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Reuters Pulls Out of Second Life, Army Heads In

Posted by Soulskill on from the that-sounds-about-right dept.

A little over two years ago, Reuters made headlines by setting up a reporter as a go-between for Second Life and the real world. Now, they've evidently decided that the buzz is no longer there, so they've ended the virtual-reporting experiment. The reporter, Eric Krangel, offered his own take on the situation, and what he thinks Linden Labs could do to make Second Life a better place. Whether or not the advice is taken, the US Army has decided to carve out its own presence in the virtual world by setting up a pair of islands that will function as recruiting tools. An article at Massively suggests that interest in Second Life is still high among a variety of organizations, saying, "at present it appears that more businesses are coming in than going out."

77 comments

  1. Second Life?.. by Sparton · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And strangely, I still don't know anyone that uses Second Life.

    And for that matter, I'm fairly certain there's a lot of people I know that don't even know what Second Life is.

    1. Re:Second Life?.. by v1 · · Score: 4, Funny

      a lot of people I know that don't even know what Second Life is

      Count me in. I assume it's a followup of some sort to Half Life?

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    2. Re:Second Life?.. by cliffy2000 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And for that matter, I'm fairly certain there's a lot of people I know that don't even know what Second Life is.

      Actually, there's a lot of people I know that don't even know what a first life is.

    3. Re:Second Life?.. by Kneo24 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Isn't it that game where you use real life money to buy virtual items, like a couch, house, or a virtual whore so you can ruin your marriage?

    4. Re:Second Life?.. by Walpurgiss · · Score: 1

      The only people I know who have used second life are people who were forced to use it in some class at Northern Illinois University. And they all think it is crap and the class sucks.

    5. Re:Second Life?.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i know someone who plays.

      she's a very strange bird, indeed.

    6. Re:Second Life?.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *virtual marriage. and she's prolly from canada.

    7. Re:Second Life?.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well i know people who aren't even alive.

    8. Re:Second Life?.. by buswolley · · Score: 2, Funny

      I tried Second-Life, then I discovered that it was Boring-Life.

      --

      A Good Troll is better than a Bad Human.

    9. Re:Second Life?.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I logged in for the first time a few weeks ago and met an Evangelist. So basically like first life, but with higher nut density.

    10. Re:Second Life?.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey! Canadian Girls Kick Ass

    11. Re:Second Life?.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know people who haven't even been BORN yet.

    12. Re:Second Life?.. by lysergic.acid · · Score: 1

      In February 2007, she caught him having sex with the online prostitute character and even hired an online private detective in the game to investigate what he was up to. There followed a reconciliation, but in April this year, she found his character cuddling another virtual female woman.

      She said: "I caught him cuddling a woman on a sofa in the game. It looked really affectionate.
      [...]
      Ms Taylor said she now had a new man in her life - someone she met while playing the Internet fantasy role-playing game World of Warcraft.

      you've got to be kidding me....

    13. Re:Second Life?.. by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I know people who aren't even conceived yet. I meet millions of them every day.

      --
      Infuriate left and right
    14. Re:Second Life?.. by shermo · · Score: 1

      I know. There's a real girl playing WoW!

      --
      Insanity: voting in the same two parties over and over again and expecting different results
    15. Re:Second Life?.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course you don't those people are all in a home office somewhere playing Second Life . . . I think that's what Dick Cheney's been doing.

    16. Re:Second Life?.. by DeepHurtn! · · Score: 1

      Ha ha, I'm Canadian so I'm not sure about this, but I think the joke is referring to lonely nerds in high school who claim to have a girlfriend in Canada; of course, these mythical girlfriends just happen to live far away enough to be unverifiable.

    17. Re:Second Life?.. by extrasolar · · Score: 3, Funny

      Count me in. I assume it's a followup of some sort to Half Life?

      Not at all. It's the reciprequel.

      Sorry, I know. But sometimes, if it's a math joke, it doesn't matter how lame it is.

    18. Re:Second Life?.. by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 1

      I taste people that aren't even conceived yet. I eat millions of them every day.

      --
      Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
    19. Re:Second Life?.. by mjwx · · Score: 3, Funny

      Actually, there's a lot of people I know that don't even know what a first life is.

      Otherwise known as WOW subscribers.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    20. Re:Second Life?.. by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

      OK, and? Out my (very wide) circle of friends, only one other than myself uses Slashdot.

    21. Re:Second Life?.. by sien · · Score: 1

      Second Life is not really popular. Linden Labs have brilliant PR people who have managed to get far, far more press for Second Life than it deserves.

      Check The Register on what the refer to as sadville. In particular check out the phony economics of sadville. At the bottom of that page there are links to a number of other articles about it.

      Clearly there are some people who get something out of it, but they are a pretty small bunch in the scheme of things. Compared to the MMOs and online gaming for the FPSs it's pretty small.

    22. Re:Second Life?.. by Lordnerdzrool · · Score: 1

      As you are a slashdotter, are you certain that wasn't First-Life that you tried?

    23. Re:Second Life?.. by ILuvRamen · · Score: 1

      that's cuz they never leave their house to potentially meet you hehehe. btw I'm the same way. I know a lot of people and none of them have ever played second life.

      --
      Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
    24. Re:Second Life?.. by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 1

      Very good article you quoted there. I was expecting to read another (completely erroneous) article about pyramid schemes but this one gets right down to the real nitty gritty of Second Life economics. For those who can't be bothered to click through, the gist is that the viability of on-line businesses is shackled by a severe limitation in the size of the simultaneous audience they can reach, even if there are a million people on line, due to the inadequacy of the servers.

      I do think, however, that such economic issues are irrrelevant to recreational participants. Of the thousands of hours spent creating objects, there must be a good percentage expended by people who are just in it for the kick of creating something ... although you do have to be a bit masochistic to want to do so in such a painfully slow environment (which brings us nicely back to the problem of inadequate servers).

      --
      No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
    25. Re:Second Life?.. by Theoboley · · Score: 0

      Wasn't this created like 5-7 years ago? I believe it was called "The Sims" "...

      --
      Stupidity only gets you so far, then you've gotta try
    26. Re:Second Life?.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As opposed to all of the other classes they are throwing their money away on. Yeah, it must be Second Life that sucks, not them.

  2. Actually, by michfreak · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My university uses Second Life quite often to advertise. I'm currently involved in setting up a few little modules for our virtual campus that will run alternatives to real-world programs, like an RA training area, a fake Greek are for training on running a legal party, and a freshman orientation area that teaches them the code of conduct. The university is very excited about it, and expect lots of people to use these locations in the future. Of course, I think it's all a bunch of crap, but hey, I get to pass the class if I do this.

    1. Re:Actually, by Culture20 · · Score: 1

      My university _pays_a_salary_ for a guy to do what you're doing. The brass here also thinks SL might be big some day, and that distance education will happen via SL. I think they're bonkers and should be focusing on video-phone type software instead.

    2. Re:Actually, by michfreak · · Score: 1

      My university thinks that getting credit counts as payment.

    3. Re:Actually, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you think that paying them counts as earning credits.

    4. Re:Actually, by ultranova · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The brass here also thinks SL might be big some day, and that distance education will happen via SL. I think they're bonkers and should be focusing on video-phone type software instead.

      If you think about it for a moment, SL (and virtual worlds in general) is a video-phone type software. Oh sure, it will probably go belly-up eventually, just like early attempts at something usually do; but it still pays to experiment with virtual worlds now that they're still in their infancy. It's better to get your beginner mistakes done with when there's still relatively few people watching, and you can blame it on flaky technology ;).

      Virtual worlds, from Worlds of Warcraft to Habbo Hotel, are a rising trend. We humans are a social species and as such find talking to people rewarding. Slashdot itself is a testament to that: the articles are simply an excuse to get the discussion started. Virtual worlds are chat clients with more or less chrome and shiny bits bolted on; of course they are popular. And those shiny bits make it possible to appeal to other human drives too, such as desire for sex (SL) or power (WoW), so they are going to get ever more popular.

      The only things missing is a general, open protocol allowing multiple compatible clients, and a decentralized (P2P) server, which can be ran without big bucks. Once those bits are filled in, we'll get a cyberspace.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    5. Re:Actually, by Random+Walk · · Score: 1

      If you think about it for a moment, SL (and virtual worlds in general) is a video-phone type software.

      No. A video-phone, even if it's one of the expensive commercial offerings targeted at business video conferences (we have one, I know the stuff) always has some peek-through-a-hole feeling.. there's people on one side of the wall, people on the other side, and the screen is a tiny hole in the wall.

      A 3D environment like SL is very different, and much more natural. The only major problem with SL is that currently there is no good way to present Powerpoint/PDF/whatever content inworld.

  3. Furry hooker army? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Army is probably wasting their time, and our tax dollars. I don't really think that your average Second Life resident is going to be interested in getting shot at.

    1. Re:Furry hooker army? by Chabil+Ha' · · Score: 1

      Don't be too hasty. The Air Force has launched MyBase, a virtual training program for its cadets. The idea is that you can receive some types of training in the virtual world in lieu of reading a manual or something.

      The other application spoken of is creating virtual representations of real bases and areas so that an airman can study the layout of a base and 'know' it before he even steps off the airplane. He/She can know where his/her billet, chow hall, etc. without having to actually have been there in real life.

      I think it's a great use of my tax dollars.

      --
      We're all hypocrites. We all have hidden parts, it's the contrast between them that make us more a hypocrite than others
    2. Re:Furry hooker army? by MaggieL · · Score: 1

      Sign up for a free account, get in-world, do a search for "combat sims" and teleport to one to see how wrong you are. :-)

      --
      -=Maggie Leber=-
  4. I use Second Life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I signed up over 2 years looking for an enhanced chat room. SL allows me to create the atmosphere I used to describe to people in chats. I now own a Coffee House and a Mall and make about $60 US per month. Not bad for my $72 annual fee, most of which I get back in the weekly stipend.

    I think it's probably hard at this point to sell First Life products via SL, it is common that people bring their skills and personalities in. The $$ now is made by people selling virtual land and products.

    Second Life's growth is almost EXACTLY like the growth of the internet. CompuServe, AOL, et al were closed systems that were slow and very limited. Companies came in and out trying to find out if there was any point to the experiment. Geeks ruled. Later on, artists and educators, and yes, the PORN industry, made the WWW more interesting and useful.

    I could go on and on... the parallels are all there.

    1. Re:I use Second Life by Mex · · Score: 1, Funny

      Yeah, I tried second life. For about 5 minutes. I just had to leave after I got ambushed by a herd of flying cocks screaming and slowing my system down to a crawl.

      Good luck with this game.

    2. Re:I use Second Life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, I think a better metaphor may be MUDs/MOOs in the early '90s. There was a huge academic interest in the topic, with folks like Sherry Turkle and Lynn Cherny writing many, many words on the topic. But if you asked around, the actual MUD userbase was extremely small. That seems to be the situation with SL. I've seen no end of articles and texts about it, but none of the college students I've ever asked have used it (many have never heard of it). This isn't to say SL has no value (it may still give the world its own "A Rape in Cyberspace," which is still cited today), but it doesn't look to become anything close to a popular phenomenon like CompuServe, AOL, or the other items you mention.

    3. Re:I use Second Life by QuantumG · · Score: 2

      uh huh. I went through university in the late 90s, significantly after the peak of MUDing. The MUD playership was something like 100% of the first years and dropped off to something like 50% by third year. From what my younger friends tell me, that's still the case. MUDs are a fundamentally different kind of time wasting to WoW and other MMOs. They've always been popular, and they always will be.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    4. Re:I use Second Life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am a self admitted geek, I buy all new IT gadgets, I work in IT for an IT company, all of my friends also work in or around IT, I play MMO's and love a lot of the virtual stuff. Yet neither I nor anyone I know has ever even touched Second Life, in fact many of them struggle with Real Life :-).

    5. Re:I use Second Life by blakedev · · Score: 1

      Speaking of, I wonder if a certain group with the initials PN have seen this article yet.

      --
      QamuIs Heg qaq law' lorvIs yInqaq puS
    6. Re:I use Second Life by Dyerbrook · · Score: 1

      Well...don't. Because they're not. Which services owns virtually the entire world's teenage instant messaging? AIM. From AOL. That company you said was closed, and therefore a "closed system" that made it stupid, dead, useless, blah blah blah. Some closed things might die. Some might not. Some might morph into other things. Others might gain value because they stay closed instead of opening up to mindless freetard opensourceniks who suck out value and copyleft all the content. Who says parallels and patterns repeat lock-step in history, over and over again, as if history is some kind of precoded computer system? I mean, come on, someone like yourself who doesn't believe in creation can't believe that. There is absolutely no law in the universe everywhere that says because something happened in a pattern once (some closed proprietary systems failed in the creation of the Internet) that it will happen again (some closed proprietary systems will fail in the next iteration or level of the Internet). Geeks don't rule. Geeks may have ruled at the beginning, but then companies and regular people took over. Bye-bye geeks, too bad, so sad. They then grasped and clawed and bullied again for Web 2.0 but oops, consumers bypassed them as going on the Internet and doing things with user-generated content got easier and easier and they were less and less needed. Porn was not a big factor in the early Internet, that's another common fallacy. Mostly, it was pictures of people's cats.

    7. Re:I use Second Life by ub3r+n3u7r4l1st · · Score: 1

      Get a life!

      --
      New Economic Perspectives
    8. Re:I use Second Life by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      Get a life!

      He did apparently.

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
    9. Re:I use Second Life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I meant "closed system" in that all the content was on their servers and available only to subscribers, just as all SL content is now.

    10. Re:I use Second Life by yahwotqa · · Score: 1

      Which one?

  5. Been "playing" for a few years now by LurkingOnSlashdot · · Score: 3, Informative
    It was really cool for about half a year at the beginning as I built all kinds of things, but then I just fell away from it and now only occasionally check in to see what's new. The game really has progressed since when I started.

    Gone are all the casino's, pedophilia sex areas and ad farms. The place seems a lot less populated now as well. I never see anyone in my neighborhood anymore.

    1. Re:Been "playing" for a few years now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Popularity is at a record high, but the problem is that there's so much land for people to spread out over. The average population density for Second Life is only about 50% more than that of the actual United States.

      The SciLands are probably the best area in Second Life. The UK National Physics Lab, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Bureau, and the University of Denver School of Medicine are all grouped there next to non-profit groups that have been trying things like recreating all the nations' famous post-World War II rockets.

      The University of Dresden recreated their art gallery using Second Life, and I walked around and viewed all the paintings on the lower floor. The Estonian embassy, too, exhibits Estonian paintings and film in such a manner that it made me feel as if I were browsing a website in 3D.

      For me, Second Life is like a giant virtual museum. I guess it's not useful beyond that. There are actual games, but they're mostly things like virtual snowboarding, and there are few people I'd want to play those games with.

      Also, one time I went to an area that was attempting to simulate a Viking village, and everything was going well, until I clicked on a rug with the option "lie down" and my avatar began vigorously masturbating.

      The biggest problem when I first signed up for Second Life was not knowing what to do. The "popular places" menu had been gamed by spambots. They replaced that with a feature that shows editor-picked places, so that isn't as bad anymore.

      ---Kligat. Can't be bothered to log in.

    2. Re:Been "playing" for a few years now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gone are all the casino's, pedophilia sex areas and ad farms. The place seems a lot less populated now as well.

      Well, you're not exactly encouraging people to join now, are you.

    3. Re:Been "playing" for a few years now by Dyerbrook · · Score: 1

      Um, well, gosh. I have a GREAT solution for this. Since there is such a low density of people per land, let's *take away the land from those paying customers who pay for maintenance fees for their server space to do what they like with* and let's *forcibly turn it over to people on free accounts*. Would that work for you? It's called "Bolshevism".

    4. Re:Been "playing" for a few years now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uh... that Viking village you went to is a Gor village. It's roleplaying a shitty sci-fi series called "Gor" which is basically a bunch of slavery RP with some sex mixed in.

      They're all over the place but not nearly as vocal as the furries (because of the slavery aspect they rarely leave their own sims)

    5. Re:Been "playing" for a few years now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      check out the 'furry' areas - they all moved into those instead
      theres even a place where women can get a cute little baby unicorn - after they have sex with the stud..

    6. Re:Been "playing" for a few years now by egcagrac0 · · Score: 1

      I don't believe that was suggested.

      "There don't seem to be many people here today" != "Let's bulldoze everything and reassign the ownership"

      And, I believe the modern term is "eminent domain" or "expropriation", depending on whereabouts you happen to be standing.

    7. Re:Been "playing" for a few years now by ultranova · · Score: 1

      Since there is such a low density of people per land, let's *take away the land from those paying customers who pay for maintenance fees for their server space to do what they like with* and let's *forcibly turn it over to people on free accounts*. Would that work for you? It's called "Bolshevism".

      Actually, such forcible action usually happens when those who have land or other resource refuse to pay for the maintenance of the social or other infrastructure which allows them to own it ("taxation is thievery"), and start instead claiming their ownership is a God-given right everyone must respect above all because only a communist wouldn't. In other words, it's a reaction to libertarianism, a bit like fever, swelling and pain are reactions to an infection.

      Anyway, to get back to topic, giving everyone some land to play with might help getting more users. It doesn't require removing any from existing users, though, because land is not a finite resource in a virtual world. However, storage space for objects is, so you'd need to limit free accounts on the number of objects they can create, and some way to keep some jackass from creating an endless stream of new accounts for de facto unlimited storage.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  6. The client is crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only time I tried it, it was crap.

    - Crap software client
    - Crap graphics
    - Crap framerate

    It's like these idiots never heard of Quake/Unreal/whatever engines.

    1. Re:The client is crap by philspear · · Score: 1

      I think you may have missed the point (AKA ridiculous sex fantasy simulator) if you're concerning yourself with the engine.

    2. Re:The client is crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The entire world, besides basic landscapes and a few buildings, is user-created.
      Everything here needs to be sent over.

      Quake is nothing like Second Life.
      The closest would be HL2 + Garrysmod.
      And oo, guess what, even THAT is pre-made objects, all that is sent is position, velocity and orientation. (and states, if there is any)
      Advanced Duplicator can lag a game like hell.
      And if you don't have said textures? You get to see a lovely big ERROR. Yummy.

      If you can create a :
      1) better client
      2) magical happy speed increases that defy the laws of physics
      Then go ahead and get programming.

      Also, go buy a better computers, it runs at a decent framerate on mines, and mines isn't even a great gaming computer.

    3. Re:The client is crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      No, it really is that bad. Objects/buildings often won't load up until 30 seconds after you have walked past them, so you constantly get stuck behind invisible walls that havn't loaded yet.

      The engine also has no culling so you get to see everything inside a building loading in (including all the people inside and what they are doing) for a good few minutes, until eventually the exterior walls load up.

      In summary, a total joke.

    4. Re:The client is crap by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      No, it really is that bad. Objects/buildings often won't load up until 30 seconds after you have walked past them, so you constantly get stuck behind invisible walls that havn't loaded yet.

      I don't have that problem. You probably have not so great hardware or networking issues.

      Unfortunately since the Second life client is currently single threaded, if your system is slow at I/O for disk writing, you will have packet loss, lower fps and same goes for any other combination. Packet loss? low FPS. Low FPS? Packet loss, slow disk writing etc.

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
    5. Re:The client is crap by ultranova · · Score: 1

      I think you may have missed the point (AKA ridiculous sex fantasy simulator) if you're concerning yourself with the engine.

      Sex is actually bloody difficult to simulate well or even adequately. It usually involves two or more bodies in close contact, which means that you need collision detection and deformations for two soft bodies with complex internal structure. This is, of course, completely ignoring the need for controls which would be both useful and powerful or simulating unconscious reactions. Oh, and the end result would need to have sufficient visual quality to be closer to interactive porn than a puppet show.

      In fact it's so bloody difficult I've never seen it done in an interactive manner. Adult games typically use either pre-recorded cutscenes, which may or may not allow you to change the tempo, and then lets you change between them. Now that I think of it, it's really a very interesting problem...

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    6. Re:The client is crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I made this point in other Second Life articles.Shitty unoptimized software,and their users excuses it "because SL is special".

  7. THIS JUST IN, VIRTUAL TERRORISTS ATTACK ARMY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    A TERRORIST GROUP RECENTLY ATTACKED THE ARMY'S SECOND LIFE RECRUITING BASE. At 8:00 am Second Life time, a terrorist group calling them selves the 'furry t3rmin4t0r5' detonated replicating 'flying penis bombs', deployed annoying sound loop 'followers', and other things too obscene to be described here. The 'furry t3rmin4t0r5' also released a message saying "we did it for the lulz."

    1. Re:THIS JUST IN, VIRTUAL TERRORISTS ATTACK ARMY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      PN having a crisis of identity?

  8. Turnaround possible? by philspear · · Score: 1

    So the army is headed into the virtual world as Reuters is headed out.

    In real world news, the Army is pulling out of Iraq, and Reuters is going in.

  9. that means by papabob · · Score: 1

    that means no more embarrasing CSI: NY chapters? ;)

  10. The war on furries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's about time the army got the war on furries started!

  11. My Second Life Experience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It has godawful loading times, but rather entertaining for some 20 minutes or so.

    After looting all the freebies from the tutorial, I changed to the most ridiculous model I had, and proceeded to bike stunt off of other people while repeatedly playing a Night at the Roxbury mp3(freebie), then glitched into a few homes through broken barriers until I found someone "painting" to harass. I ended up kicked or banned(I didn't bother checking) after disrupting some kind of talent show with more bike stunts. I also found a jukebox and queued the worst song I could find a few times.

    Beyond some quick mayhem, I don't see the point.

  12. Naah, Eric Just Got a Girlfriend by Dyerbrook · · Score: 1

    Geeks hate Second Life because no one requires them to use it. It's great : ) Reuters didn't leave SL, their island is still in place. They seem to have lost interst, and Eric, a cub reporter just out of j-school, found a real job. But before that, he got a girlfriend, who probably hated him being on Second Life. http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2008/12/eric-reuters-got-a-girlfriend.html

    1. Re:Naah, Eric Just Got a Girlfriend by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      Actually, women love second life. It probably has the highest female-to-male ratio of any online videogame, with the possible exception of the Sims Online.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  13. Second Life Questions by Zephyrmation · · Score: 1

    Personally, I never understood the travel mechanics of SL - not allowing people to fly/warp wherever they want would make it much more immersive, IMO. You'd get rid of all the annoying pop-in, and I'm guessing the real estate market would get a boost as well, since proximity to popular venues would become even more important. It seems to me that in SL you have all the benefits of real life and more, but almost none of the rules.

    Of course, too many rules make the experience just plain boring, but you'll notice that all successful open-world games (EVE, for example) have set a realistic transportation speed limit. Then again, maybe most places in Second Life aren't worth walking 5 minutes for. If that's the case, then get them to spring a couple thousand lindons for a car, or one of those fancy-but-functionally-useless jets I've seen for sale. I'd be very interested to hear other peoples' opinions on this.

    1. Re:Second Life Questions by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1

      Personally, I never understood the travel mechanics of SL - not allowing people to fly/warp wherever they want would make it much more immersive, IMO.

      They did this for years with telehubs, it was horrible. You had to avoid all that horrible crap in your path, more often than not you would be sealed these advertising cubes. Thank God we can now teleport wherever we wish now.

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
  14. A new type of soldier... by malevolentjelly · · Score: 1

    I, for one, welcome our furry new infantry to battle overseas. I wonder what the U.S. military's policy on "yiffing" is...

    "Dog tags" will take on a whole new meaning. Still, they should include:

    Name
    Rank
    Religion
    Fursona

    "This man fought as a horse-- and we will bury him-- as a horse."

  15. Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because people will all buy extra video phone equipment to take classes? Distance ed will likely go through televisions or computers. Even if it isn't SL, Distance ed will eventually go through immersive environments like SL or Wimba. Text alone is too easy to game and something as small as a phone doesn't give enough context.

  16. Intresting... by pyrote · · Score: 1

    I find it quite interesting, the most dogged article of the month, and it's about a program that allows Social interaction... On Slashdot?! Go Figure.

    A few Stats for the naysayers:
    50,000-75,000 players at any given time (24/7)
    Well over a Million US Dollars spent daily in world.

    Personally, I run 4 'sims' (16 acre chunks of land) and pull in a profit of well over 200-300 US Dollars a month. My community has well over 250 members, and atleast 50 of them are online daily and interact. To the (seems barren, and your always alone) crap, we usually average about 10 - 20 people in-city at any given time, around 40 at bi-weekly events. Personally I pull down 30 bucks in tips whenever we have a gathering.

    No Sex/Furry/Slave/camping bullcrap.

    The community is a Thriving place for friends, and hell I even get a chance to blow stuff up. Usually disassemble old buildings by Demolition (fire, boom crash).

    Reuters Leaving Second Life, well cya. All they tended to do was report on useless stuff and their 'feeds' in world, lagged the hell out of servers.

    As for crappy graphics... Hand any amateur a set of 3d tools, you shouldn't expect Fallout 3. Personally, I see graphics in world that blows away any MMO/RPG.

    --
    THE WORLD IS GOING TO END!!!! eventually.
  17. Reuters Pulls Out of Second Life by anonymous-2342342 · · Score: 1

    I seen "Second Life" at a local club, quite the pole dancer. She had 3 kids though, so I can't blame Reuters for pulling out.