Over at Geek K.Thor Jensen has posted an article; The 11 weirdest MMORPGs still online. I had a feeling that this wouldn’t end well, Second Life is in the list, although rather bizzarely, so is Ever, Jane, a virtual world set in the era of Jane Austen and created by ex Linden Lab Senior Engineering Manager Judy L. Tyrer. Ever, Jane hasn’t even been officially released yet, so it’s an odd fit in a list regarding platforms still online.
However back to the Second Life bit, it’s not the worst I’ve ever read :
There is really no virtual universe quite like Second Life. Ever since it launched in 2003, SL has been a place where any fantasy can come true — as long as it’s able to be rendered in polygons. A million regular users still log on to the service, using the in-game tools to create obejcts, characters, outfits, scripted events, and more. For a brief time, companies tried to use Second Life as a virtual meeting place for promotional events, until they realized that it was easy for griefers to interrupt them with flying penises and other shenanigans
The most infamous flying penis incident took place all the way back in December 2006 during an interview between Anshe Chung and CNET, as Endgadget reported; Second Life millionaire pummeled with penises. That’s almost nine years ago, I guess next year we’ll see a tenth anniversary limited edition on the Marketplace … I’m kidding, don’t try this at home!
The incident wasn’t big and it wasn’t clever, but it grabbed attention. Endgagdet’s coverage exemplifies the mirth that was around :
While the perpetrator’s intentions are unknown, the article speculates that Chung, who has turned virtual real estate into an extremely profitable venture, has made many enemies in her rise.
However this far on, can’t we move along, Second Life has changed a lot since then, there are far more things that could be talked about regarding Second Life.
I find it rather odd that in the years between that incident and today, article writers can’t find something else to make tongue in cheek humourous comments about regarding Second Life.
Dated penises struggle to rise to the challenge these days and on a more serious note, the financial crisis looks a more apt historical reference to me, considering what came after that virtual world financial meltdown.
The Geek article contains nine other platforms, it’s worth a look, but don’t take it too seriously, the author takes a tongue in cheek look at them.
Ugh… of course the author had to choose the worst possible picture to represent SL. Even a picture of a flying penis would have been better.
Well it’s not like they could go to the Linden Lab website and get better photos easily by reading the press section …. oh wait!
Yes it’s a lazy article in places.