But first, a treat for fans of Final Fantasy.
What is Second Life?
I first read about Second Life here, and I thought, “Hey, that sounds pretty neat.” Since they were giving away basic accounts for free through July 13th (normally costs $10), I thought I’d give it a go. The install was easy, only 17MB, and though I was nervous about giving away my CC info, nothing was charged to my account. On firsting logging in, you choose a gender (which you can change at will as often as you want), and walk through a small, introductory island that introduces you to the basic commands and movements the game has to offer. At the second informational post on the island, I spent a good hour customizing my character’s appearance, which gives you some idea of how many options you have in this regard. After I was satisfied with little Enzo’s appearance, I continued down the island hill, where I learned how to manipulate objects, zoom in and out on objects (and around them) without moving, and fly. Yes, fly. Everyone in Second Life can do it, which is great, because nobody knows how to run. Funny, that.
Learning to fly graduated me from the island, and I was left on my own in a cold, wide world. Humming Cat Stevens, I flew around for awhile, until I got annoyed with how low my clip plane was set, how choppy the graphics still were, anyway, and how I had to click on objects and then wait 10 seconds for them to come into focus. Eventually, I found a sign that offered something of an introductory game, a treasure hunt, which would not only garner valuable prizes (such as my character’s very own pair of converse), but would also help me explore the world and get a sense of what all was out there. Using the teleport command (yes, everyone can fly, and teleport … but still can’t run), I hopped around the world looking for fame and glory – and sneakers. What I found was that half the game was broken and yielded no prize (though I did get a blue inner tube of my very own!), and the other half was dull as hell. I also got tired of trying to fly through walls I couldn’t see, only to be balked, realize there was, indeed, a wall there, and have to wait a good 20 seconds before it would load and I could actually see it.
Having realized rather quickly that this wasn’t a game to offer a challenging “adventure”, I decided to see what the social aspects were like. I went to where the people were, mostly strip joints, casinos, and VIP clubs, and rather than converse with people, I stood around and tried to get a sense of what people who had spent way too much time in this game already did for fun. Mostly, it would seem, they stand in a club, turn on a dance animation, and chat about random shit. So, basically, it’s MSN Messenger with a pole dancer as your background. How exciting. Feeling voyeuristic, I peeked into various “orgy” and “private” rooms, where there were plenty of scripts that, when clicked, would move your character into nasty positions, but I didn’t run across anyone actually using said rooms. Still, I could see it being an ideal spot for an online tryst between Kandie (a hot, 17-year-old blonde cheerleader who is actually a fat middle-aged man), and Kyle (a high-powered CEO with a gun who is actually a horny middle-schooler who doesn’t get enough sun). I sincerely apologize for the visual.
The main drive of Second Life, aside from the social aspect, is building, and in this sense I could see why people might be interested. With a premium account ($10 a month) your character can own his or her own land. Using powerful tools, scripts, textures, and your imagination you can pretty much build any damned thing you want. You can create your dream house, complete with a lake outside, actual paintings inside, a television that will actually play video in-game, streaming music for anyone than enters your property, and so on and so forth. Of course, land, and buildings, and furniture, all cost money. Your premium account character makes $500 in-game a week, and though I’m not entirely sure what that gets you, I doubt it buys you an acre. And so your Second Life, much like your first, is largely preoccupied with ways to make money. There is gambling, there are rote chores than can be completed for paltry sums, and there are sales. Sales are, by far, the biggest market in Second Life. Create a nice outfit using Second Life tools, photoshop textures, etc, and then offer it up for sale on your property. Anyone who thinks it’s haut couture can pay whatever your asking price is, and the outfit goes to their inventory read to wear. Your stock in unlimited, so the only challenge is to design something people will want. From what I saw, the current fashion trends are largely s&m with some schoolgirl fantasy looks thrown in for the “innocent” types. Fantasy looks are also hip, and there is a complete island devoted to animal and furry avatars and culture. Yeah, scary.
The fact that the game was created by a group called “Linden Research, Inc.” makes me suspicious that it’s just a big experiment created to see who people would be if they could be anyone, what they would do if they could do anything, and where they would live if they could live anywhere. Of course, the type of people that will get into this sort of thing are fairly specific, so it’s not very good research if you’d like to learn the inner thoughts of your general person. Still, I’d much rather be on the research end, postulating theories on why so many people build mansions and put Da Vinci prints in them instead of living in suburban houses with a hot tub in the back; than on the player side, being studied. I wonder what they hope to learn.
In the end, I’ve got my first life to think about. I’m moving at the end of the month, and I don’t get to build a mansion to live in. Instead I get to pay rent for a little 1-BR apartment, and I’m fine with that. I’ve got to put in significant hours during to day at work to make money, to pay rent, to buy food, and with a little cash left over to go talk to real people, in the real world, and do some fun things that actually make my blood circulate. If you’re going to offer me a game, offer me escapism, let me slay orcs, play chess with dragons, and wield high magicks on the open sea; but don’t give me a variation on what I already do every day, because honestly, the first life is more than enough.