Second Life Addiction
Recently I advised to a friend that she should uninstall the Second Life client in order for her to focus on her 1st life. But what constitutes Second Life Addiction?
Signs that you are addicted to Second Life
1. You’re in-world almost 8-12 hours a day or more than 16 hour a week. Unless your main income of real life money is SL as well.
2. You’re willing to camp for linden dollars even it’s actually like working in real life (RL) only that you’re so underpaid. (RL job pays 1$/hour or 300L$/hour while SL camping pays ONLY 40L$/hour which is not even 1$ in RL)
3. You dream of SL in your sleep.
4. You’d rather spend your time with friends in-world rather than your 1st life friends. There’s nothing wrong spending time online though since every emotions you feel in-world is what your RL persona feels.
I admit, I’ve been addicted to Second Life especially when I want time to fly by really fast or spending time with friends and people I like since SL is the only way for us to spend time together.
The Elliptic Blog even posted that SL’s uniqueness is one of the many factors that triggers this addiction.
What makes this unique — there is no ultimate goal or quest; people simply form emerging social and dwelling systems and economies: a laissez-faire experiment in a digital petri dish.
Best way to fight Second Life Addiction
Uninstall the SL client. Remember the friend I mentioned above? This was my suggestion to her and I hope that really helped her. She now only login to SL only if she’s totally bored. If you’re wondering, she installed SL only after a week without it. Good thing is, she’s not as regularly in-world as before.
It’s not bad to be in-world or have a Second Life. It’s just that, each one of us should balance RL and SL. In the end, everything around us is just temporary so spend your time wisely.
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Posted in Miscellaneous, Tips | 30 Comments »
O O i think i have a problem here.
Everything U just said is exactly the way my life is going right now even the dreams.
I even let it run in the background on some camping sim while i watch a movie or serie i like online.
I agree with you Chino. perhaps if i had more available time to play, i’ll be a SL addicted.
I only have time to be online and play about 1H30M per day, not more.
I would love to be more time online, but unfortunatelly i can’t, or fortunatelly, i mean…
My RL is always in first place and my family, too.
Lol, i may not have an addiction to sl but I do have an addiction to your blog
LOL…
Buaya, an addiction is an addiction, no matter what’s the reasons… it’s wrong to be addicted in anything… take care.
Well, my ‘addiction’ is a relative term, depending on how you see it. It can be positive or negative, depending on how it benefits a person on a social level.
For example, a person can spend hours in gym and that is not called an addiction, but merely an obsession while a gamer who spend hours playing games is immediately term as an addict.
See, there is a fine line there
I wish I had that obsession Buaya
ha ha
Okay, but the term “addiction” is always linked about something bad, not good.
You are right… there is a thin line, indeed.
yes there is a fine line there and sometimes it is almost invisible!
The dictionary says addiction is:
The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or or involved in something.
So does that mean we are all addictied to Chino’s blog also?
LOL
I totally agree with you on balance ^_^ This is the key to anything, moderation that is. Last night I did dream about second life though o.o omigod! lol
do you call that a dream or a nightmare LOL! I haven’t yet dreamt about sl and I hope it is not something to happen anytime soon. I do wake up and it is often one of the first things I wonder about – hmmm what changed over night LOL!
I Have uninstalled 2nd life 15 times hiding it in sub-files and going through “rituals” downloading it from zip files to spend 1hr while my spouse takes a shower. I can tell when the time is up and make sure that all files are deleted before I can hear the shower curtain rings slide across the bar.
The strange part is, I have have not really done much in my in-line experience, Ive only been there;
maybe I bought shoes or a new gun…Dont Know…
But I like it and it works 4 me….Did I mention,
I do it w/ a 56k modem, the lag makes it more exiciting.I have to log out and have a claen screen before he walks in. Owwww!
Love, M.G.
Risky business here! I don’t think I would want to have to hide the fact all the time from my spouse. Good luck with that!
I had one, but having so much resposibilities nowadays made me kill so many addictions.
[...] don’t forget to read the Second Life Addiction post to squeeze out those creative juices and as well get you guys more comment posts for next [...]
I spose we all have some sort of addiction – if SL is causing problems in RL then yes you better find that unistall RIGHT OFF! Get things in RL back in order.
I enjoy SL but I do realize there are times when being in SL just isn’t practical to RL. FOr instance when I should be preparing dinner or when we have company LOL! Yes I admit at first when I joined I didn’t care – I came home from work and straight away to SL I went! I even accessed at work! I realized after a couple weeks that no matter how much time I was spending in SL I was never going ot see it all LOL! so now I enjoy when I can get in and I relish seeing the new and changed things I happen upon!
Best of luck to your friend Chino! addictions are hard to beat!
… I would have to say im totally addicted to SL I think if I were to uninstall the game i would start to jones for it. I was going on a vacation once and i was only going to be gone 2 days and i canceled it for fear of missing out on something in SL… i think we need a group like AA..
oh no canceled a vacation due to SL that my friend would be an addiction
I do hope you can get past that there are wonderful tings to experience in RL too!
Thanks for the reminder. It just struck me that im having a second life addiction too:)
I think that my obession is with money.
SL is really addictive. But we all know that too much of something will always be bad.
[...] days ago, I wrote about Second Life Addiction. This is due to the fact that the signs there is actually happening to me and to some friends. I [...]
I am addicted. I faced the facts on 3/17/08 I was involved with another person in SL and wanted more. That was completely one sided. Once I realized I lost the boundary between SL and RL, I discovered I had a real problem. I was involved in my second SL relationship. This one looked more viable because of our close geographical locations. The person I was involved with was not interested in a relationship in RL. We would email each other daily in RL and then take our relationship to other levels in SL. I am experiencing major withdrawal symptoms and to top it off, I am missing my SL lover…I had property and a house and everything – I abandoned it all and cancelled my account. When I think of going back I get heart palipations and even start hyperventiating a little. The steps to go through downloading and installing the software causes me to pause and think about what I am doing. I hope that these withdrawal symptoms will get less with each passing minute….I am addicted and I have to not go back…it is way to easy to lose sight of reality. I am lonely and thought that I could fill that loneliness through SL, how wrong – discovered that the computer monitor cannot give me that human touch that I so desire…an addiction is so difficult to overcome…
i can totally understand this one, i myself am newly married of 2 months and i was put onto this game by a friend not knowing what i was in for i accepted sl and i 2 weeks i was aimlessly dancing with a hot half cat half woman whom i somehow became seduced by i pulled the plug yesterday i almost became as attached to my sl friend than my real life partner and it is extremely dangerous.I may have actually ended up hurting others feelings as well connections made in this game can be horribly strong as everything is based on beauty and sex appeal the way i see it if you arent ashamed to say you masturbate to a sim then its a good game for ya but if you feel this is not something healthy for a human whom needs a real functional realasonship then you must get away before damage is done.The thing that helped me was to talk to my sl friend and actually recieve a photo and see what their rl was about only then was the magical bubble broken and i was free, and after all this is still find myself thinking of a character in a game and missing it when it really wasnt real to begin with.
[...] to a point that as today marks my first year in-world, it is also a day wherein I can say that my addiction to Second Life is gone. (I still appreciate the money I earn from it though. [...]
WOW… What an eye opener.. Really, friends,
somebody (maybe Chino) should have a non-profit
Blog dedicated to SLA Secondlife Annon.Whew, got
that out. No, really I have sex in world, not
that gratifing, and yes it takes away from RL all
togather. I guess people who live in fantasy never
really get the most of what their life could be.
It is sad to me. I want to change because my life
sucks right now. But, because I can always escape
to SL, where Im O.K., things might get worse for me
in RL.
Quite frankly, Im scared.
Yes I am addicted so is my gf, instead of working on our couple problem, what basically has got us trapped in that infernal cycle, we spend so much time online.
She is even partenered with someone else as I was too before I slipped into rl feeling and had to stop seeing her in world.
ITS only a GAME and NOT a way of Living.
After watching SL degrade to the point where the majority of newer SLers seem to be 4chan rejects now who can’t spell, type or punctuate. I just don’t see the allure to SL anymore, SL has gone from an online democracy to a micromanaged dictatorship rife with pornography and sexual animations. I’ve sold my land, canned my premium accounts and essentially left, what keeps the rest of you people stuck to a virtual world? I can’t see what keeps people so addicted now, is it the porn or cheating on your spouse maybe? SL isn’t what it used to be 5 years ago.
I can personally attest to the power of SL and the reality of the relationships formed there. So much so that when my partner left me (for very good reasons, even) I went into a terrible depression and that, combined with RL pressures and a lack of ability to properly deal with it all led to me attempting to take my own life a few weeks ago. I overdosed on antidepressants and bought myself a week’s stay in intensive care; most of that I don’t remember as I was in a coma. I survived, only to realize- doh- if I’m dead I have NO chance of patching things up with my partner, who I still love with all my heart and dream of making a Real Life with one day.
For some, SL is a game and nothing more; for others like me, however, it is an extension of our Real Life selves and I beg you please PLEASE be careful with other people’s hearts- and your own.
well said it is a extremely delicate ideal this game i sometimes think its goverment controlled by the magnitude of its affect on us as humans im not weak by any means i have a good head but even i was shaken in my loyalties by a beautifull landscape and a what i veiwed as a truly perfect female form its fricken madness
omg..i was really addicted..i dreamed about sl first thing i thought when i woke up was bout sl
my thoughts are in english even if its not my main language LOL