Molly Rowley

I'm 5'2" and a bit - must be an SL thing - attracts 5'2"ers ?

I'm jumping in here and hope that's ok instead of starting a new thread. I don't DJ but I do like streaming my own music collection to my land in SL. Been gone for a while - when last about in SL I used to use Winamp - seems that's not good with Windows 10 - any suggestions please - and thanks in advance

I joined SL back in 2007 and after floundering around for about a year trying to figure how everything worked out - especially the residents - I became friends with a group of people who were beginning to mess around with building. It really was the best fun, I learned a lot about SL and also about other important things, such as the need to avoid drama, and not to take anything too seriously - especially myself. I built a lot of warehouse/industrial stuff with broken windows and falling in roofs (remember lots of those kinds of builds back then) - those were the days of prims, textures and some sculpties. The prim was restricted to 10m sizes so the hunt for a stable 'giant prim' was real. The warehouses turned into grunge clubs and many evenings were spent lazing around, dancing, drinking (quite often in RL) and listening to music that wouldn't really have been played in my house RL. Discovering that art could be a huge part of SL experience was a real plus for me, hearing live music, acting out childhood fantasies as a vampire or a survivalist was 'laugh out loud' fun in RL as well as SL. SL looked as though it was going to be something special, a good compliment to the hassles and constraints of RL (which wasn't bad either). I loved meeting people from around the world, the diversity of characters in SL is terrific, and as I never did the 'love/partner' thing I didn't worry too much about who anyone actually was in RL terms, people were people and SL was like a giant dolls house village for grown ups, I was of an older generation on SL and it was a sort of silly fun I thought I was way past and I loved actually learning new stuff and learning about places, things and music/art/literature I'd never have been exposed to in my RL. ? I think it began to change for me around 2012, friends leaving, builds changing, somehow 'drama' seemed to be hard to avoid in clubland and leaked into every other area, so I gave the social side of SL a miss and tried other things. To be honest I missed the camaraderie and fun of discovering how to make builds better and then using them for great social events, showing off what I could do with pieces of plywood and paint, with additional sculpties for things that dressed the place. The 'arrival' of mesh for me was a big thing in my SL experience, no longer were prim builds enough, mesh allowed builds that prim builders just couldn't achieve - especially with prim restrictions. I didn't want to learn blender, I didn't want to spend hours on a software programme, the whole point of SL was doing things inworld with other people and having fun with successes and disasters just the same. I bounced about SL for a bit, looking for new things to be interested in but gradually my time in SL became shorter and by 2014/2015 time spent in SL had dropped to maybe once a month just to nip about looking at the wonderful new builds and maybe have a chat with any old acquaintances who were online. Most of those were disappearing also, either to new identities or leaving SL like I was. 2015 was the last year I visited SL anyway regularly. in the past 3 years I think I've been online maybe half a dozen times. Finding myself with a bit more free time on my hands in the last month or so, I made the journey back for a while anyway. It took me ages to remember how to work things, including viewer, and the mesh avi thing is a proper learning curve. The bigger tier free plot is great, prims can be almost any size (that had happened before I left) and for the moment relearning how to build is more fun than watching TV. I've already met some lovely and generous people (Rhonda sorted mesh out for me, I will be forever grateful) and although I'm not the most sociable of people (comes with age) I'm giving SL another try. After this week my time here is limited (I was never a 7 day week resident anyway) but I will be around and about a couple of evenings (UK time) most weeks and you might bump into me as I wander about looking for what is now the best of SL. Making friends, well I always reckoned it was about doing stuff you actually like, not lying or creating false impressions, and keeping it light and cheerful and not trying too hard. So hi everyone, maybe see you around inworld ?

And therein lies the secret to a happy Second Life ?

I wonder will older residents get a chance to change our name... I quite like mine but I have seen some that probably seemed clever at the time but maybe not so wonderful now.

I'm truly amazed by your gift, thank you so much x

I've been reading through a lot of the topics here and think I have learned a few things: No need for mesh body unless you go naked/beach/skimpy - mesh clothing will do the job no need for mesh head, Hands might be something to consider Questions Remaining: I quite like my old look from years ago - smallish, older female with slightly more androgynous look - would like to give it an update though even though I'm now even older ? Perhaps need for mesh feet - but is that relevant if you wear mesh shoes/boots? Are all new skins wearable with system head/body? Hair - what is the best (simple style) hair for a system head? Thanks in advance for any answers ?

Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment. I love that rims are still being used... and loved. I think the best way forward for me is what so many of you have suggested - prims, sculpties and a bit of mesh - using everything for the best effect and the greatest joy. This may just be enough to give SL one more 'go'. Thanks again everyone, hopefully I'll see you, or some of your build inworld ?

I used to build a lot some years ago, always for my pleasure and not commercial. I think the downgrading of prims (because that's what it felt like) when mesh came in had an impact on how I enjoyed SL. It's never been quite the same since. I only go online every few months now, just wondering if things had 'calmed' a bit.

Wondering if anyone builds with prims anymore. The old fashioned way - inworld , upload textures - all that historic stuff. Just wondering :-)

You are so right - will be a pity if shopping leaves SL - not sure if that's the way it's going that SL itself won't slip away - just like the High Street

I'm going to dive in here and say... YES. But then crazy people are nearly always the most interesting and the most fun so... congratulations. :smileyhappy: