During the course of the last two weeks, I have spent most if not all of my SL time in one of the three sandboxes and the following are my observations:
The sandboxes are cluttered with builds good and bad, freebies, and items for sale. Depending on the day there can sometimes be no space to build anything though I must admit I did not observe the Prim Allocation fall below 6000 prims avail at anytime (this may be due to the times I log in and not necessarily an overall trend).
There are lots of users in the sandboxes and that is predictable of course. Most of the users I talked to or interacted with were born in 2006 and some occasional users from 2005. I did not run into anyone from 2004 except yours truly.
Lots of socialization, bonding, idea exchanges take place in the sandbox. It is possibly the least elitist of all the sims I have visited. You can virtually start a conversation with anyone and 99% of the time people will be nice and inviting to strangers. Interestingly, most people I met at the sandbox and talked at lenght with did not feel the impulse most SL users feel under the same circumstances in any other sim: exchange cards and make friends. I suppose this is a side effect of the sandbox culture -- lots of people come and go, there's no point in exchanging cards with everyone that you talk to.
Is there shooting? Yes, but most of the time either by relatively new members. Is it hostile? No, 99% of the time it's someone testing out a gun, or a new freebie toy they found god knows where. 99% of the time I was able to talk to the person shooting me and get a positive response when I asked them to please use either the combat sandboxes or weapons testing sims. Most of these people I gave landmarks to, actually went to the appropriate locations they can test their weapons. Was there the occasional crazy person with a gun, absolutely, but that's why you keep a chair handy.
Were there griefer style annoying objects? Well, sorta. There were many things that emitted sounds such as shooting drill robots, band in a box(yes still after all these years), and the "I pinch" (the Honda commercial's loveable/abhorable crab) is now a semi-permanent fixture of the sandbox. I met the builder of "I Pinch", he is quite a nice guy. He was open to feedback, and I told him that 2 hours for the lifespan of these "loveable" creatures is a little on the long side. Two hours in SL is a lifetime for most users, I suggested perhaps 5 minutes until they auto-die. Whether or not he followed my advice is yet to be seen.
There were newbies with lots of questions, and some just wanted money. There seems to be a big army base on the sandbox. I keep seeing their cool builds, vehicles, and well dressed soldiers. I even got an offer for recruitment which I declined gracefully. I think the Army is only one of the these semi-permanent fixtures of the sandbox. I have seen other groups setting up bases within 5 minutes of the auto-delete. And I don't really know how to respond to these groups at this time. A part of me is a little disturbed by it because they're theoretically taking away from the prim count, and the other part of me says "why didn't I think of this myself? what a good idea".
It is fair if not understated to say that we still have a steady inflow of great builder talent and the proof for that statement is in every house, sculpture, or unexpected vignette created and left in the sandbox. In this sense the sandboxes also function as open air, public sculpture gardens and there's always much to explore.
Overall, I can report that the Sandbox to some degree embodies all the things that made me get excited about getting in SL in the first place. It is a free for all zone with some rules that when followed well kind of take the fun out of everything. I say that because I still can not stop talking about the day when one of the sandbox regulars ran this script which emulated a meteor hitting the sandbox complete with a large mass colliding with the surface followed by an incredible explosion and the formation of a crater that simmered and steamed for minutes after the impact. It was possibly one of the most breathtaking experiences I have had in SL although TOS wise it was all a no-no.
Other fun games and activities I have experienced in the sandbox are:
1- Fill up the sandbox with as many copies of things as you can right before the auto-delete runs.
2-The dubdub dance which by now has become the official dance of the sandbox.
So sandbox living is living on the edge. You never know what will happen next. You never know who you will meet next. You turn around and there are little crabs following you everywhere you go, wanting to pinch you -- how bout a little pinch? Then you run into one of the most beautiful houses you have seen in SL built by someone who signed up in March 2006. Is this environment for everyone? Absolutely not. If you're going to spend any significant time in the sandbox, you must bring the following along:
1-instant sense of humor, just add prim
2-ability to laugh when shot
3-a good chair you can sit on all day
4-Free collision detector that's been making the rounds
5-Free? Push stopper script
Finally, I have found the most important thing to be the following:
Forget where the AR button is, assume it does not exist. Talk to people, reason with them and you will end up making friends.
Yes I know, this all sounds sugar coated but these are the true honest observations of a real life cynic, second life optimist.
I hope you enjoyed my report.
Troy
