Second Life... I don't get it?

#1 (**permalink**) 08-08-2007, 01:50 PM

Supposedly people are making money hand over fist at Second Life. I don't get it? Virtual real estate for example... why would I pay someone real money to buy a virtual plot of land (basically just a bunch of 0's in 1's on a hard drive some place)? Someone please help me understand.

catlinye_maker · #2 (**permalink**) 08-08-2007, 06:18 PM

Think of it as a hobby, a game, that has tokens that you can buy and customize. The fact that the "tokens" are only virtual doesn't really matter. Other aficionados can see and appreciate them. Like model trains or customizing hot rods. IMO pretty much all of the MMOG's (massively multiplayer online games) have that sort of thing to one degree or another.

Broken Arrow · #3 (**permalink**) 08-08-2007, 07:01 PM

Actually, a lot of major corporations and vendors are pulling out of Second Life. I've read a few articles regarding why, and one theory suggests that, while Second Life has its appeal, it's far from being mainstream accessible. Therefore, it has not been able to reach the critical mass needed for corporations to venture into it.

A rebuttal to that from a prominent Second Lifer believes that this is a good thing. Good in the sense that it can stay true to its community: For Second Lifers by Second Lifers. In that way, many true Second Lifers who have invested their own money into the virtual reality can remain competitive against outsiders who are simply there to make money.

Or so the argument is going so far.

As for virtual real estate, it's a very risky business. Not only is it a commodity investment, but it's all virtual.

Plus, the inability for the game to grow into mainstream, and the pullout of major sponsers and corporations probably caused the going price of these real estates to plummet.

Having said that, I do believe that virtual token economy is indeed very real and very big business. There are Russian and Chinese clans out there whose sole purpose is to sell virtual gold (or whatever other currency each game calls it) for real money, as well as rare items. Some of them will even develop your character for you!

A lot-- and I do mean a lot-- of online games have gone to this system where they allow you to play the game for free, but have an integrated "cash shop" where they sell premium items and services that require real money. One of my favorite games, Maple Story, even sell their gift cards at my local Target!

I don't know how viable this token economy is though. I suppose it depends on how compelling the core product is. The trouble with Second Life is that it's a jack-of-all-trades but master of none. It's open-ended, sure, but... there's no compelling gameplay per se. I suppose you can argue that it's a great content creation environment and provides escapism at a virtually grand scale. (Kind of reminds me of the good old days of MUSH too.) Anyways, Sony is bringing this virtual life concept to its PS3 with the experimental title called "Home" I think, and I'll be keeping my eye on it to see how it fares.

You can probably tell that I play a lot of online type games.

Except for premium content, they're free to play so it's a great way to get your fix without having to spend money... but I don't play Second Life.

safari · #4 (**permalink**) 08-08-2007, 07:57 PM

I tried playing Second Life, but got bored after a few days. A lot of people love it, but I guess it's not for me. I like playing games where there is a certain goal, and which I can finish in under an hour.

#5 (**permalink**) 08-09-2007, 07:50 AM

Thanks for the comments... that makes sense, it's a different kind of game, and people are paying real money to make their virtual player better. I guess that leads me to my next question... isn't that cheating?

Take for example, I'm playing chess against you and I can whip out $10 and buy another queen to place on the board. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of fair competition?

safari · #6 (**permalink**) 08-09-2007, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devils_advocate

Thanks for the comments... that makes sense, it's a different kind of game, and people are paying real money to make their virtual player better. I guess that leads me to my next question... isn't that cheating?

Take for example, I'm playing chess against you and I can whip out $10 and buy another queen to place on the board. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of fair competition?

In Second Life you're not competing against other people; it's a virtual world where you can build your character and interact with other players. There is no goal in that game, and there are no winners and losers. Buying a piece of land won't make your player better, but it will allow you to build a house, a park, a waterfall, or whatever you like.

PrincessPerky · #7 (**permalink**) 08-09-2007, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devils_advocate

Thanks for the comments... that makes sense, it's a different kind of game, and people are paying real money to make their virtual player better. I guess that leads me to my next question... isn't that cheating?

Take for example, I'm playing chess against you and I can whip out $10 and buy another queen to place on the board. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of fair competition?

IMO yes, but it isn't chess it is a online gaming world, and like trading card games the players accept that more cash equals more game 'stuff'. the ultimate 'rich mans game'

I even wrote a whole blog post on why I will never play a game that expects me to invest anything more than a start up cost for rules and my time/talent...if I want to have a kick ass set of armor, I expect to be able to earn it with time and talent, no more cash, my cash is tied up.

Broken Arrow · #8 (**permalink**) 08-09-2007, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devils_advocate

Thanks for the comments... that makes sense, it's a different kind of game, and people are paying real money to make their virtual player better. I guess that leads me to my next question... isn't that cheating?

Take for example, I'm playing chess against you and I can whip out $10 and buy another queen to place on the board. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of fair competition?

Hehehe. Well, I'm going to say "no" for a couple of reasons.

The first is that, if a game is purposely designed to function a certain way, then that function is not considered cheating. Rather, it's considered game design.

Of course, we don't have to agree with such a design. And in the end, if enough people disagree with it, then the game won't take off.

Secondly, in practice, most of these games appropriately reward skill and time put into the game more than how much money you throw at it. Real money may give you an edge, but it usually won't matter as much as playing well. Otherwise, the game design would be flawed I think.

In Maple Story, the premium items are almost exclusively cosmetic, to make your character look different than everybody else. However, that in no way affects the core gameplay, which is free to begin with. In that sense, it's similar to Second Life, except it's got a game engine underneath.

Vapors · #9 (**permalink**) 08-09-2007, 01:18 PM

I tried Second Life for 2 nights but couldn't get into it. It's very laggy. I have 6000 download speed with powerboost and it was still really laggy. It could take a few minutes to load a building I entered. I had a hard time finding things to do and spend my money on (they give you some real money to spend at people's places of business). I ended up at some dance club and tipped the owner a lot of my money. Other than that and buying clothes for your avatar, there wasn't much I could find to do.

As for gold farming, that's not really Second Life. That's more for games like World of Warcraft, Everquest and other MMORPGs. In most games, it's against the rules to buy gold (in game currency) from online vendors. If you do it, you risk losing your account. If you sell your gold you really take a huge risk of losing your account. Thousands get closed every few months.

Mike_Joiner · #10 (**permalink**) 08-10-2007, 01:09 AM

They claim that someone has become a real life millionaire from second life. I can well believe it as I have a friend who built a programme on second life that produces a fireworks display. People then go on and buy it. He has no stock, no shipping and earns money while he sleeps. Who says making money is hard

Dave Rowtree · #11 (**permalink**) 08-10-2007, 06:32 AM

You can make money on it but it is no easier than making money in real life. People basically pay for your time, its very laborious making anything in the game. Also you never actually see sunset and live in a world of lets face it, computer geeks. (LOL!111!) Struth.

I hear christian missionaires are targeting Seconde life since its filled with people who are in need of salvation (Woopee), and a Second Life Avatar (the 1's and 0's kept on the servers of Second life as your in game alter-ego) has as much carbon footprint as a Brazilian.

project15 · #12 (**permalink**) 08-11-2007, 03:35 PM

Is This Man Cheating on His Wife? - WSJ.com

This guy is married in real life and has a different wife in second life. He plays about 40 hours + each week.

Broken Arrow · #13 (**permalink**) 08-11-2007, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by project15

Is This Man Cheating on His Wife? - WSJ.com

This guy is married in real life and has a different wife in second life. He plays about 40 hours + each week.

My opinion is "YES!"

People can cheat on their spouse on an emotional level. It doesn't always have to be physical or even sexual.

Plus, it doesn't even have to involve a woman in a virtual reality. It could be going to the bar with your beer buddies, a physical object like working on your car, or even your career. Anything really, where you are basically placing time and energy above the interest of your spouse is wrong.

Let me qualify the above by saying that I do think it's normal to have interests and hobbies beyond your spouse. It's when your spouse starts to object but you keep doing it anyway, that's when I think you run into problems.

markusk · #14 (**permalink**) 08-12-2007, 01:42 AM

I think there are more people talking and writing about Second Life, than there are people who actually visit Second Life.

I also read an article recently (cnn.com or Wired mag?) where major corporations (Coke, Nike, etc) who have a presence in Second Life, at a cost of $500,000+/year, are only getting something like 75-100 unique visitors per month. Part of the problem is that there arn't too many things to do in Second Life (no goal, and most people are use to specific task oriented games), and the architechure/hardware running the system is old, so "playing the game" is excruciatingly slow.

On the otherhand, the concept of "virtual real estate" is very real and very lucrative. For example, if I had bought cellphone.com or car.com, 10 years ago, I would be very wealthy right now.

There was a Fortune Magazine story about a Philadelphia couple who were doctors who bought medically related words/phrases like hypertension.org, diabetes.org, renalfailure.org, as a hobby, and someone paid just over 2 million dollars for the lot of them!

They can make money because people, when searching for something/anything often just type in what they are looking for directly into the address bar (instead of doing a google/yahoo search). The owner of the site places related links on the webpage (looking for info on cellphones? there will be links to at&t, verizon, samsung, ringtones, iphones, etc) and for each "click" by a visitor, the owner of the website gets paid. Of course, only something like 0.5% of visitors will actually click the links, but if you get 100,000 visitors PER DAY, then you are talking about serious money (without doing anything!) Fortune Magazine even postulated that these virtual real estates will be more valuable in the long-run than NYC real estate!