Second Life is a Community

The fact that Second Life is a community is not apparent to everyone. Some people are here for business. Some are here to play games. Others are exploring a place they have never been before. Most will say that their real life is private and separate from SL. When they think of their community they are thinking of the town or city they live in the real world.

Newbies don't realize it at first, but it should be obvious to the long-term residents that Second Life is a community (really many communities). Many of us work to make this world a better place. We police ourselves and try to discourage bad behavior, hard to define, but easy to recognize. We help one another. There are official SL mentors in many of the welcome areas and there is the Help People group that trains volunteers, but then there are many of us that will stop and help a confused looking avatar change their appearance, give them a landmark, or help them find someone who speaks their native tongue.

We also give. When wildfires ravaged Australia, more than just a few groups and clubs held events to raise funds to help. I don't know how much was raised over the whole of SL, but the club I was in at the time raised over $300 US for the Australian Red Cross. The Relay for Life has become an annual event in Second Life. We talk and raise awareness of issues that affect all of us on this planet.

Our groups of friends become very close and important to us. That became very apparent to me yesterday. My SL girlfriend had been sick, very sick. She was in the hospital for 11 days. When she finally returned online yesterday I was so happy, so relieved to see her, I wanted to shout it to everyone. We spent a lot of time talking and catching up on what had happened, but I had to share her with so many others who wanted to talk to her too and let her know how much she had been missed.

I was a bit peeved at first because I wanted to monopolize her time, but she had so many instant messages to reply to that I just had to be patient and share her with the whole community of friends. All day long it was "Hold on. I have an IM that I need to answer". I didn't mind, much. She was home (in RL and SL) and with me.

She told me later last night how overwhelming it was to have so many caring people in Second Life concerned for her. Sadly more friends here than she has in real life were worried about her health and expressing their gladness that she was on the road to recovery. But it made me think again about community.

Over the ages man has formed communities. Our ancestors gathered families together in tribes to hunt, grow crops, raise their young in a protected environment, pool their knowledge and pass it on to the next generations. Communities share common values. They share the good times and suffer the bad times together. A community provides the strength that we don't have always as individuals. Yesterday I saw that strength and a sharing of love that is wondrous and beautiful in any community, but I was so grateful to see it in MY community in Second Life.