Is it just me, or is it a bit confusing (not to say annoying) to others too with all these duplets and triplets swarming around?

I can't seriously say I believe it is possible to not share information between for instance a kajirus and a FM or a kajira and a FW.

I grow suspicious when I hear that a slave and a free are the same person behind the keyboard. I loose trust and avoids RPing with both of them.

I suppose I soon ends up just sitting on a cushion in Jessy's office and staring suspiciously on everyone that comes and goes.

My 2 cents: If you have an urge (and time enough) to build up two characters, please keep them in different cities.

I have been in Laura almost from the beginning as two separate characters and have never made a secret of it; for me it just works. (Both FM's, one of the Warriors Caste and one of the Merchants Caste)

Admittedly at the time of the alts creation its intent was to completely replace the former but it didn't take long to see the benefit of having the two and how it would all fit together has come together almost on its own.

I do enjoy the break from one going to the other, of living out the two different persona's and have even taken it a step further.... My slave is also the slave of my other character as an alt of her own and it is awesome!!

Lately, with the state of war, Elovar has gotten the lions share of the on-line time but prior to that Fuzsea was getting it because of his involvement with the build out of the residential sim but not real RP time in the City.

Things will change in time and I look forward to again having both guys involved in the RP of the City.

The only downside to it is trying to remember who is the last holder of what in which inventory

When I started with Raven I never thought I would start with an other. Raven was far to busy with her learning, storylines for me to ever think about an alt.

When time progressed I became very curious about being an other character and I started an alt. I must admit it was because my closest friend told me she would start one. I talked with my owner about it as I don't have the intent to fool anyone with it, and the outcome was a Freewoman.

I loved it because being a slave there were things I couldn't do, what I could being this freewoman. She could visit cities with an other escort than her owner and could do something with her knowledge.

Of course I realized that some people may think I was trying to fool them, or have extra information to use in my RP as raven. Still I was very carefull with that, when I believed it would be wrong not to tell who I was. I told that this specific character was an alt of Raven.

I believe that being honest is the best way with an alt, and I never made it a serious secret. Although I know there is this field of tension because I didn't want people to treat Raven differently because what my alt would do IC.

I hope and thankfully many said so ... I have been carefull with them both ... and when people do feel I am not able to seperate them well I hope they will tell me so.

Still Raven is my main ... she is more dear to me than any character ever would be.

So no secrets concerning my ways and ... when people feel I cross lines .... I love to hear them of those that feel that way.

Raven

Hmm... please let me elaborate a little.

In my experience - and I don't mean to single out anyone, please don't think I'm pointing fingers at anyone specific, this is meant completely "in general" - people have a hard time keeping characters separate.

For example:

1. The player takes information learned ICly on one av and uses it ICly on the other av.
   
2. Other people refrain from sharing necessary information or including one av in roleplay because they fear the player will share it with the other av.
   
3. The player takes IC feelings from interactions on one av and uses it ICly in interactions on the other av.
   
4. Other people take their IC feelings for one av and carry it over to the other av. Particularly dangerous if the feelings are negative and one av cannot defend themselves (i.e., beating a kajira because they hate the FW alt).
   

(I do not include issues related to information learned OOC or OOC feelings because those are not problems specifically related to alts.)

As you can see, problems arise on both sides of the fence. The issues related to "other people" are why roleplayers often keep their alt identities secret - they don't want to be treated any differently. So long as they "alt responsibly," I see no issue with them doing this.

But then, of course, if you rp extensively with people as an alt, people tend to get peevish when they find out you are an alt. It feels like a lie, even if it was only a truth untold. And the first thing they do is suspect you of bad behavior, even if you are completely innocent of it. But it just causes bad feelings all around.

I do not use my alt in ways that ought to concern other people, so I keep my identity quiet. This allows me to more fully enjoy the immersion in a different role, where people treat me according to that role alone, and do not factor in anything they know or believe of Aria and her role. But, out of respect, I choose to engage in this roleplay elsewhere, so there is no chance of bad feelings.

I have struggled with the issue of alting for a long time, and this was the conclusion I drew, and has been the line that I stuck with. I do not engage in alt play around Aria's circles. If I end up roleplaying significantly with someone Aria knows, I offer my identity. This was the best compromise I could come up with between my needs and the needs of others. I think we each just need to find what is the most comfortable place for us along that continuum.

Alts....I never. But if I did, *cough* I would not have them both in Gor. I would keep them in separate worlds. Actually there is some other fun RP in SL. None quite as fun as Gor though!

/me feigns shock. My Master...YOU have an ALT??? Not YOU. I would never do THAT!!

/me considers telling her alt ... not that she has one..... about YOUR alt.

*grin*

/muse was created to be the slave of Elovar, because our original avi's had been interacting with some amount of heat... purely verbal... for some time. And when I say heat, I mean hissing, snarling circling cats, don't know whether they are going to fight or mate kind of heat. When Elovar was created, it seemed an opportunity to explore what was going on there. And I'd say that on one level I was very, very surprised by how different I felt in the new role, how very separate she was. . . and yet still truely a part of me.

On the other hand.... my original avi began to feel terribly uncomfortable being her usual pain-in-the-ass, high and mighty, know-it-all with Elovar's original avi. It seemed bad for muse to have any memory or faint dream of such behaviour with one so closely linked. My gut-reaction solution was to drop to my knees in my original avi and beg his collar... the collar wasn't given lightly, I came this close to being killed instead, and my original avi feels it very heavily upon her. She has been a huge challenge to Mastery... and no doubt will continue to be so.

Because Elovar's original avi travels a lot as a merchant, is sly and crafty about the markets, I can be useful to him as a spy, so I am only rarely seen on his leash. We both have non-Gorean SL ties in our original forms. But yes the two interactions in their differences and similarities are delicious. Both are hot, one is hot and sweet, the other is hot and spicy.

Seriously though, I have an alt asd well, one that has been gathering cobwebs since I have found such joy in being ashia. She comes out once in a while and all my friends wonder if I quit SL or fell off the planet. I stumble and mumble excuses and play for a while, but ceana is never far from my thoughts and heart.

Plus... well.... She has her Master, who holds her heart and soul and body to him with both a visible leash and an invisible one. Both of which are so strong, they pulll me back after just a short absense.

I do need my alt though. Sometimes I need a break from Ceana, from Gor, from RP....or I just want to do or be something different.

And no worries...she doesn't live in Laura.... *smile* and if she did, I would never DREAM of using her for unsavory motives. She is an entity to herself, completely sepearate from Ceana, and I want to keep it that way. If they were closely tied, I wouldn't feel the same freedom I do with them being so separated...

I have had a friend (former I guess) think it was so wrong to do that and so deceitful that he doesn't roleplay with me anymore or really talk to me. That hurt alot. I have nothing but innocent intent....sigh.... But some feel rather strongly about it so I have to be okay with his choices.

Oh, and yes...there are many who know who she is. ButI choose to be selective in who knows.

Oh wow I ramble.

my Master, do my serves and baths and dances ramble too?????

“It just causes bad feelings all around.”

I have a problem with people that behave this way. It’s basically metagaming. Worse, it’s metagaming to act on the suspicion that another person might be metagaming, while essentially making out that they’re better than a metagamer. It’s another root cause of OOC drama.

There are perfectly healthy and innocent reasons for using an Alt, just as there are perfectly healthy and innocent reasons for using every other feature in Second Life. It’s perfectly unreasonable to impair another player’s game or experience based on suspicion alone.

It’s this kind of petty spitefulness that’s causing a sharp decline to the quality of roleplaying in Laura at present, compared to how I remembering it being when I first came here and scouted about.

Give it a rest and cut it out, guys.

I feel that if multiple avatars are in different RP environments then there is no harm done. (ie - Gor, Star Trek, Vampire Sims, or Whatever).

As far as my avatar in Gor, Ssani. I treat him as a character in a play, and of course this play is performed with some character history but mostly improvisation. I do not act like Ssani in real life, although bits and pieces of my RL personality come out in him sometimes. Now when I RP with Ssani I become the character and try to feel the emotion he is feeling. As far as RL emotional attachment to other avatars that is a whole other topic.

Actually I think the motivation for creating an alt may be to be more honest and true to the roleplay. There are those of us whose primary avi is closely tied to RL work and contacts.