Multiple alts - why and what do YOU do with them?

[Extrude Ragu]

I made an alt one day just to fly around the grid in this hawk avatar I found playing freebird once. My main account was sitting in a meeting.

[Finite]

I have 5. 2 are orphans I (borrowed) from an old roommate of mine. He still plays now and then but I like to use them as extras in pictures or just as extra cameramen. I made my own male alt just last year because every now and then I see a male item I really like and now I have an avie to send them to. My original avatar is a female who I created in like 2007. I only played for a year or so and quit then forgot the password. I had already created Finite by the time I was able to get the log in details for my original avie. So now I have 3 + 2 orphans. And we can do things like this together when I'm bored.

I know I shared this before on another similar thread.

Edited July 9, 2022 by Finite

[PheebyKatz]

I see nothing wrong with hanging out with your own alts. I partnered mine. She stays at my place sometimes when it's too late for her to fly home by herself, and we have popcorn and watch old movies all night. I've never had a more faithful companion. I let her wear my clothes and everything.

And hanging out with your alts is, in fact, a LOT more fun than hanging out at some club where everyone's lost in IMs to the point that they don't notice when the DJ has gone home.

Edited July 9, 2022 by PheebyKatz

[Henri Beauchamp]

Like many developers/contents creators, I only use alts to test stuff (viewer code, LSL scripts, etc)...

I do not use alts to role-play different story-lines; instead I use the same avatar, but in different forms/aspects, the reason being that I won't be able to share inventories between different alts (even if each one is dedicated to a story line, they most often need a range of identical equipments). Perhaps would this (inventory sharing) be a future feature LL could bring to SL ?...

However, had I known I would become a viewer developer and contents creator/scripter in SL when I joined, I would have created a specific alt for that purpose (i.e. an alt I can use only to do ”business” and development in SL), instead of using the same avatar to develop/do business and role-play... The reason is that all the kinky adult stuff I role-play is strictly private while the rest is public. So my advice to newbies is: if you come to SL to do various things (and especially things that must be kept private when others are public), then do create two alts and dedicate one to each task.

Edited July 9, 2022 by Henri Beauchamp

[LittleMe Jewell]

Of all of my accounts, only 3 have ever interacted with anyone inworld. 
1) My original account, before Lil was created and for a few months afterwards.  It only took a month or two for Lil to fully take over.
2) LittleMe
3) A male alt that a friend dared me to create and then anonymously interact with him to see whether or not he could tell that it was not a male behind the avatar.  It came about from a discussion we had where he claimed he could always tell the "fake men and fake women".
4) The one noted in #2 below, but that one only interacted with the person I created the alt for.

None of my other accounts ever interacted with anyone besides myself, and most have only ever logged in a few times.

I just remembered a few other reasons some of my alts were created:
1) Just to get a particularly cute name, back when last names were the norm and were free.  I have an alt named Slippen Fall - things like that.
2)  I created one that had the last name of the person I was dating at the time - it was for a family RP thing
3) While breeding KittyCats, sometimes there are special births where every kitten born during a time period will have a special costume - and those special babies are transferable. The special babies are typically limited to 'one per avatar'.  For one particular special birth, I created some new alts to give cat pairs to, in order to get more of the special babies.

Edited July 9, 2022 by LittleMe Jewell

[Lindal Kidd]

I no longer know how many alts I have, although I am almost certain it's less than ten. Here's how that happened...

I created a male alt to see what it would be like to be male. As it turned out, I hated it and only logged him in maybe four or five times. But I never deleted him either. (How do you guys LIVE with yourselves? And each other? And how do so many of you actually turn out to be so nice? We don't give men enough credit.)

At this point, I decided that since I can't remember more than three things at a time, I should create a document to store my SL account(s)...names, emails, secret answers, and passwords. Good idea, Lin!

My next alt was created for privacy, and as Henri says, to explore some kinky areas that I didn't want people that I knew as Lindal to know about. But that didn't last for very long. Getting her all dressed, equipped, and pretty, or even just remembering to use HER and not ME for this session, or taking the time to switch accounts when I wanted to switch gears, was just too much trouble. I decided to do everything I did in SL as Lindal, and let everyone else lump it or leave it.  I did go back on this policy once, though, when I created an alt to explore the world of RLV. Again, she wasn't used for very long, and for the same reasons as the first time.

When I started my first rental operation, I needed an alt to be a co-owner of the land group and to act as the group bank account. So the long-suffering Lynnette Weston was born. Lynnette is the only alt I use on a regular basis. Even though I'm no longer a landlady, she helps out weekly in my Avatar Safety class by demonstrating the concept of alts.

I've made several other alts from time to time, to serve as a product tester or a pose helper. Most often, they were created to explore one of LL's changes to the new user experience. And here is where I lost track. The last few of these I've made, I forgot to register their information on my trusty "SL Accounts" document. And of course, I promptly forgot their names and passwords.

They're still out there, probably wandering the streets begging for $L.

Edited July 9, 2022 by Lindal Kidd

[Annalise Evergarden]

• To be male every now and then so I can shop in peace
• Hide from people I don't want to talk to.
• And finally, roleplaying.

I have three alts, this account that I'm on for the forums is actually one of my alts.  My OG is an almost 11 year old account

[Sid Nagy]

One alt is my bank account and does testing on my builds if needed.
One sells a few textures on the marketplace. Comes online about twice a year to give the accumulated L$ to the bank alt.
And that's it.
I have three more alts, but I never ever use them. Don't even know anymore why I created them.

Edited July 9, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[Persephone Emerald]

Alt # 1 - Tasha - started because my RL boyfriend said I was in SL too much, so I wanted to be able to come into SL without having to answer to anyone about it. Later I used her as a roleplay character, a servant for my Egyptian priestess character. As that character she was also a kind of werewolf who could choose to change into a feral wolf form. I also used her as a roleplay character domesticated wolf in a Game of Thrones RP sim. For a while I thought of her as a shape-shifter, then decided to just keep her as an homage to my wolf-dog who passed. Now she is either a white/cream wolf-dog or a pale blonde woman with wolf ears and a tail.

Alt # 2 - Alyica - started as a character in a haunted house. I wrote a story about her in the form of a diary she was writing. After I took down the haunted house and that land was sold, I started to view her as a kind of alter ego with a personality of her own. She's been alot of fun to play, giving me a creative outlet and a way to act "out of character" with people who know both regular me and her. 

Alt # 3 - Evan - started as a female furry rabbit because I was curious about the furry subculture, yet I felt too shy and awkward to try to infiltrate it. I imagined the RL person behind this character as a male. After I needed a male avatar to model male clothing I was making, I decided to delete all his female skin and clothing and just keep him male. He was stuck with the name of DaniDarko Resident though. After playing him as Evan in InWolrdz, I decided I wanted that to be his SL name too, so I later paid to change his name. He has been my way to understand that even though it's harder to outfit a male avatar in SL, it's still something I can do pretty easily and cheaply. He's also shown me how playing in InWorldz and Second Life as a male is a little different than playing as a female. 

Disposable alts - I've created alts when Premium was discounted just to collect the bonus signup fee and weekly stipend. I deleted those after a year or so and didn't spend any money on them. 

Having multiple avatars helps me check animations and permissions, gives me a way to spread out my linden dollars so I won't accidentally spend too many at once, gives me alternative avatars to use when I don't feel like talking to people, and gave me a way to spy on a SL boyfriend and find out he was hanging out with another woman. 

[Persephone Emerald]

16 hours ago, Space Zehetbauer said:

A few of you have said to acquire more than one Linden home.

I am curious as to why this would be desirable.

I have enough problems with one Linden home and all the furniture and cleaning and polishing all day...

phew

I've used my alts for Premium stacking (good term btw) when I had mainland. Now I have 2 Premium accounts, each with her own home. I like having the creative outlet for decorating in different styles. I also felt oddly guilty for not letting Alycia have a room that expressed her gothic sensibilities for so many years. Having 2 bedrooms in each house, in theory, lets each of my 4 accounts have a bedroom of their own. In practice Evan and Tasha don't use theirs, so I'm letting a friend use Evan's, while Tasha's is mostly a creative outlet for decorating it. I like having houses in different locations too, mostly for variety, but also so I can use either as a home base if I want.

[Space Zehetbauer]

1 hour ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Alt # 1 - Tasha - started because my RL boyfriend said I was in SL too much, so I wanted to be able to come into SL without having to answer to anyone about it. Later I used her as a roleplay character, a servant for my Egyptian priestess character. As that character she was also a kind of werewolf who could choose to change into a feral wolf form. I also used her as a roleplay character domesticated wolf in a Game of Thrones RP sim. For a while I thought of her as a shape-shifter, then decided to just keep her as an homage to my wolf-dog who passed. Now she is either a white/cream wolf-dog or a pale blonde woman with wolf ears and a tail.

Alt # 2 - Alyica - started as a character in a haunted house. I wrote a story about her in the form of a diary she was writing. After I took down the haunted house and that land was sold, I started to view her as a kind of alter ego with a personality of her own. She's been alot of fun to play, giving me a creative outlet and a way to act "out of character" with people who know both regular me and her. 

Alt # 3 - Evan - started as a female furry rabbit because I was curious about the furry subculture, yet I felt too shy and awkward to try to infiltrate it. I imagined the RL person behind this character as a male. After I needed a male avatar to model male clothing I was making, I decided to delete all his female skin and clothing and just keep him male. He was stuck with the name of DaniDarko Resident though. After playing him as Evan in InWolrdz, I decided I wanted that to be his SL name too, so I later paid to change his name. He has been my way to understand that even though it's harder to outfit a male avatar in SL, it's still something I can do pretty easily and cheaply. He's also shown me how playing in InWorldz and Second Life as a male is a little different than playing as a female. 

Disposable alts - I've created alts when Premium was discounted just to collect the bonus signup fee and weekly stipend. I deleted those after a year or so and didn't spend any money on them. 

Having multiple avatars helps me check animations and permissions, gives me a way to spread out my linden dollars so I won't accidentally spend too many at once, gives me alternative avatars to use when I don't feel like talking to people, and gave me a way to spy on a SL boyfriend and find out he was hanging out with another woman. 

Thanks for all that - wow! Very interesting.

Your last paragraph was not so wow, however, since it involved finding out your bf was cheating on you. That is not fun. (although perhaps ultimately liberating)

Its funny reading about so many of you having "Disposable alts". I have this vision of a large warehouse full of alts turned off waiting for that once a year/once a lifetime awakening by their controller.

🙂

[SorachaNicEoghain]

1 hour ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Alt # 1 - Tasha - started because my RL boyfriend said I was in SL too much, so I wanted to be able to come into SL without having to answer to anyone about it. Later I used her as a roleplay character, a servant for my Egyptian priestess character. As that character she was also a kind of werewolf who could choose to change into a feral wolf form. I also used her as a roleplay character domesticated wolf in a Game of Thrones RP sim. For a while I thought of her as a shape-shifter, then decided to just keep her as an homage to my wolf-dog who passed. Now she is either a white/cream wolf-dog or a pale blonde woman with wolf ears and a tail.

Alt # 2 - Alyica - started as a character in a haunted house. I wrote a story about her in the form of a diary she was writing. After I took down the haunted house and that land was sold, I started to view her as a kind of alter ego with a personality of her own. She's been alot of fun to play, giving me a creative outlet and a way to act "out of character" with people who know both regular me and her. 

Alt # 3 - Evan - started as a female furry rabbit because I was curious about the furry subculture, yet I felt too shy and awkward to try to infiltrate it. I imagined the RL person behind this character as a male. After I needed a male avatar to model male clothing I was making, I decided to delete all his female skin and clothing and just keep him male. He was stuck with the name of DaniDarko Resident though. After playing him as Evan in InWolrdz, I decided I wanted that to be his SL name too, so I later paid to change his name. He has been my way to understand that even though it's harder to outfit a male avatar in SL, it's still something I can do pretty easily and cheaply. He's also shown me how playing in InWorldz and Second Life as a male is a little different than playing as a female. 

Disposable alts - I've created alts when Premium was discounted just to collect the bonus signup fee and weekly stipend. I deleted those after a year or so and didn't spend any money on them. 

Having multiple avatars helps me check animations and permissions, gives me a way to spread out my linden dollars so I won't accidentally spend too many at once, gives me alternative avatars to use when I don't feel like talking to people, and gave me a way to spy on a SL boyfriend and find out he was hanging out with another woman. 

In your opinion, how is playing as a male different from female? 

[Lysistrata Szapira]

This is my main and original account.

I have one male alt that I created just to see what it was like to create a male avi in world, and I tried to use freebies and cheapies to kit him out.

I have 4 other girl alts who were intended to be freebie only girls, but the newest one wound up becoming premium so I could score a stilt on pier that I wanted desperately, but I wanted to keep my waterfront Vic too on my main.    Stilt girl is now a bank account of sorts.  The other 3 rarely come out to play unless it's Christmas advent time. I try to put each of them in a different body so I can experience what it is to shop for the bodies I don't have on my main.  The bodies were full price, but everything else has been free/cheap.  The guy and the other girls don't socialize with anyone. 

 

 

 

 

[Persephone Emerald]

9 minutes ago, Space Zehetbauer said:

Its funny reading about so many of you having "Disposable alts". I have this vision of a large warehouse full of alts turned off waiting for that once a year/once a lifetime awakening by their controller.

🙂

Reminds me of the cold storage in Westworld.

 

[SorachaNicEoghain]

1 minute ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Reminds me of the cold storage in Westworld.

 

@Space ZehetbauerI got the exact same mental image 😂

[Lysistrata Szapira]

2 minutes ago, SorachaNicEoghain said:

In your opinion, how is playing as a male different from female? 

In short, the lesson I've learned is that it sucks trying to dress a male in SL on the cheap while still looking professional.  Most of the weekend sales are nothing but sweatpants (with built-in bulges), t-shirts, shorts, and things specifically created for gay men.  It's difficult enough finding men's clothing in SL at full price. Forget bargains. 

[Space Zehetbauer]

Persephone wrote... "Reminds me of the cold storage in Westworld. "

YES! What an image!

Soracha wrote..."I got the exact same mental image"

YES!

😀

 

[Space Zehetbauer]

2 minutes ago, Lysistrata Szapira said:

In short, the lesson I've learned is that it sucks trying to dress a male in SL on the cheap while still looking professional.  Most of the weekend sales are nothing but sweatpants (with built-in bulges), t-shirts, shorts, and things specifically created for gay men.  It's difficult enough finding men's clothing in SL at full price. Forget bargains. 

Clothes - a disaster.

But...

I just couldnt find an AO that didnt make the male look like an ape!

I am very happy with my female AO in SL but trying to find one for a male omfg! killed me!

 

[Persephone Emerald]

32 minutes ago, SorachaNicEoghain said:

In your opinion, how is playing as a male different from female? 

I got hit on a little by women as a male, but it wasn't as obnoxious as the way some guys hit on female avatars. Mostly it was a difference in how I felt. I felt like I didn't have to be helpful if I didn't want to, but I ended up being helpful anyway because that's just me. I felt more confident in a way, but that difference was transitory too.

If I've been helping a guy in SL and he then starts to act like he's feeling romantically attracted to me, I may come in as Evan to stop that. I might also come in as some non-human avatar. I feel like I need to remind people sometimes that I am not my avatar. My avatar is an artistic creation that embodies me in SL, but RL me is much more than that simple, pretty illusion. 

Being a male avatar also reminds me that I don't understand a natural male shape as well as I understand female ones.

Edited July 9, 2022 by Persephone Emerald

[Space Zehetbauer]

10 minutes ago, SorachaNicEoghain said:

In your opinion, how is playing as a male different from female? 

1)  I bumped into someone early on in my SL years who entered SL to do some research.

They were a RL male using a SL male avatar.

He complained it was so hard to engage with others because, being a male, it was just assumed he was there to hit on people.

He found it very frustrating, plus his avatar was as ugly as sin.

At my suggestion, he changed to a female in SL and found he could move around freely and was accepted by both females and males and soon made friends and was able to achieve his research goals.

There is a difference.

2) In a post back in this thread I mentioned creating a male account. A friend joked that we should make a male avatar each, go to a club and stand around and see if a woman would hit on us. She made an avatar where it was ALL about looks. She spent a lot of money getting him the best shape, clothes etc... I had a different strategy. I didnt bother so much with his looks, but I figured women would read his profile. So I juiced his profile up to make him sound intriguing. My friend's avatar was ignored, mine was hit on. Make what you will of that.

🙂

 

 

[Persephone Emerald]

3 minutes ago, Space Zehetbauer said:

1)  I bumped into someone early on in my SL years who entered SL to do some research.

They were a RL male using a SL male avatar.

He complained it was so hard to engage with others because, being a male, it was just assumed he was there to hit on people.

He found it very frustrating, plus his avatar was as ugly as sin.

At my suggestion, he changed to a female in SL and found he could move around freely and was accepted by both females and males and soon made friends and was able to achieve his research goals.

There is a difference.

2) In a post back in this thread I mentioned creating a male account. A friend joked that we should make a male avatar each, go to a club and stand around and see if a woman would hit on us. She made an avatar where it was ALL about looks. She spent a lot of money getting him the best shape, clothes etc... I had a different strategy. I didnt bother so much with his looks, but I figured women would read his profile. So I juiced his profile up to make him sound intriguing. My friend's avatar was ignored, mine was hit on. Make what you will of that.

🙂

In RL women might look for other qualities in a man besides his looks. Is he educated, intelligent, emotionally sensitive, does he have a good sense of humor?, etc. You can't tell any of those things by looking at an avatar.  You can only tell them by spending hours talking with him or by reading his profile.  In SL a wise and patient woman may be able to update the appearance of most male avatars who would be interested in her, but there's no way one can make a person smarter, more sensitive, or have a better sense of humor.

[SorachaNicEoghain]

15 minutes ago, Space Zehetbauer said:

1)  I bumped into someone early on in my SL years who entered SL to do some research.

They were a RL male using a SL male avatar.

He complained it was so hard to engage with others because, being a male, it was just assumed he was there to hit on people.

He found it very frustrating, plus his avatar was as ugly as sin.

At my suggestion, he changed to a female in SL and found he could move around freely and was accepted by both females and males and soon made friends and was able to achieve his research goals.

There is a difference.

2) In a post back in this thread I mentioned creating a male account. A friend joked that we should make a male avatar each, go to a club and stand around and see if a woman would hit on us. She made an avatar where it was ALL about looks. She spent a lot of money getting him the best shape, clothes etc... I had a different strategy. I didnt bother so much with his looks, but I figured women would read his profile. So I juiced his profile up to make him sound intriguing. My friend's avatar was ignored, mine was hit on. Make what you will of that.

🙂

 

 

Oh that is interesting 🤔. 

[Mowri Panache]

I created an alt to do sex animations with because whenever i tried to make new friends, people kept telling me to go f*** my self. 

Edited July 10, 2022 by Mowri Panache

[Cinnamon Mistwood]

This topic is brought a couple times a year in various sub forums.

I have 5 accounts because that is the max per email address the Lab said I could have.

I use all 5 accounts regularly.  They each have their own inventory and aesthetic.

Cinn is my main account.   Used for socializing and making friends.

Zerrine has a few crossover friends with Cinn, but only the ones who I feel will accept a snarkier more aggressive "me".  She says and plays out the things that Cinn keeps inside and secret.  She is not a secret, though, and relays whose alt she is in her profile.

The other 3 are used on my less social days:

Polly goes to all the science lectures, discussions, and book clubs that she can find.

Cora (gender neutral) explores mostly fantasy lands and does quiet things like sorting inventory or practicing building or texturing. 

Mike (male) doesn't do much.  I'll take him in for shopping and just trying out a male avatar.  He explores as well, but more urban and sci-fi settings.

Edited July 10, 2022 by Cinnamon Mistwood
Ugh. Spelling

[Ayashe Ninetails]

27 minutes ago, Space Zehetbauer said:

Clothes - a disaster.

But...

I just couldnt find an AO that didnt make the male look like an ape!

I am very happy with my female AO in SL but trying to find one for a male omfg! killed me!

I use both female and male avatars on the same account - my sole alt used to be my main and I don't use her for anything these days but sending me money when she gets the occasional marketplace sale.

My male and female avies share the exact same AOs. Don't care. Yes, the strut is intense. Don't care. Yes, he's sassy and swings those hips in every single direction when he walks. Yes, the stands are wildly entertaining. Don't care. I loathe male AOs and I'm fine with him working it. 😂

Shopping for clothes with male avatars has been no issue for me at all. My male inventory is way smaller than my female one (though some items are shared as they're unisex), but that's mostly on me. I often have to decide between spoiling one avatar over another as I have a *lot* of entirely different avatar styles to keep dressed (humans, furries, a bunch of fantasy and mythological avatars, and a couple of monsters). The males, so far, are just human...for now. I've had no trouble finding discounts in a variety of styles, and the two of them (I only have two males...for now) dress completely differently (one in feminine and/or unisex clothing, casual/jeans, and casual suiting and the other in cyberpunk, formal glampire, and athleisure).