Where IS everybody????

Is it just me, or is the world a lonely place sometimes?


I am going through a particularly busy time in my RL now so can't get onto SL as much as I used to or as I would like to, but when I log on, I find my "old" friends are usually not online. And if they are, they're often waaaay far away doing something I have no part of, so to see them I have to choose between building or socializing. Before I could do both at the same time.

As far as I can tell, two things have happened:

1- other people have gotten busy in RL too
2- the world has gotten so big that it's hard for old groups of friends to find each other.
3- the world has gotten so big that people you used to occasionally do things with, you never see, so they drift out of your second life.

The world will keep growing, so I've been trying to come up with solutions, like maybe an in-world Sim blog or a Sim Bulletin Board so other people in the Sim could keep up with and communicate with each other as it gets more and more difficult to do so.

Any other ideas anyone?

Help! I miss my old friends!

Maggie

the world has gotten way large. i've discovered two things over the past couple of months.

i can not do everything anymore. i've had to scale myself back to working on a few (very few) projects and attending only certain types of events each week. i know i'm missing out on a ot of fabulous opportunities, but it's just impossible to keep up.

secondly, i'm having a to make a point to spend time with people that i want to be close to. it's not hard to do; it's simply too easy to stay busy with all the stuff going on inworld that i'm not seeing everybody everywhere all the time anymore. i noticed that i was seeing people i really like a lot and saying "wow haven't seen you for a month." not because we hadn't been online, but because we were never in the same place. now i go to them as much as possible.

As the world grows, your actual virtual neighbors are going to become more important.

Once the land thing gets under control, people will be able to shift around to the "neigborhoods" that they want. Until then, choose where you live wisely.

Some day, we'll here people say things like "I've never been to that side of the world. I wonder what it's like".

I think this is both a good and a bad thing. At times, I'd like to see it encouraged more with the elimination of teleportation.

..there are definitely areas i haven't seen at all in a long, long time. mainly, the northern sims.. not up there much at all.

actually, i don't spend as much time in-world as i used to either.. and when i am in-world, i tend to just stay on my land and build. but that's because i need to.

and please.. don't get rid of the tele-hubs. it would discourage going to further sims.. not to mention making getting to events a nightmare. i understand the logic behind this idea and think it's a great result that is desired, i just think it would back-fire.

but as far as, 'where is everyone' .. i'm sure it has to do with a few things: summer's (basically) here, the growth of SL is like a continental drift of people instead of land, and more people are doing other things in RL & in SL.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one experiencing this.

I've had the thought, too, Oneironaut, about who you live near becoming more and more significant as the world gets larger.

Maggie

IMO, sl will become more social when flying and teleportation are GONE.

Do you ever stop someone while flying to chat? Telehubs have failed in their main purpose (which was to make *cities* of sorts around telehubs, this idea failed horribly), either bring back the pre 1.1 system of take out teleporting.

how about doing away with most of the telehubs but allowing us to still port each other. we could still have hubs in places like ahern, just a lot fewer of them. and yes, who your nieghbors are is beginning to matter immensely. i think it'll become more even more important over time.

*edited to place the telehub in ahern where it actually is

Apparently, from most I've experienced, all my friends went off to some place else other than SL.

<makes mental note to drop by and see Maggie more often>

I really enjoyed the last time the old clementina gang got together... gotta do that again soon!

Yeah...we were able to participate in our usual high-brow intellectual activities. Oh. Wait. Never mind. Pete made us all dead and then we made dead av traps.

Good times.

Cybin...sorry....your taxi got returned when I sold my land...I'll ask Angel if you can put one up on her land in Periwinkle.

When the land thing is solved??? As far as I can see the land problem is going on as ever...a few buying the land at auctions and reselling at ridiculous prices...yes land prices have gone down a bit....but not anywhere to where they should be given the amount of new sims.


Einsman...I know what you mean.......

I spend too much time off-line working on stuff for SL in Photoshop and not enough time in-world. I haven't stepped foot in most of the newer sims for more than the few minutes it takes to fly over them.

Three ideas:

1. No-telehub Tuesdays (or whatever day you choose), where you pick a day that you spend some time in SL and vow not to use telehubs to get around. (I'd suggest not flying, too, but that would be next to impossible, IMHO; maybe not fly for any distance farther away than a sim or two.)

2. The SL equivalent of block parties, since summer is almost here and that's something people often do IRL. It's nice to connect with old friends and neighbors as well as meet new (or potential) ones.

3. I'd love to see some events that focus on showing off different locations around SL, such as the shopping tours that Loki used to do, or the events that Shadow used to have that took people to different locations to see neat stuff. Maybe a tour of the bars/clubs in SL, or the "wilderness/parks" areas, or maybe a "poker run" sort of event where players have to pick up stuff from a bunch of different locations and then have an ending spot where they all congregate. (I participated in a gay pride parade type event in There where all the people involved traveled to different locations using the vehicle of their choice, and then the event culminated in a drag show; it was a hoot.)

If you do fly, I suggest flying around using your mini-map "radar".

I have made friends simply by flying toward the next dot on my mini map and saying hello.

I know the feeling, Maggs and I live in adjoining sims and rarely see each other

its spring lawns to mow gardens to plant bikes to ride fish to catch just we arn't trapped indoors as much now

"dont worry be happy echos from anouther thread"

just wait with sunburn,injury and allergies we'll be back

Pulls out the worlds smallest violin and plays a sad tune for Cap'n. Argh! I'm here

For me it's more like 'where is everyone I knew?'. But as Einsman said, a lot of people are leaving for good. I've watched dozens of my friends do the same in the last month or two - another very good friend on a lifetime account dropped inworld last nite to say she is leaving.

And I don't blame them, really. SL is not what it used to be, and many don't like a lot of the changes. Me included.

For me, the choice was to get a private island or leave. But I still stick by my original assertion that the technology and environment are leading edge stuff I want to be a part of. I just don't want to be a part of the rest of what SL has become.

If I absolutely have to leave my island and go to The Grid then I will, but fortunately I don't have to that often. I think the last new sim I went to look at after it came online was Vari. I haven't seen any of the new ones since then and have no desire to. In fact I really have no burning desire to set foot onto the mainland again.

I'm happy playing in my sandbox and so far, I can keep myself pretty isolated from everything I don't like about the SL world around me. But if that changes - which personally I think it's just a matter of 'when', rather than 'if' - then I won't hesitate to leave either.

Still, it was fun while it lasted, huh?

When I first came here I spent nearly all my time on my (then) lil plot working on things..
I hardly left it, and there were a whole bunch of ppl that would stop by and say hi on the way through..
You always knew where to find me -- and it was a quick jaunt across to go to events and home again..


... the world got bigger and I started going out more -- it was still only a quick flight, and I'd never tport... just cruise over places.. I spent more time away chatting and doing fun stuff.


The world got bigger again - suddenly its a hassle to go out across the other side of the world... tporting helps, as long as you don't get thrown into a lag fest.. It's easier to just IM...

So now, once again, I sit at home and work on lil projects... people are starting to stop by and chat as I work, and I pretty much only leave to catch up on friends old and new and go to events...

... the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Siggy.

yeah but what are those big green ring thingys hanging in the air?

that's an aside, not a hijack. interesting summation siggy. what will the next step be? everyone just sitting home iming or calling from their cell phone? no events, no dwell...

i'm already having conversations who are not inworld but pressing their reply email button. perhaps ll is more interested in marketing a communications medium than a virtual 3d protocol omg

excuse me, i can't finish this right now

*edited to type the post after accidentally submitting

Keep up with the times that was something I was working on last week.

Oh, sorry! I was in the bathroom.

i'm already having conversations who are not inworld but pressing their reply email button. perhaps ll is more interested in marketing a communications medium than a virtual 3d protocol omg

Fuck-dammit, Khamon! Stop saying this isn't a world. It's a world. It's a country. Stop saying it's a tool for communication, collaboration, and data exchange. If you want to talk to people, use IRC, Y!IM, AIM, MSN Messenger, email, or something built for that. SL is a world. Philip said so; stop trying to integrate it into your life.

Someone needs a nap.

"Philip said so"...so there it be

and he said it be light...and there was light......

Well, ( now all my Christian and so on friends don't take this wrong..its called sarcasm) one think Philip & his Lindens and the other One have in common...they don't communicate much as of late....

Wow that is quite a comment Bravo!