Second Life

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 1:48 am

Anyone else here on <a href="http://www.secondlife.com/">Second Life</a>? I finally got around to trying it out a few days ago and it's amazing how much stuff there is to do, and how fun it is. It's also pretty addictive.

On there I'm named "fluffy Pennyfeather" (they require you take one last name from a predetermined list, which helps avoid name collisions and also provide more metadata about the people behind the character).

For those who don't know what SL is, it's basically a freeform MMORPG which allows anyone to build and add to the gameplay; almost all of the game modules are written by the users, and even though it's a hobbyist effort, a lot of it is quite good. The really interesting thing about it is that there's only a one-time $10 setup fee which gives you a character and a bunch of in-game currency, and then it has an economy of its own with an exchange rate into real-world money. Some people actually make a real-world living as fashion designers, builders, etc. on Second Life. The way the game is funded (aside from the tons of VC money which keep on getting thrown at it for whatever reason) is just from land maintenance (essentially property taxes to keep the property - meaning the game servers - alive) and the (fairly small) costs of uploading files into the system.

Also, another interesting thing about SL is in terms of the ownership of intellectual property; Linden Labs (the company which operates it) asserts no ownership over property uploaded into the game, and all IP has flags stating what can be done with that IP as an intrinsic property. So, someone who creates a texture or a character model or whatever can essentially GPL or BSDL it, or they can treat it like physical property (you can resell it or give it away but you can't copy it), or they can even treat it like the clusterfuck that is DRM (no modifications, no transfer of ownership, etc.). So far, most of the content I've seen is treated like physical property.

The main downside to it is that it's not very efficient, and needs a pretty beefy system to run well. I have to turn the graphics quality down pretty much all the way on my computer. They don't seem to have any sort of dynamic visibility determination going on, so I'm really kicking myself for not handing them my damn resume when I first saw them at Siggraph 2003. (My master's thesis was on dynamic visibility determination for large-scale immersive environments, designed for the exact same kind of system as Second Life -- because I'd started designing a freeform MMO back in 1997. When I saw SL I just felt bitter, though. The amazing thing is that SL is VERY much like how I was envisioning my system, but with different mechanics for many things, and I honestly think that most of the SL mechanics turned out to be <em>way</em> better overall.)

Anyway, I bet that SL could be used for some interesting collaborative songfighting. One of the things you can do in it is stream mp3s to a radio, and people can also upload short audio clips (up to 30 seconds long) and play them back. I can imagine using it to create a <a href="http://trikuare.cx/audio/Project/">collaborative Eno-esque soundscape</a>. (Yes, I am aware that link is down. Hopefully it will be back soon, along with the rest of my site... 'coz I'm obviously itching pretty badly to post a weblog entry!)

Phil. Redmon. · Post by **Phil. Redmon.** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 2:25 am

Fluffy, that sounds pretty awesome.

What kind of system requirements does it have? I can't find anything on their site about them...

c hack · Post by **c hack** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 9:29 am

I've get enough problems trying to not play World of Warcraft. I like the open source aspect of it though. Could be cool.

Kamakura · Post by **Kamakura** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 1:45 pm

Phil. Redmon. wrote:What kind of system requirements does it have?

http://secondlife.com/faq.php

It does look amazing, though my PC ain't fast enough.

Phil. Redmon. · Post by **Phil. Redmon.** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 3:34 pm

It....

....is.....

CRACK!

j$ · Post by j$ » Sun Dec 12, 2004 6:34 pm

Is ....

that ....

GOOD or BAD ?

Leaf · Post by **Leaf** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 6:41 pm

j$ wrote:Is ....

that ....

GOOD or BAD ?

..that'll depend on what time the party started, and when you got their, and possibly who you'll be leaving with.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 10:52 pm

Man, the more I play it, the more I find out about to play. This thing is HUGE. And, of course, always getting HUGEr.

Of course, as with any online community I've met quite a few twinks and perennial-newbies, PEOPLE WHO ALWAYS TALK LIEK THIS OMG LOLOLOLOL and so on, and of course since certain words (like LOL) trigger an animated gesture (like doubling over in laughter) these people come across as even more retarded-looking than their words would normally appear. I have no idea why they don't notice this. Oh well.

On the other hand, unlike most online chat things which are open to everyone, I'm always finding new people who I actually enjoy talking to.

And unlike crack, SL actually fosters some form of social interaction! (And it's much more "real" than what you get on IRC. Of course, still nowhere as good as reality, but hey, I'm a total introvert in real life, and I'm at least somewhat less introverted on SL. Go figure.)

the Jazz · Post by **the Jazz** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 11:12 pm

fluffy
BIG SHOCKER

Joined: 22 Nov 1963
Posts: 100055

Uhhhhhhhhh..... 8)

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 6:45 am

the Jazz wrote:
fluffy
BIG SHOCKER

Joined: 22 Nov 1963
Posts: 100055
Uhhhhhhhhh..... 8)

Apparently, altering the past is JB's idea of a good time. One of these days he's going to cause a huge temporal paradox, though. :/

JonPorobil · Post by **JonPorobil** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 12:37 am

I'm in. It crashed on me the first ten times or so, but agreed to resign when I agreed to skip the orientation. It's a lot to learn, but it's fun.

Songfighters should know that there's a free week-long trial going on. No matter what you sign up for, you won't be charged for a week, and if you cancel before that week is up, you're safe for life. Worth a shot, no?

Kamakura · Post by **Kamakura** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 3:52 am

Hey Fluffy,
Are you going to build a Song Fight club?

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 12:36 pm

Most definitely.

jute gyte · Post by **jute gyte** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 3:26 pm

if my computer could handle this i'd be in. it seems very interesting.

JonPorobil · Post by **JonPorobil** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 6:36 pm

It is really interesting, but they're doing the whole update-update-update thing right now. Which is alright, I guess, because the first time I updated, the crashing thing started again.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 8:19 pm

Yeah, they've been pushing out an update a day, and right now it crashes as soon as I connect.