I miss the Second Life of old

[Nimue Galatea]

I'm not in SL much these days, because as goofy, clumsy, and silly as our prim-based Second Life once was, there was an innocence and lightheartedness to it that felt like the rays of the sun hitting your heart once in a while. I still can't forget Bingoland Park, and don't think I ever will. (I swear I made a post about it on my old blog, somewhere, but I can't find it atm.) Avatars came together to this lovely park by the railroad to play Bingo, and you were rewarded with some $Lindens if you won, but people came together for the joy of it. I really miss Bingo and don't care for the Bingo machines at all...

...Or people striking up a conversation with you regardless of what your avatar looked like. People were much more eager to engage in chat, I feel. Now, most show off their expensive avatars, and I feel that unless I impress someone with an up-to-date avatar, I'm ignored.

I just miss something about the Second Life of old. Am I alone? Or am I being arrogant?

Edited March 29, 2023 by Nimue Galatea

[Silent Mistwalker]

You aren't alone.

[Rat Luv]

I don't think it's arrogant...I miss the old days too ❤️  Not to say everyone should, or that they were better, but they were magical times for me personally, and I agree it was a lot easier to meet people without spending lots on your avatar...and maybe easier to shop on tip or trivia machine money.

But in my case, I sometimes wonder if it's just  nostalgia for being younger...life seemed easier and the world seemed less tense back then, so maybe my memories of SL (and MySpace) are rose-tinted? 

[EliseAnne85]

36 minutes ago, Nimue Galatea said:

Avatars came together to this lovely park by the railroad to play Bingo, and you were rewarded with some $Lindens if you won, but people came together for the joy of it. I really miss Bingo and don't care for the Bingo machines at all...

Hello, I am a Dinkie in Second Life and the Dinkie's hang out with the tinies of the Shire.  We are small human-like animal avatars that talk, wear clothes, and play Bingo like humans.  Tinies have been around SL just about as long as SL itself and many of the "tiny" sims for us human-like animals haven't changed in nearly 20 years.  We will be celebrating our 19th Medieval Ball this coming fall.  

Along with the Dinkies and Tinies, humans or other avatars (fairy, elf, whatever) are welcome at many of our events.  Remember Petite Fairies?  You may find some there, too. 

You could contact our main group, Small Talk, and ask where the Bingos are currently being held.  Dinkies and Tinies of the Shire play Bingo a few times a week.  I have never played Bingo myself but this Bingo I am speaking about must be like the old Bingo because it's for a group to play not a machine.  Dinkies and Tinies also have many fishing events you could join where you make some lindens also.  

Check it out.  If you need further help, IM me here on the forum and I can give you some contact names.

We did have a kind of innocence way back then.  It's still sort of there with the Dinkies and Tinies of the Shire.  

Edited March 29, 2023 by EliseAnne85

[Ceka Cianci]

I think about a lot of things from the past in here that are gone now.. It really feels like a lot of ideas were just thrown at a fan and  here we are today..

Then again, maybe it's just been so many years and my selective memory is making it look like that..hehehe

For the most part, for a virtual world it's been a pretty wild ride I guess..

I miss a lot of things, but like most things in the past, they were good while they lasted but could never be as fresh as they were the first time you smelled them.

I think back to the good memories times in them , but also that leads to remembering how they ended and usually me standing looking for something else to do because they ran their course..

Still, It's always nice looking back and having a lot to look back on as well..

[Rolig Loon]

1 hour ago, Nimue Galatea said:

I just miss something about the Second Life of old. Am I alone? Or am I being arrogant?

No, I don't think so. The same thoughts cross my mind sometimes. The older I get, the more years I have to look back on, and the more I find myself being wistful about the past.. After a while, though, the years all start to blur together. I remember highlights and low times, quirky fun people and some that I'm glad to have left behind, but I remember lots of random times between too. I suspect most of us do that in RL and SL. The more snapshot memories we accumulate, the more they look like an avant garde film that we can hop and skip through.

I've grown gradually with SL for 16 years, coming here almost daily. I've seen new friends replace old ones and have moved several times. I do have several friends that I have known since the early days, although many of the people I work and hang out with are ones that I have met within the last five or six years. We're better creators than we were once, and we have better tools and materials. We look more sophisticated and less like the beloved cartoons that we were in our youth. Are we in a better SL today?  Not necessarily, but it's certainly not the SL of 2007. It's a world that that grew around us and that we helped build together.

You say that you are not in SL much these days. That probably makes the difference between SL today and SL as you remember it seem stronger than it does to me. You don't have as many of the years between to soften the memories. The parts of your SL experience that seem more film-like are the earliest ones.  New memories are less well-stitched together and are less comfortable. You are not alone, and I truly don't think you are arrogant. I think perhaps you are impatient, not giving yourself enough time to build new memories that could be as comfortable as the older ones. There's still room to be innocent, lighthearted, and silly. I think you just have to let yourself find it.

Edited March 29, 2023 by Rolig Loon
typos. as always.

[Polenth Yue]

My early years in Second Life were mostly spent alone, so I don't have any nostalgia for that. It was only really a few years in, when I got mainland and started building, that people started talking to me.

Raglan Shire and Caledon are two old communities with an old-school feel. Both Sci-Fi Con and Fantasy Faire are in their fifteenth year this year. Old communities and events are still there if you want to go to them. You might also find out about a few newer ones that match your interests along the way.

Edited March 29, 2023 by Polenth Yue

[Gwin LeShelle]

In 2006 the internet for everyone was still quite shiny and new for most private people let alone a virtual world. We behaved online like our mamas teached us. Jump forward almost 2 decades and bam everyone is rude and jaded. 

It's not only in SL. Everyone got somewhat salty and bitter, I notice it in myself too. When some dude in SL IMs me with "Hi" these days I'm not even considering to answer anymore lol back then? I would have send a bubbly hi back x3 too many flirting dudes ruined that for me. So I guess that's the way it's going.

[Ina Fairport]

You're not alone.
I miss the old days too
I still enjoy SL but in a different way compared to 15 years ago

Nothing stays the same. Life is changing all the time. RL and SL
 

[Marigold Devin]

10 hours ago, Nimue Galatea said:

I'm not in SL much these days, because as goofy, clumsy, and silly as our prim-based Second Life once was, there was an innocence and lightheartedness to it that felt like the rays of the sun hitting your heart once in a while. I still can't forget Bingoland Park, and don't think I ever will. (I swear I made a post about it on my old blog, somewhere, but I can't find it atm.) Avatars came together to this lovely park by the railroad to play Bingo, and you were rewarded with some $Lindens if you won, but people came together for the joy of it. I really miss Bingo and don't care for the Bingo machines at all...

...Or people striking up a conversation with you regardless of what your avatar looked like. People were much more eager to engage in chat, I feel. Now, most show off their expensive avatars, and I feel that unless I impress someone with an up-to-date avatar, I'm ignored.

I just miss something about the Second Life of old. Am I alone? Or am I being arrogant?

.

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by Marigold Devin
sick of hearing myself whine

[Sid Nagy]

SL was something new, something vibrant and booming in 2007 when I discovered SL. Almost all people were new and finding their way. A bunch of pioneers discovering a new world.
Of course that sparkling feeling of excitement can't last forever IMHO. We are just a bunch of oldbies that found their way years and years ago in SL and settled.

Since mesh has arrived, nothing mind blowing has happened in SL.
Sure, things get better and better step by step, but it is not really as spectacular as discovering a new world.

But I agree, those where the days, although gone forever.
 

[Wilma Philbin]

I can miss old things in SL that awed me back then. Like Black Swan and the Greenies. But would I get all enthusiastic about them today? It's not just SL that changed. We are spoiled with awesome today.

There are things I think of with fondness, but that wouldn't make me jump with joy if someone brought it back. Like shoes, or even hair,  up the butt. Those gorillas banging on things on Wednesdays, and sometimes didn't stop banging for days so we had to keep checking when we could log in. Seems so sweet now but it wasn't then. And definitely wouldn't be accepted today. Our old avatars were easier to use and dress, but the look has improved too much to miss that except in nostalgic moments. (As an aside: The only thing I miss about the old clothes are flexi dresses.)

I don't agree with the idea that SL has gotten ruder or less friendly. It's always been about who you happen to run into. In general my experience of SL residents today and in the past has been really good. You have to choose what communities to join.

I think if I came back or joined today I would get a place in Bellisseria and join the community there. People come together with different SL experiences and the tone and behavior is really good.

[Anna Salyx]

I think we tend to look at the world past with rose tinted glasses.

I came in, originally, in 2007 and promptly left again after a few not so pleasant encounters in the newbie island area that completely soured me on the experience.  It was 3 years later (2010) that gave it a try with a fresh new avatar. 

The experience was better to be sure, but still I quickly escaped the newbie area as fast as I could. So I'm in the "real second life".  The world was awesome, there were fresh things to see and do, new people to meet. It was shiny to be sure, unlike anything I had ever encountered before. But it had it's own clickishness.  I was poor and so could only get a freebie skin that while it looked nice, was not on the level of LAQ or other top shelf makers, or even mid tier. My AO was very very basic (after a month or so of duck walking) and most of my clothes and hairs and accessories were the equivalent second hand freebies.

When I went out to places, all of that did set me part from the more sophisticated avatars. While in most cases I wasn't outright shunned there were places and people who did look down their noses at me.  Among the places where I did feel comfortable hanging out at I was rarely complimented on my looks, and a lot of the time I felt like the country cousin visiting the big city.

I stuck through it though.  I got some lindens, upgraded my skin, found a better AO, and better quality clothes and accessories (hairs, shoes, etc). And my experience slowly improved and I was better accepted. So even back then, there was a bar to cross, not just in learning, but it terms of general looks that is not wholly different from the bar between 'classic' avatars and 'modern' avatars that is perceived (maybe rightly so) to exist today.

On the more positive side, there were some truly creative people who could texture up storm and make the painted on clothing look phenomenal.  Prim manglers were creating dwellings, furniture, and other object that defied belief at times. Sure we can get the same things in mesh now and yes it takes some skill, but the old prim torture pros... they had that extra spark.  It was truly an experience to go sim hopping just to see the builds and what people came up with.  That experience has gotten a little more generic, has less of a shine, but people are still do some fantastic things in mesh and texturing, it just seems a bit farther between maybe?  Or maybe I've just a bit jaded, too and it takes a little extra to wow my socks off.

 I can be nostalgic for part of the way it was, but I have no desire to go back to it. Because no matter how my rose tinted glasses look backwards, we are in a better space over all here and now.   I'm also glad I was able to see the changes and growth and was able to be part of that.  and I still have some of that send of wonder and eagerly await to see what the future will bring us. 

Do I miss the 'Second Life Of Old'?  No.  I am glad I was there and got to experience it, yes. But it was  a rough place in its own way.  Just like I look back at my 18 year old self and go "you know it'd be nice to go back to then. Life was simpler, easier", but in all reality, I don't want that.  18 at the time was pretty crappy no matter how much I romanticize it now.

[EliseAnne85]

8 hours ago, Polenth Yue said:

Raglan Shire and Caledon

Yes, this is the Shire I am speaking about - Raglan Shire.  One can look it up in search and join free, but Small Talk is our main group that has a calendar for all the Dinkie and Tiny events.  Small Talk is also free to join.

Raglan Shire isn't built with mesh, it isn't built with sculpties, it's built (somehow) from the materials of the original viewer.   Many people may think "ugh" but, imo, it's cute.  The Dinkies and Tinies of the Shire would prefer it never change.  There are some mesh deck chairs for the fishing every Sunday morning on the Wharf but that's probably it for the mesh on the Wharf.  Most fishing is unbaited so you don't have to buy bait.  With PBR, I am uncertain how the Shire will survive.  I guess we will have to just turn off reflections.  Also, most Tinies wear the prim skirt outfits for the females.  Dinkies have prim skirt outfits too from way back when and they are cute too.  Dinkies do wear a lot more mesh clothing than the Tinies.   This old building style may not be for everyone but many love it.  However, many of us have alts and enjoy all the mesh goodies too.  One really can have both.

Edited March 29, 2023 by EliseAnne85

[Rowan Amore]

1 hour ago, Anna Salyx said:

I think we tend to look at the world past with rose tinted glasses.

THIS^^^^

[Marianne Little]

I think of it with nostalgia, but it is many improvements so I really do not want to look like that. And the houses and landscaping. 10 m prims.

Maybe I am shallow, but I do not miss "Sexywalk" shoe, bling and the big invisiprims, hair that cut in the body and clothes that needed editing, just to move through the body when I went off the pose stand and moved around. Lashes that didn't follow the eye blink, no way to add something to the skin, had to buy the fatpack.

I think the era with 6 alpha layers and tattoo layers, and 64 m prims was my best time. Still feeling that it had a freshness, with lots of improvements.

I do miss more chat, but it was as much sleazy suggestions in IM then, if not more.

 

[Theresa Tennyson]

12 hours ago, Nimue Galatea said:

I'm not in SL much these days, because as goofy, clumsy, and silly as our prim-based Second Life once was, there was an innocence and lightheartedness to it that felt like the rays of the sun hitting your heart once in a while. I still can't forget Bingoland Park, and don't think I ever will. (I swear I made a post about it on my old blog, somewhere, but I can't find it atm.) Avatars came together to this lovely park by the railroad to play Bingo, and you were rewarded with some $Lindens if you won, but people came together for the joy of it. I really miss Bingo and don't care for the Bingo machines at all...

 

Given how Second Life works, Bingoland Park existed because someone created and maintained it. 

Which means that it could return if someone recreates it and maintains it.

 

Even you...

[Flea Yatsenko]

The internet shifted from people having fun and doing cool stuff online, exploring technology, to becoming excessively egotistical and individualistic. The internet now is an ego boost. Post pictures, get positive attention. Post stuff on forums/reddit/etc, get likes. The wholesome internet of people just doing things for fun is mostly gone.

SL was a bunch of people using some "prim"itive tools to let their imaginations run wild. Yes, a lot of it didn't look good, but it was like creating your own lego creations. Now it's more like just buying stuff and throwing it together. I.E. you used to build your own picnic table out of prims, now you just go buy one.

You can see how the old internet was "never post any real life information on the internet" and it was like another life. The new internet is "post as much of your real life as possible to get internet points and attention." Big example of the "new internet" is how YouTube switched from "don't use your real information on the internet, keep your real name safe" to "Google+ update is here! Your real life name will be on your channel unless you jump through hoops and cancel it!" Definitely not rose tinted glasses, the internet has changed. Second Life has changed far less than the rest of the internet, and I think between Metaverse being ran by Facebook and people getting tired of social media, a "Second Life" on the internet away from your first might appeal to a lot of people soon. I hope SL doesn't lose that, it's one of the few places on the internet where you can be someone else still.

[Ren Toxx]

The only thing I really miss, and vaguely at that, is the sense of discovery, of learning. Sure, SL keeps evolving, but if you keep abreast of the changes, there’s inevitably less of a learning path. That’s what I say to many new players who complain about the learning curve: “careful what you wish”. Once you get past it, you may feel like there’s not much else to learn, especially if you keep considering it as a “game you’ve mastered” and therefore gets boring if you can’t get anything else from it—i.e. the social aspect.

Of course most don’t quite see it that way and would gladly prefer it a “zero effort” thing, never much understanding that they’re negating their own prospects for accomplishment. But then again quite a few of them will end up feeling that way, perhaps thinking that the social angle will wear off, too.

For me, I’m always looking forward to anything new to lay my eyes upon; once you do that, it’s not a big step to refuse looking at it with the jadedness of a veteran.

[Akane Nacht]

I guess that's the natural progression of this virtual world and its people - we've had our "childhood" of exploring, experimenting and goofing around, now we're in our late teens and obsessed with instagram, personal brands and image.  I'm not sure what responsible middle age is going to look like... I'm holding out for second childhood.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

I'm in the opposite camp. I much prefer today's SL. The majority of that has to do with the ease with which I can create fantasy avatars without wanting to tear my hair out (this was such a pain back in 200x - far fewer options for skins/bodies/limbs/non-human heads/etc.) and having far more photography tools than I had to play with back then. When I started, we didn't even have lighting or flexi or any of that, so um...things were sorta basic.

I do miss building with prims and messing with animation, but I get my creative fix via decorating, landscaping, and photography these days, so it's not too bad.

I absolutely do not miss the lag (my PC was such a potato back then), invisiprims, bling shoes and jewelry, having to pose my legs in weird configurations just to wear mer tails, and having limited choice when it came to shopping.

As for socializing, I haven't noticed much of a change on the social front. Some of my old friends from back in the day are still around and it's always a good time to whip out old photos and laugh at how ridiculous we used to look 16 years ago. 😄 I do find it a lot easier to meet and keep in touch with new people outside of SL these days due to places like Discord. I socialize there quite a bit and if I'm in the mood to meet up with chat friends in-world, the option is always there. Chatting with/meeting people in-world feels pretty much the same to me, though I've stopped going to social clubs and whatnot since I'm not human most of the time, so I can't speak on that experience. Chatting with random strangers in stores and at events is still a thing I do from time to time, and I always love seeing the creative avatars people have come up with - things that were just not possible to do so many years ago for all kinds of reasons.

[Love Zhaoying]

This thread could easily be titled, "Get off my lawn!"

[Love Zhaoying]

1 hour ago, Rowan Amore said:

2 hours ago, Anna Salyx said:

I think we tend to look at the world past with rose tinted glasses.

THIS^^^^

In a world of Rose's, be a Blanche.

[Candide LeMay]

When I joined SL the total population was less than 20 thousands. Most people were exploring SL's possibilities, building things for themselves, being creative and artsy etc, all the idyllic ideas we have about the early days. Yet by 2007 I was pretty much burned out on SL and it took me years to recover. I suspect there's just an initial honeymoon phase - regardless of when you join - and after that you have to either adapt or lose interest and leave.

[Garnet Psaltery]

You're about a year older than I am in SL but when I arrived in 2005 there was still that air of newness and experimentation and exploration and freedom.  I had a wonderful time, talking to so many people in so many different avatars.  I was until recently mostly a biggie but jumped at the chance to get a copy of the first Wynx Tiny - dozens of us running around the Welcome Area as bunnies, making people laugh.   I'm right back with the Tinies full-time now, just enjoying being with daft people.  I'd love to get that desire back to go wandering but really haven't much of an idea where to go.  Please do get in touch or visit my little corner in Morning Shire if you'd like some gentle company.  Don't worry at all about our different faith views.  Mine are strong but I have no gift for evangelising so I don't try; I'm just me.