When was the last time you told a friend to join SL?

The concept of SL and other 3D metaverses/games in general seem to elicit interesting responses from people... usually depending on whether they have already had any experience with similar metaverses/games, or not.  I don't exactly go around telling EVERYONE that I'm on Second Life, but I've brought it up in passing or in direct conversation and have seen some interesting replies.

My best friend, whom I've known for 15 years and is a Microsoft employee, scoffed at the very idea of SL, much less the idea of trying it for himself.  He (like others I've talked to) only seems to know a little about it from what he's heard in passing, such as "people getting addicted to it" or "Second Life being a big waste of time that saps your money" or "just a big pile of e-secks".  (None of these are direct quotes from him, I should add... just the general negative misconceptions I've seen overall).

Another friend who is a former co-worker once showed some interest in possibly trying SL because she'd heard/read about it, and I offered my assistance and advice if she ever felt like trying it, but I think she lost interest in it eventually without actually ever trying it.

I recently set up a new account for my wife, via the Rezzable website, but she has yet to use it or try it out.  She's seen me goofing around in SL as I usually do, and I've told her about many of the business/educational bonuses to a forum like the kind SL offers, which seemed to interest her.  She hasn't yet actually shown any interest in trying it herself, however, even though I've set up an account for her and can practically walk her through it if she DID try it :)  She's never been the type to spend much time at the computer, however, which is probably the main reason for her lack of interest over anything else.

Come to think of it, there is only one RL friend of mine I know of who uses Second Life, and he's been using it for much longer than I have... I only even found out he was on SL by random accident.

Of course, I'd love to get the chance to show some RL friend around SL and the different things they can do, or use SL for.  I'm even a Mentor, so I have the ability to meet them at their initial rez point on the new version of Help Island--which has recently replaced Orientation Island as the first rez point for new residents.  Hopefully I'll get that opportunity some day... in the mean time, it's still worthwhile to help out noobs who are otherwise strangers and give them a positive first impression of SL.  I think it goes a long way into raising their interest in staying and helping to counter some of the negative reputation SL has with people who don't actually know anything about it otherwise.  I've seen some of the worst, and some of the best, that SL has to offer... and the best always trumps the worst in giving me a reason to keep coming back.  :)