The void

Otherwise known as a "feeling sorry for myself" post, but I know from talking to other people that I'm not alone. I've been here before too a long while back - but it just seems like people are not bothering to play or caring much when they are here cos everywhere is samey and silent and ... meh.

I find I spend time just standing about, whilst on MSN with my partner. When he does come into SL things are a bit apathetic as the big question about "where shall we go?" raises a distinct lack of enthusiasm. (As opposed to enthusiasm with each other).

An awful lot of the more lively people I knew have stopped playing, and instead are still in touch in other ways. I've cashed out - love my Open Space but really starting to wonder if it's not time to call it quits and just have a 512 just in case ...

Am I as alone as it feels in feeling this way, despite knowing some close friends also do? (In which case I prolly need an SL break but I know from experience that they are very hard to get back from).

Sounds like you have the doldrums!

Have you gone anywhere to meet new people lately?

Looked around for landscaping ideas?

Dressed up in a funny avatar and go to Newbie areas?

Explored new places?

I found a great place to chat and party and have met a lot of great friends. We even plan shopping trips on the weekends.

Perhaps apart from business owners, there is no need for anyone to stay in SL if it's not being enjoyed any more. It isn't a place to hang on to or anything like that. If you are not enjoying it, call it a day for now, and see what you think after a while.

I'm mostly bored with it these days and, unless there's something I need to do, I stay out.

LOL

Yep. Don't all those things. Had silly conversations. Made new friends ... I dunno, I feel sort of rootless and although I know for sure I have not seen all that there is to see I am feeling the entrophy of the place quite keenly I guess.

@Phil - that's exactly what I am considering tbh. My partner and I are more RL than SL now anyway. Maybe that shift has made SL feel just ... 2D? I dunno.

Could equally be oestrogen LOL.

/me hugs Cherry

I think everyone who has been on Sl for a while goes through periods like this. I did, so I took a break for a few months, then came back. Another thing to do is explore new aspects of SL. There is so much! Some of my new explorations didn't turn out so well, as you may recall from a thread I started a while back prompted by one of the explorations, but many do turn out great! I recently explored Avillion for the first time. It's wonderful! I also explored some of the Gorean sims, which started me reading the books the Gorean sims are based on. And for me, there is always the fall-back "take everything off of my property and relandscape from scratch". Seems this always gets me going in a new direction. There is so much in SL! It seems to me the doldrums you describe might be due to needing to explore another facet of SL.

I've been having these days myself. I've sunk myself into a 4096 parcel for my store and another 4096 that my partner and I live on. These days partner rarely logs in. I've not had a whole lot of ambition to build or promote my store lately and it seems like when one of those rare times that I do, the partner pops in.

I haven't been hanging with my in world friends lately, or made any effort to do anything interesting. It's just been kinda meh and blah for me lately. I'd love a little break but I really MUST get busy and finish building and promoting my store. Otherwise I've just wasted a buttload of $L. Ugh...work...meh.

I say maybe a build party is in order. Where we can all get together and build and oooh and awe and chat up and maybe even learn or grab a little inspiration from each other.

I've found that when boredom strikes, it's because you don't have enough to do. Maybe it's time to start a business, or simply start adding to the world with the talents you have in RL - art, music, whatever it is you do. I mean, if all I had to do in RL was wake up and decide what I was going to do each day I'd go crazy. Make a plan, start a big project.

That happened to me.

When I started in SL, I was here every moment I could be, and more than a few when I shouldn't have been.

Then, social circles changed. My partner started getting involved in other things. My RL schedules changed. I started watching TV again, and working on projects outside of SL. If I was on SL, I was just hanging out alone

Then it changed back. New friends. New gadgets to play with. ("I wonder how THIS script works when converted to mono. . .) Suddenly. . .New places to explore. (I still miss Privateer Space.) I was spending more time here.

I would say, maintain land you're comfortable paying for, that's large enough to be useful to you. But don't just drop out. I see too many people quit the game, and come back again later.

been there, done that, focus on just doing what i like

same business wise, been there, done that and going to do what i like, just offer everything for free to enjoy what i make and not feel useless

/goes back to configure the newly deliverd server

I'd like that Moxz

I have an Open Space and I've ground to a halt - perhaps it's the realisation of the "perfect dream" I had when I started, albeit with 1/4 of the prims. I've got someone who shall remain nameless wanting me to run a club for him, but ... meh. Meh sums it up perfectly.

It also DOES make you not want to hang out with your friends cos you know that you're probably just going to be all meh and you don't want them to go through it, so you keep aloof to not be a pain in the neck and that can be misconstrued.

The thing about your partner logging in when you are busy resonates too, in fact I am quite often not especially pleased to see him, especially as we are both fairly "meh" about SL. At least I know it's not just me!

I guess the love might come back. All seems a bit pointless atm, as I've always kept myself very busy - when BUILDING doesn't grab me then I am worried

Right. If I get to log in later send a tp to that place you were talking about before. The one with all the French blokes. Hehehe. I'll bring the cucumbers. You bring the bowl of jelly.

I've been feeling a lot of that myself, too. For silly reasons, perhaps. This isn't stuff I've really talked about, and I feel a little uncomfortable doin so. For all I know, I'll delete this post soon enough.

My SL family has been in disarray for about nine months now, since my mommy an daddy had a really ugly RL/SL break up. I still get in my family RP time with my siblings and aunties, but my contact with my main folks is sparce, short, and doesn't typically go beyond a couple quick hugs now and then. Our family home remains, and I own the property -- but I have my doubts it will ever really be used again. As this is something I've gotten a lot out of SL over the least two years prior, not having it does leave a bit of a gap.

(yes, all this was going on during all the SL5B mess too. I jes about up an left during all that, but I wasn't gonna down some of my friends.)

Meanwhile, I'm trying to help keep an island afloat in troublesome times and still keep up my own building. I do really enjoy building, and do so at a professional level, so there is at least one good reason to be here.

There are times when I really do question why I should bother, ya know?

I have a friend who's been having the same deal - she uses the word "restless" a lot and doesn't spend as much time in her old haunts lately.

One thing my friend has enjoyed is the "Collabricate" building sessions - see http://npirl.blogspot.com/2008/08/3d-doodling-with-vlad.html and dig around at Vlad's site at http://www.shiny-life.com/ for more details.

Dunno if he's still holding the sessions - I think she goes anyway and builds silly stuff on his land, even if nobody else shows up.

Sometimes I do get blah and meh- but looking thru old LM's soon shakes that. When it doesn't I just log off for awhile-

But gosh- there is such beauty out there- look at the pix i posted in the Undead Thread from last night- that place was awesome- and like it I am sure are a million others I haven't found yet.

Don't give up - come on- let's go explore almost a full two years here come November- I haven't seen it all.

/me smiles and thanks you all for the pep talk (I make a better Dr than a patient in that regard).

Restless ... yes ...

Kelly = you've got it. If I'm on that is ... tellingly, I have an induction to the gym booked tomorrow and that might well cure lots of restlessness (as well as getting me Cherry's figure!)

Sorry to hear you're feeling that way Cherry. SL is ups and downs. Kinda like RL. I'm sure it will swing back the other way given time.

Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down,
'Twas sad as sad could be ;
And we did speak only to break
The silence of the sea !

All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion ;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink ;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

The very deep did rot : O Christ !
That ever this should be !
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea.

If you had actually had the Pep talk you would not be bored . . . maybe angry, annoyed, frustrated, astonished . . . whatever.

Pep (You restrict yourself to just ONE partner? I am not surprised ennui has set in)

OK, my turn...

Everyone knows that RL is far better than SL. There is nothing wrong about logging in RL. SL should be entertaining, funny, curious, laughable, enjoyable. One of my goals for joining SL was to experience it without gilt. Soooo, when i need a good laugh, I do things that I would never do in RL and test myself. You know, could I really try and do this and laugh about it (I'll leave that up to your imagination) ?

Anyways, if I can't, its no big deal ... I just try something else. I like to think there is so much to do and act goofy about in SL that I actually prefer my friends not to see how crazy I can get

The point is Cherry, SL is a tool for enjoyment to be compatible with your RL.

JulieAnne

I know some awesome spots to go.

Here are some over the top beautiful destinations.
http://ravenelle.net/5-hot-places-in-second-life-to-find-plants/

The link to my UBER list of Second Life destinations is on the front page of Ravenelle.net ..if you traverse that entire list it'll take you weeks and may also spark new inspirations for you in Second Life.

Only the best, no crappy spots on my list.

Cherreeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't go!!!!!!!!

SL needs you.

Hugs Cherry, I have pondering, selling everything, killing off FD
but I don't know if I totally could go cold turkey on creating,etc.
yet I have handful of friends but it's hard either way not sure what I am going to do.
My yearly membership is coming up and I just don't know if I want to spend any more money on SL any more, just like everything is adding up, meanwhile in order to stay soon I am going to need to get new computer or spend money I don't have on better video card and ram.
These days I seem to be too tired to learn, make new friends or travel and plus deal with all the glitches within SL or whatever new things in SL so I end up sitting by myself a whole lot when I am not creating something. I wanted to have business and sale things but that just not working either. Sort of pointless to spend numerous hours creating, spending money on space, when numerous things will go wrong and I will be lucky if I can make L$200 a month.
I made more in 2006 camping truthfully and had more fun at it but those places don't exist any more.

That is too bad.

I find that i can spend hours upon hours standing or laying in one place talking with my partner.

I guess we do the "where shall go" thing on occasion and then i start running my mouth and hours pass and the day is over.

Radically changing your SL also helps. Getting involved in new things, trying on new types of experiences etc..

Every time my SL turned into boredom, i did something dramatic which fixed it.

yeah, the business market here is daunting. I noticed that someone recently has a very basic fountain for sale at a price tag of $600L. The truth is, you have to be unique here or have extra ordinary skills with building.

I don't even want to get into the marketing strategies that people talk about. For me, its more of a lesson in business than building to sell, which makes it interesting for me.

I remember telling a friend sometime back, Don't rely on people to make your SL a positive experience. You can't rely on people to make you happy!

JulieAnne

We must be twins separated at birth! That sounds exactly like many of our SL evenings.