[Does second life offer you with a meaningful experience ?]

1 hour ago, Maitimo said:

I did the survey, and I quite like the format of being able to free-type, instead of having some scales to choose a number on, that were clearly designed for FPS or MMO games and really don't fit the way that SL works.

SL is an open-world, free-creation platform and having a survey format which actually works the same way is a refreshing change from the types of survey that we usually get here.

@SuraCiel I wish your friend the best of luck in their study and hope they get a good result.

@Scylla Rhiadra I'm with you on paper books. I think it's a combination of the tactile sense, and the way they smell (fresh print for new ones, and that old musky scent of old ones). I don't get the same feeling of comfort when curled up on the sofa with a Kindle.

I've been in SL a long time (since 2006) and I think it's changed a lot in some ways, and yet in others it's remained the same. The technology is better, it no longer goes offline for a whole day every week because some griefer decided to play with a new self-replicating script, and you no longer worry about teleporting somewhere and arriving woth your shoes stuck up your butt (yes that was a real thing). But it is still now the same as it always was; a place for users to create what they want to crete and share it with others. Part of why change (other than technological improvements) is so slow is because the active userbase is basically the same bunch of people as it was a decade ago. Everyone's profile in SL has the date on which they joined "rezzed". Nearly everyone I meet has a  rez-date of at least 6-8 years ago, some much longer than that, and the majority of those that don't, turn out to be older players who have created another "alt" account.

Second Life doesnt change because the peple who make Second Life's content are its players and most of us have been here a very long time. Also, SL users tend to be older than players of other games. I'm 52 and in some SL communities I belong to, I'm one of the younger ones. The thing that will kill Second Life isn't change, or new technology, or a replacement equivalent (*cough*Meta*cough*). It will be when too many of us have grown old and passed away and there's no-one left to replace us.

(I will give this account back to Sura , she wants to me to let her play) Although I have been around for a short amount of time, but have directly communicated with different people from SL. I can feel it is different from players of other games that I have talked to.

Players from other are less invested, (not money for in game items, people can spend a lot), but the emotion, they can play the same game for a whole day, but they may not be as emotionally invested as games that let players to make/build/share items (not just SL)

Also many participants have mentioned that I should join this game and feel. I really havnt heard that much from other games, that may reflect the sense of belonging where I wont experience in other places. (Of course, there maybe, just that I have not discovered it)

That is why I am interested to know (unrelated to my study) what would happen if this game is gone or there will be a SL 2 when all contents are gone. I think the emotional impact may be greater than many other games. Another example that I can think of would be minecraft, world of warcraft. 

Some of you may find I look at things differently, or it is common sense in US, or places with well developed psychological study. As much as I understand what is happening in the West, I will also look at what is happening in the East , which represents about 50-60% of players in the world with limited / little research on the benefits of games. With a fairly high number of gaming disorders and the view towards gaming is not as neutral as the West, we may do some works about it

But, that is my task, I should better get going and thank you all for helping me !

[Does second life offer you with a meaningful experience ?]

17 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

For me, college ended long before 2000 when home computers were still too expensive for most people and laptops (first one was 1985) didn't exist yet. Things may have changed since then, but nothing can replace a hardcopy.

The frequency of these requests is increasing. That is not a good thing imo because we don't know what kind of impact these things are having on those who do actually read them. I'm not interested in further skewing an already distorted view of SL.

It is the overall impression to gaming, as spread by the media (now that is a problem with media, we know there are less people trusting the media now), in the research world, there have been a changed of view on what games can do, it is true about the game addiction, sex, and bad people targeting young players. But that does not only happen in games (not even this game). It happens everywhere, so what we are trying to do is to discover the good side of games, and to use it to help. Just like movies and books that can change way of thinking for people.

I know , we are from a smaller group of researchers but we are definitely going to turn the tide

[Does second life offer you with a meaningful experience ?]

4 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

This has been the subject of ongoing discussion within the SL community. The technology is now old and clunky, the UI is not great (and is quite a bit different from the average FPS or MMORPG), and the learning curve for new users pretty steep.

Part of the problem is that the code would need to be rewritten from the ground up to bring it entirely up to contemporary standards. And were that done, a really vast amount of content would not be portable from the old platform to the new. That's an issue because the content is almost all user-generated: it can't simply be "replaced" with new shiny provided by the platform.

There is also, inevitably, a lot of resistance to change among SL residents. And the standards and expectations that a gamer might have are somewhat moot, because gamers, in the sense of really committed ones, are only a segment of the population here, and almost certainly not a majority. Very very few of my own in-world friends are what most people would call "gamers." For that matter, although I have played some games, neither am I. And that's actually a strength of the platform in many regards: it frees SL up from the shackles normally associated with standard computer games.

I am not those "gamers" too, I play games but I focus on the game design and the game business more. It is because there are always great people to develop games but the companies behind have made what the game industry as it is now.

Why it interests me because, how does this game be here for so long without big changes, and where will this game go when everything outside have changed ? If it changes, what about the people here, it is part of their life now. It is like a small world with people close to others in different groups, there is nothing like SL outside

[Does second life offer you with a meaningful experience ?]

21 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

This is literally the premise of Second Life. One of its earliest and most enduring tag lines was "Your World, Your Imagination."

But be aware that Second Life is very different even from other MMOs.

Thank you, I am aware, after studying this game and Sura has told me about, I discover it offers a lot of contents in its own way.

Before that, most will use World of Warcraft as the example of MMORPG (there are quite a number of studies on that too), but then I found that SL can fulfill the needs differently, the sense of belongness and the social needs in SL are different and also the freedom to explore the content (created by other players) of in-game world. It is like having a "second life" from the real life.

But I do not understand is, why the player base is relatively smaller than other games, because of the time needed ? As Sura told me, it took her days to make her character lookable, and even longer to have a place that looks ok. And I have played around the control, it is quite difficult to use actually. The experience of the control and the experience in the game are so different , and why the game developers do not improve the experience so more people can be attracted to this game ?

I just dont know and like to know more through the responses

[Does second life offer you with a meaningful experience ?]

I am the creator in this survey, I have asked Sura to let me use her profile (for this time) to answer some of the concerns that fellow SL members may have. Firstly, please dont blame Sura, she is a bliss and has helped me a lot. 

1) Why SL ?

This study is part of a much boarder research on all kinds of game from around the world, independent games, puzzle games, RPG, or open-world experience like SL and  many more. What I am trying to research is to answer the gap and misunderstanding of a lot of researches that focus only the pleasureable experience, which lead to gaming is not good for people. I want to clear this stigma through studying many different games. SL is influential in its own category and that is why it has been chosen. But other games are also being researched at the same time

2) Why do I have to write so much ?

In the research world, there are really very small numbers of metrics have/can be used to measure meaning, not only because of meaning is different for each people, game research itself is a very new topic. (you may say, no I have been seeing research on games ! You are right, those are focusing on the side to prove game addiction is a disease, which WHO has actually said that)

It is not a requirement to write a mini-eassy , it is not ! An answer that you feel right is great for me already ! Thank you for that

3) You are not part of the SL ! How do you view us ? What do you even know about SL ? I know you guys just try to get an easy grade !

It is 100% not that case, the method that I am using requires me (and I will) to be faithful to the answer from the players, the result will not be 10% of people think that, 9% of people do that, so we can assume (again) on this.

No, it is not, I can be sure about that. There will not be a result, it will be an understanding, a theory that try to explain the answers from all the players, and what do the understandings can bring us , what can the understandings tell the game company and what can the understandings tell the world about players

I hold extremely high standard to my work, I want to make people feel differently about games because I think game is a form of interaction that can do a lot more help that just entertainment

[Does second life offer you with a meaningful experience ?]

1 minute ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Iknowrite? If the OP's friend isn't even in SL.. How hard would it have been for them to at least create an account - so they appeared to have (more, actual) interest in our answers?

Thanks, that cinches it for me.

I agree, let me force him to do it today

 

Just now, Love Zhaoying said:

You'll get plenty of answers.

Just so you understand, very few people on the forum will respond - so you may want to contact all your friends in Second Life, bug people, etc. 

I know ! I have asked my friends too, and he has basically asked all his friends in gaming to help. But it is his (I dont know how to say it), he is stubborn sometimes, he wants to have people outside the usual network to maintain the neutrality of the answers

Is it what we call, the mind of a scientist ? Why am I living with a scientist, he is not even my bf !

[Does second life offer you with a meaningful experience ?]

2 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

I used to do my homework myself.

You like him to answer your concerns ? I am sure he will be very happy to answer any questions you may have. He is been grinding through reddit subreddit (I just sneak peeked his laptop), game forums, and go around game stores to find participants. I am just giving him a little helping hand lol !

[Does second life offer you with a meaningful experience ?]

7 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

RIght! But what if I only WANT to answer with a couple sentences..

BUT the question and subject really DESERVE more..

and I am not willing to sit and write a paragraph..

then I am "caught on the horns of a dilemma". 

Do I spend time that I really do not want to spend, writing a mini-essay? Or just give them short, sweet, condensed answers that leave ME unsatisfied? 

Hmmmm? 

What would you do?  You know how much I just absolutely despise writing!

Give a short, sweet, condensed answers ! You can add the comment  "I want to write more but I dont have time to do it, it is you ! Give me the coupons ! "

[Does second life offer you with a meaningful experience ?]

9 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I started to fill it out and then realized, "Nope, these questions are way too broad for me." 

You can just write your own experience, it is about yourself !  Just like me (But dont let me confuse you) said things like my relationship in game and how does it affect my rl ?

[Does second life offer you with a meaningful experience ?]

8 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Thanks for this Sura.

For what it's worth I very much liked the opportunity to give fuller answers. But then, I'm prolix as hell. Shutting me up is the problem. And I agree with your friend entirely: it not only provides a much richer bank of information for him to use, but also does humanize the respondent, and create a kind of connection.

My only concern is that many people will look at the text fields and pass. However, without doubt, the data that is produced will be much more useful and interesting.

I like this project, and its premises. I hope he's able to so something interesting with it.

Also, I hope you're at least getting a free cup of coffee for all the work you're putting in!

I will make sure he does a lot of things, A LOT more than a drink !

[Does second life offer you with a meaningful experience ?]

10 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Hi Sura,

In general, I'm very sympathetic to students and scholars doing research on Second Life, and will take surveys if those researchers seem to know what they're doing. And I've filled out this one.

I'm going to side more than a little, though, with the inevitable objections that are going to appear here shortly.

The survey itself seems generally well-done, although the early bits are clearly designed for more standard computer games. The requirement for full text answers (rather than multiple choice, etc.) means that one can talk meaningfully about SL, but is likely to turn off some people. And I like that the information about the project, and the hosting institution, is all there and immediately available.

The main problem is, of course, that the researcher is not going to be basing any of this on first hand experience. Yes, he has you to call upon, I'm sure -- but it's a bit like trying to write a book about life in Paris with access only to people's postcards, travelogues, and diaries. It's not the same thing. And that's the main objection you're going to see here. I have some sympathy with it. (And yes, I recognize that this is only a MSc project, and the researcher doesn't have an endless amount of time available to get to know the platform, especially if it's only one part of a much larger project.)

Wish him good luck for me . . . but I doubt you'll get a lot of uptake for this here.

Thank you Scylla for helping ! I have passed your feedback to him as he said it is important too ! I am like a customer respresentative now lol (I will remember to ask him to buy me coffee). 

So he has two reasons for making it like this , I will quote him

"One reason for inviting players to give full text answers is because, actually there are very small number of metrics that can measure the player experience in terms of meaning. A general survey without validity will only allow researchers to make assumption. In many researches, they think they have found something, but cannot really connect to the players. The experience of the players are the reflection of their individuality, their life experience, especially in games that give them the freedom to make choices. So, me as a researcher would not want to take that away from the players by using numbers to measure them"

For not playing the game "It is my bad, sorry darling"  lol !

[Does second life offer you with a meaningful experience ?]

Hello everyone, 

You can find me in the world as Sura,  I have a rl friend who is currently researching on the meaningful gaming experience. He has not heard about SL before so he can't post here, but he is so interested in learning how we feel about SL after I have explained SL is not just a game to him. He wants to know does it offer us meaning and does the in-game challenges influence us. His survey has a raffle of 20 pounds/USD/Euro of amazon coupons 

You can find the survey link here, it is a qualtrics link operated by the university , you can contact me or him directly if there is anything you want to know 

https://york.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2aEjfJ2LJH9ND4G 

And please tell me if I should move this to non-profit page lol (I can make mistake here, just don't ban me please) 

[Help : Clothes double rendering on mesh body]

@Tazzie Tuque They are no modify items, so I think I would just leave them lol ! Thank you for helping me to sort this out !!!!!!!

[Help : Clothes double rendering on mesh body]

Thank you Tazzie !!!!!!

As it looks blurry and makes my avatar rendering numbers jumped quite a lot, so I think I should take it off ! Would you tell me how should I do that ? I will right-click the item and choose edit, inside the menu where should I go ?

[Help : Clothes double rendering on mesh body]

Hello everyone,

I am new to SL and when I was trying new clothes, I have seen some clothes from different creators that will have two layers on the body (Usually Fur/kitted style, like this image), I have tried to view it on Mac and PC but it looks the same lol ! Is it because of my graphic setting ?

I am using latest firestorm viewer and have set the graphic to high, can help me with some suggestions ? Thx !!!!!!!!!