Second Life
by Britton LaRoche · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 02/27/2004 (9:31 am) · 9 replies
I just saw this link in the google ads above. I clicked through because I was interested and I like generating revenue for GG...
I think this will be big for a number of reasons. One is that it is a logical extension of something like Everquest and 2 is that it will provide lots of opportinity for advertisers to reach a new market. I think it will be a win / win between the consumer game player, and the advertsising companies.
I have a buddy who plays EQ all the time. His characters get married online in EQ. He says the chicks he marries are not the kind of women he would be interested in. But hey says things like "Kiss Kiss, love you baby." and they eat it up. They give his charcters magic rings and stuff.
Seems like this will be a big hit for men and women. More and more people are getting virtual friends and spending time in chat rooms. Just my opinion but I think games like this will be very succesful. Second life is not the only one...
secondlife.com/
www.there.com/
Personally I think the stuff you can do on these games is pretty cheesy and stupid. I never bought the sims either. The sims (not online) are doing very well. I think it would be more fun if there was alot of blood and gore. Or if you could gate crash the wedding and start shooting people. But not everyone would enjoy such a game.
Just curiious as to what you guys think.
I think this will be big for a number of reasons. One is that it is a logical extension of something like Everquest and 2 is that it will provide lots of opportinity for advertisers to reach a new market. I think it will be a win / win between the consumer game player, and the advertsising companies.
I have a buddy who plays EQ all the time. His characters get married online in EQ. He says the chicks he marries are not the kind of women he would be interested in. But hey says things like "Kiss Kiss, love you baby." and they eat it up. They give his charcters magic rings and stuff.
Seems like this will be a big hit for men and women. More and more people are getting virtual friends and spending time in chat rooms. Just my opinion but I think games like this will be very succesful. Second life is not the only one...
secondlife.com/
www.there.com/
Personally I think the stuff you can do on these games is pretty cheesy and stupid. I never bought the sims either. The sims (not online) are doing very well. I think it would be more fun if there was alot of blood and gore. Or if you could gate crash the wedding and start shooting people. But not everyone would enjoy such a game.
Just curiious as to what you guys think.
#2
Personally my money is on Puzzle Pirates as the next big hit :)
02/27/2004 (10:23 am)
I think There.com has turned out to be a investment disaster, and 'Sims Online' hasn't done anywhere near as well as expected. Seems that demographic are happy chatting with their friends in the traditional online chat rooms / forums / IM etc.Personally my money is on Puzzle Pirates as the next big hit :)
#3
Its flexibility and lack of defined style (leaving everything up to the user) really reminds me of the old 2D palace chat client, but with a better business model.
Definitely one to keep an eye on.
There is also very cool, but definitely a different target audience. They seem to be targetting the trendy teen chat crowd, while Second Life doesn't allow anyone under 18 to subscribe (due to the huge amount of unregulated user content). There also has a much more defined style (with excellent art direction), but I think that this may actually hurt them, as they seem to restrict the ability of the user to define their own identity and appearance.
It will be interesting to see how these two very different approaches to the "metaverse" pan out.
02/27/2004 (12:03 pm)
We hung out with a bunch of the Second Life folks at MacWorld (their station was next to ours in the game arcade). They really seem to know what people want in an online virtual chat client. They allow an amazing amount of freedom to create your own content - plus it is a one time fee to just have a character and chat, but you have to pay monthly to build permanent structures. Very good ideas.Its flexibility and lack of defined style (leaving everything up to the user) really reminds me of the old 2D palace chat client, but with a better business model.
Definitely one to keep an eye on.
There is also very cool, but definitely a different target audience. They seem to be targetting the trendy teen chat crowd, while Second Life doesn't allow anyone under 18 to subscribe (due to the huge amount of unregulated user content). There also has a much more defined style (with excellent art direction), but I think that this may actually hurt them, as they seem to restrict the ability of the user to define their own identity and appearance.
It will be interesting to see how these two very different approaches to the "metaverse" pan out.
#4
02/27/2004 (12:06 pm)
The ability of users to script and create content in Second Life is really very impressive - they showed a lot of user-created mini-games (though some were not so mini) - these varied from a MMORPG zone, where you got stats and defeated monsters for XP and treasure, to fps-style combat zones, to collaborative music creation kits.
#5
Phil, do you have the links to FFX and WOW?
02/27/2004 (2:09 pm)
Alex, yeah I was impressed with the build your own home deal. Looks pretty nifty. The ability to go to other zones where you can fight is a good idea. Seems pretty well thought out.Phil, do you have the links to FFX and WOW?
#6
02/27/2004 (2:10 pm)
Gareth, yeah my buddy is chatting with single mothers of two or more and rather large home bodied women. He is a digital gigalo.
#7
I don't think that second life, et al are even competing for the same market as WOW or FFX - they (secondlife) aren't even games, per se. More like 3D IRC with advanced user scripting. Unlike the Sims online, it doesn't even present a pretense of being a game and focuses entirely on being a social space.
Who knows if their one-time fee subscription model will prove to be viable. Seems interesting at any rate. I know I would have been thrilled about it when I was in high school. No time for chat these days though, I hardly even use ICQ anymore.
03/03/2004 (12:19 pm)
Quote:But these games arent going to threaten the mainstream MMORPG's for a while because of the relatively poor quality. Contrast these with someone like FFX or WOW and there's no real competition.
I don't think that second life, et al are even competing for the same market as WOW or FFX - they (secondlife) aren't even games, per se. More like 3D IRC with advanced user scripting. Unlike the Sims online, it doesn't even present a pretense of being a game and focuses entirely on being a social space.
Who knows if their one-time fee subscription model will prove to be viable. Seems interesting at any rate. I know I would have been thrilled about it when I was in high school. No time for chat these days though, I hardly even use ICQ anymore.
#8
03/03/2004 (3:15 pm)
They use the tech in There for DoD stuff, so I don't think they have any cash problems :)
#9
Personally, I love it, love the concept of an art/programming/avatar game. (something like it in Snow Crash, right?) I've only played a few online games, and I dont even play SL that much but the communitty seems really nice compared to other games. Overall, I think it might be too artsy for a lot of people and there is no overall guiding thrust for us core gamers.
BUT!! I do think that if it was marketed more towards women as an online chatting and virtual shopping experience it would rule. My gf loves the sims pretty much just because she can shop in there! I've always felt that if they were to put real designer labels in a game where you could clothes shop and buy furnishings it would be a huge deal..
In the future we will have virtual perfumes. :)
peace,
-s
03/04/2004 (11:07 pm)
Second Life is pretty cool... been playing it on and off for a while now. Unfortunately, I can never seem to get into the big show-offs (server too busy). Yes, some cool little mini-games, but the real fun is the events and the ability to wander to check out people's houses, galleries, and scripted items. Personally, I love it, love the concept of an art/programming/avatar game. (something like it in Snow Crash, right?) I've only played a few online games, and I dont even play SL that much but the communitty seems really nice compared to other games. Overall, I think it might be too artsy for a lot of people and there is no overall guiding thrust for us core gamers.
BUT!! I do think that if it was marketed more towards women as an online chatting and virtual shopping experience it would rule. My gf loves the sims pretty much just because she can shop in there! I've always felt that if they were to put real designer labels in a game where you could clothes shop and buy furnishings it would be a huge deal..
In the future we will have virtual perfumes. :)
peace,
-s
Torque 3D Owner Phil Carlisle
But these games arent going to threaten the mainstream MMORPG's for a while because of the relatively poor quality. Contrast these with someone like FFX or WOW and there's no real competition.
However its not all about graphical quality or those kind of things, but about the levels of interaction you can use. Some of these games just dont seem to offer any real interaction.
BTW: The "girls" your mate was flirting with were probably 60 year old geezers :)