I miss the Second Life of old

[Love Zhaoying]

3 minutes ago, Garnet Psaltery said:

  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.

Being a good example is the best path!

[Coffee Pancake]

My early Second Life was very influential and changed the course of my life drastically, I don't miss those days, but I do miss the people I shared them with, especially. those who passed.

[EliseAnne85]

3 hours ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

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.) 

There were fantasy avatars in old SL but most of those I assumed people were making themselves and most were original, one-of-a-kind.  I saw some really great, jaw-dropping, amazingly beautiful fantasy avatars in my early years.  They'd just show up at clubs.  I was strictly human back then and I didn't build anything either.  When I came back to SL for my middle years after a break with SL, that aspect of all kinds of avatars at the human clubs disappeared and the human clubs were now all human and that made me miss the amazing fantasy avatars that used to show up in clubs in my years prior.  I still remember those days of these amazing fantasy avatars just showing up at clubs; they were superb and it was like a movie set or something.  But, yes, those were all mostly one-of-a-kind avi's people were learning to make back then but they were good!  We used to have IM and ask each other where to find stuff until MP finally came about, and often I'd receive an answer "I made this".  Wow, I was very impressed.   

Edited March 29, 2023 by EliseAnne85

[Ayashe Ninetails]

8 minutes ago, EliseAnne85 said:

There were fantasy avatars in old SL but most of those I assumed people were making themselves and most were original, one-of-a-kind.  I saw some really great, jaw-dropping, amazingly beautiful fantasy avatars in my early years.  They'd just show up at clubs.  I was strictly human back then and I didn't build anything either.  When I came back to SL for my middle years after a break with SL, that aspect of all kinds of avatars at the human clubs disappeared and the human clubs were now all human and that made me miss the amazing fantasy avatars that used to show up in clubs in my years prior.  I still remember those days of these amazing fantasy avatars just showing up at clubs; they were superb and it was like a movie set or something.  But, yes, those were all mostly one-of-a-kind avi's people were learning to make back then but they were good!  We used to have IM and ask each other where to find stuff until MP finally came about.  

Oh I know. I used to make/wear both fantasy and furry avatars back in the day, too, and made my own custom AOs and accessories for them. It was just a much harder process and could take quite a long time. There was no chance I was making avatars in 2006 at the same rate and speed that I do now. There weren't enough stores that catered to it (there were some, but if you wanted to say...make a zombie, you mostly had to rely on makeup, skins, and tattoo effects that could all take a bit of time to find, whereas now, you can just purchase a bento mesh head complete with animations - and there's actually a choice of head styles, tons of skins, many more effects, materials, etc.). With current sales, it's also a lot cheaper to do.

For me, current SL is just a lot less hassle to be creative in. But that's just my own experience as a serial shapeshifter. 😄

[EliseAnne85]

14 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Oh I know. I used to make/wear both fantasy and furry avatars back in the day, too, and made my own custom AOs and accessories for them. It was just a much harder process and could take quite a long time. There was no chance I was making avatars in 2006 at the same rate and speed that I do now. There weren't enough stores that catered to it (there were some, but if you wanted to say...make a zombie, you mostly had to rely on makeup, skins, and tattoo effects that could all take a bit of time to find, whereas now, you can just purchase a bento mesh head complete with animations - and there's actually a choice of head styles, tons of skins, many more effects, materials, etc.). With current sales, it's also a lot cheaper to do.

For me, current SL is just a lot less hassle to be creative in. But that's just my own experience as a serial shapeshifter. 😄

Oh yes it is just a lot less hassle, there is way more stuff and it's MP too that has helped tremendously help us find just about anything.

I just remembered something else about the "old SL", back in the day before MP came out people used to make custom order items.   One could custom order just about anything that could be created at that time way back when.  It's a rare occurrence, in my experience these days, to find people who will do custom order items but they are out there just harder to find.

Edited March 29, 2023 by EliseAnne85

[Prokofy Neva]

17 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?

Every time I'm in the dental chair and I hear that worn '80s music tape they have on at NYU School of Dentistry, I think, "I lived through the '80s. I liked some of that music. I even watched MTV. But I don't want it now, please" -- and I and other patients beg them to turn it off. And they do, sometimes.

I feel that way about "old SL." Some of the things you say are true but not enjoyed by everyone; other things you are selectively forgetting. The Bush Guy. Woodbuy and other 4chan griefers. Groups before the group tools were reformed and the forced hippie commune stuff was removed so you couldn't be literally "recalled" and voted off land *you tiered*. And so much more.

I still find people strike up conversations -- I'm one of them. I've made some of my best friends or at least appreciated acquaintances by coming up to people at events and saying I am awarding them first prize for their outfit. Or their art work. Or whatever. Yes, I was railroaded into getting a mesh head and body mainly because someone who used to grief me donated to this cause, I guess she couldn't stand seeing me appear as a dweeb. I'm trying to get used to it. I don't think that's the social issue you are referencing, however. I think it's just that in addition to oldbies, imagine, there are OTHER, NEWER PEOPLE in SL. This is the phenomenon that Cocoanut, my longest online friend from TSO, who no longer goes on the forums, calls "Wait 'til the world grows!"  She saw this as the phenomenon that would move SL away from the clutches of its early adapters who were mainly geeks and designers. Good!

Bellisseria is not my thing, but I have to say it is popular, growing, and all its groups and activities are fully populated. It's just maybe not your aesthetic.

You have to make your own fun in SL if you aren't willing to go to all the pre-programmed fun like "The Nature Collective" serves up. I often find I'm the only one having that fun. That's ok. 

[Ayashe Ninetails]

13 minutes ago, EliseAnne85 said:

I just remembered something else about the "old SL", back in the day before MP came out people used to make custom order items.   One could custom order just about anything that could be created at that time way back when.  It's a rare occurrence, in my experience these days, to find people who will do custom order items but they are out there just harder to find.

A lot of that has to do with the rapid fire, non-stop events cycle we have now - so many creators are swamped with making new releases and exclusives. Plus, all those bodies to rig for in general. I've definitely seen a few that take custom orders, though, and personally know one. It's also very expensive (as it should be, honestly) to get custom mesh or a head or something.

[Love Zhaoying]

19 minutes ago, Prokofy Neva said:

Every time I'm in the dental chair and I hear that worn '80s music tape they have on at NYU School of Dentistry

My mom made me get a lot of work done at a dental school, worst dental work I ever had done!

[Prokofy Neva]

Just now, Love Zhaoying said:

My mom made me get a lot of work done at a dental school, worst dental work I ever had done!

Well, the price is right (free for Medicaid and very low-cost for those without insurance). I'm a little worse for the wear after some student mishaps and I always seem to make the girl's cry but the world's top specialist in my rare disease is there so I'm good.

[EliseAnne85]

2 hours ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

A lot of that has to do with the rapid fire, non-stop events cycle we have now - so many creators are swamped with making new releases and exclusives. Plus, all those bodies to rig for in general. I've definitely seen a few that take custom orders, though, and personally know one. It's also very expensive (as it should be, honestly) to get custom mesh or a head or something.

Oh yes, I bet it was expensive way back then to have a custom order avatar or home or whatever made.  Those amazing fantasy avi's I saw looked expensive, too, they were so spectacular.  Like I said they looked like something from a movie set.  

I have a question, I was wondering if before X-Street which later became MP, if creator's inworld just weren't sure how to market their items, that's why there were so many offering custom orders?  Once, X-street (which later became MP) came out though, it was a huge hit and headed towards a big success for creators and this is when mass marketing really took off and had some direction.  However, it's interesting to note we used to have yardsales so I believe most items were mod/transfer when SL began.  

I did shop inworld using the search guide in the beginning.   I found things but it took way longer than X-street, that's for sure.  

I was also wondering if Fantasy Faire was the first event in SL?  I thought someone said that in a post recently.  I think SL, perhaps in the beginning, wanted people to explore more fantasy avatars as "Lord of the Rings" was still such a big hit at that time.  Many of us loved the "elven" thing way back then and still do.  

Clubs want to separate human and fantasy now which wasn't the case in the beginning of SL.  However, Raglan Shire is still mixed other and human and/or be any avi you want to be.  So, to the OP, finding a place to be anything you can imagine does still exist and the OP doesn't have to be a mesh avatar at the Shire.  There are sims that have no 'you must be a mesh avatar' requirements out there.   Raglan Shire is a good place to start to find out the other sims where it's just relax and be whatever you want to be type of environment.  

Edited March 29, 2023 by EliseAnne85

[Carolyn Zapedzki]

Yep, ur not alone, I feel the same.

I know things do change due to progress and I don't think it is progress that has changed things it is more the people we come across.

[Love Zhaoying]

We can either sit around and drink wine, eat cheese and talk about the good old days..or we can sit around and whine, be cheesy, and talk about the good old days.

[JeromFranzic]

Shoot... y'all make me wish I started in 2003-2005, instead of 2021 lol!

Not sure if my AMD K-6 II/Voodoo3/Win98 rig would have cut it in the beginning... would have been fun to experience SL with a fat, 14 inch CRT monitor though. I did have a ATI Rage 128 video card as well for some games, that might have been better for early SL.

[EliseAnne85]

2 minutes ago, JeromFranzic said:

Shoot... y'all make me wish I started in 2003-2005, instead of 2021 lol!

Not sure if my AMD K-6 II/Voodoo3/Win98 rig would have cut it in the beginning... would have been fun to experience SL with a fat, 14 inch CRT monitor though. I did have a ATI Rage 128 video card as well for some games, that might have been better for early SL.

When SL started it was considered "the wild, wild West".  We had no idea what we doing but we were doing it together.  

It's interesting to note, after I spoke about how many creators made custom items back in SL's beginning, that I think also that was because many or most items were MOD/TRANSFER.  We used to go to yardsales or have our own yardsale and sell some of our old stuff to buy new stuff...so items must have been MOD/TRANSFER.  But, I didn't understand all that at the time.  I've often wondered about the yardsales were we could resell our items way before X-Street and MP existed.  Wondering if it was Philip Rosedale's idea that all things should be mod/transfer so that items are more like real life?  It was cool being able to sell items when you were sick of them to raise some lindens to buy something new.   And, often we'd buy something new at someone's yardsale because it was new to us.  Now people would freak out if the item is no copy. 

[Ayashe Ninetails]

26 minutes ago, JeromFranzic said:

Shoot... y'all make me wish I started in 2003-2005, instead of 2021 lol!

Not sure if my AMD K-6 II/Voodoo3/Win98 rig would have cut it in the beginning... would have been fun to experience SL with a fat, 14 inch CRT monitor though. I did have a ATI Rage 128 video card as well for some games, that might have been better for early SL.

Honestly, the lag was a thing of nightmares on a lower spec PC. Had I not already been used to playing some of the laggier MMOs with questionable graphics and looooong loading screens to exist around that time (EQ2, etc.), I would've bounced almost instantly.

You really didn't miss much IMO, but that reallllllly depends on what you like to do in SL. If you like prim building, then things will feel very different now for sure. Vehicles are a lot fancier now. We have lighting! You no longer need 50+ prims to build a chair (why in the world I was trying to design intricate antique furniture is beyond me - a single vanity and I was blowing out my prim allowance). If you're concerned at all with looking cute, you might have raged quite a bit back then when you'd tp and find your hair attached to your butt. 😄 

Then again, I do still see people's jewelry blown up to the size of a building floating a mile away from them when tping to busy places, so I guess not even that has changed all that much. 🤣

[Adam Spark]

8 hours ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

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...

I missed the old venue I had in 2007. So I made it again. I still missed the old one, because SL has changed. It isn't about the location's existence, but the experience within it. That is hard to recreate.

Besides that, some are creators and some enjoy creations. Both are equal. Missing something is not illegitimate just because they could, theoretically, just bring it back.

[Bree Giffen]

All of you are alone. Alone together. I don't miss the old days. *looks at beautiful prim feet*

[JeromFranzic]

1 hour ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Honestly, the lag was a thing of nightmares on a lower spec PC. Had I not already been used to playing some of the laggier MMOs with questionable graphics and looooong loading screens to exist around that time (EQ2, etc.), I would've bounced almost instantly.

You really didn't miss much IMO, but that reallllllly depends on what you like to do in SL. If you like prim building, then things will feel very different now for sure. Vehicles are a lot fancier now. We have lighting! You no longer need 50+ prims to build a chair (why in the world I was trying to design intricate antique furniture is beyond me - a single vanity and I was blowing out my prim allowance). If you're concerned at all with looking cute, you might have raged quite a bit back then when you'd tp and find your hair attached to your butt. 😄 

Then again, I do still see people's jewelry blown up to the size of a building floating a mile away from them when tping to busy places, so I guess not even that has changed all that much. 🤣

I suppose... at least my 2018 laptop is giving me a good time in SL! I will have to upgrade in the future if I commit to creating content... possibly a desktop if it ever happens, but anyway! (Especially a desktop if I ever want to run my own sim in Open Sim but that's another story...)

[EliseAnne85]

1 hour ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

! You no longer need 50+ prims to build a chair

lmao!  I remember when a certain store came out...I wonder if I can put the name because it probably still exists.  I think it was called "Prim Possible" and many or most of the items were 1 prim each.  That was a game changer for SL along with Slink feet and, of course, that slex bed that made the creator a millionaire (and after he was a millionaire he let it go open source or something like that).  This is the stuff of SL legends.  Maybe someone has more info on that.   A few became millionaires.  Most of us didn't.  lol   But, I think Philip Rosedale's vision was that virtual property should retain value and it's an investment, that's why items were mod/transfer in the beginning.  You could buy an amazing item, then set it for sale for more money, for example.  Part of early SL was an investor's game.  

Edited March 29, 2023 by EliseAnne85

[Scylla Rhiadra]

From the "old days"?

I miss building somewhat -- although I still do a fair bit, making my own backdrops for pics, which involves using both commercial mesh products and stuff I'm making myself.

I miss the way in which residents were far more engaged, generally, I think, with community and also with RL. There was more activism, more experimentation, more playfulness . . . and somewhat less shopping. (Yes, I am guilty.)

On the other hand . . .

The people are still wonderful, and those I've met and friended in recent years are in no way inferior or less exciting and fun to be around than my older friends (many of whom I still have).

And there are other ways to express one's creativity in SL now, including (in my case) photography. There's a really vibrant arts community -- more prevalent and inclusive than in the past, I think -- and that's a major part of my SL now.

So, on the balance, there are gains and losses. It's not "better" or "worse" now, I think. It's just different.

Edited March 30, 2023 by Scylla Rhiadra

[Love Zhaoying]

We ARE wonderful!

[Ayashe Ninetails]

32 minutes ago, EliseAnne85 said:

lmao!  I remember when a certain store came out...I wonder if I can put the name because it probably still exists.  I think it was called "Prim Possible" and many or most of the items were 1 prim each.  That was a game changer for SL along with Slink feet and, of course, that slex bed that made the creator a millionaire (and after he was a millionaire he let it go open source or something like that).  This is the stuff of SL legends.  Maybe someone has more info on that.   A few became millionaires.  Most of us didn't.  lol   But, I think Philip Rosedale's vision was that virtual property should retain value and it's an investment, that's why items were mod/transfer in the beginning.  You could buy an amazing item, then set it for sale for more money, for example.  Part of early SL was an investor's game.  

Oh yeah, there are a lot of classics in the old SL vault. Xcite, flexi, money trees and camping, the Tringo craze, whole sims packed with boxes and boxes of freebies, etc.

[Adam Spark]

Things I miss from my early days (beginning in Oct. 2006):

- The majority of residents seeing SL as something far more than a game

- Openness and a desire on the part of the vast majority of others to socialize as opposed to staying in their corner.

- The supporting of one another, even in business. The understanding that you don't do well in SL unless the industry you are in (whether its clothing, music venues, or whatever the case) does well as a whole. Work together. Prop each other up. Its a win-win.

- When people opened venues because they cared about their creation more than the owner tag above their head. I'm not saying this no longer happens. But the opposite exists far too much today.

- When people wanted to help each other and understood that they were new once too.

- When people cared about the grid and the promise of its future, and not just their own slice of it.

- Collaborative building that could be seen as you built, in-world. Yeah the builds look better today. It just sucks you can't be in SL (at least actively), to build them. 

[Ayashe Ninetails]

24 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

There was more activism, more experimentation, more playfulness . . . and somewhat less shopping. (Yes, I am guilty.)

I object. There were far fewer big sales events, absolutely, but somewhat LESS shopping??? Girrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrl. What do you think kept me here? Who you kidding?! 😄 Shopping's always been a staple! Maybe I did even more of it back then because it took so dang long to find things without Flickr and Seraphim at my fingertips, so I was always bouncing all over the place. I could lose whole days browsing skins at Nomine! Oh man, all those old stores ❤️ Remember those? Some of which are still around!

[Kalegthepsionicist]

I m new, so Idl how old sl look like, but I was been told that old sl is  more slex like people hook up each other is it true ?