Would/Do you recommend SL to friends?

[Pamela Galli]

Kind of related to the portrayal of SL in the film Life 2.0 -- which apparently leaves out everything good about SL. SL has both good and bad stuff (like some other life I can think of -- and which is which depends on your POV) -- is there enough you consider good for you to recommend SL to friends?  If not, what is it that you have the most reservations about?

[Hayley Spore]

My friends definitely have that "SL is for freaks and weirdos"  opinion.

I do talk about SL with them, but I have never tried to suggest that any of them play, or even talked about my own experiences. Mostly I'll tell them about how creative it allows the player to be and how everything in the world is user-created. Things that are different and interesting from what they're accustomed to.

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

I've recommended SL to a couple of online friends, both of whom hated it. One said it was just too hard to figure out what was going on (she registered while I was offline and refused to return a second time), and the other didn't like not being able to get a job immediately (she wanted to buy things but wouldn't accept any assistance from me). 

I've never recommended it to RL friends, because I don't want my RL up in here. :smileyvery-happy:

[Pamela Galli]

I came to SL because I had had an online group for caregivers for years, and many members were socially isolated. I got several to visit but none of them had computers that allowed them to do much. Two upgraded their computers, but only one of all those who visited stuck around (and has lived above the store all this time).

A lot of ppl in RL who know I work in SL have said they wanted to visit, but only a few have, and those  did what most probably do: look around, don't see anything to do, it's confusing, it's scary, they leave and don't come back.

My reservations are about the things shown in the film: ppl are exposed to things they never would be in RL.  However, I have been around long enough that if someone did like SL enough to check it out, I would tell them what to be on guard about. However, it looks like none of them will stay around long. SL appeals to certain people a great deal, and everyone else hates it.

[WADE1 Jya]

I told one friend about it. he played for one day as the old library furry fox (remember that one?), walked around doing the newb duck walk for a bit, crashed a few times & then never returned. Lost him there I guess, he thought it was really dumb. I wouldn't bother to bring it up again.

That was years ago. Nowadays with the better starter avs & smoother sign up where he's not stuck forever with a dork last name like Poddledum or whatever lameness he got stuck with, who knows..... he just might have stayed.

I don't often talk about SL to friends, as it just is not their kind of thing. A lot of my friends aren't hardcore gamers at all, as far as they might go is playing something casual like Angry Birds. The ones that are more into games? They could easily get into it if they could buy SL for $29.99 as a console game --- or if they could download an SL app for $4.99 to their phone/tablet.

If SL was free download from App Store I would almost certainly have a few friends signing up :smileyvery-happy:

Regardless of Second Life being downloadable free off the net, being tethered to a desktop/laptop to play anything is thought of as kinda unattractive in my circles.

[WilhiamMeshTest]

Always do ...

... AFTER they return the contract signed with their own blood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 ( ETA : I WAS JUST KIDDING !!!! )

[WilhiamMeshTest]

.. but foremost ...

 

... are they happy ?

[Alazarin Mondrian]

I went through a phase of recommending SL back in 2005. Turned out no-one I knew in RL was interested. Those who had heard of SL were convinced that it was either a pit o' sin, t3h spawn o' satan or a dumping ground for life's losers so I gave up and continued on my merry way in SL. These same people became quite happily addicted to MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc without a second thought. More fool them I say. They can keep their flatweb lives if that's what rocks their boat.

Second Life has a serious (negative) image problem that has to be dealt with before your average Joes and Janes are going to waddle over from their MySpamBook Farmville Mafia War or whatever to take a look. I suppose the attempt at cleaning up the grid by moving adult content to Xindra was part of that but the far larger task is addressing and rectifying the general public misconceptions about what SL is, what you can (and cannot) do in SL and such like.

[Ceka Cianci]

at the moment no..maybe if they make a few changes to some things  i will then..until then pfft.. hehehe

[Ceera Murakami]

No, I generally wouldn't.

Among my closest RL friends, precisely one is active in SL and enjoys it. And his path and mine in SL virtually never cross in-world, except to chat by IM about things totally unrelated to SL, like planning a RL social activity between our two families, and using SL's IM system simply for convenience. Two other friends tried SL for a while, and gave it up as a waste-of-time money pit that was useless unless you were a content creator and could earn money in-world, or unless you were looking for kinky pixel sex thrills. Both of them did try for many months, and both are very dismissive now of anything that happens in SL.

My parents and sister know I make money by building stuff in SL. As far as I know, neither of my parents ever were the least bit interested in looking at anything other than still photos of what I had built. My sister looked at my projects once so she could screen-shot a few locations for a college paper she was writing about some topic that tangentally touched on virtual worlds, but I've never seen my sister in-world, and don't believe she ever used that account for anything past that one visit.

A few co-workers have seen pictures of stuff I have built, and been amazed. None were interested in exploring the virtual world themselves. In general, it isn't even a topic I bother to bring up in conversation any more.

My own interest in SL is fading badly. I'm only staying because I have a few business clients that I am supporting (though mostly they have moved to opensim now), and because I have maybe 5 friends that I like to socialize with and can only meet in SL. 

[Vladi Hazelnut]

I talk about SL frequently with people I know and meet. Even if I don't know them that well. But I never say if they should try or not. If the express an interest then I might say check it out and tell them how to go about it. Most just look at me like I am a nut though lol. I don't get out much, so most of the people I meet in real life have better things to do with their lives I think.

[Void Singer]

casually? no.

Most of my RL friends are not especially involved in computers, and being a code hack as I am, I probably couldn't explain the casual side of it to people in a way that would appeal to them.

 

to people that have seen me log into it and expressed any kind of interest in what I'm doing, yes, constantly, because I can do live show and tell on my account, showing them something better than the newbie duckwalk experience, or crashtastic experience.... they get a view of what SL can be, and then if they're still interested they can sign up, and I'll help them through getting familiar with things. this way those people both come away with a better impression of what SL can offer, and they can guide me to what interests them. I've made a few converts this way.

[Del Westland]

No, not at all.

In theory SL is a fine idea.  But once you get in and really understand how things are, i.e. the overall cost of actually doing anything, the lag, the incompetence and shortsightedness of LL and dozens of other things, I would never recommend SL to anyone I would like to keep as a friend.

[Kenbro Utu]

If SL comes up in conversation through association to the topic, and the other party seems the slightest bit interested, then I will explain it a little more in depth to them.  The only RL individuals who ever became involved in SL through such interaction is family.  Our oldest daughter was in SL, and through her my wife and I became involved.  In turn, our youngest daughter and her husband became involved in SL through us.  It would be interesting to know what sets those of us who fall in love with SL apart from those who "don't get it." 

[Del Westland]

---

Kenbro Utu wrote:

It would be interesting to know what sets those of us who fall in love with SL apart from those who "don't get it." 

---

 

I think it's the name, "Second LIfe" that's part of the problem.  We see the occasional thread asking where to find work, as to most people a "second life" would mean finding a job, eating, paying bills, etc.  Yeah, loads of fun there.

To others, they might see it as a game.  Join, spend some time in world, then realize it's not really a game and then leave.

For me, in the beginning it was about taking on a different role; being someone I can't be in real life.  Why in the hell would anyone make a carbon copy of themselves to play in SL?  I'll never understand that part.  Hell, if I wanted to present myself as a male I'd put on my boots and go out the front door.  But to see the world as a female, now that's only possible in SL.

But it seems the trend is sort of against that sort of thing what with voice and "verified voice female" groups.  Whatever.  Then maybe most of us don't need SL when we can just go surfing and skydiving in the REAL world instead.  To that, SL can't possibly compare.

[Ishtara Rothschild]

That depends on which kind of friends we're talking about. I'd certainly recommend SL to online friends and acquaintances. In fact, the reason that I joined SL is that my friends in Sociolotron couldn't stop gushing about SL and its endless possibilities back in 2006 Like myself, they came here for the kind of content that keeps other people away.

As for RL friends... well, I don't have any of those. But I surely wouldn't have recommended SL to the kind of people that I considered friends back in my more social days. I got enough peer abuse from them as it was, without them knowing about my female online identities in MMOs.

[Locke Stormcrow]

I used to...I dont now that I am seldom inworld. I pretty much dont like SL, anymore, either...

 

 

Really trying to like it again...

[Ishtara Rothschild]

---

Roseysun Galicia wrote:

... One of them tried it for 15 minutes and was freaked out by the avatars because they were too "real" to them.  ...

---

Too real and yet weirdly autistic LL should have called this platform The Uncanny Valley. Or perhaps Aspie World. Personally, it doesn't disturb me much. Just like my avatar, I also keep a rigid poker face in RL, rarely ever smile, don't look at people when I'm talking to them, and my posture is unnaturally stiff as well, so I fit right in here.

[Deltango Vale]

YES because in spite of Linden Lab's gross mismanagement of Second Life over the past five years, it is blindingly obvious that Second Life represents a huge shift towards an entirely new economic, political and social paradigm.

Does anyone remember the first cellphones? Do you remember being embarrassed when some guy pulled one out of his pocket on a train and start talking. Everyone on the train rolled his eyes at this weirdo geek moron who thought it was cool to use a, cough, walkie-talkie on a train. What? Invest in a cellphone company? Are you insane? Cellphones are toys for boys. They will NEVER catch on. A decade after they were introduced, they still hadn't caught on. I guess cellphones were a really dumb idea after all.

Y'know what? If I had tons of money, I would be thrilled at how everyone thinks Second Life is stupid. Hahaha, yup, it sure is stupid...here's US$25 billion, let me take it off your hands. Gee, I dunno, maybe you're right, let me make that US$10 billion. Yup, I sure am a sucker, hahaha, can we sign the contract please - today - right now!

Sometimes I truly wonder how human beings ever crawled out of their caves and learned to walk upright. I can just imagine the first guy to try it. The rest of the tribe would have huddled against the back wall and watched as Crazy Oogoo took his first steps into daylight. What an idiot, they all said, what a kook. Imagine going out of the nice safe cave to walk on two legs. And then Crazy Oogoo found a stick and drew a triangle within a square, but this was too much for the tribe and they stoned him to death.

[Del Westland]

Everything looks bright and sunny when you're at the top of the pyramid.

For the rest of us consumers, however, SL is no value when there's dozens of alternatives out there.  And dragging your friends onto an iceberg in the Caribbean doesn't make you much of a friend.

[Pamela Galli]

---

Kenbro Utu wrote:

If SL comes up in conversation through association to the topic, and the other party seems the slightest bit interested, then I will explain it a little more in depth to them.  The only RL individuals who ever became involved in SL through such interaction is family.  Our oldest daughter was in SL, and through her my wife and I became involved.  In turn, our youngest daughter and her husband became involved in SL through us.  It would be interesting to know what sets those of us who fall in love with SL apart from those who "don't get it." 

---

I wondered about that too -  I made a blog post about the personality types that SL seems to attract or not here http://lagalleriasl.blogspot.com/2011/03/myers-briggs-personality-types-and.html

[Kenbro Utu]

ENTJ.  Exceptions to every rule I guess.

[Willow Danube]

I have been in the past announcing in my status update about Second Life. My family knows about me and Second Life and I suspect my young brother is in SL. I don't mind them knowing my identity in SL and even follow me around inworld. I can always control what I do and where I go. I am the good daughter in RL and I've got younger siblings that are looking up. They are one of the many reasons why I reincarnated myself from my previous accounts and not getting into the sexual things in SL as long as I can.

But since I started posting in the forums there are so much things I've said that may surprised (if not shocked) people who knew me in RL. I can't control who could see or read what I had posted. Things I've said in here may potentially resulted in dear Daddy to prayers and fastings for my soul and also may earned me a lifetime worth of nagging from Mom on how I should  just go out and find a real husband instead.

In short, Would I recommend SL to friends and family. YES. But I will have to stop posting and asked a Linden to remove all of my posts that I think isn't PG enough.

[Marigold Devin]

---

Pamela Galli wrote:

Kind of related to the portrayal of SL in the film Life 2.0 -- which apparently leaves out everything good about SL. SL has both good and bad stuff (like some other life I can think of -- and which is which depends on your POV) -- is there enough you consider good for you to recommend SL to friends?  If not, what is it that you have the most reservations about?

---

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I would have said "yes" to the question, but I learned during my first few months of being in Second Life that real life friends just have a habit of turning "bot" on me (eyes glaze over) at the mere mention of SL. I did manage to drag two of them into SL; but they didn't get it, found it complicated, and if I mention SL to them, they just completely ignore me, while boring me rigid about Facebook and the closure of the last factories belonging to British Steel time and time again. 

But ohmygod how I do not want any of my friends to see Life 2.0 and judge me by that. I only saw the clip of it, and ... is Philip Linden leading a cult? Oh sh1t what am I involved with?

And I'm an ISFJ - should I be in SL?



[Pamela Galli]

---

Kenbro Utu wrote:

ENTJ.  Exceptions to every rule I guess.

---

Oh plenty of exceptions!  Not a very scientific poll either :-) 

But I bet you are not going to find many ESTJs in SL.