tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38265606.post116863090916495903..comments2023-10-17T09:31:37.480-04:00Comments on Beth's Second Life: The Sadness of SLBeth Ritter-Guthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11469520509031465630noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38265606.post-20423912458890316632007-03-12T05:14:00.000-04:002007-03-12T05:14:00.000-04:00I too would disagree that it's automatically a bad...I too would disagree that it's automatically a bad idea. Doesn't "It's better to have loved and lost than never loved at all" still have a place?<BR/><BR/>I don't know what your RL entanglements and committments are, but romance in SL can be and usually is just as real as romance in RL - the people getting involved are still people after all - and should be entered into with the same degree of attention you'd give to someone in RL.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38265606.post-88101773594859581272007-02-25T16:12:00.000-05:002007-02-25T16:12:00.000-05:00I dissagree with your conclusion that SL Romance i...I dissagree with your conclusion that SL Romance is a bad idea. <BR/><BR/>When I first started visiting SL, I was amused at the number of wedding and romance related things inworld. I am a long time user of web communications, and nothing like it had confronted me. <BR/><BR/>Like you - I was totaly taken by surprise by the emotions of this game. I found myself dusting off emotions and feelings that were so crusty and unused I had long since put them into the attic of my past. <BR/><BR/>Day by day, I grew closer and closer to the soul mate I found there. We understood each other, we communicated and shared more than I ever dreamed possible. We walked the beaches of SL, and explored the world together. It was glorious. <BR/><BR/>As it did with you - the end came abruptly. In our case, a move by my partner to and area without broadband cut us appart brutally. Suddenly - I was Puff, without his friend. I got to experience that body blow full force. And even now - months later - it still stings more than I like to admit. <BR/><BR/>But our pain is not proof that SL romance is a bad idea. It is the opposite. <BR/>HH the Dalai Lama is quoted as saying "When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace."<BR/><BR/>What is unrealistic is to expect a virtual romance to be able to last. I am ritcher now for what I went through. I have taken the leasson and applied it to my RL relationship. I treasure anew my fellings, and my time with my RL loved ones. <BR/><BR/>I think the lesson is that we are emotional social creatures. We are stronger together, and we enrich each other. Like everything else in SL the environment concentrates that - and accelerates the social process. <BR/><BR/>It is safer and more comfortable to close down your emotions and to refuse to share with others. Protected by a thick skin and tough outer shell - you can move like a sleep walker through a gray world of padded safety.<BR/><BR/>I think allowing love and color in you life, whereever they come from is the better answer. Will I find what I had and lost in SL again? Perhaps. Perhaps not. If I do, it will come when I least expect it. And I hope it comes for you again soon.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com