Second Life Review

[Herbert1405241469 0]

In all my experience online, never have I seen as much crazy stuff as I did yesterday in Second Life...

I had tried Second Life only one other time, years ago in college. The professor had us sign up to check out our virtual space online and chat and whatnot. Being the geek that I was, I gave it a shot (since it was an optional assignment). Well I can recall exactly what happened, but I ended up having some random dude start screaming at me, and I got booted off. I promptly uninstalled Second Life and forgot all about it.

I listen to an online radio show that had a fan following that has created an online spot in Second Life. Well I finally broke down and re-installed Second Life after all this time, and finding that my old account seems to have been deleted, I started up again in earnest. This is my experience...

The only online experience I had before that could even compare to the vastness of Second Life was Project Entropia. Other than that, the only time I ever played a game online was with the intention to kill (Battlefield 2, Call of Duty 4, etc). The difference between Second Life, and Project Entropia is that in Second Life, you don't have RPG stats. This means that no one is better than anyone else other than real life experience in the game. It also means that you don't need to sit around grinding for experience points or killing monsters. Second Life is primarily a social networking tool.

Like Project Entropia, you can convert real world money into virtual dollars used to buy clothes and items. And, as in any case involving money, you're going to get 3 things.... Advertisements, scams, and sex.

Advertisements: People want your money. They have things they will trade you for your money, but you won't know about it unless they tell you about it. Therefore, you are going to be bombarded with ads in the more populated areas of the game.

Scams: You're not going to get a lot of this if you're smart, but for newbies wandering around the area, you have to watch what you click on. I clicked on something once, and this is sort of funny actually, I ended up with a gigantic horse head in my inventory that was nearly bigger than one of the nearby tents. There are several things you can do to get "free money" in Second Life, and one of them is "camping." From what I gather, you can earn $1 virtual dollar for doing nothing and sitting in the game world every 15 minutes.... You can earn more by "Filling out Surveys" but what the actual thing is is a giant pyramid scheme to get people to sign up for online offers just like back when you could refer friends to "Win a free iPod." Right now the exchange rate for $1 USD = $267.9 L (Linden dollars is their currency). So sitting around for an hour, you would earn 4 virtual dollars which comes out to around 14 cents an hour or so. Not optimal.

So when it comes to getting stuff, I highly recommend that you make friends with a group of people with similar interests as you (and be considerate). And if you're nice and friendly, they will usually hook you up with some cool stuff.

Now, the coolest thing about Second Life is that you have the ability to make your own stuff. It will take some planning and you'll need to practice and learn short cut keys, but I made a hat for myself in about 15 minutes on my first try. One problem for new people is the fact that they charge you 10 Linden dollars to upload images as textures, so you really have to make sure that you have it the way you want it when you upload it, and have ways of testing the texture on your computer before you upload it so you aren't throwing away money. Other than that, you really don't need to put any money into the game if you have a group of people you can hang out with. People who pay a monthly fee can have a small parcel of land and they give you linden dollars every month. I played the Matrix online for a couple months and when I quit paying because I got bored from the game, I lost everything. With Second Life, the stuff you make exists even if you quit because it has become part of the game universe. Sort of makes it worth while to actually do things.

Now on to the nitpicks I have of this game.

First off, this can overwhelm newbies. The interface is complicated and there are tons of keyboard shortcuts you'll need to know. There was even a hidden Advanced menu that I didn't know about till someone helped me unlock it. I first started out looking for that internet radio location I mentioned earlier and ended up wandering into someone's house I thought was empty. The owner came out and thankfully was friendly and helped me out. Note to newbies... Don't go into someone's house if it's not yours.

Another big problem is lag. Moving around can be clunky at times due to all the stuff that needs to be downloaded when you are moving around. Textures, geometries, and music can blast you from all angles, so you really need a good computer to get the most out of the game. The graphics can be scaled depending on your system but you really do need a broadband internet connection and a fast computer to play this effectively.

Another downside is that there really is no objectives other than to network and meet new people. This may be fine for most people but there are people out there that would be happier running around with assault rifles a la Counterstrike.

This game has PG areas, which are supposed to be "Safe" for minors, but really, there are more Mature areas than PG, and you will have to get used to seeing naked women... Since Second Life is created by The People, ("People" meaning Internet gamers, meaning mostly Men) everyone can put whatever they want so long as it is not illegal. Kiddie porn will get you busted.

There are women in there, but they are typically only there because their boyfriends or husbands got them into it. And the only way to verify that an avatar is in fact female is by using the Voice system they have. If you want, and have a mic, you can vocally chat with people online, which is a lot better than typing... Emoticons can be thrown out the window when you can hear someone talking. There are guys out there with female avatars, so be warned. It's actually cool in Second Life because you can change your form at any moment.. So you're never stuck with what you made as a newbie. Avatars can be bought, and you can become a dragon, or a hedgehog, or whatever else you want... Which leads me into my next part of the review.... The Bizarre.

Yes, insanity is in fact normal in this game. You really get to see a new side of people in Second Life, where there are no rules to what you can be. I just saw a Robotic Samauri Angel yesterday, with tentacles and giant wings... And everybody loved it because it was soo damn cool.

There are sex castles, torture chambers, escort services and strip clubs. And that's just the stuff I know about! All your darkest dreams can come true in Second Life. It just goes to show how corrupted we can get as a species.

Not all things are bad, though. Just as a coin has two sides, so do we as a species. There are many beautiful areas. Here's just some screenshots I found online giving examples of some of the awesome things that can be done in SL:

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/
https://www.flickr.com/browser/upgrade/?continue=%2Fphotos%2Fquiplash%2F1339896634%2F
http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

In any case, I think I might sign up for a premium account and try it out. It'd be nice to have a virtual place of my own. If you can find a group of people you can hang out with, you're going to have a good time. If you do happen to register and this forum post was helpful, please use me as a referal when signing up. My second life name is "Herbert Brimm"

[Herbert1405241469 0]

Well for better or worse, I'm an official land owner in Second Life. I probably wouldn't have bothered, but there's so much that can be done in here. For roughly $15 a month, I get a nice chunk of land I can do whatever I want with. I'm currently a member of a group, so I'll probably just let them hang out at it. I'll post more pictures of it once I start really building stuff on it. Should be sweet.

[Herbert1405241469 0]

Second Life has been a blast. You need to take care exploring, though, because people will get ticked off if you wander into a restricted area.

 

Here's just a bunch of cool screenshots I've taken whist playing that I thought highlighted some of the cooler moments in the game. Enjoy!