How it all started
Todays article is not about Second Life. Today I want to introduce you another new virtual world: Smeet!
Smeet is a free browser based virtual world and chat community. It was founded in 2007 by sMeet Communications, a Berlin based company. In the Smeet platform, users start by creating and styling their avatars, they can give their avatars the appearance they want, from the hair to the clothing and accessories. Users can get real life brands like NBA, Gossip Girl, Rocawear and more.
“Speak English or I don’t answer you”. That was the phrase of the day yesterday. I think it’s probably one of the most arrogant, ignorant and discriminative statements, I have heard so far in Second Life. What makes it even worse is that the person it was said to, was actually using a German – English translation tool. Of course those tools are less than perfect but at least this person made an effort to be understood therefore I believe the other participant should have the courtesy to make an effort too.
Second Life is a very international community. It is not an exclusively American thing. People from all over the world from different countries, different cultures and people speaking different languages do populate Second Life. This is one of the things that makes Second life diverse hence interesting. And yes there are people that do not speak English.
I have actually friends in Second Life which do not speak English at all. That’s because I do not choose friends or judge people by their educational background hence I strongly disapprove this attitude of “if you don’t speak English I won’t talk to you”. The person this was said too, left our party shortly after, as he did not actually want to socialize with a person showing this kind of attitude.
What do you think about this? Is somebody who uses Second life somehow obliged to speak English? Is someone who does not speak English worth your time? How would you deal with above scenario?
Please leave a comment whatever your attitude is with regards.
Virtual Friends are more then just avatars. Those of you who do not know what I am talking about, believe me you eventually will understand. Once again, and I can not stress this enough, here is another example of never to forget behind each avatar there is a real person. The sympathy, empathy, friendship or even love, pain, anger and sadness you feel for or with those virtual friends are real feelings.
I believe every Noob in Second life is at least curious about one topic: Sex. I did write an article about that topic some time ago here: Lets talk about Sex.
As I told you in said article, the direct approach in a regular, even in mature or adult regions is something that typically puts people off, as the waste majority of the Second Life residents are NOT just there for interactive pixel porn. In a regular region, music club or similar establishments you are better off to follow the same kind of etiquette you would be using in real life clubs and social hang outs.
Groups are a great thing when you are new to something. I joined a group at the Hollywood airport, which is a group for pilots and people interested in aviation in Second Life. I posted in the group chat a message, stating that I would love to experience an air combat also referred to as “dogfight”. I have no idea why its called “DOG-fight”. I can assure you there are no dogs on this airport. Anyway that’s how its called.
What is the best place in the real world for Christmas shopping? No prices for the correct answer: New York of course.
Today I met Andres at Sunset Beach. This beach is really a good place to get to know people, works for me at least. The funny thing is: He is into aviation in Second Life. As you know from previous articles I am hooked on the subject flying now. Strange co-incidence isn’t it? I just started to get into flying planes and suddenly I walk into a pilot at my favorite beach.
The first month of the life of this blog is over. Result so far: 4.000 page views. Not too bad for a brand new blog. I would like to take that opportunity to ask you a question:
What topics are you new guys interested in?
So far I covered a bit about freebies, party places, roleplay, a bit about sex, a bit about shopping and about my latest discovery: aviation in Second Life. Until now the most popular article was: Lets talk about sex. Surprise, surprise, you naughty lot, you! The busiest day however, was the day I published the article about Gor.
Sex and Gor – is that all people really want to read about? Give me some hints what topics you would like to read about. More of the same or something totally different?
Please leave a comment here. I will respond to all of them!
Carol
I went back to the airport I visited yesterday:Hollywood International Airport in Second Life, eager to actually fly a plane. I even had a passenger with me: Reiner a good friend of mine. Poor guy, if what happened later would have been for real, he would have died this afternoon – and me too!
The first challenge was to actually get a plane, but for that there was a simple solution: On the airport are several stores selling aircrafts. One of them actually offers free temporary demo-planes to try before you buy. Good idea this! I rezed one of those free demo planes and jumped on the pilot seat.
I got curious about flying in Second Life. At first I thought: Where is the point? I mean all avatars are able to fly anyway, so why would one bother to buy or use an aircraft?
So I investigated the matter. I started a thread in the Second Life Forums to see what other people think about it and I searched on youtube.com for tutorials or sims that offer flight simulations. The one that really spark my interest was this one:
Friday 25th of Mai at Garry’s Party Lounge : Party with live DJ (Gerry) playing tracks from the best rock and blues bands between the years 1970 and 2000.
Come and enjoy your favorite tracks from rock legends such as: Bon Jovi , Slade, Uriah Heep , Nirwana, Stones, Guns and Roses, Pink Floyd and many more.
Caroline in Second Life 