There.COM

So, I had fun with a three day trial membership on there.com. It actually was a pretty good time, and on top of that, it was very addicting. The first night I tried it, I ended up being on there for a good five hours. I looked at the clock and realized it was almost 3 am, and that was my cue to call it a night. I think it made it a lot easier that the first few people I met were more than willing to lend me some items to have fun with (ie. a motor bike, a buggy, a hoverboard, and a flying boat looking thing). Any new member is given the standard "newbie" outfit, which consists of khaki shorts and an orange shirt. My first order of business was to get rid of those clothes, so people wouldn't automatically recognize as a new guy. The first person I met was nice enough to give me a ride to the nearest clothes shop. They also taught me how to wave, smile, dance, and a bunch of other stuff. There is a "What's Happening" link on the screen which you can click on and see what kind of fun is going on that you might be able to join in on. I found it interesting because it seemed just like a list of chat rooms you would find in any chat program on the web, but the fact that when you clicked on it, and joined in, you were transported to an actual virtual room where people were hanging out and talking. I chose to go to one room in particular that sounded like it was some sort of dance club. When I got there, it seriously looked like an actual club. Music was playing, a bar on the side, a dance floor where many people were dancing. Some were in big groups, others sitting by themselves, some having one on one conversations. It was a scene that you could easily see at a regular bar. One thing that I found really interesting was that most everything I saw in this world was created by it's members. I walked into some houses there were not occupied at the time, but I could tell that someone had spent a long time creating this little virtual home of theirs.

As with any virtual community, a big part of one's experience depends on the people you encounter. I luckily encountered some people who were very helpful. Once I figured out what I was doing, I met some people. I offered people rides in my fun vehicles, which weren't even mine, but of course, I passed them off like they were. All and all, I liked there.com a lot. At points it felt like more of a game than a community. At a 4.95/year membership fee, it's pretty affordable also. The only problems I ran into was that my video card couldn't handle processing everything very quickly and I would get stuck for a minute or so where I couldn't move, and then out of nowhere, a building would show up that Ihad run into. I think there.com brings new meaning to the term "virtual community", and I had fun with it.