Niche? Niched? Nicheless? Unnichable?
Posted 08-11-2008 at 11:50 PM by Arilynn
I'm wondering how long it took people to find their SL niche. I would post a thread on this, but 1) it is whining and 2) I'm afraid it will result in one or more reply that has one or more of the following phrases: "SL is what you make it", "SL can be anything you want it to be", "You get from SL what you put into it". If I read these again, I will break out in hives.
Maybe I am unnichable (yes, it is my blog, so I get to make up the words). I have had my fill of clubs, even though I have met some very sweet people there. Every event discussion I have been in has made me want to either kill or die - or both. I'm not a crafter (yes, it is my blog, so I can call it "crafting") and don't think I ever will be. I'm still to f'ing shy to enter a place where there are people unless I know someone. I don't RP - I can see why people like it, but I feel silly doing it. Cybering...just not appealing. I don't even like SL dancing with a guy because I need to touch someone to be that close - I am very, very tactile and it is empty without touch.
[Wow,
, what a whiner! Glad she didn't post this on the main board! 
]
I've been in SL for about a month and yet no niche. Are there a lot of people like this, like undead hoardes, wandering lost through SL? If so, I wonder how long they last before they give up. Or get staked through the heart. Or incinerated with flamethrowers. Or however you kill the undead (should have Googled this before using the analogy).
Maybe I am unnichable (yes, it is my blog, so I get to make up the words). I have had my fill of clubs, even though I have met some very sweet people there. Every event discussion I have been in has made me want to either kill or die - or both. I'm not a crafter (yes, it is my blog, so I can call it "crafting") and don't think I ever will be. I'm still to f'ing shy to enter a place where there are people unless I know someone. I don't RP - I can see why people like it, but I feel silly doing it. Cybering...just not appealing. I don't even like SL dancing with a guy because I need to touch someone to be that close - I am very, very tactile and it is empty without touch.
[Wow,
, what a whiner! Glad she didn't post this on the main board! ]I've been in SL for about a month and yet no niche. Are there a lot of people like this, like undead hoardes, wandering lost through SL? If so, I wonder how long they last before they give up. Or get staked through the heart. Or incinerated with flamethrowers. Or however you kill the undead (should have Googled this before using the analogy).
Total Comments 11
Comments
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It took me about two months. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to create things -- but I was lucky. I joined at a time when there were only three or four (or even no) events at a given time slot. I took my time and I got to know people.
If you've only been here for about a month -- you're still quite new
Don't worry about finding your niche -- it'll find you.Posted 08-12-2008 at 01:18 AM by Lo Jacobs
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I used to create until system errors made it un-fun for me. I've recently come back for a bit to see if it has changed much.
Alas, most of my old friends are long since gone, and I'm not real interested in creating any longer. So, I've enjoyed some live music events, have gone to some incomprehensible discussion events. But, like you, I've never been the sexxorz or RP type and conversation is often quite stunted by the medium. I've been pretty much hanging out on the forums because I like the people and the dialogs there.
If you find something fun, lemme know?Posted 08-12-2008 at 04:34 AM by Malachi -
Doing nothing productive/sensible and just having a good time can be a great niche in SL.......
Oh yeah, and getting into random gunfights with friends can be entertaining as well.
/clutches anvil dropper and beehive gunPosted 08-12-2008 at 09:06 AM by Charlemagne Allen -
I just am finding mine now.
You are not alonePosted 08-12-2008 at 06:20 PM by Morgaine Alter -
Sometimes I feel unnichable as a builder because I always like to do something that is new. As the good advice would be, if you are going to be in sl business for any real profit, you should find one thing and do it well instead of many and do them less than. Niche in general maybe is a delemma for a buider. My store, THE GOLDEN REED, is the variety store that has gifts from weddings to Holidays and a home store with items to use or decorate such as drapery sheers and bathroom stock; furniture and tables. (Lets not forget about the outdoors) Then I have a corner for plants, one for lighting, one for shirts, also builder items from textures to tools. With 2 rentals recently erected and circling back round to gifts; where am I now? My Niche would be dissipated by the business wisdom side of things, but niche as a builder, maybe general enough to classify me as nichless. My Niche- - Bring on the challenge!! You need it, I will make it. To niche or not to niche - good question and good one to have personal understanding of to say the least. Time to build some more - somethingsPosted 08-20-2008 at 09:12 PM by Plant Tolsen -
I feel very much the same, although I've not been around so long yet. I like going to live music events, and usually manage at least 2 or 3 a week, but generally people don't really socialise much at these events, as they're all paying attention to the music. So even though there's people there is't not a particularly sociable experience.
I like to explore, which is a fairly solitary thing too. And I've attended some classes, one of which has got me interested in making animations (I have a friend who makes furniture and he's keen for me to get started on that!). Going to the classes, and hanging out at the Shelter, have been the most sociable things I've done.Posted 08-23-2008 at 10:01 PM by Lewis Luminos -
It took me about 6 months to find my niche which in SL feels like an eternity. I tried a little of everything (well not EVERYTHING) and figured out that I wanted to create things and it has been joyous ever since.Posted 08-27-2008 at 08:28 AM by jennaE -
Thanks very much for all the comments. I found the variety of perspectives very helpful, and it was nice to know that others required time to find their place.
I really appreciate everyone sharing their insight and experience.Posted 08-28-2008 at 01:18 AM by Arilynn -
I've been in SL for over a year - although weeks go by without me logging in - and I still don't really have friends I hang out with or anywhere I go regularly. That's why I came here - I have more fun hanging out on the SLU really.Posted 08-28-2008 at 06:24 AM by Midi Reifsnider -
When I first joined SL I had no interest in socializing, didn't really see the point of it. I was just enamored of the whole idea of SL, the fabric of the place, if you will.
My sole focus for the first few months was just learning and playing. I bought a parcel on a mountainside so I'd have somewhere to experiment, as well as enjoy the scenery. I built my own house, several times over, learned how to work with textures, shaped my AV, shopped for clothes, explored SL -- all pretty much on my own. The only people I visited with were the two people who had introduced me to SL, and even those interactions were sporadic.
Joining the SC forum changed all that by introducing me to a whole group of people. I gradually began to meet up with them inworld too and attend beach parties. Wholly out of character for me, but that turned out to be the first step in a new kind of exploration in SL that I had never anticipated.
I had also expected to be a coder or builder in SL, and that didn't happen. I got "side-tracked" by an unexpected fascination with skins and shapes and fashion shopping. My pre-fab business flopped, but my testing alt Beebo put up a small kiosk of Dyke-In-A-Box shapes that took off as a business.
So about six months into SL, my original avatar had been demoted to testing alt status and Beebo had taken over my virtual life. She has a hell of lot more personality than Regan did, tons more friends, and a business that keeps her happily occupied.
Who woulda thunk it?Posted 10-11-2008 at 11:24 AM by Beebo Brink -
I spent the first few months in SL just wandering too. I made a few friends, none of whom I'm really connected to now. It wasn't until after I met Jamie that I really found my SL "life". I definately had my niche with creating our own world, Forum, friends, a business of my own.
But now I've shut down that business, I don't really feel I belong anywhere anymore. I am nicheless, but I'm also sort of Second Lifeless. I log in and find myself thinking, "Ok, now what. Meh forget it" and I'm out again.
My friends have tried to help, they've been great, even given me a place to hang my pixel hat. But honestly I feel more connected to them when I'm talking on the phone.
I'm not sure I have a niche in Second Life anymore.
Oh but this was supposed to be for you sorry lol. As someone else said, if it's only been a month for you, don't sweat it too much. In the beginning for me ... wow way back in '05 ... it was three months of wandering, then a few months more of figuring out how to do the things I finally decided I wanted to do. It's a process, enjoy it.Posted 10-11-2008 at 02:22 PM by Allana Dion
