Honest player review.

paulscott

Second life is the vacuum tube of player-content-virtual-worlds. It's not worth recommending to your RL friends, and in most cases Internet friends. The only possible exception would be if they really really like making stuff like I do.

The only reason Second Life will be competitive for the next few years is because they're man-decades(like man hours) ahead of any competition, and what could be considered a type of achievement entrapment(I already play this game why move).   They really only need a competent developer to put major time into a game like Second Life it to start bleeding users.

The only thing that Second Life is good for is proving that there is a wave for this exact genre.   But they're just the wave that you'll surf on till the real one comes along.

________________________

The only thing the game has going for it is that it's an awesome building platform, people have litterally made their own mini-MMO's which are focused on roleplaying.   From the building you get a decent socialization game, whether it's in themed SIMs or just talking to people while you work.  After that Second Life has very little to offer, even though there is a lot of stuff to see and do because of the stuff people have done.

In half a day and with the right people you can make a scripted paintball game with capture the flag and be able to enjoy it with some internet buddies for months/years if you wanted to.   Granted if you didn't make it yourself you'd probably end up spending atleast $50 for someone else to make it.  Such a nice building system and very little moderation also gives you a just like the internet type thing to happen.  Just to give you a general idea the lindens(people who run the game) put down about 10% of sales are based off of sex items/similar while 'power users' put that estimate down at around 30%.  

As for stability it sucks. There are always a couple of times a month where people on my friends list are crashing and logging back in at about the speed that you'd expect kids to run in and out a screen door. The lindens own stability metrics put 20% of all client exits are actually a crash of some sort or some other failure. You can expect a time or 5 a month where the general population won't be able to use core systems of the game. And just all sorts of junk like that.

As for cost it's possible to play F2P but it'd be annoying to. Most users pay a whole lot of cash to play the game some people have several hundred dollars worth(in some cases much much more) of in game assets. I have about 40 dollars worth of stuff granted I only ever paid 5 into the game to get the payment info used tag and some cash to start uploading stuff, I've also withdrew some money to buy a cheap java programming book since I was quiting for a while. To be honest someone with only programming experience from a few junk highschool classes could end up making a hundred dollars a month after enough time, granted to get that far in most cases you would have to work in SL like a part/full time job and not something I wouldn't bother with after haveing a few commision based stuff out(so you don't need to put money in).

 

Edit:  vacum tube = predcessor to transistor just to clear that up.   they weren't bad at the time but once transistors came along and then a bit more developement it was no contest for which was better.

 

 

 

 

 

Mandy

 

 

Alot of people make thier RL living off Second life like me

you obviously have not really tryed it and just making an account and spending a few hours is not even nearly enough

paulscott

I have one product that took a weekend to make that's for sale.   Granted it's under someone else's name since they're fronting all the costs and managing the community.   From that I've made enough to keep other MMO subscriptions up and running when I don't feel like bothering with SL, and even getting a normal programming book(shortly after release).

 

I'm a decent enough scripter that I can duplicate a vast majority of stuff I see in the game and of course make my own stuff(working on zelda push cubes for a puzzle).   I can make combat meters and weapons from scratch in a hour or 4 if you don't count testing.

 

I've spent a lot of time inside roleplay communities(tending away from the weirder stuff) and even have a project that will let people using a smithing area to modify sword stats and make their own easily when I get around to putting a finishing touch or two on it(distracted by working on a web game).   Obviously constrained by RP rules that the SIM wants and adding something unique that isn't anywhere else.  

 

Even with all that I stand by my opinion that second life is a vacum tube they were great and amazing while they were the only thing but when transitors COME around there were only a couple reasons to stick to them.

 

Obviously if you make a post about me the response is going to be about me as well.   Sorry to anyone else that bothered to bear through the post.

 

 edit: in caps...  was came...  such a stupid typo

altairzq

Well if WAR is the transistor, I will keep using vacuum tubes for a while

Kaelaan21

Of course social simulation games are in their infantcy. SL in terms of user provided content is light years beyond any MMO available. However, I believe that the current servers (sims) and the client-to-server communication is extremely behind even yesterday's MMO generation. Yes, I realize that they the clients do have the ability to stream live textures, but this isn't anything special as some MMOs have been streaming on-demand ingame advertisements using the same type of technology for several years.

If they overhauled the servers behind the scenes and then cleaned up the client to more efficiently communicate to the client, the game would be incredible. From a new user's perspective, it's pretty bad when the starting area constantly has loading or lag issues during prime time. On the flip side, the veterans of SL know which sims to avoid at which times of the day.

A couple of years ago I played around with the scripting system. I created a car that would take into account the rate of acceleration instead of just hitting 0 to 60 in the matter of a nanosecond. Never bother making it into a sellable car as it was just a test, but I have always wondered if it was possible for a serious programmer to make a part-time living in SL or better yet, a serious programmer able to draw enough income from the game to pay for an entire sim.

By the way, when I saw Vacuum tube .. my brain interpreted it as "fun vacuum".

EDIT: Although my avatar is about 2-3 years old - I have only played a few hours every couple of months. It's one of those MMOs that I refuse to uninstall, but never seem to have the time or get into the spirit to play.

paulscott

Originally posted by altairzq


Well if WAR is the transistor, I will keep using vacuum tubes for a while

 

meant come.  WAR is nothing like SL and isn't remotly comparable for being an evolution of it, it hardly even has a crafting system.

Tiller

I liked SL for some time, there was a nifty Star Wars sim ect. But honestly there is just to much drama in it. More than any MMO I've ever played. Lets put it this way, if you make friends, there will be some drama between them even if it has nothing to do with you. lol to me that seems carebearish.

mutator

to be honest i didnt understand this game at all... all i understood was that the server were either missing quite an advanced number of players or that half the game is mad and then it is unused... i only saw people in the tutorial zone... and about 5 i think i saw through the whole thing (after the tutorial) and i have played for a week 3 hours a day. and i believe that this world must be very big or has no players at all.. and another thing... since i am a total noob at it i still have not figured out what to do:P

it is not complaining it is merely an observation i have made. although i did like that you could fly whitout some planes or chopters:D

ssnautilus

What kind of scripting is ingame? Java? Are there ingame resources /tutorials that explain how it all works? Are ingame scripts/resources available to cannabalize? How are construction tools like? Can we test without issues?

What steps would you recommend a newcomer to this life, so we can see the potential?

Thanks.

paulscott

The scripting system would be along the lines of an event-driven-fleshed-out-for-3D BASIC.  It's a really simple scripting language if you've had even a semester of programming.   If you haven't and are willing to do lots of reading and going over other peoples code you'll get a grasp of it pretty quickly.

 

The building is (forgot technical name) where you can start with a few dozen default shaps attach them together.   You can deform the shapes quite a bit as well.   This means that with minimal technical experiance you can make just about anything because it's like playing with blocks.  

 

In both cases they're easy to learn hard to master.  Also in both cases they're technical marvels.

 

They've also done a good job of handling crashes from what I've heard.   Despite what the post sounds like I don't really hate the game it's just really a case that the Lindens need to get their shit together or go the way of a vacum tube.