[Ranylyn]

I arrived at SL2 at a relatively low point in my life. I had just been kicked out of my apartment and the only new place I could find on such short notice was too expensive for me - but what choice did I have? I needed to keep a roof over my head, even if it meant going hungry 4 days a week (Meals were provided at work, and I was there 3 days a week.) On my days off, I decided it was time to resort to an old friend: Roleplay as escapism. This was also around when I was finally diagnosed with my depression - which explained my entire life going back to age 6. If only we'd known sooner, but hindsight is 20/20.

It wasn't too long into it that one of my characters bonded with someone over their pasts. The things they'd been through, how they rose to those challenges, the things they weren't proud of but knew they had to do, things like that. It had been a long time since I'd bonded with anyone on that kind of level IRL (I've mostly had the same cliques since elementary school, not counting friends I've made on forums,) so I found the whole thing to be rather touching. Due to the fact that I wasn't at an emotionally stable point in my life... I got emotionally invested, moreso than I think I'd like to admit. I'm hoping no one gets upset when I ask if we leave it at that. Anyways, I haven't spoken to the player of that other character in quite some time, but those were some powerful memories.

And honestly? That emotional attachment is why I'm still here. It's why I get butthurt when people derail RP for the sake of shorhorning in a forced meme that doesn't work in SL2. It's why, even when I find myself disagreeing very strongly with some people, I don't actually find myself hating them. (Seriously. If you think I hate you, I'm offering a big group hug as a peace offering.) In a strange way, SL2 has become one of those retreats I come back to even after trying to quit, simply since... well... even if a new game can keep me busy for a few weeks, few games have the kind of replay value SL2 does.

Don't get me wrong. I do feel the game is a husk of what it was. The kinds of people who wanted to have RP commitments have mostly since moved on (Man, I remember back when people used to get together to celebrate weddings on a near-weekly basis, and when they'd eventually recruit friends to play their children once they were old enough. When was the last IC wedding held?) and it's made me afraid to get too involved, myself, lest my own characters be left high and dry when their entire social circle quits. It happens every single time, without fail, which really sucks, and has led to me playing the game much more casually than I used to... but I just care too much to leave, you know?