First day in SL

I kept a journal for my first few years in SL, and this is the very first entry, complete with totally naïve observations.  The overall description of SL as a big mall is still pretty accurate, though the total population is higher.  The graphics haven't really improved in four years, though the quality of people's texturing has. 

First experiences are important.  Clancy was a perfect first dom, welcoming and fun.

Clancy (later on, after I made my elf skin)

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Second Life (2L) is pretty cool.  It’s really simple to get into, and the graphics are surprisingly good.  Nowhere near Oblivion, of course, and the renderer is slow (especially on my Mac).  But quite adequate, especially when it comes to bodies.  I’ve found that it’s way better on a PC.

You start out building your character; there are a wide range of basic body types, and you can adjust the body very minutely.  Everything but the avatar name can be easily changed later.  You can get free items, buy them, or make your own; indeed, improving your avatar seems to be the major underpinning of the 2L economy.  

I started out as the "Harajuku female", basically a bratty-looking Tokyo-pop chicklet.  You have to choose a last name from a list of a few dozen; I chose the Chinese-sounding Hian.

Next you get a brief tutorial, which teaches you the basic actions, including flying.  Then you’re off to an info hub, which— like almost all of 2L— is basically a big shopping center.  The thousands of 2L designers and denizens are obviously a product of mall culture. 

There are something like 800,000 people who are active residents— but only 18,000 or so are on-line at a time.  As a result, enormous swatches of territory are completely empty: gorgeously designed environments with no one in them, the loneliness only accentuated by the wind noise provided as a default.  2L seems definitely designed to hang out with people in more than to explore.

Is it full of sex?  You bet.  I tried a couple nude beaches, which were not all that exciting, then a dungeon or two.  One of them had quite a few people, and I was introduced to the concept of pose balls: colored balls which you can ‘sit’ on, which transforms them into animations.  These can be anything from harmless cuddling or lounging to sex, of all flavors.  The dungeons, naturally, contain BDSM animations.

I was watching some people in a dungeon which had (unlike most) people in it, and a guy named  Clancy approached me— naked except for a bondage harness.  He asked if I knew where I was, and what people did there.  We chatted for a short while, and I tried out a machine or two.  He commented that I seemed to like it, and I said I did. 

We ended up doing a scene together.  It started with an explanation of the rules: a safeword ("enough already"), plus I must call him Master (on each line).  I specified no verbal abuse, and he promised there would be none.  I can’t reconstruct all the details now, but it basically quickly involved sex.  He put me on a couple of machines that restrained me and provided animations. 

Afterward we chatted a bit more; he was really very nice, both about my behavior and my participation.  He gave me a hug at the end— a very sweet animation.  He said I should consider being his permanent slave!