The Lure of Virtual...

The Lure of Virtual

Why we keep coming back, again and again and again….

When someone asks what I am doing during the weekend, I usually say I am busy, and no one really can imagine. Busy doing what? Well, shopping, decorating, landscaping. Dancing and hanging out with friends.

Sounds like a typical weekend right? Yes… except…

I do all of these things behind a computer screen, immersed in a 3D environment that mimics real life. Although not all of the five senses are represented, most of them are.

When I first came onto Second Life, I found it clunky and frustrating, with no real instructions. Plus the avatars looked much too much cartoonish. That was back in 2005.

When I tried again to go back on Second Life, in 2008, things were different. Cltohing had developed with the use of multiple attachments and flexi primitives, allowing lifelike movement and flow of hair and fabric. Scripting had also developed, and there were many beautiful modes of transport. Regions were plentiful, with many people from many countries to meet and chat with.

By 2010, all sorts of things were happening. There were plenty of beautiful RP regions. Necessity being the mother of invention, and people were using MLP animations to do all sorts of things, but of course mostly for sequenced sex. The Second Place Marketplace gave vendors an inexpensive online storefront to sell their wares with an easy delivery system that delivered goods directly to the recipient, directly inworld. The first SL real estate mogul made over a million USD by selling virtual land. Hundreds of regions were developed by real life companies, corporations and education facilities.

As you know, SL has made a steady decline in recent years, losing players and contributors with a sharp decline in private region rentals.

So, why, you may ask, are people still inclined to go there?

I admit it. I love virtual. In virtual I can own a beachfront home, complete with a crashing surf and the sound of laughing gulls. I can live in the city, on the top of a high rise. I can hang out at midnight in some dark and lonely underground tunnel, being pursued by bad men. I can be bitten by a vampire, but not die. I can dance all night, get a partner, get married even, become a clothing designer, and sail a cruise ship.

Really. I can can do so much that I cannot do in real life.

And.. I can learn. I can learn how to script, how to texture, how to build.

I can market my ideas, and I can make friends.

I can turn into a mermaid and explore the bottom of the Blake Sea, I can buy and sell land at will. There is so much to be done, and so little time.

I can create things. With blender, there is so many ways to create and I am still learning.

I love virtual. It’s everything I cannot do in real life, and more.