What Does SL Really Compete With?

[Bubblesort Triskaidekaphobia]

I was just thinking... when I am not using SL, what am I doing with my SL time?

Usually, if I am using SL less, then I am tinkering around in Photoshop, or with Stable Diffusion, or Audacity, or come other digital creative program like that.  Sometimes, I may play guitar more.  If SL disappeared today, those are the things that would see a big uptick in how much time I spend with them.  I would not increase my time in Fallout, or The Talos Principle, or Civilization.

I think that's why I don't consider SL to be a game.  It's creative software.  Economically, the goods and services I can substitute for SL do not include games.

Is that just me, or do the rest of you feel the same?

I wonder if my approach is a bit archaic.  New users don't use SL the same way as people who learned to use SL when sandboxes were the cool places to hang out.  Maybe people today would be more likely to replace SL with Discord, or Telegram, or other social media things, because maybe they use SL to socialize, more than they use it to create?  I would be surprised if SL competes with Tik Tok, or Twitter, but maybe SL competes with chat programs?

[Lyric Demina]

6 minutes ago, Bubblesort Triskaidekaphobia said:

It's creative software.

Agreed, and also more. But largely this yes.  This doesn't compete with "games" in my life for sure.

[Gabriele Graves]

SL is a bit of everything rolled into one and it's residents naturally see it through the lens of their own use.

The broad category I think fits is "entertainment".  You are either being entertained, working to producing entertainment for others, or both.

I've always thought that people who are in SL primarily for social reasons are using the 3D environment, avatars and other objects to add entertainment to that social aspect because strictly speaking the only basic aspect that any services absolutely require for social is text messages.  It follows that everything on top on that is entertainment, to enhance the social experience.

So, in my opinion it competes with any and all other forms of entertainment, especially when it comes to time and budget.

That's certainly true for me anyway.

[Chic Aeon]

I am in the old guard of creativity too. And at times I look back nostalgically at the days when things were pretty ugly but most folks WERE creating -- and inworld too.  If SL disappeared I would over to Opensim (Kitely) and keep creating in some manner and blogging.  I play strategy games too, but for me (now) it is  about enjoying what others have created.  

[Ayashe Ninetails]

1 hour ago, Bubblesort Triskaidekaphobia said:

Is that just me, or do the rest of you feel the same?

It's very different for me. I came to SL from the MMO world (Everquest 2 in particular) for rather specific reasons. I liked its unique and entirely open character creation and styling possibilities. Prior to being told about SL, I whined endlessly about Everquest 2's character creator limitations and hideous character models and terrible armor. I was also huge Sims fan, so I wanted something a bit like that. A place to make and style characters and build anything I could want for myself and my homes.

For me and my purposes, SL directly competes with the creative side of the more social MMORPGs, sandboxy building games, and The Sims. What it lacks in gameplay and stats and classes and skill trees and traits and life simulation it makes up for in design. Considering I'm the type of person to spend hours creating and customizing my characters and crafting for homes and downloading gigs of mods without actually playing the game (yes, I love MMOs with housing for that reason), it fit into that niche perfectly. I actually left SL once building starting moving off-platform and became more software-based.

More recently, when I'm not spending time in SL (which is my current situation), I'm playing games with more free and open design that don't require 3D skills to build and make things - Minecraft, waiting on InZOI and Paralives, The SIms 4 (much less these days, though), Stardew Valley, My Time at Sandrock, Palworld, etc. I'm also a huge fan of deckbuilders and roguelikes and strategy games and point and clicks and retro gaming and puzzle games and a bunch of other genres, so I'm all over the place, honestly. I might also dip into WoW or Guild Wars 2 from time to time to play fashion wars (WoW's on pause, though - at least until hardcore classic servers make a comeback, gahhhhh). Mostly been working on the Steam, GOG, Game Pass, and Epic backlog like whoa over here.

Edited August 30 by Ayashe Ninetails
Added stuffs

[Luna Bliss]

It's an interesting question, causing me to wonder just what I'd spend time at should SL suddenly poof. I can't say I really know for sure, but likely the other time spent in creative endeavors outside SL would increase. Not sure any other type of virtual world or game could replace SL for me though.

[Extrude Ragu]

Before SL my biggest computer time sink used to be MMO's but i gave them up because i mostly used the MMO to socialise on and it wasn't really designed for that..

[gwynchisholm]

Any social game. I don’t care what the other possibilities are as long as I can wander and talk or look at stuff. I come from social games, this is one of the last remaining OG social games, it’s pretty much down to SL, IMVU and Habbo now and I never played IMVU.

[Theresa Tennyson]

3 hours ago, Bubblesort Triskaidekaphobia said:

I was just thinking... when I am not using SL, what am I doing with my SL time?

Usually, if I am using SL less, then I am tinkering around in Photoshop, or with Stable Diffusion, or Audacity, or come other digital creative program like that.  Sometimes, I may play guitar more.  If SL disappeared today, those are the things that would see a big uptick in how much time I spend with them.  I would not increase my time in Fallout, or The Talos Principle, or Civilization.

I think that's why I don't consider SL to be a game.  It's creative software.  Economically, the goods and services I can substitute for SL do not include games.

Is that just me, or do the rest of you feel the same?

I wonder if my approach is a bit archaic.  New users don't use SL the same way as people who learned to use SL when sandboxes were the cool places to hang out.  Maybe people today would be more likely to replace SL with Discord, or Telegram, or other social media things, because maybe they use SL to socialize, more than they use it to create?  I would be surprised if SL competes with Tik Tok, or Twitter, but maybe SL competes with chat programs?

For me, it competes with the Sims series. Building and character design in the Sims games is easier and more consistent, but Second Life gives you many more possibilities.

[Arielle Popstar]

For me it competes with Opensim. I have a lot more freedom there to run it the way I like and though there is less people there, I find my relationships just develop deeper rather then the superficiality that comes from trying to be friends with too many in SL.

[Istelathis]

Nothing for me, it is a unique platform that offers a bit of everything.  It has continuity that other games, and platforms that I have lack, if I want to build something I build it, then if I want to play a game, I'll play, watch TV in the comfort of my virtual home, do so, it goes on and on really.  I would say opensim as well, but opensim lacks that flow as it doesn't have a huge mainland packed with people that have built a world, as well as the open road for me to explore on.

I think, for everything I have tried, SL is its own beast, there is nothing quite like it.  For me, it is just the flow of it all, I can stay with my avatar in a variety of environments, performing different things, and in general, when I play a game, I grow an attachment to my character - when the game ends it is kind of slightly depressing to see their story end, in Second Life the story never ends, it is great that way.

As for everyone else, I would consider it is competing with everything, it is a bit of this, and a bit of that, and in my opinion that is what makes it so great.  

[Love Zhaoying]

SL competes with:

Television (broadcast, streaming)

Movies

Books

Video Games

Other Hobbies

 

[HeathcliffMontague]

SL doesn't compete with anything for me. If SL goes down the drain I for sure won't gravitate to something like IMVU, or whatever kids use the days (get off my lawn). Nothing Zuch comes up will catch my interest either. Unless my job demands it. It actually just might (shudders)... I might use my Steam account a bit more for a bit, but will very quickly lose interest in any so-called virtual world.

My GSD keeps me out in the woods and keeps me sane.   

[Paul Hexem]

Depends on the day. Other sandbox games and MMOs are my go to. 

[Dragon Mommy]

Second Life, for me, fits into a space somewhere between 'hobby time' and 'game time.'

I play a lot of games that allow me a measure of creative freedom. Sandbox games, survival crafting, whatever my gaming buddies are up to, some MMOs, some online roleplay environments as part of those or not. I also spend time on my creative projects.

I don't really think of SL competing with those directly for what they offer so much as all those things compete for what time I have.

[HeathcliffMontague]

54 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

Depends on the day. Other sandbox games and MMOs are my go to. 

And that for you somehow compares to SL. We have such different perspectives here, many of us. Not meant in a bad way, takes all kinds, Paul 

[AmeliaJ08]

SL is the last Virtual World, isn't it? Not that it ever really had much competition, it emerged during the decline of Active Worlds and has dominated the genre since.

I guess the closest thing to it that is popular these days would be VRChat.

Edited August 30 by AmeliaJ08

[WeFlossDaily]

In terms of virtual worlds, I don't think SL has any real competition and is the industry standard.

[Chery Amore]

For me there is nothing it competes with.  SL is in it's own category, mostly because of the social life, including adult life you can experience here.  There are other virtual worlds out there but nothing comes close or is missing some aspect.  Like avatar customization always sucks in comparison.  Second Life is also very open ended, you can be creative in some way or just sit around and chat.  There are no goals unless you want there to be, you can't play it wrong.
I know there is no other virtual world that I can live like a millionaire on a shoe-string budget and go shopping for less than the price of fast food meal on an avatar I enjoy being in. 
There is no replacement.. hopefully one day there will be. 

 

[Dragon Mommy]

1 hour ago, WeFlossDaily said:

In terms of virtual worlds, I don't think SL has any real competition and is the industry standard.

I'll counter that while SL is wonderfully unique in what it offers, I think the industry has spoken that the undisputed king of virtual worlds these days isn't the metaverse, SL, or anything of that nature.

It's Roblox.

And I won't totally crack open the can of worms that is the absolute insanity of that platform (and all of its many problems) but it's massive to the point of crippling itself. But it's users are primarily (though not all) children under 16 and so the demographic is very different than you'd see here.

[WeFlossDaily]

3 minutes ago, Dragon Mommy said:

It's Roblox.

Or a passing trend perhaps?

Hopefully, we're both wrong? Idk.

[Dragon Mommy]

3 minutes ago, WeFlossDaily said:

Or a passing trend perhaps?

Hopefully, we're both wrong? Idk.

Part of me hopes so!

I'll be honest, if flew under my radar until it began to show up in work cases in mid 2020. There's a significant amount of credit card fraud that passes through Roblox. One of the reasons I think SL is stable is the existence of Tillia which gives them considerable control and oversight.

[WeFlossDaily]

7 minutes ago, Dragon Mommy said:

There's a significant amount of credit card fraud that passes through Roblox.

21 minutes ago, Dragon Mommy said:

But it's users are primarily (though not all) children under 16

This combination has got to be way more doomed than SL.

[Porky Gorky]

11 minutes ago, WeFlossDaily said:

This combination has got to be way more doomed than SL

Roblox are using a very similar strategy to SL by updating their existing toolsets and features to attract more developers who will create better content. They hope this will attract more new users as well as retaining existing users as they get older via the introduction of 17+ content. They have also started adding advertising in various formats. At the very least they hope to stop losing so much money every year.

[WeFlossDaily]

2 minutes ago, Porky Gorky said:

At the very least they hope to stop losing so much money every year.

/me nods.