What the folks at Linden Labs have created is basically 3D modelling software in which your digital avatar can travel, chat, create, wear, drive, sell and otherwise simulate those facets of real life (TM) that you find interesting (although until we get neural implants, food and drink are not on SL’s agenda). To stir things up, a physics model and an economy simulation is overlaid on the Second Life universe, and things go on from there.
The Second Life client is surprisingly small - the initial download weighs in at only a bit over 12 megs. Think back to recent MMORPGs, and you’ll realize something is odd here - those install directories, initial downloads or (if available) hard media are huge! Well, that is because everything in Second Life is player-created, and as such susceptible to extreme change: it is simply not possible to package that. Perhaps it is with that in mind that the download and initial install are free - you only pay a per-month fee of 15 bucks.
How does it work?
The Second Life client presents you with a 3D world and a 3rd person viewpoint (although you can zoom in to first person) - you can use the standard WASD array to move around the world. As you move, the server decides what to show you (and you can set your view distance to speed this up) and streams in the data on-the-fly. So the world you see is constantly updated through the wonder that is broadband - and no, you cannot play this game via anything slower. Since 3D data is well, rather large, if you move too fast (like, supersonic speeds) you might arrive in a place and then be forced to wait for the terrain to catch up with you. The reason for this is that players can change anything at all, from vehicles, to buildings, to even the very landscape. The result is a bit startling, especially as textures load last (and through a multipass process, so you get blurry…less blurry…focused over time) - you may arrive somewhere and smack into something invisible, only to discover you’ve landed in someone’s rooftop pool party.
Uh … pool party?
Second Life is not a game where you solo. As there are no developer created quests, NPCs or item drops, the ever-boring staples of standard MMORPGs, the emphasis lies heavily on social intercourse. While exploration is indeed a solo enterprise, the moment you start creating things (and you will want to) you become enmeshed in SL’s socio-economic model. Anyone remember that line from the Matrix, where Agent Smith mentions how the first ever Matrix let everyone have what they wanted - and it failed. Likewise, Second Life lets you do whatever you want - but to constrain and focus your creative powers, there are certain charges associated with Second Life, expressed in SL dollars. How do you earn these?
Same way you do in your first life - you do some work. Build something cool and try to sell it. If it’s not selling, try to improve it or promote it better. Buy some land and rent condos. Create custom clothing or even body or face shapes. Vehicle creation is a huge aspect of the game (and with the Havok 2 physics engine currently being added onto the game, it should get even bigger) - make one and try to sell it (there are even multiple car salons with models by different creators, under one roof). Or you can join contests; anything from trivia or lottery to Sexiest Avatar in The City can yield instant cash awards. So yes, a pool party is entirely possible - not only that, but the participants probably arrived by boat, car, motorcycle, hoverboard, wings, jetpack or yoga levitation and are of every shape, size and color imaginable - although most still tend to the anthropomorphic. You may even meet a few cyborgs.
If more visceral competition is your thing, you can hop into one of SL’s Mature levels, where more objectionable material (like y’know, guns) can be created and indeed used. Death is only an inconvenience (you get reset to your Home location upon death), but it adds that little extra thrill to know you can get knocked off the game board. You can use anything already created, or make your own; guns shoot, swords swing, and some items will even give you special moves. One event I saw involved little else except whacking other parties with SL equivalents of giant nerf bats - the person whacked would then go off sailing into the horizon. Homerun! No monetary prizes were involved in this one, but that’s not to say there couldn’t have been.
After some heavy combat you can relax in a night club, drop by for that aforementioned pool party or attend a poetry recital. New global events are scheduled daily, and dropping by is as easy as clicking the Events menu and choosing to Teleport there. Simply having your creations voted on will give you some cash, so create well.
Some Gameplay Mechanics
In Second Life you get all the “cool stuff” right away, so that your creativity isn’t held back by artificial constraints. Right from start you can customize your avatar in infinite ways (and store avatar shapes/outfits in your everpresent Inventory for quick changes at any time), visit any of SL’s sectors (although some structures have No Entry zones on them, purely for reasons of in-game privacy), and in fact are able to fly. Finally, you can start creating in-game objects immediately as well.
I’ve already mentioned that you can use WASD + mouselook (as well as PageUp and PageDown for flight controls); added to that is the almighty ALT key (hold it down, click on any item and use mouselook) that you can use to zoom or move around any object. Combined with the CTRL key for rotation, you have in your hands a “view” tool of considerable power.
Those in the audience with experience with 3D modeling have probably jumped ahead already, but basically the Alt & Ctrl keys double as editing keys when you create items. You can create a wide variety of basic shapes (cubes, spheres, even toroids), then stretch, rotate, skew and even hollow-out to your liking. You can choose from pre-existing textures to use, or even upload your own - although you’ll have to shell out some SL dollars to do so. Finally, there is a complete scripting engine under the hood, with which you can do just about anything - examples include creating new moves for your avatar, creating firing weapons, or tweaking vehicular properties. Anything you create is “yours” and you can easily tweak it to make it fully private, or for sale, or perhaps even copiable by anyone (freebies or brochures usually are set this way). SL’s toolset is comprehensive, and at the same time approachable, although complete newcomers would do well to attend a few of the recurring tutorials presented by game veterans and Linden employees. A manual for the scripting language is also available, and the forums are filled with helpful folks (as is the SL world).
Communications
Since so much of Second Life focuses on communications, it is a good thing that all of those facets are taken care of with much obvious forethought. A few of the features include:- color coded text, shading based on distance away from speaker (you can Shout to get your voice carried further)
- private conversations without the possibility of anyone overhearing
- calling cards, where not only personal info is stored, but also waypoints can be shared or objects passed around - invite a friend to a party, set them a waypoint, and give them an evening suit to wear to it, all at once.
Since so much of Second Life focuses on communications, it is a good thing that all of those facets are taken care of with much obvious forethought. A few of the features include:- color coded text, shading based on distance away from speaker (you can Shout to get your voice carried further)- private conversations without the possibility of anyone overhearing- calling cards, where not only personal info is stored, but also waypoints can be shared or objects passed around - invite a friend to a party, set them a waypoint, and give them an evening suit to wear to it, all at once.You can of course send an Instant Message to anyone in the Second World at any point. Finally, anyone can schedule an “Event”, which gets added to everyone’s Event list (along with waypoint), and announcements are made at regular intervals regarding Linden-sponsored events.
EconomyIn the virtual world, you should have an inexhaustible supply of everything, right? Well, not exactly. All those textures or sounds you upload, pictures you take, shapes you make or terrain you deform has to be stored somewhere - and that is at Linden Lab’s servers; in addition, if you claim some land, that land cannot be used by anyone else (well, unless you sell it, of course). In order to make the game more dynamic and the world cleaner, Second Life has a tax structure. In short, it boils down to this: the more you create, the more tax you pay. This simple concept is the driving force behind SL’s more prolific creators, as they must profit in order for their creations to survive. That is why the best creations are the most expensive - their creators simply want to be able to continue creating.In the virtual world, you should have an inexhaustible supply of everything, right? Well, not exactly. All those textures or sounds you upload, pictures you take, shapes you make or terrain you deform has to be stored somewhere - and that is at Linden Lab’s servers; in addition, if you claim some land, that land cannot be used by anyone else (well, unless you sell it, of course). In order to make the game more dynamic and the world cleaner, Second Life has a tax structure. In short, it boils down to this: the more you create, the more tax you pay. This simple concept is the driving force behind SL’s more prolific creators, as they must profit in order for their creations to survive. That is why the best creations are the most expensive - their creators simply want to be able to continue creating.The costs are subtle in some ways - for example, to create a primitive shape you are charged SL 10 - but you get it back the moment you destroy that shape (so keep your workspace tidy). To upload a texture and store it in your personal space you are charged SL 10 as well - but it’s there permanently and you can reuse it at anytime. Land has a price that fluctuates based on supply and demand (each sector of SL is a separate server, and there is only so much space on it available for development), and is taxed weekly based on your usage. In fact, all of your properties that exist in-world (and not in your inventory) get taxed weekly - so if you’re not using that motorcycle, simply put it into your inventory, where it is not draining server resources by its sheer existence.
In the virtual world, you should have an inexhaustible supply of everything, right? Well, not exactly. All those textures or sounds you upload, pictures you take, shapes you make or terrain you deform has to be stored somewhere - and that is at Linden Lab’s servers; in addition, if you claim some land, that land cannot be used by anyone else (well, unless you sell it, of course). In order to make the game more dynamic and the world cleaner, Second Life has a tax structure. In short, it boils down to this: the more you create, the more tax you pay. This simple concept is the driving force behind SL’s more prolific creators, as they must profit in order for their creations to survive. That is why the best creations are the most expensive - their creators simply want to be able to continue creating.The costs are subtle in some ways - for example, to create a primitive shape you are charged SL 10 - but you get it back the moment you destroy that shape (so keep your workspace tidy). To upload a texture and store it in your personal space you are charged SL 10 as well - but it’s there permanently and you can reuse it at anytime. Land has a price that fluctuates based on supply and demand (each sector of SL is a separate server, and there is only so much space on it available for development), and is taxed weekly based on your usage. In fact, all of your properties that exist in-world (and not in your inventory) get taxed weekly - so if you’re not using that motorcycle, simply put it into your inventory, where it is not draining server resources by its sheer existence.Here are a couple of economy examples I have seen recently:
Busy Ben’s Car Dealership, Oak Grove is an on-consignment vehicle dealership. Simply bring your creation in and talk to Ben about setting it up as one of the showcases, then set your price. If you make a sale, Ben gets a cut of the purchase price to cover the costs of his land, the dealership he created, and the work he put into spreading the word around. Of course your vehicle is taxed as long as it sits in the lot.
Dark Life Dungeon is a medieval castle, filled with traps and monsters. Drop by and pick up an adventurer’s backpack (for a fee) and go adventuring in a classic AD&D environment. Earn loot, experience and explore the dungeon - the makers profit from the initial equipment that you purchase, covering the costs of keeping the dungeon running (land + structure + textures).
A housewarming party, with door prizes. The more folks show up, the more chances you have of getting votes on your new house, and each vote is a few bucks. A simple yet profitable setup - oh, and of course you have to know how to build a house!
In World MechanicsI already mentioned that there may be some lag time if one travels to a new sector too fast. In addition to this, control of your avatar isn’t as precise as one may hope - I found it to have more inertia than expected. In heavily populated areas (for example, a popularity contest with many outrageous - that is, processor-heavy - outfits, music playing and a lot of contestants in attendance), it may even become impossible to move - many contestants had difficulty getting up on the stage as … they simply could not see it. These facets of a constantly streamed world take some getting used to, and will not be to everyone’s liking.I already mentioned that there may be some lag time if one travels to a new sector too fast. In addition to this, control of your avatar isn’t as precise as one may hope - I found it to have more inertia than expected. In heavily populated areas (for example, a popularity contest with many outrageous - that is, processor-heavy - outfits, music playing and a lot of contestants in attendance), it may even become impossible to move - many contestants had difficulty getting up on the stage as … they simply could not see it. These facets of a constantly streamed world take some getting used to, and will not be to everyone’s liking.Vehicles are, as of now, rather iffy as well. The flying ones do well enough, but whether it’s engine limitations or the inexperience of the scripters, they tend to behave rather oddly quite often. The ground vehicles are particularly stubborn, as physics take a heavy toll on the Linden servers. Undoubtedly this will improve as compression technology gets better, scripters learn more and the Havok 2 engine is implemented. At the moment, the “cool” of vehicles is mostly in creating or using something that no one else has - tight control and instant feedback are still a faraway dream, although a few scripters are coming close.
I already mentioned that there may be some lag time if one travels to a new sector too fast. In addition to this, control of your avatar isn’t as precise as one may hope - I found it to have more inertia than expected. In heavily populated areas (for example, a popularity contest with many outrageous - that is, processor-heavy - outfits, music playing and a lot of contestants in attendance), it may even become impossible to move - many contestants had difficulty getting up on the stage as … they simply could not see it. These facets of a constantly streamed world take some getting used to, and will not be to everyone’s liking.Vehicles are, as of now, rather iffy as well. The flying ones do well enough, but whether it’s engine limitations or the inexperience of the scripters, they tend to behave rather oddly quite often. The ground vehicles are particularly stubborn, as physics take a heavy toll on the Linden servers. Undoubtedly this will improve as compression technology gets better, scripters learn more and the Havok 2 engine is implemented. At the moment, the “cool” of vehicles is mostly in creating or using something that no one else has - tight control and instant feedback are still a faraway dream, although a few scripters are coming close.Finally, the world of Second Life is awfully quiet. Whether the streaming of sound is somehow faulty (the video may lag, but it always shows up eventually), or perhaps sound radii are ill-defined, you get the feeling that you’re moving around in a vacuum entirely too often. Spurts of occasional random engine noise or snatches of music complete the feeling that something’s not quite right.
AppealSecond Life is not a traditional sort of game. There are no specifically created goals, nor a storyline to move the participant along. While the removal of artificial constraints is tremendously refreshing for someone like me (I’ve always found the unending talk of “mobs”, “going overt”, “soloing”, “pharming” or “item drops” hideously sterile, as if an enjoyable gaming experience was reduced to a set of tightly controlled behaviors and actions), it does force the player to create their own entertainment - something many gamers would rather have already presented.Second Life is not a traditional sort of game. There are no specifically created goals, nor a storyline to move the participant along. While the removal of artificial constraints is tremendously refreshing for someone like me (I’ve always found the unending talk of “mobs”, “going overt”, “soloing”, “pharming” or “item drops” hideously sterile, as if an enjoyable gaming experience was reduced to a set of tightly controlled behaviors and actions), it does force the player to create their own entertainment - something many gamers would rather have already presented.Then there is the fact that creation takes a lot of time; the relative complexity of the creation process (the tutorial is new and woefully inadequate - it barely covers moving around) won’t help the casual gamer either, and many people who just want to roleplay in a digital world might be daunted by talks of modelling, prims, scripting, clipping, texture misalignment or any other jargon that a geek like myself takes for granted. However, someone who really does want to have a Second Life, to be able to create and explore at will, and meet a lot of interesting and creative people (not to mention friendly, something the online world seems to be lacking lately) should look no further - with enough time, anything can be learned. The free 7-day trial should help that player decide as well.
Second Life is not a traditional sort of game. There are no specifically created goals, nor a storyline to move the participant along. While the removal of artificial constraints is tremendously refreshing for someone like me (I’ve always found the unending talk of “mobs”, “going overt”, “soloing”, “pharming” or “item drops” hideously sterile, as if an enjoyable gaming experience was reduced to a set of tightly controlled behaviors and actions), it does force the player to create their own entertainment - something many gamers would rather have already presented.Then there is the fact that creation takes a lot of time; the relative complexity of the creation process (the tutorial is new and woefully inadequate - it barely covers moving around) won’t help the casual gamer either, and many people who just want to roleplay in a digital world might be daunted by talks of modelling, prims, scripting, clipping, texture misalignment or any other jargon that a geek like myself takes for granted. However, someone who really does want to have a Second Life, to be able to create and explore at will, and meet a lot of interesting and creative people (not to mention friendly, something the online world seems to be lacking lately) should look no further - with enough time, anything can be learned. The should help that player decide as well.Conclusion and OpinionI was going to add a note about how time consuming Second Life is, but in retrospect it’s not more so than any of the recent MMORPGs, or using a decent 3D modeling studio - so that particular argument is null. Be wary of getting sucked in to “just make another tweak to my motorcycle’s fender”.I was going to add a note about how time consuming Second Life is, but in retrospect it’s not more so than any of the recent MMORPGs, or using a decent 3D modeling studio - so that particular argument is null. Be wary of getting sucked in to “just make another tweak to my motorcycle’s fender”.Second Life has a lot of potential for the appropriately creative and obsessive type. People who would rather be the Neverwinter Nights Dungeon Master than the hero, the Unreal Tournament mod-maker than mod-player, or the Morrowind scenario editor rather than the Nerevarine should have a blast, as there is simply no end to the goals you can set yourself (and accomplish). On the other hand, the people who, when dropped into Morrowind, hated it because there was very little direction should probably keep far, far away. Second Life is really what you make it, and (with a few technical glitches here and there) can be a rich interactive experience. Just remember to come out for First Life food every now and then.
I was going to add a note about how time consuming Second Life is, but in retrospect it’s not more so than any of the recent MMORPGs, or using a decent 3D modeling studio - so that particular argument is null. Be wary of getting sucked in to “just make another tweak to my motorcycle’s fender”.Second Life has a lot of potential for the appropriately creative and obsessive type. People who would rather be the Neverwinter Nights Dungeon Master than the hero, the Unreal Tournament mod-maker than mod-player, or the Morrowind scenario editor rather than the Nerevarine should have a blast, as there is simply no end to the goals you can set yourself (and accomplish). On the other hand, the people who, when dropped into Morrowind, hated it because there was very little direction should probably keep far, far away. Second Life is really what you make it, and (with a few technical glitches here and there) can be a rich interactive experience. Just remember to come out for First Life food every now and then.For a constantly running, professionally written “Second Life Blog”, check out James Wagner Au’s Notes from a new world. It’s quite good, if a little pretentious.
My thanks go to Aiko Wu for a demo of the Akira bike, lovely texture work, and the Motorbike 3, and two folks who were kind enough to donate a pair of psyke wings and a hoverboard script to the newbie. When / if I figure out who you were, I’ll update this with your world names.
Note: Second Life will soon be transitioning to version 1.2, which should have quite an impact on large builders and squatters - it should prove a boon to newbies however. The in-game tax system will be transitioning to a pay-to-build system, with rates starting at 1/3 the current per-month price. You will also be able to pay 10 bucks for a lifetime subscription if you wish to skip building altogether. Not bad, really.
