Anyone Need a Date? Visit metaMatch

Visit here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lionheart%20Pumbaa/128/128/15


metaMatch   "Real friendhips Real romance"
metaMatch Matchmaking and Dating Service


"Whether looking for friends, romance, a casual date, or true love, metaMatch is the premier matchmaking and dating service for your Second Life."

My friend Will Burns introduced me to metaMatch and it's brainchild, owner and builder/scripter, MikeD Panache.  Will gets around SL and has plenty of friends, but he sounded excited about this new social group and invited me over.  He seems to really be on top of all the new cool stuff in SL.  Soon I understood his excitement.  Mike built and scripted the place and together with Molly Elisabeth, events coordinator, and MISTY DeMure, hostess,  they have grown to 120 members in just 4 short weeks since opening.  Mike continues to work on things to enhance metaMatch.  He humbly attributed it's success to all the support of Molly, MISTY and others already involved. 




I think this place is unlike anything I've seen in SL before.  While it IS a dating agency, it's also so much more, even for those who are not in the dating market.  MikeD told me it's for everyone, but especially "the brokenhearted, the being with RL issues that need someone.. thats who we want.  We want to help those people.  To be here, to join the community, use the facility.. hang out.. its free.  I don't want your money I want you to be part of regrowing what we've lost in SL" Mike only charges 25L a week in order to use the date/information exchange boards.  This will help with just a fraction of the cost of sim space and business expenses I'm sure.  The build not only has dating boards, that I will get to shortly, but the social aspect is even greater.  He said, "We host events every week, social mixers, themed parties, and we hope to grow attendance.  Events are free to the public.  People are welcome here, members or not, as long as they adhere to respectable standards." 

I sat and chatted with a small group of people who were hanging out there and had Mike in IM asking him a few things about the place for my blog.  He said, "The target goal is to have 400-500 panels up in this location.  The real push is to build a community larger than that of mature SL members who want to meet real people, share real experiences and real bonds.  This isn't the place to find poseball companions or the like."   "One of the things that differentiates metaMatch from the typical dating agencies in SL is this is wrapped around a community, not a bunch of nameless faces on boards.  People come here to sit, meet, make friends."  The hangout area provides a social hour every Wednesday and Friday at both 12pm SLT and 4PM SLT where people can meet other members and make new friends, enjoy games and music, have a drink and hang out and chat.  There is beer pong, bowling, a hearts game table, and business room besides the bar and various seating areas.   They also offer a gift card option in order to utilize the dating/information exchange boards.


(below is a pic I snapped of Mike)





Mike is a scripter and has really managed this system well.  The information exchange boards are completed through easy-use kiosks.  I decided to try this out, as not only do they have male seeking female and female seeking male company boards, they also offer male/male, female/female, and female/friends and male /friends. So interestingly enough you can just go to actually meet friends with like interests or unlike interests if you want :  ) who are also interested in making more friends. 


Ok, so yup, I approached one of the kiosks, and being a very techy-impaired type person I have to admit I was a little worried it would be intimidating to complete the process, but the beauty of this system is the ease of use.  Mike has scripted the kiosks so well.  It asks a series of questions and you can skip whatever you don't want to answer, it asks if it can use your profile pic or if you'd like to supply your own photo to drop in for your board photo, and it allows you to also drop in an additional notecard with more detailed information if you'd like.  I just agreed to it having my profile pic and it automatically used that with no effort on my part.  I also completed the basic questions and the extra notecard so if you want to know more about me feel free to go over and have a look.  Go check it out some time and see what's happening that is new in SL while meeting new friends, companions, or more.


I popped back over tonight just after finishing this blog post and found Mike is running a promo for new members, through Sunday, check this great deal out!

Where Has the Magic Gone Dear Diary?

Magic a video by Kara 2 on Flickr.


9-22-13

Dear Diary,

So, I guess it's been quite some time since I wrote to you here.  Did you know that today Sept 22. is actually Dear Diary Day?  Yep, it is.  You have a special day! Anyway, it reminded me to write to you again.  And of course you know whenever I write to you I must be melancholy about something. And I am. 
 
My SL bipolar surfaces once in a while. This time it's because this summer I've been sometimes feeling like I'm losing a little bit of the SL magic.  Everyone knows I'm huge on getting high on SL magic and that I don't mind not knowing how to make or do everything in great detail because then I retain some of the excitement and amazement of it all and know there is always something more I can do or learn if I want to.  But, I have been in SL many hours now and I DO know how a few things work and have seen a lot.  Also, I tend to be a little more first life during the summer months when it's more fun to be outside, so maybe it's really just a little bit of the summertime blues. 
 
I have lately been thinking about the SL magic and discussing it with some friends who have also been feeling the loss of a little SL magic.  You know the magic, everyone does.  It's that tingly feeling of seeing a well made sim in SL, a first dance with someone special, an exceptional store with quality merchandise, being given a gift by someone special, knowing someone came in to SL just to see you for the day, listening to some great live music or a DJ that plays some of your favorite tunes in a great setting with friends around, most any first experiences really.  The magic is still around, but it's just a little harder to feel.  I know I will never really lose my SL magic entirely. I have much to learn yet, I enjoy making magic times with friends, and I also enjoy helping new avatars.  I think helping and spending time with new SL residents can bring back some of the magic for old timers if they have the patience for this.  New avatars often are excited to see and learn even basic things and watching and helping them reminds me of some of my "firsts".  I'm glad to help bring some magic to them.  I've been thinking people who have been in SL from 6 months to a year may have it the best.  They have enough skills to get around and do things but still have a lot to see and learn and be amazed about.
 
Part of the blues may be because I am not working on a big SL project at the moment and have been slow picking up something new.  I do tend to go from one big project to the next normally.  I've decided to forgo a big annual Halloween sim, like I ran the past few years, in part due to my mood but also partly because there are some amazing haunted sims, carnivals, and zombie areas right now that I think I'd rather visit. 
 
Part of the SL blues could also in part be because one of my long time good SL friends has gone first life.  Normally I'd think it was just a break but she sort of took a trial run break already, and after briefly coming back I guess the leaving is sticking.  Another of my besties has been out a few weeks ill and said it was an eye opener and won't be back like before and only plans to pop in for a brief hello from time to time. And yet another SL couple had relationship problems and while I couldn't take sides it seems due to their breakup I'm sort of losing them both to an extent.  Another hooked up tight with his girlfriend leaving less time for hanging out or chatting with me.  This happens in SL all the time, things, people, places change and come and go all the time, but I really never thought I'd lose these who have spent a lot of hours in SL with me.  Even with RL and Skype contact it looks like I just happened to have some closer losses all at the same time lately.  As far as those leaving SL, I see this more often with newer residents, not long timers like these who I really do consider real friends.  
 
On the other hand I have a huge huge list of great contacts on my friends list to learn more about and also I've met a new group of friends lately who seem to be quality people, who have some amazing skills and great personalities, and who have brought in some magic for me recently.  So as the old saying goes,  "When one door closes another opens" I guess.  This won't take the place of my other friends but will help to fill in some holes I'm feeling right now.   In thinking this through I guess SL will always hold some magic for me to enjoy.  So out goes the SL blues... maybe it was just the summertime blues after all. 
 
Until next time Dear Diary, enjoy your special day!
 
KT