Then vs Now: How do you play?

[Adriella Spencer]

For OG SW players: Are you leading the same virtual life that you had 10 years ago or are you doing things differently this time around?

Personally, I am determined to change the way I play. I will not be working on my XP levels because I do not intend to spend an inordinate amount of time "working." I may even stop doing the loyalty challenges and official missions altogether because I could care less about those items. Why succumb to imaginary pressure and FOMO? Why bother collecting when everything could go away...again. I'm just going to enjoy myself.

[Willow Storm]

Personally, I truly enjoy writing and playing missions. That's why I'm in the game again. I don't feel any pressure to do anything here. If I did, it would stop being fun and I wouldn't waste my time. Aside from enjoying playing missions more, the only thing I can say I am doing different, is trying to keep a positive attitude and just have fun! Some times in OG SW I tended to let peoples opinions bother me and honestly, it just isn't worth worrying about!
All I can say is enjoy your time here. Just like in reality, no one knows if they will still be here tomorrow. Life is too short to worry about what you can't control.

[Adriella Spencer]

I hear that! I'm not entertaining any unnecessary drama or getting worked up over anything. Life's too short and it's meant to be sweet

[Jamie Bondason]

I guess I've come back and gotten involved with the communities I used to be involved with before! Missions, selling, art, forums. The only difference now is that I hope I seem more mature as I'm now an adult I've worked on my levels somewhat, nowhere near as hard as I did on the OG game, I just want to get to the level needed to wear the items I like, that's it! I think doing it all the first time around and then losing that progress has meant I'm less motivated to work massively hard on my levels. Maybe I might have inspiration to grind out my levels again in the future but, for now, I'm content with what I'm doing and how I'm doing it.

[Adriella Spencer]

I think doing it all the first time around and then losing that progress has meant I'm less motivated to work massively hard on my levels.

...once bitten, twice shy...

I think I used to be Level 200 in all paths (except Arena) back then. Now I'm looking to retire at just 50 lol

[Jadee Connolly]

I used to spend a lot more time roleplaying with friends and making houses in SW, I think I've probably already surpassed the XP levels on my SV character but I'd always get banned before I got very far especially for farming and crafting, I never got into those in SW. And the art community here is awesome, I was too shy to dip my toes into the art water. I've been trying many more new missions this time round too, back in SW I just had my list of weeklies I'd repeat. I'm a lot shyer this time round to hop into someone's space and say hi though but eagerly want to make friends at the same time! But I really like the community this game has always had, it's been nice to fall back into it, I've played mmorpgs for years and no community has ever hit like SW did. The people yearn for community!!

[Tier Sufjoy]

I do not. I used to be a collector, meaning I had 2 of almost everything. When Beforetimes happened and I lost it all, I vowed never to do that again. Seeing the pictures alone is my warning to not spend too much money or time in the world. So this time I have focused mostly on missions and not really trying to collect all the things. Also, I am not focused on fashion as much due to clothes prices. So in that way, my motivation is different. Also, I think I was a lot more into the RP life, while now --that I am older-- I just get on, chat a bit, make a mission, and then go.

[Adriella Spencer]

I played SW for about 8 years and was involved in a variety of things at some point or another, most notably foruming, space decorating, farming, crafting and shopkeeping. Right now, I am heavily into farming again but it's so tedious and feels like work that I want to eventually give it up. Crafting just feels so pointless here but I still LOVE designing spaces! In SV, I'd like to transition into doing missions solely for leisure instead of grinding. I am not artistic but I am considering taking up sculpting for the first time and would love to get more exposure to the roleplaying scene. Wears & rares trading has always been fascinating to me so I may dabble a bit but I would definitely not be collecting!

This place is kind of a ghost town so there aren't much socializing opportunities or places to explore.

[Oisin Anderson]

Making missions is still where my heart is, although...

There aren't as many sculptors as there were in the OG, so it falls to me to make a lot of my own sculptures that I need to make my missions just the way I want them. Only now I work during the day so I don't have as much time, and sculpting is TIME CONSUMING.

I used to collect art, but art here is far more expensive. I'm a mission maker- I'm not exactly sitting on bags of gold- so I'm going to have to rely on commissions for any art I need. I'm putting that off for the time being, because I'm socially awkward and don't like making requests.

I've released two old and one new mission so far, and I'm waiting for the release of certain items or improvements in Pinterest frame functionality to release others- hopefully the game is still around then. I love being on here, but I'm missing a lot of things I need yet.

[Jess Diamond]

I am playing SV COMPLETELY differently to how I played 10 years ago! I used to be active in the fighting groups (ICON), spend a lot of time hanging out at Pirate Cove, adopt a lot of kids and sometimes role-play as kids but now I visit auctions, make art, sculptures, create missions, browse and comment on the forums and try to help people as much as possible! I guess I just find these things fun now but I definitely still have a lingering attachment to role-play .

I also used to love decorating but now I feel like putting a mission in a space I have decorated gives it more purpose, especially since it's now harder to get a space popular.

[Aribella Lafonte]

For how I play, I still have a tendency to keep to myself and be locked away in a mission space or my newest project that I am working on. I don’t rely on the social aspect of the game and prefer to have just a few friends vs being miss popularity. Nothing personal to anyone, I’m just a loner.

What has changed is my game income. I simply don’t have the gold cushion that I used to have on SW. Because of that, I am unable to take on as many projects that I would normally have.

I no longer spend gold on having lots of spaces. Most of what I own are necessity only. By having only ONE home, a space/spaces needed for a shop or storage. Most of the spaces I own are mission spaces and I make sure to utilize the smaller or starter spaces to save on gold costs. I only buy things from catalog that I feel I really, really like. I don’t bother with monthly wearables like I did on SW because the high cost of them and for most of them, they aren’t that great. I also no longer collect paintings since the prices of a more simple/average painting has increased. For what I used to pay for cheaper ones, 2-3k in quality are now upwards of 7k. For what I paid 30-40k on SW has probably nearly doubled since then. If I collect anything anymore, it is probably random sculptures I find in sculpture shops that I can use in future missions.

Because I don’t want to rely on buying gold and to support my mission making, I have also taken on sculpting. I did this on SW and it was easier for me then (better resolution and ease of tools), however, I feel that I spend more time on here doing it and therefore, am better at it than it was back then. I find that I have a fairly good knack painting them vs sculpting them so that corrects for any mistakes and can help them become more realistic.

I used to paint on SW and was decent at it. Aside from one painting I have done here, I haven’t done much more since it tends to hurt my hand more for the length of time I put into it.

I also have less missions or incentive to create as many. On SW, I had 41 approved missions. On here, I have maybe 11? I just don’t have them come as easily anymore now that I’m older and sadly, I don’t have the old documents for a majority of my old ones to recreate them.

What also has changed is that I don’t spend any time playing pool like I used to since places such as Cue Club are nearly abandoned and not as fun as it used to be.

I used to pass time if bored playing missions, but that I find less enjoyable so most of my time is in locked spaces or if bored, I just log off.

I also find that I log on less. I used to spend the entire day on SW.

I just find myself being more flexible on things that I used to do or have less passion at it. I am more of a casual player now. I am like this on another game I play. What I used to care more about is less now. I am also finding myself recreating my avatar and starting over for what would be a 3rd time now, so it’s not worth putting more into it. Never again.

[Adriella Spencer]

Wow! I LOVE reading these responses and hearing how multi-faceted and impressive everyone's virtual life is! It makes me feel motivated to go out and explore some more. I'm happy to share that I have started sculpting and am looking forward to doing more

[Kissy My]

I should follow my gut and not comment, but here I am... doing what I know I shouldnt do...

I had ideas and plans .. and no, not just missions.. Some involved helping other people.
But I wont go into that..

unfortunately ... the negativity and accusations i have experienced towards suggestions and in regards to missions ...
have greatly discouraged and saddened me ..

ya know ...player created missions .. the literal only thing that sets games like this apart from all the others ..

so the way I play .. I log in, collect my spin, answer emails, once a week complete my loyalty and log out ...
hopefully my joy and passion will come back ...so the way I play now .. i don't ..

[Lacy Belle]

Hmmm back then my main thing was arena and player-run games like falling chairs, don't wake granny, cute or boot, the like. I like anything competitive.

No joke, I had a random dream yesterday that I was playing Space Jump again. I decided to look up the game out of pure curiosity, to see if there were any reboots or fan projects. And lo and behold! I found out about SmallVerse. Joined immediately. So awesome

This time around, definitely returning to arena and games... I also wanna be a bit more social. I'm kind of a hermit, even online lol I also wanna level up, because I can't stand looking like a noob!

[Lacy Belle]

^^^ Me. Made new account with my old name.