to go out and meet people. Where to start? I wanted to investigate the various
communities inworld. I started with nekos, vampires, and steampunks. Tried to meet goths but that didn’t go
anywhere. I just went out onto the highways and byways
of SL, stopped the people I met along the way, and started up conversations.
What I found was a terrific sense of
community among those whom I did meet. I
spent considerable time with the vampires of Nulli Secundus. I even attended a vampire wedding.
All of these people opened up their SL lives
for me and took the time to tell me about their worlds. Few ever rejected my request for an interview
and in fairness, those that did said they either were too new to SL or didn’t
speak English well enough to be able to help.
No one has been rude.
I found people helping other people. Fund raisers for RL causes and for SL
residents who have issues in RL. This is
more than a game. This is a community that is coming together and becoming
something more than World of Warcraft.
I came across the 1920’s Berlin sim where Frau
Jo Yardley and her friends have built an incredible recreation of Weimar Berlin
before the madness descended. Here too
is a rich cultural community which I plan to return to in the next year.
My time inworld has given me a chance to see
and think about some of the things that could adversely affect SL. The first of these was the Great Recession of 2008. I spent some time trying to gauge its impact
on SL. The clues were all the blogs that
seemed to stop at about that time, residents whom nobody had seen in years, and
large inworld builds that appeared to be ghost towns where work had just stopped
and everyone walked away never to return.
If people continue to leave then eventually the plug’s going to be
pulled. But, then they need a reason to
stay, don’t they? Which leads me to my
next topic.
The other major potential for trouble inworld
is Linden Lab (LL) itself. SL is coming
on ten years old soon. The
infrastructure is aging. What could have
been a vibrant virtual economy is moribund.
New mobile technologies like smart phones and tablets are ignored. Most telling of all, for all the time I’ve
spent inworld, I’ve never met a Linden. For
late arrivals like myself, they are the stuff of legend. Recently, someone told me that a Linden’s
appearance inworld is denoted by a blue dot on the maps. I have never seen a blue dot. Finally, all the residents I’ve met complain
about their tier fees. This is the
company that once graced the cover of Businessweek.
For myself, I’ve had a few “events” along the
way. When CNN iReports did a technical
overhaul last November I lost many of the features which I needed so I’ve been
at Blogger ever since. Ironically, the only iReporters meeting that I went to
inworld was their last one when they shut the place down. (Story of my life.)
Next was my Twenty-four Hours in SL series of
blogs where I actually spent an entire day inworld. That was a lot of fun. I had a chance to reconnect with many friends
and revisit a few places that I hadn’t seen in a while. I also made new friends and went to new
place. That’s the attraction of SL, one
can never see it all. Unfortunately, my
one day inworld may have led to the third big event of this past year.
My third big happening of my year in SL was
the crashing of my laptop’s hard drive. While
inworld, I could hear that it was running hard during my twenty-four hour stint. A RL friend (I do have some.) later said that
hard drives can burn if played too hard and too long in an intense simulation
like SL. OK, I learned something. While waiting for a replacement to appear, I
went into the SL Diaspora in the Metaverse and was able to keep blogging until
I could get back inworld. I was
impressed by all who helped me during this time and sent me their messages of
support to me.
But what about the future? I’ve been writing so much about the past,
what do the next twelve months look like.
There will be changes. (At least
I hope there will be!) I will go back
and revisit old friends whom I haven’t seen since I last wrote about them. While I am a wanderer, I feel bad that I don’t
return often enough to those who have helped me along the way. Hence, be warned, I’m coming back.
I will push the edges of the envelope
more. Recently, I was at a nudist
function in 1920’s Berlin and I’ve
also been spending time with the BDSM community
inworld. I see opportunities for more blogs in those
veins. Don’t worry, I won’t become That
Kind of Blog as Glorf Bulmer would say. Although, who
knows? Maybe there could be Another Blog
of That Kind?
The frequency of posts will increase. I can’t commit to a number yet but there will
be more. I will also be using more
social media to attract more readers.
I will try to use my blog to help across the
broader community inworld such as the Occupy SL movement. Much can be done to help residents with their
RL issues.
Finally, I will continue to seek out new
places and new friends inworld and bring these experiences to my readers. One of these topics will be SL relationships
that crossed over into RL. I also want
to track down Bunky and talk with him.
I want to thank all those who have helped me
and guided me along my way over the course of the last twelve months. The list is too long to write but I thank each
and every one of you. What I am truly
grateful for is how each of you opened yourselves up and gave me something which
I could share with the broader group.
As always, I’m grateful to all for their
kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through
their lives.
