I don't have a lot of real friends, but I do have a lot of imaginary ones.

[CaithLynnSayes]

So, I think i'm going to address the elephant in the room here. OP, Unless i'm misunderstanding things, i don't think what you are doing is completely healthy, in a sense. Maybe i'm just too much down to earth, but i still think it's pretty important to have RL friends and interact with them as much as you can. I don't know your RL situation and its none of my business so i won't judge you, nor will i ever do. All i'm saying is that this could be a little dangerous.

 

As for my alts. They are crash test dummies and i have a very abusive relationship with them  

[MoiraKathleen]

I have a couple of other accounts - initially created for land group and testing purposes.  I don't think of them as friends, but more as sisters.  I tried to make each one somewhat unique and "not me", but it turned out that I am not very good at portraying my self as someone not related to my real self.  Generally they are not in-world much except for sending me their premium stipend or for trying out different linden homes.  

[Rat Luv]

18 minutes ago, Storrm Firecaster said:

 

On the back of the photo it says: from l-r Marigold, Janelle, Storrm, Klessy. One of the rare occasions I was feeling sociable I guess, and we were people watching at one of the adult safe hubs.

 

Is that 'our' Marigold? 🙂

[Marigold Devin]

11 minutes ago, CaithLynnSayes said:

So, I think i'm going to address the elephant in the room here. OP, Unless i'm misunderstanding things, i don't think what you are doing is completely healthy, in a sense. Maybe i'm just too much down to earth, but i still think it's pretty important to have RL friends and interact with them as much as you can. I don't know your RL situation and its none of my business so i won't judge you, nor will i ever do. All i'm saying is that this could be a little dangerous.

 

As for my alts. They are crash test dummies and i have a very abusive relationship with them  

I read the OP differently, but I may be misunderstanding. I read the OP's alts to be like imaginary friends in the same way that children use dolls as imaginary friends sometimes/often when playing with them. 

My alts are like dolls - but not like friends. I was never friends with my dolls, but I did sometimes like their pretty clothes. 

Maybe the OP can enlighten further.

[CaithLynnSayes]

8 minutes ago, Marigold Devin said:

I read the OP differently, but I may be misunderstanding. I read the OP's alts to be like imaginary friends in the same way that children use dolls as imaginary friends sometimes/often when playing with them. 

My alts are like dolls - but not like friends. I was never friends with my dolls, but I did sometimes like their pretty clothes. 

Maybe the OP can enlighten further.

That's why i said i could be reading it wrong as well  

[Krystina Ferraris]

5 hours ago, Rat Luv said:

Does anyone remember...years ago, somebody discovered a forum (nothing to do with SL) and there were hundreds of thousands of messages, and it was all one user...she didn't even use alts, there were threads and threads (like this place) and it was just her posting to herself...it became one of these notorious creepy internet stories, but I can't remember what the forum was called and nothing's coming up on Google 🤔

John Titor the time traveller? 🤣

[LittleMe Jewell]

4 hours ago, Marigold Devin said:

And we're all kind of friends/acquaintances here on the forums. 

I do have many acquaintances here in SL, inworld and here in the forums.  More acquaintances here than in RL even.  

Even if some of those acquaintances on my my Friends list, I wouldn't really say they fit what I've always thought of as the definition of "friend".   Granted, that is nobody's fault except mine.

[Krystina Ferraris]

19 hours ago, Gopi Passiflora said:

My imaginary friends are my alternate accounts.

Is there anyone else who considers their alts their "friends"?

I’m no psychologist but I’d have a few alarm bells going off if I were you.

[Marigold Devin]

8 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

I do have many acquaintances here in SL, inworld and here in the forums.  More acquaintances here than in RL even.  

Even if some of those acquaintances on my my Friends list, I wouldn't really say they fit what I've always thought of as the definition of "friend".   Granted, that is nobody's fault except mine.

If the definition of a friend is someone I can call at 3am when I am fearing the bogey man or if I need help because my washing machine has flooded the kitchen, then I have absolutely no friends either.  

[Krystina Ferraris]

5 hours ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

Horror?

I keep this "Skrunkled Avatar" in my outfits. She looks more like the RL me than any other avatar I've fashioned.

Well Maddy, I love those 3-eyed bunny slippers 🐇

[Persephone Emerald]

18 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Like Persephone, perhaps, I couldn't say my alts are my "friends," exactly, but they do have personalities.

Laskya is essentially me, and in fact I used her account in-world and on the forums for a while as, essentially, a stand in for "Scylla." But it's my perception, probably undetectable by anyone else, that she represents a slightly different side of me.

Richard Parkes, my other alt, is . . . well, a few older posters here will remember him as an obnoxious and slightly idiotic (and hopefully reasonably funny) parody of a Gorean master. He never really had an in-world existence: he was solely for producing funny threads here (although I have occasionally used him as an "extra" in photos). For me, he'll always be a jerk.

I do have some other characters -- separate avatars, but on this account -- that I've used for photos, and who have developed a personality of their own, and occasionally reappear in photos as "themselves." There's Bree, the brave 15 year-old bouncing back from trauma and embracing her sexuality.

 

And there's Gabby, my Millennial university student.

 

These characters have a kind of reality for me -- they are full-developed "people" who live in my head so . . . not "friends" but certainly personalities.

For a photo I did for my most recent exhibition, I featured Gabby as the victim of date r*pe. I deliberately used her for this because I thought the photo would be less effective if I used a throw-away avatar. I wanted to "feel" the violation. I wanted it to feel like it hurt me, what I was depicting happening to her.

And, you know, it did.

 

^ I love this post. ❤️ 

[Persephone Emerald]

18 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

I have an alt who graciously tests scripts for me and checks to be sure that I've put the right permissions on them, but she's not very sociable. I have another who has been in hiding for several years since I offended her by forgetting her password.  And another who is a cat.  She's quite friendly but -- you know cats -- sort of aloof.  They are all nice, but not one of them has ever said a word to me, so I can't say that I'd think of them as friends.

Alycia and I have had some trying times with each other, but I think she knows that I do sincerely care about her and wish her the best in her virtual life. I've tried to make up for giving her such a horrible creation story by giving her a lovely new look and all the clothes and things she's really wants. I tried giving her a cat once, but she got bored with it. When I had a big house, I gave her her own bedroom. I think she wants one again now, so I'm thinking of giving her a small skybox apartment of her own. Once she has a place of her own, she never uses it though. She says she doesn't actually sleep like we First Life people do, but rather just fades out to blackness and then reappears again later with a vague dream-like memory of what I've been doing and thinking. This is how we communicate with each other most of the time, though sometimes we also send IMs to each other, like Post-It Notes left on the refrigerator door between housemates with opposite schedules.

Evan is very agreeable and actually rather boring, truth be told. But he's an all around good guy who actually likes helping people, even if he doesn't advertise that fact. We don't talk much, but I do give him money for shopping and updating his look from time to time. 

Tasha is a darling who never asks for anything and is always sweet and cheerful. She loves being a wolf, but also enjoys dressing up as a human now and then, to see what it's like to be one of us. 

[Persephone Emerald]

18 hours ago, Cinnamon Mistwood said:

My alts are all different and I'll log in with whichever one I'm feeling each day 

Cinnamon is my main.  She is all real life me.  She has friends and socializes.  She's open and honest and comfortable being herself.  When I'm not feeling open to socialize or I'm anxious, I use:

Zerrine Is  mischievous and outgoing.   She pulls pranks and teases people for fun.  She is the most likely of my alts to pick up strangers. 

Cora is quiet, shy, pretty innocent and a bit naive.  She won't be found in adult areas.  She explores alone mostly in fantasy areas.  She rarely talks to anyone.

Polly is an intellectual.  She goes in when Cinn doesn't want to be bothered with IMs from friends.  She goes to science lectures mostly.

Mike is a male alt I made.  I don't use him for anything.  Poor guy rarely sees the light of day.  I am so uncomfortable driving his avatar,  that i just log him in to see if I can dress up a guy and make it look passable. 

They aren't friends, but different parts of the whole.

^ I love this post too. This is basically how I see my alts too, they are sides of myself that I use when I don't want to be bothered or when I'm feeling not quite like my "normal", regular self.

[Rat Luv]

2 hours ago, Krystina Ferraris said:

John Titor the time traveller? 🤣

I had to look that up  I'm sure it wasn't him, but his story's funny!

[kali Wylder]

21 hours ago, Cinnamon Mistwood said:

My alts are all different and I'll log in with whichever one I'm feeling each day 

Cinnamon is my main.  She is all real life me.  She has friends and socializes.  She's open and honest and comfortable being herself.  When I'm not feeling open to socialize or I'm anxious, I use:

Zerrine Is  mischievous and outgoing.   She pulls pranks and teases people for fun.  She is the most likely of my alts to pick up strangers. 

Cora is quiet, shy, pretty innocent and a bit naive.  She won't be found in adult areas.  She explores alone mostly in fantasy areas.  She rarely talks to anyone.

Polly is an intellectual.  She goes in when Cinn doesn't want to be bothered with IMs from friends.  She goes to science lectures mostly.

Mike is a male alt I made.  I don't use him for anything.  Poor guy rarely sees the light of day.  I am so uncomfortable driving his avatar,  that i just log him in to see if I can dress up a guy and make it look passable. 

They aren't friends, but different parts of the whole.

That's sort of like how I see my alts

Kali started out as my first alt but she's been my main since 2012 - She's me like Cinnamon is you.

Kattatonia was my first av and she retired in 2012.  She very rarely signs in, but I did bring her in and updated her look when mesh heads came out. Then I brought her back to play tiny Empires but I don't really play TE any more.

The rest of my alts do not socialize.  They were created either to re-experience being a new user or to play TE.  Some of them had brief times when I used them to do something different. I  had a tumbleweed that I used to go to clubs to listen to music in the background while I surfed the internet. It didn't socialize just hovered in the grass. And I had one that was my sex alt.  She didn't want relationships just sex.  I haven't used her in quite a while.  I rarely get the whim for spontaneous anonymous sex. One I've been using to try out different Belli homes.  I'm taking her of premium when her year runs out.

Over the years some of the alts developed personalities.  The Sex alt.  The music alt.  One was kind of goth.  Some would make different fashion choices. Some were male. One went to see what Gor was.

Edited January 15, 2022 by kali Wylder

[Cinnamon Mistwood]

27 minutes ago, kali Wylder said:

That's sort of like how I see my alts

Kali started out as my first alt but she's been my main since 2012 - She

Kattatonia was my first av and she retired in 2012.  She very rarely signs in, but I did bring her in and updated her look when mesh heads came out. Then I brought her back to play tiny Empires but I don't really play TE any more.

The rest of my alts do not socialize.  They were created either to re-experience being a new user or to play TE.  Some of them had brief times when I used them to do something different. I  had a tumbleweed that I used to go to clubs to listen to music in the background while I surfed the internet. It didn't socialize just hovered in the grass. And I had one that was my sex alt.  She didn't want relationships just sex.  I haven't used her in quite a while.  I rarely get the whim for spontaneous anonymous sex. One I've been using to try out different Belli homes.  I'm taking her of premium when her year runs out.

Over the years some of the alts developed personalities.  The Sex alt.  The music alt.  One was kind of goth.  Some would make different fashion choices. Some were male. One went to see what Gor was.

I, of course, knew Kattatonia and even saw you at Junkyard Blues a few times.  I sometimes miss the Ladies Who Lunch days and wonder where everyone ended up.  You've been Kali for a long time. ❤️

[Scylla Rhiadra]

2 hours ago, kali Wylder said:

Kattatonia was my first av and she retired in 2012.

2 hours ago, Cinnamon Mistwood said:

I, of course, knew Kattatonia and even saw you at Junkyard Blues a few times.

For a fairly long time, Kali, my brain had to carry out a quick mental translation "Kali = Katt" every time I thought of you. I imagine that when I was posting here on Laskya's account in 2013/14, others were doing the same with me.

I get, though, that Kali represents a kind of shift in how you think of yourself here. Part of me misses Katt a bit . . . but Kali is a more-than-adequate replacement. 🙂

[Orfeu Miles]

2 hours ago, Cinnamon Mistwood said:

 I sometimes miss the Ladies Who Lunch days and wonder where everyone ended up. 

❤️

Wow that phrase brought a bunch of memories flooding back

[Kalegthepsionicist]

seriously ? there are lot much bettersingle player game thanSL , if you play with your ownself.

 

Edited January 15, 2022 by Kalegthepsionicist

[Maitimo]

My alt is basically me, and even looks like me (or rather, more like how I looked a couple of years ago when he was made). He hasn't turned quite as feminine as I have (though we do use the same body, head and shape, just different skins and different clothing style).  I use this alt mostly when I want to be left alone and undisturbed. 

[Gopi Passiflora]

19 hours ago, CaithLynnSayes said:

So, I think i'm going to address the elephant in the room here. OP, Unless i'm misunderstanding things, i don't think what you are doing is completely healthy, in a sense. Maybe i'm just too much down to earth, but i still think it's pretty important to have RL friends and interact with them as much as you can. I don't know your RL situation and its none of my business so i won't judge you, nor will i ever do. All i'm saying is that this could be a little dangerous.

 

As for my alts. They are crash test dummies and i have a very abusive relationship with them  

Thanks for this viewpoint I guess. I guess I should pursue real relationships as they are better and perhaps healthier. I'll try to do that more often if I can.

But I think I have trouble getting RL friends because I have trust and commitment issues. I'm also somewhat self-absorbed. I dunno. It's hard for me to really connect with real people.

[Ren Toxx]

I could have a goodly number of imaginary friends if I accepted every blind friendship request come my way—some of them on the predictable, overused, silly tactic of “if you don’t accept, you’re unfriendly”. I wouldn’t know them, they wouldn’t know me, though a fair amount of them have more or less explicitly (usually less, owing to unshakeable disingenuity) said they’d gladly know me biblically.

True friends, tho... that’s another story. Sometimes it feels like not many are into that.

Edited January 15, 2022 by Ren Toxx

[Ceka Cianci]

I look at my alts and my main all the same.. Some parts of me are really organized inventory, where this one is a slob when it comes to inventory.. I've been working on it though and cleaning it up a lot. hehehehe

 

[Silent Mistwalker]

5 hours ago, Kalegthepsionicist said:

seriously ? there are lot much bettersingle player game thanSL , if you play with your ownself.

 

SL is not a single player game. Seriously. Words have meaning.

[kali Wylder]

14 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

For a fairly long time, Kali, my brain had to carry out a quick mental translation "Kali = Katt" every time I thought of you. I imagine that when I was posting here on Laskya's account in 2013/14, others were doing the same with me.

I get, though, that Kali represents a kind of shift in how you think of yourself here. Part of me misses Katt a bit . . . but Kali is a more-than-adequate replacement. 🙂

Sometimes I miss Katt too, but really she and Kali are the same person, just in different years, but Katt was wounded and I didn't like feeling that way.  Kali is a lot stronger, and a lot looser.  Anyway, when being Katt meant feeling bereft and heartbroken, I had to let her go.  Sometime I think about putting on the rose colored glasses and letting my hair go white again but still as Kali (but I'd have try and replace so many different auburn hairs!). I guess I never really took the rose colored glasses off mentally, just stopped wearing them.

16 hours ago, Cinnamon Mistwood said:

I, of course, knew Kattatonia and even saw you at Junkyard Blues a few times.  I sometimes miss the Ladies Who Lunch days and wonder where everyone ended up.  You've been Kali for a long time. ❤️

The LWL was a wonderful slice in time, a treasure memory for me as well.