I’ve been a virtual world participant for about 15 years now. I love the feeling of operating my avatars as they roam around the fantastic world on pixels and viewing the most interesting unique environments. Fantasy, history, modern, futuristic worlds of every imagination brought to pixel life. But the best part… (to me) is meeting other avatars! From all around the globe. It makes me feel like a ‘international jet set’ person!

I have virtual friends in so many different countries, like the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, India, Canada, and from almost every state of the USA. Most speak English, or text English, and if they don’t we have this handy little gadget called a ‘translator’ that will automatically translate any language into English. OMG… sometimes the translations are so funny! and not even close to what we were trying to say to each other, but all in all we can communicate.

It takes a certain personality to learn the ends and outs of a virtual world. How to operate your avatar, how to dress your avatar, how to get from one place to another, how to dance, how to voice and if you are into a more ‘gaming’ like experience, how to operate the combat tools and vehicles available to use. We all like to joke too about how you have got to be “a little bit crazy” to immerse yourself in these virtual worlds. Recently one of my friends said “Lol… they are all fucking crazy!” when we were discussing a recent drama story boiling over and each drama Queen was trying to explain their action and words to us (Admins of the sim).

To me the one biggest drawback in virtual worlds is the LAG. Sometimes when you try to move you freeze up, then a second later you are across the sim not even close to where you wanted to go or you might find yourself in the virtual void tumbling over and over as you fall to nowheres-ville. Sometimes your screen will turn completely black and you see nothing, hear nothing, and can do nothing! It can get quite frustrating especially if you are in the middle of roleplay storyline and others are counting on you.

All in all these worlds still amaze me that they work as well as they do considering there are millions of avatars running around and enjoying their virtual lives. I believe I’ve made lifelong friends and each morning when I awake I wonder what and who I will see that day. I have a warm fuzzy feeling and can hardly wait to jump out of bed and see what’s going on in my virtual worlds and with my virtual friends. Lag or no lag… I’m logging in!