I think it’s kinda creepy.

If you live in your parents’ basement, it’s okay I guess.

I haven’t been on, but I’m curious about it. Your description reminds me just a little bit of Fluther. There is a certain freedom here – to express ourselves, without some of the consequences and inhibitions we might experience if we knew each other in real life. I imagine it’s the same on Second Life.

To answer your question about how I’d feel if my SO had a relationship with someone there… I might be a tad jealous but I’d be fine with it. Especially if she were open about it. Keeping it a secret wouldn’t work for me.

You should look at the us dollars spent there. Its insane. In 24 hrs it is usually over $1million. The inventor gets a cut of every dollar spent there. Smart guy. There are even countries now that have embasies (sp) on there. It is creepy though, but interesting, in an ant farm kind of way.

I haven’t been on Second Life. It seems freaky-deaky to me. I would be shocked that I had gotten myself in with a Second-Lifer if I were to discover that my SO was spending so much time there, let alone was having a cyber-fling. Gross. Thinking about the whole business rather makes me want to chuck my computer out the window. The most compelling thing I have heard about Second Life is how it creates a level playing field by people marginalized in the real world, due to lack of social skills or a physical handicap, for instance.

Tried it. Hated it.

computer resources hog

I used it for a little while last year. It was fun for a little while, but I guess I’m not a gamer. Creating my avatar took me 5 hours and I didn’t notice until I was done, how much time had passed. I wasn’t too happy about that. :-P

It was cool to explore the virtual world that people had built. But I felt like I had to know a lot more about writing scripts and actions. I had never done any of that and it intimidated me.

There were people there who had no problem approaching me and asking me to go to an adult section…

And yes, as @OpenIntro says, resource hog, big time. I could only play for a short amount of time because of how hot my computer ran. And forget trying to do anything else at the same time, even IM.

I think it is an interesting social study. Aside from the interacting with strangers, there are universities holding classes in-world. There are museums that have recreated their entire collections and you are able to tour them virtually. It really is amazing to see the amount of detail in the paintings, once they render all the way. People have put so much time and effort into sharing their world with the rest of us.

I would say it’s worth it to check it out for a little bit, just to see. I haven’t been back in over a year, and probably wont go back any time soon.

I’ve tried it for maybe two days. Spent quite a bit of time on there trying my hardest to like it, but I just couldn’t do it. To this day I can’t understand the appeal.

Having said that, I’m really not big into that kind of thing. The appeal of WOW completely baffles me as well. I have lunch from time to time with some of the Blizzard staff that do support for it, and if they can’t get me excited about it, I reckon there’s no hope.

As for the SO part of the question, it would entirely depend on how honest she was with me regarding it. If I knew about it from the start and she wasn’t taking it too seriously, as in it was part of the experience of the game, I don’t think I’d have a problem with it. It would have to stay as just that though.

I have stayed away from it because so many people are addicted to it. I just don’t need that much distraction in my life right now.

I have a WOW account. My husband still plays everyday but only for about an hour tops. When we first got it I was amazed at how quickly time passed while I played. Because of that, I stopped playing for the time being. We’re moving soon and I just don’t have the time.

What if the people on second life put that much energy into their real lives? Doesn’t every bit of your self that you expend there take away from the self that you give to your SO and others here?

I like this site better get a first life

@ccatron That’s great!

@marina, exactly! Thank you for the answer I was thinking of! The people I met on there acted like it was fairly important to them and I couldn’t help thinking exactly what you just said. I have to admit though that I did have a little fun on cold wiinter nights meeting people from around the world on there and getting past the language barriers. That part was akin to fluther a bit, so I enjoyed that part.

I’ve been on SL for over two years and it remains one of my favorite pastimes. However, I live alone in a remote area with a blazing fast internet connection. Therefore, SL is a social outlet for me. The area in which I live is largely populated with uneducated, white supremacist types…

Yes, designing your avatar takes time and can be frustrating. I am even considering setting up a ‘consulting agency’ which would be free to new users, to help design their avatar and give some initial guidance.

There are a number of video tutorials which can be found on iTunes and YouTube.

Personally, I have found SL fascinating and quite a learning experience. Since you are anonymous, you can have very intimate conversations with people about various aspects of their life and your life. One area I have found extremely interesting is bisexuality. I have never really had such frank conversations with bisexuals, and how that sexual orientation manifests itself and how they manage in Real Life.

Also, I have actually ‘fallen in love’. Granted you are communicating via an avatar, however that avatar is actually another human being. In SL, if you are looking for an emotional connection, it is not hard to find. In essence, you are meeting someone’s personality. And it can be very fulfilling because you can relate to the other person on a very deep level and are not constricted by geography.

However, there are pitfalls to “blending” your real life emotions into SL. On the whole though, I have learned a lot about myself, my place in society, and my ability to love. For me, I very much value how much SL has allowed me to expand in this manner.

There is a lot of Adult content on SL, which some may find very offensive. So be prepared for that. But SL also has thousands of Groups for people with similar interests. And all of the content on SL is created by the SL residents. Some of it is spectacular, some very talented creative people have spent a tremendous amount of time to entertain you with their imagination.

A good resource to start is http://www.avastar.com, an online magazine about Second Life.