Originally posted by Gdemami

Because second life isn't a game, no MMO nor sandbox. It is a social network with 3D interface.

Agreed. Second Life is a cool toy, but not at all the rich themed environment that people are looking for.

I have had a very bad experience as well as some of my friends I started out with in SL back when it first started.  I invested a lot of real life money directly thru Linden labs and yet they shut my account down in May of 2010.  So after almost 8 years of being a loyal customer of Linden Labs I was told by some British accented guy and his manager who was also with a British accent that they felt my account was being played by more than one person.  That is the only thing they said and I know FOR SURE I never allowed anyone to use my account as I made clothes and AO's, etc... and would not dream of ever letting anyone get on my account.  This company originally started in Europe but now has offices in the US too. 

So I guess what I am saying is don't invest your time or energy in this game because if they decide to shut down your account for ANY reason they can do so and there is not much that can be done about it. (I did reclaim 500.00  of lindens that I bought from them on my credit card after Linden Labs basically told me they would not reopen my account  by calling my credit card company) It makes for bad business I would think for them to gladly take thousands of real life money from me then close my account for some LAME reason? Jeez, may they go bankrupt!

Second Life? You got to be freakin kidding. Don't even get me started on Second Life. It is not even  a game.

Terrible interface... terrible tutorial.  Most of it is a ghost town and the few people you meet are not friendly.

Avoid.

Others have already said it, but I may aswell add my agreeance. It's a sandbox, but it's not an mmo. I would say it's a game, but it's a social game. And most don't even consider "social" games to be games, but just virtual chat rooms(which it pretty much is).

I have to say I find this a little interesting. Aside from the blatant racist conspiracies that are being blared in this topic, the other cases don't really stand up.

I played and made money off of SL for close to five years, and during that time I had homes in cowboy sims, fantasy sims, ultra-modern and cyberpunk sims, and the list goes on. If I wanted to be a character, it just took about 200L$ worth of garb and I was there.

Reading these forums it always seems that the sandbox crowd wants to do away with quests, linear combat, static NPCs, rehashed environments, and other staples of the "themepark" style.

SL has no NPCs, no quests, virtually infinite landmass that promotes nothing but exploration, the best housing system any game could ever have to this day, combat can be turned on or off (so... flag for open-world PVP), NO INSTANCING, limitless customization, and a player-deformable land mass. It encourages social interaction and community building, has extremely in-depth crafting (ok so that's a bit of a misnomer for building... so sue me), and there are many MANY sims that you can go to that have damaging enemies that you can fight. It also has PVP in various forms (from financial to physical and everywhere in between).

I think sandbox players are just butthurt because:

A) they realize that when they actually get what they ask for, it turns out it's Second Life. And ultimately, Second Life is boring.

B) it involves paying for stuff, and if I've gleaned anything from the MMORPG.com crowd it's that "money = bad. why isn't everything free for my enjoyment?"

C) it doesn't have any lore or history behind it, and Sandbox players tend to be lore freaks. HOWEVER, there are entire freaking RP continents filled with lore and backstory. It's just not all unified.

Originally posted by nhavas

I have to say I find this a little interesting. Aside from the blatant racist conspiracies that are being blared in this topic, the other cases don't really stand up.

I played and made money off of SL for close to five years, and during that time I had homes in cowboy sims, fantasy sims, ultra-modern and cyberpunk sims, and the list goes on. If I wanted to be a character, it just took about 200L$ worth of garb and I was there.

Reading these forums it always seems that the sandbox crowd wants to do away with quests, linear combat, static NPCs, rehashed environments, and other staples of the "themepark" style.

SL has no NPCs, no quests, virtually infinite landmass that promotes nothing but exploration, the best housing system any game could ever have to this day, combat can be turned on or off (so... flag for open-world PVP), NO INSTANCING, limitless customization, and a player-deformable land mass. It encourages social interaction and community building, has extremely in-depth crafting (ok so that's a bit of a misnomer for building... so sue me), and there are many MANY sims that you can go to that have damaging enemies that you can fight. It also has PVP in various forms (from financial to physical and everywhere in between).

 

I think sandbox players are just butthurt because:

A) they realize that when they actually get what they ask for, it turns out it's Second Life. And ultimately, Second Life is boring.

B) it involves paying for stuff, and if I've gleaned anything from the MMORPG.com crowd it's that "money = bad. why isn't everything free for my enjoyment?"

C) it doesn't have any lore or history behind it, and Sandbox players tend to be lore freaks. HOWEVER, there are entire freaking RP continents filled with lore and backstory. It's just not all unified.

When you combine everything that everyone doesn't want in a game, yes, you end up with Second Life, but there are few, if any, who want the entire list of things you presented removed from an MMO. Some may want no NPCs, some may want no quests (most quest issues are for better quests, not removal of questing), some may want massive world. 

You arrived at your conclusion through the creation of a rare or even fictional entity.

Originally posted by Loktofeit

Originally posted by nhavas

I have to say I find this a little interesting. Aside from the blatant racist conspiracies that are being blared in this topic, the other cases don't really stand up.

I played and made money off of SL for close to five years, and during that time I had homes in cowboy sims, fantasy sims, ultra-modern and cyberpunk sims, and the list goes on. If I wanted to be a character, it just took about 200L$ worth of garb and I was there.

Reading these forums it always seems that the sandbox crowd wants to do away with quests, linear combat, static NPCs, rehashed environments, and other staples of the "themepark" style.

SL has no NPCs, no quests, virtually infinite landmass that promotes nothing but exploration, the best housing system any game could ever have to this day, combat can be turned on or off (so... flag for open-world PVP), NO INSTANCING, limitless customization, and a player-deformable land mass. It encourages social interaction and community building, has extremely in-depth crafting (ok so that's a bit of a misnomer for building... so sue me), and there are many MANY sims that you can go to that have damaging enemies that you can fight. It also has PVP in various forms (from financial to physical and everywhere in between).

 

I think sandbox players are just butthurt because:

A) they realize that when they actually get what they ask for, it turns out it's Second Life. And ultimately, Second Life is boring.

B) it involves paying for stuff, and if I've gleaned anything from the MMORPG.com crowd it's that "money = bad. why isn't everything free for my enjoyment?"

C) it doesn't have any lore or history behind it, and Sandbox players tend to be lore freaks. HOWEVER, there are entire freaking RP continents filled with lore and backstory. It's just not all unified.

When you combone everything that everyone doesn't want in a game, yes, you end up with Second Life, but there are few, if any, who want the entire list of things you presented removed from an MMO. Some may want no NPCs, some may want no quests (most quest issues are for better quests, not removal of questing), some may want massive world. 

You arrived at your conclusion through the creation of a rare or even fictional entity.

It wasn't a fictional entity, I'm simply pooling together what all sandbox defenders said and putting it into one global statement. It's just generalization for the purpose of deflating the sandbox peoples' overblown sense of self entitlement.

second life is not a game, i really don't know why its even listed as being an MMO.. and given the kind of activities that do take place there.. its not the kind of thing i would recommend to anyone.. its a bit desperate housewives meets the sims.. .. sad sad muppets for the most part..

Originally posted by Phry

second life is not a game, i really don't know why its even listed as being an MMO.. and given the kind of activities that do take place there.. its not the kind of thing i would recommend to anyone.. its a bit desperate housewives meets the sims.. .. sad sad muppets for the most part..

 and still less pathetic  then wow =P

Originally posted by nhavas

Originally posted by Loktofeit

Originally posted by nhavas

I have to say I find this a little interesting. Aside from the blatant racist conspiracies that are being blared in this topic, the other cases don't really stand up.

I played and made money off of SL for close to five years, and during that time I had homes in cowboy sims, fantasy sims, ultra-modern and cyberpunk sims, and the list goes on. If I wanted to be a character, it just took about 200L$ worth of garb and I was there.

Reading these forums it always seems that the sandbox crowd wants to do away with quests, linear combat, static NPCs, rehashed environments, and other staples of the "themepark" style.

SL has no NPCs, no quests, virtually infinite landmass that promotes nothing but exploration, the best housing system any game could ever have to this day, combat can be turned on or off (so... flag for open-world PVP), NO INSTANCING, limitless customization, and a player-deformable land mass. It encourages social interaction and community building, has extremely in-depth crafting (ok so that's a bit of a misnomer for building... so sue me), and there are many MANY sims that you can go to that have damaging enemies that you can fight. It also has PVP in various forms (from financial to physical and everywhere in between).

 

I think sandbox players are just butthurt because:

A) they realize that when they actually get what they ask for, it turns out it's Second Life. And ultimately, Second Life is boring.

B) it involves paying for stuff, and if I've gleaned anything from the MMORPG.com crowd it's that "money = bad. why isn't everything free for my enjoyment?"

C) it doesn't have any lore or history behind it, and Sandbox players tend to be lore freaks. HOWEVER, there are entire freaking RP continents filled with lore and backstory. It's just not all unified.

When you combine everything that everyone doesn't want in a game, yes, you end up with Second Life, but there are few, if any, who want the entire list of things you presented removed from an MMO. Some may want no NPCs, some may want no quests (most quest issues are for better quests, not removal of questing), some may want massive world. 

You arrived at your conclusion through the creation of a rare or even fictional entity.

It wasn't a fictional entity, I'm simply pooling together what all sandbox defenders said and putting it into one global statement. It's just generalization for the purpose of deflating the sandbox peoples' overblown sense of self entitlement.

If you're a skilled builder or scripter you can make lots of cash in SL, but it's by no possible definition a video game. There's nothing about it that can be defined as a game. Sure, there are sims where people run games, but on its own SL is the very definition of a sandbox.

My girlfriend actually makes a good deal of money working for a company that makes raceable, breedable horses. Then she spends it all on SL x.x

I do think alot of people are giving SL abit of a hard time, probably due to its complexity and it is highly complex, but it is possible to enjoy yourself a great deal once you get past the basics without having to beomce a builder or scripting expert.

Is it a glorified chat room? No I dont think so, its a virtual 3D community and has limitless creative potential, with Meshes coming to the grid this summer the graphical aspects of SL will increase 10 fold and open a brand new market for anyone who has experience creating meshes, if not there are many independant tutorials available from other second life players who can show you how. It is complicated, and you would have to spend a little cash but if you have the drive and ambition, you could actually make it into a nice little second income without having to leave your computer desk.

This is game is hard to figure out for people. They don't realize that they can literally do anything and everything. I've seen people in the starter area just standing there not realizing that SL isnt just the little island they start on. Theres hundreds of thousands of places to go to. SL is so big that even if you spent everyday exploring it, you'd see all of it in your life time. 

Once you spend about 3 days in it, you should know enough to figure out what you want to do in it. I figured out right away that I wanted to build stuff and sell it. So I took free in-world classes for building and watched youtube tutorials (Torley videos lol). People say they want a sandbox game, yet they expect it to be super easy. Theres no way to make a limitless game easy unless accept the fact that its limitless and you can do anything. Millions of dollars exchange hands in this game everyday. I'm confused why people havent cloned it. Blue Mars isnt a SL clone. Its just horrible. You cant do much at all with the avatars. THAT is a glorified chat room. Theres a lot of bad things about linden labs, but SL itself is a great platform/tool

Originally posted by jinxxed0

This is game is hard to figure out for people. They don't realize that they can literally do anything and everything. I've seen people in the starter area just standing there not realizing that SL isnt just the little island they start on. Theres hundreds of thousands of places to go to. SL is so big that even if you spent everyday exploring it, you'd see all of it in your life time. 

 

Once you spend about 3 days in it, you should know enough to figure out what you want to do in it. I figured out right away that I wanted to build stuff and sell it. So I took free in-world classes for building and watched youtube tutorials (Torley videos lol). People say they want a sandbox game, yet they expect it to be super easy. Theres no way to make a limitless game easy unless accept the fact that its limitless and you can do anything. Millions of dollars exchange hands in this game everyday. I'm confused why people havent cloned it. Blue Mars isnt a SL clone. Its just horrible. You cant do much at all with the avatars. THAT is a glorified chat room. Theres a lot of bad things about linden labs, but SL itself is a great platform/tool

i think its the opposite.. the game isnt really all that hard to figure out at all, the game is exactly what it appears to be. and this one is really just a graphical chat room for people who like buying 'genetalia' etc. for their avatars...  but even despite all that.. there is far less to this 'game' than meets the eye...

Gotta love the judgementalism of folks here. ;)

- It's not an MMO!! Rabble rabble rabble!

What qualifies as a MMO exactly?  SL has two zoning screens; once when you log in, and whenever you head to a new sim. It has crafting, in-game and RL economy, averages 35-40,000 consecutive users (EVE?), has combat, quests (all user created naturally), and pretty much every other feature of a traditional MMO.

- People have sexxorz in SL!

Oh my good Gawd! Sex is the most fun thing I can think of doing. Sure beats the shit out of gaming. Why is virtual nookie looked down on so much? If people wanna rub one out while looking at pretty pixels, who the fudge cares? Nobody bats an eye when people do it to regular porn. So what if handicapped people, highly sex-driven RPers, and middle-aged housewives act out their sexual fantasies in an online environment? Nothing wrong with getting your freak on if it doesn't hurt anyone (even if you are indulging in virtual porn where someone does get hurt ;)).

- It's not a game! It's also not a video game!

Uh, yeah it is. Plenty of games to play in it. Limitless, nearly. And it's played on a computer system using a screen. I think that qualifies it as a video game.

- It's European, kill it!!

Seriously, WTF? I don't even know how to respond to that one! Pretty sure the whole thing is American-based anyway.

The point of this whole thread is that gamers are simply impossible to please. You want 100% sandbox, open-PvP, and the freedom to do whatever you want forever and ever and ever. But at the same time you also want the quests, loot, stories, graphics, and linearity that goes with a video game.

The whole thing is a paradox, and I'd wager that most of you don't even know what you want, even if it was offered. It's like you're perpetually searching for this MMUtopia, that probably will never exist.

Until 1's and 0's can mimic the infinite diversity of Real Life (crap game, btw, too many grindy quests, but great graphics and sound), then all you're gonna get is variations on 'go here, stab that, get more underpants).

Originally posted by jihashi

Originally posted by FarReach

Originally posted by jihashi

 If you want to know the real reason why those looking for a sandbox don't play this. Look towards where they are based out of, and what most of their Linden volunteers are. Europeans.

The rest of your post is invalid. Linden Labs is from California, I believe. Even if that wasn't where they started here is a list of their offices:

Our Office Locations:

Linden Lab has offices in:
Boston, MA, USA 
Davis, CA, USA
Reston, VA, USA
San Francisco, CA, USA
Seattle, WA, USA

Not a single one outside the US.  Taken from: http://lindenlab.com/employment

I have also played Second Life in the past and have had to call their customer support. I spoke to an American and I'm pretty sure he had a Californian accent. Even if he wasn't, there was not even a slight hint of a foreign accent in his voice at all.

At least do your research before you post something like this. I found their offices in 3 clicks. I typed in "Linden Labs" in Google, went to their page, then looked at their employment section at the top. It probably took less than 10 seconds. I'm sure in another 3 clicks I could find out where they started from Wikipedia, but I really don't care that much.

 Who are you to determine what parts of my post is valid or invalid? Frankly, I could care less what you think. Especially when you put into consideration that SL has a foreign address. IF you actually paid attention to the phone number. Those addresses mean nothing, as neither of those addresses are not even part of the main hub. Everytime I spoke with their "customer service rep" (yeah, I put it in quotes), it was a Brit. So if anyone's post here is invalid. It's yours.

 I will tell you straight up that saying SL is European based is invalid. What you gonna do about it other than be WRONG? Huh? Linden Lab is (and always has been) based in San Francisco, California, with a phone number to match. They did at one time have overseas offices in Brighton, Amsterdam and Singapore but they are closed.

BTW.. "Those addresses mean nothing, as neither of those addresses are not even part of the main hub." WTF does this even mean anyway? Double, triple negative? Got plenty of sleep in your English class I see.