From Newbie To Mesh – Why?

Or: Why Another Blog?

---

Hi,

I am Pippa Plopp and I am a resident of Second Life (SL) for a very long time now. I learned a lot, have many many skills, including building (not mesh) and programming and I know a lot of places in SL now.

Is SL a game? Well… this question is not easy to answer with a yes or a no, because it varies from resident to resident. Some would say “yes, it is a game”, because they are part of a community doing roleplay (RP) in any way. Some would say “no, it’s not” because SL has no story like a game has.

Every resident was confrontated with one question after first login: “what now?” And it took time for each of us to find his or her own place in this big community.

I invested a lot of Euros in my avatar. Body, head, skin, eyes, clothes, acessoires, shoes and much much more eat one real Euro (Dollar) after the another. But this does not bother me, I have a good job, I have my income and I don’t drink, smoke or have other expensive interests. So if I invest about 30 Euros (~34 US$) it’s no real loss for me, while others are able (or have) to live nearly a week with it.

So I can say without exaggeration that I am very pretty, as anyone who has invested a lot of money in their avatar can say, regardless of whether others like it or not, which, by the way – without being vain – is confirmed to me again and again by others. 🙂

But I met very often old avatars, many years old,

But on my travels I kept coming across avatars and the people sitting behind them who, even after many years, looked like it was their first day in Second Life. And often I just wondered why they looked like that. Until at some point I asked.

The answers were incredibly varied. For example, those who had kept their newbie avatar for nostalgic reasons were interesting. Those who still lived in houses built from prims and sat on furniture made from prims. Who honored Second Life in an almost museum-like way.

Others didn’t feel like experimenting with mesh bodies (anymore). They had one, but it was too complicated for them, with all the “BOMs and layers and whatnot”.

And after talking to these nice people, it quickly became clear that they were simply mentally overwhelmed by the possibilities in Second Life, but incredibly appreciated the encounters with people.

And then, of course, there were those who couldn’t afford an expensive Second Life because real life didn’t allow them the luxury of a hobby and they were content with what they could do in Second Life without money.

However, I often heard that it would be great to have a nice mesh body and that they – registered in many groups – were just waiting for an opportunity to get the necessary parts for free.

Since I’ve been talking to these apparent “newbies”, I have a completely different relationship with all those who say in their profile that they don’t talk to anyone who doesn’t have a mesh body.

For me, these people were and are simply arrogant, egotistical and terribly superficial. And I don’t like that at all.

But one question kept coming up for me: do you really have to spend a lot of money to have a beautiful body? And are all bodysuits always complicated to handle or can’t it be a bit simpler?

And how far can I actually get without buying Linden$?

Yes, can I maybe even find a place to stay in the end that doesn’t cost me anything? A place that I can set as my home point?

And – after all – is it possible, that a real newbie can be successful going the same way?

A request in the community solidified these questions into a project, the result of which you can follow here on the blog.

I hope you enjoy this blog and perhaps find it inspiring.

And no. It’s not about wanting “everything for free”. Creators and developers need to be paid for the time they invest. And the best items are only available for money. And I think that’s right.

But SL is a community. A community in which there are strong but also weak people. And just as there are unfortunately also strong assholes, there are fortunately also two weak, great people for every single asshole who deserve a little help.