Patrona

I recently happened across a book called "Ready Player One" by Ernie Cline, which won the well-known ALEX award (other winners include books like Hunger Games).

What made this so interesting is that the virtual world in which the players live/work/play is basically SL. The player interface, wearing "skins", private IM's, inventory usages, HUDs, etc. Even some of the lingo is from SL! There are "quests" that mimic WoW but overall the feeling is very SL.

His interview with Wired.com

What made it really interesting is that that there was a bidding war over the movie rights between Paramount, DreamWorks and Warner Bros. which makes me think it'll be a heavily promoted movie, and thus a resurgence in virtual worlds like SL.

Sorry if this was already discussed, I just got super excited to see an SL-type virtual environment is going to be on the big screen!

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Hitomi Tiponi

This 'could' be massive for SL. If I was Rod I'd be getting in touch with Warner Bros. to get a promo deal and some references in the final screenplay - I cannot think of a better way to spend the advertising budget!

Also would be good to have the rights to recreate elements of the Oasis in SL. By the time this hits the screen SL will have pathfinding and the Linden Realms tools that may keep a new audience interested.

Errafel Eccleston

Dreamworks will be happy to know SL character mesh will support That Face

Hitomi Tiponi

It's OK - Warner Bros. will be doing it, LL still stand a chance

Alazarin

I so hope that this time the grid won't collapse under the flood of new residents. If this proposed film is set to be the new hype for SL, that's all fine and well but please spend all the time between now and the films' release date beefing up the grid servers and especially the asset servers so that they're ready for the flood when it happens. The worst thing that could happen would be another epic grid / asset server meltdown.

I remember back in the day when the 1.7 'grey life' fiasco happened. A poorly planned upgrade coincided with an amazing piece of hype for SL which resulted in avatars raining out the sky at every welcome area. All it proved was that the infrastructure wasn't ready for prime time. This time around it has to be. So Rodvik, if you or any of your minions are lurking here, nail that deal down with Warner Bros and start beefing up the grid and asset servers pronto. Don't blow it this time around. Please.

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Misty Harley

and if Rod doesn't jump on it...other worlds WILL.....so he better move fast.

We only think of 'the' VW, but there are other ones out there...ready for prime time or not, they would ALL be foolish to not try and get into a piece of this.

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bladyblue

I pitched a fit in 2007 when LL printed some articles on the French Yahoo site. Mainland infohubs crashed for three days. Then the Brazilian promo rush and on and on over the years. I doubt there are any plans in place to change the way they introduce people to SL and handle traffic during an promotion.

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Beezle Warburton

It survived the 2006 Hordes of Doom, barely.

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Aribeth Zelin

What I read, it didn't seem so much like virtual worlds as we know them, and more like the love child of the Matrix and Tron. I'd love if it gets more folks playing SL, but not sure if it will actually have that effect.

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Hitomi Tiponi

All it needs is some subtle product placement e.g. "I used to play Second Life and then the corportion took it over and created this" - the effect a single line like that would have in a Hollywood blockbuster would be amazing.

Misty Harley

HEY!!

HEY!!!!

HEY!!!!!

I resemble that remark


*runs*

Beezle Warburton

Points at my sign-up date.

I'm RUINING EVERYONES SL! \o/

Madison Talon

me too!

GO CLASS of '06 !!

cdcellular

I don't think the problem with getting new users is a lack of advertising/promoting. Its that everyone has tried it at one point or another but most didn't understand or like it. And then you got douchebags like Chris Pirillo who mock SL every chance they get.


I don't think its LL's fault. SL is a niche product and the only way that's going to change is by fundamentally changing the platform and leaving all of us in the lurch. I, for one, appreciate that they havn't taken that path.

Sione

What's wrong with that video?

Seems like a fair critique from the outside to me. A lot of things there that LL do need to work on. The viewer was shit, it did look the same as years ago and well, showing people places that interest you in SL doesn't mean they are going to like them.

You just have to "get it", and if people don't "get it" they won't overlook the imperfections.

The funny thing is, all those things he was complaining about are exactly what Rodvik has been working on because he was in exactly the same position just over a year ago.

cdcellular

What's wrong with the video is that's its mostly bullshit. He complains that SL doesn't have text to speech built-in. Then he complains about performance when its obvious he's using low end graphics hardware. The one person he picked as his guide takes him to the dumbest place in SL. The way he looks at the camera with contempt shows his bias.

Sione

He's using a pre August 2010 Viewer 2. It was a piece of laggy shit, even with decent hardware.

You can't make calls on his hardware when those viewers couldn't handle shadows properly. They also had huge memory leaks and he's lucky he wasn't crashing. But of course most people were using v1 because the viewer sucked, so it's OK to bash LL for making a crap viewer but not OK for someone to mention it outside of SL and if they do it's because their hardware sucks. Yeah OK.

The real bias is people from SL telling him how much of a fuckup he is because his opinion is not what they want to hear. In August 2010 I would have agreed with him...

And 100's of thousands of people who signed up and didn't stay also did.

melponeme_k

The process of getting into SL is to purposely weed out people who the creators weren't looking for. Why did we get in and other people failed? I don't think it totally has to do with intelligence. But a high curiosity quotient? An almost obsessive compulsive desire to solve certain problems?

SL is a puzzle box and it is on purpose.

The ones in charge will not change this aspect. If they didn't during the press juggernaut in the past, they won't do it for a big Hollywood Sci Fi film.

Check out Singularity's website. Its all about milking money from the rich and powerful to promise them everlasting life. And I have a feeling SL was part of the scam at one point. So what would they offer us guinea pigs? Kick us out after the set up is done? Or offer us a deal to get in on the ground floor as long as we are willing to be VR Butlers to the VR rich. I wish I could say this was all a joke on my part. But I've seen some crazy things and people believe in them. Just like they believe they will merge with computers to become undying gods as well as making Kurzweil extremely rich on earth.

cdcellular

But we are not talking about the average user here. This guy is a well know techie. If he took 5 minute to research what he was doing his results would be quite different. Viewer 2 sucked but I never had 2fps like he was getting. It also seemed like he was basing his opinion in comparison to other "games".

Maggie

Thanks for the book tip. I'm currently reading it now. I think the '80s references may be a tad over done, I'm really enjoying it.

Thanks again.

Oh an another movie with a kind of SL flavor that someone posted here is called Summer Wars. Its anime but I liked it.

Ariane

This book is awesome! A must read for any gamer or fan of the old cyberpunk books.
I had to stop after chapter 10 and rewatch Wargames.

There is also an official soundtrack list that you can listen to while reading: Grooveshark - Free Music Streaming, Online Music

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Maggie

Wow. I got farther into this book and it is really a great book. I hope they do make it in to a movie. The people at LL this should be required reading. With a lot of work SL could be what Oasis is.

Eboni Khan

I just finished this book, and it is a great book that will probably become one of my favorites. It is a non-stop geek fest.

This book could make all the merchants in SL a lot of money, if when the movie hits, if the gird doesn't collapse.

Brenda Connolly

Wil Wheaton is reading the audio book.

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eku Zhong

summer wars is really funny.. i didnt think ppl who hadnt lived in japan would get a lot of the references though

but even if you dont .. its still a really funny movie.. and pretty much spot on for old family reunion behaviour. so for me its sort of like Home for the holidays meets the interwebz...

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