There

I recently heard about there.com and became curious about it. i know it's similar in some aspects to second life. Has anyone tried there.com? If so, I'd like to hear their comments about their experience before I give there.com a try.

The common theme in SL is THERE IS EVIL, i'm actually wondering if I should start a group to that effect.

First of all it would be SL's main competition, if it were competition lol.

Its nothing like SL, you can't make what you want, i'll let someone who's been THERE describe it but i have spoken to enough people to have tossed my beta acceptance into the trash.

JV

(16mm projector starts, then count starts, with lively 50's era stock industrial film music. Audio is muddy, and at times film jitters)

(Announcer) "Welcome to There! There, the virtual world of the Future!" (sfx: cash register dings)

(Establishing traveling areial shot of flat, cartoony landscape, and a long line of similarly dressed, similar looking people)

(Announcer) "There (sfx: cash register dings), a place to meet new people, make friends and enjoy community events"

(Cut to 7 male personas with the same hair)

(Announcer) "Want a new haircut? There (sfx: cash register dings) lets you change your persona's look with at least half a dozen hairstyles!"

(Cut to female persona driving a dune buggy)

(Announcer) "Need to get around? There (sfx: cash register dings) We will get you going with a new buggy!"

(Small text flashes on screen. It reads: "Buggy base price, most of your starter cash. Price of buggy shown: all your starter cash and your gonads if you wanna earn money the hard way, moron!"

(Montage shots of group activities) "There (sfx: cash register dings) has nightly community events and contests!"

(Dissolve to attractive 20 something female)

(Female) "If you want to join in the fun of There (sfx: cash register dings), sign up (web url fades in, screen bottom), and snag your dad's credit card. You want There (sfx: cash register dings)! There (sfx: cash register dings) is cool."

(Shot tightens on female's face) "Don't deny yourself! March yourself into Mom and Dad's room. Get the credit card! Its in his wallet! You know where he keeps it, right? In his dresser, next to the naked lady card deck and his gun! You need that card! You need There (sfx: cash register dings) bucks! Buy our money, and have EVERYTHING There (sfx: cash register dings) has to offer DAY ONE. Be the rich (sfx: beep) you always wanted to be! There (sfx: cash register dings) Is your future!"

(Fade to black, with the following message displayed mid-fade for 1/10 sec: "Buy CASH"

lmao teeny

There is kind of fun, but in different ways -- SL is a nice place to hang out and sight-see and make stuff, There is a decent place to socialize and drive dirt buggies.

There are some nice/interesting things about There, but it seems much more geared towards socialization. The pay as you go system of buying in-world stuff with real world money is a major turnoff to me. I did see some features that would be nice in SL... voice chat (it's terrible, but hey, it's useful), previewing textures out of game (*sob... I can only pray*, importing models (not likely, but still cool). There also looks somewhat cleaner than SL. I really hate the control scheme. And I really hate their chat system. And I really hate the way it's so tightly integrated with IE (I use Firebird). So There you go. It's a different 'game', though, it's as much like SL as SL is like TSO. Which is to say, not all that much alike, once you get past the 'virtual world' concept.

Well done, Teeny

Maybe I was a tad hard on There. My biggest problem is the wacky, "buy cash" economy.

I still have an account with a certain EA product about a certain online motor city. Said game officially ends near the end of August. EA pulled the plug due to poor customer retention.

This game was a great original concept, ruined by ebay. Apparently, people scammed and cheated to earn money to sell for real cash. In turn, (along with a couple of big mistakes on EA's part), inflation drove up the cost of good cars and parts. Noobs had a difficult time getting any useful stuff without resorting to buying cash. I have been in the game since the first week, and I saw it slowly die.

People hate paying taxes in SL, but after what I've seen in other games, I welcome them. Then again, ebay will have no effect whatsoever on the There economy.

There is nothing wrong with Ebay, at all. It's a great place to find good things, what makes it bad is the people who ruin it by selling crap like that. Ebay wants the business, not because they don't care about weather online games live or die. Ebay is a great service and people shouldn't bash it.

It's not even close to SL in terms of building things -- you *can* build things with Gmax and create clothing with the tools There gives you but it costs 10,000 $T or thereabouts to upload something (about 5 bucks U.S.), and then you have to wait for weeks before it is approved by the There gods. The economy is screwy in the sense that things that make the game more interesting are, of course, more expensive -- which includes clothing and hairstyles. You can modify the avatar to a degree for free, but if you want clothing, you are going to shell out actual cash to get it.

While the chat interface isn't horrible, it limits you to chatting with six people tops -- and is difficult to read at times. No Ctrl-H here. There's also an overabundance of cyber-sex going on as the game's emotes will allow you to actually "make out" with someone but won't allow you to hug your friends. In my opinion, after seeing Second Life, There pales in comparison -- also in reference to the players themselves. There are a lot of teenagers in There these days and thus, lots of begging going on. It reminds me of Everquest in that sense. Got a cool hairdo? Expect someone to beg you for money.

I can't complain entirely as There's customer service is pretty good, but no better than SL -- and limited in what they can do for you anyway. And, being a woman, There sent me a new video card to play beta (yeah!!) so I've kept my account for awhile. But I don't think I'll be spending much time There.

Zana Feaver

Do I understand this correctly? They sent you a video card because you're a woman and they need more women players?

That's exactly right Jake, they did send me a new video card because I'm female and they needed more women players. Nice marketing strategy, anyway .

Zana

If I wear a frock will they send me a new video card, too?

Yeow, if Lindenlab would do that I'd have 25 referrals; practically noone I know has a decent enough card to get into SL...

That is exact same problem my friends have. I had to buy a new videocard myself along with more ram. Thats why I came to SL so late lol TSO had to get really bad and I am really stubborn.

Thanks to Cai for saving me and being my best friend in my virtual life Still in chocolate to show how much I appreciate her

Isn't the fact that they gave a video card to you because you're a woman a bit sexist?

I'm only saying this because I want a new video card

I'm thinkin of reaapplyin as a woman...