Ever run into RL acquaintance you didn't know was in SL?

[Pixie Kobichenko]

So I've been in SL since 2009 and had yet to knowingly run into any one from my 1st life.   At one point, my brother's now deceased wife was in SL but we never pursued speaking to one another in-world (nor did we exchange user names).  But yesterday, as I was engaging in my favorite SL past time, profile perving, someone posted in a relatively large group chat & I profile perved them.  And they had a RL photo up, which I instantly recognized, and their username was a medley of their RL name- so that cinched it.

I actually went to High School with this persons's sibling, and briefly worked with the actual SLer at a RL job about 20ish years ago & had for a bit been FB friends (but not in many years).

There was a moment of absolute silence where my eyes bugged out and my jaw dropped.  

The only thing comparable to this was a trip to Six Flags when my upstairs neighbor that I only knew by friendly waves was walking in the park as I was walking out (what was remarkable is that we lived a good 3 hours drive away). 

Has this happened to anyone else, tripping across someone you know in RL?

[Akasha Sternberg]

yes, once...

One of my usually dead GroupChats opened and some guy said hi... I replied and we started to talk. Topic switched to my RL pic and it turns out we met at a convention and me and my friends were trying to sell my now bf then best friend to him and his group. He remembered us vividly cos we were the only group interacting with them  

[bigmoe Whitfield]

3 people in a group I formed...  one was my brother, which is what ever, the other was my best friend at the time,  would not stop using my real name... then there was a girl I knew that I went to school with, she joined a few years back and, yeah.  I now hide on my alts lol.

[Rolig Loon]

On 3/17/2018 at 12:25 AM, Pixie Kobichenko said:

Has this happened to anyone else, tripping across someone you know in RL?

Never, in eleven years.  However, I don't ever ask anyone I meet in SL about their RL identity. I only know things about a person in RL if they volunteer them without my asking.

[LittleMe Jewell]

6 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

Never, in eleven years.  However, I don't ever ask anyone I meet in SL about their RL identity. I only know things about a person in RL if they volunteer them without my asking.

^^ This.  I know the RL name of exactly 5 people from SL, not counting my RL mother whom I brought to SL and was here for a few years.  Of those 5, three were SL relationships that went just enough into RL to consist of emails and calls/texts - and 2 of those 3 I am RL Facebook friends with.  The other two were casual female friends in SL. I visited one in RL and I am Facebook friends with the other one.  That is the extent of my RL knowledge of people over the 11 years that I've been here.

[Cindy Evanier]

I've not met any here that I discovered I knew already in RL.  I have met many from my city though and always felt like it was only a matter of time.  One I met 9 years ago turned out to live very close though we didn't know each other. He is kind of my other half now hehe

 

[Phil Deakins]

I recently found out that a guy I know in RL used SL - used, as in the past. He must have been herre during my time but I never knowingly met him here.

The only other RL person I knew in SL is the one who introduced me to SL, but she stopped logging in a matter of months after I joined.

[LittleMe Jewell]

2 hours ago, Cindy Evanier said:

I have met many from my city though and always felt like it was only a matter of time.  One I met 9 years ago turned out to live very close though we didn't know each other.

 

My profile does say that I'm from Colorado.  I have had a few people say "I'm from blah-blah Colorado, which part are you from".  A couple of those folks were within 60 miles, but I don't know them.

 

[Bitsy Buccaneer]

I briefly knew someone who reminded me of an uncle. I never learned enough about him to form an opinion one way or the other. It was strange though to come to such a strong realisation that these things are possible.

[Cindy Evanier]

29 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

My profile does say that I'm from Colorado.  I have had a few people say "I'm from blah-blah Colorado, which part are you from".  A couple of those folks were within 60 miles, but I don't know them.

 

hmm Liverpool isn't that big.  60 miles away would be halfway across the country.  I am talking 5- 6 miles

[Rolig Loon]

2 minutes ago, Cindy Evanier said:

I am talking 5- 6 miles

Chances of that are close to zero in my neighborhood. The population density here in the northern woods isn't high enough.  Even taking in a 40 mile radius wouldn't help much.

[Pixie Kobichenko]

6 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

Never, in eleven years.  However, I don't ever ask anyone I meet in SL about their RL identity. I only know things about a person in RL if they volunteer them without my asking.

Well, again, I didnt ask, his name was an amalgamation of his RL name & he had the same RL picture up he has used on FB.

[Lindal Kidd]

I know a few of my SL friends in RL, but I've never run into the situation the OP describes.  One bit of advice:  Do NOT let on that you know this person in RL, if you decide to strike up a conversation.  It could make them very uncomfortable.  Instead, lead up to it indirectly, by volunteering stuff about yourself.  When they say, "hey, are you John Smith from Dubuque?" you can admit it, and then they will say, "Wow, I'm Helen Prufit...we worked at Walmart together!"  Problem solved, with no Creepiness Factor.

[Pixie Kobichenko]

15 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

I know a few of my SL friends in RL, but I've never run into the situation the OP describes.  One bit of advice:  Do NOT let on that you know this person in RL, if you decide to strike up a conversation.  It could make them very uncomfortable.  Instead, lead up to it indirectly, by volunteering stuff about yourself.  When they say, "hey, are you John Smith from Dubuque?" you can admit it, and then they will say, "Wow, I'm Helen Prufit...we worked at Walmart together!"  Problem solved, with no Creepiness Factor.

I agree. I didn't have any inclination to say anything to them.   It would be really shady to use that *upper hand* if one was to do that.