Never mind SL being addictive: profile surfing is free and fun and the most addictive activity inworld for me. I confess that I indulge on a frequent basis. Why, I hear you ask, should I confess to such a harmless activity? Often profile surfing can be innocent. In a new setting it’s like reading the info before joining a club: if I like the profile, I can be encouraged to engage a little more, even ‘join’ that avi’s gang of friends. It can also be used to catch up on the second lives of friends who don’t always make it online at the same time as me. But then there’s the darker, guiltier pleasure of checking up on those people with whom one has, uh, parted company along the way. And I am fascinated by the stories that profiles sometimes hint at… Is the most important data kept on the first page of our profiles? When profile surfing, I find myself doing some sophisticated calculations, based on SL days and numbers of groups joined. The 2nd life profile itself actually is the least interesting bit of all. Personally I never know what to write (unlucky!) and I resort to the familiar tricks of making a joke, or stating my interests at the time, maybe citing a poem or song lyric that seems resonant. But I increasingly feel as much a fraud doing this as I would if I kept it blank.
Group memberships are far more entertaining and can alert you to the possible preoccupations of their writers. As a nomad newb, I was forever looking for somewhere to park my carcass. I liked gardens. Unfortunately gardens were a great place to be accosted by lonely avis looking for lurrvve. A soberly dressed avi approached me one evening and asked if he could join me on the rug I was occupying. I flicked through his profile as we made small talk. His group memberships suggested that my feet and not my small talk were of, ahem, supreme interest to him. Feet don’t do it for me so fortunately I was able to steer the (short) conversation far, far away from them.
A lot of avis use “Picks” to pay glowing tribute to the places and people who make their SL experience. Profile grazing offers particularly rich pickings here, especially if you know some additional information from chat and IMs. My guiltiest surfing pleasure so far was follwoing the profile of one chap who decided that he wanted a committed SL relationship. This was after 5 months of playing the SL field. To achieve this, he contacted in turn all the women he had flung a fling with, and told them that they were “the one”. As they considered him, or even entertained him, he would post their pictures and a reverential tribute on his picks. When the relationship hit the wall, on average in the fourth week, the “pick” would be removed and replaced with the next name on the list. This tactic was evident to anyone who checked his profile (and no, I’m not bitter, just amused).
What we say about ourselves in the “first life” page is also highly interesting. I consider myself honest when it comes to talking about my first life but I can’t bring myself to commit the gruesome details to my profile. Others are more forthcoming and it is possible to be shocked and moved as well as entertained by their revelations.
I don’t know if I am alone in my addiction to profile surfing. In RL the growth of social networking groups such as Friends Reunited to Facebook, as well as the SL site slprofiles, allow many others to view the trials of our daily lives. However, I solemnly swear that the day Linden Labs introduces a “funwall” to our profiles, I’ll give my ‘bad’ habit up for good.
