Second Life

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Originally posted by Shock03
????

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The information listed in this website is incorrect. A basic membership is not 100% FREE! Premium memberships are $9.95 a month.

It really depends on your tastes. If you're the creative type, and aren't looking for a standard MMO, I'd say go for it. The community, if a bit eccentric, is very mature. If you go to burning man, then you'd fit right in . You can meet a lot of new friends though, I still keep in contact with a handful of people in there after leaving many months ago. If you're on dial-up, I wouldn't reccomend it, because you're constantly downloading new textures while playing (everything is player made). Even people who don't build or photoshop still play just for the social events. The majority of the community is on california time, so if you like playing in the evenings on the east coast then you'll meet some real freaks. which is interesting all on its own. Be advised you need to be at least 18 to play, and for a good reason. The building tools (if in to that) are really powerful and takes a bit to learn. If you have scriping history in C or even python it'll be no problem, because you can script in a modified language of that. If that sounds good, then there's no reason you shouldn't sign up.

hell no

it's boring and stupid and I have no idea why it actually has folks that participate in it

and yes, I am one of those old folks that game that people talk about

This "game" looks to be an venue for cybering...

There is no need to "pay for it" due to the fact that Second Life is now not charging for basic memberships.  If you are into FPS's then no, SL is most likely not going to be for you.  But if you like "The Sims" or tycoon-type games, then you just might.

If you are knowledgeable in the programming language C++ then you might enjoy scripting in the world.  If you are good with Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro then you really might like designing.  Or if you just want to build whatever you can think of, there is that too.

Doesn't hurt to try something for free.

If after trying Second Life (which is for free now) after a few hours you start to think:

• What is the goal of this game?
• Where do I get skills to advance further?
• Are there any missions?
• Where are the RPCs? How can I get one?
• Why do my weapons not work?
• Why cannot we have more than 50 or so people shooting at the same time in the same place?
• This is so boring! What is there to do?!?

... then Second Life is definitely not for you.

You set your own goals. Really. Just like in real life. There are no "gamemasters" or a "story". There aren't even hints to a story (like on The Sims, for instance). You do whatever you wish to do.

Your character/avatar/persona does not have any skills. Instead, you use your own skills. If you're good at building 3D content with other toold (3dmax, Blender, Poser...) you'll be able to use Second Life's tools and create content here as well — for a profit (and I mean real US$!). If you're a programmer of C, Python, PHP, Javascript, or even Pascal, the chance is that you'll be able to program here as well. If you're good at organising things — associations, even companies — it's highly likely you'll be able to organise the same sort of things in Second Life as well. And so on. Even lawyers and politicians enjoy Second Life ;) ... or accountants!

No, there are no "missions". Absolutely none.

There are no RPCs — if you wish to have animals, robots, or even human-like androids, you have to create your own. It's quite hard to do, but if you have a programming background in artificial intelligence, you may have some success. But it's rather pointless. Second Life is a platform for humans to interact — not for "robots", or, for that matter, NPCs. But it's doable. It's just very hard!

While there is support for weapons — there is a physics engine running under Second Life which will bullets impact you and throw you around; also, some areas are "damage-enabled" and will make you lose "health" points until you "die" and get teleported back home — the truth is, this is not a FPS and does not aim to be one. Instead, people cleverly design weapons and shields according to their personal tastes. Yes, you can design whatever weapons you like — it's up to you to do the programming part. And some people have developed small-scale FPS systems with their own scoring mechanisms and all, or even small MMORPGs inside Second Life. You can do all that. Expect, of course, to spend several months of your time doing that! It's not easy.

The way Second Life works is completely different from most MMORPGs, where you have "shards" or "worlds", and mostly static content. You install a disk from a DVD, or do some GBytes of downloading each time a patch gets released, and connect to a "static" world, where one server can often handle a few thousand simultaneous users. I've read that WoW, with 4 million players, just has around 100 servers. Second Life is completely different. The world is built by the users themselves, and the content is totally dynamic (one common complain is that you won't be able to see the whole of Second Life — ever. There is simply not enough time for that!). This means that all textures, objects, animations, sounds, etc. are stored inside the servers that constitute the "grid". One server allows around 40 people to be at the same place at the same time (a square of 256 x 256 metres). All servers are interconnected, tile-wise. And, guess what, there are well over 1000 that are open for exploration...

As hardware continues to get faster and faster, more and more people will be able to be at the same place at the same time. We also expect radical new developments (a completely new renderer) around Christmas or so, which will allow more people to be in the same server at the same time. This is a limitation on the way Second Life works — there is simply a limit on how much textures & objects can be streamed to the users' computers at the same time.

So, you still find it boring? That concept does not exist in Second Life — it's a place where you don't wait for things to happen — you make them happen. Nobody can't be "bored" in Second Life. If they are, they're not "getting it". Like someone who is using Excel to write a document. You can do it, of course, but it's painful — you should be using Word instead. The same applies to Second Life. If you're looking for a FPS MMORPG, look elsewhere. Second Life is a Massively Multiplayer Virtual Reality — what you see is what you (and others!) build :)

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Originally posted by iamsomeguy
hell no

it's boring and stupid and I have no idea why it actually has folks that participate in it
and yes, I am one of those old folks that game that people talk about

This "game" looks to be an venue for cybering...

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I tried this "game" about a year ago, and i agree. It's purely social, although, i trust the community from the game a hella lot more than "hello" kitty online

Yes, this "game" does not play like a real game. It's not intended to, nor is it an rpg. Its an online world. Literally. You can shop, build, die, anything. ANYTHING. Cause everything is player built and controled. I think it is very fun, and the best game ive EVER played. But it truly isnt a game, in the traditional sense. Its a interactive world with a great community and is endless fun i think.

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Originally posted by JigsawJesus

Yes, this "game" does not play like a real game. It's not intended to, nor is it an rpg. Its an online world. Literally. You can shop, build, die, anything. ANYTHING. Cause everything is player built and controled. I think it is very fun, and the best game ive EVER played. But it truly isnt a game, in the traditional sense. Its a interactive world with a great community and is endless fun i think.

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