Don’t get caught up in trying to acquire linden-dollars. It’s not really worth your time.

@aphilotus but what about Tom Pike’s roommates who ended converting their linden dollars into that huge screen television and game system and whatnot?

I just want to have a purpose for playing the game other than “its fun.”

@Fred931
“What I basically want to wind up with is a persona with a job, a house, and a general idea of where I am.”

That’s exactly where I want to be in real life.

“Linden tree very tempting,
And the linden dollars sweet,
But the fruits that you can harvest
Are imprudent to enjoy.”

I saw a BBC special on second life and decided to not even visit it – not even to check it out. Scary.

I’m not judging – I just know I’d get very addicted. Fluther is enough virtuality for me.

@Cartman : Look within, tadpole, not at your computer screen.

@LexWordsmith
So be it.

And so, goodbye.

Second life is a venue worth getting to understand. I’ve seen some applications that might turn out to be useful in the future. It’s a virtual meeting and presentation space. People need to meet and present to each other in all kinds of situations—including academic and business situations.

I don’t really think SL is ready for prime time. People are still figuring out how to use it, whether for social and gaming or commercial or education purposes. I guess of all the functions, the gaming is the most developed. That’s not something that interests me, however.

I would like to learn SL. I have a feeling that it is going to become an important interface in the future. Perhaps the Google of social networking. I think it will be useful to offer a visual interface. Hopefully, some day, we’ll be able to have input devices that can translate facial and body expressions into movement by our avatars. Even without that it offers new ways of presenting information from a distance.

Of course, having said that, I haven’t really answered your question. Unfortunately, I can’t answer it, since I am newer than even a newbie, never having been there, personally. Still, I think it’s an interesting place.

@daloon Funny thing. The swedish government opened an embassy in second life, but I think they closed it.

Close the account and play warcraft.

Been reading about SL for years now in the gaming media. Here’s the common misconception: This is a game that’s fun! It’s not a game… It’s an environment. Within it is a panoply of opportunities for communication, networking, learning, commerce, sexuality, and gaming. Head to a site like The Escapist, or Gamasutra, or Gamers with Jobs and read up on the place. Find a few wingmen in those communities, or in your real life, to go in with and watch your six, there’s some weird stuff in there and some weird people to boot. But don’t jump in expecting to grind experience, get loot, and join a guild. Jump in expecting to get a job, meet some of the locals, and hang out there for long periods of time trying to find something that interests you.

Just curious…now that many months have passed since your original post, are you still visiting SL? And if so, what have you discovered about it?

@Pied_Pfeffer Nope, I’ve forgotten completely about it, actually!

Thanks for responding. You are probably in the majority when it comes to SL.

Another question: did you cancel your account or just move away? The reason I ask is that SL advertises how many members there are which, of course, is skewed. Some are long gone, and some people have more than one.

I haven’t deleted it; It’s still there.