SL was Slashdotted... the comments from people are interesting...

Second Life's "Corn Field Prison" was Slashdotted... I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing... Anyway, here are a couple of the comments I found interesting, and reflect the concerns I've voiced in these forums about the impression Second Life makes on new users:

Looking for insight on a slashdot forum? That's just asking for trouble

But seriously, I've always questioned the wisdom of marketting the economic model of SL. The ability to make and spend money is hardly unique.

What drew me to Second Life originally was that I saw a screenshot of an LSL window in this virtual environment. It's things like that that I think should be emphasized.

Market what you can do better than anyone else! In SL's case, that would be avatar customization, self-expression and artistic creativity.

Did this person play the game? you can move almost anywhere, attend almost any event, build to your hearts desire, chat as long as your fingers work. All without spending a dime. your avatar can be made to look decent with a little work and your first stipend payment/join bonus.



alright, what am I missing? in every other mmo on the intarweb you have to either create (not the same as SL, but still generating new if not original objects), mine resources or do npc missions to get currency, or you can buy it. You can make currency in SL too, you just have to get it from other people instead of npc's. You can also buy it online.



The pron star av's do seem to abound . I manage to go 4 or more months at a stetch without seeing or even contemplating prim genetalia . The beautiful thing about SL is it's just as possible to make a human avatar. Anyway, it's not SL's fault exactly. It just seems to be what happens when you give a large cross section of people the ability to create their own persona .

Maybe sl should put warning label on their website. "WARNING: This product requires self direction. It has been known to cause serious dissatisfaction in the unimaginative."

Looking to Slashdot for insight is like reading the Herald for balanced journalism.


You won't find either one.

nimrod and I were looking over the media for mentions of his name and "The Corn Field" yesterday. Fun schtuff.

I've long mused it's curious what someone says about Second Life says as much about themselves, or more, as it does SL itself. Second Life can be quite a reflector of one's hopes+dreams, and even simple little statements can reveal a lot about what someone is looking for here.

Think of an alien who flies from their homeworld to one small town on Earth and thinks that to be exactly how the whole planet lives.

Torley, I think you're the only person in SL that actually says my name how it is.

I'd have to!

Hmm... really? Nim isn't too bad, or Nimrod, heck, even Nimmy! C'mon Torley, say it with a capitol at least once!

says your name how it is?

NIMROD

allcaps, there you go bud

woo-hoo, thanks TORLEY.. Yeah Rick, everyone says Nimrod, but it's actually nimrod.

Looking to Slashdot for insight is like looking for a needle in a haystack made of different types of needles.

Heh, I dig that analogy.

Only one other person in SL has ever nitpicked about not punctuating their first name. His name was billy.

I've actually wondered a bit about that; I actually think SL's website should have various landing points; you could setup a bunch of redirect rules to go between those.

For example, say LL makes 3 versions of the website;
a technical one, a creative one, and a social one;

Referer = *slashdot.org -> technical
Browser OS-type != Windows/Mac -> technical
Referer = boingboing / *blog* -> social
etc etc

Chances are it would be a bit more effective than just your plain mix-of-everything.

This could be fun.
Looking to Slashdot for insight is like searching Mars for whale bones.
Looking to Slashdot for insight is like looking for honesty in Washington, D.C.

Long live billy!

~Ulrika~

That's brilliant!

keep a generic one for people not fitting a rule, or randomly select?