Cocoanut Koala

Yeah, the name never bothered me either.

And it would be a HUGE mistake to change it. It's easy to remember, says more or less what it is, and now whole BUNCHES of people know what it is.

coco

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Beebo Brink

Oh, right you are.

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Spaceman Opus

When I mention SL to people, and I get the "he just told me he has three heads" look, the next words out of my mouth are "It really is a Second Life". For me, it describes it perfectly.

Does that make me a loser without a First Life? Nah...that makes me a loser that thinks he's cool enough to juggle two at a time

Wildefire Walcott

I make it very clear that I consider SL to be an extension or supplement to real life, rather than a substitute. But I think "Supplemental Life" was already taken.

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Cindy Claveau

Can I say something else?

"Why yes, of course, Cindy," you say.

If you insist...

When I count the friends I've made in SL who matter to me, I count my SLU friends. Don't y'all get the big head, now - my friends' list has imploded since I sold the old club last fall, but I'm not sure how much I'd even care at all if it weren't for the posters here.

Yes, Beebo, I'm looking at you, too

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Sometimes, "I hit it with my axe" is the best solution.

Khamon

They already have renamed Second Life to, well, nothing. "Second Life" now refers to a gridded resource offering tools and support for 3D content creation in these areas:

* Business
* Development
* Education & Nonprofit
* Open Source

The world, home, sense of community doesn't even register on the Linden Lab radar well enough to have a name.

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But of bliss and glad life there is little to be said, before it ends; as works fair and wonderful, while still they endure for eyes to see, are their own record, and only when they are in peril or broken for ever do they pass into song. - Quenta Silmarillion

Please Visit Our Gardens and Our Website

Clancy Sullivan

I kind of thought SL was fun, and shit. No?

Brenda Connolly

I don't tell anyone about SL, but then again it realy hasn't come up. But if it were, I've learned a long time ago not to give a crap about other peoples opinions of how I spend my leisure time.

SL is an amazing "thing" *I call it a game, but that's just how I see it* I think LL should be applauded for the conception and initial implementation of it.They are talented designers for sure. As business people, they should be lined up against the wall and shot.

The forum not withstanding, the entire Website is afflicted with this 503 nonsense. Checking account info, buying Lindens, i would imagine just signing up is a problem. SL being a Webbased product, t would seem to me that the website is the primary portal, the face to that product. there has been almost total silence from LL on this. If they don't care about the site, how can I believe they care about the product, or those of us who pay to use it, as well as those who are , take some extra time and make sure those fixes work, and don't break other things.looking at the Blog, it seems The Support services are down more than it's up. The most apathetic public utility isn't as clueless on Customer Service if you ask me *I don't have to deal with Comcast.*

Performance has never been much of a complaint until recently for me, the past month or so has seen it degrade.
I still enjoy my SL playtime, despite spending less time inworld due to RL, and I don't plan on leaving. But I am considering cancelling my premium, selling my land and just renting a little place somewhere until I see things improve.

prinţesă nină

it could be fun if it performed decently.

Sooz Pascale

The number one, chief problem of SL is the pride, arrogance and downright hubris of LL.

Their own stupidity and managerial incompetence WILL be the death of them if they don't change.

Competition IS comming folks. All its going to take is a stable platform with content creation and better customer service.

Don't think it will happen? I don't see how it cannot happen.

Sooz

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Nothing sickens me more than the closed door of a library - Barbara Tuchman

prinţesă nină

there was this popular forum software called 'ubb'. much like ll, they ignored customer wants, promised and never delivered, and felt very smug as the most popular, in fact the de facto, forum software on the web. one of the things customers had been pining for was a mysql backend for ubb. the ubb guys would say 'we are looking at it' for over two years.
in the meantime a customer began writing a php/msq hack for ubb and offered it to ubb. ubb wasnt interested.
he released it as a standalone product called vBulletin. when was the last time you saw a ubb?

FlipperPA Peregrine

I was doing a business demo on the grid yesterday. Quite embarrassing.

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Peregrine Salon: Flip & Jenn's thang.

Ben Hoark

Depressingly right, Sooz. But I'm not sure about the competition bit -- for all its flakiness, SL has a huge jump on anyone who wants to imitate it, just in terms of features (yes, i know, half the time the features don't work).

If something better did come along, well, yes I'd be there like a shot. Which I suppose is the answer to those who are asking why we are still here -- we are here because there is (as yet) nowhere else like it.

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Visit Destiny Escort Club - classiest in SL. You know you want to...

Skyholme, my new place. Feel free to visit and relax in the garden.

Brenda Connolly

Funny you bring that up. Almost all the people on my friends list who I really consider friends are people I first met in the LL forum, and now a few from here. It's not a big list to beging with but the rest are more acquaintances or RP contacts. I mentioned to someone that I could easily see myself leaving Sl , but continuing on the forums for a while. They thought it was sad that I could prefer a forum over the "metaverse" and I agreed. That the Metaverse could be a place so devoid of enjoyment that one would prefer a forum to it. I'm not hard to please, I'm no Virtual World idealist, I'm just looking for a couple of hours of fun every day.

Sean Gorham

I love SL because of what it stands for and because of its potential.

I hate SL because of its management and how that potential is so utterly wasted.

The only thing keeping me in SL is the friends I've made. Well, OK, the cheap shopping too.

Brenda Connolly

It may not even take a competitor. While any SL may be better than none for creators and such, for me it's just about the entertainment value I get for my money. If that declines far enough, I won't necessarily need another Vitual world to go to, I'll just spend more time playing Civ IV, or watching my new TV, or getting my nails done.

Cocoanut Koala

Oh Lord, I didn't even think of that! I mean, buying Lindens, signing up, etc.

I was only thinking about it regarding checking my transactions page.

And I never can decide - do they not fix it because they CAN'T, or because no one has much bothered to try yet?

I mean, you know how LL is. Somebody has to want to do it first; no one is allowed to give another person orders.

(Maybe if they HAD been allowed to give orders, we would never have come to this pass regarding the forums in the first place - they would have been updated and kept abreast of the technology all along.)

But if you have been in SL for long, you know perfectly well that embarrassing situations that you expect them to fix - like the USB code, or whatever that's called - actually never will, and they actually have no intention of fixing it. (They finally said as much, I believe.)

Now surely, something like this - especially if it affecting people's ability to buy Lindens! - WILL have some people working to fix it, and pronto.

On the other hand, this is LL we're talking about . . .

*****

And from what Ben said - which is what we all always think, "Well, until something better comes along" - well, I have had a thought about that.

It is quite possible that nothing better ever WILL come along. (And certainly possiblethat nothing will come along that allows us to make what we want and sell it.)

Or will be quite some TIME before coming along.

But - that doesn't mean SL can't fail, ANYWAY.

Not that I expect it to.

But I mean, think of this: SL could just lose members, fail, and become about as meaningful as TSO is today, or go away entirely.

Without ANY real competition coming along.

Just on its own.

So:

(1) If something similar and better came along, yes, people would leave SL by the droves.

(2) But people could still leave SL by the droves even if nothing better EVER came along.

Again, I don't think that will happen; I'm just pointing out that it is possible to simply fade away on its own, competition or not.

EDIT: I see Brenda just touched on this idea.

coco

Jellin Pico

OMG, how dumb.

No, I mean the above comment in this thread.

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Dolphins ... The Smug Bastards of the Sea

prinţesă nină

OKAY jellin.
youre flooding my ispy

Jessyanne

Coc... i love reading your posts.. seriously I do. But do you have a cliff notes version available?

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Cocoanut Koala

(1) 503 is an embarrassment to LL and it sucks.

(2) GADS! It extends to buying Lindens and maybe sign-ups, too!

(3) SL could fail on its own, competition or no competition.

coco

Cindy Claveau

More lag.
More misattached prims.
More failed TPs.
More sim rollbacks.
More content theft.
More scams.
More stupid-ass decisions by the developers.

I agree. That's one huge lead, there.

Jessyanne

hehe, she's so accommodating

Sooz Pascale

Exactly. You can add arbitrary and capricious enforcement of TOS along with poor to non existant customer service.

I don't clearly understand the position that others seem to have that NO ONE has the brains and/or wherewithal to compete with SL. This is utter nonsense. If the idea is good, it WILL be copied and the market WILL have competitors. Someone will come up with a 3D animated world that includes content creation and runs on a more stable platform. LL's monoploy will not last forever.

When it does happen, it will apeal to certain niche groups first, and gradually, the tise will begin to flow to the competition so long as it is more stable and less irritating.

Here are some niche groups:

Content creators. For the most part, they're not going to jump ship real quick. They might complain, but they know how to do things and will stay as long as possible.

Role players. they will go where the best role play is.

Socialites. these are people like me who are mainly in it for the friends and social contacts.

Land dealers. they have an investment in SL and wont jump ship until they have to.

The socialites will leave first, especially those who are not invested heavily into land and/or businesses. Their social networks of friends will follow.

The next to go will be the RPers. Once more satisfying RP can found inthe competition, they're gone.

When the socialites and the RPers go, the land market takes a hit. The land dealers [both new ones and old ones] will go to the new market.

The content creators will follow themoney.

Its that simple.

There is a huge undercurrent of disatisfaction with LL's mangement of SL. Its still the only like it onthe market, so there is no where to go, unless you just get sick of the whole thing entirely. But when the inevitable competition hits, and if its technologically stable and has more intelligent management, LL will have to either change of face losing a huge share of its PAYING customers. I suspect most of the free accounts will stay.

Susanne

Cindy Claveau

Also, a boneheaded and basically unnecessary implemention of ID verification.

I agree, but there is a stumbling block there. That is, the business model LL has used so far has relied greatly on investors and grants. They basically abandoned the revenue of premium membership with the advent of free accounts and now their money has to come from sim purchases and tier payments. Period. And the more sims they try to run, the more load on the asset server.

That's not a business model most imitators really want to take a risk with. It doesn't mean there's not a better way, like I said, but I sincerely doubt that whatever competition comes down the road will be using LL's example except as "what not to do".