SL is a GAME!

I've seen SL referred to as a game frequently.

Is it?

I don't see it as a game, myself. I think there are games within the SL world, but the world itself, and the viewer that we all stare at, isn't in an of itself a game.

When I'm with my Mistress, I don't think of it as a game. Couldn't be further from that.

Last night, when I bought freaking awesome flaming dual longswords and went to City of Lost Angels; *that* was a game!

Your experiences will be completely different.

Perhaps you're a reclusive builder? Are you playing a game, or expressing your artistic self in a new medium.

Do you like to go dancing and meet people? Is that just a game? You're interracting with real people on a social level. Not just blowing them up with a rocket launcher.

Perhaps your in it for the pixel sex. Is that type of porn just a game?

Spending time at the hangout. Taking someone for a ride in your bi-plane (hint hint).

At what level would you have to use SL to only perceive it as a game?

Real life is a game, so SL is more of a game. hell everything's a game

At the level of a griefer in his mum's basement


How can it be a game when I live there?

SL is all the above.

For me most of the time it is a chat room. A very nice chat room with graphics and animations so it's not as boring as regular chat rooms.

It's also a support function for me. I deal with some health issues as well as recovery issues. Due to my having limited contact with the outside world I am able to get these from SL. Definitely one of the better aspects of SL.

To some SL is a business. Most, IMO, are very poorly run business' because they run them more as hobbies. Then they come here screaming and yelling when they believe the rules have changed (ie: gambling) when they really should have done their homework like a legitimate business would.

For some SL is a hobby. They love to create many wonderful things. Some choose to sell them to get them to at least pay for themselves and maybe even make a buck or two.

For some it's just a game. Maybe they choose to live an entirely different fantasy life while interacting throughout the grid, or maybe they choose to do so only in RP sims.

The list could go on and on. For some SL may be all of the above. It really is what you make of it.

It's a game as long as you don't have to pay LL more than a minimal amount or nothing at all. Once you start having to pay them substantial fees, the game-ness of it starts fading away, regrettably.

I used to not think its a game.

As time goes on though, things happen that make me wonder if a game is really all it is.

This is one of the discussions that come around every so often, and it gets just as heated as the rest. The answer always is it is what you , then it is, call it that. You can call it a zucchini, what does it matter? I refer to it as a game, it's just convenient for me to use that term.

Its interesting that this subject comes up in the forums ever few months - I think thats OK - good to see how evolved the responses will be.

Some say it is a only a game - some say its the next WWW - some see it as only a business - and others as a social outlet. But, because I see SL as both reflecting and mocking RL - what I think secondlife has become is the worlds first real 'virtual social experiment'.

To me - SL is a simulation where I can express my artistic abilities and a small business thats giving me RL $$.


Cheers!

Its a game of cat and mouse...with LL's obliviousness and true purpose and our paypal accounts.

Dammit! Last time must have been before my time. Should of taken my chances with the search! Who knew??

I hope it doesn't get heated though. Already had some good posts.

/me slinks contritely off...

Well, I LIKE games, so I wouldn't be demeaning SL if I said "it's a game". Games are fun, and a nice way to hang about with friends. Had a lovely time playing Clue of all things just the other night with some friends. Certainly more entertaining than putting on a negotiated DVD.

But, I digress (It was Colonel Mustard in the Ballroom with the Candlestick, if you were wondering).

SL isn't a game, though, not anymore so than the internet is. It's a medium in which MANY play games--be it Role Playing, Pirate Ship Combat, car races, or a "game within a game" like the En Garde game that is making the rounds (tremendous fun, btw). But that is hardly the only reason for being here.

I like to think of it as a multiple use platform in which I can communicate with multiple other users.

Drat, that sounds pretentious. No wonder people just shrug and call it a game.

SL is a toy. I don't understand how anyone can honestly not see that. To me, it's as obvious as saying the sun is yellow, and equally hard for me to explain that to someone who just doesn't get the idea of the sun being yellow (or red if you happen to be Japanese).

All SL's a stage,
And all the avatars merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many Alts.

I am not a man.

LOL, thanks Lexxi. Yes, I'm a noob...

I think zucchini sums it up quite well:

You thought it was a great idea when you planted it; it grew exponentially when you weren't prepared for the ballooning product; you started giving it away to anyone who wanted some; it got out of control in your garden; you found you couldn't keep taking care of it; finally, it will languish and rot on the vine until the freeze comes.

Wanna buy Linden Labs, anyone?

Ah, the question to end all questions...

Second Life resembles a game in many aspects--but there are a few key components which it lacks: an ending and a singular goal.

I have no problem referring to [it] as a 'game', but I think virtual spaces like Second Life require their own titles.

I've never lost sleep over a game.. but I've lost sleep over stuff in sl.

And if it is a game... how do you cheat?

.d

I have no idea what a "zucchini" is that you speak of. Is it a type of potato?

When I crack open my Webster's Dictionary, the first definition offered for "game" is: "an amusement or pasttime." Second Life would seem to fit that definition of game for most users. However, since that definition depends on the reason that someone uses Second Life, whether it is a game or not depends on the individual use of Second Life, not on the overall structure of Second Life.

The third definition offered for "game" is: "a competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance, and played according to a set of rules for the amusement of the players or spectators." I think Second Life fails to qualify as a game in that sense, because it does not meet quite a few components of the definition.

The more interesting question is not whether Second Life is a game or not. The interesting question is why does it matter whether Second Life is a game or not. It seems that, most often, the question of whether Second Life is a game or not comes in the context of an online romance, in which one party expects the romance to be real in some since, with the parties being truthful to each other, while the other party is "roleplaying" a persona, as one would do in roleplaing games like Dungeons and Dragons.

My Webster's also has a definition for "roleplaying game:" "a game in which participants adopt the roles of imaginary characters in an adventure under the direction of a Game Master." That seems to require that all participants adopt the roles of imaginary characters, which is clearly not the case with Second Life as a whole. Of course, a group of residents can use Second Life as a platform to play a roleplaying game, but that seems to require that all in that group are adopting the roles of imaginary characters. In the context of the online romance that I previously cited, if one of the parties to the romance is not aware that it is a roleplaying game and thus not adopting the role of an imaginary character, then that romance cannot be fairly called a roleplaying game.

In most other contexts, Second Life is what it is, and whether it meets a particular definition of "game" is really moot, beyond being the topic of some purely academic discussion.

World of Warcraft has a monthly fee--and is (one of) the most popular multiplayer games in the world.

What you pay has little to nothing to do with whether it can be deemed a 'game' or not.

Try paying over $5000 USD a month to LL that you are responsible for, or whatever Desmond pays. Then, come back and tell me it's "just a game". It's a serious business with real consequences if LL doesn't get paid.

I think my point was (which I clearly stated):

I stand by my point. You pay $0 USD or $14.95 a month, and sure, it is only a game. You pay over $5000 USD and it's a business. If you can enjoy your business, you have the best of both worlds. But please don't try to tell me that it's only a game to everyone. That's disingenuous.