Second Life closes their “Community” Forums
I keep having to write posts about how Second Life continues to try to become more mainstream, without following any clear vision as to what Second Life is all about.
To recap there was my post 3 months ago “Have we lost the Second Life Vision?“, where I described briefly that the primary purpose of Second Life was to create online fantasies. Then there was my post a month an a half ago “The Mainstreaming of SL” noting how innovation and originality is becoming rare in Second Life.
Well the SL community has been forced to under go more changes of late. First, was the not unexpected crackdown of SL avatar accounts on Facebook.
Second, was Linden Labs purchase of the own Social networking site Avatar’s United, so us metaverse based personalities can join the social networking bandwagon without hiding from the self proclaimed Facebook police in one bizarre case.
And the piece de resistance, the closing of the community forums on secondlife.com. They are being replaced by a blog format that Linden Labs can better control to their liking.
My general position in all three of these is to sit back and watch, and enjoy the show.
On the Facebook thing. Facebook has a philosophy of the internet that is very popular, but completely incompatible with Second Life as I have pointed out many times. In protest, I dumped my Facebook account which I never used anyways.
On the Avatar United thing. I created an account. There has been a fair amount of drama about how the site works, allowing you to create any name you want, including names that you don’t own. Apparently lots of people made names with “Linden” as a last name just to prove some kind of point. Actually it just proves my point that all social networks are incompatible with Second Life, even ones designed for Second Life players. Some say it opens the door to scammers. I say there are already so many doors open to scammers, whats one more?
On the closing of the Second Life forums, I think it is sad. I used to go there all the time for help and suggestions. I learned more about LSL scripting there than on the official wiki. My concern is that after Linden Labs did the same thing to the Xstreet forums, they changed a bunch of rules on the site that they knew would upset the people that hung out there. So what big changes does LL have in mind that would upset the now ex-forum community? Avatar script limits perhaps? Attachment prim limits?
I look over this virtual drama and see a general pattern. Second Life is being yanked in 3 directions: the “Lets be a 3D Facebook” vision of Linden Labs, the “Lets be There.com” vision of the more vocal players (I’ll elaborate in a future post), and the “Let Second Life be Second Life” vision of us players that just want to have a good time.
A Quick Peek at Star Trek Online
Early next month the long awaited, much anticipated release of Star Trek Online will finally happen.
The good news is that this is probably the best Star Trek game ever, but as anyone who has played Star Trek games will tell you, that’s not saying much.
38 years ago there was a game of Star Trek that was played on big mainframe computers where you had your ship with x,y coordinates and star systems with their own x,y coordinates. The object of the game was to jump from star system to star system using your warp drive to find Klingons. In each star system you would use Phasers to do some damage, but photon torpedoes did the most damage, You then has to use impulse engines and shields to avoid getting destroyed by the Klingons. This was all text based. To move and fire, you had to convert x,y coordinates to polar coordinates in your head. The game was hugely popular back in the 70’s with anyone who had access to a computer. Ports were made for pretty much every single computer out there.
10 years later the first arcade version came out. Gone was the figuring out cartesian coordinates to polar coordinate, replaced by a joystick. The object of the game was to jump from star system to star system using your warp drive to find Klingons. In each star system you would use Phasers to do some damage, but photon torpedoes did the most damage, You then has to use impulse engines and shields to avoid getting destroyed by the Klingons.
28 years later we have Star Trek Online. The object of the game is to jump from star system to star system using your warp drive to find Klingons. In each star system you use Phasers to do some damage, but photon torpedoes do the most damage, You then have to use impulse engines and shields to avoid getting destroyed by the Klingons. Its a little more involved than that now actually, its not just the Klingons anymore.
So what has changed in 38 years? The graphics are way better, though since it took so long for this game to come out, the graphics are not top of the line. Five years ago when the game was originally drafted (about 2 owners ago), the graphics would be considered “cutting edge”, but today they are “decent enough”.
The game itself is interesting. There are various kinds of missions besides search and destroy, though in the end, they all kind of feel like search and destroy missions. There are landing party missions, some in mapped out “dungeons” with enemies to fight along the way, some in open environments with non shooting things objectives.
Part of me wishes there was more of the latter. The biggest negative of the game is the monotonous combat, which unfortunately will take up around 70% of your play time. Another 20% is sitting around watching your ship “warp” as it navigates a 3D star chart, which could just have easily been a 2D chart. I almost wish I could go back to the days of typing in polar coordinates for this part if it would allow me to travel faster.
The last 10% is exploring new places, which is the part I most enjoy.
This being an MMORPG, a lot of the combat happens in groups. There is a system in place to generate groups automatically if people just happen to be in the same system at the same time. Group combat is less tedious than individual combat, but as you get further in the game these auto grouping events seem to happen less and less, and unless you are willing to spend a lot of time in group chat waiting for a team to form, you are probably going to be playing solo a lot.
So what can I say about the combat? If you played City of Heroes, City of Villains or Champions Online, then you have seen the combat system of Star Trek Online. It makes me want to tie Jack Emmert (the lead design guy at Cryptic Studios) to a chair and force him to play Guild Wars or better yet Dragon Age: Origins, and say:
“You see Jack, this is how combat should be done. Repeatedly pressing a button over and over to fire a weapon, or swing a sword, is boring and monotonous. What is a lot more fun is to select an enemy and let the computer handle the monotonous battle moves, while you engage special skills/talents/magic etc. to CONTROL the battle. The battles become much more interesting this way, much more involving, and doesn’t ruin your keyboard or lead to wrist damage.”
It is because of this annoying combat system, that I have no desire to play this game long term. I will not become a lifetime member, or subscribe a year in advance, despite good deals being offered. I’ll probably just pay to play when I’m in the mood until I’m sick of it.
Or better yet, I’ll move to Mass Effect 2, until the new Star Wars Online shows up.
Date Simulator 6.2 replaces the buggy 6.1
6.1 had some major bugs, and as a result there is now a 6.2, but that is not all.
For the first time in a long time, I dropped something. Specifically the parking lot sex scene. I’ve been meaning to drop it for a while, but kept it around until I could add something else as a replacement, which I also did. No spoilers here, you will have to find them yourself.
I have a list of about 8 scenarios I have considered adding. I haven’t added them due to one or more plot reasons: 1) there is no good point in the current game to branch off to them, 2) even if I have a good branch point I have no smooth way to bring the post-scenario plot back, 3) the scenario does not fit the first date/first person theme of the game, or 4) the scenario is too similar to something already in the game.
There are scenarios already in the game that violate some of these rules, but the parking lot scene violated 3 of them, was a rare minor scenario, and had one of the largest files (a 1MB gif animation) in the game, thus it needed to go. It was replaced by a new plot twist that used to end abruptly, but now has an entertaining loop. I also fixed two more major bugs not covered in the 6.11 patch.
I’m pretty close to saying, “I’m done, no more tinkering.” There are some pictures I’d like to redo, maybe some text to change, but otherwise it is fine. Every time I tinker I seem to create new bugs anyways.
Maybe it is time to take all these unusable scenario ideas and create a second game.
If you find any more bugs, feel free to post them in the comments.
Signs of the Economy in Virtual Worlds
I predicted a year ago how economic troubling times would affect virtual worlds: Those profitable ones are likely to be even more profitable as people seek out cheap entertainment. Those relying heavily on VC money will likely be hurting as VC money dries up.
The economy is apparently good enough in Entropia for someone to pay over $300,000 of real currency for a virtual night club in world. Another night club made headlines a few years ago for selling for over $100,000.
Its not so good for Metaplace, the 2D virtual world preferred by the SL crowd for its flexibility in building. Metaplace closed its doors to the public on Jan 1.
Also problematic is life over at Forterra, a platform provider that gets most of its money from military contracts. They recently laid off more than half of the staff and are probably looking for someone to buy them out. Their principle product, OLIVE, is a nice flexible 3D platform with text, voice, and video capabilities that runs on inexpensive computers. Their lack of success lately is probably due to stiff competition in the platform market: Unity, Torque, Multiverse, and Open Sim are all available for cheap or even free.
Meanwhile, Blue Mars is slowly adding user created content and additional features. Recently the makers of the steampunk region Caledonia in SL have built a city in Blue Mars. I wonder if anyone has done a “Mirror World” of a virtual world before? (I’m pretty sure it has been done, just sounds funny)
I foresee the next year doing the same thing. Profitable Virtual Worlds will remain so, maybe even becoming more profitable. Meanwhile I would not be surprised to see another 3 to 5 virtual worlds shut down operations.
What Tech Will be Gone in the NEXT Decade
I saw an article last week on a list of things that have nearly disappeared over the last decade. The list consist of: calling, newspaper classifieds, dial up internet, encyclopedias, CDs, land line phones, film photography, yellow pages and address books, catalogs, fax machines, wires, hand written letters. All of them are still around, they are just becoming archaic or obsolete.
I suspect that over the next decade, there will be other things that are common today that will become archaic and decline over time.
Broadcast Network Television – Rupert Murdoch who runs Fox is already trying to kill the Fox broadcast network and turn it into a cable/Satellite only network. He also has plans to turn all of his news sites into subscription only, which is likely to fail miserably, but his plans for TV actually make financial sense. If so, NBC, CBS, and ABC could follow suit, and Broadcast TV as a mainstream media outlet will be dead. Now if AM Radio can survive for 100 years, so can Broadcast TV. It will just have a lot more infomercials and pointless talk shows (just like AM radio) to fill in the gap.
Satellite Television – You are probably wondering why I would predict the downfall of Satellite after predicting the end of broadcast. It is quite easy: The future of TV is instant access. This is doable on internet based TV services like Uverse and FiOS, and even possible with cable services via broadband internet if you have a receiver that can buffer the show as you download. It is not doable on Satellite. This plus the huge overhead cost of Satellite TV services will spell doom for these services. I’d even go as far as to predict that one of the two major satellite services (Direct TV or Dish Network) will stop satellite operations and close, or jump to the IP TV market instead.
Multiplex Theaters – Multiplexes with their 24 small theater screens are likely to head to the scrap heap. Large theaters with big (or IMAX) screens capable of 3D and digital projection will replace them. The multiplex experience is too close to home theater, and with high costs of going out to the theater, it is likely to decline in popularity.
DVDs – Just as CDs started to disappear last decade, DVDs are likely to disappear this decade with widespread On Demand TV and game download services. BluRay will never be more than a niche market as well. This will also include video games on DVD media. Not only will places like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video start disappearing, but those Red Box dispensers will too eventually.
Printed Newspapers and Magazines – Between the Internet, and the Kindle, print is dead. Online news papers will still exist, some may even thrive via online delivery options, but papers you read by spreading it out on the kitchen table will disappear.
Big Box Bookstores – Just as the giant chain record stores have disappeared with the demise of the CD, the giant chain bookstores will disappear with the demise of print. Small specialty shops will still be around (rare book stores and comic book stores), as will book departments in department stores. But as more people convert to tablets, like Kindle and the Nook, and access to online libraries to go in them, the market for printed books will be dead.
Libraries – Between budget cuts and new technology, libraries will get rarer and rarer. All the major cities and universities will still keep them around, but with the primary use of the libraries being free internet sources these days, providing free “hot spots” around town is cheaper and can promote commerce in those designated areas.
Gas powered vehicles – Over the next decade, oil production is going to be level or in decline. We are going to be forced to find ways to use less oil, or live in a new Great Depression. Considering the sheer number of gas powered vehicles there are, it seems quite bold to predict their demise, but I foresee natural gas powered hybrids, plug in hybrids and pure electric vehicles (including electric bicycles) dominating the road within a decade… either that or $20 a gallon gas.
Incadescent bulbs – CFLs and LEDs for the win! This one’s a no brainer.
Hard Drives – The one weak point in computers today are the hard drives. They are physical devices with high RPM spin that are almost guaranteed to fail within 5 years. Average life span is around 3. The thing that has kept them around for so long is that solid state drives are still slower, hold less data, and more expensive. I believe hard drives are at their peak right now. There is little need for faster or bigger hard drives than what we have now. If solid state drives can catch up to where hard drives are today, and that is a very likely scenario in the next decade, hard drives will become obsolete.
Desktop computers – You know those big boxes with 2 or 3 DVD burners and 2 or 3 big Sata drives powered by 500 watt power supplies sitting under your desk like the one I am using right now? Archaic dinosaurs by the end of the next decade! I think the 10s will see the end of Moore’s law of bigger and faster, replaced by smaller and more energy efficient. The big desktop computer under my desk is likely to be the size of my ipod touch in 10 years powered by a 30 watt power adapter — and just as powerful. Its tempting to just predict everyone will use laptops, as that trend is already coming to pass, but the primary attraction of desktops is gaming, which is doable on laptops but it is awkward. The primary components to the desktop is the full size monitor and the full size keyboard. Monitors won’t be shrinking in size any, and LED backlighting, touch screens, and 3D capabilities will become more common place. This pretty much guarantees there will be a place for non-mobile computing, it is the CPU part of the computer that will be getting smaller and more energy efficient. It may even get small enough to carry around with you to move to different keyboard/monitor “terminals”.
The key to the next decade is energy efficiency. All signs point to energy being a major concern in the next 10 years. The more energy efficient our tech, the less impact energy shortages will have, and the cheaper it will be to live.
Best Places in SL for 2009
One of the most popular posts I did in 2008 was my end of the year list of the 10 best places I visited during the year. Most of those 10 made the list due to the magnificent scenery that can be found. While this years list has a few outstanding scenery locales, I also picked out a few that are outstanding in other ways. If you want to see these in person, you might want to hurry, two of the places I considered for this list are gone.
Tempura Island
Originally Posted: Three Beautiful Japan Regions
A beautiful garden and castle build inspired by modern Japanese style. This place grew in popularity throughout the year. The building interiors use many special effects for a surprisingly beautiful look.
SLURL – More Pictures – Video – Official Website
Kijiji (Visiwa)
Originally Posted: Africa in SL
Probably the best representation of Africa in SL. Multiple servers filled with unique African architecture mixed with Dutch Colonial buildings.
SLURL – More Pictures – Official Web Site
Kalepa (Garden of DaVinci)
Originally Posted: Fun Fantasy Regions for SL Explorers
This build has been around a while, but I finally got around to blogging about it this year. Mixed fantasy architecture, a multi layer, and a unique “eagle” ride to help you get around, makes this a fun place to explore.
SLURL – More Pictures – Video
Mouse World
Originally Posted: Theme Parks in SL
“Mirror Worlds” are 3d computer places designed to look like real places. One of the most ambitious I found was “Mouse World” an amazing recreation of a Disney theme park. There is another 3D replica of Disney World in Google Earth as well, but this SL version has actual working rides.
SLURL – More Pictures – Video – Official Web Site
Frideswide (World War One Poetry Archive)
Originally Posted: War Memorials in SL
This late entry built by a group at Oxford University has amazed many visitors for its immersive SL experience. Audio mixed with pictures, mixed with a detailed stretch of a real WW1 trench. Lots of information here to explore.
SLURL – More Pictures – Video – Official Web Site
PAX (Where the Wild Things Are)
Originally Posted: Scenic Organic Fantasy-Historical Mostly Outdoor Regions
This beautiful inventive sim has multiple natural settings transitioning nicely. Lots of good places to take screenshots.
SLURL – More Pictures – Official Web Site
Originally Posted: Fun Fantasy Regions for SL Explorers
This Greco-Roman designed fantasy build has caught on as a pretty background setting to model clothing lines and take screenshot photos. There is so much stuff here, it is amazing it all fits in a single 256m x 256m region.
SLURL – More Pictures – Video
Daden Space (Apollo 11 Landing Site)
Originally Posted: Recreating the Apollo 11 Voyage in Second Life
This educational region allows you to see in detail the landing site of the Apollo 11 lander. You can even follow the paths that Armstrong and Aldrin followed and recreate some of their experiments and photo ops. An excellent example of SL as an educational resource.
SLURL – More Pictures – Video – Official Web Site
Japan Kanto (Hosoi Ichiba)
Originally Posted: Three Beautiful Japan Regions
I found this place from an impressive machinima video on You Tube. This furniture store is part of a group of Asian inspired builds that also includes Mao, a popular build of a section of the Great Wall of China.
SLURL – More Pictures – Video – Official Web Site
Mont Saint Michel
Originally Posted: Three Fabulous SL Recreations of Real Architecture
A detailed 1:1 scale recreation of a historically significant island just off the coast of France. The only difference being the kinds of stores you find in the shopping area as you climb up the islands hill.
SLURL – More Pictures – Video – Official Web Site
The Mainstreaming of SL (or why I will reduce my coverage of Second Life)
On a web page I wrote about the history of computer animation, I charted how the industry went from cutting edge to mainstream in about a decade, wearing off the novelty, but still producing quality from time to time. I believe that is the present state of SL today.
Second Life is becoming “mainstream”.
I have said on a few occasions that SL is like a 3D AOL before the world wide web exploded. In the early days of the web it was fun exploring new web sites to see what people were posting. As the web progressed, the number of web sites exploded, and the overall quality improved.
At that time I was a reader of PC Magazine and they were doing an annual “Best of the Web” list each year. They had to stop when the web reached a saturation point. I feel like we have reached that point in Second Life.
We used to go to really original places like Svarga, Straylight, and Insilico and be amazed. Now dozens of new servers pop up monthly with similar looks to these places. It is getting harder and harder for builders to trump the latest, and even if they do get something amazing built, it gets lost in the noise.
The overall quality of SL region builds is going up, which is a good thing for us players that love to explore, but it is getting harder and harder to find places unique and original and wonderful enough to blog about. My next post is going to be the my second annual best of SL, and it will probably be my last best of list.
At the same time SL is changing its business model. Recent xstreet changes have been made which have upset casual merchants, but at the same time should help keep the copybot pirates from making a quick buck. SL is also limiting scripts people can run simultaneously, and making other changes that hurts the “freedom” in SL, but should make the platform more attractive for casual “mainstream” users.
All of this is following the same trend we saw in computer animation and the world wide web. We are reaching a saturation point. Second Life is no longer cutting edge, instead it has dulled a bit.
The cutting edge is in the Open Sim community, which still is working on improving the platform to match SL, and hopefully surpassing it soon.
The potential cutting edge can also be seen in Blue Mars, which recently added the Caledon “steam punk” community from Second Life to Blue Mars and is opening stores.
My current plan is to keep this blog going, but instead of pushing myself to post every week, I may post only when I find something to post about. Hopefully there will be enough to keep me busy.
Date Simulator 6.1
I made an unusual change to the Date Simulator, it has been on the online version for a while, thought I’d release the changes to the offline version.
I added “On mouse over” and “On mouse out” text to every link on the pictures which displays either an action (in italics) or a quote (not in italics) underneath what Ariane says. The idea is to give it a more comic book feel, while also making things easier to read and navigate on small browser windows (i.e. mobile phones). Some mobile browsers still don’t work, unfortunately, but it works well anyways.
You may notice that sometimes the text below and the text on the link does not match, this is intentional. In some places the text below is random which you can change by moving your mouse over the link, the text on the link remains generic. If the text below does not make sense, look at the link text.
Except for a couple of minor bug fixes, there is no change to game play from version 6.0.
War Memorials in SL
November is best known for Thanksgiving, but Veterans Day is celebrated on November 11th, the anniversary of the end of World War 1.
Which is a good lead into one of the best educational sims I have ever seen The First World War Poetry Digital Archive (More Pictures – Link to website) built by a group from Oxford University.
The link will take you to a starting spot, where you can get a free WW 1 uniform or a nurses outfit. This is not a RP sim so you don’t have to dress up. I decided to dress as a soldier anyways. I know a female on the battle field is not historically accurate, but what the heck. The region is very sound heavy, so make sure you can hear things. There are a lot of historical recordings, many of which you hear as you click on objects.
Follow the arrows to the “This Way To The Trenches” sign and click on the object there, and you will be teleported over a build of a trench. As you fly over and pass through a biplane dogfight, you hear a description of the history of trench warfare. When you finally land, you can follow the trench or try and run across the battlefield dodging mortars and mines. Click on the soldiers and hear personal accounts from the trenches.
This is a truly awesome use of Second Life that is immersive and educational, and everyone should check it out.
Meanwhile, on the boards was a request for links to recreations in SL of US historical places. The list assembled on the NMSUA website is already extensive, and worth trying some links.
The first link is for a place I knew existed but never visited, an SL recreation of the Vietnam Memorial Wall (More Pictures). The place takes a while to load as the wall plates are in high definition so as to show you the list of soldiers killed in Vietnam. If you never been to the real wall in Washington DC, this is a good substitute. Turn on your video and see images, songs, and a robot voice reading all the names on the wall, something you don’t get at the real wall.
A Quick Peak at Dragon Age: Origins
With Guild Wars 2 looking at a 2011 date, I decided to quench my craving for new fantasy gaming content with a desktop based RPG game, the new Dragon Age Origins, which just launched last month.
I have played a few MMORPGs, but this is my first PC-RPG and it is quite the experience. There are advantages to desktop RPGs that you don’t get online. The obvious one is cheat codes, game mods, etc. If you get stuck somewhere these are options.
MMORPG requires eveything be balanced, while PC-RPGs actually thrive on imbalance. Finding power combos (like taunt and forcefield) that are way over powered aren’t going to get nerfed in the next update. It sets up a choice whether you want to go the easy way or the “pure” way, as nobody gets hurt from your “cheating”.
The biggest difference is the storytelling possibilities. MMORPGs have linear storylines which occasionally branch but eventually re-merge. PC-RPGs can be very complex, and because enemy difficulty can change along with the player there is no need for easy regions or hard regions. The path you take is fairly open.
The NPC’s have complex personalities, and keeping good relations with them is a part of the game. Some of them will even quit your group if you make decisions they are upset with. On the other hand, some can develop into sexual relationships. (One of the reasons why the game is rated M).
The first thing that amazed me was the first big battle cut scene. Hundreds of characters on the screen at the same time is something I have never seen in a video game before. Most “battles” I see are maybe 12 characters fighting 12 enemies, more of a skirmish than a battle. To see battles the size and scope you see in the movies is a new experience.
The world is immersive, the stories emotional and complex, the directions it could go are not open ended, but there is a lot of content here. Choices you make on the opening character creation screen can completely change the story that is told, making the game very replayable. Many people in the know say this is the best RPG game ever made, and I see no evidence not to believe them.
