Let's Talk Burnout!

Believe it or not, even as great as Second Life is, there really is such a thing as "too much of a good thing". I know because I suffered a burnout that eventually needed a 3 month break from SL. 2 months without logging in at all.

Briefly setting the scene, I put in many long days helping to build a sim, after a year of long hours exploring. Once the sim was built, I was ready for a break, but couldn't be comfortable being away. There were many things that only my avatar could do at the sim, and a lot of things in my inventory that belonged to the sim. I always felt that I was letting the owner down by not being there. Also my beloved little sim, Kidnap City was built strictly by me, all alone. Nobody else knew it well, and that added to my failure to take a real break. I tried 3 or 4 times, but was back within a week or less each time

Finally things came together, and I was able to take the break. The owner hired an "assistant" for me, one of my closest friends Kara, who spent some time with me learning the sim. She was knowledgeable and interested, and was exactly what the owner and I needed. Also, I gave my login info to my best friend Sarah, so my inventory and avatar would be available if needed. Also I changed my settings to have offline instant messages delivered to my email address, so I was able to stay in touch. I had the email addresses of most of my close friends, including the sim owner, and we were in touch regularly. I announced once again that it was time for break, and tested the water so-to-speak for a month. Nothing serious went wrong and I breathed a sigh of relief. For the next 2 months, I didn't log in at all.

During the break, I got some RL things in order, healed from an elbow surgery, took a volunteer job, cleaned my files, etc etc. I waited until my SL snapshots were looking great to me again before making my return. My friends threw me a welcome back party, I stepped back into the sim manager role, and all was well. Now we've moved on, and I find myself hard at work helping to build another sim. This time though, I know the signs to watch out for, and I think I can handle it properly.

So if you find yourself in a stage of burnout, here are my suggestions, in no particular order:

• Trust someone with your account, so your interests won't be neglected. In SL, many things can only be done by the owner's avatar, so you've got to have that matter taken care of in order to relax on break.

• Cut out the all-nighters or daytime hours, one or the other. Doing both is I believe a recipe for disaster.

• Arrange to keep in touch with your friends by email. Create a new account without synching with any other accounts, and persuade your friends to do the same if necessary. (gmx.com is a perfect choice. Quick and easy, and no nagging to synch with other email accounts)

• If logging in doesn't feel good to you, don't! While on a break, look at snapshots, read chat transcripts, etc until you really miss your second life. If you feel reluctant while logging in, it might be a little too early. Second Life is supposed to be a fun escape, and logging in should be a cheerful experience, not a hassle.

• Break the ice by logging in with an alt account, preferably a secret one. Visit your favorite places, see some friends, and see how it feels to be there.

• When you are ready to try returning, uncheck permission boxes so some or all of your friends won't be notified when you log in. The last thing you need is 10 friends IM-ing you at once, overwhelming you and diverting your attention. And by all means, avoid people who bug you! (you know who you are)

I hope some of this will help you deal with your burnout. Of course, the best thing to do is not get burnt out in the first place. Don't get into a rut of logging on just because "it's time to". Your friends, if they really are friends, will understand and accept that you might not be there quite as often as previously. Don't let SL get to be anything less than fun and escape.