Although most of the people that I have met in SL often like to keep their Second & First Lifes seperated, there are a few people out there that bring friends, family and lovers into Second Life. I for one have my Boyfriend and Best Friend in Second Life with me. But, my question to you is, how do you explain your virtual world addiction to an outsider?
These are a few things I have told people who have asked me about what Second Life is...
1.) It is not a game... it is a Virtual World. Wikipedia defines a Virtual World as an online community that takes the form of a computer-based simulated environment through which users can interact with one another and use and create objects.
2.) I sometimes refer to the computer game Sims, but with no boundaries. You are in control of how you live your "Second Life" But you do not have to preform certain tasks or goals. You can meet people, friends and lovers in SL... Many people do. I have had many SL friends that were in relationships online. Some moved across countries to be with the person they fell in love with in-world. Imagine dating someone you found on match.com or facebook, only they lived in another country... its basically the same kind of thing, or someone you clicked with in a chat room, and became a really close friends.. only this chat room has no boundaries and you met on a beach surfing a big wave instead of sitting there looking at only text on your screen...
3.) It is a downloadable and FREE program with comes in multiple viewers. Phoenix, Firestorm, Viewer 2 and many more. A "viewer" is also something you may need to break down for someone. Here is an example I happened to use last night when explaining it to my Best Friend who has recently joined SL. Think of these SL Viewers as your different Cable or Dish companies... You see everything basically the same way, most of the same shows and options, but all of their layouts on the screen are a little different, different icons, or wordings... That is the difference between SL viewers... They are all basically the same, just small differences.
4.) You can do anything that you can do in RL in SL, you can travel to Paris, NYC, Egypt, Rome, Key West... Almost anywhere that SL users have created on the Second Life Grid (The basic map and make up of SL, our Second Life Planet if you will) Along with the quickness of travel, oh yeah by the way you can teleport in Second Life, You can also build and sell anything you can think of! You can obtain a job, a house, pets, children, massive wardrobes, cars, airplanes, boats, anything you can think of! You can dance, swim, jump, High-5, scream and shout, drive cars, kill zombies, Role-play in MANY different ways, Explore, take a hot air balloon ride, go parachuting, Ride a horse, go to Magicland (a remake of Disneyland), Go out on a hot date and even take your date home with you at the end of the night ;) (if you know what I mean)
5.) How do you get money? Well in SL money is referred to as Linden. You can obtain this one of two ways. 1.) You can use US dollars to purchase Linden at a very small exchange rate. 2.) You can get a job. There are various ways to make money in SL, but being new to SL and earning money is a bit harder. Most places require you to be at least 30 days old before they will hire you... All except any job in the Stripping and Escorting Services. (Yeah, you read that right!) These jobs do not require much knowledge of SL, although your Avatar (Your Second YOU) needs to look good, be able to flirt for your money. Other jobs in SL that do NOT require any Hell Mary's afterwards are, Hosts and Hostesses (They keep parties in SL running), DJ's, Talent Agents, Club Managers, Club Owners, Writers, Builders, Scripters, Photographers, Models, and the expanding world of Second Life creates more and more job opportunities!
6.) What is the best part of Second Life? Well each individual's opinion on this would differ I am sure, but I can tell you what my favorite parts of Second Life are.
1.) I get to meet people from ALL over the world, people that I develop friendships with, that had I not joined SL, I would not have the chance of meeting.
2.) I love the Live Music in SL, Users can purchase streams (like shoutcast) and stream LIVE into Second Life, DJ's can Spin and keep parties rocking, Musicians can perform in front of a virtual audience, Comedians can do stand up. Poetry readings and storytelling are also very popular with the Artsy people of SL.
3.) I have visited many Models of Real Life Universities and other companies. Universities create virtual versions of their schools, you can walk through and take tours of them. Some companies use SL as a platform to show what a building WILL look like once built, giving people the chance to walk through it as if it already exists.
4.) There are so many communities in SL, each one with different interests, there is no way you will come to SL and not find something that you are interested in.
These are the highlighted topics that I talk about when explaining my Virtual Addiction. I would love to hear from you if you did not see one of the parts of SL that you either enjoy or share with your First Life friends and family when explaining Second Life.
If you are reading because you are interested in becoming Bi-Lifed (Having more then one life) Look me up once you are in-world. I would love to meet you and show you around!
Have a wonderfully virtual day!
-T r i s t a-
Trista Potez
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