Rolig Loon Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 Everybody has limitations. I happen to be old -- probably a lot older than you are -- so I discover new limitations every day. It can be frustrating. I also have friends who are going blind, or are dealing with an ailing partner, or who can't afford to go anywhere beyond the front door. We all deal with what we have, and we try to find joy where we can. It's there if you look for it. I'm not going to suggest taking a break from SL. Instead, start looking for small things -- maybe things that you already have or are right around you. Get curious about what they look like up close. Figure out how they work. See if you can make them look different or behave in some new way. These don't have to be big challenges. Start with rearranging your furniture or making different outfits with clothes in your inventory. Take photos of places you find, and then try to take several photos from different angles to get a different feel for them -- maybe discover hidden features. Make up your own games. (When I am in a new city in RL, my own game is to go looking for something that I know will be hard to find -- like a street musician -- or to take photos of graffiti and wall painting.) Discovery and fiddling can help with finding joy. In SL you can do it without getting rained on, annoyed by stray dogs and pooping pigeons, or worrying about what other people might think. Just stay here and do it. 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luna Bliss Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 1 minute ago, Rolig Loon said: Everybody has limitations. I happen to be old -- probably a lot older than you are -- so I discover new limitations every day. It can be frustrating. I also have friends who are going blind, or are dealing with an ailing partner, or who can't afford to go anywhere beyond the front door. We all deal with what we have, and we try to find joy where we can. It's there if you look for it. I'm not going to suggest taking a break from SL. Instead, start looking for small things -- maybe things that you already have or are right around you. Get curious about what they look like up close. Figure out how they work. See if you can make them look different or behave in some new way. These don't have to be big challenges. Start with rearranging your furniture or making different outfits with clothes in your inventory. Take photos of places you find, and then try to take several photos from different angles to get a different feel for them -- maybe discover hidden features. Make up your own games. (When I am in a new city in RL, my own game is to go looking for something that I know will be hard to find -- like a street musician -- or to take photos of graffiti and wall painting.) Discovery and fiddling can help with finding joy. In SL you can do it without getting rained on, annoyed by stray dogs and pooping pigeons, or worrying about what other people might think. Just stay here and do it. I love that...and found it to be so true myself when feeling depressed. One small step of joy builds on another. Even the smallest endeavor like watching the leaves blow in the wind in RL, or listening to a beautiful song. Finding a concert in SL, or watching the virtual waves hit the seashore. Pretty soon an appreciation of life begins to dawn again, no matter the circumstance I'm in. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 When Second Life itself gets you down, the Forums can be uplifting! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Persephone Emerald Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 (edited) For me, building in SL isn't about making something good enough to sell. Sometimes I've sold stuff, but it's really about taking an idea from my mind to a 3-dimensional object in SL. I have sometimes shown newer users how to make simple prim objects, because seeing how prims can be manipulated is fun when they can make an object and then interact with it. A box seems pretty boring at first, but when you can make it hollow and cut an opening in one side, or copy it and turn it into a hollow pyramid, then you can make your own little house. A hollow sphere with a semi transparent texture can become an avatar hamster ball or flyable bubble. Make spheres physical and give them different kinds of physics parameters to see how they act when you drop them. They can bounce or roll down sloped land. Push them off a high platform, then teleport down to the ground to watch them roll or bounce. If you're feeling irritated with people or the world, you can get free avatar mannequins on MP and catapult pumpkins at them. You can get target mannequins that explode too. When I was annoyed with a boyfriend for being involved in Bloodlines, I put a vampire cape & fangs on a mannequin and then shot pumpkins at it. I also shrunk down a mannequin, put a squeaky collision sound in it and made it physical to make a squeeky dog toy. If you want to learn how to build for fun, go to Builders Brewery and see what kinds of classes and free materials they have. They have plenty of sandbox space, and there will be other people to talk with and make friends with. Happy Hippo is another good building group which focuses on prim building, rather than mesh. Edited March 17 by Persephone Emerald 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chery Amore Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 When I'm feeling bad about life and sl just sucks to log into or sucks really quickly after logging in it's usually time to take a break if I can't find a motivation or outlet here. It's been awhile since that's been the case for me but it's a weighty feeling. Some suggestions for sl though is if you can find someone to share experiences with it could be helpful. I resist saying find a friend, because that's hard, but you gotta start somewhere. You can watch movies, sightsee, find fun animations. It would be good to be engaged somehow. Even if you are not necessarily feeling creative on your own you can admire stuff that others have done. Finding a friend will require you to go somewhere other than home though.. to anyplace that might have people that like to do what you do. If not do stuff in real.. do you like video games or reading? Make sure you are doing something kind of rl active now and then too if you don't.. stretching ect. I remember running across a nice Tai Chi animation in sl that was fun to do alone or in a group.. it was awhile back but created a lasting memory.. stand up and do it in real life if you can. Not sure if you are on dialysis or not... Talk to your Dr about depression and what you can do for it. It's hard to swallow but life is just like this you have to be the one to engage yourself somehow because it's rarely dropped in your lap. Enjoy what you can. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaitlinParker Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 4 hours ago, Cinnamon Mistwood said: Is there anything you enjoy doing inworld? That's the thing. I don't know what's enjoyable or what I'd like to do in-world anymore. With Builder's Brewery, I can't make the vast majority or any of the classes that are scheduled. I tried to follow along with the basic videos on youtube, but I just continually got confused and lost, so I just uninstalled it completely. I'd like to, but they're at times when I have to go out and do stuff, or my monthly stuff. By the time the late classes start there, I'm usually tired, on my nightly cycler for dialysis and headed to bed as I'm EST. The one time I go to a dance or club... of course I got hit on by a guy wanting me to do "yoga poses". It happens every time I try to go to a dance or a club. Granted, this is what I've experienced, and I know everyone else's experience with dancing or clubbing is different so I know it doesn't happen to everyone. See, I suck at even explaining anything. It just gets too garbled up into one big mess 😢 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Persephone Emerald Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 29 minutes ago, CaitlinParker said: The one time I go to a dance or club... of course I got hit on by a guy wanting me to do "yoga poses". It happens every time I try to go to a dance or a club. Granted, this is what I've experienced, and I know everyone else's experience with dancing or clubbing is different so I know it doesn't happen to everyone. See, I suck at even explaining anything. It just gets too garbled up into one big mess 😢 You don't suck at everything. You certainly don't suck at explaining your situation and how you feel. If you did, nobody would be responding to your post. If you get hit on in SL, it's probably because your avatar is attractive and you're easy to talk with. These are good things. Maybe you just need to practice telling guys that you're not interested? Or you could use a Tiny or Dinkie avatar, so people won't think of your avatar in a sexual way. I mostly want to emphasize that you are not the problem. Everyone of us gets down sometimes. I think most of us have RL problems and limitations. This is partly why we're drawn to SL, either as an escape from RL or because we can't get out in RL to do things we'd like to do. I hope you explore your options in SL and find some places and activities that bring you a little happiness and friendship. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orwar Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 If you want to learn a new skill, whether it's building or meshing or photography or whatever, an option to taking classes might be to find a mentor. It's very easy for one participating in a class to slip behind, and if you miss one step of the process then just about everything from that point onwards is unlikely to work, and especially if a class follows a schedule then a teacher can't always help every participant to keep up. It doesn't necessarily have to be a 'formal' mentor either, I end up doing a lot of 'mini classes' for people where I teach them about lighting or materials or how poses and shapes interact etc, and I do help people quite frequently with the whole avatar creation process - as people are different in how fast they learn and how much they already know, each person I end up helping have different needs to accommodate. For learning Blender, I'd strongly suggest videos focusing on Blender itself - no SL specific stuff, just ones that teach you how to navigate the program and how to produce an asset from start to finish (all the SL specific 'things' are in fact totally non-specific; and your first creations don't necessarily require to be built with custom LOD models or baked shadows or anything such; start off with something easy just to learn the tools, and as you come up with other projects to create you may need to learn specific tools or tasks in Blender, and once you get into how to search for information on specific things in Blender it becomes a lot easier to find). Blender is also hard to teach in SL, I'd personally strongly favour videos wherein you actually get to see what is happening at all times - although it does come with the same issue as classes; if the video fails to explain one step in a way that you can understand it, then you often can't proceed. A mentor who you can talk to about that sort of thing is a big help, as they can help you get back on track again, and sometimes when you don't know what you need to do to get from point A to point B in a project, you could even either just send them the model to look at or stream Blender so that they can help you navigate it. I'm not personally confident enough in my Blender skills to offer any mentorship with that particularly, but if you asked in the creation boards on these forums - either with a specific question you have, or if anyone would be interested in offering assistance as you go, you may well be able to find people who do. As for just social interactions in general, a mutual desire for friends is seldom a particularly solid for an actual friendship. You could find communities related to things you enjoy doing, or create ones if you don't find any - but then of course you'll need to have some idea of what you actually enjoy doing. And does 'taking a break' from SL help? For some it might, for many it changes nothing - they'll give it another try a few days, weeks, months, or years later and still have no idea how to approach the platform in a way that gives them enjoyment. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolig Loon Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 48 minutes ago, CaitlinParker said: The one time I go to a dance or club... of course I got hit on by a guy wanting me to do "yoga poses". It happens every time I try to go to a dance or a club. Granted, this is what I've experienced, and I know everyone else's experience with dancing or clubbing is different so I know it doesn't happen to everyone. Yeah, I know what you mean. I almost never go to clubs in SL (and never in RL). They're popular for lots of people but they're not how I want to spend my time. Don't feel bad if they aren't your thing either. 54 minutes ago, CaitlinParker said: With Builder's Brewery, I can't make the vast majority or any of the classes that are scheduled. You might try just hanging around at Builder's Brewery when you can find time. If there's someone building in the sandbox, watch to see how she does things. Check out her profile. Maybe introduce yourself, compliment her work, and ask if she knows someone who might be willing to show you how to do a few things. Who knows? You might make a new friend, or at least learn enough to make baby steps toward building your skills. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaitlinParker Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 49 minutes ago, Orwar said: For learning Blender, I'd strongly suggest videos focusing on Blender itself... I did try to follow the videos that focused mainly on Blender, but even then I got lost. The keyboard shortcut infographic definitely didn't make it any easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowan Amore Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 Try playing Fortnight instead? Online backgammon? Chess? Scrabble? Words with Friends on Facebook? To be perfectly honest, SL can be depressing for some people regardless of any underlying RL depression. Being in a room full of other avatars and feeling completely alone is common and really not the best place to be if you're experiencing clinical depression. As others have mentioned, might be time to take a break from SL and find other online outlets. Best of luck. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaitlinParker Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 4 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said: Try playing Fortnight instead? Online backgammon? Chess? Scrabble? Words with Friends on Facebook? To be perfectly honest, SL can be depressing for some people regardless of any underlying RL depression. Being in a room full of other avatars and feeling completely alone is common and really not the best place to be if you're experiencing clinical depression. As others have mentioned, might be time to take a break from SL and find other online outlets. Best of luck. I don't play FPS games or games like Fortnite as they're too hectic. I do play World of Warcraft, but it's easier to take a few days off from there than it is in SL as there are catch-up mechanics; whereas in SL if you take a break... you're utterly lost when or if you come back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orwar Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 2 minutes ago, CaitlinParker said: I don't play FPS games or games like Fortnite as they're too hectic. There are a lot of games you can play within SL, as well as a fair few you can play with people just via the browser. For me that's always been a good way to make friends, it's usually easy enough to find someone who's up for a bit of Greedy or Skippo or H&F etc, and as you play and chat you may eventually find that some of them make for good friends. And sometimes there'll be douches, but that happens wherever you go or whatever you do. Best thing is to just move along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaitlinParker Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 1 minute ago, Orwar said: There are a lot of games you can play within SL, as well as a fair few you can play with people just via the browser. For me that's always been a good way to make friends, it's usually easy enough to find someone who's up for a bit of Greedy or Skippo or H&F etc, and as you play and chat you may eventually find that some of them make for good friends. And sometimes there'll be douches, but that happens wherever you go or whatever you do. Best thing is to just move along. I still suck at every SL game there is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowan Amore Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 19 minutes ago, CaitlinParker said: I don't play FPS games or games like Fortnite as they're too hectic. I do play World of Warcraft, but it's easier to take a few days off from there than it is in SL as there are catch-up mechanics; whereas in SL if you take a break... you're utterly lost when or if you come back. Not sure how you'd be lost if you took a month off of SL. I suck at Greedy, too but my objective isn't winning but engaging with people while playing. There are other p2p games online as I mentioned. Words with Friends on Facebook will pair you up WITH someone else who wants to play. Backgammon was one of my first online gaming experiences as was a Scrabble type game. It was fun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaitlinParker Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 2 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said: Not sure how you'd be lost if you took a month off of SL. I suck at Greedy, too but my objective isn't winning but engaging with people while playing. There are other p2p games online as I mentioned. Words with Friends on Facebook will pair you up WITH someone else who wants to play. Backgammon was one of my first online gaming experiences as was a Scrabble type game. It was fun. I don't have Facebook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowan Amore Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 8 minutes ago, CaitlinParker said: I don't have Facebook. Don't think you actually need Facebook. https://wordswithfriends.com/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaitlinParker Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 4 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said: Don't think you actually need Facebook. https://wordswithfriends.com/ Either Facebook or email. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowan Amore Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 2 minutes ago, CaitlinParker said: Either Facebook or email. Use the email you used for Second Life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaitlinParker Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 Ok, I tried it. No one was interested in continuing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorientje Woller Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 Making pictures of yourself, Second Life, sims doesn't require money. You can store them directly on your hard drive without cost. If needed, start up some blog for free. Or otherwise, record your experiences in SL and upload them on a free YouTube account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaitlinParker Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 5 minutes ago, Dorientje Woller said: Making pictures of yourself, Second Life, sims doesn't require money. You can store them directly on your hard drive without cost. If needed, start up some blog for free. Or otherwise, record your experiences in SL and upload them on a free YouTube account. I don't have the setup to record and upload to YouTube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Persephone Emerald Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 7 minutes ago, Dorientje Woller said: Making pictures of yourself, Second Life, sims doesn't require money. You can store them directly on your hard drive without cost. If needed, start up some blog for free. Or otherwise, record your experiences in SL and upload them on a free YouTube account. Creating YouTube or blog content is not easy. Just take pictures for your own enjoyment and share a few here on the forum. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorientje Woller Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 2 minutes ago, CaitlinParker said: I don't have the setup to record and upload to YouTube. What operating system do you have on your PC, laptop? Creating an account on YouTube is simple, if you have already an gmail account. You log into YouTube, with that account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowan Amore Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 Ok, I tried, too. Since none of our ideas or advise seem to be what you want or need, perhaps talking to a trained professional would be in your best interest. https://www.mentalhelp.net/depression/hotline/ 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
YouTube
Flickr
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now