What made you join Second Life?

[So Whimsy]

I recently had a conversation about it with a friend and it had me go down memory lane.

I knew Second Life was a thing from shortly after it launched but I was heavily invested in IMVU at the time. I remember lots of folks in the forums asking why it's not possible to walk since in IMVU you hopped from poseball to poseball. I was one of the ones who told these people to just go to Second Life if they want to walk, IMVU was fine as it was.

One day though I actually stopped and thought about it. I wanted to walk, too! So I made this account almost fifteen years ago and haven't looked back since. It's probably a silly reason to join but I can be a very silly person at times with loads of wtf moments on my part!

What reason had you join SL?

[Sid Nagy]

End 2006 SL was featured in the regional newspaper that I'm subscribed to.
I found the article interesting and I decided to give it a go.

It was no immediate success. I totally messed things up with my first avatar.
Early 2007 I gave it another go with a new one. In March 2007 Sid was born first as an alt, but the guy became the main one within months.
At that time I was already totally addicted. Hated the maintenance Wednesdays (always during European prime time) with a passion.

15 Years later: I'm no longer addicted, spend more time on the SL forums than inworld, but I still like SL.

 

Edited March 28, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[Garnet Psaltery]

There was an item about Second Life on BBC Radio 4 one morning in 2005*.  It sounded fascinating so I joined right away.

* Other items have been broadcast since then.

[Sukubia Scarmon]

First time was because I tagged along a friend of mine, who got invited to take a look at SL by some guy who had a crush on her. He was pretty in the furry community.
I got bored to tears and uninstalled after a day, heh.
Second time, which is when this avatar was created, I was utterly bored and decided to give it another try. SL already looked a bit better, and this time, I found something to do, made a friend, and now y'all are stuck with me.

[Ajay McDowwll]

I'd seen several articles regarding SL over about a year's time.  Eventually I came across an article about virtual Dublin, and as I'd missed our family trip there due to having a newborn, I figured I could at least walk the streets virtually... so in August of 2007, I signed up

[rasterscan]

Like many others I tried it, too complicated, dumped it, came back a year later more intrigued and tried a bit harder. Without help its a tough start is SL. I know theres lots of help out there but its actually hard to find. Them new avatar start places one finds oneself starting in can be ... off putting ?

[Teagan Tobias]

 

I was looking for something to do and I don’t like almost all video games. My SO and my daughter both were already on SL and had stopped using it, not what they were looking for, but it was suggested that I may like it. They both logged on to help me get started, I’m really really bad at video games and I guess one of the reasons I don’t like them, but they got me started and then left again.

Now over fourteen years later I have hardly missed a day logging in.

 

[Tary Allen]

I saw something online back in 2007, in a blog I think, got curious and signed up.

After the parrot and the torch landed inworld, someone gave me a full folder of clothes (legit stuff, back then there was a lot of stuff mod, copy and trans for newbies) and never looked back. 

I've been a bit away the last couple of years, the pandemic bought me back, still love the place.

[Dafadilia Wayfarer]

My dad was the reason I joined Second Life. He is the one who actually introduced me to it. I was born with a series of genetic issues that cause a lot of chronic pain, health and mobility problems. Being born hoh to eventually go completely deaf, etc. I was for the most part able to live somewhat normally up until 2009 when the health stuff began to catch up with me. I was 32. My dad wanted his shy daughter to have a social life and distractions to keep me busy.

He was right. I loved Second Life. I was able to walk again at least in avatar form and so many other fun things. Everyone was on equal footing for the most part which I loved. At first I learned how to do things all new comers must learn. Back in 2009 we got to choose the place we wished to have our avatar first rez in and I chose the Faery Crossing. I'm still very much part of that community and those I'm close to know that although I've changed avatars. My father passed away of cancer a year after that so Second Life has remained such a special place for me filled with so much meaning all because of him.

Edited March 28, 2022 by Dafadilia Wayfarer

[Lucia Nightfire]

I joined Secondlife with aspirations of making in-world games. This was long before Roblox took off.

Then I found out how severely lacking the script library was.

I also found out how expensive land/regions were.

Neither have changed enough to make in-world game development feasible/profitable.

I occasionally run into Roblox devs/expats that echo the same sentiments today as I have for over 16 years now.

[Ina Fairport]

September 2006 I read about SL in a magazine. I joined and was hopelessly hooked in no time.
There were weeks I was online for at least 10 hours a day.

I still rent a small parcel but I am rarely inworld nowadays.

Edited March 28, 2022 by Ian Mercury

[Silent Mistwalker]

6 hours ago, So Whimsy said:

What reason had you join SL?

Memorial for a friend.

[Ceka Cianci]

Some friends talked me into trying it..

Orientation Island kind of freaked me out with that whole, The Island feel.. Everybody walking around like zombies as voices from somewhere spoke to us.. So I left..

After trying for three days to get me to come back in, they LM'd me to where they were on mainland..After a little bit  of shopping that day and getting on dances, I went premium.. hehehehe

I doesn't take much to freak me out and it doesn't take much for me to go all in.. Just5 have to catch the right wave I guess..

 

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

I blame one of their employees who used to come to our former night club that was just south of San Francisco where LL is located. He was IT for them and one day when he was helping my man fix one of our computer systems he said we needed to check out this new online world he worked for.  The rest is history! I remember an old thread on the board asking a similar question.

Since he was IT he was mostly behind the scenes and once in awhile he log in world, usually to QA something.

[Coffee Pancake]

Joined right at the start. I wandered about, it ran terribly, looked like garbage and the place seemed abandoned. My SO at the time was very into a few online communities and wasn't happy about me joining so I let it drop, no big deal. I don't even remember my avatar name.

Came back when the Linux client was released and signed up again, my SO was of the position that we shouldn't play the same online world, but There.com was way better and more fun, so it was fine if I poked about SL.

I was super naïve.

First night in SL spent playing pot based gambling games, came back the next day and went all the way down the rabbit hole. Mind blown and a voyage of self discovery that changed my whole world.

 

 

[Lindal Kidd]

I was forced to join at gunpoint.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

A guildmate of mine in Everquest 2 told me about it back in 2005. Offered to bring me here and show me around. I wasn't overly enthusiastic until I found out I could completely customize everything about my avatar (character customization was somewhat lacking in EQ2 at the time, and humans looked terrible).

I was hooked almost immediately after that. Made some friends who were builders/scripters, started making my own jewelry and accessories and shoes and furniture, and it's been a major creative outlet for me ever since.

[Myntz Mysterious]

A guildmate I met playing World of Warcraft suggested I try it out. My computer and internet wasn't the greatest at the time so the experience was down right awful. I was stuck in guildmates house waiting for the walls to rez. I gave up after 15 minutes of not seeing anything, and deleted the viewer. Few years later I returned to see if the experience improved for me and here I am how many years later??

First outfit I bought was from Bare Rose Tokyo. 

Edited March 28, 2022 by Myntz Mysterious
typo

[Tary Allen]

27 minutes ago, Myntz Mysterious said:

First outfit I bought was from Bare Rose Tokyo. 

Used to go a lot to BareRose. But I loved Last Call and Pixel Dolls, still have a huge inventory by Ginny Talamasca and Nephilaine Protagonist

[LittleMe Jewell]

Read an article - probably the one about Anshe Chung - and decided to check it out.  It wasn't the financial aspect that pulled me, but just the overall concept of SL.  That was in March of 2007.  Created Lil in July that same year and she took over.

[Silent Mistwalker]

1 hour ago, Kimmi Zehetbauer said:

I blame one of their employees who used to come to our former night club that was just south of San Francisco where LL is located. He was IT for them and one day when he was helping my man fix one of our computer systems he said we needed to check out this new online world he worked for.  The rest is history! I remember an old thread on the board asking a similar question.

Since he was IT he was mostly behind the scenes and once in awhile he log in world, usually to QA something.

That wouldn't have been Vektor Linden would it by any chance?

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

10 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

That wouldn't have been Vektor Linden would it by any chance?

It's not him, but he worked with him and would look for issues in world as sometimes bugs get through!

[Silent Mistwalker]

8 minutes ago, Kimmi Zehetbauer said:

It's not him, but he worked with him and would look for issues in world as sometimes bugs get through!

I knew Vektor from before SL when he worked for AW.

[Istelathis]

Years ago I remember logging into SL, and not really enjoying it.  I was more into MMORPGs back then, and without any objectives to fill I did not see the point in it, as I did not enjoy chatting with others in the aughts and that seemed to be the entire purpose.  Plus I am more into fantasy themes, adventure, a progressive story and earning phat lootz yo!  Many years later, while growing bored with MMOs and looking for a free alternative I stumbled yet again onto SL.  I remember logging in, going to social island and getting familiar with the controls, then going to Faery Crossing's welcome center, repeating their tutorial and then stepping through their anywhere door to their main realms and being incredibly impressed.  I wanted to learn how everything worked, and it was then that I realized how much control people have over SL.  That is what hooked me, had I done more research in the earlier years of SL I probably would have stayed, back then I thought it was just a glorified chat room.

Once I learned that people created their own objects, and scripted the behavior of those objects I couldn't get enough of it.  I wanted to learn how everything worked, and found it fascinating.  I could spend hours just roaming around, looking at what people have created, wondering how it all worked and appreciating their creativity.  It was never the social aspect, or making friends, I just felt awed by the work done by everyone.  

[Bree Giffen]

I joined in 2006 but not because of hype or any news. I was aware of SL years earlier but wasn't interested enough to try it. When an MMORPG I was playing introduced furniture it dawned on me that I could probably make nicer houses in SL and then I joined.