What keeps you in SL?

A few things. My pet. A few select friends. I'm finally starting to script. I enjoy playing on my rented land, keeping a home, finding neat clothes or other ways to adorn my avatar (without going overboard and buying everything in sight). But most importantly, I still find SL a wonderous place. For all it's flaws, it still amazes me.

I stay cause my honey is here. ; )

why do I stay? Because SL is not a game, its a life, a second life, I have a life , a business, a family here. People depend on me being here, leaving would be almost committing suicide in effect, or at least running away from home.

when the government puts up taxes, or gas prices rise, I dont think of leaving my RL. It is the same in SL, when linden lab make life worse yet again, I have to just accept that this is the way of things and carry on.

One day there may be a new planet open and I can leave earth and start in the new frontier.
One day there will be another platform open, and I can leave SL and start in the new frontier.

I stay because i love what i do in SL. I love going to yard sales, going shopping, looking for good freebies, talking to new people, spending time with friends, making things, selling things, working on my sims and with the residents, spending time with my sl partner, exploring...so many things i cant even name them all. i dont spend time or energy railing against sl for things things the lindens do. i dont spend time in drama. i dont spend time with negative people. i really try to keep my sl something very positive and fun.

at times i also get bored or sick of something, but around every corner there is something else to see or someplace to go. someone mentioned that the club scene is tiresome. well, then dont go to it. go to any number of live music events. go to some open mic nights. there is ALOT more to sl music than clubs with dj's. go visit some cafes and just hang out and talk to people. sometimes that is the best part of going to a club...chatting with folks...i almost never have my music on anyway lol.

i love learning new stuff. go take a class...go take a tour....go see some spot you have heard about but never visited. go through all the sl showcase places just to say you did it.

SL is what you make it....so if you dont like it...change it. there is no one standing in your way...taht is the reason i stay in SL.

I have no idea what keeps me coming back. Somehow SL has a virtual carrot on a stick for me. It may be the infinite potential that keeps me returning, the feeling that something really cool could happen any moment, or the same infinite potential of a blank canvas or an empty page.

Then sometimes the really cool thing does happen. I'm trying to make myself not wait for it, but to take a hand in bringing it about -- whatever that might be. Not saying I succeed, it just keeps me going to have goal.

I've noticed on those rare occassions when I get really burned out, I take a brief hiatus, sell my land, get interested in reading again, do RL artwork again. Then when I come back I start from scratch on new land. That can get expensive so it's a good thing I don't get too down very often.

Sometimes putting Weston on the back burner and making my alt more like a primary is very helpful in fanning the flame also.

Right now, fragging nothing keeps me in, cant get in. Going back to bed.

QFT

Oh its the people who keep me there. Be they smart, witty, stupid and dull, its all an experience I enjoy.

My latest addiction in there is tiny empires. Love the social interactions and find the dramas interesting.

1. I enjoy buying and wearing clothes. Clothes of all kinds, professional, casual, swimwear, undies, etc. But that is RL. I enjoy the same thing in SL but it costs far less . I have taken up making clothes in SL, using GIMP and making textures and clothes from the textures. I would never think of making clothes in RL (my fingers would end up sewn together!)

2. I enjoy the professional discussions, as well as ones about politics and religion, with people around the world. Of course, I also get that on standard text forums on the internet, but SL adds a dimension to it.

My friends keep me in SL and my addiciton Love to build, shop and have fun, meeting people

When I'm not sick or stuck doing the family thing, I like creating. It's something I enjoy and SL gives me the chance to create and well, yes, sell my creations. It's a nice bonus that it supports itself.

As Someone who has quit SL twice, I can understand what you're going through. But both times it's been one thing that kept me here, all the people I know and who know me.

Friends, acquaintances, sometimes people you don't even know, but who may know you. For me, it all comes down to the people. Simpler it couldn't be.

I like SL because it's laid back. I have played online games for years, I usually stick with one for a few years and then move on. I was playing DAoC when Mythic decided to make a new game (Warhammer Online) and got real excited about that, I actually got on the list to play it in Beta. Another year of DAoC waiting for that and was bored by then with strictly PVP games (which DAoC was and what Warhammer would be altho I don't know how that turned out in the end) and started playing WoW, then EA Games bought Mythic and I decided not to stay on the Warhammer beta list. I love leveling, advancing my character skills etc., but dang it can be hard. I hit endgame in WoW and I guess I am a little proud of that but dang it seemed like all I could do was log on and earn gold to pay for repairs and stuff for the next raid lol...when I found SL, I finally felt like I could relax and enjoy. There is always something to do, I love creating clothes and running my little store, chatting and exploring. While sometimes having my little business here can get hectic, for the most part I am free to just have fun, relax, and do what I want. Right now I don't see me ever going back to gaming, too much work lol

Thanks, Lexxi, that sounds like fun!

Well first of all, this isn't an MMORPG for me. It's a cyber based society. I do play an MMORPG called Toontown Online. Or rather, I haven't stopped playing because of SL.

Second, if I took business seriously like those land bullies (stand aside! I'm here to make my million dollars! You have to tolerate my lucky chairs and money balls and network lag because *I* am here now!) I would not be here. If people appreciate the work I do and I sell stuff then that's great, but I see how many people are logged in at the time I do.

Like Raudf I like to create. Other creators have shown me that there's always a way to make something, so I let my imagination do the driving most of the time. Can't beat that with a stick!

Second Life is literally what you make it, and it can be anything, with or without land or money. It can even be a real MMORPG, with countless RPGers doing their thing, oblivious to people socializing, camping, sexing, etc.

I might leave a pursuit here more than leave Second Life.

btw Lexxi - for some reason, many Lindens put up BAN LINES! I found that reprehensible and I no longer go to Linden Village to explore. I think these employees in question miss the point of the use of their free company land and need a talking to by their bosses.

alternate answers...

1.superglue
2.duct tape
3.access to phil's wireless network and/or a gun

HeI perfectly understnand thi point .....


I love to create ad this is the first thing that keeps me in SL , I like that every one , or almoust everyone in this environment is a real person and you can interact with so no fake boots or scripted programmed game entities .... then its s vaste and diverse that you can find anything anywhere and alwys different...

on the other hand sometimes I want to flee of it becouse of the limited things I can do for creation when I could sometimes make more in oter thingsbut then no one ouldbe able to see or share ....Lag annoyes me , copycatters stealing abuses etc annoyes me , sexual harrassment unpolite people etc... but after all all is like in RL there are bad an good guys and girls , there is the goodand the evil .... and sometimes it can seem as real as the RL ..... but back to the point wat keeps me in l is that I can shape up m dreams , if I havesomething popping in my mind I can find a way to realize i ingame ....

There's so many things I could write about this good question. It's certainly something I've given a lot of thought to. But for simplicity sake I would say that what keeps me in SL is that SL has become a major "hobby" and creative outlet for me.

I moved to Asia from the States many years ago. In the States I always had a garage where I could tinker with my car and home projects. Having a workbench, tools, and the space was great.

Where I live in Asia garages are rare. Most of us live in small apartments. So Second Life has given me back my garage. Instead of working on my RL car (I don't own one anymore), I can work on vehicles that I build from the ground up. I can tinker, tweak, adjust, change designs and functionality to my heart's content. So that's one part of why I stay.

I also stay because I have acquired some great friends in SL. Some of my best friends anywhere. It's also a medium in which I can easily meet and make new friends if that's what I want to do.

I stay because I love playing with LSL scripting. I can spend happy hours puzzling out some weird bit I found in the script library; or make something quite useful to sell or give away. Or come up with an idea which requires a script and write it from scratch.

I stay because I enjoy fantasy. Fantasy in the sense that my avatar is who I am and who I like to be, fantasy in the sense of owning a little bit of land whereupon sits my humble fantasy of a virtual home. I can enjoy the fantasy of owning the yachts I'll never own in RL; the cars, aircraft, and endless gadgetry.

I stay because I enjoy being surprised by some of the grand creativity that others express inworld.

I stay because I'm able to do a lot of experimental work with digital streaming video and audio, as well as working with remote servers in regard to interactive databases.

I stay too because while I think it may still be too early in the game for the likes of Second Life to become "mainstream" I think digital virtual worlds are the forerunner of digital environments which will become increasingly prevalent in global-human communications. So I like being on the crest of this future wave, as rough and as raw as it is.

I've never thought of "leaving" as opposed to "staying". Because in fact, can't someone just not login?

And I've written all the above acknowledging that a lot of negative things are a part of Second Life too. Rocky relationships. Inventory woes. Neighbor issues. All the other stuff etc etc. And I can understand that these problems could certainly cause one not to want to "stay".

But I'm still having a good time and I'm here for now.

- Infrared

This thread has made me stop and think (several times) about why I stay in SL. My immediate answer is easy - for the money. For a long time, I've thought that I would totally depart SL if it wasn't for the money, but your question has made me think about it.

I only log in to deal with customer things, but when I do log in, I tend to stay a while - just thinking about things there, and maybe pottering around a little - a bit reluctant to click the red cross. But now I wonder if I'd use SL if it weren't for the store, and I'm thinking that I probably would, but I don't know why. Typical things like exploring, roleplaying, clubbing, etc. have never appealed to me, and still don't. The 'romantic' side of SL used to appeal but that was a long time ago. My best guess now is that I would stay in SL to be creative, but I don't know.

You've made me think about it, Rha.

I've only seen two, maybe three ban lines in the three of four sims I explored. I still have 3 or four more to explore before I've completed the Linden Village frustrating Linden bear hunt.

I found several bears last night, two or three with Marianne's bear proudly displayed, but none were copyable or buyable. 2 sims completed last night. Walking over all of them. No bears. Compared with the day before when I rapidly picked up several bears in Linden Village.

What keeps me in SL?

I used to do a lot of 2d/3d work. I started back in my Amiga days. If you wanted something 3d in those days, then you seriously had to build it from scratch - and I mean vert-by-vert and face-by-face. I'm used to doing every little thing. Build a mesh, uv map it, texture it, rigging, animating, lighting - every teeny tiny little thing.

SL makes it nice to be able to make stuff without having to sweat too much over the little building blocks. Certaintly limits and drawbacks, but it is kind of nice to kick back on occassion when being creative.

Plus it gives me a chance to be creative in other areas. Exploring new techniques and making new tools. If it wasn't for SL, I would never have gotten around to making a BVH exporter for Max, or even MultCH for Photoshop. Both of those projects being excellent exercises for my malnurished brain.

In a nutshell, SL keeps my brain busy.

I'm coming up on my 5 year Rez-Day. I have left and come back to this platform so many times I finally realized I've never really left.

Why?

I usually make the joke that I'm only here for the porn, which is partly true

... but it is more then that.

I don't have much by way of a business, tho I do enjoy making things. I make enough to cover my modest tier. But I am most definately not here for the money.

I am horribly anti-social in-world, mostly because most of the friends I've had here have had the shits of this place and left. (or maybe they had the shits of me and left, who knows).

So I don't stay for the money and I don't stay for the social aspects.

So why am I still here?

Because this place is still facsinating. I still find and see things that delight me beyond measure that are simply impossible anywhere else... even in those clone-grids.

Second Life to me has never been a busines platform and was only really a social platform for me that first year or so (til I had it brought to my attention that most of the new people I was meeting were really people I already had met).

Second Life has always been a creative experience for me... either my own creativity or the creativity of others.

As long as people find ways to be creative here, I'm staying.

For me leaving SL would be like leaving the ability to dream at night. It feels like a natural part of me but I really don't know why...it just does.

I get bored too but something keeps me here and I know I would feel a loss (but also a sense of freedom...dealing with the arbitrary stupidity of LL is disheartening and brings a shadow to my experience of SL; the high cost too.)

Thinking about it, it is probably the chance to see what others create here that is most important to me...creativity free of corporate or political spin...just folks making stuff-that is very inspiring and reminds me what is good about humanity.

I love SL, so many things to do here. But just like in RL there are periods of good times & bad. Right now I'm going thru a low one, someone is gone for awhile that I spent a major amount of SL time with. So that's not so great & right before Xmas too! But what I've noticed about these times after the sulking & the general yucky feeling begins to wane is that a new adventure is waiting just around the corner.

Relationships & friendships don't (usually) last long in SL, people leave. It will happen. All we can do is appreciate the time we have.

This hits a chord with me. I'm getting over something similar and seems I've been getting over it for a long time now. I'm sick of getting over it. I don't understand just 'leaving for awhile' when you are 'leaving' real people, friends. How do you just dump your friends? (Not 'you', but anybody is what I mean.) I know this is just my perception. There are people, feelings, hearts, emotions behind the avi. I am pretty sure I am expecting too much and that 'true' friendship', the kind not easily dumped just isn't really possible in SL.