This year and the next will see the public release of new metaverses which run off fancy engines with names like “UNREAL” and “CRY”.
Ummm.. okay, maybe “CRY” was a bad example, but my point is that the new metaverses are going to have graphics and physics to a very high level of detail. Avatar Reality’s Blue Mars springs to mind, as does Nurien Software.
Nurien has been available in South Korea for a while now, and due for release in North America later this year. Simply put, it looks stunning. The graphics, the lighting, the textures, the avatars, the clothing, the furniture.. you get the idea. It’s all purtyfully yummy.
Now admittedly Nurien is basically just a game where you make a pretty avatar and then you dance. Blue Mars represents a world where you can socially interact much more.. my concern lies with how these new worlds work.
Nurien offers a comprehensive library of clothing and accessories, as well as over 3,000 textures and materials which allow you to customise your avatar to make your virtual self all pretty. Blue Mars, I imagine, will operate a similar system.
These new engines are basically too complex for us mere mortals to understand, and it’s far beyond our current skills in rezzing a prim or opening Photoshop to creative something new. Yet, it would appear that all the spangly new virtual worlds are adopting this technology.
Which means any chance of a virtual economy as we know in Second Life is screwed.
All the content in these worlds are being made by the platform and their development teams, as opposed to Second Life where the content is produced by us – the users. Personally, that’s a huge aspect to Second Life for me. Yet, how can SL survive in the advent of these beautiful new worlds and their powerful, underlying engines?
Second Life is simple and primitive in comparison – the avatar mesh is often complained about, but creating a whole new one to compete with the likes of Nurien would not only make all the current content obsolete, but would confuse users on how to make new ones. Sure, we’d adapt, but the whole SL platform would need an overhaul to look as good as the new metaverses.
Then there’s the issue of the user – people go where it looks prettiest, which soon isn’t going to be SL. SL offers much more to the user than these other worlds, but it fails to be as aesthetically attractive.
I’d love to see an option which is built on a powerful engine which Joe Public can design and work with, but the more I see, the less likely it seems. To me, at the moment, it’s looking like the future of the metaverse is away from user-created worlds.
And that’s pretty bleak.
Annyka Bekkers on January 15, 2009
I bet all these new virtual worlds have done their focus group studies and found that most potential users don’t really want to make content. They just want cool stuff and to be able to upload some pictures. So they come to the obvious conclusion that they can avoid all the sticky issues of user content by just having approved pros provide it all.
But I think they’re all missing the essential point of what makes user-created content so special. Even if most people have no intention of ever creating something themselves, they still benefit from being able to find all the weird freaky stuff that other people have created. I dont care how many dedicated professional developers you have working on content, they will never even come close to providing the massively huge variety of downright wacky surprising stuff that free content creation provides. Even for all the crap, there’s an amazingly large amount of really cool stuff in SL.
But who knows? Blue Mars seems to be positioning themselves as some kind of third-party gaming platform. Maybe their partnership program will prove to be pretty liberal and there will be alot of cool surprises. But I kind of doubt it and I’m expecting something more like Entropia Universe than Second Life. I dont really blame these companies for avoiding the hassles of user content, but its really a shame that it seems to be the trend.
Angie Mornington on January 15, 2009
When you have a virtual world where the developers provide all the content then they will only maintain the users who like having their content given to them in this fashion. The users who seek to contribute on a creative level will eventually want something more, like full access to the creative tools and the right to give input on the platform.
At the end of the day it comes back to SL being able to adapt and evolve the way that it needs to so that content creators can continue to create and shape the economy, and residents can continue to enjoy the societies that they subscribe to without censorship.
To me there is a difference between a Virtual World and a Social Platform.
Kalel Mommsen on January 15, 2009
second life is one of a kind… eventually it will die out. no one is perfect things get better and people move on. things change and if linden labs isn’t willing to move along it will fail.
i would definitely like to try these two worlds when they do comeout tho. wonder if i can get on a mailingist..
Landsend Korobase on January 15, 2009
Very interesting post Prad. And wow @ how good it can get, that level of detail and realism would attract me to definitely give it a go. You’re getting some interesting and informed comments coming through too so will be following this post.
Bailey Longcloth on January 15, 2009
I have to agree with Angie, those worlds will be attractive to the user who simply wants to jump in and be social. My question then becomes, How long does that kind of user stay in the virtual world? If they have nothing invested other than some time why should they stay? Simply for the social experience? They can do that anywhere.
Lets face it, many of us have invested more than just our time in SecondLife. We own businesses, land, and “stuff”. We’ve spent time developing relationships and many of us have spent countless hours outside of SL in photoshop or gimp or maya creating things for SL. We’re invested in this world which is why we keep coming back regardless of the issues with LL. We may moan about LL and SL’s performance but at the end of the day, it is our world. We’ve created it. I personally wouldn’t leave just to get a prettier more realistic avatar.
Just my 2 cents.
Silver on January 15, 2009
I would be totally bored with a metaverse where I couldn’t create or explore other users’ creations. I’m welcoming these new platforms, because maybe all the shallow people who just like to look pretty and dance will depart SL and leave it to the more interesting people.
I wonder what they’ll be offering by way of smex tools? Isn’t that the biggest draw?
CB - EG on January 15, 2009
No it just means all the real talent be seen instead of these hack ass methods like qarl lindumbs sculpted crap and the texture thieves and fucking with little prims and shit that are absolutely nothing like the real game industry. I embrace it.
Ryker Beck on January 15, 2009
I have to agree with Bailey.
If it weren’t for the incredible amount of time and money I’ve put into SL, not to mention how much I’ve learned simply by creating things for Second Life (everything from new Photoshop techniques, to 3d modeling software, to BVH motion, to god knows what else), I wouldn’t still be in this game. Being social is great, but to be quite honest, I could be just as social at a local bar if that were all I wanted. Second Life’s kept my interest BECAUSE I can do something more than just do visit a few places, chat here and there, and look ungodly sexy (that’s right, I said it!). If it weren’t for the possibilities, the learning prospects, and the fun I have during the creation process, Second Life would have lost appeal to me years ago, much like every other online game I’ve played has, eventually. Without an engine that will potentially appeal to all audiences, creators and non-creators alike, there are enough games out there already (WoW, LoTRO, Warhammer, etc) that people can be social and successful in while still obtaining the illusion of accomplishment. Unless one of these newer ones blows the already established ones out of the water… I don’t foresee a huge “zomgwemustplaythisone!!!!!!!111ONE” reaction to them.
/endryker’stwocents
Gweneth Lange on January 15, 2009
While I agree with the opinions expressed that a prettier world doenst necessarily mean a better world, I dont see a problem with both co-existing. To each his own, some people just dont find creating interesting and only want to be sociable. Regardless of the metaverse one finds oneself in, theres always a chuckle when the question of the day is “can I haz schex?”..
Zinc Karas on January 15, 2009
All these ambitious new virtual worlds should look closely to the example of The Sims. Although it wasn’t a social network game (Sims Online failed miserably) the ability to create content was ridiculously easy in Sims 1 and was the main factor that led to its enormous success. It was one of the first games to attract men and women equally, and more adults than the average gamers of the time. In Sims 2 content creation was allowed too but it was more difficult. When the new version was launched there was a period of chaos, but pretty soon older and new creators caught up. Plus the company had a very clever marketing technique. Each expansion pack not only offered tons of ready-made stuff for the lazy, but also new avatar meshes and types of objects for the more creative-oriented to play with. True, it was much more simplistic than the SL universe, no copyrights, no economy unless you counted the few creators who sold their work through external internet sites and no sex (major bummer) but still SL could learn some interesting lessons from it.
As for the fact that not all users want or can become content creators, that is true, but they all want to have as unique as possible avatars and homes and places to hang out, so they crave for the creativity of others. No matter how beautiful your avatar looks, you pretty soon get pissed when you run on your doppelganger every two minutes (not that this doesn’t happen to the fashion conformist SLers too, but that is another story)
Ari Blackthorne on January 15, 2009
The younger crowd go for the pretty pictures. The more mature crowd go for the functionality: i.e. the economy, ability to create, and that makes SL SL.
Until these other VWs figure a way to allow the same way for users to be creative and transact with each other, SL will remain and strong, viable destination as VWs go.
Maryna Wind on January 16, 2009
We want to be unique in some way, rl or sl. How can you stay unique if everybody can have the same look, poses, clothing. Such a virtual world is like a “big brother” show: nothing to care about, nothing to do, except maybe making a drama… Let’s say, as a noob you like the beauty of it because you need to figure out how it all works, when you learned it, you need to move on, to have motivation to stay. Just chatting and dancing around? I don’t know…
I think there will be nothing to blog about such a virtual world. In SL everyday something happens from release of a new product to DMC, from rezday to charity event.
The only use I can imagine is photography. I think snapshots would be great.
Justin Gibbs on January 16, 2009
Understandably people come to the virtual world space and see how primitive it looks, then think how much better it could be if the graphics were improved. But every improvement reduces the potential for user generated content (UGC) and the real benefit of a virtual world. I think over the next year or two it will be proven out that the whole point is the collaboration and community, if you want the slickest graphics go play a video game.
Giulio Prisco on January 17, 2009
I also think that most users of VR worlds, after the initial wave of early adopters, are not so much interested in creating content. There are, of course, users whose main requirements include casual content creation, and Second Life is for them. The others may be better off in nicer professional metaverses like Blue Mars.
I have also spent a lot of time in Second Life, but I am quite platform-agnostic and have no emotional attachment to one or another platform. I will take whatever matches actual requirements on a case by case basis.
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