Someone told me, when I was a newbie, that time in SL runs at a different pace. I didn’t understand it then, but now I’m certain it does. It runs slower. A week seems like such a long time, a year it’s like a decade.They also told me that the “one year barrier” was tough to dodge. It seems that’s a kind of turning point: around the first year, most people experience a deceleration in their enthusiasm to live a Second Life.
To be honest, I have detected it among many of my friends. And I also think it might be contagious. Enthusiasm is contagious. So is depression. If you call and no one answers, you stop calling.
I guess, like everything in RL too, what’s new is fun. And everything is new in SL when we become citizens of this virtual world.
It’s amazing to TP, to be able to change your look, to find almost everything you can think of, to build stuff, to furnish your house, to buy clothes and change with just a “click” of the mouse. To fly.It’s great to go dancing, to join groups, to meet people, to throw parties, to have a job.
The inner child wakes up, to see that our fantasy world has really come to life.
But… unless you have taken up some of the things you can do here as a serious enterprise, by the time a year or so has passed, there aren’t many tricks up this virtual world’s sleeve. And then… that’s the time when you need to stop being just frivolous: some good old feelings from RL should come in handy.
Take a look at your Friend’s List. Is it extremely long? Filled with names you don’t even remember who they belong to?
Or, instead, you have a few very close friends, the kind you miss when you are not in SL? Do you have a partner? Are you in love with someone? Do you love what you do here? Do you really care?
I have met some amazing people here. People that are engaged in making this place a gateway to a very special kind of experience. People that teach, people that learn, all kinds of artists, people that think of ways for other people to have fun, people that understood this is a place to share. Like RL, this is about getting involved.
It starts like a game we enjoy in amazement. Then, if you can’t find a way to bond, to belong here, -no matter how little time you spend in SL- it’s over. It starts to fade. Like children get tired of toys… and throw them to a corner to be replaced by the new one. I already have seen that happen. And It’s a pity. Some of us have invested real feelings. Honest feelings. Please, don’t give up easily. Keeping this alive takes a lot of work. Like in RL. You have to water the plants. You have to call your friends and ask them how are they doing. You have to tell them you love them and you miss them. And they have to take the trouble to answer, if they care.
So, when the One Year Blues kick in, pull yourself up and get back in the grid. Believe it or not, some people in here love you.
Covadonga Writer
