explain how SL differs from Minecraft

[CmpZ]

I'm new to SL & was showing it to a friend in the hopes that he'd make his own account. He asked how it differs from Minecraft. Neither of us have played Minecraft, but we know people who have (including his nephew). For me, it's one of those questions whose answer is obvious but difficult to articulate. I pointed out that SL isn't a game & that a big part of it is building. He pointed out that people build things in Minecraft, too. He also pointed out that from what he's seen, building in Minecraft is easier than building in SL, though I pointed out that I'm new & still don't know many good building techniques. Thanks for your time & help. P.S. I know that I've heard other questions like that, where I feel that the answer is obvious but when someone presses me on it, I can't explain. Wish I could think of some of those to use as examples here. Anyway, thanks in advance for your replies.

[Syo Emerald]

If never played Minecraft, but a simply look at what a Minecraft building looks like in comparision to what a Second Life building can look like should explain why it requires more time and skill to be able to build in Second Life. Its more detailed, more complex and requires you sometimes to be familiar with other software, such as photoshop or blender, for example. What both share is the "sandbox" character, the "do your own thing" spirit.

Your world, your imagination, as they say.

But this reaches far behond than just building and creating. Second Life can be extremely social and diverse. You have different communities and lots of people here, who just enjoy the socialisation aspect far more than any building. The fact that not everyone builds is already a hint, that there is more to SL than just one thing. It would take up to much time to count every activity or community here, but I think you got the concept.

If your friend is just interested in building, he should just figure out for himself what he wants. What his abilitly, learning-will and desires  will fit.

[Kelli May]

I've not played Minecraft, so I might be wrong on some of this...

SL is primarily a social experience (although there are multiplayer Minecraft servers).

SL doesn't require you to hunt or avoid danger (although neither does Minecraft creative mode).

In terms of building, Minecraft structures are entirely made from variously textured cubes. A block of gold is gold-coloured, a block of wood has a wood texture, and that's how they stay. Control of object behaviour in Minecraft is limited to the use of simple logic gates (although complex behaviour can be built up using these). In contrast, SL allows use of geometric primitives (cuboids, spheroids etc.) which can be hollowed and sliced, and imported sculpts and meshes. Objects can be given any texture from the original Inventory, and new textures can be imported. Objects can be scripted with an extensive event-driven language. 

You need permission to build on land in SL, which usually requires that you buy or rent the land. There are places where building is allowed for anyone, but this is entirely at the discretion of the landowners. The amount you can build on a given piece of land is limited, related to its size. In Minecraft, the world is effectively infinite and you can build wherever you like, although in the original survival mode you have to spend time sourcing the materials to build.

SL has an enormous active market for the trade of user-created content. It has its own currency which can be bought and sold for US dollars. As far as I'm aware, Minecraft has neither of these.

 

[bigmoe Whitfield]

Mine craft, you craft things, SL you buy things or you make them.   my suggestion, watch videos and go into the world.  asking questions on how does it differ just does not work well with how this platform works.  it's beyond what minecraft is.

[Thinkerer Melville]

I don't know anything about MInecraft, but here is ab article about what we do in Second Life:

• What do we do in Virtual Worlds? 

I doubt that people can do many of  those things effectively in Minecraft.  If they can, I would say there is not a lot of difference between SL and minecraft.   

TKR

[Picorigirl Inaka]

SL is very different from Minecraft. 

Think for a moment of Minecraft as a game made of legos. You have to go adventure to find your legos, then stack them up. You can kill monsters to stay alive, and have the capability of chatting with others, if you're on a server where there are other people, but it is not an inherently social game.

Second Life is based more on interaction with people. Some people build, but you can play SL without having to build anything. You don't, unless you buy it, have a life or health meter you have to keep full. Without other people, there's nothing to do on SL. 

I make things, but even that is only done to share the final product with others, where in Minecraft you create things to stay alive and build a house or area for yourself. 

I play both games, so if you have any further questions, feel free to ask.

[Pussycat Catnap]

1. Its older

2. It has XXX

3. /shrug. Out of differences.

 

Same answers for Everquest.

 

[Theresa Tennyson]

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CmpZ wrote:

I'm new to SL & was showing it to a friend in the hopes that he'd make his own account. He asked how it differs from Minecraft. Neither of us have played Minecraft, but we know people who have (including his nephew). For me, it's one of those questions whose answer is obvious but difficult to articulate. I pointed out that SL isn't a game & that a big part of it is building. He pointed out that people build things in Minecraft, too. He also pointed out that from what he's seen, building in Minecraft is easier than building in SL, though I pointed out that I'm new & still don't know many good building techniques. Thanks for your time & help. P.S. I know that I've heard other questions like that, where I feel that the answer is obvious but when someone presses me on it, I can't explain. Wish I could think of some of those to use as examples here. Anyway, thanks in advance for your replies.

---

Building in Minecraft is the equivalent of building in LEGO (and here I mean no disrespect to either Minecraft or LEGO.)

Building in Second Life is the equivalent of having a fairly complete set of construction tools and the ability to contract with outside equipment suppliers and skilled trades. It's far more complicated but also gives you far more options.

[thebaekai]

 

While both worlds focus on building quite alot. Building is basically all you can do in Minecraft, the roleplay is so sucky. In second life however you get to interact with people, you HAVE to have internet to play and you can create new objects, thats not even half of it. 

 

Basically the only thing minecraft and second life have in common is building, which a lot of people I know, don't even do that anymore.

[JPG0809]

I play minecraft.

 

Though I don't know ALL of the differences, these are the ones that immediately popped up in my head.

 

Differences:

 

- Minecraft has a much bigger community and,dare I say, a more diverse community as it's VERY adaptable to all age groups and the learning curve is a bit smaller than SL's. (Not by much but ill discuss that later)

-SL's building tools are far more complex and detailed while MC is just building with cube-like structures.

- SL has it's own economy.

- Minecraft has a game mechanic.

 

Similarities:

 

- Both encourage creativity and some of the builds created by the player/user can be jaw-dropping.

- Though MC has a much higher rep and number of players, SL still has a very diverse community as well.

- Both may require external information sources such as Google or a Wiki to progress. (Seriously, when it comes to crafting in or anything in minecraft, the wiki is like the Bible as if everything in it is holy if you want to make your crafting needs MUCH simpler. Would've been lost without it.)

 

Hope this helps!

[Bree Giffen]

Minecraft has two modes, a survivor mode, which is played as a game, and creative mode which is played as a creative world for building things. You can't really compare survivor mode Minecraft to Secondlife because Secondlife is not a game. It would be like comparing the driving ablilties of a Prius to a refrigerator.

What can be compared is MC's creative mode. To build in MC you simply stack blocks together. There are other items like fences,torches and rails that you can add but the most substantial building is done wtih blocks. It's like drawing a picture pixel by pixel. It's an incredibly simple process that can create complex structures but it's a very slow process.

Secondlife has more tools available to create with and there are more things that can be created. It's complex but not impossible to learn. Using the same metaphor, SL would be like drawing a picture with Photoshop.

That's about it in terms of building.

[Kelli May]

One more thing I could add: you could simulate Minecraft in SL, but you can't simulate SL in Minecraft.

[Sy Beck]

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CmpZ wrote:

I'm new to SL & was showing it to a friend in the hopes that he'd make his own account. He asked how it differs from Minecraft. Neither of us have played Minecraft, but we know people who have (including his nephew). For me, it's one of those questions whose answer is obvious but difficult to articulate. I pointed out that SL isn't a game & that a big part of it is building. He pointed out that people build things in Minecraft, too. He also pointed out that from what he's seen, building in Minecraft is easier than building in SL, though I pointed out that I'm new & still don't know many good building techniques. Thanks for your time & help. P.S. I know that I've heard other questions like that, where I feel that the answer is obvious but when someone presses me on it, I can't explain. Wish I could think of some of those to use as examples here. Anyway, thanks in advance for your replies.

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Seriously?  You can't tell the difference between a Minecraft build and a SL build and don't feel able to describe the difference?  Post a picture of a curved object in SL and one in Minecraft.  It's all about aesthetics.  Obviously gameplay is easier in Minecraft that's why my 5 yr old can look good against 30+ try hards.  FYI, building in Lego is even easier ;-)

[CmpZ]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Lots of good points, but the two that rise to the top are the analogy about how building in Minecraft is like building with Legos & Kelli May's point that you could simulate Minecraft in SL but not the other way around. Thanks bunches!

[Urzul]

30 years,1980
but what you want to do..
build for fun,pvp,make hole in the ground.that is mindcraft.
easy for fun,

you want learn 3d and do programing,or roleplay an other life,
pay for an virtual space,fashion,
lot of time to spend,money,Roleplaying.

it all about what you want to do.

i think this is nothing to compare ,minecraft it not a place to show off,or look pretty.
it nintendo gaming.

but not every one have that much of time.

 

[LlazarusLlong]

Minecraft is more of a waste of time than SL.

Which is REALLY saying something...