Jump to content

Why Didn't Linden Lab Think Of This?


You are about to reply to a thread that has been inactive for 4365 days.

Please take a moment to consider if this thread is worth bumping.

Recommended Posts

Heyla and well met!

 

A couple of friends introduced me to OpenSim over the weekend, and I have to say it was an amazing experience, especially when I saw the following:

http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Hypergrid

My first thought when I saw that page was, "OMG! The Metaverse has truly arrived! Let me sharpen my blades!" My husband had introduced me to Neal Stephonson's Snow Crash way back in 2001, and I was incredibly fascinated by the concept of a three-dimensional, totally immersive, virtual internet. When one of my friends introduced me to Second Life, I was incredibly eager to be a part of it, because I knew exactly what it was. Alas, at the time, the computer I had couldn't run it (although, interestingly enough, it's capable of running games like WoW and DDO). When I finally had the opportunity to finally be a part of Second Life, it was almost everything I thought a Metaverse should be... almost.

The original Metaverse of the novel WAS the internet, whereas SL is simply a small piece of it, in the real world. And while that really didn't bother me, I often wondered why no one has actually tried to see if they can really come close to creating a true Metaverse. Well, apparently, someone has, but I have to wonder, further, why Linden Lab didn't think of it, first. I mean, if they had, they could have set themselves up as the hub of such a Metaverse, the place where everyone begins and ends their 3D online internet experience.You know, kind of like the Google of the 3D internets. Oh, well, I just couldn't help but feel like this is a potentially missed opportunity for LL. I love and enjoy Second Life, and it would be really great to see it evolve into something that's truly thriving and successful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If all OpenSim grids were connected to the SL grid, there would be how many more sims? 5%? 7%? Perhaps 10%, but that's already pushing it. Compared to SL, OS grids are tiny, buggy (due to reverse engineered and semi-legal server code) and have very little content. They would gain a lot, whereas LL might lose everything thanks to the cheaper sim and tier pricing of the reverse engineering hordes.

But it's moot to speculate about this because it is impossible for technical as well as copyright-related reasons (think of user-made content, which would have to be copied from LL's asset servers to the servers of another grid whenever a resident crosses over from SL into non-SL territory).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I first met Second Life I felt the same. I felt this metaverse is going to be the next generation of Internet experience.

I said to myself "yes I'm living the tomorrow....today".

Since then (back in 2006!!!) there aren't many changes, not only that but we going backward, the metaverse it's going to be more 2D internet like than the opposite direction :/

That's the most disappointing thing for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Until there are strigent, enforceable rules controlling content and actions across grids, it would be very dangerous for LL to allow Second Life to connect to other grids in a hypergrid model.

Eventaully, i do expect hypergrid connections to be the norm, perhaps with SL at the fore or perhaps not. However, there's going to be a lot of regulation and organisation required before it become truly viable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've read most, if not all of Stephensons books. He's a fun writer. Here's some of my random thoughts on the 'metaverse'.

3d worlds will never replace the current protocols. It's like saying movies will replace books, that images will replace words. There is nothing efficient about 3d grids. There is no need for your self to be represented in a 3d space when most interaction with information does not require you to be 'there'. There is only the social aspect and the role play aspect, the entertainment value. None of which is vital for information transfer.

There will just be many shards of virtual experience going off in countless directions and none of the interesting ones will have anything to do with this backwards doll house or any of the short sighted, reversed engineered clone grids.

When i was a kid growing up (long ago) i imagined a little black box we would be able to carry in our back pocket that could supply the answer to any question we could ask. It's here now. We call them smart phones and google. The future will be awesome, but it has nothing to do with second life. SL peaked about 4 years ago. It's just a slowly dying money machine now.

I think the future will be more about augmented reality then virtual reality.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 I've never heard of anyone worrying about "efficiency" in their voice calls when they just want to see a loved one's face on the other side of the state/country/world. You've got a tug and pull with video chat. People want it for things like personal communication with friends and loved ones, on the other hand pretty much nobody wants to use it for non-personal calls, like ordering a pizza, complaining to the power company about a bill. calling a co-worker when you've just crawled out of bed and have your hair sticking out everywhere, etcetera.

 With SL and the whole "3D web" idea it's a bit different. When I'm shopping in SL, I actually prefer to use the SL Marketplace on the web. It's so much easier than hopping around the grid trying to hunt something down. Often I'll look something up on the marketplace and then head to the owner's shop to see the item in person if necessary (a must for animations).

 2D interfaces and 3D environments are apples and oranges, serving very different purposes, which is why you'll never see virtual worlds "replace" the web, but what they add could be used to compliment the web and virtual spaces for entertainment have their own appeal so I wouldn't rule out virtual worlds becoming mainstream with time. Actually, virtual worlds already are mainstream in the form of videogames it's just a matter of time before the more "social sandbox" ideas gain traction.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Smart phones? They're smart because they can track you and everything you do and save it all for future reference and targeted marketing.

And opensim,(and it's derivatives) many have been through all that. Some stayed and played, most returned to SL. Maybe one day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

=D I love the conversation this is stirring. My husband and I have had many long talks about whether or not a 3D web would actually replace the 2D web. Our conclusion is that neither will replace the other. Rather, they'll both work together, givng the user a richer experience. This makes sense, especially when you realize that there are people who may not be able to use a 3D internet, such as the blind. Since we're so dependent upon the internet, now, for information and communication, being able to do one's best to anticpate everyone's needs is important, I'd think. =D

I've tried a lot of virtual worlds, mostly by "necessity," desperate to play at being Hiro Protagonist, back when I couldn't run Second Life. I can say that, while they were okay, they still didn't dazzle me the way Second Life has and still does. Every now and then, I go and try something new that comes up, like Blue Mars, but there's just something about Second Life that keeps me coming back. A bit part of it, I think, is the fact that I just feel like I have so much more room to work with, here, so much more flexibility.

As far as copyright issues goes... That's very definitely something that's a bit difficult to handle. Indeed, copyright issues are a big problem in the 2D world. The 3D world and the advent of birtual goods simply gives it an added dimension to the problem. Personally, I'm thinking we may have to look to how the music and film industry have come to terms with limiting theft, and likely make use of the similar methods. The one thing content creators will likely have to accept is the very simple fact that no method of protection is going to be 100% perfect. When people are determined to steal, they're going to find ways to do so. All we can do is make it so that only the hard-core theives will go through such trouble to try to steal, while most people will feel it to be too troublesome to deal with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I totally disagree with this!!! It's simple an opinion, for me it's a view with very narrow perspective.



3D world it's the future of communications and to do things, paying bills, tax purposes, total security transactions, seen and trying new products, it will be included in future advertising campaigns e.t.c. this catalog is non ending!

Dying of SL? Nope, I think the only thing it's going to be.... it will be a new ownership and then this "humble" * World it will boost in extreme numbers.

P.S. yeap, I think LL is still keeping this "product" in low profile and that's for purpose and not accidentally.

* "humble" I mean from advertising point of view.

Of course all these above are also  "an opinion" :) (of mine)



Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...

I have 3 regions on osgrid and 3 more I am developing. All 6 reside on a computer here and the are all the same size as SL regions all running on Opensimulaor 0.7.3.1 and they all have the same performance and traffic as many lesser visited regions in SL which is the majority of the regions there.  LL abandoned the concept of a hypergrid because they discovered that they would no longer have any levage over users if they did continue to embrace it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i think it has more to do with the copyright issue. i dont doubt that is possible to run a sim efficiently on a personal computer, but the problem is the easy way that items can be copybotted, Linden Lab seemed to have looked for a solution using a system that would read the items data from Linden Lab servers once you are in an independent sim, but it seems it was not secure enough.

i agree with ishtara that independent sims dont have much to offer to Second Life at the moment, but the independent sims will grow in numbers in the future, and we better be ready for the future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


walker Triellis wrote:

LL abandoned the concept of a hypergrid because they discovered that they would no longer have any levage over users if they did continue to embrace it. 

Kinda... where that "leverage" is the ability of residents to meaningfully own their own intellectual property. The threat to LL's bottom line was never about sim ownership, but rather about the inevitable collapse of the SL resident economy as content leaked uncontrollably to a bunch of other grids.

If ever there's again significant growth in demand for SL-like virtual worlds, it might be viable to reconsider implementing some (vastly more sophisticated) hypergrid protocol, to a few carefully vetted external grids with big IP-liability escrow accounts.

I don't see that growth happening any time soon (rather the opposite, unfortunately), so there's nothing to motivate external grids to take all the expensive steps necessary to be viable hypergrid partners -- at which point their cost structures would approach LL's own, so they may never be viable anyway.  It really feels like a solution in want of a problem, at least for now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Dresden Ceriano wrote:

Welcome to the forum, walker.  I must say, you got my hopes up... I didn't realize that this was a necropost until I saw Ishtara's name and thought, "OMG, Ishtara's back!!" only to realize that is not the case.  I miss her. :matte-motes-frown:

...Dres

did she leave SL as well? i haven't seen her in SLU either..maybe she is over at Citizen?

i hope she didn't leave the grid..that would really suck =(

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Ceka Cianci wrote:


Dresden Ceriano wrote:

Welcome to the forum, walker.  I must say, you got my hopes up... I didn't realize that this was a necropost until I saw Ishtara's name and thought, "OMG, Ishtara's back!!" only to realize that is not the case.  I miss her. :matte-motes-frown:

...Dres

did she leave SL as well? i haven't seen her in SLU either..maybe she is over at Citizen?

i hope she didn't leave the grid..that would really suck =(

I don't know what's up with her.  Her sim is still around though, so I doubt she's completely gone from SL.

...Dres

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Dresden Ceriano wrote:


Ceka Cianci wrote:


Dresden Ceriano wrote:

Welcome to the forum, walker.  I must say, you got my hopes up... I didn't realize that this was a necropost until I saw Ishtara's name and thought, "OMG, Ishtara's back!!" only to realize that is not the case.  I miss her. :matte-motes-frown:

...Dres

did she leave SL as well? i haven't seen her in SLU either..maybe she is over at Citizen?

i hope she didn't leave the grid..that would really suck =(

I don't know what's up with her.  Her sim is still around though, so I doubt she's completely gone from SL.

...Dres

Dres, I went through the same reaction.  Rise of hope..."Ishy's back!"...then looked at the date...and realized..it's a necropost.  *sad*

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are about to reply to a thread that has been inactive for 4365 days.

Please take a moment to consider if this thread is worth bumping.

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...