just what is this "second life" thing i keep hearing about?

[Ava]

i take it that it is kind of like the sims but on the internet? :shrug: is there an object to it or what?

[Book Lover]

1. Well, it does help one find people more saddo than oneself

It has as much point as the Sims does. Oh, and it's also being used as a corporate tool to take the place of conference calls.

on edit: I realized how my header sounded! My apologies!!

[Ava]

2. i have friends that play it and keep saying i should try it out

seems a bit boring to me though.. i mean do you just walk around in a virtual city or what?

[Book Lover]

6. Exactly

You walk around a virtual city and hang out. It's an open environment and so you can do whatever. For my money, I'd rather IM.

[Ava]

8. yeah, it seems the same as IM'ing but just with cartoony avatars

:rofl:

[Iris]

12. I heard on NPR last year that some companies are doing job interviews there.

Man, if only "the man" had catered to my generation the way we do to the kids today!

[Book Lover]

14. Wow. I hadn't heard that before now but

I can totally see that. Why fly out someone when you can look at their 3-D moderate-polygon-count avatar?!

[ghostsofgiants]

3. It's lame.

[Ava]

5. that is what i figured

like i said above.. it seems pretty boring.

[leeroysphitz]

4. It sounds neat but I hear everything costs money.

IRL money. :(

[Ava]

7. and i'm sure that there is gobs of advertising too

[DarkTirade]

10. There are gobs of everything.

If you're willing to pay real money, you can make stuff. And people will make whatever the futz they want to make.

[eShirl]

23. no, you don't have to pay money to make stuff

where are people getting all these ideas

[DarkTirade]

24. Umm... we're getting these ideas from Second Life itself.

You have to pay the monthly fee to get a monthly stipend and own land. Unless they've changed that since I tried it.

[eShirl]

26. you've never had to pay a fee to make things

owning land is a different story

[DarkTirade]

30. And where are people gonna display stuff if they don't have land?

Floating advertisements that fly by quickly enough to avoid purges? :P

[eShirl]

31. slexchange.com, onrez.com, slshopper.com -- all free

and I'm sure there are others

not to mention there are various free places in-world, if one cares to go looking

[eShirl]

20. you heard wrong

[DarkTirade]

9. It's pretty weak.

Personally, if I'm gonna do some kind of online real-time interaction with people and environments, I'd rather have it either be like a text-based RPG, where you're chatting with people and you let your imagination fill in the gaps, or an MMO, where you're shooting lightning out of your arse and slaying demons. Second life is just kinda a conglomeration of the facets of both those things, but without being as fun or interesting as either one. :P

I tried it though. Just couldn't really get into it.

[Elidor]

11. I know a couple of people who were actually supplementing their income with it

Designing high-end clothing, buildings, lanscapes, vehicles, etc. They weren't getting rich like Anshe Chung, but they made enough extra cash to buy land and have real life money left over. Knowing my background with Photoshop and animation, they tried to get me into it.

It could be so much better than it is. Basic character movement is awkward and clunky. The rendering engine is very weak. I compare both to the movement and rendering in a game like WoW, and there is no comparison. The primary attraction of SL is the creative element. You can design anything and add it to the game (even sell it) if you're willing to master the learning curve and put in the time. And there are some magnificent user creations in the game, whether individual trees or entire miniature steampunk cities.

But the learning curve is too steep for the pitiful results, uploading textures costs money, and the primitive creation tools are very out-of-date and weak. There are some great ideas there, but the implementation is bad. Someone else will come along at some point and do this concept right, and they'll blow Second Life out of the water. That's what I'm waiting for.

[The Straight Story]

13. I read one lady has made a million dollars real money there

Makes me want to join and maybe sell viagra or something :)

[Elidor]

15. Yeah, that's Anshe Chung

And she's made a lot more than a million by now. She sells land packages. She buys up cheap land, terraforms it, adds lush scenery and exotic buildings with rich decor (each parcel has its own theme, like Egyptian, Caribbean and whatnot), and sells or rents it (yes, she rents fake land for a living!). Last I heard, she employs about ten people to help manage all her properties.

[trof]

16. Just when I think I've seen everything.

People are 'selling' virtual real estate?
jeez

[Elidor]

17. The lady has made more money selling & renting than I have made in my entire life

It truly boggles the mind. If you search for the name Anshe Chung (she's even on wikipedia), you'll learn more about her enterprise than you ever wanted to know.

Certain aspects of SL are fascinating. The artists, the entrepreneurs, the culture, the economy, the hookers (yes, they have those, too). It's a microcosm.

[eShirl]

21. she has branched out into other virtual worlds now, too

[DarkTirade]

18. Yeah, if I had any artistic talent I'd have tried that too.

[eShirl]

19. "it's not a game, it's a platform"

unlike games, there is no point

and you can build/make your own stuff: buildings, vehicles, clothes, scripted gadgets (if you like programming)

a lot of musicians have loyal followings in SL; they stream live audio of themselves performing while their avatars "play" the music onstage

it's a virtual space where people from all over the world meet and interact

[Fleshdancer]

22. I've read a few interesting articles about using it for training and virtual offices

I don't think Second Life is all that interesting from an entertainment perspective, but I'm intrigued by the idea of using it for online training and meetings. Imagine sitting in a virtual classroom and having your avatar raise her hand and having the instructor call on you and answer your question in real time.

I know IBM owns an island and I'm pretty sure it's for training purposes. They have employees all over the world, so conducting meetings and seminars in the virtual world makes sense. At least one IBM Fellow, Grady Booch, has an avatar that looks like him in real life...only in cartoon form. It's pretty cool.

[Bucky]

25. I assume from the name you have to have a first one in order to play

Damn.

[InternalDialogue]

27. Dwight Schrute: "Second Life is not a game, Jim."

Dwight: There are no winners, there are no losers.

Jim: Oh, there are losers in Second Life...

[Ava]

28. i love the office

:rofl:

[Pierre.Suave]

29. The Office

is Teh Awesome!

:rofl: