Making friends

Thursday and Friday


After I downloaded the new software which was put on by the Linden Lab to enable Windows Vista users to be able to use Second Life properly, the programme did run a little better and faster and I could see things and do things which I wasn’t able to do before. It still has its moments and I am still not able to teleport to certain islands without help from others(teleport requests friends can sent so you can join them). I am not able to experience it better and fuller. I do still freeze a lot and get kicked out a lot but now the time span in between has increased, which I am very happy about.
When I logged on to Second Life on Thursday I had another request from a group which is basically another research group. I decided to join them as I thought this might be really helpful in my research and I could ask them a few questions. I also got an e-mail by the founder of the group and tried to answer him to get into conversation with him about his research and might be able to direct him to my weblog to see what he thinks.
But sadly I haven’t heard back from him yet, but I would really like to know more about the research he does, and what he might have found so far. I wasn’t able to teleport to his island yet but will keep trying.
I got another invitation by the Racers group I joined to come to their island and enter a competition they had on one of their events, but sadly I was not able to follow that invitation as it was really late in RL time and I didn’t have the chance to be online during that time, which was a shame as I would have liked to have a look how it works, and meet some new people and even make new friends.
I went back to Apfelland Nachtleben to see what was going on there and just to talk to some people. To my surprise it was fairly busy in there, considering it was afternoon in RL here in the UK. People were dancing, socialising, and partying.
I got all my courage together and started talking to some people and tried to join in the conversations they had. Some of which were in German and some in English. The first group I approached completely ignored me so I went on and found to guys talking to each other. Everyone seemed to enjoy the music which was played and I felt left out as I was not able to hear it for some reason, I could not figure out.
I started to talk to the two guys in German but didn’t really get a response so I tried English and all of a sudden they were talking to me. We talked for a bit and they asked me how long I had been on SL. I answered them that I hadn’t been on here for very long. ‘P’ as I will call one of them, started to comment on my skin, and how bad it was and that he could tell that I hadn’t been on there for very long. They started joking around with me about the colour of my skin and told me to get a proper one. I was a bit taken aback at their comments and told them that I didn’t see much difference and I didn’t know how to get one for free. Which was a little white lie as I had before on one of the freebie islands seen free skins available but at the time I didn’t think I would need it and that it would make much difference, so I didn’t get any of them, as I didn’t find it important.
But now, talking to these two guys I realized that apparently it did matter. He told me he would help me getting a nice one, and that he helped the other one which I am going to call ‘M’. He told me to add him as a friend so he could teleport me around to places where I could get a new skin. I did as I was told and he vanished.
After my last encounter with a guy, who I ended up having sex a few days before I was a little wary if I should trust him, as I didn’t really want to do it again, as funny as it was, that was not why I was here.
But all cautions thrown into the wind I did follow his teleporting request and ended up on Freebie Planet. Another one of the freebie stores available on Second Life.
He told me to click on the skins available and that they were free. One of them was, the other two I bought, actually did cost money, and from my $16 I had worked so hard for I had only $1 left after this. I told him that they cost money but at that point it was already too late too change my mind as I had already purchased them.
He told me how I could change my skin and shape and gave me tips, in terms of hair colour, skin tone, so I everything matched. I was in shock, as I am a women and I didn’t have a clue, and had to be told by a men what looked good and what not.
When I looked at myself closely I looked like a Barbie Doll. He said I looked hot and a lot better. I argued and said I look like a ‘bimbo’ with no brains. I also didn’t like the shape. I told him although I didn’t need to eat in SL, I looked anorexic. He laughed and told me that my old shape should still be on the Inventory list if I wanted to change it. He also dropped another Landmark into my profile, where he said I could get more free shapes from for free if I wasn’t happy with the ones I had.
He was really nice and we joked around a lot. This was the first time I really enjoyed being on Second Life and I felt part of it, and not as lost as I was before.
He also told me the way I looked now I would get jumped by loads of guys everywhere and I should be careful who to trust.
That irritated me a little and I asked him why, thinking of my sexual encounter with the Greek guy I had previously.
He said that a lot of people get really close on SL and a lot of people just take advantage of nice girls, so I should be careful.
I laughed and told him about the Greek guy, he was shocked that I had sex with him, but I explained that I was just curious how it all worked and that I found it quite funny. He laughed at that and said I still should be careful.
I told him that I will be and that it was unlikely for me to fall in love online, and how I could be sure if I could trust him. We talked a bit more about all this and then he said he wanted to go to another island which wasn’t as crowded and slow as the one we were on at that point in time.
So he teleported me to another Island which name I didn’t write down. He also explained to me that islands where there are a lot of people ones programme slows down a lot. Which did make sense as the island we were on now was quiet empty, and I could move a lot quicker.
I changed clothes, into something sexy and he commented on it constantly saying that I looked really nice. I just thought to myself that as in the real world, looks still count for a lot. The better you look the more people take notice of you. For a world where you could be anyone you want I found it disturbing and sad, that the same values, especially in terms of looks were carried over here. So its not as free as I thought it was. I want to make friends on here and find out more about life in Second Life and according to him and his friends, looks mattered even here, so I gave up trying to be me for a bit and see where that got me.
I felt a little uncomfortable with this new outfit, although it was a major improvement to the way I looked before I felt even more estranged with my Avatar than before. It just didn’t feel right. I told him so, and he said if I had more skins, shapes and hairstyles, and colours in my inventory I could play around a lot more and change it to whatever I felt like. I thought to myself that I would certainly do that.
After that I asked him if he knew any clubs one can go to, who were nice and cool.
He recommended Club Phantasm, Black Horse and Heartland. He said I already knew Apfelland so that was nothing new to me. He said that on Heartland they only played Western and Country music but that the people there were really nice and open to new people, which gave me hope. He also told me if I was going to the black Horse to talk to the owner who he knew and tell her that he sent me, so I would get in for free, and that she could show me around. But again it was very unlikely that I would ever be able to go there as it started really late and in the RL it would have been very late at night, and as I am not able to access the internet after a certain time I wouldn’t be able to check it out proper.
I said that to him as well, and he answered that if I do get a chance I should check it out.
He also recommended that I should play a game called ‘Sploders’, a game where you can make a lot of Linden Dollars. It was $10 a go, for the best chances to win. I said I would need to have to work a little to get that money, as after our shopping trip I only had one dollar left.
I couldn’t believe when he dropped $100 into my account and said that this was on him and that I should have a good time playing with it and increasing it.
I couldn’t believe what he had just done, not even in real life had anyone ever really done something like that to me and I was a bit unsure of how to take it. Don’t get me wrong I was really grateful but it didn’t make sense to me, I only met him like an hour
before. Well he said he didn’t want anything in return, its all just fun he said.
Well I am not complaining so I left it at that. My time was running out and I asked him why I couldn’t hear the music played in the clubs and I explained that I was using Vista and that I had a lot of trouble with it. He said two of his mates had loads of issues with Vista as well and one of them who had a business on SL lost quiet a bit of money as he was not able to log on with his new PC and Vista.
Back to the music, he told me to look up in the settings and see what status they had, and if everything was set ok. It wasn’t and he told me what to change so I am able to listen to the music.
I did as I was told, but there was no music on the island (Stealhead) we were on at the moment, but I was determined to test it as soon as possible.
He teleported one of his friends to the place we were at, so he could join us. But he had difficulties teleporting and moving as well. After a while he managed to join us and told me how good I looked which made me smile. He was not able to move at all, and all he could do was type, nothing else. I asked him jokingly if he was using Vista too and he said yes how do you know? So we talked a bit about our problems and it turns out that he was using his RL friends pc who had Vista and it was impossible for him to do anything, but as his PC was broken, it was the only choice he had.
We all talked a little more, but sadly I had to go, which for the first time I really didn’t want, as I was really enjoying myself, but sadly I had no choice in the matter, so I left them and told them I would be looking out for them the next time I was online.
We said our goodbyes and P told me he would show me more things I could do the next time I was online, and take me to Heartland to meet more people. With that in mind and actually looking forward to my next time on there I logged off.






The next day.
The next time I logged on the first thing I did was change back to my original shape which looked a lot more natural and I didn’t feel as much as a Barbie doll as before, and I set out to find P again. On my friends list I could see that he was online to I tried and teleport myself to Heartland Island, the club he was talking about, but I couldn’t teleport. So I IM him and asked him to sent me a tp request (teleport). It worked the second time around and I then I was there. On there everyone was dancing the same dance and I finally could hear the music. I have to say it wasn’t really to my taste so I blocked the sound but still clicked on the silver glitter ball on the ceiling which made me dance the same as everyone else. He asked me how I was and how I was getting on, we talked for a bit. Everyone on there had wings attached to their Avatars, as this was kind of a theme. I did have wings somewhere in my inventory but I didn’t bother putting them on. He introduced me to a few people and we started talking. There was some sort of competition going on but even he couldn’t tell me exactly what it was about and how it worked. I asked him about that game he mentioned the day before but he said there wasn’t one on this island, and he would show me anther time. I still don’t know what it is, I presume it is a kind of an equivalent to a fruit machine but I could be wrong. So I danced for a while, talked to some people, and enjoyed myself. It was all for free and the music sounded like it was coming from a radio station. If it is a station only to be heard in SL or also in RL I was not able to find out.
Because there were so many people there, the programme was running really slow, and P who was using a work computer, was having difficulties with it as well.
After a while we said goodbye to everyone, and teleported ourselves back to Stealhead to be able to talk properly and for him to show me some more moves and things on my programme. He showed me how to hug others, and dropped the script for it in my profile so I could hug him and others whenever I wanted. Which was nice. ‘M’ wasn’t online so I didn’t get to see him or talk to him.
In between our conversations I kept getting kicked off the programme quiet a lot, which was annoying to me and to him, but there was nothing I could do. The same happened to him and he was not able to move much either.
As I had to go to work in RL I asked him when he would be online again so we could go and gamble and play that game and he could show me around a little more and show me how things work.
He said he wont be able to go on here until Monday but then we should meet up and he would show me around a little more.
I really wish I had more time with my project as now I am actually able to do things and go places I was not able to go before, because of the faults with Vista but sadly I don’t so I have to try and squeeze in as much as possible in the next few days.
As I have already mentioned before I will continue to spent time in SL after my project is finished as I get more fascinated by the minute. There is so much more to explore and do, and its keeps changing so fast that it is hard to keep up. Especially if you are new to the game.
I am a little sorry that he wont be here for the weekend, as then I have a bit more time to spent on there but sadly there is nothing I can do about it. I just will have to check out the clubs he mentioned alone and maybe I meet some more nice people who are willing to show me around a bit more.
He had to go and I was left again on my own.
So the first thing I did was going back to Sarah Nerds Freebie Paradise where there is tonnes of free stuff, to get some new skin, shapes and hairstyles.
The programme at this point was running really slow again and I had difficulties wandering around and finding the things I wanted, it took me a while but I managed to find it and get them.
After that I kept playing around and changed the appearance of my Avatar again, and again. I am still not a 100% happy about the way Simmi looks but at least I don’t look like an anorexic Barbie doll anymore.
After I was kind of happy with my appearance, I tried to teleport back to Hearland, to talk to some of the people I had talked to before, to find out more about that game and some other clubs. But as before I was not able to get anywhere. I also kept freezing, and getting kicked out. As I only had another half an hour left online anyway I decided to leave it for the day as I couldn’t get anywhere at all, which was really annoying as there were so many things I wanted to check out.
So I left it and hope that today will be better and I am able to see more places and clubs to compare it to the idea I have about my business plan to set up a club in there.