I was reading my favorite magazine one night. When I had read every word from cover to cover, I realized I had missed an ad. I was reading "Girls' Life" magazine. Little did I know that the ad I had missed would change my life.
I finally got around to joining the website, Whyville. My father read the privacy policy and rules as I eagerly waited in the big green chair. He finally said I could join and I started filling in all the information the registration required. My dad, being the lazy person he is said to pretend I was 13 so he didn't have to fill out a permission slip. I smiled.
I entered Whyville, not knowing anything. I was happy to be part of an online community, but a little scared as well. I was scared that someone was going to find out who I was and kidnap me. I pretended to have a billion different names and ages. When people asked me my "A/S/L" I would literally make something up on the spot. I was able to make friends, and I grew fond of the Trading Post.
There was where I met my first true friends. There was Rhianna, Lala, and Livi. Livi was so nice and helped me overcome the death of my grandfather a few months after I joined. Lala was a prize package that came with Livi, but I liked her. We became the best of friends and sat trading and showing off our clams in trading room two. One day, a little baby avatar came in. She introduced herself as Rhianna. We immediately let her join our "pack". We were inseparable; at least that's what I thought.
After a little while I got bored of the trading lifestyle and began my Times career. I was now a part of the world of the Whyvillian "populars". Everywhere I turned I was meeting new authors. I guess at that time I had lost touch with my friends from the trading post. Every so often I would return to them just to say "hi", but our friendship was falling apart.
Everyday I would work on my salary. Finally, when I got it up to 100 clams per day, I took the Y-mail Helper test. It took me maybe 3 or 4 tries before I was officially a Y-mail Helper. I can remember how proud of myself I felt when, for the first time I sat at the Helper Desk. I quickly realized how touch that job was, constantly having people internet yell at me because I didn't answer their question perfectly.
Even though I was older on the site, and had enough clams I still participated in BC's (beauty contests). I then understood how gypped they usually were; the "host" would pick their friends. You would also spend maybe a half hour switching between the planets and then on the final round, the host would leave and never come back. Never would you be receiving the promised prize.
I am not sure how it happened, but I met my friend Rachael, also known as Cohenlm. We were glued to the site and always talking. We vowed to write articles for the Whyville Times, so we had a chance at becoming Senators. We talked about our dreams of being a winner of the Whyville Times Awards. Of course, she has reached that goal already, but I am still working towards it. We started a comic with another person that was never published. I believe it had something to do with super heroes. She was a cow super hero and I was a sock bunny super hero . . . weird.
Everyone has a story, and I think it is time they are all heard. Whyville has problems just like everything in the world does, but that just makes every story more interesting. May the candle that keeps Whyville thriving burn forever, and forevermore.
-RR21
Author's Note: Feel free to share any of your Whyville memories in BBS.
