Did they leave a mark?

[Morgana Hilra]

In second life, we all have likely come across someone that "touched our lives" in one way or another.

Be it a chance meeting, or a person you considered a friend and they just disappeared suddenly. 

Or maybe you were friends and had a falling out.

Has this ever happened to you? (pointing to the reader).

Mine was Shawn McDonnagh. The one person in SL I will never forget because of the lasting impression they made.

Maybe one day he may see this, and message me. Or take out a stalking order on me. JK! geez, how many of you actually groaned at that?

 

[Alyona Su]

mad*dy*y [Redacted]. (Because forum rules)

Massive rip-off artist I got tangled up with back in 2006. Hopefully, he's not even still around. He used to run this business of "SL Books" - books you read in-world using one of those old in-world magazine publishers, etc.

At the time I worked for a B2B training company and we trained on how best to run s business profitably and keep quality customers coming back. So I applied a lot of that information toward SL and wrote a book. This is all before RL self-publishing, so I created the book in-world and old madddyyy talked me into "partnering' with him to sell it in his bookstore (which sold a lot of really crappy books LOL)

So I did. Though I never got the commission that he owed me (actually: ZERO). Then a few months later he closed that place up, bought a new place on the "new" Sansara continent and created a book "mall". Sure enough, there was my book, front-and-center (I think it was a best seller at the time). I have suspected that it was the same with any other authors. And the rest were blatant web-page copy/paste scenarios. Which should have been a red flag to me, but I was still pretty naive.

Well, now here we are 10 years later after that and I've learned a lot of things since then. But I will never forget madddyyy and every once in a while I like to think to myself "I hope he's dead and died and really slow, painful death".

That's the one who made an impression on me. ?

Edited October 12, 2018 by Alyona Su

[Garnet Psaltery]

12 hours ago, Alyona Su said:

[Redacted]. (Because forum rules)?

It's very easy to find this person inworld given the bit of name you left in plus details of their activities.  He does seem to have been inactive for a while but it's probably still safer to anonymise his name.

[JustinHendrix]

Recently, I had someone offer to help me with my avatar and then for whatever reason they vanished. I never understand why people do that. Just vanish never to tell ya why. It kind of sucks when you just assume they're away for a few days..but than you look for activeness and you find out they were never inactive to begin with, they just want you to leave. Rejection really never gets any easier on this site. It's something you have to learn fast here and accept even if your not ready to. I know from experience..

[Resi Pfeffer]

51 minutes ago, JustinHendrix said:

Recently, I had someone offer to help me with my avatar and then for whatever reason they vanished. I never understand why people do that.

1. You havent been important enough to that person to make him/her writing you a message and telling about.
2. The person would tell you about, but is not able to log on to SL because of (insert any thinkable reason).

I have friends, which vanished from SL for a lot of years (10+). The ones who managed to leave a mark, i still keep in my list. Whenever they come back one day, i will say hello and hopefully talking about the good old times.

Chin up!

[Laoise Rumsford]

Four.

One, we were friends for going on 6 years when I said something stupid, and instead of talking about it...He blocked me. It hurt a lot, but it helped me realize that nothing lasts forever.

Two, we were close and often spoke about "the other half of our amulet" glowing if the other was going through bad times. He never came back.

Three, I have known for 4-5 years. We have been attracted to each other but at the beginning of our friendship, he was married. So, we just stayed friends. Some years down the road, he was now divorced and we are together as a couple. While he is currently quite busy in RL, we have spoken about taking things from Second Life to Real Life. I look forward to this.

Four, my best friend. He lives in Finland. We were lovers at a time, but now he is partnered. However, I know he will come to my rescue if I need him. He "held" me for an hour while I cried my eyes out because of a bad RL moment.

[JustinHendrix]

On 11/12/2018 at 10:48 AM, Resi Pfeffer said:

1. You havent been important enough to that person to make him/her writing you a message and telling about.
2. The person would tell you about, but is not able to log on to SL because of (insert any thinkable reason).

I have friends, which vanished from SL for a lot of years (10+). The ones who managed to leave a mark, i still keep in my list. Whenever they come back one day, i will say hello and hopefully talking about the good old times.

Chin up!

1 really helped take the sting out of it being the answer n made me laugh, thank you!

[Ethan Paslong]

sometimes i help people inworld (yes i can be thát nice too) but that doesn't mean we are/become friends, it's to help and get them on the right track.
After that i don't see a real need to continue happy cozy sweet talks about nothing when there's no other click at all.
Think you could put that under nr 1 of Resi, but isn't really because of importance, just different type of contact.

[JaedenDelanaire]

A friend that I found by chance through RP.   Real life feelings got tangled the closer we became OOC. Eventually contact was cut due to the way it was affecting us, and stupid things I did. Still miss her four years later; she touched my life in such a wonderful way, and I still harbor those happy hopes that maybe we can just be good pals at the long end of the road. 

[Donna Underall]

I have been sisters with Carley for 12 years and I am sure we will stay sisters even if something happens to SL.  And my ex, he taught me that men and women can fall in love in SL.  I will never forget him.

[Maitimo]

Not a single person but a place, and a whole bunch of people. There was a gay sim called Manifesto that I used to hang out at a lot, and I worked as a dancer in the two clubs there for a good while, well over a year. I loved that place, everyone was so friendly and chilled.  Eventually the sim closed (as they all do sooner or later). The former owner now runs, of all things, a baby/child adoption agency. I still miss that crowd.

[chaosninja7]

I hired a person to custom make a outfit for Maitreya for 12,000 L$...at the time i was stupid and naive, and said yes. paid 11k of it upfront...only to be removed and blocked a week later, no product. Which I learned then to never pay a dime upfront. Ive still have yet to be reimbursed 11k. x.x

[BelindaN]

On 12/5/2018 at 11:33 PM, chaosninja7 said:

I hired a person to custom make a outfit for Maitreya for 12,000 L$...at the time i was stupid and naive, and said yes. paid 11k of it upfront...only to be removed and blocked a week later, no product. Which I learned then to never pay a dime upfront. Ive still have yet to be reimbursed 11k. x.x

Ouch! I'm hurting on your behalf with that story..........:(

[Talligurl]

On November 28, 2018 at 2:32 PM, Matty Luminos said:

Not a single person but a place, and a whole bunch of people.

I worked as a dancer

 I loved that place, everyone was so friendly and chilled. 

Eventually the sim closed (as they all do sooner or later). 

I have a similar story, with a happier ending (well maybe not as it isn't the end yet.

After leaving SL due to personal issues in RL. The former owner is now back starting the old place back up.

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

I have had several that have come into my life and then later left it for one reason or another(their choice or sometimes mine). Sometimes the people we meet are not meant to be in our life but for that short time, they are there. Each taught a lesson that was needed to be learned about myself and other people both here and real life. Some of the leavings were very painful, some still hurt even now. But I continue on because that is what we have to do in life; keep moving forward.

yes each of them left a mark in some way and changed me or led to changes in me. but that is what life is about, learning and growing and changing even if is sometimes painful or unwanted.

Edited December 16, 2018 by Drakonadrgora Darkfold
yes there has been.

[Carolyn Zapedzki]

Not long after joining SL 11 years ago I got friendly with a guy, we used to do everything together and I mean everything 🙂 But we eventually parted ways. I have not got that friendly with a guy ever since then. Not been intimate with a guy since then either, so yeah that guy touched me in more ways than 1. I often think of our moments together. 

[AngeliqueMinogue]

Four people come to mind when thinking of those that have touched my life and have left a mark on Second Life.

1. Palomma Cassanova - She is still around and we are still good friends. She owns Free Dove. Done a lot for fashion.

2. Circe Broom - Unfortunately she passed away while I was gone, but instrumental with Live Music.

3. Jeri Zuma - A great friend that pushed me daily to challenge myself and to think outside of the box.

4. Anshe Chung - Haven't spoke to her in a long time, but I'm quite sure she has left her mark.

[Lilith Sablatnig]

The first person I ever met in SL. Rob.

We were firm friends who understood we both had partners IRL and that friendship was what we were here for. Or so I thought.

One evening he logged in, started being utterly disgusting towards me in a fashion I'd never seen before. Out of what I thought was his character. I fronted and asked what was going on, he apologised eventually and said he was mistaken. His account disappeared soon after. 

Lesson here? I think it is that some people cannot take NO as a legit answer. Some people think they can wear you down into having cybersex with them. Despite saying no repeatedly and plainly. Those people, in short suck and I hope their databases get covered in digital bees.

[yumabloom]

I'll add my sadness to this. 

Her display name was Maddie and she was my best friend for well over a year around 2015 when I was still somewhat of a greenleaf to Second Life. There was no falling out, there was no big tragedy, well unless you count her apparently deciding to not log back onto Second Life. I had her on my Skype contacts but forgot the login details by the time I realized if i wanted to talk to Maddie ever again I'd have to recall it. I sometimes wondered if she checked to see if I ever logged in on Skype. 

I hope whatever she's doing, wherever she is that she is doing well. She was one of my first SL friends and without a doubt the best. 

[Orwar]

   One of my daughters kept finding herself in abusive relationships. I tried to support her as best as I could, but she was unable to find what she sought in Second Life. She was suffering from an advanced stage of cancer; she was in her early 20's for the time we had together, and really just wanted to experience love as she was unable to meet people in real life. She was a very creative soul, kind and in some bizarre way quite content with her lot. She drew and painted, and was an avid fan of photography; she'd frequently show me the pictures she made, and sometimes she'd even play her guitar and sing for me.

   Eventually, the abuse of the 'partners' she had gotten together with became too much for her though, and she withdrew. My other daughter eventually confessed that both of them had 'more than a crush' on me, but that neither of them knew what to do about it - my partner at the time had been very over-protective of me as well, seeing everyone, even my daughters, as potential threats. When that finally broke, both of them began to act.. More affectionate. Because my other daughter was around much, much more, it was just inevitable that she and I spent more time together, and my first daughter got jealous. She'd sporadically turn up in-world to chat, but we kept contact on Skype for a long time until she just ceased to come online at all. It's been two years since last I heard from her, and I doubt I'll ever know her fate for sure. Still, I never mention her; it's easier to cope with ire than it is with grief - one of her partners almost tore our family apart and cost me my position at one of the help centres through hearsay. Although I never blamed her for it, she tried her best to pull the blame onto herself - and I did tell her, so many times, to be careful.

   We still mention that partner of hers, though. We've got an effigy of a hung corpse with his name on a plaque that we keep around as a reminder to be wary of people's intentions before embracing them as family.

[Morgana Hilra]

 

 

 

On 11/12/2018 at 9:52 AM, JustinHendrix said:

Recently, I had someone offer to help me with my avatar and then for whatever reason they vanished. I never understand why people do that. Just vanish never to tell ya why.

Did they help you?

Sometimes, people will do that. They will see someone that they feel needs to update their look and, may seem to go out of their way to help, and then just POOF...

It happens in RL too. 

A stranger will come into your life for a moment and leave their mark on your life, and then just disappear.

It's not always a bad thing.

Plus, you never know, maybe they were going through something, and just had to get away.

I hope that whatever happened, that they are safe, and that they managed to touch your life in someway positively.

[Zeta Vandyke]

Two women I met during my early days, somewhere in 2008. We grew very close and intimate. I never understood how people could "do" online relationships, seemed ridiculous. Then I just fell in a 3 person one

After a few years we were no longer in a relationship but still very close friends. At one point one of them left mysteriously (just went dark) and the other a good while later due to changing real life priorities.

I still think about both of them quite often, mostly when certain songs play. We shared a passion for music, and listened "together" for countless of hours, sharing songs and artist, or while visiting a place in SL thinking "Oh wow, she would have loved this". So yeah, can say they both left their mark on me for sure. 

 

[Raevyn Addams]

I'm lucky to have a few people that I met in SL and grew outward to become friends in RL. And a few that I wish I didn't have to mention, but need to be.

It started when I opened my first RP sim (a skybox parcel actually) when this account was still relatively new. I received an IM one day by a woman who had come to RP. All these years later I can't remember exactly what she said and nor can she, but we spoke regularly after that. We role played in a few scenes together and we've been practically inseparable ever since. It hasn't been without its ups and downs of course. Like any friendship we've had problems. Sometimes we go a short while without talking, and then there's an email, or a text message on the phone, or an IM or something, and it's like we've never been apart. I've watched her RL kids grow up, met her fiancé (online), and been invited to her RL wedding. She lives in the UK and I'm in Australia, so our times don't always align; add to that the general pace of both our lives have changed over the years. Perhaps the biggest problem isn't even time anymore, it's motivation. Since I've stepped away from RP and life's kept her too busy to really commit, we aren't staying awake to all crazy hours to write. And without each other to maintain the same kind of standard we've grown used to, or to challenge each other, we're lost. Sometimes we'll go shopping together, or go dancing, or just sit and reminisce and dream. We've been best friends for 6 years and counting, both in SL and RL. I'd like to think we'll still be 6 years from now, or 60 for that matter. I hope so anyway.

There's a few others I want to mention. Two that I met in the course of RP, had prim children to, and became friends with. Then jealousy reared its ugly head. Not between them, but from other people causing conflict. We still talk but now it's more OOC than anything. Sometimes one or both will IM me asking for a particular script or help with a build which gives me a sense of purpose I suppose, but isn't really as fulfilling as it used to be back when we were RPing together. Recently I asked one to be my latest baby's father and he's even posed for pictures but its not the same. I miss what we had but am thankful for what we did have at least.

Directly related to the above is a former friend who I also met back when this account was fairly new and I had just started my first RP sim, Stormy Valley. He and I were friends, or started to become such. We RP'd in several scenes together, and spoke in IM's fairly regularly. He was in a SL relationship (and RL friendship) with a woman, and when his character cheated on her by sleeping with me/my RP character, his RP partner became enraged RL. She's been intent on slandering me ever since. He and that partner have since separated, and he has gone on to create his own RP sim with a new partner (ironically, ex to friend mentioned above) and they have built a family together. Two important things to note: I didn't join his RP sim, though I did visit, and I get the feeling he felt disappointed when I didn't. And his ex partner is still blaming me for ruining their RP relationship (and subsequently RL friendship) all these years (4/5 years) later. She's since taken to Discord to continue the personal attack, and sadly (and as recently as a few days ago) I've been told he's now also joined in. So from that one simple IC action (of having an affair in RP) I've lost several RL friends, as well as any urge to return to RP or the RP community. There are far too many people who cannot differentiate between RL and RP, and as the RP communities dwindle in numbers over the years there's only going to be more insecurity than there is now. And I want no part in that. 

So to answer the OP's question, I have met a lot of amazing people in SL, but I've also met a few negative ones too. It's hard to tell which marks are the deepest.😢

Edited June 14, 2019 by RaeLeeH
Removed initialization of names and left the post generic.

[Naughty Nootan]

Mine is a place, a club that I worked in for years.😍

One2one was one of the first clubs I went to when I was a newbie full of excitement and wonder. I became a dancer and spent all my time there. ( It was a time when avatars were real people behind the PC and it had real traffic) People came to chat, make friends and have a great time.  In time one2one became "Tiffanys" and I spent many years there, working for Sumi but also making some really great friends that I'm still in contact with today.

I don't get in second life much now but when I do, I know that the old "Tiffs" gang will still be on my friends list ready for a catch-up.

[Mae Omizu]

The very moment I logged into SL I was teleported to a welcome area. Korea3. And I heard this quite high pitched excited yelp. An avie was running over to me and she was so cute. She called over for her friends and started telling them I was a "newb" and I needed their help. From the very first second on SL just over 10yrs ago Sara Wheatcliffe befriended me. We were inseparable from the start. She had only started playing two months prior. We had this little gang who hung out in Korea welcome area and helped newbies, stood around to chat, eventualy sat around when the Lindens put out benches. We went on shopping sprees, bought land together, lived together, ran an rp clan together, ran a store together. We were close. She even knew about my RL and I knew about hers. Skype video chats daily even when not on SL just to drink coffee or tea and catch up like old friends do. We were very close. She was my best friend for so many years. I miss her a lot and made a post on missed connections yesterday looking for her. I went through some stuff in RL and had no internet access or phone, we lost contact, by the time I came back she was gone. 

Edited August 6, 2019 by Mae Omizu