![]() Despite the help of hype in the past, Linden Lab could turn it all around and get hype again if they put the man hours into it and give up on Sansar giving them more man power (will never happen). It's not crucial to success but it allowed LL to make a lot more mistakes than a developer could make today.įurther in essence to what Penny said. SL also benefitted from a 6th element: Turn of the century hype for a "3D web". In SL one of the first things a new resident does is make their avatar their own.) ![]() (No, being able to create a mesh model to import and wear is not the same as logging in and being able to modify the shape and proportions of the standard avatar, then decorate it with attachments. (People like the sex.)Īll of these elements are crucial in the success of an SL-style virtual world and yet every entry into the race, including Sansar, manages to miss several of these elements. (Avatar customization aside, this is one of the stronger ways to get people invested in your platform.) Remember sandbox building contests? When Sandboxes were always filled with people meeting and learning from each other in-world?) (Not only did simple content creation tools help make it easy for people to jump in to content creation, but it also made creating content a social feature. (No, not just the user created content you can decorate your avatar with, but the appearance editor itself.) VR game level loaders just aren't going anywhere.Īctually, last night I was talking with a friend as we both marveled at how virtual world developers all seem to overlook the key elements that made SL as successful as it's managed to be. Second Life got a lot of free marketing early on due to the virtual world and "3D web" hype being in full swing.That ship has long since sailed. I knew Facebook was working on a virtual world, but I didn't know it had a name yet, let alone that it was something you could sign up for. Sansar, HiFi, Blue Mars, et all lack in-world content creation. ![]() It may have been pushed to the wayside since mesh, but I'd argue this has been to SL's detriment, and the lack of inworld content creation at the beginning would likely have resulted in SL ending up yet another failure on a mountain of short lived virtual world attempts. ![]() In-world content creation was a huge part of SL's initial draw. Want something more bespoke? Open your wallet to someone who can make you a custom model. Don't like your avatar? Replace it with another non-customizeable model. High Fidelity gives you no character customization whatsoever. Blue Mars had you select one of like 6 faces and gave you no control over your body type. Most other virtual worlds have lacked that entirely. You could make a unique looking avatar with that alone. I'm not talking user created content I mean the appearance editor. All the way back in at least 2005 when I joined you had robust avatar customization. I do think it's worth repeating that the reason so many would-be competitors to SL fail is due to the fact that many of these virtual worlds lack much of what made SL popular early on. Two have shut down and the other three have few users.It's just not working out. My real point is this: It is far easier and cheaper to bring SL up to modern game technology levels than to try to start up a new virtual world and get users to use it.įailed new virtual worlds include High Fidelity, Sinespace, Sansar, Worlds Adrift, Facebook Spaces.
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