In 2008...

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

I joined at the end of 2008.. did the whole orientation island then got dumped to a random sim that I had no real idea what to expect.. seen lots of strange looking avatars of all shapes and sizes. (oh for anyone curious, you can go into your inventory and look in the library folder and find a lot of the old items from back then, including the torch and pop gun; even some of the old avatars from that time)

a couple weeks later, I got my first dragon avatar. well it was more a suit you wore.. it was a metallic dragon, made of cylinders and had a rocket on the back for flying. chatted with some people, explored a little bit then left sl for a while.

came back a while later. a few months or longer cant remember. then updated to a newer dragon avatar, it looked better, and had a hud that allowed for several actions. even allowed me to carry other people either on my back or by my feet. it roared and breathed fire and its wings flapped.

then.. well.. i took a long hiatus from sl.. for mental issues.. some caused by someone who I was with here in sl. My first Mistress/Owner.. Yes I took sl too serious and personal and internalized everything. to me sl was just an extension of who i am with just a different body.. not a completely separate character as some try to act and behave. it may be a dragon you see, but it is 'me' who you really are chatting with not some character in some story or movie or something else.

due to what happened, I got very depressed and even suicidal over how I was treated by the person I was with at the time. Yes, real abuse and harm and damage, emotional or mental, or psychological can happen even in a virtual world; even if its just pixels, even if its just text. abuse is not just limited to the physical like some like to think. you can be hurt here, you can be abused here. you can be taken advantage of here. there are lots of people here just waiting to do it to someone. anyone that claims it cannot happen is either one who does it to others(trying to deceive that it cant happen), or just been lucky not to have it happen to them or is just a roleplayer/gamer aka someone who does not take it as serious as others might here.

several years later I came back.. and gave it another try.. changed my avatar again a few different times. mostly still a dragon but a few different things too. and have been here ever since.

for the most part I am a dragonness.. have been a dragon nearly 95% of my entire active time here in sl.

currently im a bdsm pet owned by a caring Master. who tries to help me see the good in myself and is not abusive or domineering or disrespectful of limits or boundaries. he is very patient and understanding.. something im not used to because of what I went through before. I still have trust and belief issues because of what I went through years ago here. have a low self esteem and low self value.. more like no value at times.. yeah i know i act different here on the forums.. but that is just me keeping others at distance for safety reasons.

[Tari Landar]

. 

Let me tell you all a story, the story of a girl and her sl journey, complete with a few visuals. (oh, if you're not familiar...super long...not sorry )  

(not a 2008 pic, its actually 2009 I think, but yes I really was reading a story to my bunnies, my chinchilla army, in my fav jammies EVER...I still have them)

Picture it...second life, 2008...

There was a girl, let's call her Tari, she played a game, let's call it, not second life. She had some friends, who also played this not second life game. Sadly, they were due to lose their beloved passtime. So they made the most of what they had while they had it. They played, they laughed, they listened to music, they jammed, they pizza'd, until that fateful day...

The TSO would be lost...the TSO would be lost.

(My first actual profile pic (I didn't say it was good, did I?))

Stranded, with nowhere else to turn, sl became a safe haven, sort of, kind of. Okay, it was good enough. Tari had been here before, but it had never held much appeal, for clearly obvious reasons, okay maybe not so clearly, or obvious, but for reasons nonetheless. The group of TSO refugees gathered together on an island and did the best that they could, with what sl had to offer. Sometimes the best sl had to offer, wasn't really what one might call the best.

(ahh, missing image, how I miss you)

(no effin clue, just random holes in the ground, one of sl's oddities, and no this isn't a texture or shadow thing, as you can see fr my graphics, they sucked...it was literally an sl mishap that happened now and then back then)

 

Still, they pressed forward armed with a bit of knowledge, they forged the way for other wayward stragglers, and boy were they wayward...

(power to the rangers!!, I'm the red one, btw...)

(ain't he perty?, doc, if you see this... uhh.....yeah, not sorry  ) 

(Oh zach, you poor ruthed dear....yep, thta's me standing next to him, lovely outfit, eh?)

 

Then one day, this lolely looking pair showed up on the island. Tari, while trying to contain her laughter long enough to continue breathing, noticed just who this lolely looking couple of stragglers was. Both of them being good friends, but one of them holding a bit more significance for her.

That, is where their sl love story began.....

(my first clothing item I made, jammies, that's hubby and I, he WANTED to model them...crazy man, and yep, gnome's holding my boobs...appropriate)

The rest of that part, my friends, is best left, for another day, another thread, and another topic. Or at least when I get bored and feel like typing a novel again

 

Tari, being the ever inquisitive person that she is, decided she wanted to try and make things. What things, who knew, but things were her goal and her sights were pretty set. Her first creation ever, a 13 prim bench, still sits in her inventory today. It's her most prized possession, becuase it took her TWO WEEKS, yes, really, to make it right. There's something you need to know about Tari, in case you don't already, she's legally blind, so creation is a bit of a chore when you can't tell if things are actually crooked, straight, misaligned or generally as fugly as fugly can be. Her next creation was a changing room for the island, because damnit, we needed a spot to keep our bits hidden from prying eyes. Oh, the naivety of this dear sweet summer child. 

 

She kept creating, she made some stuff, it wasn't all good stuff, but it was stuff, and that's what counted. In between making stuff she went on trips wiht her fellow refugees, now permanent sl residents. They went to amazing places like xcite to work on their bits and get their nipples on straight. They went to castles to play tag with the most awesome set of vampires they had ever, or would ever, meet in sl. They danced, they played music, they explored, they went to events. They met people and gained partners, they held weddings, they commiserated when sl would have super bad days. They wore bling, they shopped, okay, anyone that knows Tari knows she merely went along for the company, they watched movies. They made friends, they went on expeditions. They sat on and clicked EVERYTHING. 

(this was during a hunt, when we have to wear something from EVERY location....sigh...bwaaaaahaaaa...I'm in the purple)

(hubby and I sitting in a tree, high as a kite, laughing so hard neither of us could breath, poking a friend in a cat av with a long stick for no reason other than we could)

(I need to look this place up, but for whatever reason, we sat in the fireplace, this might be Dharma, but I don't remember offhand)

(I'm the devil, this was a gaming place way back when)

 

 

This rather ragged looking group of former refugees made a home for themselves, and even if the years have separated them, the memories will always exist and be cherished by all. Slowly other refugees from their former home came, and some left just as quickly as they joined, but for a very long time, this first group of explorers were the glue that held the lot together, and held a home ready and waiting for any other stragglers too. Shenanigans were always welcome, and most of them, even if they have drifted apart, still partake to this day

This story has no real ending...I merely ran out of room for pictures

To be continued...eventually

 

 

(obvs  ) 

 

I'm gonna leave this one here, it was supposed to be up higher, lmao 

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by Tari Landar
Need to label the pics, lol

[Ardy Lay]

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Orientation_Island

[Galactikat]

Everyone in this thread being all nostalgic and I'm just sitting over here having an existential crisis over the fact I have now been in SL for over 10 years...

[Garnet Psaltery]

31 minutes ago, Galactikat said:

Everyone in this thread being all nostalgic and I'm just sitting over here having an existential crisis over the fact I have now been in SL for over 10 years...

Wait until you get to 15.     I've told my early story several times so I'm not inclined to repeat it, but I will say that the happiest times I knew were on a private region I was introduced to sometime in 2005.  It was called Cosy Home, and was owned by Melina Loonie, a lovely German lady.  It was a laid-back, happy, and carefree group of friends.  Then I got into rp and everything got more serious, as did SL in general.

Edited August 14, 2020 by Garnet Psaltery

[Morena Tully]

Slingo. When it was legal to gamble in SL. The slingo regions would regularly completely freeze up and need to restart when there was a good crowd playing. Not lag, just a complete freeze! Some of the gestures people came up for those places were hillarious.I liked a lot of other games too, but shrooms was my fave. I wish so much regulations hadn't changed.. Literally anyone could open a little "casino" wherever they wanted (and I did that too)

[Rhun DeCuir]

Ah... 2008, when we were young and primmy...

Someone mentioned talking to other AVs with the same last name.  This story is not about Rhun, but my first alt.  One day, I had taken this alt out for a spin, when I met a woman with the same last name.  She saw my alt and yelled "LITTLE BROTHER!!"  She offered friendship, and we're still good friends to this day.  She still calls that alt "My little brother" even though she mostly interacts with my primary.

[Hans Modan]

Great thread, thanks for posting.

I first logged on in late 2005.  I stood around with a cluster of other people. I had no idea what to do or where to go and I seem to recall believing that 1L$ was equivalent to 1US$ making everything massively expensive. SL was therefore pricey, boring and incomprehensible. Oddly enough, I still feel the same today.

(I still don’t understand why my preferred name Godwinson was rejected by SL)

When I returned years later, at the prompting of a friend to do so, I couldn’t remember my log in details nor did my email account seem to be registered. I must have used an email address subsequently abandoned when I changed provider. All I could remember was being mildly peeved I couldn’t be Harold Godwinson or similar).

I had to pick a new name but somewhere out there in the SL void, I have an alt. 

When I tell people now that I don’t approve of alts, technically that’s one big porkie pie.