In Defense of SL

I am getting a little bit of grief from RL friends about time spent on SL. Granted, I am a noob (when can I stop calling myself that?), but I really enjoy my time on SL. It gives me the opportunity to do a lot of things that I cannot do IRL due to time constraints.

I would love to hear all of your thoughts on why SL is so great and what justifies your time spent here...so I can steal it! LOL

This should be interesting!

For me SL is great because I can be who I wish I could be in RL. I look exactly how my ideal image of me is, I'm seen as female by EVERYONE, without having to say anything about it, and so on so forth.

I can explore my wants and needs in SL, such as I'm exploring the BDSM lifestyle, and loving it. I know that what I like in SL is what I like in RL, because I'm that connected to my SL.

I love SL, also, because of the people. I have such a variety of friends that I wouldn't be able to find without REALLY looking in my RL. I have friends here in SL who are strippers, scripters, architects, land owners, etc, and friends from across the globe! (Try getting that locally lol)

To me, SL is my entire social life at the moment. I talk with people, hang out, dance, cuddle, build, script..everything, and I love every moment of it.

SL is my outlet for Living. RL is my outlet for existing.

sl great?? GREAT!?!?!

It sucked me in, will not let me go, I have no way to escape and been stuck in here for 2 years.... it is like the hotel california, you can join but you can never leave...
check in but you don't check out...

bah I love SL, why? hard to say... I just do, if RL ppl can not accept it then too bad
I do not justify my actions to anyone but me

hmmm lets see....

In SL...

I am tall, lol
I have a husband that I love very much who I can not have in my rl
I have two beautiful homes
I have friends from all over the world who I would have never had the chance to meet rl
ALL clothes fit me, hahaha
I have over 250 hair (yes I am addicted)
I have pets that I can't have in my condo rl
I can build a house
I can landscape and make awesome scenes, I can't see me creating a crystal grotto in my rl backyard.
I can ride horses, windsurf, drive my old leaky fishing boat, my dunebuggy, seadoo.

I don't have to clean the house, though I have seen poseballs for that.
I don't have bad hair days
I don't have to work.

My boyfriend's here

And my RL friends who've taken a backseat over him think it's just spiffy.

B.

Oh yeah, and I can fly a space ship.

Why is SL great? I was tempted to leave a blank space below, but one reason for some people is that it's an easy way to make worthwhile money.

Oh, pfft... why justify?

*plays Weird Al Yankovic's "Amish Paradise" in background...*



Some people are simply not into it. That's cool... fine, they can be suburbia-geeks, I'll still respect them. Okay, mostly.

I happen to like it on the grid... my best 'first life' friends are scattered across the globe due to their professions. And it's not always a good fit, the people you are limited to knowing in the real. I like being able to talk with people who already know who Umberto Eco is, or know that Kurosawa isn't a motorcycle.

Other than that, if I get ridiculed for my world of little houses and trains and tea parties, I tell them my online video game character-avatar-dollie-thing nets more in $L than the average US household makes.

I don't break that one out unless I get eye-rolled, but once I do, rest assured the taunter is fervently logging in and trying on furry av's within 24 hours.

grin

RL? What's that? I think maybe I used to have one of those. It's been so long, I can't remember. I think what I've got now could only be described as RSL, or maybe just plain old L.

When I started in SL 4 years ago, it sucked me right in. All of a sudden there was this creative outlet that other people could see. It quickly became far more enjoyable to make art in SL than anywhere else, since the whole world could see what I was doing instantly. That's a powerful lure for any artist, I think.

Fast forward a couple years later, and then I fell into the ultimate pit of no return. SL content creation became my job. From that point on, I no longer had my favorite hobby to distract me from work. My hobby WAS (and still IS) my job.

Now there's no getting away from it at all. My day typically goes something like this:

Wake up
Jump on the forums, and answer people's questions as best I can
Work on projects
Hit the forums again to see responses to this morning's answers
Work on projects some more
Afternoon nap
Hit the forums one more time
Work on projects some more
Rinse and repeat until GF comes home from work, and it's dinner time
Cook dinner or go out to eat
Hit the forums again
Maybe work on projects a little more
Watch TV
Go to sleep

It's not quite as enclosed as that -- I do have RL friends, and I do engage in RL activities -- but that's the general idea. SL is the dominant part of my life.

Can I "justify" that? I don't know. I also don't know if I need to. What is is.

You don't need to justify your time spent in SL based upon what others think of SL.

SL is a liesure activity. Do it because you think it's fun. If you don't think it's fun, don't do it. You are the sole judge of what you find to be fun, and what you don't find to be fun.

Surely each of your friends has one or more hobbies that they enjoy, without requiring the explicit blessing of every member of your circle of friends.

What you enjoy doing personally in your spare time (that isn't illegal or doesn't harm anyone else) is your prerogative alone. You don't need to justify it to anyone. You can do it for no other reason than that you want to do it. So don't feel compelled to justify it.

unfortunately we do not all have that luxury
I would hate it if someone shoved it in my face that they make more money than the average household, in a game... I would find it rather rude (then again, they are ppl that know you, and know you not to be rude)

I just have a tender spot when it comes to ppl making comments about their income, growing up extremely poor, and struggling all my life, never enough to make ends meet, having to justify to myself for every dollar I spend... it just gets under my skin when ppl make comments about making lots of money.

(yes a part of that is envy, jealousy, etc, but still irks,... kinda that... why can't I do that)
and before anyone says... but you can... no.. I can't. I do not have the income to support something of that magnitude, or even a fraction thereof.


I hope you tell them that it takes money and a lot of hours to make money on SL.

hmmmm!! well gosh - don't tell my rl - or even sl friends!! - i do and always have had a bad tendancy to 'tune out' a lil' after awhile and just start sketching in my blank books... esp. if it's just getting together and channel-surfing; i could do that myself at home (except then the tv's hardly on except for dailyshow/ colbert/ southpark/ mythbusters/ and happy days (DON'T ASK!! lol!! )





hummm...




ohh!! and latex is sooo much cheaper and easier to wear in sl.

I get ridiculed all the time for being on "that darn computer" everyday. I do not neglect my family or friends, I actually spend as much time with them as I always have...but instead of watching TV and sitting around doing nothing on my spare time...I'm on SL. I've tried to show and explain it to people who know and criticize me for it....a couple even signed up but could not get it or didn't like it and have never gone back on again.

Over the past year I've pretty much learned its a waste of time to attempt explaining or justifying it to people. It's my time and I can do what I want with it.

As has already been said, I like the international friends I've made, and I find SL more engaging and rewarding than more traditional leisure pursuits, especially television, which I never watch anymore. (I'm a PBS documentary junkie, so nowadays I download those to my ipod and watch them when I travel.)

One thing that hasn't been said, and I don't know if it's common, but I've been around enough to know that for me SL immersion comes and goes. I don't sweat it when I'm in world a lot, because I know that in time I'll hit a lull. I've at least disciplined myself enough to log off if my friends aren't in world and/or I'm not being productive in some way.

How much time do your friends spend in front of the TV? This is more entertaining, more engaging, more creative, and expands your horizons by allowing you to instantly interact with people from around the globe who are willing to share their perspectives and experiences with you.

Don't bother justifying it to others. If they begrudge you time you spend entertaining yourself and learning, then to hell with them.

Where else can I have a Castle with surrounding gardens and fields, a beautiful beach House located next to my dearest and oldest SL friends, who I have referred to as sisters for a long time now,,, and a Space Station to satisfy my Sci-Fi addiction. Did I also mention non stop dancing which is another fantasy of mine that never is pursued in RL?

But even with all of this, the most recent and wonderful gift SL has bestowed upon me was finding my soul mate. My sweetheart. She has made SL actually come ALIVE for me.

Although I've always adhered to the rule that RL and SL must never meet. A joining of the minds can truly be a very emotional and beautiful experience!!!!!!

Unless the amount of time you spend in Second Life starts to harm your RL, I can't see the problem. It's when you spend 2 hours making kitchen units in SL but neglect to wash your RL dishes that you need to worry.

The nearest I have to a soul mate in SL is my new robot, but the relationship is purely platonic.

ummmm.....dishes? damn!

You know you have a problem with SL when you keep a 1 gallon jug beside the desk so you dont have to get up to run to the bathroom.

the only person who hassles me about SL is my husband. but, i just keep inviting him to play beside me. sooner or later he''ll either give up and quit hassling me, or join. either way, i just let it roll off my back..... as long as he's not neglected.

i don't really give a crap what anyone else in the world thinks. if they don't like my video gaming, they can find a new friend. the end.

I just tell my friends it's a very amusing way to pass the time, like a video game, but better because I can chat with real people and have some pretty good conversations. I don't have to worry about drunk driving home from the bar when I am sitting at the laptop with a beer. And during the cold, crappy midwest winter, why go out to socialize when I can stay home and socialize in my snug warm house?

Noone really gets on me about it, because I still show my face in public from time to time But if they were to harp on me for it, that is the answer they would get. As well as a gentle prodding for them to try it themselves.

There was a time when my sisters thought I needed an Sl intervention. They are a litte more relaxed about it now but they still don't understand. I'd explain but I don't really understand the attraction either. Maybe it's simply nice clothes and good music, or that I live alone and, with SL, there is always someone to talk to.

project management, speech, dome-ing experiance and in some cases seriously so.

lets see pretty much second life is the best sandbox game ever. and I'll insist on calling it a game .

It's just hard to even load the dishwasher, especially when something living betwen the plates growls at you!

Here, Tegg....I also sent this to Rioko over on the never-ending thread, who was having problems with dishwashing...