Is Second Life a Virtual World or a Website?
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Lowen Raymaker
Registered User
Join date: 21 Apr 2007
Posts: 185
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02-18-2008 22:55
Is Second Life a Virtual World or a Website? Maybe if you accessed SL through the web and not the client it could be a VWW? Virtual World Website, but I digress. I needed to throw together a new website and it had been a while so I hit google with phrase "best web sites" to see what was going on out there. The first link back was a Time article on the best and worst websites. While reading and scrolling through the page I see a link towards the bottom titled "5 Worst Websites" with a pic of SL's homepage next to it! I clicked the link and read this short piece of what I can only call absolute ignorance. http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1638344_1638341_1633628,00.htmlFrom: someone
Sites to Avoid
SecondLife.com
We're sure that somebody out there is enjoying Second Life, but why? Visually, this vast virtual world can be quite impressive, but it's notoriously slow to load (it runs on free software you have to download) and difficult to navigate, even with a broadband connection.
You interact in the space through an avatar, but creating and personalizing this animated representation of yourself is tedious. Movements feel clunky and there can be a terrible lag.
As on many sites, there's a learning curve for novices, but Second Life's is simply too steep. And there are crazy people around every corner — disruptive types that spread graffiti and get in your way and throw you off your groove.
Fans praise Second Life as a virtual hangout where you can meet and chat and buy sneakers and real estate (that's fake stuff for real money) and dance and go bowling and have sex — suggesting that "virtual humans" doing "human things" online in Second Life is somehow less pathetic than, say, cooking Kaldorei spider kabobs or making magic pantaloons in World of Warcraft.
The corporate world's embrace of the place as a venue for staff meetings and training sessions does seem to lend Second Life a layer of legitimacy. But maybe it's a case of some CEOs trying too hard to be hip.
Ok I won't even address how obviously slanted and contemptuous the article is really, I think it's obvious I don't care for the article. What really gets me is that the article does not discuss the SecondLife website at all! You see TIME, SL has a website AND it has a virtual world. So just in case I have missed something in my understanding about what virtual worlds and websites are could you please tell me this. Is Second Life a Virtual World or a Website? |
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Bradley Bracken
Goodbye, Farewell, Amen
Join date: 2 Apr 2007
Posts: 3,856
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02-18-2008 23:23
Torley Linden wrote a response to the Time Magazine article in the blog awhile back. Here's the link: http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/07/12/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-avatar-overlords/Technically SL is a website and a blog. I don't think it applies to the types of websites they discussed in the article. Another case of the many biased articles about SL from reporters who have no clue.
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My interest in SL has simply died. Thanks for all the laughs
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Brenda Connolly
Un United Avatar
Join date: 10 Jan 2007
Posts: 25,000
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02-19-2008 04:29
I remember when that came out last year. If it were written by an ordinary person who had no gaming experience or didn't do much online, I could see it. I might have said the same things before I tried SL. But for a so called prefessional, it was a bit smug, but it did remind me why I no longer subscribe to Time magazine.
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Chip Midnight
ate my baby!
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 10,231
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02-19-2008 06:11
Time used to be a great news magazine about a decade ago, but then it became nothing but a shill for Time/Warner. I canceled my subscription when the Pokemon movie made the cover story. That's news?! Of course it was a Warner Brothers release. It's just gone downhill since then. These days it seems every time I see it on the newsstand there's some story about Jesus on the cover. Always nice to see them covering the big news stories... of two thousand years ago. 
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Brann Georgia
Spits infinitives
Join date: 12 Dec 2007
Posts: 1,441
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02-19-2008 07:46
Graffiti? Where can you 'spread graffiti'? What a cool idea. Does anyone know if there are any sims where you can do that? Sounds like a blast.
/me checks with Soji to see if he's got any spray paint in his gadget bag
B.
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Michael Bigwig
~VRML Aficionado~
Join date: 5 Dec 2005
Posts: 2,181
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02-19-2008 07:56
It's a 'virtual world' or more cutting-edge term: 'metaverse.'
Why would you consider SL a website?
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Soji Slade
Um . . . Hello?
Join date: 28 Mar 2007
Posts: 1,270
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02-19-2008 07:57
From: Brann Georgia Graffiti? Where can you 'spread graffiti'? What a cool idea. Does anyone know if there are any sims where you can do that? Sounds like a blast.
/me checks with Soji to see if he's got any spray paint in his gadget bag
B. There actually is a superhero suit that includes spray paint cans. They spray particles that say stuff like "POW". I do not recall the name of the place, but it is something like Ricky Lee or something like that. I do not own that superhero suit, though.
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From: Nimbus Rau Nimbus Score is 9.5 out of a possible 10 - Wow! what a score. What a cat! 300th Post 2/22/08 400th Post 2/28/08 500th Post 3/14/08 600th Post 3/28/08 666th Post 8/05/08 SL music wiki http://exploringvirtualworlds.wikidot.com/music-acts
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Max Herzog
Cloudy
Join date: 9 Jul 2006
Posts: 1,073
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02-19-2008 08:03
From: Soji Slade There actually is a superhero suit that includes spray paint cans. They spray particles that say stuff like "POW". I do not recall the name of the place, but it is something like Ricky Lee or something like that.
I do not own that superhero suit, though. I believe that I do though. You stick to feathered pirate hats, chap  |
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Maximillian Desoto
Max's Landfall Bar & Dock
Join date: 26 Apr 2006
Posts: 323
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02-19-2008 08:08
From: Bradley Bracken
Technically SL is a website and a blog. I don't think it applies to the types of websites they discussed in the article.
Technically SL HAS a website, a blog amd forums. But anyone who says that SL IS the website, blog and forums would be awfully wrong. |
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Soji Slade
Um . . . Hello?
Join date: 28 Mar 2007
Posts: 1,270
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02-19-2008 08:23
From: Max Herzog I believe that I do though. You stick to feathered pirate hats, chap Now now, I've been dubbed gadget man. I have no idea why, but I have. But you can have this one, if you insist.
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From: Nimbus Rau Nimbus Score is 9.5 out of a possible 10 - Wow! what a score. What a cat! 300th Post 2/22/08 400th Post 2/28/08 500th Post 3/14/08 600th Post 3/28/08 666th Post 8/05/08 SL music wiki http://exploringvirtualworlds.wikidot.com/music-acts
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Max Herzog
Cloudy
Join date: 9 Jul 2006
Posts: 1,073
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02-19-2008 08:25
From: Soji Slade Now now, I've been dubbed gadget man. I have no idea why, but I have. But you can have this one, if you insist. I shall give you a go with my spray cans. I'm nothing if not magnanamous. |
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Brann Georgia
Spits infinitives
Join date: 12 Dec 2007
Posts: 1,441
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02-19-2008 08:54
Hey!
I still need a WALL to spray on! Would be a cool concept. Go into mouselook and paint on some walls, bridges, and the occasional griefer.
à tout à l'heure!
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Max Herzog
Cloudy
Join date: 9 Jul 2006
Posts: 1,073
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02-19-2008 09:00
From: Brann Georgia Hey!
I still need a WALL to spray on! Would be a cool concept. Go into mouselook and paint on some walls, bridges, and the occasional griefer.
à tout à l'heure!
. What would your tag be? (Tag? is that the right word? It's a few years since I was a gratuitous street vandal) |