They talked in the shorthand of old
friends and shared memories.
Dee
Henderson, Before I Wake
My wanderings across the Grid in Second Life (SL) have
taken to me many places. Old places that
seem to have been around since the creation of SL and new places that seem to
appear somewhat sporadically. Although, I must say that the older places are
becoming fewer and the new places not as well built as the ones lost. (Significant Other
The most interesting part of my journey through these
places inworld are the people whom I meet.
Oddly, this is the same for me when I travel about in Real Life
(RL). (Significant Other nods saying
that I always was more of a people person.)
This got me to thinking about the people I meet inworld and how I relate
to them. I realized that the people I
meet inworld fall into three broad categories.
First,
there are my close friends. These are folks whom I’ve connected with as
friends. I have deeper discussions with
them than with most others. We go looking for one another inworld when we rezz
in and worry when we haven’t seen each other for a while. We exchange emails in RL. (Still using our SL personas, Significant Other
continues to stress anonymity.) And,
yes, there is an element of trust
too.
Next,
are folks whom I’m just friends with. We’ve
connected as friends but we don’t see one another often. Typically, we meet because of some inworld
special event or bump into each other in some sim.
Finally,
there are those whom I call acquaintances.
We’re not connected as friends inworld.
We meet occasionally and chat. We’re
cordial to one another. Then we move on.
(Don’t
know about you, but this pretty much matches up with how I categorize people in
RL.)
Then I
began to think about the common characteristics of my SL friends and
acquaintances. (Significant Other’s eyes
roll and something is mumbled about me having too much time on my hands.) Most are long term residents inworld,
preceding me. They’re major players in
highly evolved communities like Mieville
and 1920s
Berlin. They’re either community
organizers, leading scripters and builders, or creative types like artists, photographers,
and fashion designers.
The Big
Theme seems to be long term residents inworld.
An informal survey shows not too many friends who are recent additions
to the SL community. I’m curious about
the reasons why. Maybe they don’t
return? Maybe they take on new alts? One interesting characteristic of many new
residents I meet is that they’re returning inworld as new avatars after
extended absences for a variety of reasons.
All
this leaves me with a question, where are all the new SL residents? (Let’s ignore Significant Other’s observation
that they’re avoiding me.) Are fewer
people joining? Do many not just stay
around?
I don’t
have a good answer.
What I’d
like to do is reach out to more new SL residents. (Don’t worry, I won’t ignore my current
friends and acquaintances inworld!)
To all
new residents, and older ones as well, I extend an invitation to comment on or
follow my blog, send me a note card inworld (best way to reach me, my messages
get capped a lot), or, better yet, send me a friendship offer! Do this with the others that you may meet
along the way too!
SL is
all about community in my opinion. I see
old friends and acquaintances wander off into the fog of RL never to
return. Many newcomers are just
wandering aimlessly. (In reply to
Significant Other’s remark about my own aimless wandering, my
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!
I can be found on Google+ as
webspelunker Ghostraven.
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.
If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.
Open roads and kind fires!
