The Future of Second Life

Based on past experience, here are my 5 predictions for the near future of Second Life:

1. The adult continent will be shifted to the Adult Grid. It will require a separate login to the Main Grid, and in effect will mean that Adult Content in SL will have swapped places with the Teen Grid.

2. As well as Prim Limits, and the soon-to-be introduced Script Limits and Avatar Attachment Limits, there will be Texture Limits (both on size and numbers, per parcel).

3. There will be a fee for Teleports.

4. Video Chat will be introduced.

5. The fees for uploading Textures, Sounds and Animations will all be increased.


Those are my predictions, let me know if you agree or disagree with any of them.

What are yours?

Rock

I do not agree with any of those except for maybe some parts of #2.

We already did a fee for teleports back in 2003 - and that was when you had an option to fly across the grid or pay to teleport. I cannot see them bringing this back into play when teleports are mandatory now just to get from one part of the grid to another unless you are using some super scripted object to move you across the grid.

I'm not sure there will be avatar attachment limits when people are asking for more attachment points. I think the script limit fix will change how avatar attachments work since scripting each prim will probably make the attachments useless under the new script limitations to be introduced.

Texture limits....I do not know about that.

I predict in the future there will be even more forum posts about predicting the future of SL.

Fee for teleports?
That's just stupid and will never happen

I predict that LL will quietly withdraw its resources from supporting grid interoperability. They're already being told by some interop zealots what they shouldn't do to upgrade the SecondLife platform, lest it pose a challenge for other grids that may someday want to connect. That's just not going to carry much weight in Linden Research Inc's strategic planning unless viable commercial interest in virtual worlds starts to pick up again.

I predict extensive queues building up at the customs and imigration posts controlling the travel between the PG and Adult continents, while passports are checked, visas purchased and inventory searched for contraband.

Pep (While Lindens have Diplomatic status of course)

I'm not sure I can see those happening in the near future. One thing I might see happening is limits to the size of your inventory perhaps based on your account level. I know they are doing those changes to place rarely accessed things into a different type of asset server but I guess eventually huge inventories will become increasingly costly for LL and they'll want some level of control over that.

I'm hoping that this will also discourage content creators from making scripted resize clothing and hair and that they go back to plain old moddable items.

I predict inworld advertising for real world products for free accounts, giving some sort of benefit to premium accounts who will be able to mute them.

Pep (Human body part enlargement ads in the adult continent, ads for trips to Disneyland in the other one)

Yeah....I agree with that. It just seems like a waste of scripts to use them for hair resizing.....I mean come on. I can adjust my hair...it's NOT a big deal. Yeah, when you're new there's a learning curve and it can be a challenge.......but so what. So is just about everything when ya get rolling. Hair scripts are annoying, and just another way for creators to make them no mod. (ha ha they must have figured out that I always bought blond hair and just adjusted the color myself if I wanted red or brown or whatever LOL)

predict that some day someone at ll will wake up and say 'maybe we should have listened'

i think gurl6 has the idea. three sizes of mod hair in each box.

Is there some sort of unwritten rule that any semi-sensible thread initiated by a bloke will get hijacked by girlies talking about hair and shoes?

Pep (the only benefit being it stops them talking about what jerks men are I suppose)

Stop giving them ideas!

The only thing that I can predict is that I will not be buying any new land for awhile, not until I see where this adult continent fiasco ends up.
BT

Second Life will not be owned by Linden Lab (tm). It is the only way it will be around 5 years from now. They will either sell it or mismanage it into oblivion.

We only entertain future of SL predictions in January.

Erm....a lot of those scripts, once you've made the resize, have a "kill" button.

I prefer that, actually. Once I've adjusted my hair - I'm done with it.

I see your thinking. But I think it's likely to be advertising for SL products relating to searched SL items.

Example - somebody types "Monkey" into Search and you can have your Ad show up on their screen along side the regular search results. Ya knows - like Google!.

Hmmm, not me. I Like to resize my own stuff because I change bodies almost as much as I change skins and clothes.
BT

/me is slightly bemused about whether Wandered actually uses SL . . .

Pep ( . . . since this is how 'Search All' works already)

I predict SL will turn into this:

I definitely think RL Adspamming is in the near future, that is why the whole Pornsylvania Project has been started. I wouldn't be surprised to see it where you buy something inworld and get ads for it's RL counterpart, perhaps with an inworld store to buy them. I don't think it will be something that Premium Members will be able to opt out of.