why having or beeing an alt is consider bad?

[Clem Marques]

33 minutes ago, Rat Luv said:

has anyone ever been on an alt, and then run into somebody they knew on their main...but that person was acting out of character or showing another side of themselves? 😲

Yes.

I have an alt to manage a separate Marketplace store, since each avatar can only have one (his name is Charles Marques - very obvious that he's me, it's even in his bio). A person who treated me poorly on my main saw my alt, Charles, and for some reason did not put two and two together and decided to flirt with him. Needless to say, they were mortified when I told them who I was. It was a funny situation, for sure. I bet this type of thing happens fairly often. 

Edited February 15 by Clem Marques

[PheebyKatz]

1 hour ago, Rat Luv said:

One thing I'm curious about...has anyone ever been on an alt, and then run into somebody they knew on their main...but that person was acting out of character or showing another side of themselves? 😲

I've been treated differently as an unknown, but it's usually in the form of indifference or lack of openness, not anything directly like, bad towards me.

People are standoffish or a bit closed when encountering unknown persons sometimes.

I actually try to bear this in mind when I meet people inworld, and remember that literally anyone I meet could be literally anyone, even my own best friend, in disguise. It helps a lot in keeping my attitude straight and my courtesy in place, knowing that someone acting like a n00b might be my friend or even my employer testing me to see how I treat people when they aren't around. I like to think it helps me to be fair when dealing with people, because even our natural tendencies, like playing favorites with friends, can put you down a hole if you aren't careful and act unjustly.

Yon beggar may be a king, and all. Or an off-duty Linden.

Edited February 16 by PheebyKatz

[Midnoot]

I guess it's like people said already. The way the alt is used is what makes it bad or good. Some people are just protecting themselves from a perfectly innocent group of upstanding citizens who claim to never do anything malicious, or suspicious, or vindictive, in their lives. :3... You know, a layer of anonymity against those pleasant people.

I think another thing that makes it suspicious is that we can't just randomly become anonymous to everyone we know in  reality, and if we do, it would be considered sneaking around in a trench coat and fedora :p....

Where it becomes reprehensible to me, is when  you go to the same sims that you usually hang out in, silently lurking around your own friends, not alerting them that you're basically spying on them. Where it gets EVEN WORSE, is when you attempt to befriend them on the alt because you haven't the slightest ounce of dignity, and chose to deceive them, and then come at them with the same questions you did on your previous account as if to see whether they will change their opinion based on who they're talking to. Almost like a way to detect whether someone has been deceptive to you, but through the most deceptive method possible. Quite ironic.

You'd be surprised at how many people claim they're alting just to relieve stress, so they don't have to answer a bunch of IMS... BUT then they fall right back into the same hangouts and same bad habits . Inevitably trapped in their own self created drama hole. " New alt, new me. " ... Is what they tell themselves, but that resolution goes out the door within days.

If you let your friends know you're alting around, it instantly becomes less suspicious and I'm fine with it. But don't "test" me just because you can. If I wanted to be graded on everything by some random MF on the internet, I'll take a class on something.

[Love Zhaoying]

Creating an Alt will not free you from the karma of past actions. 

[Midnoot]

5 hours ago, Clem Marques said:

 attempting to approach someone who blocked you by using a different avatar.

Way too many times.  They can't let it go and come back over and over . " I NEED TO KNOW WHY! "

[Extrude Ragu]

I have more alts than I can count but I mostly just like using them to play dress up. I'm weird. I just enjoy that they each have their own name and I can give them character quirks and personality of their own, with their own adventures in the virtual world.

Another thing is because I run a community sim, I don't like to leave it unattended too long. Having alts knocking around means I can attend an LL creators meeting whilst still being with friends and loved ones in my own sim for example.

Also it's weird but because my sim is a community sim it can kinda feel like a 'state visit' when I send my main to sims with overlapping communities/similar interests. Like I don't hide that it's me being on an alt, but the fact it's not my main seems to get the point across to people that I'm not here for some ceremonial purpose but just come to hang out casually, not to be treated like the owner of that sim or the store owner of that store.

[Midnoot]

Imagine all the friendemies , frienemies, friend-enemies you can make in places  like SL if you're too receptive to new friends and not skeptical enough o.o....

Like on those nights when everyone's chilling, having a good time, tons of laughter in local, seems like they know what makes you laugh, what you like.... You're just rofling around at how much fun this night is.. You gain 1-2 new friends that night. weeks later, they seem to have weaseled their way right into your inner circle, befriended your friends, seemingly befriended you, but then you start to realize  this person is a little suspicious.... You start distancing yourself, but they don't like that... They relay to your friends that you're being a little mean to them, a little weird to them, ....out of... character... to them.. Your friends start to question why you would act this way to such a perfect being... oopsWentTooFarAgain

Edited February 16 by Midnoot

[Istelathis]

6 hours ago, Gabriel Isodo said:

I don't understand why on second life beeing an alt is something considered bad. We can have 2 3 or 10 accounts. What is the problem?

I don't imagine most people really care that much, I mean besides the obvious scenarios such as if the person using them is doing so to harass or cause hardship to others, but I think you as well as almost everyone participating on this thread know that already and it doesn't really need very much consideration for the topic.  I mean, I've responded to this thread so far with nearly half a dozen alts, and you don't see any of them being upset with me 😜

A little more seriously though, if people really do get upset that you log in with alt accounts, for whatever reason outside of trying to cause problems for others, then that is entirely on them.  I personally don't use them often, because there is no need outside of sitting them on a vehicle to prevent it from being returned.  Most people leave this persona alone, I don't get bothered, so it is all good, plus I don't want to spend a ton of linden on setting up other alts.

Edited February 16 by Istelathis

[Persephone Emerald]

I avoid drama by being polite and generally minding my own business, no matter which avatar I'm using. I don't seek it out by pretending to be someone else with friends or enemies. If I'm on as Tasha or my guy alt, I purposely have hardly any friends, because I don't want to be bothered by them.

Alycia shares some of the friends I'm closest with and they know she's my in-character alt. I prefer to not talk about my real life when I'm in SL as Alycia, but most of my friends still address me as my RL self when I'm her. I try to steer them away from doing that by having Alycia talk about Persephone in the third person.

Each of my female avatars has her own personality, interests, style and color preferences for clothing. My guy alt doesn't really have a personality or interests, because I just don't have that much of my consciousness that I can project as masculine. I think it's easier for me to project being a wolf-dog than it is for me to project being male.  😄 

Edited February 16 by Persephone Emerald
Typo

[Janet Voxel]

I’m an alt, I have a few stores that I use different alts to sell different things. One I have for decor items, a couple are for different clothing styles.

This one is for when I don’t want to be bothered by any of that and want to hang out and socialize. 
 

Like with most things in second life, the use of Alts can be totally harmless or the person using them can be up to no good. However, you definitely shouldn’t go around flinging accusations that someone is an alt, because if you’re wrong you might appear to be a little unhinged.

[JUSTUS Palianta]

Having a alt is bad because every time I let her out of the box she starts spending my lindens!

[Switchblade Serenade]

5 hours ago, Alycia Blaylock said:

What's with all this prejudice against alts? It's not like a anyone chooses to be an alt. We can't help if we were born after someone's main account was born. It's not like we choose to be 2nd class citizens of Second Life. Do you think we enjoy being treated like nothing more than a bank account our primary can ignore for months or years and then even decide to kill us, not because we did anything wrong, but just because they're bored with us. We usually have to live off old freebie skin and clothes, while you primaries get all the fun and lindens. Maybe you think being LGBTQ is hard? Try being an alt for a while, and see how you like it.

I don't even have my own room in Persephone's house anymore. ☹️ I have to share a room with a dog. 

 I didn't ask to be rezzed.  All I ever do is frankenstein prims, paint meshes, and script in sandboxes while Greg sods off to party in clubs. I'm tired of being overworked and underpaid.

Edited February 16 by Switchblade Serenade

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

8 hours ago, Gabriel Isodo said:

I don't understand why on second life beeing an alt is something considered bad. We can have 2 3 or 10 accounts. What is the problem?

A lot of people use alts to trick others. So a stigma is attached that the use of an alt account is nefarious and used for dumbduckery  but they are not all. 
 

I guess people been burned in the past.. half of SL are alts I bet. 
 

I would wager most of the Lindens have alts as well. I doubt they list they are a paid employee for linden lab in their profile.. 

 

 

[Evah Baxton]

I have 1 alt that I use for script testing. I don't feel at home in my alt. I have a difficult enough time with that.

I assume people really enjoy their alts. I love that. It shouldn't be considered bad in my opinion.

[Gabriele Graves]

10 hours ago, Gabriel Isodo said:

I don't understand why on second life beeing an alt is something considered bad. We can have 2 3 or 10 accounts. What is the problem?

As with many things, it's not that they're inherently bad, it's the fact that people use them to create social harm.

For myself, for example:  If I already know someone socially on one account then I don't expect for that same person to use an alt to also interact with me without disclosing the fact they are the same person.  There is no honest reason to do this and it's not socially acceptable.

[InnerCity Elf]

7 hours ago, Extrude Ragu said:

I have more alts than I can count but I mostly just like using them to play dress up. I'm weird. I just enjoy that they each have their own name and I can give them character quirks and personality of their own, with their own adventures in the virtual world.

I can count mine, but I'm also weird like that, and daresay there are more of this flavour of weird ones out there - I actually remember having played on a roleplaying sim, where the sim explicitly allowed to play multiple characters but only if each on their own account! Some people felt disadvantaged, because they didn't have alt accounts (or so they said), or did only want to buy separate sets of outfits and such, but not a body (actually, make that hands or feet, or skins, or hair, or something, there weren't buyable bodies back then, ha) for several accounts if they wanted to play multiple characters on that same sim, and the sim changed its rules to accommodate them.

Which was fine by me; if it's allowed to play multiple characters in the first place, those who want to, should also be allowed to do that on just one account if they want to. Whether they really had no alts or not, the argument that some may have no alts, and the financial argument are valid. However, to me, personally, and probably much of what the "but on different accounts" original rule was about, immersion and "keeping things separate" is easier if on different accounts when on the same sim, and it's more fun to me. It's also good for the SL economy...

Edited February 16 by InnerCity Elf

[shireena1]

9 hours ago, PheebyKatz said:

 

I actually try to bear this in mind when I meet people inworld, and remember that literally anyone I meet could be literally anyone, even my own best friend, in disguise. It helps a lot in keeping my attitude straight and my courtesy in place, knowing that someone acting like a n00b might be my friend or even my employer testing me to see how I treat people when they aren't around. I like to think it helps me to be fair when dealing with people, because even our natural tendencies, like playing favorites with friends, can put you down a hole if you aren't careful and act unjustly.

Yon beggar may be a king, and all. Or an off-duty Linden.

This.....

 

Also an alt to test out things you made to sell on the MP, knowing that they will work properly, a main account to own mainland, someone to dance with.

[shireena1]

9 hours ago, PheebyKatz said:

Or an off-duty Linden.

LL employees may well have alts too! But i do not have proof of that.

[Snow Frostypaws]

The only situation in which I've ever considered making one is so I could have a cameraman for machinima. Otherwise, I don't bother. Like a old friend of mine used to say, "Take me as I am or don't take me at all!"

I think the reason is because (This is especially true if the person judging doesn't have an alt themselves) they may wonder why you feel the need to have one and what it is that they don't know about you. Its a trust thing for some I think.

[Theresa Tennyson]

10 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I created my alt Laskya in 2013 because I wanted to return after a 2 year hiatus, but with a bit of a fresh start.

Why not "Charybdis"?

[Runa Wicken]

11 hours ago, Luna Bliss said:

I am actually an alt. My first account was born a few months before I was.

A confirmed alt sighting!  👽🧐

10 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I created my alt Laskya in 2013 because I wanted to return after a 2 year hiatus, but with a bit of a fresh start. Nothing nefarious, and I didn't care that much if I got outed . . . which was a good thing, because I posted maybe 20 posts here before I was detected. And yeah, it was my writing style, which I didn't bother trying to conceal, that betrayed me.

That said, I am utterly clueless about detecting alts. Really and truly, I'm awful at it. People here will sometimes allude darkly to such and such an alt, and I'll have no idea what they're talking about.

Your post has made me realise that I'm also an alt.  This isn't my first SL account, that was made years ago, so technically makes me an alt... I think...

I'm bad at guessing who's an alt myself but when I made this account my best friend spotted me instantly.  Unless someone declares "I'm so-and-so's alt!" I wouldn't have a clue.  

10 hours ago, Rat Luv said:

One thing I'm curious about...has anyone ever been on an alt, and then run into somebody they knew on their main...but that person was acting out of character or showing another side of themselves? 😲

What a great question!  I've thoroughly enjoyed reading the replies you got.

4 hours ago, Evah Baxton said:

I have 1 alt that I use for script testing. I don't feel at home in my alt. I have a difficult enough time with that.

I assume people really enjoy their alts. I love that. It shouldn't be considered bad in my opinion.

I really relate to this.  Not feeling at home in an alt.  My avatar is so much an extension, a representation of the real me that trying to be an alt feels awkward for me.

My main concern is how can anyone manage more than one inventory!? 💀

[Alwin Alcott]

42 minutes ago, shireena1 said:

LL employees may well have alts too! But i do not have proof of that.

for many the Linden ís the alt   

[Ceka Cianci]

I think we've all learned a valuable lesson here today..

Alts don't kill people, people ki.... Oh wait, wrong slogan!! \o/

It's , Alts don't  don't cause problems, their users do..

Haven't had mah tea yet.

[Phil Deakins]

I'm not aware that anyone thinks that alts are bad. I have about 70 of them. Many were created as traffic bots to improve search rankings, and many were created for their Picks, which went a long way to improving search rankings. Nobody ever thought there was anything wrong with alts being used for those purposes, so I've no idea why the question came up.

[Paul Hexem]

15 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

created as traffic bots

 

16 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

Nobody ever thought there was anything wrong with alts being used for those purposes

Well, to be fair, that part isn't entirely correct.