Do you consider SL to be a game?

[Spica Inventor]

Is SL a platform and/or a game?

Is RL a platform and/or a game?

Is there any REAL difference between the two?

:smileywink:

[Randall Ahren]

If SL was a game, Randall Ahren would have won already.

[HarrisonMcKenzie]

Second Life is a video game. It has more in common with a video game than it does Skype, a blog, or Goolge Hangout, which is too often what people try and compare it to.

Does SL have a goal or level? No, but many video games don't. This is called a "sandbox." Minecraft has some things you can do that can be attributed to a goal or ending, but you can completely ignore that and still enjoy the game. In fact, these elements weren't even a part of the game at first, and were only added to build on the experience and give players more to do. It is a sandbox, where you can build, explore, make videos, or adventure. Look to any MMO and you will see more in common, fundamentally, with SL than not. Most MMORPGs do have a story line and endings to those story lines, but you can completely ignore all of that and still enjoy the game. You can simply experience the virtual world without engaging in the scripted story. And no MMO has "an ending" since that would render the game complete and lose subscribers.

Just because (I think) the majority of SL players don't play mini-games and in combat RPs doesn't mean that SL isn't a game. It just means that it's a game with a broader focus than most others. You can explore, you can hang out with friends (a huge part of roleplaying or just being in a populated area in MMOs), you can build, and many other activities that many other games include.

Is it a bad thing that SL is a game? No. Absolutely not. I have no idea why people are so defensive when they hear SL being called a game, because there is nothing wrong with that. "Game" isn't a bad word, and we really should stop treating it as one.

[mikka Luik]

OK:) Its a game. And rule one is - (anyone).Resident, == minus a million points =^^=

This is fun.

[Syo Emerald]

It gets defensive responses, because people who say "its just a game" are likely to use this persception as an excuse. Oh, i blew up your pixel wedding with my griefing tools? Hey, chill, its just a game. Oh, I uploaded stolen content or copybotted yours or did anything else that hurts someones business? Hey, chill, its just a game. Oh, I was meeting other women here? Hey, chill, its just a game.

And so on.

Usually, people who focus on calling SL a game often turn out to be like that in some way.

[Perrie Juran]

---

HarrisonMcKenzie wrote:

Second Life is a video game. It has more in common with a video game than it does Skype, a blog, or Goolge Hangout, which is too often what people try and compare it to.

Does SL have a goal or level? No, but many video games don't. This is called a "sandbox." Minecraft has some things you can do that can be attributed to a goal or ending, but you can completely ignore that and still enjoy the game. In fact, these elements weren't even a part of the game at first, and were only added to build on the experience and give players more to do. It is a sandbox, where you can build, explore, make videos, or adventure. Look to any MMO and you will see more in common, fundamentally, with SL than not. Most MMORPGs do have a story line and endings to those story lines, but you can completely ignore all of that and still enjoy the game. You can simply experience the virtual world without engaging in the scripted story. And no MMO has "an ending" since that would render the game complete and lose subscribers.

Just because (I think) the majority of SL players don't play mini-games and in combat RPs doesn't mean that SL isn't a game. It just means that it's a game with a broader focus than most others. You can explore, you can hang out with friends (a huge part of roleplaying or just being in a populated area in MMOs), you can build, and many other activities that many other games include.

Is it a bad thing that SL is a game? No. Absolutely not. I have no idea why people are so defensive when they hear SL being called a game, because there is nothing wrong with that. "Game" isn't a bad word, and we really should stop treating it as one.

---

You sound a bit defensive here.  

Ender thought he was only playing a game and look what happened.

[Pamela Galli]

I make things in Blender and Gimp, import them inworld, put scripts in them, set them for sale in my store, upload them to marketplace, provide customer service as needed.

It is not a game, it is a virtual world. It is like a virtual version of Disneyland. If I want to play a game I will go get an X Box (unlikely).

[SirLeighBastard]

Life is a game.

Second Life is a subset of Life.

Therefore Second Life is a game.

In fact, so is everything.

Except death.

***My title is Sir; you are entitled to call me it

[Scooby Mode]

The fundelmentals of SL is indeed a game.

 

It's something you play first and foremost. However, you can make money and translate that to real, that's the biggest difference out of most other games. 

 

Otherwise, I can login to xbox, steam, etc and just meet someone, talk to them, even meet them in real and make all those relationships. There is games that are pretty open too like Mindcraft, just SL is more so the virtual world of things, an of course is entirely ran by the users, so everything you see was made by someone, and it has very few limits (which I feel game delevopers like Bethesda, Rockstar) should take a deep look at. 

So the roots of SL is that of a game, but the deeper end is something a little bit more. We all know tho it's a subjective approach, and comes down to how you want to SL which dictates it being "just a game" or something "more".

 

For me, this is definetly more than just a game. You can't say it's not a game because it is, so you can't just say "SL isn't a game" the correct sentence would be "SL is more than just a game".

 

[Pussycat Catnap]

I see it as a game, but in doing so:

You can either contract the concept of SL until it hits your idea of game,

or you can expand your notion of game until it reaches SL.

I did the latter of these, long before I found SL - when I realized that roleplay is gaming: be it our childhood play with dolls and tea sets, or the teenaged play with dice and graph paper.

Imagining a greater self, an other self, or just beyond yourself - these are all forms of play as I see that word, all forms of gaming.

 

For me, it is not an insult to call something a game - that word is not threatining to me.