Please Shut Up if you say SL is not a game.

I just like showing people who feel they have to 'correct' me why I see it as a game. Its amusing.

yes yes. "Secondlife is different to each of us."

I've said it myself. Is that a 'definition'? No... because it works just as well for other things. Like "Faith" or "Getting High".



I think SecondLife has earned the right to have a better definition than that. A point on which your negativity will undoubtedly force you to disagree.


--
Bob: "SecondLife is a blur."
Ned: "No, Ned, your 'perception' is blurred, clean your glasses."

I think game is a good definition. Nothing says a game can't be good, or even 'wondrous.'

I think positively when I say that SL is different for everyone. It has earned the right to be a fantastic game, with a rich user made world. Its frankly, the best multiplayer open ended rpg to date in my eyes.

No negativity on the matter here.

definition of "Game" as it is on Merriam - Webster OnLine:

"game:"

"1 a (1) : activity engaged in for diversion or amusement"



What you all must see is that everything, cannot be considered "a game", especially life. Life is the basis on which you are diverting or being distracted from. If SL holds more priority over your first life, and your REAL life acts as a diversion from SL, then you can sal Life is a game. However this is not the case. A simple example, if you will,

If you go to jail in real life for committing a crime, does that in effect render your SL life over also? The answer is yes. If you are in jail in real life, you have no method of diverting your attention to this form of entertainment, also, you probably have a lot more important things to do, other than to just get back on SL if you had commited a crime in real life.

Lets reverse the scenario.

If you get banned from Second Life, does that render your real life over? It most definately does not. You will still be able to act and run your real life functions to the same efficiency even without your second life.

This shows that SL, is basically a diversion from your real life. A form of entertainment to distract you from the sometimes stressful, sometimes tiring on goings of real life.

Thus, the definition of a game, works PERFECTLY for SL being a game, however if you try to switch it around and use real life as a game, it does not fit the definition as real life is NOT a form of diversion from your SL or anything else. It is NOT a form of entertainment.

The ONLY time SL strays from being a game, is when your main income and business stems from SL. This turns things around, as SL becomes work (your main source of work) and you use the real world, to experience fresh air and relax when you get a chance. In this case, SL is then your PRIORITY and no longer becomes a game, while Life, in advertantly becomes a game.

Single Most intelligent post in this thread. Along with a few of the OPs.

If you go to jail, do you lose your job? Can you administrate your website? If you get fired is your life over? If you get banned from your ISP and can no longer get online is your life over?

Is the internet a game? Is your job a game?

Lots of questions for you to answer here, but I think those answers will show you where your own suppositions are lacking.





You may role play in Second Life, but it is not an RPG.

role-play:
In role-playing, participants adopt characters, or parts, that have personalities, motivations, and backgrounds different from their own.

role-playing game:
A role-playing game (RPG) is a type of game where players assume the roles of fictional characters via role-playing. In fact, many non-athletic games involve some aspect of role-playing; however, role-playing games tend to focus on this aspect of behaviour.

live action role-playing game (LARP):
A live action role-playing game (LARP or LRP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants perform some or all of the physical actions of the characters they are playing within a pre-determined space for a pre-determined span of time. LARP may be considered a form of improvisational theatre.

Source: wikipedia.org


You role play.. others do not. Not a role-playing game but allows for that activity to take place, just as most any comunication medium.

When you free form role play your imagination and the shared story you create with others is the game. Give yourself credit where it is due. You make the game.

So if Yahoo chat isn't a game, why would Second Life be one?? I can sign on and chat to people on both, its just that one is in 3D. So does that mean because its 3D, its a game?? So if yahoo added some 3D characters that moved, it would be a game all of the sudden??

Yes, this is where I become very confused with the arguments for Second Life as a game as well.

(the rest of Linden's statement is deleted for the purposes of simplicity of comprehension!)


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Its a roleplaying game to me. I really don't care if others are roleplaying. Linden Labs made the game. I made the character and motives.

It IS a rpg to me, your arguments don't disprove it and you'll never change my opinion.

Learn to accept people see SL differently, and stop trying to define it for others. See you in game.

Philip also said we'd have havoc2. Still don't see it.

This only shows SL is not a game to Philip - thus showing it is different to everyone.

Its still a game to me.

Ah! Linden Lab made the platform. You make the game. There would be no role playing games in Second Life if people like you were not making them. It doesn't matter where you play it, it's all imagination ;0 It's great that you are doing it, but that still don't make Second Life a game.

It does not mean there is no gaming going on in Second Life. There is a lot of that!

.
the difference is ...

a lot of people merely PLAY GAMES on SL, and a lot of people DONT

and just because YOU play games doesnt mean SL IS A GAME IN AND OF ITSELF




«´A`
¸.·´¨R
(_¸.·´ ¸.S
(_¸.·´ `·.¸¸E¸¸N´`I ·.¸C¸¸.»


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LL made the game and the tools to create our personas.

It doesn't make SL NOT a game either.

There would still be roleplaying games if others did not make them, because SL is one. The only rpg I've made in SL has been the occasional sex rp with a significant other.

I does make it a game to me though.

Second Life is not a game because it does not attempt to define how it is used. It has an ever growing list of features that allow it to be utilized for many different purposes ranging from gaming to business to education to leasure. The user decides how they will use Second Life, and thus the user is the architect of their own experience. As the technology advances we gain more tools for defining how we will experience Second Life.

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Banking Laws ...

apparently to LINDEN, SL is NOT DEFINED AS A "GAME"

then at least be honest with yourself and with how you define
the word and yourself ON SL ...

to you the word "GAME" = METAPHOR & ILLUSION


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`·.¸·:·Arsenic

GURPS also doesnt attempt to define how it is used. If it were a computer system, it would be like SL.

And its a game.

Now I've highlighted the important part.

It is this that allows every player to define SL for themselves, and for me, SL is, and always will be, a game. Thats how I experience it, and hot it is set up to me.

Except for the stuff about rules and skills and stuff.. You know?

According to Linden, we'd have havoc2 by now too. To me how I define game is:

game 1 (gm) KEY

NOUN:

1. An activity providing entertainment or amusement; a pastime
   

Anytime you try to tell -me- how -I- define something, be sure to ask me first, because I am being honest with myself when I say how I define game.

To me, SL is a game, by my definition of game.

Mechanics of the system. Just like those scripts and physics and avatar parameters, and prim limits and TOS and CS... well look - rules and stuff.

Alright, but that does not make Second Life a game. It means your use of Second Life is gamelike.

It makes SL a game to me. You have every right to see and define SL differently.

I've never tried to define what SL is to you.

scripts are tools for manipulating things just like any programming laugage.

Physics are convenient. We are very much in the early stages of this new technology.

Avatar parameters are also convenient. It is also a technical problem because having predefined avatar meshes keeps the clientsize low and makes streaming easier.

Prim limits are also technical limits on the hardware/software. If they allowed unlimited building of objects people would take advantage and fill simulators with millions of objects rendering them useless.

As the technology advances you will see these limits eased and then possibly removed entirely. These are not arbitrary rules.

The TOS and CS are pretty standard for any service and community and they define the legal standing of the user and the company providing the sevice. These are nearly standardized across all services offered by every company in existance. Email, forums, internet service providers, anything else you can think of. This has nothing to do with the Second Life platform.

They are rules and limitations in the game of SL to me.