Do you miss the days when SL was smaller?

Ever miss the days when SL was smaller? Back in Jan or Feb when I joined there seemed to be more of a small town feel- where everyone knew (or had heard of) everyone. It was like an offbeat extended family. Or a situation where a variety of people (who normally wouldn't interact with one another) bonded.
Of course, I like meeting new people and exploring new sims, so I can't really complain about the expansion.... but am I the only one who sometimes feels lost in the crowd in a giant metropolis?

Sometimes. I did really enjoy when everyone knew everyone. So much has happened since then with the infusion of new people and new ideas though that, while it's a fond memory, I would not choose to go back.

SL was fairly big and getting bigger when I took the plunge.

I kinda like it the way it is, yet have high hopes about what it might become.

- Ace

I personally love how sl is growing, yet at the same time despise it its nice that it is becoming more successful and nice we have this huge world. but on the other hand there is a very small chance to just bump into old friends like the old days.

I miss it too Olympia. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad for the success of SL, just wish it didn't have to change. I miss the feeling of the tighter knit community from when I started back in February. As Cornelius said, I miss being able to just bump into old friends. There are many I have not seen in so long

sl was so much better when i started. it was a tight knit community of 380 sims and not the bustling faceless impersonal metropolis of 400 sims it is now. i miss that small town feel.

I miss watching people who flamed each other in the forums having to face each other inworld. The lack of anonymity made for better behavior -- or worse.

You're funny

*sigh* I do miss the old days. When I started I didn't even have the new northern sims (tan and above). It was quite peaceful at times, but everyone knew each other, just as the small town feel of it. Now that everyone is spread out, the usual 'get togethers' are hard to accomplish. But never fear, it does happen! On rare occasions, but it does.

Back then, SL wasn't economy driven (well not involving $US anyway). I personally don't mind the large world and the ever changing ways. But I do miss the old days when things were simpler.

Back when I was your age, we didn't even HAVE a virtual world. We had a shoebox with paper puppets, and we liked it! And forget reconnecting with old paper puppet friends. Nooooo. When they were no longer around, you can sure as heck bet that they were used as kindling or to line the birdcage.

And don't get me started on the chat system! We had little thimbles connected by string, and not the high speed string, mind you. We had to use whatever we could find, and that included yarn, hair....or even yarn sometimes! I tell ya you folks have it easy!

Vehicles! HA! The best we could manage was hoping a mouse would drop by and take us places. We could try to use the roaches, but we didn't have the prim allotment for insects.

I guess the question for those of us who miss the "small town" feel of SL is how do we get it back? I kind of like the idea of regions or continents of 40 sims or so that have some kind of extra step to travel between (beyond just hitting a teleport button) to encourage the development of more meaningful communities.

You're funny too

is it really now? or is a small group of people making a big noise while the rest of the world goes on as usual? i'm just a newbie but i don't see this myself.

again i'm just a newbie but ugh. that's called balkanization (and look how good it works in the balkans hehe). it's not a bad idea by itself but the bad part is it doesn't guarantee you'll form communities in the new areas but it does guarantee it will be harder to form communities with the old areas. communities based on geography are old news. same goes for virtual geography.

form communities with whoever you want and if you like dividing up by geography then form communities around your home. the sims between here and there can serve the same purpose as the ocean between this continent and that continent. the difference is that unlike the ocean they're full of potential community members.

edit: this is my serious post for the month. now back to making fun of people's names til December.

I would miss it.. but there's so much clever stuff going on now! Back in 2003 we didn't have parachutes.. or skydiving.. (I could be wrong).. Jimmy Thomson and Foxy weren't making sim horror (go look at the builders forum for his threads.. STUNNINGLY skilled).. and and and..

So it's good it evolves and there are still skilled people and wonderful builds being made.

PC

I was not there when "SL was smaller", so I cannot say with any personal experience in that regard. However, from some venerable and inscrutable "old-timers" (a dignified term I use with the greatest respect), I have heard that certain things, like spontaneous crazy gatherings of fun when "everyone knew each other", were more likely to happen then, than now. Now we have many more Events, and planned Events certainly do have a place in SL -- I attend an ample amount of them -- but another big draw of SL also happens to be creative chaos that occurs when great minds get together and something magical happens, sustains itself, and then fades into collective memories. Maybe snapshots were taken. I have a lot of them.

I was talking with Onei lately about a "human pyramid" that occurred not too long ago, that brought back the vibe of those times. As I said, I can't speak with any self-perspective on what did happen then, but I do know that here and now, I definitely like the crazy stuff. For example, a few days ago, Higbee, Flip, myself, and some other friends went on a crazy dragon ride. We buzzed the Welcome Area, rode in some neato hamburger cars based on a certain Spongebob model that Higbee made, looped around at Mesede Skate Park and the bouncy room, and more. In short, we had a grand time.

I value memories like this. They make me happy.

*sigh* Flashbacks.

Totally miss 30 some sims and going around to everyone you know in a short time.

Now its just work....make money.....dwell for so many people its taken alot out of SL.

More of a Internet Buisness for most instead of a Community... Ahh well.

I don't really know if dwell was the absolute cause of it, but it was a factor. Also the telehubs were a factor in it also, enabling us to just point and click wherever we chose.

Communities, like anything in nature tend to center around something. Now it seems that the telehubs are generally the center of a community because its what brings avatars to visit places. I've seen a lot of themed sims like Gray, and Darkwood that thrived during the old days and now are nearly completely dorment.

I honestly don't know what it'll take to bring back the days of old. I know SL needs to grow, but a lot of us do miss the 'old feeling'. Yes, I agree that the craziness is still there, I see it everyday in the Welcoming Area with newbies that just need to open themselves up a little and explore.

I'm also not saying that we can't do that now, it is possible to do that, but it seems that now we need a 'reason' to. Back then, we didn't need a reason to. We just came, did, saw and past.

LOL, Maybe I'm having a mid-SLife crisis.

I miss it. That is why I hardly ever come in world anymore.

I miss old world too but now we have to handle with this new world ...its not easy , I know.

In one aspect I miss the old world before the drama queens and politicaly correct banshees came screaming into the world to change it. Hence why now I am a Hermit Tailor and make my stuff in Peace n Quiet.

Somedays I miss how it was last February when I found SL. The tighter knit community aspects. On the other hand I do enjoy meeting new people and making new friends, so its mixed emotions.