I work at Sweethearts Jazz Lounge Club as an host. And I love that job! I’ve been working with them for over 5 months now, having started when the club was just starting out. Back then things were very different then they are now, there is still the same spirit around, but the place as changed and grown a lot, people have come and gone and its popularity spiked to the top in time.
Yesterday, another shift. Two hours of finger bliss, typing like a mad man greeting every avatar that enters the club, smiling and helping out any question that may arise from any of the guest and hopefully inducing some good mood to those around you. Its a nice job, you get to talk to lots of people, even if it’s not as easy as it used to be when the club was just an embryo of the club it is today, but even so you do get to meet interesting people among the crowds flooding in.
Yesterday it was no exception, the shift went quite smoothly for the first 90min. People were nice, tips were good, IM were kind and interesting and there was time to breath and be a bit more innovative in each greeting then just mass greeting everyone… then the last 30min got really crazy.
Tons of IM going on, lots of people coming in, some avatars pushing the envelop when it come to abiding to the PG rules… and then, after being attacked a few times (the sim) by griefers and knowing that many alts walk among us, one starts to get paranoid at some point just wondering if those strange people talking to you are really someone else you have a gut feeling they are… or maybe it’s just you.
So you keep smiling, keep hosting as friendly as you can, but you can’t help but wonder: “Is it really?…”
I guess being an somewhat experience resident gives you some knowledge how certain things can happen. Not that I am *that* experienced, but I’ve had my share of experiences…
There are people behind every avatar and that’s a strange little thing… very strange indeed. There’s even one behind my own !!
So in the middle of all the relationships going on, good or bad, in the mist of all the words spoken and all the words unspoken, one starts to develop a uncanny affinity to read words where there aren’t any and extrapolate feelings from within hundreds of raw words… its a bit of a paranoia going on your mind to think about it all.
You can just smile and be blissful happy and pretend (or not) that nothing matters…. or you can take it all personally and be truthful in every action and every word you say… and then you have to be aware you are bend on getting hurt sooner or later; thus are the tenets of being true in this imaginary world. But is there any other way to really enjoy it?
Well I would say that the path of true and honesty are always the best. I would say that again, even knowing all that turned against me. But then again, can you do it differently ? Yes it may hurt. It may hurt you, and others around you. It may bring you loneliness. But can we escape our nature ?
And don’t worry… sooner or later every alt ends up revealing themselves. Just take anyone as a new acquaintace and time will tell you the rest of the story.
*smiles*
One of the tricks that griefers and trolls use is to bombard you with IMs and then pull some stunt.. either some kind of nasty little psychological game as your defences are down as you’re dealing with so many IM etc or to just pull the childish sim griefing tactic.
you are quite possibly right in thinking that some of the people you talk to you have met before. People do it for a lot of reasons.. If you want to know, ask. If they’re above board they’ll come clean – if they’re doing it for the wrong reasons you’ll get a very defensive rebuttal along the lines of they’ve never had an alt, never used one, never considered one.. how could you say such a thing!!!! lol Also, if they are more than a couple of weeks old and have a completely empty profile, that’s more than a give away
Don’t sweat it though – that way lies paranoia. If you suspect and ask and you don’t like the answer then just be cautious. SL is filled with too many crazies and sweethearts has always (both in it’s old and new guises) had a lot of them basking in the newbies.
Summer –
I don’t think so either…
Eh, nice advice. I just need to find my patience, it seems I’ve misplaced it and can’t find it
Alexia -
And yes you’re right, that might be a good way to ’spot’ them, unless they are a bit smarter 
Very good intel
And thanks for the advice Alexia. Good one. I’ll make sure to remember it. *hugs*
well, a lot of them don’t seem to have got any smarter in the last 2 years, so I wouldn’t bank on it
In the end if you have an element of doubt, ditch them. It may sound harsh, but you have enough experience to be pretty sure of your gut feeling.
I’ll wave hello the next time I see you at sweethearts
Indeed, go figure.
Hmm. Yeah it does sound harsh to just ditch them, but I start to see your point…
And don’t forget to wave next time you stop by Sweets