Identities- Second Life

Excuse the absence from the internet and life in general; I've been down with a particularly nasty case of flu over christmas... Anyhow, onto my journal assignment progress.

I briefly forayed into the world of Second Life before now and was not particularly enthused, but decided to give it a second chance.

Unfortunately, not much seems to have changed. My issue with the game is that it is 'not bad', but ultimately 'not good' either. It's just alright. A couple of weeks in, and I've only been able to stomach getting past the tutorial section and another area (Korea).

The character design aspects are similar but inferior to games such as Sims2, although this is probably linked to the bandwidth and internet speed restrictions. The more graphics required (a LOT are required in sims2 to lag a new computer), the slower it will be and for an online virtual reality, this is impossible. However, I found it unappealing, possibly due to my experiences of better. I was about to start screenshotting my game, that is, until I accidentally lost my character's hair. I'll try and get that back and resume shooting.

I found the interactivity with other residents was about average. Being what I consider an internet resident, I found it no different to what you can get on, for example, DeviantArt (on which I already have my own avatar to represent me on the internet).

The only somewhat different aspect that I found amusing were the combination of the game and communication aspects, and the ability to 'fly' to different locations. Aside from that, it really did not seem any different and had an almost unwelcome intrusion to have to be regarded physically before actual intellectual communication could take place. On internet forums and 'chats', this can take place based on skill, intelligence and friendliness-- and not who appears to have a 'cute' avatar.

The avatars, I find, are much more fun after you've spoken to people first.

Overall; I was not impressed and did not find SecondLife fun or even tempting to go back to.