Second Life Ate Me
.
Back in November, the Hubby Man found an online game called Second Life.
He logged in and started playing it. I thought it was like "The Sims Online" or maybe a MMORPG. The more he played, the more I saw how different it was.
And the less I wanted to ever start playing Second Life myself. Because I knew my blog would suffer for it.

Obviously, I've been playing Second Life.

It lets you create an avatar that looks like whatever you'd like it to look like, pretty much. So I can have a non physical being that looks like my real life self, yet have a flat stomach. Just walking around a really big area and typing at people would never have hooked me on SL. But I can build stuff.

I can and have built dresses that swish when you walk, hair that blows in the breeze, and tons of jewelry. I've visited help centers and taught other people how to build things too. I opened a store to sell what I've made; and I've earned enough "Linden Dollars" to pay for a premium membership. Second Life money can be converted into US dollars. They're still working on converting it to Euros.

I have met pixel people who speak a different language, brushed up on my French, gone to costume parties, helped people, been helped by people, gone to philosophy discussions, visited ecosystems where pretend wild animals interact with other pretend wild animals, walked around college campuses - the UN - areas built to mimic towns in Europe - and areas that are just eye candy.

That's the sunny side of Second Life.
It definately has a dark side. I have to be careful what my avatar wears when I'm adding inventory to my store. Sedate clothing seems to summon up male avatars who approach me and type "Nice avatar. Want to have sex? I know a free place."
For a while, I had my avatar carry a small penis in it's hand and wore a hovering text which said, "I already have a penis, so I don't need yours".
That worked really well, and I felt like I was being a jackass; so I stopped.

Nowadays, I just have my avatar walk or teleport away.
And yes, there is a lot of pretend sex in SL. If you can think of it, there's an probably an area that caters to it. I don't need to say much more than that.
Another thing about SL is that a lot of people a real life boyfriend or girlfriend and a second life boyfriend or girlfriend; and all 4 of them play the game.
Which means I've stayed up all night several times, reading and typing as someone I've met cries from a broken heart. Having a relationship takes work, having two and keeping them separate (or bringing them together for that matter) always ends in pain.
The players are real people behind those pixels. They think real thoughts and feel real emotions. SL partnerships are a thing my husband and I try to avoid. What can't be avoided is having your avatar affect the people they interact with.

It's an interesting study of humanity, though.
There's a guy in SL who appears fat and bald. He has a rotating sign over his head with a picture of his real life self. Guess what? He's fat and bald.
He has agoraphobia - can't go out of the house. He's using SL as therapy to get out and walk around in open spaces. Second Life has day and night, sunrises and sunsets, wind, sound effects like chirping birds and rustling leaves, wide open spaces, shopping malls that look like real life shopping malls... All kinds of things to help an agoraphobe get used to outside without being outside. He's collecting donations (the spinning sign can be paid) to make his avatar look as much like his real life self as possible. It helps him to see "him" being "outside". If you pay the sign, He will do a dance for you.

There are quite a few people using SL as therapy. Hopefully with the supervision of a trained therapist.

You can attend College classes in world; several schools are studying the effectiveness of SL as a teaching tool. I know I understand math better because of what I've built in Second Life. And SL helps me remember to be clear in what I say with words.
There's more, a lot more. And I've written a pretty long entry.
I'm committed to spending more time writing to this blog and getting out in the real world. My nerve regrowth is finally at a stage where I can start working out at the Y again. I can walk for an hour or more without needing or using my cane. It's time to get my butt out of this chair.