Why People Play Second Life

Why People Play Second Life

Today I want to discuss the reasons why people play second life. Please note that I do not speak for everybody. This is just my own reason and some of the people I’ve talked to.
I started playing Second Life last year. Before that, I had first heard of second life when I did a search for a topic on the Sims game created by EA. What I understood was that second life was a virtual reality game like the Sims, except it was online. I didn’t delve any deeper into it because I thought it wasn’t something I’d like to get into. Years later I came across a similar game called IMVU. I was at a point in my life where I was unemployed and addicted to the internet. I started to play IMVU and thought that it was awesome. However, I ran into quite a few problems.

First of all, IMVU does not have any freebies. The only “freebies” they have are on a list in your avatar menu. It is a short list, and there isn’t much to make your character look unique. Secondly, IMVU does not have many places to visit. There isn’t much to do because the amount of content is restricted. On top of that, there are really great places that are only accessible to premium players.  Like Second Life, IMVU gives players a home to decorate if they have a premium account. However, Second Life does allow its players to rent land or skyboxes using game money.

When I played IMVU, people were mean and nasty to me everywhere I went. The reason for this is because they could all see that I was a noob. The majority of the community in IMVU only wants to impress their peers. Like when I was dancing at a club and some muscle head in tattoos started picking on me. He only did it to impress the girls he was with because no one in IMVU likes a noob. I want to stop comparing IMVU and second Life right now. I am moving away from my original post xD. Don’t worry I will make a post about IMVU VS Second Life.

Anyway, let’s just say I got sick of the Money grabbing IMVU and spent my money on something better…World of War Craft xD

About two years later I came across an Iphone game called “Surviving high school” created by EA Games. It was so great but I only had the first season. I spent the next few days on the internet trying to find season two. Eventually I started to search for something similar to surviving high school. I came across a Yahoo question and an answer. The person who answered recommended second Life or IMVU. I had already played IMVU and so I decided to check out second Life. I signed up, downloaded the viewer, and started playing.

I was freaking blown away. Within months of playing I had grown attached to it. I Role played, had sex, got married, had SL families, etc, etc.
There are a crap load of reasons why People play SL. Some play to make friends and have fun role playing. Some do it to find love, get married, and have kids. Some do it to role play gor, bdsm, kids, and animals. Others play to own their own business and make real money. Some even play JUST to explore their sexual and wild sides.

Whatever your reason, Second Life has endless ways of catering for your needs.
Thanks for reading!

Help Sims On Second Life

Help (Noob) Sims in Second Life

Help Island

In Second Life, There are quite a few Sims dedicated to helping new players. Here you will find experienced players who volunteer to help newbies, or just random people who want to lend a hand. Personally, I was one of those people that visited the noob areas randomly so that I could help when I felt like it. If you are a new player, then visiting one of these help sims would be in your best interest. Not only to the helpers teach and explain things to you, they may even give you free stuff to keep you interested in second life. These types of sims are usually under “General” control. This means that there will be no sexual or adult content. Most of these Sims have a few rules in common like “No Soliciting” or “No Violence” or “No Grieving” or “No carrying of harmful weapons”. These rules are there for a reason. The sims are a safe haven for new players. Having someone messing around with them will make new players not want to play second life anymore.

However, Some of these “Help” Sims like “New citizens Incorporated” are not very welcoming in my opinion. Why? I can give you several of my own accounts as to how some people


made me feel unwanted and irritable. When I first visited NCI, nobody had approached me and asked me if I needed any help. They were too busy talking to their friends and trying to impress each other. When I visited NCI again, I ran into the bitchiest woman you would ever meet. Like I said in a previous post, the content of second life is stored on the Linden labs database. Whenever you teleport somewhere, you will have to wait for everything to load onto your screen. This includes avatars as well. On this particular day, my internet was quite slow and everything was taking forever to load. I had decided to stand in a corner and wait for the sim to load so that I didn’t bump into anyone by accident. (It’s quite annoying when someone pushes your avatar, even if it’s by accident). Moments later I get an IM from miss bitch saying “Do you want something?” at first I was confused. I couldn’t even see this person. So I replied “No, Why?’. She replies “Because you’re in my face”. I was Like “Sorry. The sim hasn’t loaded yet. You don’t have to be so rude”. She goes on to say “Hahaha I m not rude. Little boys shouldn’t have such big mouths”. Before I could reply to that, she blocked me from talking to her. That’s the type of bull shit you don’t expect in a help Sim. (To this day I still wonder why she called me a little boy. I was 21 xD)

Since that day, I never returned to NCI again. I went to freebie stores whenever I felt like helping some noobs. I only went to NCI one more time a few months later. My friend was begging me to go there with her to help noobs. She was so cute…how could I refuse xD. As I was standing in NCI, minding my own business, a chick from NCI security IM’S me. “I have to ask you to please remove your guns”. I didn’t have any guns on me…just holsters. I explained that to her but she told me to take it off anyway. I respect the rules of a place I visit and so I took it off. She IM’S me again and asks me to please remove my fangs. I’m a vampire…I don’t want to remove my fangs. She told me that biting is not allowed on the sim. BUT I WASN’T BITING ANYONE D:

She insisted that I remove it, so I did. She IM’S me a third freaking time! “Please remove that offensive arm band”. The arm band is question was red, with a white circle on it and a black skull in the middle. From far it may look like a Nazi armband. I explained to her that it wasn’t a Nazi arm band. She still insisted that I remove. I was so pissed off. Make no mistake, I do not condone the behavior of the German Nazi nor do I support what they stood for. However, why do other people get to dictate what I should or shouldn’t believe in or wear? What if I believe that what Hitler did was right? Who are you to judge me? Who made you God of the universe? Just because you don’t like what Hitler did, doesn’t mean its offensive to the whole world.
In no way is this an attack on NCI. There are actually decent, intelligent people that are very helpful in NCI. All I’m saying is, Kick out the people like “Miss Bitch” and fire the security like “Miss Goddess of the universe” and NCI could be pretty awesome. This goes for any Help Sim out there in Second Life. Let’s just concentrate on helping the noobs so that the SL community can grow bigger and better.
Thanks for reading!

Photography and Videos in Second Life

Taking videos and pictures is widely popular in the Second Life community. People usually use the “Snap Shot” function in the second Life viewer to take amateur pics of them and share it on their profile. While this is a useful tool, there is only so much you can do with the snap shot function. If you play SL and stalk people’s profiles, you will notice that a lot of them have high quality, edited pics that look absolutely stunning. BELIEVE me when I say that those people did not use the snap shot function.
So how does one make a great looking pic on SL? Well that’s a secret that a lot of people share. On Second Life you have Photographers that charge you Linden in order for them to make a great pic for you. However, it is more than possible for you to do it on your own.
There are a few free photo editor software floating around the net. Find one you like, download it, and make magic. Editing the thing properly will make your pic look super professional. It is a lot of work, so if you are too lazy then just pay a photographer to do it for you. Edited pics are used for many reasons. They could be used to personalize a special moment in SL or, most commonly, to have a kick-ass profile pic. If your avatar is a model in Second Life then it’s best you add edited pics to your modelling portfolio. This really bumps up your chances with potential employers.

Another thing you could do is put the pictures up on your blog, website, face book, or twitter.
Videos in Second Life are a little bit more complicated than photographs. There is no “Video” button on the interface. To take a video you will need to have the software. Cam studio is awesome and it’s free to download. Once you have the software installed, you will need to open SL and open the video program as well. Hit the record button when you are ready to start recording a video.
A few things you need to know about making a good video:

Having Sl on while you are recording the video is very dangerous. If you do not have AT LEAST a duel core processor, then your video will come out laggy and very unappealing.
The best ways to take video is to hide the User Interface. Unless your video is about the user interface, you should hide it because it makes the whole video look amateur and stupid. To hide the user Interface, press CTRL-ALT-F1.
Video editing is highly advised if you want people to like your video. Edit in such a way so that it looks entertaining. You are the director…so direct Lol.

People usually put up videos on YouTube and on their websites or blogs. Of course, SL sex videos are not allowed on you tube so you would have to put those ones on your personal blog or website

Hope this post was great and informative.

Great sims to visit in Second Life part 2

Great sims to visit in Second Life part 2

Before I continue, I want to talk about these “hunters”. Hunters are apart of an SL mini game called “Bloodlines”. Bloodlines is a massive part of the Second Life community. There are bloodlines humans, vampires, lycans, and hybrids. The aim of the game is to steal as many souls as possible. These players prowl varies sims in order to find fresh victims. Don’t worry though, they won’t take your soul without your permission. Before you let a hunter take your avatar’s soul, make sure that they have explained EVERYTHING to you so that you know exactly what you are getting into. I will have many posts, in the future, about bloodlines as I have a vast knowledge base on the subject.

Now that we have that out of the way, let us continue on topic. In part 1 I gave you the sims that were great for newbies. Now I am going to be more general.

-Ohana Rock club: This is the first club that I had visited in Second Life. It especially gives me warm memories of my first experience playing Second Life. Like it says in the name, the music that is usually played here is rock. The setting of the club is quite attractive. It has a tropical feel around it. There is water all around you and sandy beaches. It’s got a massive dance floor with a stage for the dj and host. It has a second Floor with very comfy chairs. These are “Couple” chairs so you can CUDDLE WITH YOUR MAIN SQUEEZ WHILE enjoying the view and music. The staff is pretty awesome and Helpful. If you’re looking for a great place to hang out or party, then Ohana is the place to be. 

-London city: The London city sim is a replica of London city in RL. I like the London city sim because, first of all, the setting is awesome. You feel like you’re walking around London city. The buildings have stores that sell some cool Items. It has a few clubs here and there. It even has an adult cinema for you to watch free porn. The most important thing is the people. London city sim has a large amount of visitors at any given time. I can’t say that EVERYONE is going to be decent, but most people are. It’s a great place to socialize and have a bit of fun.

-Masala: No, this is not an Indian restaurant. It is however, an Indian themed sim. I like this sim mainly because of the people in it. Here you can make a great group of friends. Why? Because everyone on the sim are regulars. This means that the same people visit the sim everyday. There are mostly Indians and Pakistanis who visit this sim. It’s great because you get to learn about different cultures. They’ve got a nice dance floor and good music, so enjoy!

Moonlight Wedding Venus: First of all, great place to have a wedding! It’s got a very Romantic setting and an awesome ocean view. It’s got great furniture for you to really pull off an extravagant wedding. Huge dance floors for the reception. I highly recommend this sim for weddings. It’s not just great for weddings though. It’s also a good place for a date. It’s quiet, it’s romantic, it’s got all sorts of love songs, and it’s got VERY romantic dance animations as well. It’s actually pretty perfect for a date.

-The Pink velvet strip club: It’s getting hot in here! So take off all your clothes! Why? Because last on my list is a strip club. This is a very classy joint. The entire staff, including the strippers, is very professional. The club is very beautifully decorated and is very comfortable. The strippers are very interactive and roles play well. I usually tip them just for all the hard work they put into it. A great place to have a little fun with your friends, perfect for an SL bachelor party, or even if you’re feeling lonely sad. The Sexy strippers are sure to cheer you right “Up”.

Well those were my favourite sims.there are many others, but I’ll let you check them out for yourself. Half the fun of SL is the adventure!

Thanks for reading

Back to part 1