Is SL really a game?

No kids, SL is a desert topping and a floor wax!

It is a game. Yes, it's a community, but any MMOG turns into a community after a while, it's a by-product of folks interacting. No, there isn't and end-game, or a way to win really, but I don't see end games or ways to really win in the other MMORPGs I've played either. In Warcraft I accumulate levels, power, gold, equipment, and friends. In Star Wars Galaxies I accumulate credits, skills, faction, items, and friends. In SL I accumulate Lindens, ratings, objects, and friends. But in all of those there is no "Game Over Screen." You just keep on keepin-on till you get bored. It is entertainment, it is a diversion, it is not real life.

That said, SL is very unique. The room to be creative here is great! It's a game for social/artistic folks. It is masszively less structured than other MMOGs, but it still feels like a game to me.

Obviously people have a lot of very different, strongly held opinions on this, and that's totally, cool.

I suppose I can understand wanting to think of all this as something more than an entertaining diversion. That'd be the only way I could justify to myself paying hundreds of dollars a month to own land. (Yes I know, most folks pay much more reasonable amounts.) I nearly fell out of my chair the first time I saw someone mention that they paid such an amount to play a game! It isn't an investment. This isn't the start of the matrix. It's a game. A ridiculously cool game, if you like 3-D modeling, or being social. But it's still a game. IMHO, natch.

There isnt a single online game around that has a so called 'economy' where you CANT make real life money - not one.You can make in world money in all these games and sell it for real cash and if you think this one single thing makes SL unique then you obviously aint played many online games.

WHY oh WHY would you want all the stress of your real life job only to come home,turn on your pc,and go through it all over again in a virtual world????That concept is utterly beyond me because I play this GAME for fun.

YES it's a game and if you think otherwise then A) your deluding yourself or B) Linden Labs are deluding you.

People, this may surprise you, but SecondLife is a virtual world... none of the buildings, designs, or avatars have any physical existance.

ITS A PHUCKING GAME !!!!!!

You can edit the first post and add a poll.

You've contradicted yourself here a bit I think in what you're trying to get across. The fact that the virtual world represented is made up purely of information rather than physical objects isn't what defines it as a game. If that's your definition of a game than any number of activities suddenly qualify as games. Anything from stock markets onward...

It depends on any one person's definition of game and the weight that holds. As someone said earlier pretty much anything can be defined as a game, thus we have studies like Game Theory that explain a lot of RL events in gaming type language.

I think SL is a game.. as much a game as the web, or IRC, or anything else where people come together to interact.

What I think you're trying to get across is, as far as games go, it's not a particularly important game. Fair enough for now, but since there are real people behind the keyboards creating a community it will increase in importance over time. Maybe you're also trying to say that it's not real. Fair enough too, but you can't deny that you're observing and interacting with this fake world. Would you even know the difference if you were born, strepped to a computer terminal with SL running? (It could be argued RL is the game with the good frame rate).

If you're comparing SL to other online role playing games, you have to consider that the ultimate goal in SL is completely unwritten, as in RL. Also the intellectual property aspects of SL make it very interesting. In the age we're entering where intellectual property is becoming more valuable than real property, the implications of owning virtual real-estate becomes a lot more important. Consider the domain name sex.com. It's not a real thing, but it's worth millions of real dollars.

Unilke WoW or something where you're killing rats for two weeks to level up, in SL you'll never get to fight the Boss Linden (not without being banned anyway (and that'd be way cool, I bet he's like 10000 prims tall!)). The goals and the importance are far less static.

Edited: for GRAMMAR, but not spelling

Ok I didn't read every post in this thread so forgive me if this point of view has been mentioned.

My view is that there are really two questions here...
1) Is SL a game?
2) Is SL "only" a game? (as in..."relax it's only a game"

IMHO SL is a game because I think the following covers it in some ways...

game1 ( P ) Pronunciation Key (gm)
n.
An activity providing entertainment or amusement; a pastime: party games; word games.

A competitive activity or sport in which players contend with each other according to a set of rules: the game of basketball; the game of gin rummy.
A single instance of such an activity: We lost the first game.
games An organized athletic program or contest: track-and-field games; took part in the winter games.
A period of competition or challenge: It was too late in the game to change the schedule of the project.

The total number of points required to win a game: One hundred points is game in bridge.
The score accumulated at any given time in a game: The game is now 14 to 12.
The equipment needed for playing certain games: packed the children's games in the car.
A particular style or manner of playing a game: improved my tennis game with practice.
Informal.
An active interest or pursuit, especially one involving competitive engagement or adherence to rules: “the way the system operates, the access game, the turf game, the image game” (Hedrick Smith).
A business or occupation; a line: the insurance game.
An illegal activity; a racket.
Informal.
Evasive, trifling, or manipulative behavior: wanted a straight answer, not more of their tiresome games.
A calculated strategy or approach; a scheme: I saw through their game from the very beginning.
Mathematics. A model of a competitive situation that identifies interested parties and stipulates rules governing all aspects of the competition, used in game theory to determine the optimal course of action for an interested party.

Wild animals, birds, or fish hunted for food or sport.
The flesh of these animals, eaten as food.

An object of attack, ridicule, or pursuit: The press considered the candidate's indiscretions to be game.
Mockery; sport: The older children teased and made game of the newcomer.

v. gamed, gam·ing, games
v. tr. Archaic
To waste or lose by gambling.

v. intr.
To play for stakes; gamble.

adj. gam·er, gam·est
Plucky and unyielding in spirit; resolute: She put up a game fight against her detractors.
Ready and willing: Are you game for a swim?

Idioms:
ahead of the game
In a position of advantage; winning or succeeding.
the only game in town Informal
The only one of its kind available: “He's the only game in town for the press to write about” (Leonard Garment).


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Middle English, from Old English gamen.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
gamely adv.
gameness n.


The real question is the second one. Telling someone chill out it is only a game is like telling someone who just lost their a$$ in a casino the same thing. Is SL only a game? No not IMHO. It is not one thing to all members.

To some it is just a game. To some it is a job. To some it is a creative outlet. To some it is therapy. To some it is an addiction. To some it is a lifestyle. To some it is a dream come true.

I am disabled in RL and have many friends who are as well. We have all played other "games" but they are not the same as the experience here.

I have friends who can not walk in RL, but here they can run, drive and fly. I have friends who are deaf in real life and have a hard time communicating with others who have thier hearing but here they are easily understood. And I have friends who have physical abnormalities from birth and/or from years of surgery who can't hammer a nail in real life but here they can build the house they live in. All of these friends ,as well as myself, love SL because when we meet someone we don't have to worry about people treating us differently because of our disabilities. SL allows us to socialize free from stereotypes, simpathy and pitty. We are treated just like any other would be treated. To us SL is not "only" a game. It is a part of our lives that many others take for granted in thiers.

I post this not to gain simpathy as that would defeat the whole purpose. I just posted it to give others another point of view and way to look at things.

Flame away.

Is a computer a calculator?

Techzen, the final parts of your message make some very valid points.

I just read an interesting post from Robert Linden in another thread:

Robin Linden: Try to understand the long term view
Robin Linden: it's world building, not just gaming

It is what it is....

And it's different things to different people.

No it's not Siggy.

I'm going to impose my view on you, you Chaotic crazyjinn, and say that when I speak for myself, I'm also speaking for you.

And when I ask the question:

"IS SECOND LIFE A GAME?"

I answer:

"YES!"

End of dicussion. So get your marvellous Hulkheinie back to Outback and get your g-g-game on.



^sarcasm, I actually like Siggy. NOT.

^stacked sarcasm I really like him.

^yes I do. And what he says is true.

Hahaha you can try My wife can't even get me to match my socks!

Damn you all and your obsessive sock matching! Damn you all to HELL!!!!!!!

Siggy.

Is SL a game? No - it contains some, and lots of other stuff as well.

However I don't know what noun to actually use to describe it. I suggest the following - feel free to add/delete/ignore.

*Non game
*Space
*Entity
*Thingy
*Passtime
*Experience
*Addiction

Doohicky?

Hmmm lets see....


Second Life is a massive multiplayer online doohicky...


Yep works for me!

(tongue stuck in cheek)
Then again - I'm sure we could also all form a union and vote on what second life is..