A Year In Second Life

GameSetWatch looks back on the year in Second Life. The freedom-loving virtual world has had a lot of major milestones this year, and it looks like they have a lot to look forward to in 2006. From the post: "Firstly, according to the Second Life Future Salon, a recent virtual appearance by O'Reilly's Phillip Torrone confirmed the existence of a forthcoming 'Second Life Hacks' book. The exuberantly named Hank Hoodoo comments of the attached cover mock-up: 'I really hope O'Reilly actually uses that spork on the cover of the real book.'"

Comments

tedium

[Elwood P Dowd]

It took me like three hours to figure out how to make a custom t-shirt in Second Life.

Once I was done, it was clear that there were further refinements that I would never be able to make. Although if you look at that screenie, the book vendor's t-shirt has similar fuckups.

So maybe I could have used that book.

I'd pay L$ to make my avatar look the way I want, but I'm not sure that's possible. They have a reputation system for avatar creators and whatnot, but it isn't sufficient.

Anybody know how to use other input devices?

[hackwrench]

Ive got a Wingman Rumblepad that I haven't figured out how to use in the place. Controls in general feel clunky. Spyro or Mario in Mario 64 are both infinitely easier to control. Konoko in Oni is worse than the previous two, but still better than in Second Life. I'm new and haven't ventured off the practice island yet. I'm Roba Kawabata there.

Re:Anybody know how to use other input devices?

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

Here's one way: set up a daemon to map joystick presses to keystrokes. This is some code I wrote a couple years back for Etherena Beta: maps left, right, up, down, and the first 6 buttons on your joystick to the keys specified. Change the mappings in update() the way you like.

Not even close to clean code, but it works (plug in your joystick or gamepad first; it uses the first controller), and I'm sure you can figure it out. I don't know why I used signed char...this was back when I was learning C++ and had no idea how to write good code. And it should probably sleep() instead of running an infinite loop. This is C++ - compiles with either MinGW or Visual C++.

//joykey.cpp
#include <windows.h>

struct keys {
signed char left;
signed char right;
signed char up;
signed char down;
signed char attack[6];
keys() {memset(this, 0, sizeof(keys));}
keys(signed char a, signed char b, signed char c, signed char d,
signed char e, signed char f, signed char g, signed char h,
signed char i, signed char j) {
left = a; right = b; up = c; down = d;
attack[0] = e; attack[1] = f; attack[2] = g;
attack[3] = h; attack[4] = i; attack[5] = j;
}
keys(JOYINFO& joy) {
left = (joy.wXpos == 0);
right = (joy.wXpos == 65535);
up = (joy.wYpos == 0);
down = (joy.wYpos == 65535);
attack[3] = (joy.wButtons & 1)&&1;
attack[4] = (joy.wButtons & 2)&&1;
attack[5] = (joy.wButtons & 4)&&1;
attack[0] = (joy.wButtons & 8)&&1;
attack[1] = (joy.wButtons & 16)&&1;
attack[2] = (joy.wButtons & 32)&&1;
}
keys operator-(const keys& k) const {
keys x(left-k.left, right-k.right, up-k.up, down-k.down,
attack[0]-k.attack[0], attack[1]-k.attack[1],
attack[2]-k.attack[2], attack[3]-k.attack[3],
attack[4]-k.attack[4], attack[5]-k.attack[5]
);
return x;
}
keys& operator=(const keys& other) {
memcpy(this, &other, sizeof(keys));
return *this;
}
};

inline void send(char key, bool down) {
keybd_event(key, 0, (down?0:KEYEVENTF_KEYUP), 0);
}

void update(const keys& k) {
if (k.left) send('A', k.left ==1);
if (k.right) send('D', k.right ==1);
if (k.up) send('W', k.up ==1);
if (k.down) send('S', k.down ==1);
if (k.attack[0]) send('F', k.attack[0]==1);
if (k.attack[1]) send('G', k.attack[1]==1);
if (k.attack[2]) send('H', k.attack[2]==1);
if (k.attack[3]) send('V', k.attack[3]==1);
if (k.attack[4]) send('B', k.attack[4]==1);
if (k.attack[5]) send('N', k.attack[5]==1);
}

int main() {
JOYINFO joy;
keys old;
while (1) {
joyGetPos(0, &joy);

No Linux Client, No Play.

[Bob_Robertson]

A direct quote from their tech support:

We don't support platforms we don't support.

So far their Windows client doesn't run under WINE either.

Too bad for them.

Oh, and be careful when setting up the "PayPal" authentication. They set the automatic deduction to $250/month by default, even if you are signing up for the "free" trial. Let's "hope" they never decide to abuse their players.

Bob-

Re:No Linux Client, No Play.

[ptorrone]

the linux client was shown this week, and it's in alpha - i can't wait! when it's out, i'll post about it on make and send it to /.

Re:No Linux Client, No Play.

[elrous0]

God, I've been hearing about that damn Linux client "in the works" for a year now. I'm telling you, bringing Linux users into SL will just make it even MORE WHINEY than it already is!

The SL community is one big bitchfest as it is, now we'll have an influx of smug, pretentious Linux users to put up with now too. Just great. I can already picture them delivering their "Why using Linux makes me smarter than you" rants at every meeting, event, party, tringo game, etc. they can get into.

-Eric

Re:No Linux Client, No Play.

[ptorrone]

maybe, but i think a lot of new users who like tinkering and building things (in world and out) will be good.

Gauging by the interest in this thread...

[aapold]

second life isn't getting a second wind....

Re:Gauging by the interest in this thread...

[Anonymous Coward]

That'd be because it's primarily a dull waste of time. There's no game there; the developers essentially relied on the players to create all of the game's content. I suppose they wonder why only a few creative types still stick around, but it seems pretty obvious to me. I get enough tedium in my real life, I sure as hell don't need to pay someone for the privilege of more boredom.

Re:Gauging by the interest in this thread...

[webcase]

why not? here can you found too some good Browser Games.

Re:Gauging by the interest in this thread...

[elrous0]

Some of the discussion and better game shows (like Captions and that "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire"-type game at The Shelter) are pretty fun. But there are only maybe three or four a week that a worth anything. The "events" list is mostly just full of annoying tringo games and other "non-event" events.

It's also an interesting environment if you want to try your hand at some 3-D design and simple programming. But the problem with that is that you can't export any of your creations off SL. So if SL goes down or you get booted off, all your work competely disappears.

-Eric

PayPal agreement

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, the PayPal agreement limits are set to $250/month by default. That's not an "automatic deduction" of any sort. It's just the way PayPal works if you are setting up a business relationship between two PayPal customers and you want make later billing easier for both parties.

Cheers!

Protected Speech in Second Life

[AlexMax2742]

Protected Speech doesn't exist in Second Life. Make sure that your creations are completely and 100% free of everything that anyone might possibly find offensive. Something like...say...a cannon that shoots fetuses...has gotten people banned.

Can we say anarchocapitalist HELL?

[Shihar]

Joking aside, I hated Second Life. Second Life is like living in Snow Crash, and I don't mean in a good way. The place is one massive strip mall. There is almost nothing there except for casinos, porn shops, a few dance clubs, and strip malls. It would be one thing if it was a world full of interesting art (and there is some), intellectual debate, or anything of that nature. Instead, it is like slugging your way through the absolute worst of the Internet; nothing but casinos, shopping, and porn. Second Life COULD have looked like the Burning Man Festival. Instead, it looks like some anarchocapitalist hell as envisioned by a Marxist. Someone wake me up when an interesting online community is built.

Interesting blog post about Second Life

[Anonymous Coward]

Did some digging around after reading this, found this:

http://tokendissent.blogspot.com/

and this barn burner at:

http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/ 2006/01/the_sic.html

Sounds like some folks aren't happy with this game and they sure paint a very different picture of things.