Does Second Life Exist Outside of Second Life Anymore?

Community is a sign that love is possible in a materialistic world where people so often either ignore or fight each other. It is a sign that we don't need a lot of money to be happy--in fact, the opposite. 

Jean Vanier

Recently, I’ve stopped for a moment to catch my breath.  (Significant Other says it’s about time.)

Real Life’s (RL) been busy.  (Don’t ask!)

I haven’t been in Second Life (SL) as much as I usually am and when I am, I’m

running around like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off.  (I’ll ignore Significant Other’s observation about what else is new.)

Not being able to get inworld and wander about as is my usual wont, I looked around in RL for signs of SL. 

I have to say that I was a little disappointed by what I found or more aptly didn’t find.

Let me tell you about it!

I used my usual tools for doing searches on the Internet, Twitter and Google.

On Twitter there wasn’t as much as I expected.

Yes, there were tweets.  Mostly sporadic one offs with no underlying themes were want I came across.  I didn’t see the epic tweet storms that seem to accompany other activities in the Twitterverse.  (Finally got to use that word in a sentence!)

Google was even more disappointing.

Once, I got past the Linden Lab and other official results, and then places like Wikipedia, the  search engine results tended to go back in time pretty quickly.  Again, no big themes or issues.

Overall, there wasn’t as much original work about SL on the Internet as I’d expected

or remembered from years past.  There seems to be a dropping off underway.

Maybe the search algorithms are to blame but something else seems to be afoot.

I know there’s good content out there still from others not to mention myself. But, you have to know where to look for it. 

Could the SL community be circling the wagons and retreating inworld?

I’ve noted before that big builds seem to be going away inworld maybe the same is true of original content on the Web. 

Or, could people just be getting tired?

Could Sansar be distracting people?

I don’t know but the content is missing!

Not to be all doom and gloom, Wagner James Au’s New World Notes, Inara Pey’s Living in a Modem World, and Caroline’s Second Life Advenures (The latter is NSFW so be careful where you access it form!) still post quality stories regularly and are well worth following. 

Please like, reshare, and comment on their work!  (Mine too please should you have a mind to do so!)

Or, how about being a guest blogger yourself?  If the others won’t have you then I will!

If you know of good SL bloggers and I haven’t listed them here then please send their links to me and I’ll help give them a shout out!

Many thanks!

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!

Sex and the Single Avatar in Second Life XIII – I Interview an Adventurous Journalist

 Hey, we are journalists that makes us the most curious people on the Grid!

Caroline Resident

 

          Recently, after having retweeted my first story about sex in Second Life (SL) I was contacted by Caroline’s Travels (AKA Caroline Resident) who asked me how could I write about sex inworld without mentioning her own blog, Second Life Adventures which is about sex and fun in SL. 

          Well, I’ve never professed to know it all. (Significant Other’s eyebrow arches again.) So, after checking Caroline’s blog out and realizing that no study of sex in SL would ever be complete without either mentioning it or speaking with Caroline, I asked for an interview. 

          Caroline readily agreed and we arranged to meet to discuss who she is and her views on sex in SL.

          Caroline is a self-described “Single bi-woman who explores the grid, writes about it and makes some money with it.” 

          Which seems very ordinary until one sits down and starts to talk with Caroline about who she really is and what she does. 

          We meet in a club where Caroline sometimes works as an escort after she has just completed an appointment with a client. 

          I begin by asking her what brought her to SL in the first place. 

          Laughter erupts from Caroline as she explains how it was such a long time ago that she’d really would have to think about that one. She thinks it was during the big hype in 2007. Caroline believes that she must have read something in a paper about it and just was curious about it. She then got stuck here.  (I think many of us had a similar experience.) 

          When we had met previously to discuss arranging the interview, Caroline had said she’d been attracted to the “naughty bits” inworld because that’s what people were attracted to when she wrote in her blog.   I ask her if she had any reservations about that initially.  (Caroline certainly doesn’t have any now!) 

          Her reply is no, not at all.  Caroline is a very liberal person anyway. She admits to having hardly any inhibitions about sex at all. Her original SL avatar was also quite active sexually, but her current avatar (To whom I’m speaking.) gave her the opportunity to go beyond that. Her original avatar was too well known in other parts of SL and other environments which would have been limiting so she became Caroline’s Travels. In another words, she has been clear from the beginning that she would discover the naughty side of SL, hence no reservations at all. 

          Caroline had no trepidations about being nude the first time, having sex, or coming out as an escort.  She adds that there are actually still things she has not explored yet. Next, Caroline will be dating couples with a friend of hers. 

          The swinger lifestyle inworld is something that Caroline is very curious about. How it feels how it is and if it actually exists. She’s not talking about the usual sex regions were everbody has sex with everybody else. Caroline’s talking about liberal couples who are into that sort of lifestyle. 

          I ask her when she says liberal when describing herself does she mean SL or Real Life (RL). 

          Caroline laughs again as she replies that she knew I’d be asking this question.  (Am I that predictable now?)  She answers affirmatively that she is very liberal in RL too. Caroline has had certain experiences with the swinger lifestyle in RL, however she would never be an escort in RL. That’s were she draws the line!

         

Our interview turns to Caroline’s business venture in SL, Siemens Media.         

The business is about creating advertising media Caroline explains. The main one is Second Life Adventures for now. The idea is to create compelling and entertaining content, and sell advertising space to inworld companies. So far her revenues come from an affiliate program from Linden Lab.

Does she make a living?

 Well not enough for a RL living Caroline admits but enough to finance her second life, her hobby actually. So for a SL resident she’s quite well off, but not enough to support her real life.

          Caroline doesn’t consider herself a full time SL resident.  She has a RL family and a RL job.

I ask Caroline what are her impressions of sex inworld.

Caroline’s reply is that well, just like in RL, there is a lot of diversity. From really bad and boring pixel porn to really great emotional and passionate experiences and everything in between. Most of the noobs (Sorry she loves that expression!) look for the lower end of pixel porn, because they haven’t realized yet that SL’s not a game and that there are real people behind those funny little avatars. As soon as they start getting deeper into it as a world and not as a game the attitude changes

Does the emotion and passion occur in RL for Caroline as well is my next question.

Caroline answers that she’s had girl friends in the past in SL. And, yes, the emotion is real when such relationships are established in SL. In casual encounters it’s different, she continues, there she would call it arousal not passion. Caroline concludes saying yes, she’s not made of stone so it does carry over. Sometimes there is physical release and pleasure for her in RL too. 

When the emotion and passion don't occur, is it just because something didn't click with someone I ask.

Her reply is that no, it’s the other way around.  When it does occur it’s because it was

special and very arousing. There always need to be some sort of "click with someone", that a minimum requirement for sex in any world Caroline concludes.

          In one of Caroline’s recent blog posts, she described herself as a “kept woman” in her relationship with a new friend, Kris Summer.  I refer to this story when I ask about her limits and inhibitions and that she seems to be continually challenging these for herself.

How far will Caroline go is my question.

Caroline replies that to be honest, she doesn’t know.  But there are some red lines she won’t cross. 

There is also one topic Caroline has never touched on. That is BDSM, and not that it would be beyond her limits.  But, first, she simply doesn’t understand it and second, it doesn’t make her curious.  Caroline’s just not interested in it.

When she writes about something and the topic is "not her thing" then it’s not authentic anymore, it’s writing just to write. Her readers expect authentic stuff, adventures she’s lived, not stuff she wrote about because it’s popular.  (I applaud Caroline’s authenticity and sincerity here.)

My last question is about what Caroline thinks the future of SL is given how SL 2.0 might affect things.

Caroline replies that it is a good question and she doesn’t have the answer. She feels that at present they’re develop a new platform, and if it is as good as they say it is, SL will slowly but surely die.

She continues saying to compare it to RL cultures. The real world develops the same way.  Five minutes ago (in historical terms) Greece was the thing, then Rome, today we have to rescue what is left of both.  Virtual worlds move much faster than real ones.

Caroline just hopes that she can get her inventory transferred over, all of her planes and shoes. 

          Our interview comes to an end and mindful of Caroline’s time, I thank her and take my leave.

          I come away impressed with this woman.

         

Caroline is clearly an adventurous SL journalist who enjoys exploring inworld and having her adventures while being a successful businesswoman.  She is very comfortable with her own sexuality. 

          There is a business part to what Caroline does but that and being an escort are secondary to her original purpose of bringing her stories back to her readers. 

I can relate to that!

          Caroline has further adventures planned inworld.

          She is presently undertaking a voyage to the continents of SL.  She feels the trip helps her love the freedom, space and the infinite possibilities of the mainland without having to teleport. Now private estates seem so small to her. 

          We will hear more about her relationship with Kris and possibly her forays in Gor and with furries. 

          Caroline’s further adventures can be found on her blog which I strongly recommend to all!  I know that I’ll keep reading!

          Her blog also has guides on noobs, sex, and Gor for the interested!

           Her Twitter handle is @Carol_Resident .

          She can be found on Google+ at Caroline’s Travels in Second Life. 

          I’d like to thank Caroline for her time, candor, and hospitality in meeting with me for this interview.  

          Who knows?

          You might see a story from me about accompanying Caroline on her voyage across the Grid!

          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!