Second Life Hype vs. Anti-Hype

The new GigaGamez site, part of the OM network, has a look today at the hype fight over Second Life. It's the new darling of media companies, but is increasingly attracting negative feedback by people who know a thing or two about the industry. James Wagner Au tries to sort out who is saying what, and provide a little context for the discussion. From the article: "Can they really build a fully streamed world comprised of tens of thousands of servers? That's way above my paygrade, but I'll guess that task fits under the rubric of Fricking Hard. Can they fix a profoundly unfriendly user interface and thoroughly disorienting first hour user experience, which are aggressively, almost intentionally unwelcoming to the vast majority of interested users? Both shortcomings are at the heart of Second Life's poor retention rates, but neither have significantly changed in the three years since its commercial release. You have to wonder, whatever their stated intentions, if Linden's tech-centric corporate culture simply puts their improvement at a low priority."

As a longtime user...

[Lordfly]

...(3.5 years and counting), I've seen it explode from scarcely 50 people online at a time to now more than 20,000.

Since it began it's always had a hard time keeping new users. I think the way it's setup (completely user-created content, so there's less of a "wow" factor to people who just want to consume) means that you either "get it" and stay there, or you don't and leave immediately. The 10% churn rate cited in the article soudns about right; I've introduced something like two dozen people to SL, only one (my gf) stayed on, and that's probably only because I'm such a big fan of it.

SL needs a more compelling new user experience (professionally done content, some sort of direction, quests, whatever) if they want to keep people there for more than five minutes. PRoblem is, no matter how much professional content you throw at the newbie, once the newbie experience is done, you're still thrown in the middle of the content quagmire of SL; cube houses, poorly textured sex clubs, and rigged casinos.

For someone who just wants to experience things, unless you're incredibly social, you won't last in SL. For the creative types there's more of a stick.

Generally speaking, though, if you have to ask "what's the point of this place", you dont' get it. :)

Re:Entrance Restrictions

[Lordfly]

That's the way it should work, yes. But any sort of "professional" or "artistic" content gets pushed aside by the free market. People in SL who are the consumers just want to, generally, get their fetishes on, hire hookers, dance at clubs, and gamble at casinos. That's it.

Art museums, discussions, roleplaying, etc. all still happen, but they are, as a rule, harder to find.

Re:I tried second life

[kionel]

I've tried Second Life twice. It was dreadful both times.

1. The User Interface: Yes, it's really as bad as you've heard. Here I am, an ex-IT, lifelong computer-using guy, and I couldn't figure out how to do squat.

Fix it, Linden.

2. The Graphics: The very best that 1999 has to offer.

Of course, this is probably due to number four below.

3. The "Content": User-created content? Intruiging. Pity it turns out to be mostly empty buildings, shops pushing expensive and difficult-to-use items (seriously, even putting on clothes is hard!), and, of course, porn, porn, porn.

4. The Streaming World: Virtual World? Destroy your immersion with real-time streaming content!

Okay, so, streaming makes the front-end client teensy tiny. Thing is, it also means that you always have to wait for the world to actually show up. Even if you do master the poor movement controls, hostile interface, and confusing content management system, you'll still be left waiting for something to actually do.

4. Porn: I'm not a prude. I likes me my porn. But the way it's handled in SecondLife was uniformly tacky. The constant barrage of images, vids, animations (yikes!) made me feel like I'd stumbled into a low-res version of Larry Flynt's brain.

That being said, all that content did make the world slightly more immersive: It made me imagine that the streets of Second Life were sticky.

5. Lack of Users: Except for the newbie entrances and the porn palaces, the world seemed completely empty. Vast shops with no one inside. Replica starships without any visitors. Interactive games waiting for users. It was just sad.

Ironically enough, I do plan a return visit. This time I plan to try out their 3D Modeling and Scripting tools. Maybe I can create an interactive "Maybe You Should Be Playing WoW Instead!" sign...