On the rare occasions that Second Life goes down, I usually spend hours moping around the house, or shivering in the corner, pale and withdrawn. I'm an SL addict. Sometimes, when I need a fix, and SL isn't around, I'll sign up for yet another There free trial.

I've tried There a few times now, and concluded that it's a poor substitute for SL and lacks substance. It lacks, for example, the ability to create things with very few limitations. There seems to be mainly for chat. Oh and for spending money. Holy cow, things cost a lot, compared to the virtually free access to SL.

In There's favour, the avatar movements are very smooth, if you can get past the sickly-sweet Disney cartoon style, and the vehicles aren't encumbered by the need to stream an entire world of content on the fly.

Anyway, besides skulking around Zephyr to steal as many dune buggies as I can (yes, I know it's pointless), my favourite pastime in There is to throw my avatar off the tallest mountain I can find. In this case, it's a place called Motu Motu. As an aside, don't they get tired of the ubiquitous tiki theme?



However, you can only watch your avatar slide down a cliffside so many times before you yearn for something a little more fulfilling. I'm so very glad SL is back online. I was able to complete the new multi-destination teleporter. You can pick one up for free at my shop.