Second Life: My Second Experience

Unfortunately my Second Life avatar hasn't seen much action recently, so I thought it high time I went back and visited my lonely animated self.

Second Life is very different to Habbo and WoW, it is very sexual and a lot of the conversation revolves around sex. Not all of it, but a lot. The women are often under dressed and the men, tall and muscular.

This woman was being controlled by a chain

There is a pretty misogynistic set up; I even witnessed one scantily clad female chained to a man. Most of the conversations can't even be repeated as the language used was pretty explicit.

What I have learned is that there are definitely people playing Second Life with something else on their mind, I'm just not so sure it is love. There doesn't seem to be as many social boundaries as World of Warcraft and Habbo and users make it pretty obvious they're there for sexual gratification over anything else.

That's not to say that that is all Second Life is for. It depends what setting you're in, and by chance the setting today was filled with pole dancing, nearly naked women, dirty talking and kinky men.

I want to get past this part of Second Life and see if there are other reasons people are here. There are countless places to visit and I am intrigued to see what's in store next.

Meeting people can be a really exciting time- but always remember to keep safe online.

How to Keep Safe and Savvy Online: The Suzy Lamplugh Trust

I visited the Suzy Lamplugh Trust in London. This project explores how people are meeting online and when speaking to new people it is always important to keep your internet savvy head screwed on.

The Suzy Lamplugh Trust was set up after estate agent, Suzy Lamplugh, went missing when she went to meet an unknown client in 1986. She was officially declared dead in 1993, but with no body found. The trust focuses on personal safety and the importance of keeping yourself safe when meeting new people.

I spoke with Katherine- a spokesman for the trust- about her tips on speaking with new people and keeping yourself safe.

1. You do not have to give out personal information to someone if you don't want to. Never feel pressured to do this. From your email address to your last name, mobile number and home address.

2. If you feel comfortable with someone enough to exchange your details, that's fine, just remember to keep people around you aware of who you're speaking to.

3. If you get on with someone enough to want to meet up, fantastic, what an exciting time! Just remember to follow these steps:

- Meet in a public place, ideally during the day.
- Plan your journey there AND your journey home.
- Most importantly, make sure you TELL someone (a family member, or friend) all these details and a rough time you will be home.

4. If you want to stop speaking with someone, but they keep speaking to you, just send them a short message telling them you want to stop speaking with them. If they persist then you can contact the website/ phone's service provider directly and ask them to block the person. If the person still persists to find other ways to contact you then you can contact the police.

My First Second Life Experience: "You'll get laid here easy"

After starting out on my venture to find the romantic gamers of the net I thought it best I try the games myself.
First stop is the virtual world (or grid) of Second Life.  Download done, avatar accepted and I am off..

The door in to my second life.. who knows if Romance awaits?

Although I have gone for the free option, therefore limited in my game play, it doesn't take long to find people to chat to- and I wanted to get straight to the point. I asked whether people (or Residents, as they are referred to) come online to meet people outside of Second Life and some Residents were more forthright than others..

Second Life user Hazel Romano didn't give the response I was looking for with their reply of "you'll get laid here easy". At least it was along the right lines. Kind of. Not really.

I am thinking if people are willing to be this upfront already, surely there is potential for romance somewhere. Is there is an undertone as to why people use Second Life? I want to find out.

Hazel Romano replied to my question with a less than romantic response: "You'll get laid here easy"

The New Online Romantics

You spy them from across the room. Just your type- tall, dark and handsome. A few glances throughout the night and he walks over and starts conversation.
You spy them from across the screen. Just your type- a blue, pointy-eared, Night Elf Hunter. A few quests together and you then become friends.

Hello! My name is Sophie and I am starting a project looking at MMOG (Massive Multiplayer Online Games) Couples. People who essentially meet through online gaming, using avatar based alter-egos. When online dating has become the norm, more and more negative press is being broadcasted; I want to discover the romantic side, the side that takes dating back to basics where romance was at the forefront.