Anomalous Presumptions

Second Life is getting worked over by the folks at Terra Nova, and also the folks at Many2Many, and I’m sure in lots of other places. I’m not a Second Lifer myself (and neither are they, as far as I can tell). Also I’m not interested in most of the issues they’re discussing. But Second Life is clearly an interesting phenomenon, at least for the moment, and so I ask myself: What is SL introducing that is new and will survive, either in SL or through imitation in other virtual worlds? And once we roughly understand that, how easy will it be to duplicate or go beyond the success of Second Life, especially in more open systems?

Based on reading various accounts, and talking to people with a little experience of Second Life, below are my lists of what’s new in SL, what’s integrated in an interesting way, what is typical of MMOs in general, and what emerges in SL more than other MMOs. Quite likely I’ve gotten some of these wrong and missed significant points, so I welcome correction and extension.

• Unusual or unique in Second Life:
  • Internal economy with micro-payments, plus currency exchange
  • In-game crafting of objects, including 3D modeling and scripting
  • Highly customizable avatars, including movement scripting
  • In-game crafting of avatar customizations, scripts and clothes
  • Client-server support for “dynamic” world model, which requires different mechanisms than the more pre-built worlds of most MMOs
• Newly integrated in Second Life:
  • Streaming audio for performances
  • Imported graphics, streaming video?
  • Users buy hosting for parts of the environment
• Similar to other MMO environments:
  • 3D experience with landscape, avatars, buildings, objects, etc.
  • Scripted objects (but letting users script is unusual or unique)
  • Large scale geography
  • Property “ownership”, sales, etc.
  • Chat
  • Social activities and social structures
• Emergent in Second Life more than other MMOs:
  • Complex user-built landscapes
  • Businesses based on user-built objects
  • Complex economics
  • Complex social organization

Several of the things that are currently unique to Second Life are natural extensions of existing technology, including in-game crafting and scripting, customizable avatars, and the dynamic world model. Crafting and scripting can probably be implemented much better than they are in SL, using existing open source languages and 3D modeling techniques.

Other aspects of Second Life, however, depend on a critical mass of motivated users. The economic model, including micro-payments, and the creation of a diverse environment and economy, depend on a fairly large population, investing considerable effort over a reasonable period. This dependence on scale and long term investment will make these aspects of SL hard to duplicate or surpass, especially through relatively fragmented efforts.

Filed by Jed at 6:05 pm under Social order, System design
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