Sharing My Opinion...so far

I have only played SL for a few hours, and already I like it! There has been a great deal of time and effort applied to ensure that limitless possibilities are available to the player, much like you'd expect from a game of this kind.
I have had little problem (aside from the graphical anomolies typical of a game in the beta stage) moving my avatar around and manipulating objects in the Second Life world.
Being a veteran of several other online games, and countless other simulation-type games, I was impressed with the number of features implemented. After the first few minutes, I could not help but think to myself, "I'm already liking this better than 'The Sims'". There were a few similarities between the two games, however the control over your avatar's appearance alone goes a long way toward getting you more involved than you are with 'The Sims'.
These things aside, I must admit that I soon went on to abusing my power as a demigod in Second life. I spent a little while building objects in someone else's back yard and shooting my pop gun at their neighbors. I did delete the objects I created, but was left wondering why I was allowed to plop down a makeshift house on someone else's land. Maybe there was something is missed there?
The only other real concern I have so far about the game, is one of its most appealing factors for me. In this game, I can seemingly create ANYTHING from nothing. In most simulators, you have a set list of objects you can buy and use, and are limited to these things. So far, I'm 20% done with a suit of armour for my avatar...and you can't BUY that! (until I put the pieces up for sale). The problem with this is that I could see where people could find the system for creating and placing objects complicated. I know that for me, it was slightly frustrating when I accidentaly spun my bed in the wrong direction. No matter how hard i tried, I couldn't get it aligned with the floor and walls again. I can just envision someone buying this game and getting frustrated with the object building function, however, the impression that I got from it was that as the game's world grows and inhabitants become more active, people will be able to buy objects as opposed to making them. After all, that's how life works, right? I don't build houses for a living, I call a contractor. In Second Life, I don't need to build my house, I'll contact someone with 3-D modelling experience to whip me up one!

Welcome to SL =) You've only just barely scratched the surface so far.

As to why you could build in someone else's backyard -- that's because the person who owns the land you were building on has the land set to allow you to build there. Many people do allow anyone to build on their land -- and many people do not allow others to build on their land. You can see at a glance at the bottom of your screen which is the case -- if you're not allowed to build you'll see "no build". If you are, then you'll see nothing of the sort.

Now, if you're building stuff on someone else's land, and you leave your stuff there, the owner of that land can delete your stuff at any time. So if you do this, make sure you take copies of anything you want to be able to rez again quickly.

But if you wanna make friends in SL, don't get into the habit of leaving "junk" laying around on someone else's property. <G>

There are many things already for sale in the world -- just look around! Some for sale items are in stores, but many items not in stores are for sale as well. Just hover your mouse over the item in question until you see the Owner's name and the For Sale / Not for sale texts.

Getting objects lined up exactly the way you want them CAN be very frustrating! (That's how I lost my first HOUSE -- trying to move it to be level on the ground!). Hint: Instead of using the rotation lines / or the right click Move -- in the object's properties sheet, click on More, then on the 2nd tab. Use the numbers for moving / rotating. This is much much much more precise.

Also use the Camera Controls to zoom in and around the object you're working on so you can see it from different angles to know whether you need to move it a smidgen to the X or Y or Z.

Ok, that's all the advice I have for you for now. Again, welcome to Second Life, and I hope to meet you in world soon =)

I found out shortly after my posting about the "no build"...good idea. Again, I thought I might have been missing something.

I began to construct things using the numbers instead of the mouse to rotate and pitch, and was able, after a great deal of work, to get things situated properly. It's easier to do it this way, but not as user-friendly. That brings up another point: Some features of this game may seem too involved for some people. Some people might find the interface intimidating and confusing, and be more likely just to settle for how something sits because they're using the mouse interface. Forgive me if I continue to go back to 'The Sims', but it's the closest example to this game I have played...but In that game, I often had to help build the houses that other members of my first life family build their Sim houses because of the subtle things you can miss and/or screw up while building a home and placing objects. (and the interface there was not near as complex, nor did it offer as many possibilities for customization)
I'm not a computer programmer, but hope to be some day in the near future. I am beginning to understand the conflicts that a programmer must go through when balancing playability and functionality with usability. A game where anything is possible MUST be difficult to write by definition! For every possibility you give the player, you're allowing them to control an element of the game. It can, at times, be difficult to find a happy medium there.
I can't remember how many times I got frustrated at my Sims for refusing to turn on a lamp over a table or go around one side of an object to use it. In the end, I keep saying to myself "In reality, I can just reach around that, or above that....or I can turn it this way and make it work." After playing SL, I see that having the ability to turn an object a particular way, or manipulate an object in a way that is more real and offers more options can be a double edged sword. Now, I'm faced with an object orientation interface that I keep wishing would just...well...place my house flat to the land. =)

It's a royal pain in the arse. there is not doubt about it.

I've been on for just about 2 months now (give or take) and let me assure you - give it a bit of time and it becomes intuitive.

I've always used the numbers to size and for the most part move the objects. lol but I am a precision nut. As a bit of advice.

Get used to using them. The control is exact. The only real tool I use not via the number is the rotation - and that's just to get the approximate pitch, before tweaking it with the numbers as well. The sooner you get used to the number, the quicker they become second nature.

After awhile you Do thinks like " I need a barrel... creat sphere, size 1.5/3/1.5. end cuts 15 both, hollow 85, rotate x 90) You'll have the numbers already plugged in your head even as your thinking of the object - and you save a lot of time from fiddling with it (lol to use that time picking the *perfect* texture, or moving it to the *exact* placement).

Oh and a good tip - if you want something small (gun, belt buckle, etc..) as a rule of thumb- create it at least 2-3x larger than you need - and scale it down (I cant tell you how many peices of small objects I've lost because I couldnt see them well).

And the best tip - if you are having a problem - ask one of the more experienced builders. They are very helpful and can usually give you a trick to get you past a minor pain in (previously mentioned) arse. lol I go running for help often. It pays off "oh wow I can do that? dang, wish I would have asked on my last project!" (kicks computer just cause).

The biggest breakthrough for me was when I mastered camera controls. Start playing with ALT + mouse, ALT+CTRL + mouse, ATL+Shift + mouse.

I almost entirely use numbers, except for rotations because they can be un-intuitive if you are doing weird angles. For example I was making one of those 3 legged folding camping stools ... don't even ask me what the angles ended up geing for those legs.

LOL yeah Ama, camera control use defines the make/break aspects of SL.

Before a kindly resident (*koff* *koff* *thank you Tracey*) showed me how to use them, I was just flying into the -Weirdest_ angles just to get close ups. Heck I spent more time positioning *me* than I did positioning the darn pieces. I think I would have quickly given up building if the camera controls werent there.


And yeah on weird rotations - all those ramps that I had at the volcano - there was no way in heck some of that could have just popped in my head - the ground was way to fugged up..


Lol ok here's one for ya... ever work on an attachment - when you unattach to add the next peice and it comes off at a messed up angle - you zoom and position the camera and forget that your on a messed up angle so you are trying to match pieces to an object with a rotation something like (94, 17, 2) ?

lol everytime I do that I wanna smack myself.

Is there a way to scale down without writing down dimentions and re-creating each primitive?

Yup -- create at 2 or 3 times the size you want. Link all the primitives together. THEN resize it =)

Ok...I agree with you. The numbers certainly are a better way to manipulate the object creation system.
Though, what exactly is the target group for this game?

I have been doing solid modeling in Unigraphics for 2 years now, and have been working in other CAD systems for a year (give or take). I have a bit of experience with creating objects from primitives in 3-D space. The interface of UG is not all that dissimilar to this one. You tell it what kind of object you want to create, give it dimensions, then place the object.

What I'm getting at here, is that some people go to classes to learn to do this kind of thing. I am worried that people might consider aspects of this game to be more like work and less like fun.

I have to admit though...if the purpose is to emulate life in any way...it should, in some ways, be complex.

People.

[ everybody now... "People... people who need people..." ]



Then they won't do those aspects which aren't fun for them.

That's the beauty of it... you don't HAVE to build. You don't HAVE to script. You don't HAVE to host events. You CAN do Everything there is to do. You CAN do SOME of the things there is to do.

It's all up to you.

It's whatever you make of it.

<G>

The learning curve for this game does worry me too.

The hope is that older residents will help newer ones, and I think that will happen. I still think the learning curve and 'work' aspect is a little much. We will see, it's only on version .4 .

In all of the time that I've been on 2L, I have never had anyone refuse to help me. In addition, there are a number of people who have passed me on to people who had greater knowledge than themselves so that I could "go to the source".

The intro to modelling and Scripting classes are great and anyone who has even marginal understanding of 3D modelling and programming will find it easy to get into working on projects.

I've made a suggestion that people get assigned to a kind of work group when they join so that they can get involved in projects that allow them to take advantage of their existing talents ( say in creating textures ) and then pick up modelling and scripting through immersion and the study of other people's work.

just my C$0.02 worth.

Informative!

I haven't got to these aspects of the SL environment yet as I just was introducted to the Beta last night. i can't wait to experience all of this!!

*routes through forums waiting to leave work and login*

"introducted" hahah im not paying as much attention as I make myself out to be....