BBC (collective) Forum Debate

Probably due to the BBC music festival last weekend, there is a debate brewing on the BBC (collective) formum regarding SecondLife and its residents:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/F4329883?thread=3002520&skip=0&show=20

At the moment it appears to be lots of comments from people who know nothing or very little about second-life, and it needs a bit more balance... Just thought I would mention it.

Interesting quote from the reviewer:

From: MrSavage on BBC The Collective

In conclusion, I am a gamer. The industry is important to me. I want to see it doing something amazing, and I thought this could be it. But what I found was that even though I was so willing to overlook its buggy graphics, buggy interface, overwhelming design, disjointed, advertising-heavy free market nature, even though I was willing to ignore all of these to find some nugget of promise to latch onto, I never found it.

The ideas are there, but this social experiment has already run its course - right into the ground.

Where is the heavy advertising? I see very little advertising in world, but maybe I just hang out in the wrong places?

I've added my thoughts to the thread - I'll cross post here for people who don't want to register...

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I find this conversation interesting, if a bit stilted towards the negative. Perhaps I can help with another point of view.

Second Life is a platform, a tool, much like IRC or the Web, just another abstraction through which people communicate.

I don't see people debating the difference between living their lives talking through a cell phone versus speaking to them in person, or in these forums, for that matter.

Because we are used to the abstraction of not being face-to-face, its ok, its accepted. This '3D' way of doing things is still 'new' and not totally integrated into mainstream society, so I understand the apprehension and even the criticism.

For most residents (a generic term implying that you log in, you have the equivalent of server space or virtual land to mingle, create, or script on) Secondlife is a place where people can create together, using the in-world build tools, program systems and make objects do their bidding through the scripting language, (which is soon to be available via mono, the open-sourced .NET framework, which allows more interesting possibilities) and form groups and such to further their goals.

There is no 'end-boss' there is no 'leveling' or 'grind' to worry about. You are what you would like to express about yourself, much like these forums, you choose your handle and how you'd like to appear in this 3D space.

I'm not trying to convince you to rush up, sign on and love it at first sight. I just know that in addition to the other things I fill my real life with, SL provides a creative outlet where I can do things that wouldn't be easy in real life, such as build a 200+ meter building, or construct the BBC Radio 1 main event dome.

Try doing that on short notice without permits and construction materials in real life smiley

It still needs more work, and it is being updated regularly for features and bugfixes. My belief is that it could grow into an open-source platform that can supplement the internet tools we're used to today.

But then again, I've always been future-forward.

Have a good one,

Maxx

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End of comment.

When was the last time you took a stroll around the mainland?

I visited the 'Radio 1 island' for about 2 minutes before the lag got the better of me.

I actually found the design of the area quite underwhelming, and for a corporation the size of the BBC I would have expected something much, much more professional.

The free "U2 in SL" concert that I went to a while ago, whilst laggy, was excellently laid out, and I really felt 'part of it', whereas at the Radio 1 event I felt like I was just 'standing around'.

If that was all people's experience was, then I can see why many were unimpressed.

It would be interesting to find out what 'advertising heavy' meant... to the outsider, something as simple and everyday as a group tag might appear as advertising.

Lewis

Interesting, the several hundred that visited seemed to have a good experience. I don't find a couple of criticisms from three or four people on a forum too bad of a ratio

The future uses for that space will certainly be interesting.

Well, it seems the thread has devolved into a 'what is a friend' debate. I put foward that a mixture of friends you see in real life, and those you only know via some other means, email, phone, etc...are equally valid, but the posters in that forum are more of the mind - you can't meet face-to-face, it doesn't count as much.

I see their points, but I think we're diametrically opposed in that regard.

Oh well, I tried.

I felt that most of them were narrow minded Maxx ... all you can do is post your own opinion and be done with it ... they can be free to agree or disagree - just as we disagree with their opinions. =)

Heh, I live there, but yeah, I pretty much stay on my land, the few shops I visit, and a live music event or two. The most intrusive advertising I see is land sale signs, and I have to admit my draw distance is set way low to avoid seeing the untextured prims and skyboxes littering up the skies.

Well thanks (Maxx, Lelia + all) for joining in the debate over there and adding your comments, some of the earlier posts were so blinkered.