SL is not a game

Here I go again....

SL is a game and it isn't. I mean we play in-world - almost everything we do can be seen as play. But people are playing different games.

In RL, Scrabble, Monopoly, chess, Trivial Pursuit are all games. If they are all kept in a box, that is a box full of games. Perhaps that's what SL - a box full of games, or maybe it's a virtual playground.

You mean you can change breast size here?? Okay when I can Log-IN ... watch out world!
SL is a game. BUT all the world's a stage (as Will Shakespeare said) and all the men and women merely players.
(I wish I had said that first)

I don't see it as a game (no really well defined goals, no progress or advancement, etc.) but as a virtual playground. I don't, however, think it makes a whole lot of sense to debate it -- because the simulation is what it is, regardless of the moniker we use to describe it.

No I don't. I work in SL. Sometimes I play in SL. Mind, I don't play SL, I play in SL.

It's easy enough. If you remove all the resident content ... there's nothing to do. See, residents worked and built things on the platform. Games mostly, but lots of other things too. Some use the platform to teach with. Some train new employees. A few build proof of concepts in SL.

It just isn't a game unless you broaden the definition of game to the point it's no longer useful as a word.

--> How about some reasons why Second Life should be treated differently from HTTP websites when it comes to branding it as a game?

People play here, and people work here, just like on the web. Branding the whole platform a game is beyond me.

LOL. You needed to ask?

what is interesting to me is how both sides in the game or not-game arguement are so determined to be right.

My point being; and I am sure you have read these posts,the people that start off in SL thinking it is a "game" are the same people that come on the forum gripping about just how "ungame like" it is.

I have been playing video games since there have been video games. When I started going to arcades there was no video games, just pinball; and I wish I had a few of my old favorites. SL is not a game, it's something completely different. My favorite PS2 games are racers. Midnight club racing is a video game, Grand Turismo is a sim.

And the one thing that makes SL so life like is all the crap that happens that we have no control over

110% argee, SL can't be called a game or not because stuff is dev on SL people can make games on it yes but you can also make money form it like anshee

While this is an interesting debate - couldn't we just agree that SL is what you make of it? For some it is a game -- for others an extension of real life -- for some its a place to explore things they don't feel comfortable doing in RL -- for some its a platform for creating things or doing commerce, etc.... and that in itself makes it pretty powerful and magical!

- Anonymous Patriotic Nigra

What about those of us who sit on the fence I'm in the "It's what you want it to be" camp.

That job has already been claimed by another Forum Member.

Why do people get so frigging upset over what someone else call the thing? Does it really matter. Call it what you want. Use it how you want. I'm gonna call it....PENGUIN.

You know, I was just about to ask the very same question.

However, I'd much prefer rabbits over penguins.

Yeah, I think SL is my linguistic rabbit playgound. "Linguistic penguin" sounds ... weird.

I love it!!! This is the best posting.. cause more often than not..in a really laggy sim... lots of "things" get stuck "there"!!! Unbelievable!

But, seriously... It is a game.. nothing more.. Way too many people take the "goings on" in SL way too serious, myself included for awhile... You need to step back.. take a look at the big picture.. and reassure yourself that none of it is happening in your everyday life.. only on your PC screen..

Contrary to my earlier posting on this subject, this part of is very true.... people who hang around in SL for any length of time and meet people.. DO have a stake in something here, a friendship... That part does hurt if someone in your friendship circle decides to leave the SL game because it is interfering too much in RL or they are simple bored with it.. you do bond with people you chat with day after day..and your emotions and feelings are real (that too I will agree with)and you can get hurt... but again.. you need to take a step back ... perhaps continue those friendships outside of SL via email or some type of messenger...

Hahah yea Too bad the lindens can`t leave good enough alone. Maybe themselve can`t deal wirh Rl.

"While this is an interesting debate" and the reason I started the thread, this is sort of a debate, I don't really expect any solid decision one way or another. But, if you look people that consider it a sim are generally happier with it then those that consider it a game

And whom is upset? This is just a debate, no reason to be upset, if you are upset you turn this into an argument, which it is not.

The medium doesn't alter the relationship or its qualities. You can be a good friend on SL, MSN, email, RL, by phone, as a pen pal by letter, with smoke signals from hilltop to hill top... or you can be a shit... what clinches it is what is in your head, and your friend's head. Honour and faithfulness are the same however you communicate.

love
imogen

SL is a game, just like all the other games i play:

Like Photoshop, in which I play a Designer, like I play in SL sometimes,
Like Maya, in which I play a 3D Modeler, like I play in SL sometimes,
Like Visual Studio, in which I play a Developer, like I play in SL sometimes,
Like MSN/Skype e.a., in which I play a Socializer, like I play in SL sometimes,
Like Guildwars, in which I play a Hero, like I play in SL sometimes,
Like my (RL) company, in which I play a Businessman, like I play in SL sometimes,
Like Life, in which I play a Human Being, like I play in SL sometimes.

...and Damanios wins the thread!

The Forum PM is a great way for me to keep up with friends who come here, when I am not online.

"My specialty is being right when other people are wrong." -- George Bernard Shaw

I'm a Carraraist, I also use Hex2 and a few other apps. They are not games they are tools. And I don't "play" at being an artist, I work at it, and take it very seriously.

The truth is that Dan Linden in a recent interview has stated that they never intended for it to become an "economic platform" and that this is a side effect. He further stated that they get corporations angry at them when they can't market their stuff and fail and they get told repeatedly that second lief was never meant to be what they are trying to make it into. Bottom line second life is what you make it. If you want it to only be cash cow and I use that term with some reservation then you can make it that. If you want it to be a form of recreation which believe it or not the bulk of users do use it for. (content creators are in the minority I recently found out and end users consumers are the majority and heer to have fun or possibly have a meeting or three).

Second life was meant to be a place to create and have fun. It was originally created just for that the money thing was a side effect of a change because originally people did not have IP rights nor was there a dollar value assigned to the linden that happened as a way to get people interested. If you go look at the original versions of second life no it was not meant to be what people are turning it into. You would also make NO money since your the pure commercial type if in fact everyone was here for one purpose only and to make SL "a job" because there would be no market and no purpose. I point you to active worlds which is more of a purely commercial application. Compare the two and the difference is that this one is where people can come to play. Hence the words "your world your imagination"