Nothing to Do? No Friends? Make Your Second Life Great Again.

Are you bored in Second Life? 

You've shopped the sales, built a wardrobe to rival the Kardashians and found the perfect hair and skin. You look fabulous! But now you're standing alone in your skybox, with no idea what to do next. 

It happens to all of us. Whether you're new to the grid or a long time resident, everyone finds themselves in a rut from time to time. After encountering countless residents looking for something to do, I decided to come up with a list of tips for breathing a little life back in to your Second Life. 

Find a Job

Having a job in SL is the most effective way to get out, meet some people and kick your social life into gear... and it's fun! I've met some of my best friends while working. There are countless host/hostess jobs, role play positions, openings for dancers, club managers, personal assistants, the list goes on.

Make sure you shop around and find an employer who works with your in-world schedule. Keep in mind, the majority of business owners don't consider Second Life to be just a game. Honor your commitments and respect that they've likely invested real world money into their venture. 

You can find job listings by browsing the classifieds, visiting the employment forums and on social media sites. 

Host an Event

I've used the events listings to club hop, enter contests, join discussions and explore.  Hosting events makes it easy to find people who are online the same time you are and share a common interest. 

I've found that many residents don't realize that you don't need to own land to hold an event. You can have a basic account or be new to SL. This excerpt from the official Second Life event rules explains that an event can even be held on "public" land:

You may currently post up to 15 events per day (including event edits). In addition, your friends will now be able to post events on a parcel that you own. However, you must set that parcel to show up in Find Places as a Hangout. If your parcel is not set up as a Hangout, the parcel will not be available to your friends, but will continue to be subject to other availability rules.

To further clarify, you may post an event on a parcel if:

• You personally own the parcel and it is at least 512 square meters in size.
• The parcel is owned by a group that you are an owner of, or that you have the 'host events' ability for, and is at least 512 square meters.
• The parcel is in a private island that you are on the access list of, and is at least 512 square meters.
• The parcel belongs to Governor Linden and is set to show in Search Places as a Hangout.
• The parcel belongs to a friend, it is set to show in Search Places as a Hangout, and is at least 512 square meters.

An event is defined as a special group activity that is led by a host on land owned either by the host or by a group the host belongs to. Examples include discussions, group meetings, hosted dances, classes, tours, and competitions. 

I've hosted discussions on varying topics from SL relationships to how to survive a Mars colony. Whether you're an intellectual or just looking for some folks to share celebrity gossip with over coffee, creating your own event is a great way to find other people who share your interests and time zone.

Learn a New Skill

Have you always wanted to learn another language? Ready to tackle Blender, but not sure where to start? 

Our virtual world can be a resource to learn fresh, new skills. A quick search of the classifieds finds free English lessons, DJ classes, even classes on public health.

Builder's Brewery offers ongoing classes in creating almost everything on the grid. Mesh, basic prim manipulation, scripting, textures, you name it. You can visit their in-world location here.

Look on YouTube for how-to videos by some of our long time residents. For business advice, Black Dragon settings and creating SL content for social media, I head for Meela Vanderbuilt or Strawberry Singh. There is an abundance of long time residents with great advice on all things Second Life. 

Play a Game

I'm not talking about the gaming sims, where you can lose your $L balance in a matter of minutes. We have board games, like Simopoly and Greedy, SL versions of popular first life games. You can find sims with public access to most of the popular ones. There are usually a few people in and out, looking for someone to compete with. 

I'm personally addicted to Bubble Pop. I need a 12 step program.

My favorite driving game, GTFO, uses a HUD to create a freight delivery system. Use your own vehicle to explore the mainland and Blake Sea picking up and delivering imaginary parcels, while discovering new and unique places around the map via roads, waterways and air.

Participate in Groups

Enjoy chatting with other residents about common interests? 

We all belong to in-world groups for our favorite stores and sales, but there are other groups for everything under the sun in SL. Do you have first life hobbies? Is there something you've always wanted to try, but can't because of physical limitations? Explore those interests virtually. Learn to fly an airplane. Gallop into the sunset on your fancy Irish Cobb. Groups for aviation, role play, driving groups or equestrian competitions can be found by using the in-world search. 

Seriously, there is a group for anything you can think of.

Some are more active than others and most are free to join. Be sure to take a moment to read through their rules, you don't want to step on any toes.

I speak from experience. 

There's no reason to be bored in Second Life. I think we get in the habit of doing the same thing, each time we log on and forget how expansive our world is. Hopefully, this will give you some new ideas. 

What do you do when you feel like you're in a virtual rut? Share your ideas in the comments below!

We'll talk again soon, keep living your best Second Life!

The Problem with Mesh, Blender and Second Life

Enter "Second  Life" in to any search engine and the same question will eventually pop up.

"How do I make money in Second Life?"

Linden Labs promotes the platform as a way to "Earn Money: Start a business & earn real profits from the virtual world."

There is plenty of money to be made as an escort, real estate flipper, builder or fashionista. And sure, you can be a fashion designer, like the avatar pictured on the front page of the Second Life website.

But to the new user, it's a little misleading.

If you've already mastered Photoshop or Gimp, you can probably manipulate textures well enough to create clothing by purchasing blank mesh items from the Marketplace and applying your own. The same applies to fashion, accessories, furniture... just about anything.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, it's a business model that supports the mesh creator and allows more Second Life residents to express their creativity without having to learn complicated software.

But do you really want to sell the exact same dress (or couch) that everyone else is selling?

If you truly want to design your own mesh creations (and mesh is what sells) then you'll have to learn Blender.

I dabbled with Blender back in the day, when sculpties were just coming out. I got pretty good at it. Then I fell in love and lost my mind, following someone else around, looking cute and playing dumb. I left after that, and when I came back, mesh had happened and I really didn't have a clue what was going on.

Now, I could probably relearn the software. I've watched some videos and read more forum posts and blogs than I care to admit. I come from a technical background. I've spent a significant portion of my adulthood staring at blueprints and manipulating 3D models during my career in industrial sales.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I know I could do it, but why would I want to? That's a significant time investment, spent off the grid, to learn something that I could only use outside of SL.

And that is the problem.

I feel like LL is shooting themselves in the foot. They advertise SL as a platform where you can make "real money" but the popularity of mesh has resulted in most residents spending all their time either off the grid trying to learn a new skill or logged on and not speaking to anyone because they're so caught up in running the business that LL promised them.

Is anyone having fun anymore? Second Life shouldn't be as stressful as the first.

Plus, there's the added problem of really bad mesh strewn around everywhere, effecting performance, due to an increasing number of residents who only care if they can sell what they've made, not if it is of good quality. There's one well known furniture designer who makes beautiful stuff, but it takes forever to rez beyond  a giant triangle.

For myself, I'm content buying enough $L each month to feed my house buying addiction, exploring the grid for blog fodder and hanging out on my front porch, seeing what the neighbors have been up to. There are already plenty of mesh creators out there who are leaps and bounds more talented than I will ever be and I'm happy to pay them for their skills.

Admittedly, I'd love to find a way to make some extra grid cash so I could justify paying additional land fees. There's a neighboring abandoned parcel I've had my eye on.

I guess I could invest in a headset and do the voice escort thing, but I'm afraid I'd crack up laughing. Also, all the moaning and unnnnnngggggg sounds might scare the dogs.

Anywho, that's what I think. What's your take? Let me know in the comments!

Seeking Paradise

Wanderlust Lagoon

I've gone through a few houses since I last posted and in the process, I learned a few things about myself. The most prevalent lesson is: Sometimes you don't know what you want until you've tried everything else.

I loved my little white cottage, but after fiddling around with different island sizes (I now have a lifetime supply in my inventory,) waves and ginormous cliffs (to block the neighbor's day glow border marker,) I realized I wanted more water, less land. For that, I'd need a smaller house. I bought a boat house and a boat, but it was still just too big. I spend most of my time outside anyway. I didn't need that much house and the thoughts of buying furniture to fill it up made my stomach churn.

I hate buying furniture. That's an entire post in itself.

The bed I'd bought for the cottage wouldn't fit in the tiny attic of the boathouse, and after about a day, the constant use of the same basic texture for EVERY surface started to get on my nerves.

The Boathouse

I set out to find a nice little house, with few rooms. I don't have roommates or a partner. To be honest, I really don't even need a bedroom.

For now.

I wanted something on stilts or a treehouse that wouldn't take up much room.

Just because a builder says a house will fit on a 1024m doesn't mean it will, nor does it mean it's a good fit for what you're trying to do.

Lesson learned.

I found that I kept going back to Tiki huts and little tropical houses. There are three major builders that fit that description. The first I went to, I'd bought my little Gypsy wagon from and knew the animations were screwed up. I went back there, hoping that after time they'd fixed their problems, but nope. I ended up sitting on my head.

The next one had beautiful furnished houses, but their house rezzing area was a clusterfuck. It looked like someone had rezzed every house, some were turned upside down and on their side. Due to past experience, I wasn't buying another furnished house if I couldn't test the animations first. I went back a few times, hoping I'd find it cleared, but to no avail.

The third Tiki house builder had three areas for looking at houses. The first one had a big clump of bushes in the middle of the rez area, so you couldn't really tell what the hell you were looking at. In retrospect, I suppose the smart thing to do would have been to derender the bushes, but by then I was so annoyed, I guess I wasn't thinking straight.

But then? I noticed that the sign in front of the third clearing said "Islands." Some were houses on islands, houses built into caverns. I wouldn't have to keep fiddle farting around with island prims and landscaping. It was all included. I found a small house with a living room and a bedroom, fully furnished, on it's own island AND landscaped.

I was sold.

When I got it set up, I found a bonus cave hidden in one of the rocks on the foundation. The perfect space for my altar. Also, there were little butterflies already flying around the flowers on the rocks.

Setting up a new house meant I'd have to rearrange the landscape a bit. I've discovered that while I DESPISE big, flat privacy screens, I do enjoy my solitude. I didn't want to create an eyesore for my neighbors, yet I wanted a clearly defined border and somewhere to put a few plants.

I started with a cheap pack of rocks that I recolored to match the pitted lava rocks at my house's foundation, but that turned out to be... tacky.

While out looking at different parcels for sale, I happened upon some natural looking cliff faces that weren't too huge. I sought out the designer's store (they weren't on MP) and ended up buying those as well as some more natural looking waterfalls.

I may add more plants or some underwater landscaping, but as you can see by the first picture above, my perfect little 1024m lagoon is complete. There's plenty of outside room, privacy and lots of places for visitors to sit and chat by the fire. I think I'm happy now.

And the cave. I love the cave.

Feel free to drop me an IM for more information on the houses and landscaping in the photos. This isn't a sponsored post, nor do I want to upset anyone by posting negative opinions about their products.

~*~

Looking for your own little island paradise? I currently have a nice little 1024m water parcel for sale. 

The Bramant Island parcel is a quiet, 1024m square water lot. To the east and west are tasteful builds. To the south is a large vacant parcel, with a smaller one to the north. Just beyond the northeastern border is a protected waterway, perfect for boating. This serene, low-lag island is just L$4700. L$3900

See it inworld here:

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bramant/77/192/21/

Bento Heads

I spent the better part of the last two days trying on Bento mesh heads. I'm not someone who changes body elements like hair or heck.. even clothes.. very often. I guess I don't like change, which means I was able to see my purchase as an investment. 

At least that's what I told myself. 

Regardless, it was time to let go of the old me, both figuratively and literally. Try something new. 

I read forum posts and reviews and finally decided on Catwa. I think I tried about 5 different styles before settling on the Lilo. I wanted to stay as close to my original look as possible. I'd worked hard on it over the years, after all. The main elements I looked for in a design were the size of the lips (the pouty model look, while beautiful just isn't "me") and the chin/jawline. 

The teeth still sort of freak me out, but I'm getting used to them.

The best advice I can offer to anyone searching is, apply the skin before fiddling too much with the shape. You wouldn't think it would make that much of a difference, but it totally does. Also, looking at review videos will save you a lot of time trying on demos.

Do you have any advice to add? Share it in the comments below. 

If you have a Second Life blog, drop me a link in the comments!

See ya'll next time.

P.S. I've got some ocean side property, just reduced to L$4495. Raise the land for awesome views or lower it for your own corner water spot. See sidebar for details.