[geeks] Second Life is not a game?

[Jon Gilbert]

Excellent post, Phil. I do agree with your assessment, except for  
this bit:

On Jul 31, 2007, at 4:35 AM, Phil Stracchino wrote:
> (BTW, that's not the only distinction between the two.  It's just the
> most relevant one right now.  Another is that you aren't allowed to  
> have
> multiple accounts and there's no concept ofWoW-style  "characters";  
> you
> create one account, which you have to tie to your real identity,  
> and you
> have one avatar permanently associated with your account, and that is
> IT.  That's YOU in SL.)

Actually you can have multiple accounts in SL, called "alts." Most  
people have one main account, and several alt accounts for when they  
want to get work done without being constantly harangued by customers  
and friends, etc. Griefers use alts to avoid getting their main  
accounts banned. Etc.

But yeah I agree with the whole rest of your post, except this:

> [1]  Apart from anything else, no-one would bother with it if it were
> just a game.  Honestly, compared to 3D-avatar games, the interface
> *SUCKS*.[2]  It's very hard even to just move around without running
> into things and people all the time because the movement interface  
> is so
> crude and awkward.  I tried poking my nose into it for about a week  
> and
> decided it just wasn't worth the pain.

The interface is actually really cool once you get used to it.  
Unfortunately, SL does have a high learning curve to master, and  
requires a very fast computer with an excellent 3D card in order to  
run smoothly. Unless you have the latest and greatest hardware, it's  
likely to run too choppy and laggy to really be easy to move around  
accurately most of the time. Also, to actually learn how to script  
and build in SL is by no means easy.

-
Jon Gilbert
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