What has SL become for you?

[Annalise Evergarden]

When you first started SL, you had an idea of what it was going to be for you,  have you strayed from what that idea was or do you still uphold it?

When I joined SL (with the original account), I joined it with the idea of being able to socialize with people my own age since at the time I was home-schooled and had no one to talk to but people I met online. Then I abandoned SL for many years, lost the old account and made my main about ten years ago, Now? I still want to talk to people, but I also want to sit and play dress up in the style I can't afford RL since a lot of it requires knowing how to use a sewing machine.

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

When I joined SL, I expected it to be not much more than a glorified chat program. But then I discovered people can make stuff in it. And make all this stuff, prims, sculpties, mesh, do all kinds of things with scripts, with a relatively low learning curve. SL provides a powerful set of tools to test all kinds of ideas, e.g. to explore the look and feel of board games, without the need for an actual workshop with expensive tools, machines or materials. I also discovered that SL is way more than a glorified chat program, in the sense that friendships and relations in SL can be as real as in real life.

[Evah Baxton]

I had no idea when I started, and I have no idea now.

I am here sometimes, and I love it.

[KathrynLisbeth]

I get to make all sorts of pretty sparkly explodey things!   And.... and...   unlike in RL!    The Police!   They don't even care!   Oh! I get to fly too!   

Edited April 4, 2022 by KathrynLisbeth

[archangel969]

Well, Sl was for me a kind of study project. I wanted to write an article about it. So at first SL was for me something I looked at as an outsider. That is not the case anymore.

As I have told you in other forum topics, I now have an interview project, have bought land that I have opened up. I also follow the great creators that make up SL and make it possible for SL to become a little better every day. I like to sing their praises. The creators, but also the event organisers. A maker recently called me a 'window dresser in the good sense of the word'. I belong to those who don't so much make things as put them in a landscape and create a story around them. But my respect for those whose designs I use for this purpose is enormous!
The most important thing is that by now I just feel at home here.

Edited April 4, 2022 by archangel969

[Bree Giffen]

There was a lot I didn't know about SL. I went in with a plan to create everything I needed from my avatar, clothes, vehicles and housing. I wasn't aware of the aspect of buying and selling or events and activities for residents to enjoy. I learned all of it and I also learned about working a job in SL too.

[Sid Nagy]

When I started I goofed around an awful lot with a group of newbies like me on a beach.
Now I'm mainly on my building platforms. And sometimes explore a bit.

I have a quiet and sober SL to be honest.
But somehow I managed to meet/talk to 5 forum members the last two weeks in world. Totally unexpected experiences.
I've been active on 2 SL forums for years and very seldom met forum members inworld in the past.
And that makes SL so nice. One never knows what happens next, even after all those years.

[Maryanne Solo]

I don't log in as much but still do ofc.
I definitely come in once a week to go dancing & relax.
I learnt how to make system clothes and texture them.
I taught myself basic 3d mesh.
I fine tuned my basic 3d mesh skills in RL, (for SL), then transferred them entirely to RL.
Now 3d mesh forms the basis of my little design company.
I can now see a clear future path of creativity, development, production & self employment.
I hope to finally quit my day job completely this year.
"Yes yes but we need you to stay! you re-wrote the book"
                           🙄 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Maryanne Solo

[Rolig Loon]

I came looking for ways that SL might be useful for education but it didn't take me long to figure out that (1) the educational possibilities are pretty limited and (2) it's much more fun to create things here.  I'm not a gifted artist, so my modeling/texturing is uninspired.  I can make things and I can create textures in Photoshop, but they are not world class. On the other hand, I can handle math and logic well enough to be a fairly fast and creative scripter. So that's what I became.  After about 6 years in SL, I also decided that I was getting tired of renting space to work in, so I bought a region where a handful of good friends and I could live, and I could have loads of room to make things and to landscape. 

[Mollymews]

i came across SL when exploring on the internet for new things to do

i have never been really loyal to any internet game/world/site/thing. Am pretty much a dilettante. Once I work out how a thing works then on to the next shiny

SL has been different for me tho. While I go off and do other things, I always end up coming back to SL. Is just a feeling that of all the places I have been, SL is my internet home place

[Emma Krokus]

I actually heard about SL well before I ever joined, but it was my brother - who lives in a different country - who raved about it and told me I must join. This was late 2008. I reluctantly registered and spent some time in a freebie shop, with him trying to introduce things to me (he had only been inworld for 2 weeks himself). He took me car racing - I am an awful driver (still to this day), but it was great to spend time with him. And that was my reason for logging in initially...

After about a week, I logged in all by myself and found Chakryn Forest (when it was bigger still with that large tree house) and to this day I remember walking up the hill, seeing the suspended glass cylinders hanging from the trees... I was just blown away by what I saw and being able to move around inside this wonderful environment.

A very kind sim owner gave me a small place to live which I decorated with freebies and I plopped my very first texture onto a prim and put a rotate script into it. I was so proud!

And right there, my real SL started... I wanted to learn more... and started taking objects apart (thank you to everyone who makes things Modify - you taught me so much!).  I still love fiddling with things (and sometimes other people enjoy what I make) and I love that there is always more to learn.

And I met so many lovely people on my journey - and that's become another important part of my SL. Oh and dancing!

Edited April 4, 2022 by Emma Krokus

[Rabid Cheetah]

I haven't strayed from what I expected of the game, based on the original marketing and hype from folks who played both The Sims Online and Second Life.  It was great for several years, but then the game strayed from what it used to be.  So, I've strayed to other games.  At this point I've cancelled my Second Life membership, rarely check the forums any more, and actually log in to the game even less.

I've come full circle, in that I now mostly play a city builder game.  I went from Sim City back in 1999 as my first game purchase from a gift certificate I'd received, to The Sims, to The Sims Online, To Second Life, to Cities:  Skylines.  This city building game has allowed me to meet as many people as I did in the last five years exploring the Mainland (which is to say, none), no one treats me poorly (due to no interaction with others whatsoever), and I have the equivalent of close to five thousand SL regions worth of land to build on as I please, with no covenant or monthly charges to worry about.

I'll still check the forums from time to time, and log in to the game if I'm feeling nostalgic, but my Second Life days (and certainly paying through the nose for it) are behind me.

[Mowri Panache]

Boobs! It’s all about the pixelated ava*****! (can i even say that here)? 

Im just kidding of course. For me it’s the building and scripting aspects. I love seeing what others come up with and tinkering with things my self as well. 

[PermaRuthed]

A happy place.

[LadyShad0wz Greymoon]

I came for the concept of doing more then just para role playing. When I was role playing a vampyr who lived as an outcast because I couldn't and wouldn't conform to their rules, or get into the little petty squabbles, I then became a DJ, started up a shop and it worked for a few years. Then I reconnected with my RL partner and I left it all for a few months, came back and everything around me changed that I just opted to stay to myself. I no longer RP as a Vamp, Don't DJ anymore, and build when the building bug strikes me, but other than that I rarely come in unless RL partner wants to hop in with me and go on a shopping spree and take photos of us together. 

[cunomar]

My better half works nights and sleeps days , I work from home (if you can call answering the phone and making decisions work , when nothing goes wrong i have nothing to do) . Evenings i'd turn the TV on , mute it , then just trawl the web looking for a subject to investigate be it a news story or perpetual motion .

I came to SL seeking nothing to answer the question what is it basically . Took a while but i eventually found a bunch of people just having fun often exploring themselves free of rl restraint . And to look more deeply many trying to resolve or escape hidden rl issues .

This i found interesting it offered potential to do something useful and good instead of wasting time finding answers to questions nobody asked and i didn't need to know .

Now my SL is just like the TV i turn on mute and don't watch , and like the TV very occasionally something will grab my attention like say a door in a Harry Potter movie and i will spend the evening building it in my mind with real wood and chisels etc .

I login out of habit i suppose .

[Sannah Evergarden]

When I arrived it was basically a safe space for my horny. Years later it's a place for my creativity and fantasy. 

As someone said earlier, I too really did treat SL as a glorified (NSFW) chatroom, but with time it evolved into something unique and irreplaceable to me. I'm not on a super lot anyone, but when I am I always find something new and amazing. It's one of the things that makes me very happy, and that's all that matters.

[MalibuBratz]

I've always loved creating characters and i've been a huge Sims fan since forever so the game always seemed interesting to me. I mostly started playing because of the character creation and being able to talk to people and I'd say it hasnt really changed since then.