f13.net forums - Second Life on CNN

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April 27, 2024, 07:17:01 AM

we're back, baby

From here

Not read much about the game before as it doesn't look like my type of thing.

At least not unless you can buy a crop duster and fill it with gas.

God those screenshots are hideous. I can see the desire to make it not require a top end system though.

I cannot believe that there are that many people willing to pony upwards of 550 in real money for an acre of real estate. Christ you can buy real undeveloped land in MI for that amount (granted that would be in the UP).

I also like the statement from the guy who runs the home based medical supply company. He basically states that his motivation to play this game is to develop virtual property and sell it for profits irl..., lol!!!

The caption is "Buy or build state of the art weaponry."

That weapon better shoot laser guided steel-peckered hummingbirds.

For a virtual world, it's not terrible. It has great building tools, but overall the graphics are kind of ugly. People have gotten better, but it can have that trailer park look. I thought it was a distant second best to There. On the other hand, it's way better than it was.

It's getting fairly popular since There announced they were shutting down and the Linden's seem to be honest "want to run a fun game" people rather than the corporate weasels who own There, so it'll probably survive in a paying the bills Eve/AO sort of way.

Second Life isn't any different than paying $35 for www.mydumbname.com and $9.95/m to host some text on that new fangled "world wide web".

A friend of mine (no, the other one), described it a bit. Sounds somewhat intriguing, more like a mini-CAD environment with scriptable behaviors that accepts uploaded textures. Atop a 3D chat room. Definitely an activity more than a focused game.

Definitely right up a There fan's alley. I'm gonna check it out one of these weeks...

I refuse to pay for a game that has $550 frickin land in it. That's the stupidest fucking thing I've ever heard. Learn how to use 3d studio max. Hell, spend $550 on a copy of it.

Some of us may have played text based MUSH/MUSE/MUX/ect in the past that are basically modeled around the idea of allowing their creators to create just about any world they want using the in game soft code and room support.

Second Life is basically a 3D translation of that. Except while there's different flavors of text based MU*s out there (such as those based off of popular works of fiction, popular tabletop games, animation worship, and strange sexual orientations) there is no single theme to Second Life. So, when you consider all these players who are trying to "upgrade" to the 3D experience, what you end up with is a mixxing pot of all these different MU*s in one game.

From what little I understand from the game, Second Life is a disoriented mess populated by a crudely assembled mass of pop cultists out for a good time. Normy, geek, nerd, or complete societal reject - all are indistiguishable amongst eachothers in Second Life's easily modifiable world. I've seen my brother, who actually plays the game, attending virtual parties with people who have customized their avatars to sport a wide variety of appearances from Akira to Misc Furrys to Agent Smith, all in the same room. He's informed me that in certain parts of the game people have used their building quota to assemble hentai movie theatres. He himself had actually created an environment in which he can play the Heavy Gear tabletop RPG in virtual space.

It's fair to say that the level of freedom players are given to their actions in Second Life is a tad higher than is acceptable by law in most parts of the united states. It's hardly surprising because while the Second Life crew frowns on the introduction to copyrighted materials, they've given players full ability to upload 3d models, 2d images, and anything else they want to assemble parts of the environment around them as well as tweak their own avatars.

That's probably more than most of you (sorry Haemish) wanted to hear about Second Life. The upshot is that some of the players within Second Life are fairly accomplished 3D artists that put together some models you can play around with. Things like recreations of the Speed Racer race car, biplanes, or futuristic yet feasible buildings. Because of the unstructured build of the game and lousy physics, it really plays more like a trip through a virtual museum than a game.

Second Life really isn't a 'Game' per se - it is more of a 'Sandbox'. I personally have enjoyed the change of pace when I have logged into it. It also seems to reach a different demographic than most MMOGs - Through a post on their official forums asking what age groups people were, the following (admittedly rough but show a trend) stats were produced:

Group I: 29 and under. 35 replies, making 33.6%

Group II: 30-40. 48 replies, making 46.2%

Group III: 41 and up. 21 replies, making 20.2%

2/3rds of people 30 and up?? I was as shocked as the next person but it makes sense since the vast majority of people on there seem very mature. (Also they stipulate the game is 18 and over only so this should be factored in too).

As regards to the graphics - the defaults are set pretty low so pretty much anyone can login - but apparently if you tweak the settings you can get some pretty nice effects going - the dynamic light sources on their own are very nice - but then I'm not a graphics 'purist' so it doesn't bother me! Yes - people can make 'trailer park' stuff - but some people are just new builders - not everyone can be an expert 3d modellers - though like Geldon says - there ARE quite a few on there! I personally enjoy the freedom of being able to tinker with 3d graphics in a 'building block' kinda system - which is what it is. Sure I'll never be the expert - but its fun nevertheless!

Numtini - I tried There and maybe I was biased by SL but I lasted about 15 minutes there - it was very strange, the keyset bugged me, there didn't really seem all that much to DO (Second Life has user-run events and a lot of them, going on throughout the day - some of which can be a lot of fun!)

As far as the 'state of the art weaponry' comment - the combat system isnt complex (Basically a health bar - if you die you go back to your home point) - but the weapons people build can be a lot of fun to play with - its fun to fly around the combat zones and shoot at people - The physics system (Havok) adds to this somewhat - I don't think the Physics system is THAT bad - and they're working on putting in the next version, Havok 2. Combat certainly isn't their focus but there are people who do enjoy it!

Last but not least - their Payment model. If you don't feel like owning land (And you certainly don't NEED to) - you can buy an account for a one-time setup fee of $10 and never have to pay them another cent! Sure, there are a lot of people who buy a LOT of land - the vast majority won't be paying over 500 dollars for their land though - only certain land auctions go for real dollars - the majority are in the in-game currency.

Anyway - I could go on but this is a long enough post!

I tried out the 7 day free trial maybe 6-8 months ago. Things I saw:

-Virtual Parking lot with user created vehicles (all for sale)

-Pod racing circuit (next to the vehicle purchase area)

-Primitive EQ clone (one castle area with one mob type)

-Carnavil style games like shoot the stacked bottles etc. (physics based)

-Weirdo Techno Sex Bar

-Porn galleries (next to the bar)

-Free create "area" for practicing item creation

-Cloth physics (flags, your own cloths, others clothes)

-Characters with wings?

-Environment mapping (aka shiny metal and water)

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It really reminds me of Snowcrash/Otherland as the data is streamed to you so if you have a slower connection you view it slower (or at lower res). It is also like ATITD in many ways. ATITD uses the graphic streaming method and Asheron's Call also used some of the dynamic world elements.

Current MMORPGs only dream of the freedom allowed by the Second Life architecture. If MMO devs were smart they would model new MMO architecture after Second Life for the world building aspect. Building and scripting objects ingame in real time. Need complex models? Import from your favorite 3D app.

They may not want to let the users "build" in the sand box but allowing their world builders to build in game in real time would greatly increase their productivity and allow them to change their own worlds in real time. Best of all it would eliminate 90% of the need to patch the client.

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If Second Life was smart it would be an ActiveX plugin and it would install a new addressing system into Internet Explorer (ala sl://mysuperspecialplotofland ). When you clicked onto a Second Life link it would load up that 3D space into your web browser using your Second Life character/account.

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Disclaimer: No I am not a Second Life shill, kthx.