What do you like/dislike the most about SL? Why do you play?

[arikastack]

I'm pretty sure this type of thread has been done before, but I checked back a few pages, didn't see it, and didn't feel like bumping anything past that.

 

It's a pretty straightforward question. I've been here for 2 years now, and while that's not alot, I've noticed that alot of people have opinions on what SL does great, and what needs improvement. Moreover, however, I'm interested to know why you play/what keeps you playing, or what does the opposite, if you're on the other end of the spectrum. 

 

Personally, I like, well, alot, but if I had to choose a few key things, and compile some sort of list, the first thing on that list would probably be the community, specifically the fact that the age demographic is so mixed. It's a nice change of pace. When I was 12, I played games with much older, and much more diverse demographics, and for the most part, people are more level-headed, and at least don't follow such a hive mind. There are more than just 2 opinions on any given subject, and most people convey them well. 

I also like the fact that SL isn't classified as a game, but as a whole different type of VR. I've personally used SL to escape life, and, while I dislike the term in this context, roleplay as a character I created when I was 15. I don't feel as though many people RP as themselves in SL anyway, but for me, the character is, I guess someone whose life I want to live, or at least seen lived.

I mean, who wouldn't want to be someone who's infinitely powerful and has more free time and than a NEET could ever dream of.

I don't dislike much about SL, but, I guess I should follow the rules of my own thread here. The technology of SL, while is being updated from time to time, does need an overhaul. I know it's not easy/possible to do while keeping the current framework, but if they manage to fix that one issue, the game will instantly grow again in popularity. It saddens me when people won't give this game a chance because sim crossings are a thing, or how a 'hacker' on a 'supercomputer' only gets 20fps (like, yeah, no, call Nvidia, and they'll hook you up with a cloud based computing solution, mr. Hacker).

Community related, I guess I dislike how detatched everyone has become, but that's less of a SL issue, and more of a 'oh look, FB gives the the convenience to not interact with other people online or offline except to like or share something irrelevant', issue. Moreover, I'm probably more guilty of this than most people, as I'm incredibly introverted and probably just hang out at the wrong places, but still, the world just feels... cold. I can't feel a pulse, even in populated sims. 

[mikka Luik]

"Play" ..... will just leave that hanging as its too obvious =^^=

[Tari Landar]

What I like about sl....

Nearly everything..yes, I'm being serious.

What I dislike about sl...

There are lots of little things, mostly, they are minor annoyances and have little to nothing to do with sl itself, but rather..LL. So those things don't count. The things that I dislike the most, also have nothing to do with sl itself, but rather, its residents. So..really, there's very little I dislike about sl itself.

Now if you asked me to break down what it is I dislike about LL or the residents of SL, I could say this..

LL-their inability to listen is the root of all their evil, plain and simple, this alone, causes every little thing I do dislike about them

The residents-the inability to undertand that their sl, is not my sl, and my sl, is not their sl...I believe this is the root of nearly all of the problems caused by sl residents. The only other thing I'd say I dislike, revolves around the folks who find negativity everywhere they look and fail to realize that the beholder is most likely the problem, not the environment or others in that environment.

[Madelaine McMasters]

---

Tari Landar wrote:

What I like about sl....

Nearly everything..yes, I'm being serious.

What I dislike about sl...

There are lots of little things, mostly, they are minor annoyances and have little to nothing to do with sl itself, but rather..LL. So those things don't count. The things that I dislike the most, also have nothing to do with sl itself, but rather, its residents. So..really, there's very little I dislike about sl itself.

Now if you asked me to break down what it is I dislike about LL or the residents of SL, I could say this..

LL-their inability to listen is the root of all their evil, plain and simple, this alone, causes every little thing I do dislike about them

The residents-the inability to undertand that their sl, is not my sl, and my sl, is not their sl...I believe this is the root of nearly all of the problems caused by sl residents. The only other thing I'd say I dislike, revolves around the folks who find negativity everywhere they look and fail to realize that the beholder is most likely the problem, not the environment or others in that environment.

---

This sorta boils down to...

I love the World, it's the people in it that drive me nuts.

That works for me!

;-).

[Janelle Darkstone]

In my humble opinion, I wish SL had:

The smoothness, continuity and lush color and flair of World of Warcraft ( and the music! )

and the size and the ability to get lost, like, really lost -- of the original EverQuest.

and still kept the boundless options for customizing and open-endedness.

 

Of course, being able to strap an oversized view-master to my face and wave my hands around like a moron would just be icing on the cake.

[SarahCooney]

---

This sorta boils down to...

I love the World, it's the people in it that drive me nuts.

---

That pretty much sums up all online gaming - other people are both the best and worst things about it.

 

I'm pretty new to this. I love the sheer freedom to do and be anything which I think is at the core of what second life is about. I dislike the unintuitive and clunky interface. It took me days to get to grips with the interface and customisation of my avatar and I feel many other newcommers will simply not spend the time. I feel fortunate to have met so many patient and friendly people who guided me through learning various things and have, in my turn, tried to do the same for other newcommers I see struggling - so yeah, add the community to the like box as well

[Syo Emerald]

You have reached the level of realizing, that calling it a game is not fitting...you like that. Why do you keep using the term play?

[irihapeti]

only thing I dislike is when I cant play

is technical issues for me when this happens. When it do happen then I stop trying to play on it after I try everything I can do myself to fix it and nah!. Like I dont continue with something I cant make go myself. So stop until somebody who can make it go, does make it go. When it do go again then I get back on

+

what I like the most is that is this big creative space with all these people in it

was the first big creative space I ever played on with lots of other people at the same time. So I keep coming back to it. Is like home in that sense

+

edit to add:

i read one time in this debate about play !play game !game

a person whose name i cant remember now said: SL to them is a playground, not so much a game. That we play in/on playgrounds. Play serious sometimes. Play not serious other times. I like that definition and is how I now think about it when I play

[Bobbie Faulds]

SL is actually lusher, imho, than World of Warcraft. Really look at WoW and you'll see the same set of textures used everywhere. That's why it runs the way it does, the textures are all preloaded. SL, on the other hand, has the vast majoirity of its textures created by the uses. Look around and what you see is almost exclusively user created. I love that SL users can create their own world.

The thing I hate the most in SL is that we have this wonderful world that we've created, where we can be who and what we want to be, and there are still idiots that bring their predjudices in, whether it be against furrys/non-human avis, race, sex or sexual orientation. This wonderful playground LL has provided us is a play we can meet people from all over the world. You have no idea what sex or color the person behind the avi is. You have to accept them at face value.

[Ceka Cianci]

I'm not in it much anymore.

I believe the reason is I have changed more than SL has changed..

I used to be so easily amused by it..

I remember getting IM's from friends that would be hitting up the letter chairs for outfits.

Ceka will you be my letter C?

Heck YA i will!! \o/

Ceka we're all heading to the nude beach wanna come?

Heck ya i do!! \o/

Then somewhere along the line i had to go and learn a bunch of stuff and get to know a lot of the world too well and those simple things that made it so much fun faded away.

My first year was my best year by far,for sure hehehe

 

 

[Madelaine McMasters]

---

Ceka Cianci wrote:

My first year was my best year by far,for sure hehehe

---

I think this is true for anything I've ever done in my life.

[Ceka Cianci]

---

Madelaine McMasters wrote:

---

Ceka Cianci wrote:

My first year was my best year by far,for sure hehehe

---

I think this is true for anything I've ever done in my life.

---

I'm learning to slow down and enjoy the ride more nowadays..

I used to rush in and try to learn so many things very fast,then time just passes by.

It's much better not being in such a hurry to get to the end of things now hehehe

[Bobbie Faulds]

I also love the way the community pulls together...look at the RFL events, the breast cancer awareness going on now, the Shoetopia that benefts Soles for Souls, the Hair fair that helps Wigs for Kids...etc. There's a thread on here asking for someone that lives in AZ if they could send a special MP3 to someone in hospice there. They are in the UK and the cost would be prohibitive. Several stepped up to the plate to get the farewell sent to the player in AZ. You just don't see that everywhere.

[Madelaine McMasters]

---

Ceka Cianci wrote:

---

Madelaine McMasters wrote:

---

Ceka Cianci wrote:

My first year was my best year by far,for sure hehehe

---

I think this is true for anything I've ever done in my life.

---

I'm learning to slow down and enjoy the ride more nowadays..

I used to rush in and try to learn so many things very fast,then time just passes by.

It's much better not being in such a hurry to get to the end of things now hehehe

---

I'm slowing down as well, but I still think I should try something new every... two years?

And I don't often get to the end of things. It's usually the case that, once the initial rush subsides, I move on.

There are exceptions.

[Pamela Galli]

---

Tari Landar wrote:

What I like about sl....

Nearly everything..yes, I'm being serious.

What I dislike about sl...

There are lots of little things, mostly, they are minor annoyances and have little to nothing to do with sl itself, but rather..LL. So those things don't count. The things that I dislike the most, also have nothing to do with sl itself, but rather, its residents. So..really, there's very little I dislike about sl itself.

Now if you asked me to break down what it is I dislike about LL or the residents of SL, I could say this..

LL-their inability to listen is the root of all their evil, plain and simple, this alone, causes every little thing I do dislike about them

The residents-the inability to undertand that their sl, is not my sl, and my sl, is not their sl...I believe this is the root of nearly all of the problems caused by sl residents. The only other thing I'd say I dislike, revolves around the folks who find negativity everywhere they look and fail to realize that the beholder is most likely the problem, not the environment or others in that environment.

---

What I like best is that SL has always been a place where I can play play play all day long. I get to make Barbie houses and furniture, and can even chat with the Barbies. I even get to play store!  I truly get up every morning excited about the coming day.

Those things you listed are the same things I dislike, Tari. These types have miserable real lives and then drag it all with them into SL and try to spoil things for others who are just trying to enjoy life. 

Today in a TPV meeting LL announced a new marketplace. I dont recall LL asking for any feedback, so I dont thing they had anything to listen TO before designing it.

[Anya Ristow]

---

Then somewhere along the line i had to go and learn a bunch of stuff and get to know a lot of the world too well and those simple things that made it so much fun faded away.

My first year was my best year by far,for sure hehehe

---

^This. It's less awesome when you know how to do everything you see.

But also, you joined during the great rush of new people on the grid. Your first year was at a time when there were real, live people everywhere you went, and they actually talked in open chat, and IM'd you out of the blue. You joined at a time when you had to know where to go if you wanted some privacy. It's now the reverse: now you have to know where to go to find live people.

[arikastack]

---

Anya Ristow wrote:

now you have to know where to go to find live people.

---

This is so true, and so sad about SL today. I do believe that how seriously the community can take things does lead to this, as I feel that, if there were one thing that potentially could make me quit, it would be that. 

I really wish I was there during the great rush. Unfortunately, I think I was like, 11 or so when the game launched. The good news, however, is that, for every runin I have with someone who has a stick lodged so far where the sun don't shine, or a moderator who's bad (baderator doesn't have the same catch), and is on a serious power trip, I meet at least two more people who are awesome. 

There are still good people in this game. If I can meet them, anyone can. There was a time (as I'm told), where people built things to be creative, to express themselves, and to make the world a better place. There was a time where it wasn't about who had the best idea to make lindens. There was a time where it wasn't about 'what sells', and more about 'what looks cool'. While that time sounds great, and I'd do some pretty low and pitiful things to live there, I still see shimmers of that time here and there, where people build the spaceship they want to build because it's a freakin' spaceship, not a paycheck, or where people actually engage in a conversation with you, instead of just messaging you to tell you how much you suck for not being part of their clique. People can still be constructive. It just sucks that you have to actually look for those people now. 

To be honest, I'm not even talking about griefers. Griefers don't ignore you and call you a noob because your AO's turned off. They shoot you with a tumbleweed pusher regardless of who you are. 

[Ceka Cianci]

---

Anya Ristow wrote:

---

Then somewhere along the line i had to go and learn a bunch of stuff and get to know a lot of the world too well and those simple things that made it so much fun faded away.

My first year was my best year by far,for sure hehehe

---

^This. It's less awesome when you know how to do everything you see.

But also, you joined during the great rush of new people on the grid. Your first year was at a time when there were real, live people everywhere you went, and they actually talked in open chat, and IM'd you out of the blue. You joined at a time when you had to know where to go if you wanted some privacy. It's now the reverse: now you have to know where to go to find live people.

---

i would say there was maybe a good 4 years of awesome and 4 years of  dwindling down to longer breaks away each year after..

it was really awesome when it was packed with people just about anywhere you went..:smileyhappy:

it would be awesome to see that come back one day..

Maybe in the next world?

 

[Song Indigo]

Likes: The level of customization.

The creativity of the builders and designers.

My breedables.

Loads of quality free stuff if you know where to look.

 

Dislikes: Loads of empty sims.

The endless pitches to buy, buy, buy! - but you get that in the RL too.

How expensive virtual land is.

I've been there since 2007, off and on, and people are less willing to engage, more clique-y.  There seems to be a disconnected feel as I tp around.

The level of sheer overt sexual presentation on display...and that's just the avatars!  Do you really need to have a virtual ass that big?  I could ski down it!  When you bend over, people think there's an Eclipse!  Don't get me wrong, I love curves and such but why are there so many avatars who look like their only function is to be a c__ bucket?  Must your nipples with those gold chains really be on display in a shop on a pg sim when I'm innocently browsing? Yeah, yeah, you've endured a virtual nipple piercing - BIG DEAL!  There's this fad for big fake breasts in your big fake breasts...why, by all that is holy...WHY?  And why can't people keep all that in the relevant sims, or their own lands?

Despite all this, I still play because I've invested so much in my avatar, and what she loves to do...

 

[Marigold Devin]

Like the most about SL:

Evolution.

The improvements to things, such as windlight settings, shadows, shading, and most of all reflections in water.

People's creativity. Art installations, sims that are themed to resemble places that I love in real life.

Not having to cook, dust, or iron.

Being able to feed the shopping urge by spending relatively little money on new stuff.

No two days in Second Life being the same. Just going with the flow, not having a particular plan when I log in and being able to immerse myself 90% when I am logged in.

Quirky Tuesdays/Wednesdays when LL do the updates to improve things but invariably it makes the ride more bumpy. It brings out that old wartime spirit when everyone's huddling together waiting for a sim restart (*laughs*).

I can walk, swim, fly, and feel generally free for a while, but still be in my jim jams in real life.

Pyjamas.  With matching novelty slippers.

Friendships with people from all over the world.

 

Dislike the most about SL:

Evolution.

The improvements to things, such as being able to have shadows, and more reality. All have priced me personally out of SL somewhat. I'm a cuckoo in a nest, using someone else's computer, (but its my own personal shame that I cannot alter the situation at the moment).

Mesh. Mesh hands. Mesh feet. Just too much like hard work to me. Its the equivalent of ironing in real life!

The way time seems to go at least four times faster inworld than out in real life.

 

 

I'm with Ceka, the first year was by far the best.

 

 

[Canoro Philipp]

i like the creativity of the residents, the art, their inventiveness, they way they make things that seemed impossible by moving some LSL around, the power of their imagination that seem endless.

the way it open doors for the residents who have limitations in rl to be able to do many things they dreamed about.
the way it gives them opportunities to showcase their talents, whatever they may be.

the residents, with so many cultures from all parts of the world becoming friends, family.

the helpers, those people helping new residents, answering questions, all because they want somebody else to have a better sl, without expecting a payment.

the way their art looks wonderful under all those special effects like shadows and reflections, in photography, machinima.

the passion that many sl residents have, that stay in this world and love it, defend it, like if it was their own.

the flexibility of sl, it can be so many things at the same time, it can even be something we can't think of, the difficulty to define it its what makes it a masterpiece, a software so free that it can be anything.

thats what i love about sl.

-------------

i dont like the way some people treat each other because they dont have the latest skins, because they use freebies, like if everyone had the obligation to wear only the latest things from the most popular creators.

the way some people are with innocent residents, banning them just to have a good laugh, i know its their right, but that doesnt make it a good behavior.

that there is no easy way to make lindens. people start selling their dignity in order to get them, at least until they learn how to make things and have a store, or learn to be DJs.

the way some residents complain about everything Linden Lab does, no matter what it is, the thing is ok until they learn that it was idea of Linden Lab, then its wrong.

the complexity of the interface. i understand that being such a versatile world the viewer should be able to perform all kinds of ideas, and for that many options are needed, but its so hard for new people to face that, like the flight instruments of a plane, a lot of little things you have to learn.

sl got a hard blow when the news came out about ageplay in sl. from then people that dont use it see it as something decent people should not touch. they ignore that sl is not only about sex, there are so many treasures in sl that get undiscovered because of the bad reputation. now you cant tell rl friends that you play sl because they see it as a dirty secret.

-------------

sl is so marvelous, so unique with no real rivals, an internet rarity, a technological marvel, it opens the door to an ever changing vast world using a little hard drive space. the viewer, the cache and some chat logs.

its like the dream of Philip Rosedale going bizarre.

[Tamara Artis]

I agree with most posters about the people... there are days when it feels like all negativity from real life rushed to ride on their egotrips in this virtual world. But then, there are times when you simply have to sit back and just be amazed with the creativity and beautiful souls who happen to wander in here.

Its all about the people and really there is not much difference between rl and sl because sl is "played" by rl people. I also use the term play because I see sl as a playground, a place to try things. 

The things I like most about SL is:

1. customization - you can alter the land, clouds, sun, water, characters, things. I don't have to wake up at 4 am, sit in my car and drive for an hour to get to the coast to get a photo of the first morning sun. I don't have to sell everything I have and move to another state/town if I want to live in place that looks like some ancient civilization.
2. opportunities - I can be a shoe maker one year and then club owner the next one and then land baron, or a homeless or anything my mind finds amusing at a certain time. In real life things are not to easy to reach, you usually chose one job (if you're lucky to have a choice) and work until you retire. 
3. control - I really really love how LL has the control over our accounts, they know what we chat about, what we buy, where we go and who we hang out with. In an ideal world, there is a set of rules to obey and if you get caught, account is terminated. No lies, no fooling around, no friends on high places who will help you pass the rules in order to get advantage over other players. For me, the way SL functions when it comes to rules we have to obey is much closer to this ideal world. Of course nothing is ideal lol
4. changes - SL changes much faster than RL and for me thats great! 
5. diversity - I can sit on the landing point of my place and meet people from all over the world. See what they cook for dinner, whats playing in their theatres, 

The things I dislike:

1. bugs, and I don't think I need to explain this lol
2. the fact that LL servers are located in States and I am from Europe.
3. this one is like "other side of the coin" of the opportunities we have - anyone can be a content creator and usually the content we have to download every single moment of our online sessions is not optimised for this purpose. Avatars, their clothing, homes and everything we see around us these days is in many cases high poly and with huge textures which makes it much harder to render if you don't have a beast pc. 
4. huge amounts of copybotted things which makes people not interested in joining or staying here (I think about people who create 3D content optimised for 3D worlds that, if copybotting was not so big they would be more likely to come here and create quality content). Also personally, I like to just click and buy stuff without checking the profile of the creator or asking Google about their vendor images to see they are not from some 3D site.