I think I can roughly profess that I’m some sort of individualist. In many ways, I reject help and tend to want to complete tasks on my own. But, boy do I break those ideas often. (O.o)
There’s a part of me that’s quite tired of being individual. (-_-)
So, I join groups and involve myself with friends. Kinda what I joined SL for in the first place. Socializing. It’s something I ain’t done before. (>_<)
It’s a give and take, though… Tough to find a balance. For one, I hatehatehate being idle. I gotta be on a project, task, or something somehow. And it’s gotta have a real problem solved. Not some game puzzle for “bap-badda-ba~” music. (>_<)
Part of why SL and NCI are so beneficial to me. SL has no clearly defined goal, but, it’s rife with problems and the environment is generally left up to residents. Add NCI where volunteer time is spent assisting new people to adapt to the interface, etiquette, and quirks and you’ve got a recipe for enjoyable activity for me. (^_^)
I still wanna be social though. Like, friends and all. (._.)
So, I work that out pretty much through osmosis. One leads to a second, third, fourth and so on. (^_^)
So, by now everyone’s together. Uhm… Now what? (._.)
That’s the tough part. What do we do? With NCI it’s a bit easy. Find something that needs attention, give it attention, and when near enough to a solution start seeking the next thing. Add things have to be done with the community and the new SL resident in mind, and the task is quite clear. All I ask is that I’m allowed to participate to the best of my abilities and that I’m allowed to be myself. That’s been proven difficult in the past, but it’s not a perfect world. (>_<)
An example. NCI Dream Seeker. If you get the chance, check out the place. It’s a full sim donated to NCI by Dream Seeker Estate Services with the caveat that we keep signage indicating that they’re the core contributors. Sweet deal, I say. (^_^)
Well… It didn’t look good to start. A few people put in a few temporary builds but had no sense of theme or any unifying features. So, many were quite offended by its presense. (._.)
Come a staff meeting one day and I’m simply bloody sick of hearing the cries of “IT SUCKS!!” with no solution. So, I’m all like, fine! I’ll bloody organize a project and team to put something there. (>_<)
So… Immy the manager kicks in. I gather a team, drive them to keep the project moving, document meeting agendas and open the floor to the team to express their progress so that their concepts and completions have enough crossfire in order for the big picture to be consistent. (^_^)
To that end, they did great. Those who contributed did so quite fully. I was quite honored to be their cheerleader. =^-^=
But, that’s the thing, isn’t it? When you tour the sim, look for any one prim rezzed or created by “Imnotgoing Sideways”… You’ll find there’s none. I didn’t lift a finger for the entire build. That was the team’s task. Honestly, they could have done the whole thing without me. But, they needed a catalyst. At least one voice was necessary to shout over the din of “IT SUCKS!!!” so that something positive can be done. In the end, I made the noise and they made the sim. (^_^)
That is what I love best about teams, groups, and communities. I have a lot of social shortcomings, but, when I can get involved in an active group with a task, most of my baggage gets tossed aside and the fun begins. (^_^)
All for one: They’re providing me with an energy/ego boosting situation. (^_^)
One for all: I provide the drum beat to keep oars in motion. =^-^=
Now, back to my friends… The people I’ve tormented the most in SL. DX
I’ll admit, they do frustrate me. I’m quite an idealist when it comes to my online activities. I’m using electricity, internet bandwidth, losing sleep, and rubbing the home-key bumps off my keyboard. I want something to show for it. NCI fulfills to a certain degree, but, I came to SL for a social life first and foremost… Not a job. (=_=)
So, my friends gather… Now what? Uhm… Uh… Well, crap. (._.)
Mind you… There are a ton of factors. But, there are times when I see day-long windows of opportunity missed. And, yes, there’s the frustration. (>_<)
I’m generally afraid to make suggestions. I don’t tend to have much in common with anyone, so, I’m generally accustomed to letting others decide what to do. And whatever they choose to do, if I can, I’ll follow along. Though, even doing that is mired with a lot of idle time. And, I’m too afraid to run off and do stuff on my own. For one, I’m bad at doing things on my own. And another, I’m afraid that if I step away too often, I’ll be perceived as “moving on” or something of the sort. (T_T)
So, lately it’s suggested we join a game. Multiplayer with the ability to team up and help each other. I’m all thinking OMG!!! Activity WITH my friends! Two great things that go great together! XD
While not 100% what I had hoped for, we’ve had us some good times. Though I’m by far no gamer. The control scheme confuses me. The beastie power levels vary enough for me to have a ton of trouble finding a fight I’ll survive and gather experience points from. But… When we team up together, oh man it’s a blast. We have people whacking, casting, chatting, healing, runnig, taking the hits, and all that mess. It’s something to do, actively, and fun. =^-^=
As for my part, I like being the helper and healer… So, I step back from the thwacking and keep an eye on their hits. If someone gets weak, I majiks on them to be all tough again. =^-^=
Tell you what… It beats the heck out of saying “let’s go somewhere” almost immediately followed by “now what” after we arrive. (>_<)
I just wanna be a part of it. I want to give. I want to enjoy. I want to be there. (^_^)y
