Death of an Avatar
When I last spoke about avatars and where they go when they die, something was on my mind about avatar death. I meet a really nice avatar about a month ago. He was fairly new to Second Life, but already had a cute body, skin, and nice clothes. He was also very charming, but was having a hard time with the “reality” of Second Life.
I spent about 5 days talking with him on and off. There was a mutual attraction to each other and I was beginning to get attached to him. On a Thursday night, I had some other business in Second Life to take care of and I was not able to spend much, if any time with him.
Friday morning, I received an IM in my email basket that he could not take the reality of Second Life and longer and deleted his account. By the time I got online he was already offline and gone. It was a surprisingly traumatic event for me. His avatar is gone from the database. I’m left with no way anymore to contact him. The only thing I have left is his friendship card, which has his picture and his old avatar profile. But his profile is gone from the database. He doesn’t even appear on my friends list anymore.
I wonder if I have the only copy now. The only piece of the avatar left is a card I carry in my inventory. No tombstone, no grave, no monument - nothing else - simply de-rezzed. Afterwards, I was upset and angry, and I almost deleted his card - out of spite for leaving me like that - but I didn’t. For which I’m grateful I kept the card. We had a good time for a few days and the card helps to remind me of that.
May 13th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
*hugs Veyron*
I lost contact with a very dear friend, too. It was back in February when she quit Second Life and I still think of her today.
May 13th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
And the strange thing is, even if the “person” came back to SL, a different av would never be the same (at least from my similar experience).
(;.;)
May 14th, 2007 at 6:02 am
Yeah. I have someone in my friend list that did that twice. They disappear en then out of the blue they pop up again and say ‘Hi. I’m -put former avatar name here-.’ The new hims aren’t as fun, though. =(
May 15th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Wow, I have not connected with anyone in that way - that after five days I’d be angry if they left. At least you have that.
I do have some friends I’ve known since my first week or two in SL and I’d be sad if they left, but not angry for them wanting to be happy by leaving.
I’ve met the alts of a couple of friends, and why is it they seem like different people to me?? Makes no sense at all. Some weird psychological thing, I guess.