Competition to SL

Do you think that there is any viable competition to SL out there? I think you could argue that MMORPGs are competition, but they are not the same, since many people play an MMORPG and also belong to SL (case and point, all the people playing World of Warcraft from SL). TSO and There are also rans at this point, at one time they both provided some element of competition. Why do you think nothing else has emerged really in the same space?

Yesterday someone was posting abut a Pirate Sea Quest adventure - don't remember who/what and am too spaced to look it up.

This is just my personal experience and from the friends I have played MMORPG's with since 97' when UO came out. I have since gathered a long list of great close friends, we have jumped from game to game over the years from UO, SB, E&B, Eve, AC, AC2, DAoC, EQ, EQ2, SWG, Lineage, Lineage2, WOW, GW, and others.

When I came to SL and started to have fun I of coursed asked this group of friends if they would like to join in. They checked out the website and almost all of them (only 1 considered it) thought this was nothing more then SIMS online.

I believe it is just that other companies are looking for quick, long-term, investments into the gaming world and SL is not a quick turn-around nor would another game like SL be. It has a specific target audience unlike other games where you get quests, monsters, and action. In SL you need to make your own content, your own designs, your own entertainment...

Just my thought.

seems to me the only competition from things that are similar is from the MUSH world. but SL is so much better than them that there's no real competition anymore it's more like SL is their competition. the only advantage they have is they're free but when you can play SL forever on $10 and get all the other SL advantages that goes away.

so no SL doesn't have any competition.

when i got into SL i also showed it to my friends and even the ones who play games were like "that's gay" hehe. i think that means there aren't enough orcs to kill and you can't flex your levels at people.

Avast!

Pirates of Burning Sea will be a neat game, but it is not a comparison for the things you can do in SL.

It's an MMOG like EQ, SWG, WoW, MxO, etc with the same sort of restrictions to player created content and such... though from reading their site, it does seem players get to upload graphics for their sails.

And its very pretty.

-Ghoti

World of Warcraft seems to be a significant competition for SL because bored SL players go to it, especially when they can't log into SL with all its constant patch problems.

I got bored of WOW lol. Cancelled my account. I do still have two SWG accounts, 1 EQ2 account though... so I go there at times.

Having played every MMO offering to come out since Meridian 59 (excepting WoW, which is so shamelessly cookie-cutter than I refuse to touch it), I can with little uncertainty say there is nothing that offers the potential variety of Second Life.

However, there are some fairly intensive issues with Second Life, both technologically and in design.

Most MMO offerings do not compete directly with Second Life whatever, as their goals are strictly linear advancement and offer little to no social reward (outside the norm of being known in your community, which is standard to every variation on the theme of having a community).

Most MUDs/MOOs/MUSHs do not offer direct competition as they are either low or no graphic and much of the 'edge' Second Life holds against them it holds simply because they are not graphical, nor do they tend to promote themselves as Linden Labs does Second Life.

Eventually, someone will offer the same type of 'virtual playground' that Linden Labs offers with Second Life. When they do, you can inevitably expect they will learn from Linden Labs' mistakes.

"TSO and There are also rans at this point, at one time they both provided some element of competition."

Correction: At one time, TSO beat the pants off SL.

coco

I never played TSO, never was able to get into the sims... But for somereason I really enjoy SL.

I have to disagree with this statement rather strongly.

SL may have a navel gazing contingent which does severly over estimates their contribution, however LindenLabs have created an infrastructure and framework the likes the world has never seen before.

The closest competition that exist are There.com and ActiveWorlds. Neither of them are within striking distance, however.

there is no real competition to Neopets, the clones suck, I doubt there will be any to SL since they are going so fast it would be exceptionally difficult, without heavy investment in advertising, to catch up...

What you talking bout willie?!

So? Who cares? Only a couple of tekkies fascinated with shiny things. That didn't make it more fun for some TSO players who liked the greater democracy, accessibility, and socializing offered by TSO.

I'm speaking of subscriptions. Which at its peak, were 105k. I imagine SL had about 5-10k at that point? Now it would appear SL is closing the subscription gap almost completely.

When one talks about "competition," I assume one is talking about "paying subscribers."

coco

Yeah, TSO was the shiznit!

Thats why it was a massive failure subscription wise right? Topping out at 100K, and steadily falling. Even Maxis/EA admits the max subscriptions fell well short of their aspirations (over one million).

If you want to call standing in front of a pizza oven, a chalkboard, a potion machine, etc., for hour after mind numbing hour "beating the pants off SL", that is your choice, personally I think comparing TSO to SL in that manner is like comparing a go-kart to a Ford Mustang. Just so you know, I am a TSO transplant.

Blaze, don't be so hard on yourself and your navel. You just couldn't contribute to this thread without making some sort of idiotic point about the FIC could you? Get some self control man. My god.

On the ACTUAL topic; I don't think there are any direct challengers to SL at this point. Some have mentioned the Pirates game, but that is a niche, i.e, swashbuckler themed. SL doesn't impose any over arching theme, which is it's allure for me.

I'm thinking the people from Maxis are the ones to keep your eyes on. A next gen version of The Sims Online could very quickly start to resemble SL.

I just love the way these threads go. So predictable.

Some of you guys are worse than the TSO ass-kissers for not being about to admit to ANYTHING.

On the ACTUAL TOPIC, if someone says ...

"TSO and There are also rans at this point, at one time they both provided some element of competition."

... I'm going to point out (rightfully) that at one time TSO ruled the roost.

coco

Well, I guess what I was trying to say was that other than a certain core # of users which are very unpleasant (and therefore make SL rather unpleasant), SL is rather perfect in every other way.

Except perhaps for the fact I can't log in .. grrrr

Coco,

At the time that SL launched out of beta in June 2003, TSO already was on a decline - it's growth had peaked and a large amount of players had moved onto There and elsewhere. There was talk of EA pulling the plug on TSO in the summer of 2003 - it is amazing that they have kept it around - granted, they keep UO limping along too.

EA admitted that TSO had fallen horribly below expectations - they expected it to take the world by storm, and it was considered a flop by EA's standards and industry watchers. That is why I said it provided some element of competition - TSO has never been strong competition to SL - There was the much stronger competitor, as it had the custom content model from the ground up and brought players spending RL money on virtual items into the mainstream. In my 6 months or so in There, I spend several thousand dollars on virtual stuff for myself and my girlfriend, and many other people spent just as much.

With the change to 1.2 and land tiers, Second Life has gone beyond any other online environment in terms of getting players to spend a staggering amount of money monthly. While a huge number of players are on basic accounts, the fact that you have players paying hundreds of dollars a month for SL is pretty amazing - and there is nothing else comparable to it in the market.

Well, Coco, if we're going on sheer numbers alone than Lineage or some asian fare is the best of all.

Hell, McDonalds hamburgers therefore are the best!

Appeal to popularity is a clear logical fallacy.

What we should do is say what these games are the best *for*.

TSO was the best for people who liked to follow a scripted path of advancement and socializing.

SecondLife is the best for people who wish to persue unlimited possibilities with almost infinite freedom.

I'll let you make the value judgements beyond those two statements.

Look, SL was backed by EA, a BIG company which aspired to compete with other large MMOGs subscription wise. They failed. It's a horribly monotonous game with a broken economy and many promises made and not delivered, i.e. custom content uploads, etc., not to mention highly exploitable money games. I don't go online to clean the brown rings from toilets and peoples virtual hair from shower stalls.

My point about the actual topic was not directed at you Coco, it was directed at blaze who couldn't make it through a post without making an allusion to some supposed narcissistic element within SL (like SL has a monopoly on that), which has ZERO to do with the topic of this thread. Go figure. Obsession rears it's head again.

Coco,

Again, for purposes of this conversation, TSO is not strong direct competition to SL. Yes, at one time, TSO had a large number of players,but even then it was not directly in competition with SL as SL was not live. Also, it did not last because of missteps by EA - the biggest mistake with TSO was no custom content. Had they allowed custom content, honestly, I think TSO would be in direct competion with SL today, as the Sims has such a rich content market. However, EA ignored that, and shot themselves in the foot.

I was an avid TSO player, so you cannot accuse me of being anti-TSO. I just don't have blinders on about it. EA fucked the entire thing up, end of story.

Ok i used to play there.com But i found it hugely limiting, and atleast a year ago now i found secondlife, Looking for some like there but with less of the limitations and i found secondlife! In honesty there and the sims are like limited vertions of sl, sl wins hands down because this game is genrally what it is because of the people, there and the sims.........is what it is because of the staff lol!

is sl compertion to lineage and wow ect?
Im my views no, i love lineage2 i play it here and there quiet a bit and i get bored of this and lineage at different times, but do i prefer one of the other? not really. why i because lineage is pure adrenaline its running round leveling strugerling ect in a completely didfferent way, there is an end and a goal and well your working towards it. jut like almost every other game

sl? well this is freedom you can try new things experiance emotion's come up against people with amazing ideas share thoughts work together, make amaing friends on a different level. become involved and well i find sl has an effect on my thoughts in the real world.

i know i talk to much but really sl is something very different to everything. there had its time and i once loved it very much. but as time went on in there i found myself looking for something else because id almost had my time. with sl there is no end to what i can do. i get blocks where i cant build because im just flaked and when i have those moments i party hard and shop ! What else does a girl do LOL.

Maybe oneday there will be compertion but right now sl is pretty much one of a kind, I here there trying to give more freedom realising there mistakes in holding a vr would back from evolving. but its kinda to late now. truth is sl is different and for me i found it to almost be an extention of who i am in my real life, as nutty as that sounds i belive i have met some real people with real views and i enjoy it, and for me it dosent compair to other games those really are just games!

so blah thats my view, feel free so ignore me LOL!

i tried tso! Yuk in one hour of playing i quit, the highlight for me? erm how many rubbish outfits oh joy, everyone weaing the same thing Whoopy, i danced in my pee

sl >tso............erm not even compertition