[Where's the Black Community? / Friends]

Interesting thread.

OP, if it helps, I am mixed race (half black, half white) in real life, so if you want, you're free to send me a PM or something. It's always cool to meet more black folks.

Now in regards to the state of SL, I posted about this in other threads but here I go again.

Virtual worlds and online games in general have been in decline since ~2009 and this is pretty obvious - every single one I used to frequent has shut down or is in limbo. There have been some recreations made by fans (such as FreeSO, a remake of The Sims Online) but these aren't active like the real games were. 

Social networks are much more used nowadays, though they have their cons. Back then, social networks existed but people liked to express themselves in online games. In the case of MMORPGs, they liked fighting monsters and doing quests with their friends. I remember seeing couples who met in games like World of Warcraft and married offline.

Not so much anymore, and I don't know if this change in behaviour relates to people being more lonely (according to the media, anyway).

Facebook sucks because it is real-life based and this can bring issues. The users can be very rude as well, I've reported a ton of trolls but they do nothing against them.

And Facebook makes it seem like all of your friends are happier than you. It's a competition almost.

I don't know if Second Life has less members or not but things surely changed around here. In fact I just posted about this very topic.

It helps that until a few years ago Linden Lab was investing hard on marketing and they opened a bunch of international grids and partnered with companies and organisations.

I am from Brazil, and they would not stop talking about SL in 2007, it was everywhere... TV, articles, etc.

Now, schools choose other platforms to teach their students and most of the members who joined because of the hype have left.

I don't know, but it seems like single-player games are a trend again, and if someone chooses multiplayer it's probably a first-person shooter or MOBA (League of Legends, for starters).

Fixyun is right but there are some things that will always have a place in my heart and virtual worlds is one of them. I made a lot of friends on several online services that no longer exist. I lost contact with pretty much everyone except one or two people. I met my best friend and mentor 7 years ago on MSN and we are still going strong, even if some things have changed.

It is sad to see these services go, even if it means that something better may come.

[Is it just me or are there less stores now? And where do you find a place with non-AFK people? Virtual worlds really are in decline, sadly.]

23 minutes ago, Klytyna said:

Sounds like FirstLife, and every other "world" imaginary or real...

Your account is created, you wander about a lot, surrounded by random people, some of whom may tell you to stick your head in a pig, and then your account gets deleted...

Get used to it. We call it "Life"
 

That's true! I have yet to learn how to deal with rude people effectively. But bad treatment is often unwarranted. I think once you get older and older you stop caring about what others think.

[Is it just me or are there less stores now? And where do you find a place with non-AFK people? Virtual worlds really are in decline, sadly.]

10 minutes ago, Jameson2001 said:

One thing I have noticed compared to ten years ago is the average age of SL users seems to be increasing  (just like you 8 to 20).  When I first started I routinely ran into people in their late teens, early twenties and i usually visited popular sims.  Now, it is rare when I run into anyone under the age of 25 and even rarer to meet teens on SL (only two in the last year).   It may be that SL is not a fast paced enough gaming environment for young adults, or it could be that I am 10 years older and not going to the "cool" sims anymore.  Enjoy your time back on SL and I am sure you will find friends to hang out and have fun?

Interesting observation

It's not you. You are right that things have changed. Virtual worlds have been in decline since around 2010 - basically when Facebook really exploded in popularity. Younger people prefer to watch YouTube and play other games. Second Life is too much of a relaxed environment for them to be in. And to be honest the engine is quite outdated (despite there being mesh avatars)... nowadays you have games that are super realistic and not as complex, you can just start the game and play. Second Life requires patience both to learn how to get by and to find places to go. I must be an old soul lol. This place seems more appealing to me than ever especially now that I am experimenting with gender expression via my avatar. Now I can talk with adults with no problems, and that's great.

[Is it just me or are there less stores now? And where do you find a place with non-AFK people? Virtual worlds really are in decline, sadly.]

9 minutes ago, Phorumities said:

so you say you are now 20, you say you got your first account in 2006, so the first time you joined SL you were eight years old?

Yes, I have already said that. But I had just registered then. I wasn't a part of the "in-game world". I know this wasn't allowed, but it's in the past anyway and I can't change it.

Nowadays I want to connect with people on here, and maybe have fun. I want to find more friends on the Internet, but forums are often serious and cutthroat. SL tends to be more relaxed I guess.

I keep checking the Destination Guide - I might find something to do with friends. I worry if my friends are bored so I need a place where we can have fun and destress.

I want to buy Lindens/Premium so I can get a house but I need to connect Paypal to a bank or card first. This might take a while 

[Is it just me or are there less stores now? And where do you find a place with non-AFK people? Virtual worlds really are in decline, sadly.]

59 minutes ago, Alyona Su said:

You must be that newbie avatar I ran into back in 2006 (true story) who wanted to badly be friends with me and was asking all kinds of questions about the kid-looking avatars (pointing to one in the immediate area) and why they looked like that and I told you how they role-play being adopted to have other avatars as mom and dad and you freaked out saying something along the lines of "Wait, you mean that 8 year-old kid is like some 50 year old man? GROSS!" - to which me and my friend laughed, the kid avatar poofed away, and we walked away and you followed us like a puppy dog for a half hour as we tried to ignore you and we were saying in IM:

 

WELCOME BACK!

Haha, I wasn't that kid, but it sounds like a good story. Virtual worlds were a huge thing for kids around that time because you could create an avatar and chat with others. And thanks for the "welcome back!".

I made many friends in different virtual worlds and social networks but sadly I lost contact with pretty much everyone.

Second Life in particular sounded exciting because you could fly, ride a skateboard, play games like capture-the-flag, etc.

This is off-topic but while I agree that SL isn't for kids, I don't see a problem with teenagers here as long as they aren't bothering anyone and going to places they shouldn't. Maturity plays a part, too. Of course the official LL policy is that you need to be 16+ and stay in General-rated areas or 13+ if you have permission from an organisation.

Speaking from my experience at least, you really only encounter nudity if you're looking for it or if there is a griefer trying to annoy you. There is educational and artistic content on the grid and I know there were schools and universities offering inworld courses so SL can be beneficial for pretty much every user.

I remember seeing a lot of teenagers in 2010-11 but they always pretended to be older.

Ahem... we are beating a dead horse

57 minutes ago, Gadget Portal said:

SL used to offer features that no other "game" offered.

Now other games are offering the same features, plus gameplay, plus optimization and better performance. 

There's just no incentive anymore. 

I don't know much new games. I know that GTA Online and VRchat are quite big, but from what I hear, in GTA everything is server-based so you end up with random people who may or may not be rude. VRchat looks exciting but I don't have a machine that would run that well yet.

[What Keeps You Coming Back To SL?]

The metaverse idea. I like how you can make an avatar and roam in a fantasy/"fake" world. There are many places to explore and ways to customise your avatar the way you want.

[Second Life Psychiatrists?]

I agree with many posters here. I would advise seeking a real psychotherapist and possibly a psychiatrist if you need one. There are websites that apparently offer paid counseling but I wouldn't trust these, to be honest.

There might be licensed professionals in SL but treatment may be suboptimal - if they even choose to help you, since trolls are indeed an issue. 

Again, seek a real person to treat you. There is no shame.

And take care with bad doctors. A bad one is worse than no doctor.

Now, roleplay does exist and you can probably find someone who is willing to pretend they're a therapist.

[Is it just me or are there less stores now? And where do you find a place with non-AFK people? Virtual worlds really are in decline, sadly.]

9 minutes ago, Cindy Evanier said:

 

You were 8? 

I don't think people hang out in shops much unless there's some new grab it now item.  Events are where you find a crowd in the first few days.  There are still plenty of clubs around.  You are right about marketplace search, it does take a lot of work to find what you want.  Sometimes I find it easier to google something and include secondlife marketplace in the search and see what comes up

Yeah, I was around that age, but now I am old enough (over 18) to come here without LL hating me forever, and like I said, I want to verify my age and buy Lindens now (as soon as I can). And I signed up in 2006 but didn't actually use the software until much later.

If the Teen Grid was available when I was an actual teenager I would have joined it. But it doesn't matter now lol.

Before I just wanted to make an avatar and in the past SL was a trend so everybody was signing up (especially in 2007 when they created international grids).

In regards to the marketplace, I do find things on Google sometimes when I'm not even looking specifically. I might have to try that again.

[Is it just me or are there less stores now? And where do you find a place with non-AFK people? Virtual worlds really are in decline, sadly.]

13 minutes ago, SAULGOODiE said:

*Shops* in the traditional sense are definitely on the decline. Majority of shopping is done on marketplace, and social shopping tends to be done and "Exclusive Events"

All of the things you mention still exist, though perhaps not as widespread as before. There are plenty of clubs that feature unique alternative/electronic music. I would honestly recommend you spend some time with "Groups", there are many groups I am a part of that I rely on for club announcements and events where I can meet up with other people. Groups have become one of my favorite tools to "Find" people actually online and active. Think about it - if you join a Science Fiction group, for example, if you jump in the chat you are instantly connected to people with a similar interest all across the grid - it is such a better method than hopping around sims trying to find other residents or start random conversations.

The fact of the matter, as I always mention, is that you aren't going to find people standing around in public places. Active residents tend to frequent shopping events, featured sims, or just stay home for a photo shoot! The grid might not be the same as it used to be, but it's certainly not dead ?good luck with everything!

 

Thank you. I used to join groups just for freebies/gifts so I never knew their true potential. Good idea, I want to find more people who have things in common with me. I check out featured sims but a lot of them tend to be themed and sometimes you just want a café or a place to relax.

This post makes me more optimistic.

In regards to shopping, I don't know if the marketplace search algorithm is borked but I used to get way better results before. Maybe I haven't been using the filters properly.

[SL VS IMVU]

I have a long history with IMVU and virtual worlds in general.

It was officially released in 2004 as an add-on for IM software such as AIM and it was created by Will Harvey of Makena Technologies fame (He made There.com, another virtual world). I signed up for IMVU in 2006 but only started using it in 2008. It is not a virtual world, it is a chat program first and foremost. The customisation has always been great on IMVU since users create items just like in SL. Anshe Chung was big on IMVU too and I used to buy her rooms there.

I had some great moments on there, but that's because people were more active and sociable then. Nowadays all you see are AFK avatars or people who are rude/boring (being honest here). They don't try to start a conversation and just hang out in cliques (they existed before but weren't as bad).

The software itself hasn't evolved much over the years, website included. The website has been mostly unchanged since it launched, and whilst IMVU had an interface revamp circa 2009, there haven't been many significant changes since then.

I still go there from time to time just to play dress up, and leave very soon, because it is boring without any friends. I showed IMVU and SL to 2 friends I recently made and they liked both.

[What is your preferred virtual world?]

Ain't got patience to read all the other replies, but I visited all of these virtual worlds you listed. My first virtual world was Habbo Hotel and I joined in July 13th 2006. It was magical then.

My favourites are/were Habbo, Mokitown, VMK, Coke Studios (these two were co-created by Sulake, the same company who created Habbo), vSide (sadly abandoned after its acquisition by another company), IMVU, Gaia Online, etc. Of course I also love Second Life, but I am a functional noob here. I always wanted to try out There.com but nothing was truly free, and it took me a long time for me to be allowed to join. It shut down for a while but it is back up. Membership is now paid.

Most of these games you listed were for kids or teenagers. I joined Second Life when I was a minor in 2006, and I had many accounts throughout the years, but I never stayed for long.

Virtual worlds and online games (such as MMORPGs) have been in steady decline for the past few years, I'd say around 2011. Facebook got super popular and nobody wants to spend time with fantasylands anymore.

I'll copy something I wrote on another post.

"99% of the online games and virtual worlds I frequented are dead or in limbo, and I lost contact with nearly everyone from the past. This makes me sad because I see so much potential in things like this. Just as an example, I used to hang out with my friend in Habbo Hotel, but he's been super busy with RL affairs and lost interest in online games now that he's grown up. I decided to come back here again and I'm trying to show this place to some friends - one of them loved it and I'm glad.

I might even show SL to my mother. She is older and has a lot of free time. I think she'd enjoy socialising here and exploring.

It does seem like VR worlds are on the rise, so that's another cool idea."

[Is it just me or are there less stores now? And where do you find a place with non-AFK people? Virtual worlds really are in decline, sadly.]

Hi. Sorry if this is in the wrong subforum and I hope you don't misunderstand me, I am not saying that SL is dying, but it does seem emptier now. This post may turn out to be long.

Let's just say that I'm a semi-noob. I don't know how to do many things, but I know how to at least open boxes, resize items and I can get by with the camera controls. I used to inform myself about SL, so I am not that stupid on how things work around here - and I've loved the metaverse idea since forever.

Despite my young age (20), I have always been involved with SL (and virtual worlds) in some capacity. I came here, made a character, dressed up, chatted with people, tried things out for a bit, then left. I first created an account here in late 2006 (I believe). They still had last names! 

Throughout the years there were many other accounts, but I never stayed for too long. I was a minor then, and I didn't want to get in trouble. My computer(s) sucked too so I wasn't able to have the best experience. When I was finally old enough to try out the Teen Grid, they had gotten rid of it, and I wouldn't have been able to afford the membership fee anyway. I also recall Teen Grid being mostly comprised of US/Canada members because other countries had problems or something like that.

Now I am old enough to enjoy SL without restrictions, and I am going to get a new machine soon (this one is extremely obsolete). I may consider verifying my age and buying Lindens too.

From my previous time here, I remember seeing lots of places, but I never knew where the action was; if I searched for locations I usually found an empty lot. I did find people to chat with however, and it was interesting. There are also times when SL is a trend/has a spike in popularity, but now it seems that it is largely ignored. There are barely any newbies now. They used to be so much more common. I would go to other grids but they are empty - so main is the way to go.

There were also so many cool products especially for alternative/subculture avatars, but now it is harder to find things like that, or other things I want. This wasn't a problem before, but I didn't have money so I couldn't afford anything. It seems like the marketplace search algorithms have gotten wonky. It's frustrating because it took me and my friend 2 days to find actually good clothing that fit our personal style. I use the classic avatar currently due to lack of Lindens, but now everything is for mesh bodies.

Where the h*ck are people now? Where are the shops? I can't find what I need either in-world or the marketplace. It doesn't help that now I am using a male character (long story) and there are less options for menswear in general. I don't mind doing drag and wearing a dress once in a while, but I want nice male clothing.

I log in at night so this might be the problem, but still, I never see more than 50 people in any given region now, and the most popular places seem to be clubs or nude beaches... as always. (Oh, the lag!). How do I find clubs that play alternative and electronic music? I lucked out once, but that was 2 years ago.

I want to roleplay, but it seems like a lot of sims have closed down in the past few years, and I'm still not very good at roleplaying, much less on SL. I would need other players to have patience. I'm planning to RP casually with some friends.

I've always wanted to get a job here, but I never had a presentable avatar before, and I don't have any marketable skills (such as building). Least I could do is work as a DJ or a dancer/escort (lol).

I know that many previously active members of the community are leaving in droves because of certain reasons - mostly boredom/RL issues, but also due to Linden Lab's changing policies.

99% of the online games and virtual worlds I frequented are dead or in limbo, and I lost contact with nearly everyone from the past. This makes me sad because I see so much potential in things like this. Just as an example, I used to hang out with my friend in Habbo Hotel, but he's been super busy with RL affairs and lost interest in online games now that he's grown up. I decided to come back here again and I'm trying to show this place to some friends - one of them loved it and I'm glad.

I might even show SL to my mother. She is older and has a lot of free time. I think she'd enjoy socialising here and exploring.

It does seem like VR worlds are on the rise, so that's another cool idea.