POLL: Second life sold in game stores?

POLL: Would you like to see SL game sold in shelves of game stores?


Would it bring more people?


Just wondering....................... gimme your opinions..

As always, DRAMA FREE opinions ppl.. lol

That's a great idea wuvme! It could even be free disks next to the check-out counter like AOL.

~Ulrika~

Probably not a good idea. SL is constantly updated. In order for us to keep logging in, we all have to download a new client every few weeks.

Software that sits on a shelf does not update. Anyone buying a game from a coventional brick and mortar store would expect it to work right out of the box. It might not look good for LL if the first thing a newbie sees is a message to download a new client. It looks even worse if the current client turns out to be an unstable steaming turd like the early 1.5 clients.

The way I see it, SL should remain a download only product. It just changes too much.

Well update in games is good, and i have played a game where it was updated alot, and i did buy it at a game store.

I personally like updates, it gives more new cool features

Sure, but that's how World of Warcraft is.

Also, I firmly believe that at some point in the near future SL *will* become stable enough to have something like this. That'd be pretty cool in my opinion

I voted no because SL is not a game and people who may buy it in a 'games' store are likely to be disappointed that they can't hack and slash their way through the game.

Just my opinion.

Alexa

That would be false advertizing I have been told too numerous times to mention that SL is in fact not a game at all.

don't shoot the messenger, beleive be I tried for a long time to prove it was a game.

Cat

I think you may have misread the original post...

People who get a free CD and find it's not for them won't participate. All online "games" need constant updates as everyone needs to be on the same version. As broadband is required the download won't take very long! (although I suggest they fix the patcher before releasing)

There isn't such a thing as the wrong sort of player. Ignoring the fact that games stores sell strategy games not just slash-fests, SL is still a platform not a game.

Your use of the platform is as valid as anyone elses.

Would LL distribute free CDs? Well free CDs are a loss leader - as well as the cheap manufacturing costs of the CDs they would need to pay for marketing, distribution, space in the store (why would a store give up space to something that doesn't make them any money?) etc.

I think advertising in the computer press would be more efficient - although I guess the best is the current free advertising provided by the marketing team's press work.

I agree..

People who are looking for a game they can hack and slash their way through won't carry on through the 7 day trial..

As for it not being a game, I think that depends on whose playing.. What may not be a game for you may be one for someone else.. I love this game

I love this platform

Exactamundo...

Ooh a rude picture just for me! And you had to upload it and everything...

No-one's ever done that for me before - I'm really touched *sniffle*.

No I'm the puppy! I only just refound the picture tho.. lol.. But we can both be puppies.. who wants to edit it to two puppies opinions for me? I'm too tired..

I think that this could be a very neat idea, but let's take it a little further...

Rather than putting a Second Life installer on a disc, let's put a Second Life installer on a disc and also include...

- Tutorials for the basics of building, scripting, texturing (very important, as you'll see below) and clothes-making (also important). Let's make these a rich multimedia experience with plenty of illustrations and other support.

- Profiles and 3D walkthroughs of really neat SL builds and attractions. This would be wildly easy to do and show off the talents of everyday folks

- Profiles and interviews with Second Life residents of all sorts


We could brainstorm for days about the content of the disc, but the point is, let's fill that sucker up. You can do a lot of with Flash, MPEG-4 and 700 MB of storage space.

Now, how to give it to people? The AOL CD approach isn't a terrible idea, but remember that AOL is dealing with much, much broader margins and and a potentially enormous customer base. They can afford to throw away millions on CD's.

Instead, using very light packaging with plenty of screenshots, charge twelve bucks for the disc. Basic membership included, uses a scratch-off code inside the box. No credit card required, paid up front.

Finally, let's give away a few basic memberships. To whom? Let's run a promotion with some software retailers. If you buy, say, Photoshop or Paintshop Pro, you get an instant rebate of 12 bucks when you have the cashier ring up both your paint app and your Second Life CD.

Why give away a basic membership with a pro-level painting app? Well, why not? Second Life's primo audience is folks who want something a little more than whacking goblins with hammers, and folk in particular who are creative. This is a nice way of qualifying the customer, to make sure the freebies aren't given away to someone unlikely to appreciate it. You could also do this with CAD or 3D apps or whatever else you can think of that requires the same sort of creativity that SL rewards and embraces.

edit:

NOTICE TO LINDEN LAB:

You are free to use the ideas contained in this post at your discretion. My usual consulting fee of $500/hr, minimum three hours, still applies.

Nice idea but it would need a change in mindset from LL. Currently LL uses credit cards as an age check. This doesn't work for several reasons - the system used accepts some debit cards which are available to under 18s, most countries don't have the reliance on credit cards which the US has etc.

LL needs to internationalise its mindset anyway. (They are getting slightly better - I like them giving times in BST as well as PST now, they need to include the Australians (!), and allow scripts and other things to be unicode not ASCII...)

A discussion on accessible payment and age verification methods would probably count as a thread hijack so I'll behave.

I think having an SL disc in game stores is a good idea as long as SL's infrastructure can handle the influx of new users that would bring. I don't think the need to download updates is an issue - that's pretty much what happens the minute you buy any online-based software in a box. Also there is a lot of overlap of people who are into "games" and people who would be into the metaverse / creative platform elements of SL as well. I count myself in that category - I think I first learned of SL through Gamespot or one of those other gaming news sites.

And I like Enabran's ideas of additional stuff on disc aside from the installer, and marketing towards creative types too. You could put the disc in the "creative software" section of stores as well as the games section.

Additional stuff would be nice. But I still don't think this is a good idea.

One, right now its not cost effective, I dunno how much it costs to produce those disks or how much LL has to blow on stuff, but it doesn't seem worth it.

Two, Out of all the people who would buy it most likely you'd be lucky if 50% stayed. Or if even alot of people bought it. Theres alot of people who come into SL thinking its a game, realize its something else, get bored, and leave. Being a gamer myself as well, I know alot of these people are the same people at game stores.

Three, growing pains, SL is at a point right now where it could easily bust if a huge influx of people come in (atleast it seems that way). It seems SL is already having a few growing pains as it is.

You'd be better off having disks out at technology conventions or something, but even then it'd cost you less just to say "goto secondlife.com and sign up".

So right now, I'd say no, bad idea. However if for some reason LL would want to do it anyway, I'd go with what Enabran said to put in it, plus put all that stuff on the website as well.

You've never installed an MMO off the shelf have you? The first thing you do is patch that sucker for about 15 min.



I also don't see why anyone buying the game off the shelf wouldn't get a basic account as part of the deal... Sell it for $20 to cover packaging and whatever plus the $9.95 for an account. Throw in some kind of "Second Life Primer" with Introduction to Second Life and a guide to the tools and whatnot. ??

Still it's risky business tho ;0 Never know hwo it might turn out...

They can always do a pilot project with a very limited production run. Limiting the test to say, San Francisco, they can gauge the results of such an endeavor with little cost or risk.

Of course, the only reason to do all this is if Linden's board of directors or investors feel that it's time to kick subscriptions into high gear.

Actually, I have installed at least a couple of "off the shelf" MMOs.

Let me clarify my comments a bit. I was thinking more in terms of those who have little or no experience with online games or communities. Many of us here heard about SL by word of mouth or something we read or saw on tv. We have an idea of what to expect when we try to log in for the first time.

After reading a few of the comments posted here, my opinion has changed a little. At this point, I still think SL should remain a download only product. However, I'm not ruling out a retail version in a year or two.

Seems like a lot of money to spend for a very low return. How many of the people that pick this up at the local PS2/XBox/Nintendo game shop are really going to sign up? Heck, how many of those customers are likely to have a suitable PC/Mac versus a console?

Including a CD in an issue of something like PC Gamer might reach the folks equipped to run it, but would they be interested? Dunno... And again, how much is that gonna cost LL -- hard cash that they probably won't make back on subscriptions.

However I think it would be a nifty thing to be able to hand to people when we tell them about SL. Much as I might impress people (or frighten them) when I tell them about it, most of them don't bother to look up the site and download the client. But if I handed them a CD-R with everything they needed...

So, let's get an ISO image with all the goodies! LL would have it worked out if they decided to do a promo/giveaway at something like E3. In the meantime, it provides the community members with a useful tool as we evangelize for SL. I'd personally be happy to burn a CD-R every now and again -- and hey, we could even build a referral tag into the ISO before we burn it.

Why?!

You can actually already get Second Life CDs sent to you for free. This is slightly different than say, a deal with Blockbuster video, but check this out:

http://secondlife.com/community/referral.php

From the page:



I got 10 of them sent to me. They were attractive, in a clear plastic sleeve with a print on the top of the CD, in the style of the old site... with the picture of Evangeline Suavage and her "scissor hands" on the front. When you put it in, a folder pops up (an autorun would have been nice) with a "Start Here.html" file, that pops open a browser with a single graphic in the style of the old web site. There are 3 clickable buttons; one for a PC-install, one for a mac install, and one for the Linden Lab web site in the copyright notice. It would be nice to have a flash intro demo, a flash tutorial, and maybe some of the cool resident made videos in place.

I gave 9 of these away (and kept one), and had 2 friends join. In addition to putting them in stores... why the heck not just give them away with EVERY nvidia card sold? I'm sure nvidia manufacturers (XFX, Chaintech) would love to be able to promote "Free Second Life account - tuned for nvidia!" on their packaging. Compared to MMOGs with its one time cost, SL is CHEAP. The problem with giving SL away at places like video stores? Most people are still on dial-up, and don't have machines that can handle SL. This is becoming less of a problem daily, but could turn people off permanently with machines that aren't up to the challenge.

Anyway, figured I'd point that out.

-Flip

I totaly disagree with the people who say those who like traditional gaming will not like Second Life. People are not so black and white. I know many people in Second Life who play XBOX Live, WOW, HalfLife2 etc ..etc..etc......I could go on forever naming games that Second Lifers play.

I like the idea of packaging SL with professional paint applications, if they could get it packaged with Poser, that is also a great idea.