Second Life: Making My Long Distance Relationships Easier!

Posted on February 21, 2007 by Tuesday Creative
Culture, Design, Tech

I’m not an expert on long distance relationships, but I must say that I sure have a lot of them. My closest friends have always been thousands of miles away! It’s always been very difficult, but after about eight to nine years of keeping in touch through letters, e-mails and expensive phone calls, we all came together in Second Life.

Now I get to see them on a daily basis! Or rather, I get to see their avatars. It is quite like sitting down and playing a video game with your pals. Only the video game doesn’t have a script, you can play any character you want, your character can dress however you think they should be dressed, and the adventure can be in any genre.

Aside from the adventure campaigns you can also give gifts to each other without having to deal with shipping and handling fees. I’ve seen other online communities where they offer digital gifts. There’s a service at Livejournal.com, an online blogging community where they let you pay for themed artwork to send to your friends. You could purchase a bundle of flowers, in 2-D art form and it will be delivered to the friend you specify. In Gaiaonline.com, an avatar based online game and community, they also offer a similar service. In both cases, the 2-D art is bought and sent like banners.

In Second Life, you can buy gifts that interact with your friend. You get them a new car and then take a road trip together through a tropical island. You could also buy them clothes, pets, and fighter jets. Or you could throw a really big party and celebrate special occasions together!

Over the three-day weekend my friends and I gathered together to celebrate Chinese New Year. It was the first time in all the years that we’ve known each other, that I’ve been able to help them experience some of the traditions that I grew up with, rather than trying to describe the events in words. I was able to show them through decorations, digital replications of food, and streaming music how I remembered New Year celebrations.

After coming into Second Life, my friends and I are in agreement that the platform has helped us to share more experiences with each other, and get to know each other better. It has helped us conquer the physical distance between our locations and given us a common ground where it’s very easy to express ourselves

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