Second Life?

Post Reply New Topic

I'm a bit behind the times I guess, just found out about this game today while I was looking for a real estate investment simulation. I probably had heard it mentioned before but couldn't really think of why I'd want much to do with it.

I'm curious on, for those of you who have tried it, what you think? It looks like a game where the program itself is free but a lot of 'stuff' you get in the game is a la carte; which both means they make their money back but it also means that, yes, you can make real dollars IRL with virtual business - whether you're designing clothing or whatever it happens to be. It also looks like it 'could' be a great place for aspies to hang out and meet up online.

My friend was making around 60k canadian a year in game at one point but business sort of went sour world wide due to the recession. The most I was making was $60 usd a week for about a year off about 4 designs. Its not such a bad way to go but its very complex/hard to learn and compete with others in game. Plus the amount of subcultures in it is somewhat daunting.

Furries, goths, dikes, princess types, including your more vulgar variety of peeps.

I revoke my earlier stance, its a bigger slab of bugs than Aspie Affections. Its like Linden had a unique idea, sat on a half-fast, half-finished product; how anyone hasn't grabbed their market share and sunk em yet is beyond me.

3D chatrooms are a niche product, that's why. There's no compelling reason for people to communicate in that way rather than sending a text message or an email.

Mmmm...I'm not so sure that I'd laugh at the value of what it could have been. You have people able to make millions - in environment, off of real estate. You have the ability to literally make things and sell. You have the ability to play games with people as if you were face to face, the ability to go hang out and shop, and you can do that with friends from thousands of miles away who you can't realistically see every weekend. IMO its still a loaded idea, just that when the one program out there pretty much has people who'd like that kind of thing either choosing to eat a crap sandwich or not eat at all - it just means they're tired and dying to be replaced.

It's been tried over and over for years and it never catches on. The closest thing to a successful 3D chatroom is World of Warcraft.

Right now it's a solution in search of a problem.

Dunno about all that but I guess we all have a right to our own opinions.

It's possible one could be popular in the future. There was a pretty small market for tablets before the iPad came out and now there are dozens.

I think the trouble inherent with WoW is that its one game - WoW, and its $15 a month rather than free + possibility of premium.

If people can bring their ideas to the table and shape a world, and it can be anything they want - its a hard thing not to sell, advertisers like it, educators like it for virtual instruction; read a lot of articles in the last few days on why Second Life is a ghost town - some talked about it not really filling a need, others talked about it being overcomplex or bug-laden.

I really think that - if they make something right and market it right, they'll do what they need to in terms of showing the customer its value rather than just dropping it in their laps and telling them to figure it out themselves. If its architecture shows forethought to catering to what needs or desires are out there for people to network - then that's a great start. Lots of people as well, for the same reasons as being on dating sights, have friends move away, don't want to go to bars by themselves to try to make more network, and its one more way to socialize and exchange information. That's at least a need that will always be there.

I created a SL account about 3 years ago, but at the time didn't do much with it because my computer couldn't handle it. Lately (last month of so), I have been back in SL again, checking it out some (my computer is now much better at handling the game, but still only on the low setting, and I have also be very busy with exams).

Some of the things I like to do in SL are to fly around and look at new places (sometimes I just open the map and randomly click spots, settle down there, wander until bored, and randomly pick another spot), collecting free items (I have yet to make any Linden dollars, and have recently been checking out what are called "hunts"), and even just finding a place with nice music and scenery and setting up the program as an interactive screensaver while I study nearby my computer. Some of the more interesting things I have done in recent weeks include exploring a spooky haunted house which had a collecting secrets quest, a well-stocked library upstairs with links to about 50 full text open source mystery/horror books plus an old fashioned library setting which looked quite comfy, and also a zombie invasion shooting game in the woods outside (neat sim); random dancing with a couple of people on a tropical island; visiting some sort of an interactive 3D modern art exhibit with multiple portals; going to a dance club for a while and actually kind of enjoying it; and wandering into a live technical discussion on a sim of the Dr. Who universe.

In addition to all of the neat things you can see and interact with (which feels almost limitless, which is in contrast with WoW where there is only one world (which yes, I have played, up to like level 75, but not in months now because I got bored with it and wanted to check out other things instead)), one of the key features of SL is that it's almost limitless in terms of variety. Seriously, check out this map: link
Want to check out a snowy blizzard at the North Pole? Okay. Want to go to a space station simulation? Okay. Want to visit Michael Jackson's neverland ranch? Okay (yes, that was strange, but this was one of the random islands I landed on when island hopping). Want to go to a model of a real life museum? Okay (for some of them). You can swing on swings, ride a model train, ride a dinosaur, race in a race car, and all sorts of other things. The artistically inclined will love the architecture of the many buildings, the interior design, the fashion, and the music (in some places; it's generally not atmospheric, but webcast music unless set up specially by the sim owner). Personally, I've always been interested in the creation of virtual worlds, so am interested in getting more involved with the actual creation of things in SL (maybe I'll make a jetpack to start... that sounds fun).

That the user can actually design what they want is one of the big attractions of SL, although underutilized by the general public except for avatar design. You can choose to look sort of like yourself one day, or like a catperson another day, or like someone of another gender or race or age, or a robot (identity flexibility). (I'm pretty much just me, but it's nice to have options.) You can try hanging out with one sort of social scene one day and if you don't like it, easily just leave because it's not even real (social flexibility). Apparently you can even build things from scratch, from what are called "prims," but I only know the basics of this so far, add textures to make them seem more realistic, and also add scripting to make the objects do things (imaginative flexibility).

SL has recently added their own attempt at a MMORPG called Linden Realms. This may indicate hope that they want to take the program in another more game-like direction. While it's not very exciting, perhaps they will develop the technology to make user interactive games to work better. That could be fun, and draw in more users, because the general public understands games with assigned tasks, not interactive world programs where they can do whatever they want.

Another interesting development from this year for SL is that I read that the US Department of Defense is working on technology based on SL. See here for more info on what they call EDGE-P: link They are using this as well as SL for training and research (along with other 3D modelling). They had been working with a copy of SL called Second Life Enterprise, but SL stopped supporting it. Check out this set of articles: bunch of articles plus one article and also this link. Here's another interesting related article: link