Thursday, July 05, 2007

The World has Changed

Following my last post lamenting my absence from a world I was once completely ensconced with, I decided it was probably a good time to log back in and satisfy my growing nostalgia. I had thought about it for days. I even resisted for a while. And like it always has been every time I get these urges, my experience lasted all of fifteen minutes. Nostalgia satisfied and my stomach left bitter, I logged out again.

My first stop was Gibson, my home; the great city of Nexus Prime. It was empty like it once was and nothing had changed. The same buildings were in the same places as I wandered the same spaces. It blew my mind to say the least. This was Nexus Prime, a city known to never be complete! For as long as I had been in Second Life it was undergoing constant revolutions, redesigns, and developments. It's been over a year now and the city hasn't changed drastically if at all. My heart sank immediately. I couldn't stay long.

I next visited the original Welcome Area. It never changed as often as Nexus Prime, but it too was the same. Overflowing with new residents as it always has been. Mostly blank staring avatars standing around silently. I felt a slight wrench of nostalgia for the old balloon ride and the path that led to the first sandbox I ever rezzed a prim in. It would be the last wrench as I couldn't stand it for long.

I headed back to Nexus and scraped through my aging friend list. A few people were on. I knew better, but I IM'd them anyway. Hoping I guess that maybe there was still something there. Everyone was working. Like, working their jobs. Our conversations fizzled out after the initial recognitions. I almost felt another pang of nostalgia, but I was used to this one... instead it became a dryness in the mouth.

I would've searched the directories or wandered, but I knew what I would find. The world was a different place. It had changed. The home I once had is gone.

3 Comments:

At 12:07 PM, Blogger Jordi R Cardona said...

Don't be so discouraged.

I am feeling similar things in the Blaxxun worlds (the free frameset, the Outers, there are many worldbuilders there and a small comunity of users).

I had logged sometimes, but I was unable to talk with anyone from many months ago. I was also too busy to stay there for a long time waiting.
No one came, and I thought all the people I knew were gone.
I also have some friends in my MSN but they don't use it very often, and when they do they say "I go to sleep, it's late here", or they say they are busy, both reasons I suppose are true.

But last weekend, I stayed there, and after a while, known people began to appear. They said they missed me, and that's good, and that if I open the world they may come, but many of them are missing (no idea where they are).

They said me that many people had moved to SL.

The reason was because SL had better technology, they said. Also because others had moved there too.

I know normal users (not sure if worldbuilders too) have massively moved to SL.

Blaxxun is almost empty now. Everybody seems to be in Second Life.

It is strange that now I read your post and see the same things that happened here.

I mean those things:
- new people with the default avatar that don't speak.
- old members that engage in private conversations and don't talk in public.
- people that never put on msn to not be talked or located. I think it's caused because people force themselves to keep their work on and don't loose to much time chatting, and that's good, but there is always a time for friends, isn't it?

With all the preceding, one enters and can't find someone to talk.

I don't know why people become so unsociable. It seems most people, when they join are very opened to meet others, then make friends, and then forget all again. I can't understand the reasons.

Maybe I am a bit guilty of not loggin when there was more activity, like you did. So after a while people are a bit angry with me for that.
Think about it, they may think you forget them.

And some people had problems by stupid conversations, and I didn't knew anything of that, so now some are not friends of the others. It is like you missed some episodes of a TV serie.

It is hard to recover the sense of group, and it is also important the role you played in that group. In mine, I was, with others, some kind of glue for the group. Me and others disappeared, and the people went to other communities.

There was also some people that were great at welcoming new users, like Miranda, she always talked to the newies and asked about their origin, invited to explore...

You may try to recover the relationship by email (great for busy people), if you have them.

The vice to talk in private, I think it does a big harm, and has no solution as people are so impolite to do that.

I mean this may have some kind of recovery, but it's hard.

Maybe it's easier to start again, meet new friends, build a new home or change it.
In real life, it is not so easy.

 
At 12:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I do not know you but let me say Welcome Back! As you know things change daily in SL. But one thing remains the same, there is always a chance to make new friends. Give me a shout next time you are inworld.

 
At 12:51 AM, Blogger Jordi R Cardona said...

Hello Icon Serpentine

I got good news.
I heard in the radio that corporations are leaving SL because their worlds tend to be empty and they see that their ads don't work there.

At the same time, SL appeared on TIME as the 5th worst website, and this created a strong reaction of the users of SL as I see in SL Blog.

So expect in next months that Second Life will reach a balance again.
I think that when corporations leave SL and people become more united again, you will recover your home there as it was.
This happened in some way in other virtual communities. SL is just reaching the point of balance.

So you have reasons to have hope.

 

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