Computers Within SL

I'm proposing (if this hasn't come up yet) that SL impliment the ability to make computers within SL, for the purpose of making PDAs, Laptops, better ATM's/touch-terminals (that don't rely on web pages or Notecards) and Video Game machines (cabinets, consoles and handhelds) ... The processing would all be done on the client's computer (the computer of whoever is using the device really - it would basically be a emulation program), and the output visible on the screen of the device. Such devices (as well as HDTV/Digital tv sets) could have a specialized viewing mode... you click on the screen while holding the device or being positioned at the controls of a cabinet and the camera settles on looking at the screen, directly or at a slight up or down angle.. so youre clearly still in SL, but also viewing the computer/game system. Other people next to you could watch the screen and listen to the sound output from the side, just like in real life. We could have full blown, realistic arcades this way.

Now, I know this might be a cause for security problems because of the programming capabilities... the ability to make these things might be a special privilege, or the operating systems have some pretty good security limitations to not "overflow" into th restof the SL world beyond the confines of the computer itself. (Maybe the systems would have such old CPUs and operating systems that it would be a moot point). The computers probabaly shouldn't be able to affect anything outside of their video and audio output (well, of course) .. though it culd be possible to have a network (wired or wireless).

This way we could have something else to sell at stores like DWELLGET besides just avatars.. I'd love to see a section of video games.. not only retro consoles that "might have been"someone could invent a really neat lower-bit processor machine from the 1978, 1982 or 1992 eras that can do some nice tricks), but also newer games that look like the stuff on the most advanced systems today - and also handheld game sytems, cartridges and discs for them (of course) to play different games .. and the PDA's would be great for keeping track of stuff (for example, I told Yadni I wished he had PDA's he could give out to people who visit his junkyard that keep a list of what freebie boxes they haveal ready taken, and also give reports of new boxes or updates to old boxes).

Yet another thing to make SL more fun, and give people more stuff to do with their money online.

Oh yeah, and laptops would finally be something more than just decoration in an apartment, or a keyboard to appear when we type.

Soon we get gecko (web) and much of what you said will be possible.

The network is the computer!

Good thread to brainstorm on how to implement some of that stuff with web on a prim/HUD.

Computers in SL...

it's been done.


Very basic now but more *looks back and forth* more on way... can't talk.. they found me

*click

Yes a real computer with a game on it third life

Taking your games on virtual computers a little futher:

I suppose there will be a market in making games you have to pay for on such things.

Already making games on generally seems to be quite sparse with individual developers (so I expect there to be far, far, far, far less on secondlife), and many that do, ask that you pay for their content.

On the other hand, Secondlife might be attractive to some people, as it would be quite difficult to pirate games sold on such a system in secondlife.

Every prim in SL is a computer. If it's not a powerful enough computer, that's because the single computer running the sim has to share its time between thousands of virtual computers... making a special kind of more-powerful computer will just mean they'll have less time for the rest...

Yes, but I am talking about virtual computers who's code is executed on the PC of the person in SL who is using it, rather than being executed by one of the Second Life servers. The only thing the SL server has to do is make sure it displays the screen and music output of the computer/device at a decent speed.

I can think of a couple of actually *useful* capabilities that might be used to implement this kind of thing, but I think limiting it to emulating historical videogames would be annoying.

1. Encapsulation of arbitrary local applications windows in SL. This would allow you to use SL as your own computer's desktop. It would be fairly easy to do in Mac OS X because every window is an OpenGL texture already, but Windows would be a tougher job. If the display on a prim could be streamed as video or uploaded to the server then this would give you an interesting collaborative environment.

2. Client-side scripting, with an enhanced (because it's not competing with other users's scripts) LSL that could make dataserver-style requests to the server, and operate on client-only objects like particles, attachments, and so on.

Both of these would be überawesome.

Yes, I agree with you there. It should be able to emulate modern systems too.


Now that I think of it, we should be able to have laptops or PCs in Second Life that connect to a real computer on the Internet with a program like Real VNC (Virtual Network Computing).
See http://www.realvnc.com/

So you sit at a computer in SL and it's actually viewing the dektop of a real computer somwhere on the Internet, which you can control.

This might be possible to implement with Mono and html/javascript, although I'm guessing it would be really slow. If it was possible to run Mono client-side and have the graphics libraries exposed on the other hand...

If you could encapsulate normal application windows in prims or textures, you could do that. Maybe have a set of 5-10 "Application Textures" defined in your preferences, so that when you run them they're treated as a stream within your computer, and clicks on the texture turn into clicks on the application. You'd need to pass right-clicks to the application as well.

Then you'd just make Mame and VNC Client two of your textures, and I'd make iTunes and Camino a couple of mine.