On SL Partnership Proposal Limitations

I claim to be a somewhat romantic person.

Of course that is open to discussion by those that suffer the consequences of my romanticism (or lack of it) so I won’t diddle about it much more then that. But asides from that small matter… one has tickled me for quite some time and I’ve been holding this thought in my mind for quite a bit.

In Second Life people can get partnered with another avatar.

Meaning something from being a casual couple, boyfriends, a couple, a married couple, fuck partner, soul mates, master/slave… heck, who knows what else? For me, it means that the other person is not just a friend anymore, it has grown way past that, and the two of us have become romantically involved… which in time can lead to share more and more things, living together and just let your imagination flow…

Anyway, my rant is about the process of asking for a Partnership in SL !

Sure, you can plan an all grand display of affection in-world for the big moment and ask your to-be partner the big question, or go for a intimate and felt display of emotion… either way, to make it official you need to inform (and pay a small amount) to Linden Labs so they can add the new information to both your profiles stating to the Metaverse that the two of you are now partners, for good or for worst !!

So… what goes wrong?

No, its not the amount you have to pay, its actually a quite symbolic payment you have to pay (10L$ each)… What goes wrong, and displays an apparent lack of romance flair from LL, is:

The amount of characters you can put in your partnership proposal !!

Yep. That’s true. You’re limited in space (and quite so I must add) to what you can say to your beloved one to ask her/him/it if they would like to partner with yourself. Having used that lovely form myself, that you need to fill in to become partners in Second Life, I’ve ended up battling with my own words and inspiration to find a way to say all that I wanted in such a crumpled little space.

I ended up just proposing with a teaser, and sending her a notecard with the full version later on.

It’s annoying to be cramped up in space when you wanna express your feelings. Feelings are hard to squeeze in to just a few words since they surpass simple words so easyly… maybe its just my verbosity, I dunno. I just can’t understand what’s the technical impairment of adding larger limits to a form that it is just used to send that very same text to the other persons’ email. C’mon…. it’s an e-mail, its not like you’re going to pay extra money for crossing the 1000 words per email… *mumbles a bit*

If not enough… you can’t access your proposal after sending it!!

GAH!!! Ok, maybe its just a pet peeve of mine, but I like to keep records of my things, things I wrote, things I’ve read and enjoyed, things with sentimental value… yeah, so I like to keep records of that, call me crazy. But noooo… you can’t access your proposal after hitting the send button. You DO get a lovely reply back (if your proposal is accepted, otherwise it might not be so lovely) from your loved one. And yes, that one I can safely keep in my email… but frankly: couldn’t they just add a tiny feature for you to recall it out too?

All I ask is:

• Increase the text space in the Partnership Proposal Form (we’re trying to propose for crying out loud!!)

and

• Don’t throw it to the trash (let us keep it for memory lane ! Please?)

Sincerely, one passionate SL Avatar

Spheres of influence and knowledge

I consider myself a working class resident on SL. No longer a noob for quite some time, I’ve tackled all the mysterious techniques of unpacking boxes without rezzing them to your head, moving your camera, flying and avoinding bumping in to every avatar you see, I’ve learned to talk and make friends, I’ve got myself a nice flat, fully furnished, I got two SL jobs that support my shopping expenses and my rent, I participate in several events, so… yeah, I’ve been around.

Yet, I realize, more and more, that I’m just a simple avie in the lower planes of SL, far far away from the higher spheres of influence, where the Linden ‘gods’ dwell, or even below the allmighty landowners that have more free prims to use in their little toe then me in all my glorious flat and certainly away from the creative and amazing content creators that permeate this brave second world. Gladly, though, I’ve raised above the lower place of existence too So, I’m happy, frankly. I’ve got my space, my liberty and some obligations I take with pride, friends and fancy clothes… and I feel that I don’t need to worry about major political problems… yet I wonder…

Since early on from my time on SL i’ve come to realize there’s something wrong… or at least people keep saying that. I’m talking about people that dwell deep in the higher spheres of SL. But i never got what it is. I’ve even participate in one rally or two protesting against… something about content protection. It seemed important to me even though I didn’t realized why the big issue was arrising from. Now I hear about landowners trowing the towel to the carpet, content creators giving up their venues, and there seems to be some general mistrust about the future in SL from the people that make the core of it.

Yet, where I normally go, all seems well. The sun keeps shining, the shops still open, the sims still around. Sure, it’s an organic thing: New sims are created everyday, and great old sims close… new clubs open and fail and old mythic names also wither. But so it happens in RL as well (ok, no new lands are created but you get the point).

So I wonder, if any of you can explain to me. What’s happening in the upper realms of SL that I, mere virtual mortal, can’t perceive the enormous battles being fought up there?

In other note, I wonder if its not the same ol’ problem… people just not getting along with each other…