Why are you in Second Life?

While I'm not conducting any sort of quiz or writing a paper (good thing, perhaps), I am often curious WHY someone chooses to create an avatar and indulge in Second Life.

What follows are not specific questions to answer but merely some thoughts to formulate whatever answer you may have (be it serious or not).

Is Second Life a social extension of RL or other online social interfaces (ie facebook, forums, BBSs etc.)?

Is SL a creative outlet?

Have your reasons for being in SL changed over time?

Are you here for fun, RP, sex, and/or relationship?

Are you fulfilling some void from your RL (relationship, hobby, sexual experimentation etc.)? I recognize that sometimes we are in a situation where for whatever reason (geography, opportunity etc.) we cannot explore certain interests in RL and SL gives us that opportunity.

Why are you here?

PS: Obviously if the question discomfits you, or you feel it's a ridiculous question, don't answer.

___

For those who get put off by these questions without the OP offering an answer, mine is as follows:

The social aspect of SL is perhaps one of the last reasons that I am in SL, but I am grateful for the interactions I have had and some of the social situations I've entered. While I enjoy helping out, making friends is not a priority.

The creative aspect is perhaps one of the main reasons. I am a LEGO AFOL (adult fan of LEGO), and with the contents of a 5x10 storage locker stuffed to the ceiling with LEGO, and living in a small home presently, there was simply no more room to indulge this hobby. SL is perfect because prims don't get sucked up under vacuum cleaners, I can make the pieces I need, and I don't take over the entire living and dining room and bedroom and... with my ongoing creations.

Also, I'm absolutely fascinated by virtual worlds and have been for a very long time. It's wonderful to observe this (sometimes painful) evolution from ground zero, as it were.

In the end, SL is a hobby for me. And a damn fun one most of the time at that.

Cheers and have a super weekend, all.

I was trying to get to Cleveland and made a wrong turn.

First avatar wandered in out of curiosity, was filled with awe and wonder, ran around excitedly trying anything and everything, had lots of sex, learned from others more knowledgeable than me and passed on what I had learned as often as I could.

Then I discovered building and scripting, and that's pretty much what's kept me here, apart from indulging in occasional role play. I'm definitely here for recreation and creativity rather than social networking, although I can be quite nice to people when I want to be

I suppose I've discovered my inner geek, because SL has opened the door to a wealth of technologies I never before imagined would interest me.

Prims also hurt a lot less if you tread on one in bare feet

Like you, I am here largely for the creative aspects. I don't think I make much that you'd call good, or even finish things very often. I think of it as tinkering really. One thing I love about SL is that anybody can have a go at squashing a few prims together or fiddling with a script, while at the same time, there is a tremendous amount of amazing art and stuff.

I enjoy being sociable sometimes, but don't see this as social networking. spin isn't quite the same person as RL me (she is a bit posher to start with) and I don't like to share RL info inworld, although I am much happier to do so here.

I'm not in SL for sex or relationships (too messy) and can't take RP seriously enough to be any good at it.

Fun? yes, if I am in the mood for it - the sillier the better. Oh, and exploring too.

I initially signed up for SL because my boss wanted me to look into it as a possible ad/marketing resource for our company. I created my AV and was dropped into a help island. Weird as this sounds - I found the environment/people to be kind of intimidating, so I asked my husband, my Master and my best friend to all sign up with me as well, so I'd pretty much always have someone to explore things with.

My Master and my best friend both lived pretty far away from me, and we didn't get to see each other face-to-face as often as we'd all like, so SL became a really good way for all of us to spend time together.

My best friend met a guy local to her via SL and now they're practically living together IRL - I'm pretty sure they'll be married within a year. My husband and I are moving this fall to live close to my Master - we've been doing the long-distance thing for eleven years and are SERIOUSLY sick of it. LOL So I'm not really sure how much time any of us are going to spend in SL from this point on.

I'm not really huge on socializing with other people, so I don't do the clubbing thing, or go to events and such very much. I like building though, so I may continue to maintain a presence for that purpose. I don't know yet... right now we're so focused on getting ourselves organized for moving several states away and all that entails that my time online/in SL has decreased considerably. I'm not willing to give up our land and such there yet, however, because we do still use it from time to time.

I guess I'm kind of in "wait and see" mode at this point.

For me it is a mix of creativity, the fun of creating a successful business, and of course making money with those

I joined sl out of boredom, and I thought it would be somewhat close to the Sims games. I remember the first time i logged in I was so confused that I didn't even come back for an entire month. At that point I would play occasionally and before I knew it I was hooked.

I left sl once for three months and than one day needed some information I had stored in my inventory (I figured it would never get lost there? LOL) Anyway after logging in again and having my IMs flooded from people who missed me, I never left again.

SL has been a roller coaster ride for me and I have loved and lost along the way. I have met the most amazing people here and I am so grateful to call them my friends and family. I don't think I could ever give any of them up or the good times we all have together. To me, that is reason enough to stick around.

Because I won't be alive for the real Singularity.

For the ladies... For the LOLz.

What he said.

Pep (Inter alia)

I was banned from First Life, so had to come here until the heat was off..

when I am in second life I'm still in real life, do people say "i'm going to be in WoW all day" ?

Yes. They do. Really. Gotta go. Raid.

I can't afford therapy.

Why?

Longer version of Argent's answer, I guess. Partly because I was always involved in fantasy fulfilment for people (no really) and familiar with the way that RL constraints affect the freedom of expression (by which I mean, it's tough if you are a short fat bald natural dominant, and easy if you're a tall blonde thin natural submissive...). I wanted to see what people could be capable of, and incapable of, once being pretty was a matter of choice.

Secondly because I thought there was a commercial opportunity - maybe people who buy kinky clothes for their avatar, would buy them in RL too? That one crashed and burned, I have to report...

Thirdly, for creativity, though not with objects... that's confused. What I mean is, I always have been good at sex feng shui; there's such a thing as a sexy room layout, or venue layout, and I can do that: what I can't do is sculpt things or even think up what they should be like. I might be good at designing UIs and scripting, but instead I have ended up creating in a different way, with RP. Occasionally my Sasha Baron Cohen side gets a little excursion and I stand around asking dumb questions of people so hemmed in by sterotypes, all they can do is splutter, and I suppose that's cruel of me...

I enjoy creating – making stuff that makes others happy the pride of seeing someone using or wearing what I made.

Also for me since I am disabled in RL, SL is a place I can do stuff that I can’t do in RL.

SL helps me feel not so worthless, gives me hope that I can contribute to my family by creating a business in SL where I hope I can make some extra real money to help with paying the bills. It’s very hard on me not to be able to work anymore in RL I went from working 2 jobs – 60 to 70 hours a week to being stuck home 24/7.

Gives me something to do that is worth while instead of watching TV which is boring all day, a way to meet others and be a part of a community.

LOL I now have a coffee covered keyboard

I told ya, "turn left at Albuquerque".

Yeah; frozen, ejected, orbited, caged and banned from FL. Sigh. I came in at the request of my rl son, to check it out, he was there, active, loving it, having a blast. I signed up and then my laptop was too old to support the client. After 3 months, my laptop was stolen and got a new one, so tried again, and was intrigued, somewhat (dress up dolly) but not overly thrilled or fascinated. Then found my niche, after a bit, in the community of help to the disabled, and never looked back. SL became important to me and has remained so. I see people hit what is appearing to me, to be a milestone of sorts, after a year or somewhat more, lots seem to lose steam and lose interest and ease away. I haven't yet, and mourn those that I've lost back to RL or to other computer pursuits. I'm still just as excited to log in every day as I ever was. Dress up dolly, while still fun when I have time isn't the most important thing to me anymore, come to think of it, Treasure could use a shower and change of clothes, been several days now, in that tshirt and jeans. lol

Personally? For the lulz!


ithinkibettershutupnao

How I got here...

A RL person blogged about it and I made a mental note to investigate. Months later there was a news story about customer data being compromised, and that's when I chose to investigate. Nice timing, no?

Why I stayed...

When I first arrived in late 2006 I could find conversation anywhere I went. I'm autistic and not the best at making conversation, but I can be more successful in text chat, so finding easy conversation was a totally new experience. I might have even been able to improve my RL social skills. I'm in my 40's and SL was my first opportunity to be sociable. Got an idea how important that is?

These days conversation isn't at all easy to find in SL. I'm very disappointed. It's a true loss; one that most of you can't understand. It's why I don't tolerate the patronizing tone people take when they try to convince me that things are all well and fine in SL.

Things are not all well and fine. Night and day difference. If I had arrived in 2009 I wouldn't have stayed.

LOL

Personally, I'm a lamer net addict, who loves the SL medium.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYPxKZSDErA

I was amazed by everything I saw when I first arrived here. Now I AM ADDICTED.

I meet new people all the time, there's almost always something to do, and the girl I like hasn't taken out a restraining order against me yet. (^_^)y