SL is not a game

Game/entertainment works for me.

/me pulls up a chair and hands out Autographed copies of "The Secret".

It's a floor wax AND a dessert topping!

Like I said the last time

SL isnt a game ..

SL is a Mess

Hay, I haven't had any problems in 3 hours O.O

It is a "platform" in the same way a stage is a platform. You can use a stage for any number of things. Have a stand up comic perform. Or a rock band. Put on a play. Bring in candidates for a political debate. etc. etc.

Likewise, you can use SL for any number of things. Go to nightclubs and dance. Go to discussion groups and talk about religion or politics or TV or music. Explore impressive sims people have built. Make things. Buy things. Run a business. Play games, whether basic strategy (Tringo) or elaborate role-play. Meet people, make friends. Or any of a thousand other things.

That is why I shy away from calling SL a game ... it is not *any* one thing. SL provides the tools and space for all of us to do a wide variety of things, and each of us makes of it what we choose to.

As I said earlier, it depends on how to define game. SL is not a game by my definition, but I realize that others think of it differently.

If it's not a game, then why does LL refer to it as a "computer video game" NINE TIMES in the patent entry?

We are talking about the same Lindens that have brought us the SL of today, right.
Spoke to soon, stealth crash. Didn't crash but wasn't connected to SL anymore.

SL is a game BUT only in a sense that "Lawrence of Arabia" or "Black Hawk Down" are just films.

who cares

its not a game because it doesn't meet the definitions of a game

its not a platform, just like unreal-ed is not a platform, but windows is... you can make stuff in both but one is dedicated to a game, the other is dedicated to a set of hardware specs for anyone to do truly anything they please with, ie i cannot make an ftp server with unreal-ed nor SL

its a online community

Probably because that's the best available term for legal documents.

But it has nothing to do with the experience of using it.

No, the people who use the game are the community. That's like saying that the city of New York is a community - it ain't. Actually, anyone who's ever been there could tell you that

As for the definition of a game;

"• noun 1 an activity engaged in for amusement. 2 a form of competitive activity or sport played according to rules. 3 a complete episode or period of play, ending in a final result. 4 a single portion of play, forming a scoring unit within a game. 5 (games) a meeting for sporting contests. 6 the equipment used in playing a board game, computer game, etc. 7 a type of activity or business regarded as a game. 8 a secret plan or trick. 9 wild mammals or birds hunted for sport or food. "

SecondLife definitely counts as definition 1.

And 8

Seriously ... SL does meet definition 1, but then so does reading a book or going fishing, and nobody has long and loud debates over whether those are "games," because nobody would think they were. But they meet definition 1 as well.

I thought the reason no one had debates about reading a book our fishing is because it was pretty clear that they are games.

Yes though, number 8 also seems fitting. But not number 9. Sadly.

It's a game to me. And isn't that the point? Whatever you are doing, is one thing to you, but perhaps an entirely different thing to someone else. Your perception defines your reality.

Second Life is a game, to me.

You don't play the Television though, you watch it.

You don't watch Second Life though , you play it.

How do you play it? What are the rules? What is the objective? How do you know who wins?

I was thinking number 9 was appropriate ^.^

Anyone got some peach schnapps? I'm apparently out and cinnamon just ain't cutting it for tonights tomfoolery. =(

Does this mean LL is god?

...

Or satan?

Well I guess it depends on whether you see the Lindens as the turkeys or the residents as the turkeys.

On second thought, scratch that. Either way LL as a company is clearly god. An unmerciful god as we case the lindens chasing the residents.... all of us with pitchforks enabled.

thats almost as vague as the new gambling rules ...

i browse the web for amusement, its not a game, nor are the other examples listed above

1--Even I'm sick of this argument.

2--People who are convinced that SL is a game are not going to be convinced of the truth.

3--By the definition that people use to prove SL is a game, LIFE is a game (and, honestly, in a lot of senses it is).

---------------------------

Here's one to chew on though:

With the perception that SL is a 'game' rather than a service provided in the effort of allowing a global community to grow and create a new form of 'internet' or 'metaverse', Linden Labs runs into difficulties from the US Government regarding things like gambling... If SL was recognized as the 'platform' or 'service' that it actually -IS-, Linden Labs could be protected as a type of "Internet Service Provider"...a company that provides an 'environment' which the users build and define and create. Just as ISP's aren't held responsible for gambling sites existing on the internet, Linden Labs wouldn't be held responsible for user-content created in SL.

SL contains games. Many people come to SL and treat it wholly as a game. That doesn't mean it IS a game...it just means that is what you use it as. Computer programming is a 'game' to me--it's a never ending set of awesome logic puzzles and problem solving exercises--but I guarantee it's not defined as a game and no matter how much I wish it would be...it still won't just suddenly become one because of my perception.

"2--People who are convinced that SL is a game are not going to be convinced of the truth."


You sound like an extremist, defining what "truth" is for everyone, forcing them to swallow your point of view, branding them wrong because they disagree with it. Again, Second Life is to each person what they want it to be. You sign in to roleplay, you are obviously playing a game. You sign in to escape your real life and pretend to be someone else, thereby assuming the identity not unlike your own because your real life is either miserable, or Second Life grants you things you cannot do in it, then maybe it's something else. I still see it as assuming a role and playing a game. I believe there are real emotions and real feelings, but people can put real feelings into any MMO, that doesn't make City of Heroes any less a game. And I know there's not a direct correlation between most MMO's and Second Life, but it's still there. You assume an identity, you log into the world, and you play a part.

And you said it.

"3--By the definition that people use to prove SL is a game, LIFE is a game (and, honestly, in a lot of senses it is)."

Ok,then my avie show the breast size correct in my rl. No But i wish it was that size.
No its a game llabs has cause too many issues for some to call it a Life.

People who are convinced that SL isn't a game are not going to be convinced of the truth.

SL is just a system platform..