As a holiday treat, here's an excerpt of Hari Sutherland's new coffee table book, SECOND LIFE: The First, Best Metaverse in Words and Pictures:
For many, romance is a big part of the online and virtual world experience. While this can undoubtedly lead to real life difficulties and breakups when people form online attachments and cheat on their partners, many virtual world romances lead to happy real-world outcomes, with people who first meet in Second Life eventually meeting, and often marrying, in real life.
Second life offers a “partnering” option, whereby people commit to one another and their name appears on the partner’s profile. For the more traditionally or romantically-minded, virtual weddings are common, and there’s an active pool of wedding planners and officiants in-world, and numerous sims or regions specifically designed for use as wedding venues. There are also celebrations of life when a community member passes.
It doesn’t stop there. In-game apps or HUDs (Heads-up Displays that sit on your screen) offer the ability to conceive and gestate a child, with the mother’s avatar developing realistically during the course of the pregnancy. There are clinics and midwife services available in-world to deliver the baby. Many people, not least those who don’t or can’t have children in real life, find this an immensely rewarding and joyous experience.
As SL resident, photographer, and creator Maggie Runo explains:
“When the pandemic and lockdown took me back to good old SL after a long absence, I was amazed at all the changes that had taken place…so much to discover, so much to learn.
“I soon made new friendships, and one of them spoke enthusiastically and affectionately about Animesh Babies, something I’d always found strange and hadn’t even thought of having that experience. Still, I couldn’t resist buying the first one, and it was like the opening of a world of discoveries, affections, details, and emotion. Then came the second, the third, the fourth and I can’t swear I’ll stop there.
“Being rational, how is it that an object composed of pixels, which is what it is, can make us feel affection and give us an enormous desire to care for it, to observe it, to...Love it? I realise that the connection you establish with them may seem strange to many people. I thought so myself, but respected people’s feelings; now I’m grateful that those around me, even if they find it strange, respect and even understand my choice.
“My Animesh Babies brought me the fulfilment of a dream that RL didn’t allow me for health reasons. Brought me the smile and the cherish of simple moments.
“It was also was the opening of another door to express my creativity and discover new adventures in SL, as I began to create baby clothing with carefully-detailed textures, leading me to become a Zooby Affiliate and to design my own brand, Natural.”
Second Life babies can grow and develop. Users can also choose to inhabit a child avatar, which, in the case of someone who had a less than happy childhood or never experienced parental love, is a beautiful and healing thing.
Many residents form such tight connections that they decide to become siblings. This can go beyond the simple bonds of extended family, with people truly considering themselves blood relations; it’s not uncommon for Second Life residents to form familial groups, both traditional and otherwise, which can be loving, nurturing, and supportive.
SECOND LIFE: The First, Best Metaverse in Words and Pictures is now available on Amazon here.
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