Week One Back in Second Life

I'm sat on a train right now, reflecting on my first week back in Second Life. It's been an interesting return as I've learned about all the systems that now exist in-world, while also trying to remember mechanics I used years ago. The camera system, for example, took me far longer to get used to again than I'd like to admit.

Before I get into the week itself, I want to give a few people a shout-out for helping make my return much easier.

First, Doreen, who was the first person to send me an IM and helped get me back on the road to being a Second Life resident in 2026 rather than someone wandering around with a 2008 avatar.

Matt Cloud deserves a mention for similar reasons. He's been teaching me the mysteries of outfits, mesh bodies, and the never-ending world of Second Life shopping.

Finally, Evan-Leigh and Amanda Dumpling (possibly a long-lost cousin?) for setting me up with my first scheduled DJ gig. You'll be able to find me at All Out Music every Sunday from 2pm to 4pm.

With that out of the way, let's look back at the week.

My first stop was The Crack Den. I arrived with the intention of getting back into roleplay and immediately realised I needed to adjust my writing style. For the past eight years I've been roleplaying on a GTA V server where posts are limited to 300 characters, so I'd become accustomed to much shorter paragraphs. Emotes and speech are also handled separately there.

With that in mind, my first emote read:

"Looks around the store, his eyes glancing between the items on display. He finally moved across to a range of guitars, picking up the red guitar in his hands."

Looking back, it could definitely have been better.

However, when I received a reply that practically filled the Second Life character limit and blended action with dialogue, everything suddenly came flooding back. That initial scene turned out to be a lot of fun and reminded me why I enjoyed roleplaying here in the first place.

Afterwards, I spent some time exploring the vast area that is The Crack Den while searching for somewhere to live. Demand seemed high, and finding somewhere available proved difficult. Eventually, I managed to secure a place for L$125 per week. It only had a 25 prim allowance, but it gave me somewhere to call home while I settled back into the world over the next few weeks.

Away from The Crack Den, I started exploring Second Life's clubs and bars. One thing that immediately stood out was the sheer variety of avatars. After spending eight years surrounded almost exclusively by human characters in GTA V roleplay, returning to a world shared by humans, furries, demons, vampires, avatars with extreme proportions, and just about everything else imaginable was a refreshing reminder of how creative the Second Life community can be.

I also found myself teleporting into a few clubs where I wasn't quite expecting everyone to be naked.

While I didn't go quite that far with Stuart, I did decide to take his shirt off at one point. Unfortunately, I still hadn't figured out how the HUD and alpha layers worked. The result was an avatar with no torso, just arms and a head floating around. The shirt quickly went back on.

Later in the week, after picking up some cover DJ work at adult pool club Rebelz Rhythm, I decided beachwear was probably a worthwhile investment. DJing poolside in jeans and a t-shirt didn't quite fit the theme.

I mentioned in another post how I discovered Primfeed, and that's inspired me to explore in-world photography. I've been spending time at Backdrop City experimenting with different shots, and with plenty of advice from Matt Cloud and members of the Second Life Discord community, I've recently started using the Black Dragon Viewer for photography.

So far, I'm really happy with the results.

I'm still working on making Stuart look exactly how I want him to. My biggest challenge at the moment is his shape. Depending on the angle, his neck occasionally resembles that of a giraffe. Thankfully, Amanda Dumpling has put me in touch with someone who can help sort that out. Once I get back from this trip, that's definitely on my to-do list.

And that's pretty much week one.

I'm not sure whether these weekly reviews will become a regular thing, but Second Life has already inspired me in a number of ways. It's also reminded me how much I enjoy writing. Creative writing is something I haven't done properly in a long time, and it's been surprisingly refreshing to sit down and put these thoughts into words.

Here's to seeing what week two brings.