My avatar would be considered old enough to vote, and legally a mature man in real life.
It was eighteen years ago today, in which yours truly first came to this virtual world, December 17, 2006. I had only recently gotten high-speed Internet, finally getting off the old "dial-up" telephone modem. So I was free to check out two places online my friends were talking about: World of Warcraft and Second Life.
Today, World of Warcraft has become more or less a happy memory to me, still around but no longer the king of MMOs that it used to be. But Second Life is still very much around and I'm still very much going. As any parent can tell you, a LOT can happen in eighteen years, and it has. A year later, I had a number of friends and found my purpose here: online journalism. And over time, my path has taken me to a few communities, many friends, and a couple years ago a loving SL wife. Second Life has also changed much, going through a number of CEOs and being bought up, going from prim building to mesh and then other forms of mesh, the Lindens went from involved with the residents to hardly involved to somewhat involved again. Corporations and celebrities would take an interest early on, but then began to leave. Over time, the residents would change as well, new ones coming in constantly, and older ones leaving due to real life or dying.
So what does the future hold? Baring a catastrophe of some kind, Second Life will be around for years to come. And me, baring an accident or some other medical emergency, I'll continue to be around for a few years more. But retirement is several years away, and once that happens I'll have my physical and financial health to think about. But that's in the future. In the meantime, I'll still be coming on to support my friends and SL family, and write about this virtual world.
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