Second Life

Originally posted by korvass

One thing that I don't understand:

Why is porn always the bad-guy? Why are people so hung up on cyber-sex anyway? I mean, if two guys hook up on the internet and have a bunch of emote sex while they jack off, whilst convincing themselves the other is a girl, who really gives a fuck? As long as they're not hurting anyone, what does it truly matter?

There's some truly bizarre and ignorant comments in this thread, from the 'furries are sick', to 'people who cyber online have no life' - yeh, and the mass-murder of fantasy creatures online means you do have a life?

What ever happened to just being happy for people doing their own thing?

If Billy over there likes to slaughter orcs all week long, cool! I'm glad you're having a good time. Johnny over there is roleplaying a well-hung shemale.. all power to him, I say. It's 2008, people, not the 12th century. Time to get over your hang-ups and just let people enjoy what makes them happy. As long as nobody is getting hurt.

Very well said.

I agree this game licks balls and is just wacky... Why would i want to play a video game where i can go get on a computer and play a video game? jus makes no fuckin sense...

Originally posted by deathtripp

I agree this game licks balls and is just wacky... Why would i want to play a video game where i can go get on a computer and play a video game? jus makes no fuckin sense...

 

I dont play SL, but that brings up a question.....

If you are playing a game, and your avatar is playing a game, and his avatar is playing a game, and so on...  who is really playing the game?

Well, lemme toss my two cents in here.

 SecondLife is to me, all about having a 3d enviroment in which I can envision, design, and create things. I have been working on a skate park for quite long time, and although it totally flopped monetarily, it gained me respect in the eyes of other designers, and my friends.

 Most MMORPG's are not designed as creative tools, and quite honestly do not specifically teach you anything. SecondLife has taught me, by my own hand and the tutorials available, how to script, stream music, DJ online, and design in 3D. I know there are a lot of coders out there redesigning GUI's for MMORPG's, but almost all of these people are already trained, or training in coding, and its just a new challenge for someone already skilled at a particular piece of technological knowhow.

 SecondLife has tons of information for anyone self-motivated to learn, tons of support for those who want to step beyond just playing, and go on to learning. The dev community is rediculous, with skill levels way beyond what I might hope to understand, the open source community powerful and active, and the scripting community is awesome as well.

 If you have no interest in learning, stay away from SL, and you will not hate it. Come to learn, expand your abilities, and create, you will love it.

Good post, BackwardsDag.

I am a resident in Second Life as well. I even met my soon-to-be real life wife there too. In January, we're going to be married.

SL is an incredible tool. It's always funny to hear newbies enter the "game" and ask how to "beat" it. The thing is, there is no focused goals in SL. While SL has gaming elements to it, it's not really a game. It is more like a platform and some people do use it for gaming and RPing.

But, where SL really shines is in creativity and socializing. No other online experience provides the user with access to a variety of creative outlets. All forms of digital media as well as programming are represented here. All of the objects in the world are created by the users. From the pink bow in your hair to giant massive building projects, these are things things we design, not some overpaid developer.

I have personally made my own t-shirts, built my own art gallery featuring my own RL and SL art. I'm currently saving up for a sim so that I too can build and hopefully create an interesting enough place to attract people to come and hang out.

While I still play games, when I want to socialize or be creative, SL is where I go. I dream that one day an MMO developer will create something similar to SL in that they provide a massive word and give toolsets to let the players design the world. It would be nice to be let loose on an empty world and have the players design their own homes, towns & cities.

Originally posted by AzurePrower

Do I hate it because I expected there to be actual game play? No.

Do I hate it because you have to role play? No.

Do I hate it because it is one big virtual shopping mall? OH MY GOD YES. IT'S 10% ROLE PLAY. 90% PEOPLE TRYING TO SELL YOU CRAP!

BTW, it's only 10% RP because you never really bothered to explore the dozens upon dozens of player created and controlled RP sims. Granted SL combat leaves a lot to be desired, but if you're interested in looking the part and RPing the part, you will find no shortage of RPing in SL.

As for the commerce part of it, so what. If you roam around mainland, you can develop the idea that SL is nothing but shopping. But, if you don't take the time to search (search tool is your best friend in SL) for places to go, you'll never truly discover what SL is about. Anybody can fly around mainland and see hundreds of failed malls by "get rich quick" idiots or people who basically lacked skills to make their projects shine.

Seriously, your complaints come from general lack of patience and time spent in SL.

Anyway, nobody HAS to RP either. Where'd you get that idea? While in SL, I am the same person that I am in rea life. I never RP but I'll hang out in RP areas. Why? Because that's where to cooler people hang out. I love the themed areas (sci-fi, fantasy, steampunk, etc) and all the costumes and accessories that go with it.

My avatar is a steampunk cyborg but I don't RP him that way. SL allows people to dress up and be what ever look they want to be. When I'm dancing with my finacee, I switch to a sexy human male skin complete with metrosexual hair. It's all good. I don't get why so many people hate SL. Why do you hate socializing, fantasy and creativity so much?

Originally posted by gracefield

This last post sums up the problem with SL nicely. Most of what you can do in this oddity, you can do easily and much more enjoyably in other games.

I've tried SL twice, it's laggy, difficult to understand and filled with people who you have to suspect have very little in the way of a RL social life. They're trying sooo hard to make a success of their odd little virtual existences, yet, the fact is, you can wander into the town square in Stormwind any night of the week and hear more lively interaction and see more fun going on that you'll ever see in the staid, downright weird world of SL.

It happens because social interaction (and selling stuff) are the only raisons d'etre for SL, leading most normal people to wonder, why would you bother? You can do this in your own RL every day and if you're that desperate to meet people, you can go to chatroom.

Yes, there are people who love this 'game' and probably always will be. I've just never been able to get it...

Same here, both times I tried it. It was so laggy I could barely move anywhere...

Thing is I have a pretty good internet connection, I blame my countries infrastructure and my computer can run Crysis on medium settings...

Originally posted by Nytewolf2k7

Originally posted by gracefield

This last post sums up the problem with SL nicely. Most of what you can do in this oddity, you can do easily and much more enjoyably in other games.

I've tried SL twice, it's laggy, difficult to understand and filled with people who you have to suspect have very little in the way of a RL social life. They're trying sooo hard to make a success of their odd little virtual existences, yet, the fact is, you can wander into the town square in Stormwind any night of the week and hear more lively interaction and see more fun going on that you'll ever see in the staid, downright weird world of SL.

It happens because social interaction (and selling stuff) are the only raisons d'etre for SL, leading most normal people to wonder, why would you bother? You can do this in your own RL every day and if you're that desperate to meet people, you can go to chatroom.

Yes, there are people who love this 'game' and probably always will be. I've just never been able to get it...

Same here, both times I tried it. It was so laggy I could barely move anywhere...

Thing is I have a pretty good internet connection, I blame my countries infrastructure and my computer can run Crysis on medium settings...

If you could figure out how to leave the god forsaken noob fest of "Miramare" which is the lag infested hangout for noobs you'd actually find some interesting stuff. I'm sure you had the blue jeans, white T-shirt, and poofy hair thing going on for ya eh? Take the tutorial, look at the top right of your screen, search for sandbox, teleport there, and then learn your crap. If you think it's just about socializing, you never took the time to explore it, contact "Nalrune Ansar" that's me, I'll guide you all through Second Life and show you what experiences can be fun, they have PvP places ya know? Where you can punch+kick the shit out of each other with custom animations that you can even make yourself, I'm an animator, a builder, and I make textures. Did I mention you can make real money off Second Life using those Linden Dollars.

I forgot to mention, there's swords, throwing knives, guns, cannons, C4, laser guns, light sabers, anything imaginable. There's bow and arrow, RPG games within Second Liufe, flaming arrows, ice arrows, spells, teleportation, laser eyes, anything fucking imaginable I'm telling you. You can even make your own shit!!! Want to make a watermelon launcher? How about a spitball and straw? Want to join a Japanese community where role-playing is a requirement... yeah do it.... and they might have enemies such as the Nords, (who are real players) that will come and assault, raid, and pillage you and your fellow friends, and home. Want to join a successful business or work for the government and have a shot at a RL career, it's all here in Second Life, I can go on and on, there's vampires, werewolves... there's even the Matrix for crying out loud, I'm not sure if there's slow-motion, I'll have to look that up.  Once you get to the sandbox, figure out how to IM people, send "Nalrune Ansar" (ME) an Instant Message, and I'll fill you in on the basics and whatever.