Don't worry, be HAPPY

[Alyona Su]

There is a lot of angst in Second Life, in-world and here in the forums and, well, the Internet in general.  So I just wanted to offer the other perspective we all know is here: the positive side of things. Let's look at the optimist's point of view.

For starters, let's try being thankful for this thing called Second Life. Linden Lab owes all of us nothing whatsoever. In truth, Second Life is basically a playground. No matter what you want to call it when you are in Second Life, you are playing. The ability to turn your playtime into real cash is a proverbial miracle none of us deserve but are given nonetheless. It's a gift. The Lindens are employees of a company, and they do their jobs to put food onto their tables, a roof over their heads, ability to care for their family. Just like you and me. Sure, they are just doing their jobs, but most, if not all, go above and beyond when they don't have to, though they also have to follow some rules they have no control over as well. So rather than bashing them en mass, let's be thankful for that they do for us on a regular basis. (Even when they suspend us for a few days when we are a little too naughty. ~cough, cough~.) /me looks at [You know who you are Linden].

Here's something to be thankful for: No one is required to give anything back. You do not have to have any payment information on file if you choose not to, keeping your wallet locked away in perpetuity if desired. You can play for free, your connection and equipment requirements notwithstanding, of course.

So what aspects of Second Life are you thankful for? This hardly complete, but here is a shortlist of my own:

• If desired, I can play in a virtual sandbox without spending a single penny.
• Play for free and turn that play into real legal tender money.
• Others want to share their creativity in ways I could never imagine and ask for nothing in return.
• Virtual activities that are impossible to do in real life.
• Meet people from, literally, all over the planet in live, real-time.
• Make real, genuine international friendships.
• Create a real international business.
• Learn things I would never have otherwise (coding, for example.)
• Experience being in real-world replicas of places I could never hope to see in real life.
• Build or buy a home or live on a yacht that could make Warren Buffet envious.
• Be an airplane pilot, ship pilot, railroad engineer, race-driver and feel like a professional.
• Dress in ways I'd be arrested for, and others don't blink an eye.
• Experiment with horrifically-embarrassing activities without a being (generally) judged for it.

All of this costs me nothing whatsoever other than time and connection fees if I choose. Because there is all of this, I am willing to spend money to get even more. And by spending my discretionary entertainment money here, rather than elsewhere, I do get more.

• A wonderful free idealistic home that I may never own in the real world, or, at least, is certainly much larger and more beautiful than the one I have.
• The ability to purchase virtual land and do anything with it, limited only by my imagination, including the impossible.
• The ability to pick up stakes where I am and move to the other side of the virtual planet instantly and not have single care or concern.

Another favorite quote of mine is, "You cannot plan the future on events of the past." So whenever some change is announced, a lot of people have what appears to be a shrill knee-jerk reaction. To these people I present this:

Quote

"How many pessimists end up by desiring the things they fear, in order to prove they are right?" —Henry Wheeler Shaw, 1818-1885

In other words, be careful what you wish for. I see Second Life as a gift and one should not look a gift-horse in the mouth, as is often said. I have written down my typical thoughts on this general negativity in another thread:

Quote

 

I am left with the impression that too many people take Second Life far too seriously with too high a priority as a going concern in their lives. As for leisure and fun: it is everywhere. You control your own mood, if you go to a circus and look behind the curtains or worry about the smell of the people sitting next to you all the time, you're not going to have a lot of fun while there.

Or, you can focus on the rings at the center of the show and have an amazingly wonderful time.

C'est la vie.

 

Second Life isn't going anywhere anytime soon. But when it does:

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"When the well's dry, we know the worth of the water." —Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790

So stop worrying. Be happy.

[Raevyn Addams]

LL needs to implement a LOVE button**. I'd use it for this topic/OP. 

There's definitely been a lot of negative feedback around lately, and I won't flog a dead horse anymore than it has been. But I will echo your sentiment, though it is getting late and my brain is starting to fade so this list probably won't be as comprehensive as it otherwise should be. 

Things I'm thankful for:

* For the friends I have made in SL and in RL that I met here and still talk to regularly to this day. For the chance to travel overseas to meet in person. To share their lives. To genuinely connect with people is something I can't put a price on. Without SL we simply would never have met.

* For being able to experience motherhood on any scale. As someone who medically cannot have children and isn't in a position to financially adopt or foster, I cannot tell you the sheer satisfaction and joy I get from the simple task of cuddling a newborn babe and hearing it laugh. This experience is priceless and something I will eternally be grateful to SL, as well as the baby creators, and many scripters for.

* The ability to talk to people all around the world almost any hour of the day or night or find a niche depending on my mood.

* The ability to create. I've learned things I've never done before, such as mesh and script, and again that's a direct result of being in SL.

* The many hours, weeks, months, years I have spent writing immersive stories that have fired my imagination and stayed with me long after the stories, players and regions have gone.

* The ability to represent myself as something better; be it younger, skinnier, better skin, perkier parts, longer hair, whatever. 

* The many hours I've spent shopping for things I wish I could afford and will likely never own in real life.

* The environments and houses that I can make feel like a home immediately without all the RL costs, time, effort, legal fees, paper work, mortgage repayments, and so on.

* The many random events that make me sit back sometimes and just shake my head and laugh because it could only happen in SL.

* The ability to sit back and be somewhere else after a stressful day IRL. Time that's expressly mine on a vast and limitless landscape.

* To memorialize my RL pets in virtual monuments to in essence keep their memory alive. Its nice to have that option, to just have some acknowledgement that something special to me existed in the first place and will exist perhaps for many years to come, even out there in cyberspace.

Again I'm sure there's more but brain needs sleep. 

It will be a sad day when SL closes its doors and not something I care to think of too much since it's been a constant in my life now for so long. I know nothing lasts forever. But for now it serves its purpose and despite whatever drawbacks or hiccups happen along the road it's still a place I enjoy to be. The day it becomes anything else is the day I have to take stock, reevaluate my priorities, or walk away. 

Thanks @Alyona Su for this much needed topic! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ 

(** and get your heads out of the gutter, I don't mean THAT kind of button, sheesh! 🤣)

Edited July 3, 2019 by RaeLeeH

[Beth Macbain]

I was thinking yesterday about starting a gratefulness threat... I am grateful to you, @Alyona Su, for beating me to it.

• I am thankful for this vast network of amazing people from all over this huge planet I've been able to meet and make room for in my heart.
• I am thankful to SL for giving me this platform to live my life as I wish to live it without the societal constraints of the real world holding me back.
• I am thankful for the love of photography, albeit very naughty, instilled in me by SL and the beautiful avatars.
• I am thankful to SL for rekindling my love of writing and journaling and giving me a way to reach people with my words, and stories, and experiences.
• I am remarkably, hugely, thankful for the great loves I've met through Second Life. Some have moved on but my time with them was precious and irreplaceable and the happy memories will stay with me forever. Some still make me smile every single day.
• I am thankful for being able to always look like I did when I was 30, to shop to my heart's content and not go bankrupt, to live in palaces, and castles, and shacks, and houseboats, and underground lairs, and on a space station, and a zillion other homes I've had over the years.
• I'm thankful to SL for giving me an escape from the stresses of real life, and for always being there for me over the past dozen years. Over these years, I lost both my parents and a brother. All three involved hospice, and being a caretaker, and watching people I loved more than anything waste away. Second Life was a life saver to me during those times. I could take a break, log in, and lose myself in sitting on a sandy beach with waves crashing all around me. I could curl up in a friend's arms and fall apart, something I was terrified to do in the real world for fear I wouldn't be able to pull myself back together and do the things that had to be done. 

This is only a small slice of the ways Second Life has been an amazing life line for me, and for that I will be forever thankful and supportive. ❤️

[Evangeline Ling]

Things I'm Thankful for in Second Life

* 12+ years of having a safe place to express my gender

* The massive amounts of friends I have made over the years... those that stuck around... those that I miss... but especially my loving wife Bella

* On opportunity to be creative whether it be with building, creating a new interesting land, or doing beautiful photography

* STRESS RELIEF... OMG my RL would suck far worse then it already does if I did not have Second Life to relieve my stress... THANK YOU Second Life and Linden Labs

* ADULT fun... do I need to elaborate?

* I get to be the Bellisseria Squirrel how cool is that!!!

* Inexpensive entertainment... yes I said INEXPENSIVE... think how much more you would spend in RL if you went to a club every single night or bought 10 outfits a day or bought 5 cars and a yacht... My virtual entertainment is cost effective for the amount of happiness I personally get out of it.

* Live Music... it never ceases to amaze me the talents of other people in SL and what they share with us here...

 

So there it is... I can probably think of a lot more then that.  I have been part of so many things over the years... even got to meet one of my favorite real life authors and one of my favorite real life musicians in Second Life... just SOOO much going on here...

So Thank you Second Life... Thank you Linden Labs... and THANK YOU to all the employees and residents who have made this world a special place for many years 😃

❤️ Evangeline Ling

Edited July 3, 2019 by Evangeline Ling

[Profaitchikenz Haiku]

1 hour ago, Alyona Su said:

There is a lot of angst in Second Life, in-world and here in the forums

It's the heatwave, people get a bit short when they get the *****ly-heat.

ROFL ! I am not allowed to use the adjective p r 1 c k l y  ? By crikey it was worth making a scurrilious post just to learn that little bit of info!

Edited July 3, 2019 by Profaitchikenz Haiku
forum filter made my day!"

[Orwar]

7 minutes ago, Evangeline Ling said:

* ADULT fun... do I need to elaborate?

   Yes ... Please do. 😈

[Selene Gregoire]

I'm still thinking.

[Profaitchikenz Haiku]

42 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

I'm still thinking.

Chuck Berry...

[Selene Gregoire]

24 minutes ago, Profaitchikenz Haiku said:

Chuck Berry...

 

[ThorinII]

I'm just thankful for all the friends and acquaintances I met inworld, for the subs and "slaves" I've had (even for those who left me) -- and what I learned from them. And for everything I learned about myself by being with my folks, plus for the skills I learned inworld.