Second Life: I Don’t Get It

Hi Chris.

Noobs always have a box on their head at some stage. :)

Strangely enough, I was about to set up a big Gnomedex sign for you
Though I’m having trouble building a big 3d gnome. :)

It will appear beside ‘The RSS Platform’ - adjacent to the ‘Shared Extension’ plot (where we’ll have podcaster rental properties and a monoPODrail)

Who is handing audio and recordings etc this year? Doug/Eric/Jake?
We can set you up with a shoutcast server to beam audio back into Second Life

Look me up on SL - name is Koz Farina -
on the RSS Platform and ‘The Bluggcast Balcony’

Cheers, bottlehead! ;)
Koz

Hey Boxhead Pirillo, that has happened to me many times. Did your ear like the beer? Really, I don’t get it either, I am always bored in SL. So I don’t use it often, and I don’t have the kinda cash to get any space of my own in there, nor any time to do anything with it, FL comes first.

Heh the graphic of Pirillo is at the Convention Center for virtual gnomedex… stick that in your ear.

There’s something I’ve been noticing about SL and how people perceive it. Aside from the fact that it’s this wide open “The Earth: What do you do on it?” thing that is way different that something with a specific purpose, I’m finding that the MORE technically-inclined (many blogger-types) that someone is, the LESS they have a good experience… whereas many who might not even consider themselves computer literate, totally ‘get it’…

Even Scoble needed a lot of hand holding, and yet, people like my wife who are less than nerdy more or less, dove in and made it work nearly instantly.

There are two types of blog posts about SL… first is the one that reads, “I walked in, didn’t see anyone, had no idea what to do, too hard, this is lame, how boring” and the second is the “Here are the 7,000 things I got done in the last 30 minutes and yeah, we’re cashing checks, too.”

This is also a fascinating study in our desire as a public to want/need democratized media. For those that are gaming-centric, I’m starting to wonder if the lack of someone giving you a specific object, point, goal, purpose—ie., TELLING YOU WHAT TO DO, is desired more than the, “Go ahead and Do-it-yourself!”

We can hype up participatory media all day long. We can hype up un-conferences and the like, as well. When it comes down to the brass of it all, do we REALLY want *everything* to be wide open? Second Life is showing both of these realities. The reality that, (and Chris can relate to this) “***** yeah, I monetize this stuff” and the other reality of “What’s the purpose?”

What’s the purpose of buying an XBOX. How do you make money on this? Hrmmm. Things to ponder.

As far as your experiences my dear bottle-in-eared comrade–these aren’t too dissimilar to many people’s first week or so. Heck, I still inadvertantly put a box on my head. So fear not. It could have been worse. You could be stuck drinking a beer at the welcome area experiencing lag and a whooooollle lot more twisted first impressions.

[...] Do we really want participatory media as much as we say we do? Chris Pirillo is finally in Second Life. And he doesn’t get it. I posted a comment on his blog, which I’m mirroring here because I’m fascinated by the divergent paths that people are on when exposed to this shiny new (3-4 year old, actually) thing. [...]

Yeah, Second Life is an interesting program.

It’s most decidedly not a game. If you go into it with that kinda viewpoint, you won’t enjoy it. Drove me mad trying to understand it like that.

It’s more a giant sandbox mode. You can make a shooter, or an RPG, or a chat room, or something illicit. You can make nearly anything in the game, if you have the scripting knowledge and artistic talent.

But to enjoy it, you have to get some sort of amazement from having put some item into cyberspace. That’s the hard part - most people who know enough about scripting or electronic art, also know enough to post a render or a pile of code somewhere else, for free, that will nurish their egos a similar amount.

Second Life is interesting, if only for its success (and the economic status, which is kinda creepy to me, but is probably why it made the papers).

Ok well I tried last night…
I think you missed some of the most informative parts last night. I just kept going on and on while you were editing you appearance. I am going to blog about this over on my SL Blog and link back to this for more detail. I am going to post the instructional pieces from our talk last night. Oh and yes the baby woke me a 5 AM so I am dragging a little ;)

John Anthony Hartman

a.k.a. Thought Plasma

I agree, Chris - caught the buzz about 6mo ago, installed, tried it a few times, got bored, never went back. As far as where I fall in the technical spectrum, I’m a former web developer therefore technical so maybe that’s why I don’t get it.

But, I think a fair argument could be made that it’s not ready for prime-time if the most influential of your audience need “hand-holding” to see the vaue and use it.

Still, reminds me of the Metaverse in Snowcrash, and that is tantalizing.

[...] Second Life: I Don’t Get It ~ Chris Pirillo [...]

chris ,, I havent taken a bite at all ,,,

Im having trouble with keeping up too stuff in REAL LIFE , to worry about a Second Life

Maybe someday ,,,

Hi Chis,
I went over to the Hipcast conference center in SL, for vloggercon, and fell into the water.

But I got back up.

It took me 30 minutes to put on a hat.

I like flying around.

Try virtually attending vloggercon today and see what that’s like.
–Steve

I’m an avid Second Life player, but also think you just hit the nail on the head, as far as my biggest complaint about it; that it takes SO damn long to get acclimated to the universe there, to even learn how to actually use the interface, much less even begin to start learning of cool stuff to do there. And in this respect, you can see that Second Life really is much more like moving to a new city than it is playing a new videogame; how for a recent transplant to Chicago or London, for example, it might take them weeks of nightly exploration before starting to discover the first places there where they truly enjoy visiting. It’s both the blessing and the curse of Second Life, really, is the utter complexity and lack of a clear “point;” how it can be endlessly fascinating once you’ve caught on, but endlessly frustrating before that point arrives. –Jason Pettus/Miller Copeland (SL)

[...] Chris Pirillo doesn't get Second Life. That's OK, he doesn't get baseball either. I thought Chris' avatar with a bottle sticking out of his head was pretty funny, though. Maybe Chris, all you need to do is hold Eric Rice's hand. Heck, it worked for me. Heheh. [...]

Chris Pirillo’s post. Chris’ experience is about the same as mine. The countervailing opinion of the boosters seems to be that those of us who are bored and perplexed by SL have the wrong attitude. They say we should be looking at it as a freeform tool for creation and

[...] http://chris.pirillo.com/2006/06/09/second-life-i-dont-get-it/Yep I was the one trying to show him around, more about that over here, [...]

LOL…I tried second life and thought it looked like something from around 1996. There was a very similar program out there around that time frame but I can’t remember what it was called. I think the idea is good but man is second life clunky!
Overall, there’s too much clutter and it’s just another time waster like wow and the rest of them. No thanks!

Funny review man..keep it up!

[...] Second Life: I Don't Get It (chris.pirillo.com) [...]

Chris,

I don’t to socialize in Second Life, but it’s a great playground for hacking cool things together. Note that they have know implemented XMLHttpRequest into tht internal scripting language: http://www.hackdiary.com/archives/000085.html

t fit that space lets make that room about a foot wider. Consider 3D overlays that display information about your surrounding as you walk through the Experience the Music Project (Yea Gnomedex). I could keep going but I hope I got you thinking… Chirs:Second Life: I Don’t Get It Robert : Chris Pirillo doesn’t get Second Life (and gives us Windows Vista stats) Eric:Do we really want participatory media as much as we say we do?

God, I’m glad I’m not the only one!

I keep trying to “get into it”, mainly by building and hacking, but every time I go all I see are furries dancing. That’s it, just dancing furries.

So I log in once every few weeks and poke around for twenty minutes, and then go do something else.

Maybe I’m too old!

, you are an edge case, leading edge.  You’re an early adopter, and you have a pretty decent track record for picking the technologies that will make it to the mainstream, although I think I’d side with Chris Pirillo on theSecond Life debate.  The fact that you are going to PodTech makes me really think about their business model, and consider the fact that it might take off.  I’ve written a couple of times about what I think the new media model should be, but I was thinking about how

Have you seen the other white meat of metaverse, There? http://www.there.com

It’s a much more user-friendly experience than Second Life. I’ve been playing There on and off (mostly off these days) since its beta period a couple of years ago. It’s very attractive and mostly stable. It’s a little disappointing that they haven’t added much functionality or content in quite some time, but the UI is all but foolproof and the community is rather helpful.

They’ve got a free trial so give it a try! If the moon is blue (not literally) look for me online - my avie (avatar) is Spyrochaete.

I’m pretty sure the box-on-head moment is part of the initiation for most users. Don’t despair Chris.

By the way, have you read Neal Stephenson’s ‘Snow Crash’? It’s quite amazing how much of what he wrote back in 1992 has become (virtual) reality.

It is kind of creeping me out that I can’t see what everyone is talking about! [IMG 163501646_f037fedf79_m.jpg]Another person with avatar problems is Chris Pirillo - his Second Life avatar can’t seem to get abox off of his head. I laughed so hard my stomache hurt - but only because I’d had the same problem. For the longest time I couldn’t figure out how to get the stuff I was picking up - I’d just end up with a box or sign on my head.

thoughts on persisten resolution from herbert van de sompel Herbert Van de Sompel Pathways - herbert von de sempel, dlib, see article on communications scholars deserve SIMILE | Longwell - Web-based RDF browserSecond Life: I Don’t Get It ~ Chris Pirillo - Come for the post, stay for the comments, especially Eric Rice’s. Second Life equals Wiki World? Vanderbilt Center for Teaching: Research on the Effectivness of Classroom Response Systems - Good and current bibliography of clicker research–via

So why did I cancel my account, despite having enjoyed a Second Life weekend? Simply�I don’t have the time; job, family etc. comes first. And that addictive hook floating around in there is making me nervous. Some people don’t get it (in style!) but I found myself becoming absorbed by the sheer intensity of detail, endless possibilities, the social aspect and all that. Enough to want to stay well away! What I do have time for (and am willing to spend money on) is watching a film

“I see a great opportunity for people to change their entire real life personas to replicate those of their Second Life characters - rather than the other way around! Although it may be a bit difficult if your character has a bottle for a head.” When Tristan was asked what the trio hope to gain out of their lawsuit he replied “Snake! Snake! Ooh its a snake!” Our lawyers are hoping to settle in the very near future.[IMG]

>Sorry, I must be stupid.

Most people that say these words don’t really realize the ironic, but sad, truth to their statements. The phrase seems to be used an an excuse supposed to prove the direct opposite, only to hit them right back like a boomerang. Most often other people see this, while the person actually writing the phrase seems clueless to what the statement made actually indicates.

[IMG]While I really don’t understand “Second Life” (see Chris Pirillo’s “Second Life” blog entry and apply it to me), I do love reading about those who do understand such “games”, and use them to their advantage. Enter Duran Duran. BBC News is reporting that the band has purchased a virtual island in the game, which will be used for live

Well, I tried it, and don’t like it. All the game appears to be is just another place where people want to peddle their **** onto people, dancing rooms (who the hell wants to dance in the VR world anyways), and unspecified agendas. The idea that was suggested that someone can invent things and sell them in the game should be flogged. Why in the world do I want to earn money and spend it on making my character look better when the time and EFFORT that I can put into actual tangible activities will help me succeed in life? But some will say that these games are addictive…I say take up heroine and/or coke or whatever the drug of choice is today - if you are going to waste your time being addicted to something, might as well make it worth your wild — because SL wont get you anywhere unless you are a true junkie with loads of code under your belt still living in your MOMS basement. I don’t know, I guess my hopes of a true VR world are too high. Someday in the near future, if Moore’s Law keeps chugging along, I may go back to VR but only when my *** can be implanted with a chip actually ‘getting’ me in the game. Until then….

[...] I don’t really have an interest in Second Life - although I’ve written about how “I don’t get it” a few times in the past. Beth Goza made a Pirillo’esque avatar that I’ve placed upon myself, but I seldom drop into my Second Life - unless someone IMs me with an event of interest (like when Suzanne Vega did a live concert). Jonathan’s teaser continued: My premise is that in virtual worlds, the behavior you see is a function of the world’s design - whether intended or unintentional, and that Second Life’s design has several unintended consequences that weaken the community they’re trying to build. [...]

http://www.boomspeed.com/zandro/sl_change.png

Now, about Blue’s promise to me about their physics engine… It would be quite an undertaking to make that transition as painless as possible.

I look forward to more solid metaverses.

Second life is more about reality than virtuality.

Games are going to be only a small fraction of the virtual experience in the near future. Its like Reality TV to the online experience

[...] http://chris.pirillo.com/2006/06/09/second-life-i-dont-get-it/ [...]

Thing about Second Life is when you join you are offered a choice of Avatars. All have nice smiley WHITE faces, unless you want to pose as a Racoon.
And in the adult Horizons Resort, one character, Palad, says whenever the issue arises, we wishes the “furries” would stick to their own “community”. He defends his views, but incites others to act. His girlfriend Felicity dismisses all Scots as “mean” and the few who have dared protest this RAMPANT RACISM have been arbitrarily thrown off the site by a defiant management

took another look at secondlife,and I can easily see how people get consumed. Nah I didn’t get a bottle stuck to my head. However, I did learn to appreciate the richness of the experience. It felt good seeing other noobs trying to figure out the basics. How to change clothes, facial features, etc. I’m keenly interested in changing ethnicity,as I did not secretly wish to

Yeah, I’ve found there is about a 5-7 hour learning curve for Second Life, just to get to the point where you can work your avatar and travel the ‘verse. That’s way past most people’s tolerance, and it makes things like having business meetings in SL impossible. How can I ask a client to go through 5 -7 hours of ramp-up time just to come to a 30 minute meeting?

So what ends up happening? We’ve created another ‘l337′ crowd: folks that are VR-skilled in SL can meet, do business, trade, role play, build and more *with each other* but not other people. The SL-skilled folks get the benefits of a micropayments economy and implict e-commerce systems - plus a whole new market for digital goods - *now*. And that’s great - but the opportunities and benefits are cut-off from most of the world. (sigh) I guess it has to start somewhere, but SL is definately version 1.0 of the VR worlds. Remember 300 baud modems? That’s just about the stage we’re at in VR land right now, relatively speaking. Well, maybe SL is like 1200 baud modems. Figure in ten years, the VR worlds tech will be at the relative equivalent of 4.4MB/sec broadband. _Then_ it’ll be accessible by folks. (I’m not talking actual speeds of data in this comparison, but usability, accessibilty, capability, etc.) Then, I’d imagine that a new user could be operating in a VR world with intuitive controls and do useful things in 10 minutes.

Until then…. well, I had a GREAT (if slow) time on BBS’s, etc. in the 300 baud days. And I’m having a great time on SL. You just have to play realizing it’s the early early days of this kind of tech.

SL is a terrible game. I’ve been trying to learn to script for 3 years now. People never help really. They hide the important information from you, like if you know it too, then they somehow lose their status in the world. It’s sad. I’ve had over 47 teachers help me (or pretend to help me), and I read tutorials, took classes, I just don’t understand Sl scripting, yet I an script in other platforms. SL is full of greedy people, nothing helpful about most of them, unlike say other gamign communities

Just tried it today. I learned one valuable lesson…… thank God I have a real life, cuz my second life is LAME.
“uninstall successful”

Second Life: I Don’t Get It ~ Chris Pirillo I must say my experiences with second life have been very similar to that of Chris Pirillo. Eg, “WTF?! How the hell did I get a box on my head?” If you want my advice, get a First Life. Technorati Tags:

You guys complaining about the complex interface are laughstocks.
I mean, an interface HAS to be complex to allow such things as real-time prim-based modeling and built-in scripting language.
BTW the whole box-on-the-head thing only happens when idiots try to see what “wearing a prim” does…
It’s not only the first step in VR, it also owns a part of it’s future. The typical gaming crowd won’t appreciate SL, based on past experience trying to show the game to friends… You need to have some sort of creative ambition to truly appreciate SL. There is one thing SL sure isn’t : boring.
It’s a virtual WORLD created by it’s inhabitants so if you can’t find anything interesting, learn how to make it…or leave and don’t complain when the whole world will be plugged in to SL

Isador out.

I am from the magazine Psychology Today and we are interested in writing an article about Second Life, online gaming communities, and the people who play them. I have a few questions that would help us gain a better understanding of these topics and was wondering if you would be willing to cooperate. I noticed you and a lot of your commenters have some interesting things to say about SL, so if you or anyone who looks at this blog is willing to answer some of our questions, please respond back to PTResearcher@hotmail.com with your email address and you will receive a short questionnaire. Your time and efforts are very appreciated. Hope to hear from you soon!

Sincerely,
PT Editorial Staff

This is a “game” (actually an open-ended Virtual World) which does not direct you so much as allows you to explore and meet and role play. If you didn’t “get it” you probably are one which needs rules and directions or does not like to experiment enough to learn the wonders of SL.

With great power comes great complexity and I am sure that although the initial interface may not be as simple as some would like, it is clear that this metaverse’s power lurks just beneath this layer. And that is what makes it powerful and fun for some, and forbidding for others.

I for one was impressed at the standard tools that we are given at the start, and the notes and other helpful things found in SL can clarify what you can and cannot do. I’ve created a few Avatars that I am very proud of, I’ve taken a virtual Buddhist class, danced in a disco, shopped and made new friends. And I know that I’ve barely scratched the surface.

So this metaverse is not everyone’s bag; so what? Leave and try another that suits you and stop griping how this world will not suit you. Griping about how real life does not suit you also gets you little except being labeled as a whiner. If the latter is how you feel about SL, then your attitude should be Cartman’s “Screw you guys. I’m going home.” and then go back to your real life.

o_o Lolz, you ended up with a box on your head and a beer bottle in your ear because you attached it to the wrong body part.
I happened to see your avatar in a.. strip club on SL, i remember from the odd name. hmmm…

The toughest part of SL is the damn orientation. Of the 5 million memberc, I think 4.3 are still stuck in orientation. I had to get help to get out of f*cking orientaion. How’s that for embarrassing?

For the most part, I’m with Chris–I wander around, mostly see no one–or get a cage dropped on me (arrgghhh). I did drive a Toyota and took a picture of myself. That was cool to show my little nieces. I think I’ll frame it. I also made myself 10lbs thinner than in real life which was nice (girl thing :-). However, for the most part it feels like one of those nightmares where the world has ended and you are the only one left. Of course, I haven’t visited the “paradise passion yacht” where I’m sure are regulars.

However, big opportunity in SL is distance education (and the reason I signed up for SL). I am taking a class on the SL campus of the Harvard Law School (keyword: Berkman) It is a two hour class every tuesday at 7:30 ET. There is a real life class at harvard displayed on the screen in the outdoor auditorium and the RL and SL class interact among themselves and with one another. There is a real comraderie among the SL members. Some of the avatars are hysterically funny. Many argue with the Harvard prof. Halfway through the class the RL class sees the SL class on their screens and questions are taken from the SL class. There are phenomenally smart people in this class. At the end of the class, everyone says “see you next week” The nice thing is you can tell who is there without having to chat as you recognize their avatars. A friend of mine came in and took a seat next to me. Sounds sort of silly I know, but it is pretty cool–like you would in RL. Wander over and take a look. It’s open and free to SL folks. It is also a call that you will like. Tuesday 7:30 “Internet and Society 2007″ through May. It is the best distance learning class I have ever taken.

Next time, I’ll tell you about how I almost drowned in the fountain on (abandoned) Dell island. A fountain, for chr*st sake.

Lots of people don’t “get it”, but that’s ok.

It’s almost a year since you posted, are you still not getting it?

Look second life is a complete joke. people who know the scripts and know how to use it wont tell you how to do it because them knowing makes them feel more powerful anble to do things othres cant and the people who get really addicted and enjoy it so much are people who have no power over their real life. U PEOPLE SUCK!!!

Your experience is quite common - I found the learning curve to be very steep when I joined, and still do. I’ve been on SL for two months , and I’m only now beginning to understand how things work. Nobody has helped me, I learnt only through trial and error…it can be a lonely trip in that metaverse until one makes friends. Most old hands I meet can be very guarded, jaded, cliquecy, the noobs (males) are laughingly desperate, and there is some seriously weird **** going on in there - I totally can see how and why noobs turn off real quick.

But!

The artistry, beauty, creativity - yes, SL really does have that wow factor, and the interesting, talented people. There’s so much to do, but you must look carefully for it…SL is worth hanging in there for, and will be brilliant (one hopes) in 4 or 5 years.

So strange how it’s easier to find anthromorphic *** than a decent conversation in there though! (sighs!).

You spent five minutes fumbling around? And then produce this pitiful blog post that says absolutely nothing except that you spent five minutes fumbling around? You are an impatient, lazy moron.

I just want to say that Second Life is a pointless waste of time. You must have to be 14 to get it, because if you are over 14 and have a real social life, there is nothing to get. That is my only explanation. If you are wowed by the “graphics,” you might as well fire up PGA ‘96 and walk around in that. The John Daly “avatar” in that is better, which I guess only means that SL is only 12 years behind the curve. I guess a lot of people go in there and talk dirty to each other (giggle, giggle), but most of the people I encountered in there were just standing around, not saying anything, probably like they do in actual social situations in the real world. Oh, well, they thought having a second life would be different — sorry, no. Now your first life is just that much more pathetic.

Ok, not a glowing review.