But is Second Life a game???

Many would say Second Life is a glorified chatroom, others say it is more. What do you think of it? For I am unsure how to categorise it, surely a game has to set challenges but maybe the challenges in SL are to explor and to meet people.

I am writing a paper on SL and would appreciate any comments, hopefully I will be able to use them in my paper: Second Life; Its Not a Game... or is it?


Thank you.

Adam King

Ok. I'm trying to be as unsarcastic as I can, which is rare for me, but hell its gunna turn out that way anyway.

Did you think to use the forum search? Because I know for a fact that this has been done to death, resurrected and done to death again. Numerous threads, polls and god knows what. Over, and over, and over again.

Do a forum search, this topic has been beat to death many times.

Also did you sign a research contract with LL

Can we have a Linden Vouch for the validity?

Additionally, yes as mentioned has been done to death.

Sincerely, Shadow

1. It's a giant chatroom with some creative tools thrown in. Or at least it's more of a chatroom than it is a game.

2. Or..it's a psychological test being done by the Lindens, who are actually a small contigent of aliens from a highly advanced civilization, that have landed on our planet and are investigating whether we should be allowed to continue as a species.

Needless to say, if option 2 is true, then humans will soon be extinct.

Who said I was human...pffft

Shadow

It's not a game, it's a thingie.

Second Life is not a game. It is one shared virtual space that has many functions. One day it might become prototype environment for reality *imagines one nano-assembler "printing" out her Second Life house*.

It's the future metaverse, read the book Snow Crash you will understand

Research in Second Life is apparently forbidden without express permission from Linden Lab, as is any activity that serve's one's "own purposes." Whatever that means.

Official statement here.

Counterpoint here.

"Feh," I say.

Second life is an orgy of pixels

Hey Adam, ignore the trolls. You ask a very interesting question.

I think a good comparison is between "Monopoly" and SecondLife.

They do, especially with regards to the land ownership, share a lot of qualities.

However, unlike Monopoly, you can purchase L$ for USD.

As soon as the currency exchange comes into play we can only say that it is no longer just a game. This is because the earning of L$ can be exchange for power in real life.

That's right.. some people buy their groceries with the money they earn from SecondLife. I think once that sort of thing happens, the boundaries between game and job are quickly blurred.

Maybe SecondLife is a professional game? Kind of like golf can be a professional sport.

It's many things to many people. For me it's a place to hang out and see what the metaverse might be like. To some people it's a game of shopping and spending. To some it's a way to make money selling virtual land.

NO!!!! It isn't just a game. It is real life people co existing in a virtual world. So yeah, you can have casual sex like in real life or you can have a meaningful relationship like in real life. You can make it what you want it to be within reason for obvious reasons.

Im voting for #2. Ive been having strange dreams lately.

I agree with Burke, that SL is many things to many people. However that point of view becomes complicated when different people have to live together in this virtual world. Normally the battle cry of "It's just a game" follows some unruly, disruptive, or hurtful behavior inflicted upon someone that feels SL is more than a game.

Here are a few of my observations on the subject:

1. It stops being a game when you get paid real life money. Blaze mentions sports and this is a great analogy. If you disrupt a backyard game of touch football, chances are you will not encounter any serious consequences. If you disrupt a professional game, you will be subject to criminal and civil lawsuits to cover the monetary loss. ("d00d it's just a game!".


2. For some reason, people have difficulty visualizing what a "JOB" really is. For example...If I make clothing in SL, sell it and GOM my Lindens for profit, the whole process is not taken seriously. Any losses in content or profits I encounter at the hands of griefers would be dismissed in the name of "It's just a game!".

BUT...If I were working for Linden Labs as a content creator...making the same exact clothing for the same exact amount of money, would my situation be different? Is a freelancer a morally acceptable target for disruption compared to a Linden simply because of the word "Linden" next to their last name?


3. "It's-Just-a-Game" types prefer to have access to "It's-more-than-a-game" types. I mean just think about it. If Griefers were given their own lawless grid, completely separate from the main grid and free of any regulation...you KNOW they wouldn't stay there. Orbiting people that don't mind being orbited isn't exciting, taking upskirt photos of people that don't mind isn't "art", and displaying offensive material to people who aren't offended isn't fun.

At the core of this attitude is the knowledge that in so many ways, this ISN'T a game. Orbiting or offending another player is satisfying because the griefer feels power over another human being at the other end of the wire. Orbiting an artificially intelligent bot wouldn't feed the need because THAT would be "just a game".


4. Finally, the "It's just a game" cry always goes hand in hand with punishment for poor behavior. To them griefing is part of the game, but somehow punishment is NOT. If you put these folks in the penalty box for a little while they will cry and scream like it were Rikers Island.

I have always considered SL more of a "place" than a "game."

Hey now just because you meet me doesnt mean you can read my mind and post my thoughts no matter how much they are true...hehe..((hugs)) and yes I totaly agree with your entire thread.

Whoa....Nice pants hottie

Game(SL) iff Game(WWW)
~Game(WWW).
-> ~Game(SL)
QED

Adam, hiya! What you're asking is a really involved question -- to say the least -- and I highly recommend you go not only through the SL Forums archives, but resources like New World Notes ( http://secondlife.blogs.com/nwn/ ) and haul in a bounty of many more opinions and well-written commentaries to guide you in your assertations.

Interestingly enough, when you Google for "is Second Life a game", NOT enough matches come up:

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=%22is+second+life+a+game%22&num=100&hl=en&c2coff=1&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&safe=off

Come on people, let's get more out there!

Is Second Life a game to me? Sure, it's that... and much, much more.

Why would I limit myself to a single dish when I can sample from the diversity of the whole buffet?

^how many times have I said that before? Is that an RRL = Really Redundant Loop by now? Pardon. *blushes*

Oh, I found a previous post of mine too, while using the Search facility:

/120/93/28894/1.html#post291849

LOL!

Have fun, Adam!

Its a fucking game.

Deal with it.

Thank you.

Second Life is too 3D-centric.

Thank you all for your comments. It was interesting to hear what you thought of the environment. I liked the idea that as soon as money is involved it is not a game... with reference to sport I started thinking about poker, a game that is played for money yet is still a game.

I currently believe SL is more than a game although when analysed with the same conditioners as a typical game, one can start to see SL as a game - experiences of time loss and 'flow'.

Thank you all for your comments - I feel that the conclusion of my paper will be that SL is a game BUT its is also more than than...


Cheers.

Adam

And I run at 1600x1200! Booyakasha!