Second Life is a lot of things, but basically it’s an empty shell that you can fill with whatever you wish.  Unlike World of Warcraft or any of the other online games, it has no real enforced form.  This of course is the trap.  It can be whatever you want it to be or whatever you can find.

I think all of us, including me, have been at one time or another sucked into Second Life too far.  I’m writing about this because in the last week or so I have seen a close fellow blogger looking to – “take a break”, another friend self destruct within our demon group, The Brood, and some other avatars getting way too wrapped up into Second Life drama.

Rather than lecture on the perils of what happens when you get in too far or go overboard, let me give you Veyron’s rule of thumb for Second Life.  I do all of this to have fun.  If I’m not having fun, I need to change what I’m doing.  Sure, I’ll do some dirty work in the short run to give me long term fun, but if I’m having problems with someone or something, it’s time for a change.

It’s easy to loose that perspective.  For Second Life to become First Life.  It all seems too real.  Once you loose that perspective it’s a slippery slope to bad things happening.  It’s happened to me a few times, but I’ve recovered thankfully.

First thing that seems to go with all SLaddicts is sleep.  This of course weakens resolve to keep things sane and separated.  First Life and Second Life become one and problems from each other merge.  Now think about it, why should Second Life become a “problem”?  Think hard, it’s the peak of lunacy, step back, take a deep breath and just stop it.  If the other avie or avies can’t be rational, that doesn’t mean you can’t.

Why keep First Life and Second Life apart?  Because they don’t mix.  Once you can adjust your Real Life appearance with some sliders, fly, and are indestructible, it might make sense.  Until then, best practice is to keep them apart.  Do I mix RL and SL?  A little, mostly to tease and make things interesting.  My Second Life is much more interesting than my Real Life, but since my Real Life is opaque, it just appears to be more interesting.

Do I play in Second Life too much?  Probably yes, but I can almost always pull back from insanity.  It took a few bad experiences, but I know when I’ve gone too far now.

If you want things to be different, you have to do something different.  If you’re not having fun, you have to change what you’re doing.

-Veyron