On a positive note :)

As an old school IRCer, Second Life has given me a platform to take social interaction to an unprecedented level. In IRC, I've been able to communicate with people on the other side of the world on a daily basis. Second Life takes that concept far beyond IRC and gives me the ability to express myself, and interact with others in a way that touches many more senses than IRC can ever hope to.

In Second Life, we can touch things, feel things, look at things 360 degrees around, and of course we can make things which represent our thoughts in a way that one dimensional chat could never achieve.

Second Life is IRC on steroids, from a human interaction perspective.

As others have related, Second Life has given me the opportunity to meet people I would have otherwise never met, and afforded me the privilege of calling those folks friends. These forums have a way of bridging the gap between old timers and new, which I also find extremely refreshing.

In case you haven't noticed, I assign a fairly high value to the folks operating the keyboards and mice in-world and here in the forums.. you folks are what make Second Life a life worth living, and putting effort into. That it is also a platform wherein I can build, script, and generally make stuff to insert into the economy in an effort to financially support my involvement is just icing on the cake.

Thanks for this thread, and for the opportunity to contribute to it.

ZK

Hmmm i didnt make that quote u have in ur signature and its certainly not my views

Words cannot really express what SL means to me. I'm disabled in RL and in a great deal of pain so unable to go anywhere much. In SL I walk, dance, and fly. I can attend classes on a myriad of subjects. I have others to share my Shabbat (bless you Beth Odets, founder of SL Synagogue and matriarch [giggle] of SL's Jewish community). I have discovered the joy of building and although I haven't sold anything yet, I've made presents for my friends. Oh yes, and friends - surely SL's greatest gift. Now if I could just persuade my RL friends to join me (they think I'm mad), I'd be content.

And one last thing SL has given me - an overdraft. LOL - that bit's a lie, I had one already, but SL has seen it grow from a tiny baby into a great big strapping teenager.

Thanks, Lord Sullivan, for the thread. And thanks, Gov and LL, for making it happen.

Second Life says it all, i can do thing in SL that I never would dream of in RL, so much more but im too lazy to type it all.

Peace.

BR.

Thanks everyone for your comments on this thread, i have not been awake long and it gave me a nice warm feeling and put things back on that positive note

There are so many good things about here, i would say more good than bad without a shadow of a doubt, my daughter lives many miles away and i dont see her very often, im now gonna invite her to join here.

Scripting i will look at learning now as Robby says its a good grounding for programming basics, thx Robby.

For all its hardware and software faults there is nothing like SL and i dont suppose that a competitor would be able to re create what we have here already, as to me its the people that make the SL world what it is today and the world has been evolving for sometime now.

Im just grateful that i am here and for the people and friends i have met, even those with whom i disagree, as what a boring world it would be if we all agreed with each other

SL rocks 99% of the time Once again thanks for your great comments and do say hi in world even if we disagree with each other in our thourghts, as that shouldnt stop us at least saying hello and who knows we could become good friends

HAPPY EASTER to all you great people that make SL what it is today and thanks for making my time here fun

Peace

Sorry Lord, in the heat of the moment, I gave you credit when it should have gone to Hiro Pendragon. Please accept my apologies.

thanks Lord,
of coz SL is not allways 100% but it made a huge impact to my daily (R)life,
not only meeting so many different people, "playing" business for a few dollar, makeing friends, the building and scripting and the way SL allows you to let your fantasies and ideas become "alife". To me, as being "stuck" in the UK for the moment it is a great oppotiunity to meet, see and talk to my RL family and RL friends all over the world.(that must be the main reason why I get so peed off when SL isnt running,lol). I can use my languages and maintain them, learning new things everyday. It gives people a platform to come together, to deal with eachother on a mostly tolerant way, gives people a place to be as they like to see themself or allready are, no matter what color, religion or sex they got in RL. And it gives people, specialy disabled or people with mental problems or obsesions a way to interact with others and build and keep social contacts. SL is a great "game", I am glad I can be part of this experience. And as Robby said, it gives us a possibility to teach our children intrest in what happen behind the obvious, my teeny son likes his teen grid and learns with so much intrest, he surprises me every day again.

Thanks LL for this and damm you for all the little problems, lol
btw WHERE did my CC data went to?

xxx
XanderMaria

Positive Side:
I have received lots of help from this forum and in-world friends, thank you very much.

Negative Side:

As a premium user, i never got any direct support responses from sl staff, only one indirect reponse that i asked to make a specific payment, where the fees are partly from my credit card and sl account. they help to make a payment. but i never receieve a response.(Let me know the deal is done.)

I would like to chime that my husband of almost 10 years and I met pre-internet, on a 5 line BBS. Today we are still happy together and while we both realize that most Internet "romances" are replete with problems, there are those can withstand the test of anonymity and all that goes with it. Honesty, as always, is the best policy.

As far as the original question (great thread):

SL has given me:

Another pleasing hobby/distraction,
Something I can interact with for a few minutes or a few hours (I just love picking away at my new land),
Some interesting people and new friends,
Boundless creativity to be explored,
Exposure to the bounties, generosity and imaginations of others,
The Japanese garden of my dreams that I will likely never own in real life.

I'm riveted and fascinated.

Cheers.

SL has given wonderful friends, amazing possibility,self confidence, money, freedom, a way to help my family, entertainment, goals, and my favorite, The feeling I am capable of anything I put my mind to. So despite all the bad things to happen in sl recently, I am grateful for it and still LOVE it.

Wonderment.

Friends. Experiences. Joy.

New skills to add to my web/app dev background. A portfolio of things seen and interacted with. Everything RobbyRacoon Olmstead said.

Some of the Cyberpunk genre brought to life.

And if I gnash my teeth here and there, it's cause I care so much and don't want to see it come crashing down.

I love this place.

Much of what I love about SL has already been stated here. Sarah's comment encapsulated
it nicely tho, thanks Sarah.

Definitely the people and the challenges, there is always something new to explore and learn.
My initial attraction to Sl was as a testing platform for my 3d graphics study.
But it is soooo much more, I am continually amazed at the creations and the talents and enthusiasm of the people in SL.

Congratulations Pheonix that is super cool!

Also cool to hear what you do for a living Chosen. I wondered what some of the senior
super talented SL'ers did for a living.

One of the sweetest things is people that I have never met expressing enthusiasm over my creations.

Accepted with thanks