This any good? How it work?

er... No, mostly.. if im honest, and i sometimes am... especially on wednesdays.

I looked into it very briefly however I came to the conclusion it was complicated, graphically very poor and quite expensive.

It's totally social to my knowledge so there is no real 'game' aspect to it.

If I'm wrong I apologise, these are simply the conclusions I drew when looking into it a couple of years ago.

Originally posted by mightyikari

I looked into it very briefly however I came to the conclusion it was complicated, graphically very poor and quite expensive.

It's totally social to my knowledge so there is no real 'game' aspect to it.

If I'm wrong I apologise, these are simply the conclusions I drew when looking into it a couple of years ago.

Is it even a game? i thought of it more as a 3D chatroom.

Originally posted by axlebookmite

Originally posted by mightyikari

I looked into it very briefly however I came to the conclusion it was complicated, graphically very poor and quite expensive.

It's totally social to my knowledge so there is no real 'game' aspect to it.

If I'm wrong I apologise, these are simply the conclusions I drew when looking into it a couple of years ago.

 

Is it even a game? i thought of it more as a 3D chatroom.

its a sandbox, actually

you can do as you please in it, it is costly if you want to shop a lot or whatever...

but you can build structures, objects, make animations, make clothes, make a city, make a home... its an ultra sims?

if you roleplay its probably a pretty good "game" to play, if you want to build a nightclub, a castle..etc... i guess it could work for you really well, i do believe some people make rl money being a builder in the game

they do have "SIMS" where people roleplay, they have combat huds that level and have classes / spells / heals..along with weapons that work with the combat hud....you can create your own "game" within the game

one of my friends and his girl play and talk about it all the time, not my thing i don't roleplay so it is w/e to me

Originally posted by mightyikari

I looked into it very briefly however I came to the conclusion it was complicated, graphically very poor and quite expensive.

It's totally social to my knowledge so there is no real 'game' aspect to it.

If I'm wrong I apologise, these are simply the conclusions I drew when looking into it a couple of years ago.

Complicated.. yes, but there is a nice wiki site full of video that show you how to do whatever you're interested in.

Graphics..  lots has happened over the years, including the additions of a sculpted primitives, a decent shader, reflections, and a new sky.  The region you are in will only look as good as the textures used, so pretty much stay off the mainland.  On a good gaming rig in a well built region, I think you'd find the graphics meet most expectations.

Community... I think this is another thing that has improved over the years.  Second Life used to be a pretty creepy place full of griefer and taboo seeking freaks that you just couldn't seem to avoid.  They got rid of gambling, gave sim owners more controls over their land to beat the griefers, pushed adult content into a restricted corner, and cleaned up a lot of things that I think the average person wouldn't care for.

The game is social, so it's pretty much about finding a place for yourself with a lot of tools at your disposal.  Think 3D chat room with micro-transactions.   The downside is that the client is still clunky, and Linden Labs spends more time trying to keep the serves up than pushing the game forward with new features...  oh yeah, and they do show their greed at times.

I think SL will eventually become a part larger metaverse that Open Sim is moving forward on.  They are in a beta state, but the game has a bunch of top tech companies pumping resources into it, and a few companies already hosting sims that can be connected to a main grid, or kept private.     

I don't even consider Second Life a game, it is more of a template anyone can write on.  There are no goals, nothing really to strive for, it is however the truest Sandbox program out.  To me it is nothing more then MIRC but with 3d people instead of just a chat room.

Nope not a game by default.   But a few weekends of scripting work were nifty in letting me buy a few books with that income.

However if you're a socializer, or an crafter with IT/Art skills you can have quite a bit of fun.

Originally posted by zantax

I don't even consider Second Life a game, it is more of a template anyone can write on.  There are no goals, nothing really to strive for, it is however the truest Sandbox program out.  To me it is nothing more then MIRC but with 3d people instead of just a chat room.

That's true and a lot of people certainly do use it that way.

There are roleplay sims however. Not just ours, there are hundreds and quite a few with group numbers in the thousands. I kind of think of SL RP as its own thing unto itself. It has a much more literary feel for one but probably the most immediately noticeable thing is the player’s freedom to create a unique character and to participate in the creation of the RP area itself. It depends of course but SL RPs sort of evolve as things go along.

Anyway, SL isn’t for everyone. The initial user experience is truly awful so I can certainly see why people lose interest quickly. There’s some good stuff in there though for people who want to poke around a little.

Also, I realize this is a total necro-post but the SL section is looking a little dusty so I figured: “why not?” :)

It is true it is the only real sandbox out on the market. Contrary to what some on this site might argue but a real sandbox has no goals its completely up to the player to craft his or her own story and game play. Once a game adds a story and a focus it is no longer a sandbox. It becomes and rpg with more features than a theme park mmo.

 Habbo Hotel on steroids? ...Bobba.

I think SL is great, probably the best thing I've ever spent time doing on the computer.  You can meets lots of interesting people, and some weirdos.  Avatar customization is top notch and you can spend many hours looking for high quality free stuff that looks like paid.  RP in SL is interesting, lots of people take it very seriously.  SL isn't a game... it's a virtual world.  I just think it's great, at first I hated it... I thought it was the biggest P.O.S. on the planet but after almost 2 years now, I am hooked.  Good place to experiment with things too.  Be prepared to have your bank account ready, because really to enjoy SL you have to spend some money eventually.

 I prefer www.there.com myself if I had to suggest a similar alternative.

You won't get accosted by a naked Spartan with a foot long erect penis in There either.

I have nightmares about Second Life.

SL really isn't a game. It's a virtual chatroom where people can make content of their own.

Few things:

SL does host several miniature combat systems and they all suck pretty badly. Between the lag in massive graphical sims and shoddy weapons, it's about as best as you can expect from player made systems on server software that is limiting.

Graphically, SL is falling way behind in the times. There is only so much the engine can do and Linden Labs has done very little the past few years to upgrade their systems and software.

The one reason I even log in SL is for the music. I've come across many many new bands that I listen to daily now from clubs I've visited so I could listen to music while doing other things. That's pretty much the only reason I bother.

And you can buy things without spending rl money by entering contests and winning it within the game. That's what I do. I'm not giving them my money. :P