Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Relationships in Second Life: Best Soap Opera Ever

Ok, so someone is probably wondering why I am blogging on this topic. Quite simple....I stepped back into the social side of SL a few months ago and boy has it been entertaining, hurtful, joyous, painful, full of headaches, and full of laughter all at the same time. What a ride! This is more fun than watching Nip/Tuck. I must say I have a new appreciation for the social aspect of SL for a few different reasons and in some cases, it's easier to deal with than RL.

By no means do I condone abandoning RL for SL. In some cases, it is just not viable and demotes face to face interaction but when this is all you have, by all means use it. What I mean by that is we all know people in the world that are socially inept for whatever reason or possibly do not have the facilities to take a walk in the park and this is all they have. Sure. No one is jumping down your throat about it. It is what it is and it is what you make of it.

I find it very refreshing that people have met their current mates, husbands, and wives in SL and I applaud the effort. Not to mention the best friends that have been created. I mean, my ex-husband (SL of course), is one of my best friends and I probably trust him with more than my mother. He manages money better than she does anyway. And despite things not working out with us, our friendship was strong and that has kept us together despite.....not to mention he is the other half of L&L. So, we see where a bad relationship did not hinder a good business relationship nor a great friendship.

Another friend of mine, oh I love her to death. She is like my little sister. I look out for her. She's cries on my shoulder and one time just recently, I had to cry on hers. Wow. She was there with me through the whole thing even ready to fight the battle for me. How cool is that? And it was so cute in Yahoo how she brought up the Doodle Environment and drew me pictures of funny stuff to make me laugh. Lord that girl is a tool but she is my friend and those are important in any life.

But now let's look at the negative side of all this. With anonymity so prevalent....is who you are swooning over really a woman? Is that masculine thing you are terrible attracted to because his avatar has the abs of Brad Pitt really a man? Now, here is where I draw the line. Living gender fantasies is your business but at least be truthful about it. I was RPing in a Gorean sim once as a free woman and this guy approached me and we sat and chatted a bit and then.......(stiffles the giggle)....."his" belly said that the babies were kicking. DING DING DING AWKWARD MOMENT! Neither of us chatted anything for like 3 minutes and we both just said our good byes abruptly. Needless to say, I was a bit annoyed.

Even deeper down this whole, dated a guy for about a month once...we talked on the phone tons and such. Great. Awesome. He was a bit immature for my tastes as he would get angry at other people and all of a sudden it would be my fault. Sounds like emotional and verbal abuse to me. Nixed and kicked to the curb......So in another RP sim that I frequent, he fought a friend of mine and between the two they debated who won the fight since they did not use the combat system. I voted in favor of my friend because he is a far better RPer in description and oh no.....I hurt this guy's feeling. All of a sudden I am getting flamed out in IM for ruining his life when we dated and blah blah blah. OMG....I told him to grow up and get over it...then he tells me to contact his new girlfriend if I have anything to say to him. For a split second, I was reminded of elementary school and then I fell in to waves of laughter. Am I insensitive? Well, whatever.

And it gets better....Gossip...who knew? So I buy something for this guy I am seeing kinda sorta on SLX and the person I bought it from knows his girlfriend....ok yeah I knew he had a girlfriend and I actually thought she knew about me....I'm a polyamorous....I don't get mad about this kind of thing. Anywho, this girl I bought the item from interrogates him about me. I was almost flattered. A ton of other drama derived from that little issue causing a minor spat between me and him but to no avail, I am happy with the end result but the fire on that one is still burning...just waiting for the explosion.

It just amazes me how dynamic SL is and it's exciting to be apart of it. Who needs Desperate Housewives when can gossip and spy using a simple tracking device like a vendor? Who needs All My Children when you can create your own family with all the drama you can stand (the stories from my RP family would have you dying laughing)? Who wants to watch Bleach when you can go to Samarai Island? Why watch Cops when you can watch a sim owner grief a griefer? This is exciting stuff folks, but sadly, I think I am cheating on my TV....Have fun in SL.