A story of Personal Life vs Business Life in Second Life

As funny as my title sounds, "Personal Life vs. Business Life in Second Life," it is a very accurate description of how distinct my Second Life experience has become.

When I began tripping around the virtual world of Second Life, it was my intention to be a business owner, however, I was unprepared for the social aspect of Second Life and the social activities that you can participate in and I became distracted from my business goals that I came into Second Life with and developed a wonderful personal life and then I was inspired to build a museum after realizing that everything in Second Life was art I had this yen to share it with others.

Then my personal life became very frenetic with activity of business and the business of building. Those in my personal life in the early days very happily and generously supported my endeavors and pulled me away from the stress of building when I needed a break.

Then the opening of the Museum happened and my personal life become non-existent as my personal involvements with my Second Life family ended due to many different reasons. I buried myself in my Museum and kept in touch with two or three of my friends from my previous life, and then I discovered a wonderful night club called Lady Killerz.

Lady Killerz is a lady's only club where male strippers entertain the guests, the VIPs in turn dance, flirt, and had a fabulous time with the staff. I then began setting about with making new friends from the club and meeting new people, and enjoying single life in Second Life and redefining who Atlantis Jewell really was during the months of September and October, they were lonely months, but busy ones however the loneliness was about to end for it was destiny that I was to meet a very compelling figure at Lady Killerz.

It was a Sunday afternoon in Real Life, just before Halloween and I was busy working as usual in my Museum and I get a group IM from Lady Killerz and a couple of the guys were on the conference inviting the beautiful ladies who were VIPs to come on down for an afternoon of fun and entertainment. I had a particularly stressful day trying to set up artwork at the Museum and getting an IM from someone who made a teleporter that I bought, that never worked, and refusing to fix or replace it and additionally, this was the second day in a row that I was too busy working to go down right away to the Club. Now on Saturday, the day before, I was working and when I got done with work I went to the Club after reading all the bantering fun on the group conference and no one was there so today I was jonesing to get to the Club.

I teleported into the Club and again no one was there! I decided that after two days in a row of reading the steamy conference IMs that not having anyone there after all that bragging I wrote some of my own IMs demanding to know where everyone one was...they all left again! I informed the two guys who had been talking it up in IMs that I wanted one or the other to show up and both would be better!!

In strolls a long, haired tanned, tattooed guy who would eventually rock my Second Life, Papo Lungu. We scrapped a bit before he decided to get to the business of dancing and entertainment! Real Life called me shortly thereafter and I logged.

As a Rule in Second Life, I try to be a more generous and much more understanding, and polite then I am in First Life, and I was mortified that I had been so rude and demanding to the new guy from Killerz. The month of November was a month of decisions and change in my personal life as well as acquiring property in Second Life, I was hiring Mr. Lungu as a companion to accompany me to different events that I needed to attend and attending with someone at my side was much more fun.

The very first thing that I discovered about him that he was taken in Second Life, which left me and sixes and sevens as I had never hired anyone to accompany me anywhere, I got over it. Then I learned he was a BDSM Master and I spent several weeks contemplating whether or not to take a chance and ask him to accept me as his sub. I asked and He said yes.

Slowly, I fell behind in my work at the Museum scrambling at the last minute so I would not let anyone down, I barely made some deadlines; it was then that I realized that my business life was being sandwiched between my personal life and I had to discipline myself get the work done and my Second Life became as much of a juggle as my First Life so that my personal life and my business life would mesh and did not clash; the struggle to juggle is real, but the effort worth it.

Recently, I have learned that lots of business people in Second Life have something called an Alternate or Alt. This is an Alternate Avatar that they use to create, so they will not get interrupted from the well-meaning people on their friends list.

Do I have an Alt? Yes, however, she was developed so that I could have a second group member for Elven Enchantment Property Group so that I hold exclusively my property in Second Life. I created her in November and left her on Basic Island, (which has improved and changed so much since I was born!) In December 07 I then needed an extra woman for a photo shoot I was working on and so I brought her to the mainland and took the photo shoot and left her in the caverns of Bliss.

I have chosen not to use my Alt as a workhorse, because she's a grouch, dislikes Humans, and prefers to be underground where She rules supreme! If you have not guessed it, yes, She is an Elf, but a Dark Elf, also known as a Drow.

So how does one balance a personal life and a professional life in Second Life? Work hard at it, compromise, and enjoy each moment to the fullest no matter which moment that is and Seize Second Life and make it yours!

Atlantis Jewell

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The Pros and Cons of Age Verification in Second Life

Age verification was introduced to residents of Second Life during 2009 as an optional means of confirming that you are old enough to play Second Life and thus access the adult regions. It remains to this day entirely optional.

The process works by allowing a resident of Second Life to login to their account and enter either their passport number, social security number or other type of identity card number (many European ID cards are now accepted too). This information is sent instantly to a third party that checks that the holder of that particular identity means is above the age of 18. Linden Lab (Second Life's creators and owners) do not keep the number itself on file. What they get is a code that confirms the user is old enough, or confirms that they are not. This was set up to increase security and lower concerns about the amount of data that Linden Lab has on file about any individual. But what are the pros and cons of Second Life age verification?

Well, to start with the positives, this is a means of filtering out, to some extent, the problem of underage users. While a registrant must be 18 years of age or older to use the main Second Life grid, it's common knowledge that people younger than that lie during registration in order to access it. This is also, in part, owing to the fact that the teen grid for 13 - 18 year olds, is somewhat under populated and neglected by Linden Lab to some extent. The main grid therefore holds much more appeal to youngsters seeking to experience the virtual world. With age verification came the introduction of "adult" regions. All adult content was moved into these regions and only age verified accounts (or those with payment info on file stating that they are above 18) were able to access the regions. This, again, goes some way to dealing with the issue. Another major benefit of any form of identity verification in a virtual world like Second Life is in business. There are a huge number of very real financial business transactions taking place on a day to day basis in Second Life. In dealing with someone who has proven an element of their identity, you often feel safer. This can add a level of trust to business in Second Life.

However, there are downsides too. As well as concerns over how the data is held, there are those who worry about underage teenagers stealing identity cards (from family, strangers or friends) in order to use the number and 'verify' their age. But the major downside of age verification is that it remains optional. While this remains optional, there are those who will access the grid under the age of 18 without encountering any challenge to it all. Of course, there are always ways for people to flout the rules, but I firmly believe that Linden Lab should be making it as difficult as possible for people to do this. Compulsory age verification is one such way in which that can be achieved.

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5 Good Reasons why you should Sign Up For Second Life

Whether you're a techie or not, a geek or super cool, whether you're 18 or 68, you should sign up for Second Life. No, I don't work for Linden Lab, but I'm a huge fan of the virtual world and I believe it is hugely underrated.

Here are five reasons why you, (YES, YOU) should sign up.

1. Education, education, education. There are so many educational institutions in Second Life, including Harvard Law School, Washington State University, the Open University to name but a few. Aside from the official institutions, there are countless organisations who offer classes for free in almost anything in Second Life. Where else can you learn a language taught by locals, practiced with native speakers and without even leaving your own home? And yes, it's free too.

2. Creativity. Second Life is a blank canvas. It really is. Yes, there are art galleries for you to upload and display real art in world or to go see the work of others, but the world in itself really is all art too. The content in Second Life is created by the users. Just take a walk around some of the amazing buildings in world to really appreciate what I say about SL being art.

3. Business. Not everyone will make a real life living from Second Life, but some people do. And even if you're not in there to make money, the business concept is the same. Second Life offers an amazing platform for business 'practice.' You can set up a business, run it, market it and so on without risking your house, your child's college fund and your wife's engagement ring!

4. Networking. Second Life, like all social media platforms, has great networking potential. Admittedly, its user base is smaller than that of Facebook. But it continues to grow and you can interact with people in a whole different way. There are even real life recruitment companies hiring staff for real life jobs from within Second Life.

5. Socialising. For single parents, those who cannot get out and about so easily, those on a tight budget, Second Life offers a social life. For people who cannot, for whatever reason, get out and enjoy social time in real life, this offers a really viable alternative. And even for those, like me, who have a perfectly great circle of friends in real life, you will connect with people in world who you'll truly come to consider your close friends.

Second Life is, in my opinion, the best of the virtual worlds out there at the moment. Its economy is unrivalled by any other virtual world and its building and content creation tools far exceed the internal tools of any other platform.

So for fun, business or random creativity, go check it out.

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