Second Life

[Zackarydoo]

Second Life isn't a game, but I guess this is the right section for it still.

Does anyone here use it? I used to love it as a way to meet people, but then it tapered off and I got fed up with it. I even met someone in real life who came from there, but that didn't last. I haven't used it for about 9 months now, but I am considering trying it again. Maybe I'll stop being so honest and being the "real me" in there and create a character instead? It's what most people do anyway so maybe I'd fit in better.

 

[Cavey]

I used to use it around a decade ago, but to be honest, I always preferred 'There'. Less irritating people and a much more friendly atmosphere. Unfortunately, the fact that it was far more rigidly structured meant that it was never as popular.

 

[Zackarydoo]

I used to use it around a decade ago, but to be honest, I always preferred 'There'. Less irritating people and a much more friendly atmosphere. Unfortunately, the fact that it was far more rigidly structured meant that it was never as popular.

I've never heard of "There" before. I did find another (although I forget the name) but graphically it was pretty poor in comparison and seemed empty.

I've been on SL for about 5 years now, but with very long amounts of time away from it during those 5 years. A couple of times I've had my own land and built my own house and furniture, and once even had half a SIM all to myself (my old friend on there, Vin Diesel, owned it). Actually Vin bought me whatever I wanted, which was kinda embarrassing to be honest! We even chatted outside of SL, but anyway, I'm just showing off here.

When I was first there, I joined a club just for other people in the UK, and got to know several people there and that was great. If I could find another similar place now, I'd probably start using it again.

 

[Cavey]

There and Second Life were big rivals around 2003-2005, then Second Life pretty much took over due to it being far less restrictive.

There didn't allow overtly sexual material nor the rampant copyright theft that goes on in Second Life, but that meant they needed huge amounts of staff vetting everything that was created prior to it being released into the wild. That cost a lot of money that they attempted to recoup by charging developers a submission fee.

They also had live moderators in order to prevent abuse and keep their PG-13 friendly atmosphere. Another costly endeavour.

It eventually closed it's doors in March 2010, but was relaunched using a different business model in 2012. I haven't been back, but I know that it's populated mainly by old players who are desperate to hold on to something that should be allowed to die gracefully.

It's a shame, because it actually ran far better than Second Life ever did, but they were never going to survive when everything is cheaper and easier somewhere else.

 

[Zackarydoo]

That's really interesting to read, thanks Cavey. I just can't understand why I've never even heard of There, when virtual worlds were a big thing in my life for so long and I often looked for alternatives to SL. Maybe it was mainly for the USA so I wouldn't be able to use it in the UK?

It does sound like it would be almost impossible to run though. You're right that SL is pretty poor when it comes to copyright theft, but there is little they can do.

I'm not surprised it ran better than SL. I guess you mean graphically? SL certainly has it's problems, but since Windlight was developed it jumped ahead a lot, and more recently Sunshine (which I have read about but not experienced yet), it can only get better.

 

[Cavey]

I'm from the UK. You've probably never heard of There because it stopped being hugely popular around 2005.

I haven't played Second Life at all since 2006-7, so I couldn't say what it's like now, but it always struck me as a glorified sex chat room. Perhaps it's less seedy these days now that the world is overran by social networks?

I'm amazed it's still running to be honest. These days everyone seems to be mesmerized by Facebook, Twitter and their smartphone

 

[Zackarydoo]

It certainly is a bit of a sex chat room to many people! I've never seen much of that personally because I don't choose to visit places where men are begging for it. Nothing wrong with a bit of fun, in my opinion, but when I've been to the places that this goes on and seen the way men seem to be almost gagging for it and paying money to get a woman, I escape quick! All this nonsense of jumping on sex poseballs and wearing fake....errmmm...."body parts", is pretty cringy to me.

A lot of SL isn't like that at all though, thank goodness.

It still seems fairly popular from what I can make out, and a lot different from the rest of social media. I've given it a quick go in the last few days and the old dance clubs I used to hang out at are still there. I don't know what the population is now though.

 

[Zackarydoo]

I just had an explore around Second Life, and thought I'd post a picture here of how it looks. This is me, standing in the rain after getting dressed up ready to dance at a posh club. I think that's an elephant on the left.