Second Life

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So, yesterday I downloaded the Second Life Linux client and (after some video driver tweaking) signed up for a (free) account. My initial opinion is that it seems very promising. I'm a huge fan of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash so I really want to see this virtual world idea take off. The Linux client is still an Alpha version so I won't complain about the poor controls and clipping problems. It was very cool just wandering around to the various areas of the Second Life world. I found it funny that porn, like all aspects of the Internet, has already found its way here. People can pay virtual money to have their Avatars have sex with virtual prostitutes (or are these people's Avatars?). What I'm really interested in is creating stuff. But I think you need a paid membership for that. Anyone else involved in Second Life and if so, what are your thoughts?

I've been involved in Second Life since their public beta in 2003 - so I have a few thoughts on it.

Given the open-ended nature of it there are a lot of facets that could be discussed but I'll just say it still holds my interest strongly after almost four years. I would say it already has "taken off" - in the past year the media exposure and population of SL has skyrocketed. They just recently released the "viewer" client as open-source so I think the quirks of the interface are likely to be ironed out soon - when alternative clients emerge and more people get to fixing issues with the official client. This will bring in even more people.

What fascinates me is that the creative / social / economic possibilities are almost endless. Some user and press reviews of it focus on the prominent "adult entertainment" and "money-making" cultures within it but there is really a lot more to it than that. It has the same dynamic as the web and other open-ended online communities. The content of the world is 99% user-created, not by Linden Lab (the system developer), so pretty much anything is possible. The hard thing nowadays is finding the communities that fit your interests since it has grown so huge. But they have a search system which helps a lot with that.. finding people and groups with similar interests and such. Pretty much every subculture out there is represented somewhere in Second Life. I've met some people on there who shared my interests in music, games, creative stuff, metaphysical stuff, etc - and formed some great friendships - even met my girlfriend who I now live with in "real-life". I just recently joined up with a virtual tabletop D&D gaming group on there which has been fun so far.

As for creating stuff - actually you don't need a paid membership for that. There are regions called "sandboxes" in the world which allow anyone to build objects / create scripts (the programming language that determines behavior of objects) in them. I haven't been to them in a long time but I think there must be at least a few of those available now - some official and some user-owned. When you finish making something there you can save it into your inventory to take out later anywhere - which you'll want to do since most sandboxes are automatically cleared out on a regular basis. For more permanent creations (like building a house) you'll want to get some land - which means some form of cash outlay - either getting a paid membership or paying monthly "rental" land use fees to either Linden Lab or any of the various major land owners / real estate brokers. If you are creative it may be possible to pay for your land fees by selling what you create in world.

Anyway I'm not sure what else to say about it right now - I could potentially ramble on forever about it but if there's a particular aspect you're interested in let me know!

Must I join just to find a girlfriend!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!

:-(

Thanks SpectreWithin! Now I'm even more interested, but a little overwhelmed with everything. The Second Life world is huge. I've managed to change my clothes and chatted with a few other noobs. Do you know of any good "getting started" guides? I did the tutorial when I registered and that was helpful for moving around and exploring. Maybe more information on building things and scripting. Anyway, thanks for the reply.

sderenzi: there are times when a virtual girlfriend is better than a real one ;)

*coughmatrixcough*

I just downloaded SL again. I set up an account in September last year, but i didn't really get into it, but I gave it another try, and I am trying to fit in. Maybe somebody should create a WrongPlanet group on SL.

If you mean do you have to get a paid membership to "find a girlfriend" - no you don't need to pay anything to socialize, interact, and explore in SL. Many people who just socialize and meet people have free accounts.


I know what you mean about it being overwhelming. I was when I started and the world is like a thousand times bigger now!

As for guides here's a few links to resources that might be helpful - generally there is info on the official SL site that will lead you to many resources it might just take some digging around.

The official forums (check out the content creation sections in particular if you are interested in creating. There are sections for each area of development including building and scripting. People are very helpful and will answer questions in those forums):
http://forums.secondlife.com/

The official Knowledgebase has some good basic starter info:
http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/

The LSL Wiki is a central repository (started by residents) of tons of scripting language knowledge. It is currently being reorganized but I think the info is still all there:
http://www.lslwiki.com/

Developers resource page and resource matrix on the official SL website has some useful stuff:
http://secondlife.com/developers/resources.php
http://secondlife.com/developers/resources/matrix.php

And if you are curious about SL's history check out the History Wiki:
http://slhistory.org/index.php/Main_Page

I hope that all helps somewhat! There is so much info out there even just digging through it can be overwhelming.


I think a WrongPlanet group in SL is a great idea! Being new here I'm not sure I'm qualified to start it but I would certainly join up. There might already be general groups in SL for people with Asperger's Syndrome too.

Question regarding SL: I've been on SL for about a month, but just yesterday read about Brigadoon, an island intended for Aspies. I've searched in SL, but only found the mythical place from the musical(!). I've even emailed the founder, "John Prototype", but he hasn't replied.

Does Brigadoon still exist in SL? How does one find it?

Thanks.

I remember hearing about Brigadoon a long time ago - but that was long before I knew anything about AS or considered that I might have AS. I did a little searching and found the Brigadoon blog site here: http://braintalk.blogs.com/brigadoon/20 ... adoon.html

But that post is from 2 years ago - I'm not sure if their project is active anymore. Nothing came up on the in-world SL search either. I imagine if the island is still active it is private and requires contacting someone on the project to get access. If you find out anything please let me know as I have been curious about it as well. Maybe there is some current contact info somewhere on that blog site.

Thanks, Spectre. Here's more info from April 2006. http://braintalk.blogs.com/brigadoon/ It definitely looks like a closed community, which I guess I can understand. Seems like a great idea; what a shame they post tempting tidbits, but make it nigh impossible to join.