Positive side of Second Life

I felt a bit guilty this morning that perhaps I've been overly critical of LL lately. I strongly believe that when you are paying a corporation hard-earned money for "goods and services", you should get an adequate level of customer service as well as quality in the product and/or service. Even if it's "a game" or a platform.

The positive side: I've been here about 18 months now and I still love the place, warts and all. This is the 3D internet and to me, a lot of fun. So much to see, so much to do, so much to experience. People to meet from all over the world. 99% of everyone I've met have been decent, nice people. There is a steep learning curve but hell, I enjoy it. It's a challenge to me and it feels good to gradually master it. The client has forced me to radically upgrade my hardware and now I have a kickass computer that is good for any task you can throw at it. I've learned a lot about IT and networks since I've been here, and I have a lot to learn.

I love this place. I would not work here 40+ hours a week if I did not, honest to God. Have a great weekend.

Well said. I've only been here about 4 1/2 months, but I love it. I've met a lot of great people, made friends with folk from around the world. It's also a great learning experience in many ways: I've learned to do 3d building, learned some basic animating, learned the LSL language, and also learned to better understand economics and markets.

I probably spend more time on SL (either in world, on the forums, or just thinking about things to do in SL) than I do on my actual RL job.

Yes, they need to improve their level of customer service; yes they need to provide more service to make the premium membership worth it; there are other areas which could stand improvement. But on the whole I'm still glad to be here, and would be very sad if SL went away.

-Atashi

Yes you are right.Only been here since January, but SL is a worthy time spender, flaws and all. I have never ventured into any online interactive thingy before. I knew nothing of SL before jumping in, I went Premium almost immediately. I am amazed by the possibilities, and that which has already been created by many. I've sunk a good portion of my entertainment budget into it, and have gotten value for it. Hammering the "Man" is a poular pastime in RL so it is natural it follows here. I do credit the Providers for having a thick skin at times, they do take a lot of abuse here ometimes. I'm in it purely for the social aspects, not looking to work (although I wouldn't mind a small investment or two to fundy second social life). Things are going to change in the coming months. We can affect that change to a degree. There will be two entities involved. One group will come in waving lots of cash. They will ask for many things, and have great influence on the future. We will also look for many things. We won't have the financial incentives to equal theirs, but I think we will have something better. A love for SL. They are looking out for their interests, which is pretty much profit. Ours can be much greater, the desire to see SL grow and flourish. If SL goes bad, they will take their money and run. Mnay of us most likely remain, trying to fix it. I hope that sight isn't lost on the Providers.

I love it too. That's why it's doubly frustrating that it no longer works anywhere near as well as it did last summer and since that time customer service has all but disappeared.

I'm not leaving until someone turns out the lights.

I may find aspects of SL frustrating, but at most I just roll my eyes and bitch. So far, the fun part vastly outweighs the irritations, and I don't see that equation changing any time soon.

I just hope that they don't read the forums. It would crush them

The forums are a place to whine about Linden Lab, not necessarily to be heard by them.

Heh. Pre-emptive response to my post on another thread XD

The positive thing about SL for me is that I can harrass other residents and watch them get all wound up and giggle maniacally to myself.

Oh, sh- I meant to post that with my alt account.

*can't find the edit button*

That's just cruel! I personally would never do that! in this account.

Yes! Finally a positive post.

I have loved SL from the first time I logged on. When I started a year ago, as some may recall, there were many more grid shutdowns. Sometimes they would last for hours, but I paitiently waited them out.

Today, despite the many complaints, SL runs great for me. Maybe it's luck, or maybe it's acquired knowledge and skill, but I really don't have much to complain about. I forked over 2 grand for a killer rig too, but my last pc ran SL almost as good.

I cannot begin to explain how much SL has helped my RL as well. I have brought RL skills into the game and have gained many new skills from the game which I now use in my RL business.

LL if you are reading this, keep up the great work. There is much work to do, and the many changes you have made, and continue to make, will all lead to a great new virtual world. One like no other.

Peace

Come on, time to pipe up. "We" have been accused of whining excessively.

Guess I feel a little guilty too since I'm such a big mouth about customer service and performance for something I pay real USD's for. I've been here in SL since February last year and I remember how confused I was but also how fascinated I was with all the things people could do. I decided I was going to learn how to do some of that stuff.........so I taught myself how to build which has actually become somewhat of an obsession (since I only have 512 meters to build on I have about 10 "experiments" that I call houses in my inventory.........LOL). I got The GIMP and started making textures (again all self taught) for clothes and buildings..........so I have several hundred textures in my texture folder, too. I discovered live music in SL so now I remain perpetually broke due to "showing linden love"...........LOL. And, of course, I've made many friends to chat with and agrue with...........all in great fun.

Guess that's why I bitch so much about LL..........I want it succeed but I get fearfull that they won't because of resident frustation with the constant issues.

Hey, I've said positive things about SL too!

I think I'm doing more complaining these days because I'm loving SL more and more. I've got my little business now, I'm slowly but surely getting it to where I want it to be and I'm just scared that it's all going to come to and end. There are times when I can see trouble coming and all I want to do is fly to california, find a linden and shale them.

But, looking through the forum I've noticed Heretic Linden's posted a few times, that's making me feel a whole lot better, I don't feel quite so abandoned. The future's looking bright again, everything is going to be sorted out, it's just going to take time

Vale

I've always felt positive about SL and the problems are secondary to the brilliance of the whole thing. Problems are not unknown with other websites, including 3D virtual worlds.

Second Life is what we all make it. I pay plenty of USD every month to LL, but it is all money I have earned in world. I have worked very hard to be able to achieve this. I could have cashed in my chips long ago, but that's not my goal.

Issues? Of course there are issues. Linden Labs is creating a new market. We should expect all kinds of issues, but slowly and steadily, the issues are being dealt with. One is rectified, another emerges...hmm, sounds alot like real life to me.

I love SL, and I am in it for the long haul. I think if we all took a deep breath every so often, and really looked at the big picture here, we would realize that we all have something to benefit from constructive ideas and possible solutions. Imagine going to work (at Linden Labs) everyday, and being constantly bombarded by unhappy, disgruntled residents who DEMAND you do something...NOW! If we all practised a little more empathy, and tried to be a little more understanding, I think we would all fare better.

Linden Labs has my support. Please continue your efforts and innovations, they have not gone unnoticed.

The path of the happy pessamist:

Expect the worst.

The disappointment of failed expectations will bring joy instead of pain.

Great post...as I've written before...sure there are problems, but I don't
think anyone going into Second Life misunderstands that this is all new
territory: providing an online 3D world in which the inhabitants create
nearly everything in it.

If all we do here in the forums is beat Linden Labs for problems then
we're also breaking down their morale to keep it all going.

Let's try to give positive support to LL when we can.

-iw

I'm trying not to type when frustrated or angry. All of the Lindens I have personally had contact with have been great.

Just tossing in my agreement...though there are a lot of things that end with frustration because of bugs etc, I am one of the many that arent leaving until they close down. I love being a part of something that is new and growing daily, even if it does cause lag

Here is the best use of SL that I have found so far. I had some cheese slices that I wanted to warm up a little since, as we all know, cheese tastes better at room temperature. I put the cheese on a little plate behind the vents of my notebook while running SL, but I guess I miscalculated a little because after 10 minutes I had a plate of melted cheese!

If you want to use SL to warm your cheese 5 minutes is plenty but if you want to melt it try 10 minutes.

I am considering writing a SL cookbook.

I am so stealing this quote as my sig tag.

As Resident Avitar #270,000 or so, I can say that SecondLife is a wonderful, wonderful trip!

Quickly, I can think of 3 things that are 'fun':
1. The 'game' itself is fun, in fact, 'its a blast'! (the building, the sightseeing, the club-hopping, the meeting people,etc.)
2. The changes in the game are 'interesting'. Every major viewer upgrade has brought a new set of challenges. Its like a giant erector set, only every time there's an 'upgrade' the threads on all the bolts change, while the nuts stay constant!
3. Finally, there's the GRIEF and DRAMA! There have been break-ins at the labs, and copybots, and landbots, and land barons, and Private Island rate revolts, and of course, Noobs Galore!

Every Day Is An Adventure! The journey continues!

I've been a resident in SL for 2 years now and I've never looked back. I've had my ups and downs, found niches and lost them, not quite done it all (yet!!!), and still never cease to be amazed at what happens here. In short, there's nothing remotely like SL anywhere else. At the moment I'm more into the live music scene (as a performer) and contacting people I know in RL to do shows in SL. For musicians and performers, SL beats the pants off things like MySpace.

Been here since 2004. Regardless of my fuming on the various nuisances, I still spend three hours a day in SL. I enjoy the socialising, I enjoy creating things, I enjoy exploring the creativity of my neighbors. The fact you can find yourself conversing with a bug headed alien from the other side of your planet is one of those magical little moments that make it all worthwhile. As long as they type slow, since my french really blows. If you look at what theyve accomplished here, its quite kool. A virtual world streamed live into your computer. Its in a constant state of flux and changes by the second at the whim of its populace. Thats a neat trick. Are there weird anomolies messing with us constantly? Most definately. But thats the nature of the beast, its a trade off. This thing is a resource hog, and the bigger it gets the harder it is to feed. But when its running good, its a most wonderous thing to be a part of. Does my texture picker still not work right? Uhh, yah. Do I really want voice chat? Cripes no. But those new fangled funky prims sure look wild!
I think Ive written this post once before, talking bout the good stuff. I could have just cut and pasted that one. But sometimes you need to remind yourself of why the f**k you hang out here. My main reason? My second life is much more glamorous than my first one, and I own a nicer car. Even if I cant get it into the next sim without sinking through to the earths core. Damn, wheres that 'vehicles dont work' thread.

This isn't whinning. The old forums with more titles than I can remember was where we did all our whining and the Lindens even answered us back then. I just looked in the Forum Archives and they are empty so the newer people can't even go back there to see the real whining.

So I will relate my experience of living my childhood dream of running off to the South Pacific to live on an island paradise. Ok in reality those South Pacific islands aren't as exotic as I imagined in my youth but in SL I have my South Pacific island paradise and it is still growing. It is just 1 island but when I'm finished it will occupy all or parts of 9 sims in a 3 X 3 matrix that is surrounded by open water where I can sail and I have reservations locking up an additional 100 sims where other like minded people can someday connect to sail the waters of not only the South Pacific but with connections to the Hollywood complex of sims and the Nantucket complex of sims.

Life in SL is good and the lag mainland and overloaded island sims experience isn't a problem where I live. So explore, play, even work but have fun in SL as I always hope it just gets better. In the mean time, I'm having a ball and all the new people I meet along the way just makes the experience even richer.

I do need to budget time to get some work done in RL. I'm comfortably retired so never have to work for a living ever again but unlike SL in RL you have to do lots of things that take away from your SL playing time just to live.