Persephone Emerald

Policing Second Life is kind of like trying to police the internet, because there are all kinds of people in here with all kinds of goals and attitudes. Where you go in SL will also largely determine the kinds of people you meet and their interests. I'm sure there are those who look for child avatars for inappropriate activities, just as there are people who chose to use a child avatar for those activities. I think there are more people using child avatars in non-sexual roleplay, but I have no way to measure that data. Adult regions may sometimes be for largely non-sexual roleplay, such as family, vampire, ancient world or Game of Thrones RP. Because there may be adult themes acted out, the owners of such sims often decide to keep the sim set to Adult and will dissuade players from allowing child avatars in areas or in scenes where adult activity may take place. They may allow child avatars in non-sexual scenarios, because they would be appropriate characters in the roleplay there. The age of a player can not generally be proven, but since Moderate and Adult regions are supposed to keep out minors, I think it's reasonable for people in these areas to assume that the avatars there are probably being run by adults. Suggesting that an avatar could make money stripping or escorting does not mean someone is trying to groom a child for adult activities. It's just a well know way that some people make money in SL, and unless you say you're a minor in RL, most people will assume you're an adult in RL. On the other hand, if you do see things that are obviously against the TOS, such as RL sexual pictures in someone's public profile, then you should report that. I've seen a few pictures in people's profiles and skyboxes that shocked me, so I know this can be a problem in SL.

I also think your best option is to get the free LucyBody and free Genus Strong head, then buy the LucyBody BOM applier for $ 197 (about 80 cents US). The Atenea LucyBody fits Maitreya clothes and Slink shoes, both of which have thousands of free items that fit them inworld and on Marketplace. I love free stuff, but sometimes you'll save more in the long run by spending a little bit upfront. If you buy about $5 to $10 in linden dollars, you can join groups that have free group gifts. Then get a mesh body and head that will allow you to wear thousands of free skins, make-ups, outfits, & etc. You don't have to pay rent for land if you find nice, quiet places that let you rez packages. You might even find places that have houses you can use for free, especially if you can join their land group. Make finding good freebies one of your main gaming goals, and SL will not let you down.

If one doesn't have time to build a ring for their partner, how will they have time to be a partner?

Divorce in SL does not cost alimony, but I think it costs $L 100 to dissolve the partnership? (It's been a long time since I was partnered and unpartnered, so I'm not sure what it costs now.) The other person may be too cheap to pay for dissolving the partnership he no longer wants, or maybe he doesn't want to admit to his own failings as a SL partner? Maybe he feels a little guilty, but obviously has not enough courage to talk and tell you that he no longer wants to be partnered. To me it sounds like it is not you who is lacking as a person, but it is these men who simply ghost you and run away.

Wouldn't that be the carpet?

Firestorm lets you have multiple windows open with different accounts. At that point the limitations are on your computer and internet connection.

Real life is transient too. How many real lives have been forgotten? How many books? How many artistic creations? We can never ultimately control how or if we will be remembered, but even so we can have an impact on other people's lives. A kind word or helping hand vs. a cruel one or devastating blow could ultimately make a difference of life or death to someone life and then go on to affect others who pass through their life as well.

Ah, this explains the tiny heads on some male mesh bodies.

You can wear a companion animal as an avatar. Just make your body invisible, attach the animal, and adjust it to your center and ground level. It will walk when you walk, run when you run, an sit or stand when you're still, but it will not have more sophisticated animations. I know this isn't what you're asking for, but it is an easy and inexpensive way of wearing an animal avatar.

I wonder if that was an SL "Dom" searching for a new submissive?

I hate to break it to you, but SL sex has nothing to do with procreation.

That top video looks like a SL furry rave:

I have 2 premium (annual) & 2 basic accounts. I don't spend much on my basic accounts, but I give them a few lindens to buy things from time to time. What this boils down to is $ 200 US/ year, averaging out to maybe $20/ month at most (if I add money I've spent in the past for extra lindens). I don't pay rent, because I have a nice mainland parcel. I don't need to buy much, because there is so much free and sale stuff in SL. I rarely buy a new mesh body or head. I do contribute to sims or tip people sometimes.

YES! to all of this. SL is a fantasy world. Let's have more clothing that is not just sexy, skimpy streetwear. Ball gowns don't seem to be very popular, but more cross-cultural, historical, sci-fi and fantasy clothing would be nice.

That's the problem with text. Someone even thought I was serious on another thread when I said people who dress as demons in SL are being racist. 😄

I didn't say anything about transfolk. I was joking about the common assumptions people have about catfishing in SL.

Maybe it's just me, but the only avatars who have hit on me in stores were submissive guys who asked me (very politely) if I wanted to be their Mistress.

What! You mean guys pretend to be female in SL not just to hook up with lesbians, but also to hook up with presumably straight guys? 😆

I don't think my individual avatars have any consciousness of their own. I think their consciousness is part of my own, sort of like a pseudopod of my own consciousness, reaching into SL and using these visual representations to individualize parts of my subconscious mind. There could be a collective consciousness of Second Life itself though, basically an Egragore of SL. I think a good name for it would be Sansara, one of the original names proposed for Second Life, which ended up being the name of its largest continent and in a shorter form became the name for Sansar.

I'm in much the same boat, but I also choose to self-isolate and play in a virtual world. It's less stressful and less ego-challenging than going out into RL to make and keep new friends. Thank goodness I have a housemate who I actually like and get along with. I'm also quite capable of getting along fine with my coworkers. Yet, I would still rather go into a virtual world that feels safe and familiar than to challenge myself with RL people whom I don't know very well.

That may be part of it, but couldn't we get a better version of that in RL if we really wanted it? I was waiting for a response so I could half-jokingly postulate an alternative reason; maybe it's not just something that we feed on, but also something that feeds on us? 💻👻

Yup, and Dungeons and Dragons was going to turn everyone who played it into Satanists.

I thought Prokofy meant that the virtual space of Second Life was transgender, as in beyond gender, but I guess sometimes I see what I want to see too. I do think most of the people who play a gender in SL that different than their RL sex do so for a variety of psychological reasons that even they may not be fully aware of. I think the percentage of people who play in SL and identify as trans in RL is actually pretty small. Most men who play in SL as a female avatar are not trans, and transwomen don't figure at all into Prokofy's 3 catagories. Transwomen, I'd argue, are probably not likely to use hugely disproportionate female avatars, because they want their avatar to look as they would want to look in RL.

Nothing is really "necessary" in SL, and yet it must be necessary because we keep coming back here. It's not the food, shelter and clothing that we need in RL, and which we spend real money on to survive in RL. It must be that we need an ineffable something from here that feeds our minds and souls.

I understand his frame of reference as to the Japanese TV series "Ultraman", which was popular when I was a young child, but I this reply still means nothing to me. 🤖🤔😕