Because This is My First Life

[Randall Ahren]

On Netflix there is a series called "Because This is My First Life." The title is something someone playing SL might say, so I had to watch it to see what inspired the name. From the description, it did not appear to have anything to do with a virtual world.  Near the end of first episode, I found the answer. The main protagonist, Ji-Ho, feels disappointed with her life at 30 because she's not in a romantic relationship, she's struggling in her career, and cannot afford her own home. She engages in this bit of dialogue with Se-Hee at a bus stop:

Ji-Ho: "I think this life is a bit of a failure, but I'll try my best."

Se-Hee: "I wish you the best of luck. We are all living this life for the first time."

The implication being that mistakes are expected because this isn't a second time through life for anyone. Ji-Ho takes it one step further, because this is her first life, it's also her last life, so she has to make the most of it. In SL though, you can make lots of mistakes, and start over. I guess that's the purpose of second life. It's a place for mistakes because you can begin again.

[Persephone Emerald]

For purposes of discussion then, I'll ask:

What mistakes have you made in Second Life, that you couldn't have survived or gotten away with in Real Life?

[Lindal Kidd]

Leaping from a skybox with my parachute still in my inventory.

(I did manage to find it, put it on, and read the manual enough to open it before I hit, though!)

[Ceka Cianci]

I have three avatars logged in right now all looking at each other waiting for someone to say something witty and wise.

[Madelaine McMasters]

8 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Leaping from a skybox with my parachute still in my inventory.

(I did manage to find it, put it on, and read the manual enough to open it before I hit, though!)

I love that, Lindal!

I built an ultralight biplane in my early SL days. The pilot lays on the lower wing, casually reading a book.

The book's title is "Learn to Fly".

[Scylla Rhiadra]

19 minutes ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

I love that, Lindal!

I built an ultralight biplane in my early SL days. The pilot lays on the lower wing, casually reading a book.

The book's title is "Learn to Fly".

Your plane nearly killed me, speaking of survivable SL accidents.

[Akane Nacht]

4 hours ago, Randall Ahren said:

It's a place for mistakes because you can begin again.

I was watching an entrepreneur speaking about his experiences and he said something like: An expert is someone who has failed in every possible way in his area of specialisation.

I'm sure there are plenty more dumb things I can do in SL before I become expert 😁

[cunomar]

My SL went wrong because i couldn't react to continuous provocation in virtual as i would have in RL .

A learning curve because I have never taken part in online discussion with people I will never meet in RL before .

The song coward of the county explains it quite well , though Becky wasn't involved .

Since , i became detached to the point that i don't want to know anyone , fake or otherwise, they are all the same .

Can't undo that with a restart because I'd still be me .

Edited September 8, 2022 by cunomar

[Rat Luv]

10 hours ago, Persephone Emerald said:

What mistakes have you made in Second Life, that you couldn't have survived or gotten away with in Real Life?

Probably a hundred traffic accidents 🤕 I also used to like throwing myself off sky platforms without an AO so I could see my hair and neko tail fluttering and my legs kicking on the way down 🙂 

I also wouldn't have taken an invitation from a stranger IRL to "look at this interesting tentacle" 

 

 

 

[Seicher Rae]

11 hours ago, Persephone Emerald said:

For purposes of discussion then, I'll ask:

What mistakes have you made in Second Life, that you couldn't have survived or gotten away with in Real Life?

Logging in, not looking at my avatar, and arriving at a destination quickly because it had already started, only to realize I'm naked. That would be interesting at a RL office party...

Not quite a "mistake" but, being fully clothed and arriving at a destination (TP) and some how leaving my head behind. My mother always used to say, "You're so forgetful you'd lose your head if it wasn't attached." Apparently the mommily was correct.

[Seicher Rae]

13 hours ago, Randall Ahren said:

The implication being that mistakes are expected because this isn't a second time through life for anyone. Ji-Ho takes it one step further, because this is her first life, it's also her last life, so she has to make the most of it. In SL though, you can make lots of mistakes, and start over. I guess that's the purpose of second life. It's a place for mistakes because you can begin again.

Except, we're all living our second lives for the first time, too. Unless you want to get all new-physics, time is linear in both our lives. And really, since we're all using SL from our "Real" lives, then it is all one, big, continuous "first time." Even when you begin again, you begin at a new place, in a new time. "You can't step in the same river twice..." 

Whatever the viewpoint, life, itself is a place for mistakes and restarts. Or just mistakes, by the looks of MY life.

Edited September 8, 2022 by Seicher Rae

[Amina Sopwith]

16 hours ago, Persephone Emerald said:

For purposes of discussion then, I'll ask:

What mistakes have you made in Second Life, that you couldn't have survived or gotten away with in Real Life?

Gor. I barely survived that one as it is. My IQ has never fully recovered.

[Seicher Rae]

16 minutes ago, Amina Sopwith said:

Gor. I barely survived that one as it is. My IQ has never fully recovered.

Luckily for us, because some of the best GDF quips have been yours on Gor.

Edited September 8, 2022 by Seicher Rae
ONE sentence and I still can't type ALL of the words in the first go!

[Persephone Emerald]

Some of my mistakes in SL have been:

1. going to a class not wearing pants (I could see them, but no one else could),

2. retexturing my whole house to look like wood (wouldn't be an easy thing to do in RL),

3. convincing friends in RL to sell group land that was given to them by a friend & to buy group land that I wanted instead
    (My friend & I made amends in RL.),

4. changing my land group after stuff was already rezzed & getting my house & everything sent to my Lost & Found folder,

5. trusting a guy who seemed nice & loaning him money for tier that I couldn't afford to loan or lose
    (Luckily I got it back because I scared him.),

Two of those mistakes spilled into RL, but would've been worse if they'd happened in RL.

Edited September 8, 2022 by Persephone Emerald

[Randall Ahren]

The biggest mistakes you can make in SL involve affairs of the heart. I've seen people really hurt here. They have a traumatic breakup and delete all their friends, and sometimes start a completely new account, or quit SL altogether, at least for a time. It's hard to understand how they could be so upset with something that happened in a video game unless you experience it for yourself. That's the biggest difference between the old avatar and the young. The old ones know you can really get hurt here. The younger ones haven't figured that out yet. So they're much freer with who they let into their SL and RL. Older residents can be downright hostile and sometimes put warnings in their profile like "not accepting friend requests, so even effing think about it."

[cunomar]

I deleted everyone i knew , change my av and clothes because i couldnt work out how the scum were tracking me . They still seemed to find me wherever i went .

Their aim was to make me quit , hence i'm still here .

Edited September 9, 2022 by cunomar

[Foxx Ghoststar]

Some mistakes in the past I made in SL I also have to say I have made in RL - that would be compromising my own boundaries because I wanted who I wanted. Got burned and lessons learned. But as the saying goes, it made me stronger and I wouldn't make that same mistake again. My boundaries are my boundaries and someone either accepts that or we peacefully go our separate ways.

However some of my boundaries I have learned were perhaps a bit too rigid and made out of fear, at least in SL (in RL I am still extremely cautious and protect my RL from SL). But letting people in SL know more about who I am and not suffering the feared and expected rejection was surprising and nice. So there's that 😊🏳️‍⚧️

I have fallen from height a lot of times in SL, being an explorer who can't seem to walk in a straight line 😅 so that's one SL mistake that shouldn't be attempted in my real!

[auntiemisha]

Partaking in multiple freebie hunts and thinking I would ever get around to opening/organizing them all.  I still have unopened boxes from before 2015. 

Note that I enjoy the hunting itself so that part isn't the mistake.  Thinking I would organize all the items was the mistake.

In good news the new Firestorm Viewer inventory changes means at least the organizing I will do for this year's items (more likely to be opened up) will be faster and pleasanter!

Opening up folders in new windows, creating new folders from selected items, whee!

[Ceka Cianci]

On 9/8/2022 at 7:08 PM, Randall Ahren said:

The biggest mistakes you can make in SL involve affairs of the heart. I've seen people really hurt here. They have a traumatic breakup and delete all their friends, and sometimes start a completely new account, or quit SL altogether, at least for a time. It's hard to understand how they could be so upset with something that happened in a video game unless you experience it for yourself. That's the biggest difference between the old avatar and the young. The old ones know you can really get hurt here. The younger ones haven't figured that out yet. So they're much freer with who they let into their SL and RL. Older residents can be downright hostile and sometimes put warnings in their profile like "not accepting friend requests, so even effing think about it."

I think it's a big mistake to think new users are inexperienced kids just learning about life and the internet for the first time.. What you are describing has been going on since messengers were around as well as existed and exists in other games and platforms.. 

Trying to divide everyone  up  into two groups comes off as jaded itself. . Many don't ever get into those kinds of relationships.. Many just come to work on things and many come for many other reasons.

It's not a social network. It's a place that some come to do that.