“Going the Distance”

I’m sitting here sipping my afternoon Vittoria Coffee, thinking about something that someone said today.  Can SL relationships work across time zones? and can Second Life (SL) and Real life (RL) work together ? Am wondering if anyone else has experienced where people live in different parts of the country, or have ever tried to make SL and/or RL the same?

There are so many blogs on the subject; it always interests me what people think. 
 
In my experience, SL relationships work when both people are on the exact same page as to where they want the relationships to be both in terms of casual vs. more involved and in terms of staying in SL vs. not.   This includes the flexibility to manage the time differences, or whether to take SL further into RL, with the understanding of seeing that other person’s faults close up and not behind a screen.

So I guess my question is if two people feel the same about each other can moving from SL to RL work and can it go the distance?

Relationships I've noticed tend to go at a lightning pace in SL because there is little in the way of RL "friction" (like chores, jobs, bills, kids, other time commitments) to slow things down, and because in a text/voice/skype based relationship, people tend to disclose themselves more quickly because of the medium they are in.  SL can create the illusion of knowing someone quickly without seeing all their faults and this can lead to disappointment and pain at some stage if you don't manage it well.  The rush and thrill of the beginning of a new SL relationship is certainly appealing, but the crash can be hurtful and quick if you take things too quickly, or if you don’t try to get to know the person as a friend, and if your expectations of them were quite different. 

So in my opinion if you like someone and want to know more, treasure the friendship you create, as it is the person behind the ‘avi’ that counts and not the pixelated person on top. 

It's best to move slowly, be careful, and resist the speediness that SL encourages and try to get to know the person if you want to make the long distance relationship last. from MM.