Anyone "playing" Second Life?

[Mihx]

I've seen Second Life slagged on gamer boards for being nothing but a depraved pit of strange subcultures, sex clubs and virtual prostitutes - a place for losers with no lives.

... So I figured it must be great .

I'm just an hour in and still messing around in the starter areas, and it's definately immediately obvious that this is absolutely nothing in common with online games - it's a virtual world as advertised with fancy building, texturing and scripting tools and indeed a current events database with a whole lot of sex advertisements and "personals" .

Well, I'm gonna mess around some more over the next few days - who knows, I might actually find a way to use this thing for advertising my sites.
I'm not much of a socializer - first or second life - but it looks like it might be interesting just spending some time travelling around and taking in the sights.

One thing that immediately bugged me though, and is bound to lower the experience somewhat, is that it's so damn graphically ugly when you're used to the latest real games with fancy texture, shader and lighting effects.
At least the starter areas looks like something that for the most part (minus the interactivity tools) could have been made nearly a decade ago.

[Bree]

You hit it on the head as far as MMORPGs go... I thought the graphics sucked for air and in the end, I lost interest pretty fast... I'd rather go HORDE !!! and kill an Alli or two LOL

[slaxxx]

Was reading an article about Second Life the other day, saying how the people making the most money in it are running the casinos and selling real estate.

If nothing else, I think you can run up to other members and smack them with your cock.

[Mihx]

Originally Posted by slaxxx

...

If nothing else, I think you can run up to other members and smack them with your cock.

Hey, that doesn't sound like such a bad way to spend your time compared to killing orcs and giant spiders in regular MMOs .

I've yet to find an online game that could hold my attention for more than two or three months at the very most (on the other hand that goes with just about everything I do in life ). I bought Lord of the Rings Online at release about a month ago - enjoyed it for the first three weeks, but now I can barely be bothered to log in anymore.
Beautiful world (graphically the prettiest MMORPG I've seen yet, if perhaps lacking some of the artistic style of World of Warcraft), but before long you find yourself hitting the same 6-10 buttons in the same damn sequence over and over and over, killing marginally varied monsters in locations that quickly grow stale when you're spending days or weeks in them. Just like in practically every other MMORPG.

At least Second Life is based on an entirely different and seemingly vastly more varied concept - but then, it isn't a game in the usual sense of course.
I just wish it wasn't so damn ugly .

Well, I'm in again for an hour before it's time to call it a night (morning) .

[Bree]

Second Life has been around for a pretty good long time.. but they chatted it up on the Today show not too long ago... took a while for it get in the news.. I'm sure it was posted here at least a year or two ago?

[Mihx]

Well, got off the starter tutorial island and jumped around to a bunch of areas - obviously starting out with some of the seemingly more interesting ones .

I got bombarded with instant messages from virtual prostitutes in an ugly replica of Amsterdam's Red Light District, same thing on "Sexy Beach" and a few other places.
I saw more skin in the clothing stores and malls I checked out than I do in an average workday, and I caught a few minutes of a real streaming porn movie in a virtual cinema building, plus listened to music on a number of streaming radio stations (at least several of them Second Life specific as the name was mentioned).
I finished off the day looking at "natural skins" and penis props for my somewhat bland looking starter character .

So basically - not quite like the online games I'm used to .

I think I can see why this game is apparantly such a big hit with the crowd that aren't looking to play a game, but socialize and be creative (though I imagine most of the inhabitants don't actually create much but stick to the socializing part).
And also why real life companies are advertising or considering advertising in Second Life.

I imagine I'll tire of it pretty quickly, but I'm definately going back in for at least another few rounds. There are still the hideous graphics to detract from the experience, although when you visit some of the large stores and look at the items for sale (via preview pics, you don't see the actual 3D models), it's definately obvious that there's a group of extremely talented and very creative artists making particularly clothes (if you've ever checked out the Poser store at Renderosity you'll know what I'm talking about).
Especially the female items (as you would expect) are often downright amazing creations - and (as you would probably also expect ) often revealing more than they cover.
Too bad it's all hampered by a severely outdated graphics engine - but considering the lag I'm getting on a 2 Mbit connection, I imagine it's barely possible to use a more advanced engine until you've got everyone on 8+ Mbit lines. With mostly only user created content, everything has to be streamed as you move, no efficient preloads and limited number of objects and textures as in regular games.

[Stooly]

I tried it & like Bree lost interest really quick. It's just no good, for me anyway.

Originally Posted by Bree

You hit it on the head as far as MMORPGs go... I thought the graphics sucked for air and in the end, I lost interest pretty fast... I'd rather go HORDE !!! and kill an Alli or two LOL

Sigh. More Horde scum for me to destroy lol

[mikesinner]

Have you tried Eve online? Definitely more of an intellectual game with a real player run market.

[PornFactory]

I've tried it long time ago and must say that somehow I lose interested for that game... but, reading this thread I got a wish you try it again, maybe something changed in the past time when I wasn't there...

[tolik]

any urls of this game?

[Bree]

Originally Posted by mikesinner

Have you tried Eve online? Definitely more of an intellectual game with a real player run market.

Eve? not heard of it.. tell more ?

[TiredOldFool]

I think the thing most people are missing here is Second Life is not a game. It is an online community. think forums to the next next level.

If people go to Second Life thinking it is a game then they are bound to be disappointed.

[Dupont]

Never gotten into the craze myself

[fresh]

never heard of that

[Mihx]

Originally Posted by mikesinner

Have you tried Eve online? Definitely more of an intellectual game with a real player run market.

Yep, played it just after release back in 2004(?) for a few months (one of the games that have held my attention the longest) and tried again a few times since - last time earlier this year.
In fact I was just looking at it again last week after the latest content release, but at the moment I really can't be arsed to try it again.
For space sims I currently have X3: Reunion (plus the new huge XTended mod) to keep me fairly entertained.

I'm frankly bored to tears with the usual fantasy MMOs - so obviously Eve is probably the best bet, except that it bored me to tears as well . Might still give it another shot though.

I've been looking into Entropia Universe (formerly Project Entropia) as well, but from most accounts it's really just a glorified casino that will easily end up costing you hundreds of dollars if you want to do much of anything (I don't care about the prospects of making real life money, I can probably make more in half an hour slapping together an ugly site than I could in months in Entropia - and supposedly it requires huge cash investments to get to that point anyway).

In any case, I'm not done exploring Second Life, but nope, it's definately not a game at all - but even so I have a strong suspicion that it will end up boring me just as quickly anyway.
Anyone wants to borrow my ADHD? It can be a pain in the ass sometimes .

[Mihx]

Originally Posted by tolik

any urls of this game?

A fairly obvious one .

http://secondlife.com/

[Bree]

I'm waiting to see if "Warhammer" is worth a looksee?

[mikesinner]

Originally Posted by Bree

I'm waiting to see if "Warhammer" is worth a looksee?

The trailer for that game looks awesome

[Adriaan]

No I think I would get addicted haha

[tolik]

Originally Posted by Mihx

A fairly obvious one .

http://secondlife.com/

aha. thanks