Emotional involvement in SL

Well, no, I would expect you to know how to handle one of those properly!

... or, did you mean you're the single-shot in the garter-belt kind of girl?

*Makes sure her skirt is covering her Derringer* ... I don't know what you're talking about. (o.o)

Hahahaha! I *KNEW* there was something I liked about you!

Thats okay, your bliss came free with the ignorance.

SO you got a bargain.

/me throws up hands in despair at attempting subtle allusions and puns

Pep (You were right, oh mentor)

That just saved you from Total Douchedom in my book.

Hmmm...... sounds like a good title for a game. "Total Douchedom"

Don't judge too quickly . . .

Pep (I haven't explained WHY he is my hero yet)

ROFL

Subtle bad puns are still bad puns

Not that you are subtle.

And I disagree with Brenda.

/me ducks out of the ring and leaves Colette and Brenda to it . . .

Pep (is this the mud-wrestling thread now?)

It's Bloodlines without the vampires.

Great post.. great thoughts to bring up..

I'll just add to the chorus of affirmative responses to the questions you ask; full range of emotions gone through in 2nd life already, and I've only been a member for a few months.

Now, if I can only find that *perfect* woman for me in there. LOL

This was my first experience as noted by some earlier posts. I have been in sl for 2 1/2 years and have shared a full range of emotions that was surprising to me. I see my sl self as an extension of my rl self. I have many close friends, dated, married, divorced, dated and what not in the time since my rez day. I have had my share of "downs" but the "ups" always superceded the downs. I would not trade any of it.

Note to Spider, try music venues such as concerts. That is where I met my sweetie.

What he said. Leet speak in general is a pet peeve of mine.

Go with an imperfect one -- wider range of possible emotions.

Very good idea.. )

I won't admit to hanging out at HIP and OIP.

< I will not hit "submit reply" I will not hit "subm.. arrgggh! >

/me Nods to LittleMe

/me has an anniversary coming up - a year in November - yes, SL is a slice of heaven. Gives fate a little helping hand maybe Kiss, love.

Oh, agreed, the imperfect ones offer much more variety.

Great! Girls like me have a better chance!

See, I can't even add emoticons to my replies...imperfect for sure!

To the OP:

SL surprises most of us who have not realised that it can provoke an emotional response. Heck I was even amazed that the forums could too. When you think about it though what is most surprising is that it surprises us. To clarify, we get emotional to some degree over all these other things and more...

* Simple games of skill involving kicking, hitting or running with a ball or balls.
* A fictional television drama
* Judge Judy, Jerry Springer etc...
* Because a traffic light won't go green fast enough.
* Because a computer does something unexpectedly bad.
* Toilet seat is up or down
* An inanimate piece of fake fur stuff with wadding in the shape of a bear/kitten/whatever.

I could go on but we are all probably aware of these things on some level. The condition is being human and as humans we invest sometimes more than we expected to in some things which then surprises us.

It is the surprise that is surprising to us more than the investment is the point I am making in case I was not completely clear back there

If you are doing anything you can't tell your partner about, then possibly it's cheating. For me if I had emotional involvement with another male, I would consider that I was cheating. My SL partner is a good RL friend, nothing more, nothing less.

I found SL intriguing and fascinating when I first started, it was/is full of endless possibility, it's beautiful and fun. However, I have not experienced a whole lot of emotion, no. I don't think I could fall in love with an AV, even though there are real people on the other side of the PC, it's not my thing. I can't really be physically attracted to what I essentially consider a cartoon character.

I have to admit, I struggle to understand how people who have never actually met in RL, fall in love on line.

I met my RL partner on line, we have been together for one year, tomorrow, so I am not saying you can't met online and fall in love. But how you can fall in love without the physical, I just don't get it.

I am actually an emotional person in RL, I just don't consider SL to be all that real, maybe I don't take it that seriously, I don't know. I have certainly had some good laughs though.

I haven't read the thread much yet as I wanted to post my feelings on this topic first - I'm a very emotional person, it's likely due to the scarring my brain has from all my Grand Maul Seizures. My therapists have always tried to help me, but I remain at a very young emotional age.

I've met so many people on here, some that have claimed to 'love' me. I've grown attached to some of them only to have them argue with me for meeting a new friend or them simply never talking anymore. It does hurt, even though I know these are only words on the screen.

It hurts when you try to be serious (as with my new thread on RA), for only someone to come and mess it up with some less than funny joke.

It's frustrating to be trying to do something for someone to come along and bash it all, or laugh at you or 'yell' at you for being different. I don't always talk terribly much or fast ingame and I'm seriously tired of people telling me that I'm slow or stupid. I'm neither, but sometimes I just don't care to talk a mile a minute. That seems to be a crime punishable by death on here.

Even with things that I'm semi-commissioned to do, I still find it terribly hard to get any assistance with it or opinions from those that have asked me to do them. So I do them without ever knowing. Or maybe I'll commission someone like I have several times on here, only to never hear from them again. Good thing I've never paid them - Except one who ripped 150L from me.

Try as our real brains and hearts might - It is impossible to not get emotionally attached at times. We all love certain things, and we all make connections. This is only a game, but sometimes it's hard to see the difference.

I'm almost always alone In-Game, which doesn't help. I try to make friends but then they just leave anyway. I don't know, maybe some day something will help me not get so easily attached. It happens with most of us, though, even if we do not admit it.

Prior to the internet, telephone, and other means of more audio and visually-oriented environments, people fell in love via the old fashioned letter - ie "pen pals" which sometimes reached "love letter" status.

Being unique beings, humans have an entire range of emotions and probably more pertinent to this discussion, run the spectrum of what it takes to evoke them.

Being from Celtic (Irish/Welsh heritage - known for strong emotions whether it be happiness, anger or melancholy) - at least that's what I attribute my place on the "emotional scale" to - I can be deeply moved emotionally fairly easily.

Also, after many, many years in online communities with only texting capabilities, I have experienced deep and "real" emotional relationships over the years - a few going to RL. SL is much richer than text-only, but as with other means of communication (internet, phone, snail mail), it is the person behind them that comes through and touches me emotionally.

As for "cartoon characters" - again, having cut my online teeth within a text-only environment, SL sight, sound, virtual activities, is pretty much like a bow on a lovely package. I rarely have my cam closely in on my partner (or anyone really) when I interact with them online - I still am touched by the essence of the person that shines through actions, via text or sometimes voice, over time.

Once again I say, Viva la Differance!

Czari (who is very blessed to be partnered to a very special cartoon character)

Which is a perfectly reasonable, and not uncommon, way to approach SL. It does appear that there are many people who cannot, for whatever reason, get past the "cartoon character" aspect of SL, and that therefore neither seek nor understand the relationships that others can have here. Again, this is all fine, provided that the groups stay separate -- what leads to disaster is when one person is in SL to have some laughs, and the other is not. Again, communication is key.