[Your Second Life Story Challenge]

I originally heard about Second Life at work in 2007.  My boss at the time wanted me to explore marketing opportunities for our department.  I made an account and started exploring right away.  I had never been into online gaming before, so everything from the creation of an avatar to the ability to move about was brand new to me.  Although it was a bit of a steep learning curve, I got the hang of it after a day or so.  After researching Second Life for a week, I presented a report to my superiors, hoping that they would find some use for Second Life as either a marketing tool or virtual meeting space.  Unfortunately, the powers that be decided not to use Second Life.  As for me, I had developed an insatiable appetite for exploration in the virtual world and decided to make an avatar for me to use at home.

I explored.  I shopped.  I experienced.  I made friends.

After a couple of months, I bought land and made a home for myself and then invited my real life friend to join Second Life.  Not long afterwards, we discovered the mermaid scene.  It was a ton of fun! 

My friend and I ended up buying beachfront property (the only beachfront property we will probably ever own) and opened up a shop with a mermaid playground below.  A few months later, I became interested in the idea of creating a theme park.  I thought at the time, "Hey, this is Second Life, why not?"  In 2008, we ended up opening a park called Magicland that is still open today.

As a result of running Magicland, I've made many friends and acquaintances in Second Life; some of which have blossomed into real life friendships.  As a result of Second Life, I've met people from all walks of life and from many different countries. These are everyday people that I would have not have met otherwise. 

I cherish each friendship that has been made and every moment that has been spent building and creating new things.  It's been a crazy 13 years and I'm hoping for more 🙂

[Second Life down?]

I just got in, but logins are reeeeeeealy slow at the moment

[Second Life down?]

Same problem here...tried to log in with Cool VL...got a message that it couldn't connect to the grid.  When that wouldn't work, I switched to Viewer 3 and got the same message.

 

I checked the SL Grid Status Reports Page and no updates, although the SL website is going extremely slow.