General – Page 7 – Ciaran Laval

February 12, 2014

Enter Sandbox – Take My Hand, We’re Off To Never Never Land

It seems very likely that the freedom people have to create local regions or islands within Second Life with different forms of governance will result in many different utopian ‘experiments’. This is something that will be fascinating to watch, and may even inform decisions about the real world.

Philip Rosedale 13th April 2006 – INTERVIEW WITH PHILIP ROSEDALE, SECOND LIFE

In my opinion the solution is focusing a lot more on letting players make and be content for each other. Battlegrounds are an excellent example of an Evergreen style of content where it’s the players themselves that actually create the content. Auction houses are another example. So are things like storytelling tools in SWG.. or the brilliant music system in LOTRO. Building systems into the games that let the players interact with each other in new and unique ways gives us the ability to watch as the players do stuff we never anticipated. We’ll see a lot more creativity in action if the players are at the center of it. Imagine an MMORPG of a massive city.. and the Rogue’s guild is entirely run by players. Where the city has an entire political system that is populated by players who were elected by the playerbase.

John Smedley 11th February 2014 – The Sandbox MMO

I’ve opened with the above quotes to demonstrate firstly that eight years is not as long in technology circles as many think. Secondly it’s to emphasise that sandbox concepts are spreading and are going to create virtual worlds galore. John Smedley is the president of Sony Online Entertainment and in the blog post I’ve linked, makes excellent points about the power and potential of a sandbox MMO. Sony Online Entertainment are really starting to impress me lately, Everquest Next Landmark will allow user created content.

They are also dipping their toes into the water of allowing players to sell content. They are bringing together some of most wonderful concepts of Second Life in a more controlled environment, but they also recognise the beauty of such an environment.

So why is it that when we see talk of sandboxes and user generated content, the media shy away from talking of the ultimate sandbox that Second Life is? Why is it left to people such as Draxtor Despres to highlight the many wonderful use cases of Second Life via The Drax Files? Part of the problem of course is the mainstream media who don’t want to talk about the brilliant sandbox that Second Life is when they can create seedy headlines instead. This is why people don’t realise there are Orcs in Second Life!

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February 7, 2014

Why Subscription Models Aren’t Dead Yet

There’s a discussion on The Elder Scrolls Online forum regarding the forthcoming game’s pricing model. Before we go further, I should point out that the game is known as TESO, which is way too close to Tesco for my liking, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll call it TESO. Anyway, the discussion is largely supportive of the pricing model and on the face of it, the pricing model looks historically like other MMO’s, with an upfront price for the digital edition of USD$59.99 or GBP£49.99 and after the first 30 days a recurring monthly cost of USD$14.99 or GBP£8.99.

However here’s the thing, that pricing model is largely out of date. Games launch this way and then within a year or two, they go to free play. That’s often how it works these days. I went through this with Star Wars : The Old Republic, it was a very similar model and it didn’t end well in terms of being a subscription model, however going free to play saved the galaxy, as reported in Massively at the end of March last year : GDC 2013: James Ohlen on how F2P saved SWTOR:

According to Ohlen, SWTOR was designed to be a subscription-based game, so any F2P option needed to still effectively support the service the way a sub game would. The most successful compensation came in the form of Cartel Packs. In the style of trading card games, these packs would give players random items that they could use in game. And just as in any good TCG, the items in the Cartel Packs could be traded with other players — this time on in-game auction house, the galactic trade network.

There’s part of the key to changing your model and it’s one Linden Lab should pay heed to but I’m not going to talk much about Second Life or Linden Lab in this post, I’ll save that for another post. There will be a little bit more about SL and LL but this post is mostly about TESO.

So with all the evidence staring TESO in the face about the lack of longevity of subscription based MMO’s, why are they going ahead with it? Well if anything, SWTOR leads the way. Initially there will be a big buzz and a lot of people engaging with the game, the cash will flow in and that’s a business model that is hard to ignore.

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January 30, 2014

The Big Question About That Eve-Online Battle – Was Porky Gorky Involved?

The Eve-Online mega battle that led to the estimated loss of £181,000 worth of virtual spaceships and goods has been making the news. Some of the figures being bandied about are a tad misleading because they are talking about the value of the inworld game currency of ISK. The thing with ISK is that it’s not like Linden Dollars, they can’t legitimately be sold for real money, but they can be used to buy Plex, which in turn can be used to pay for game time and other services.

If you’re familiar with Cloud Party coins or Kitely credits you may have a better grasp of this. Anyway, back to the main question, was Second Life’s Porky Gorky involved in the battle? Back in July 2013 Porky talked of his love of Eve-Online on the Second Life forum:

The only other virtual world I have committed to over the years is EVE. 9 years nearly in both EVE and SL. In SL pretty much everyone I have known is gone. In EVE I can name at least 20 people who have been very active for over 7 years and still are now. I think that says allot about the EVE and CCP’s ability to retain users when compared to LL.

When I read of the news of the battle in Eve-Online I thought of Porky …… yes that did disturb me too. However the Hydro Homes building legend is a fan of the game and having been involved for that long, he may know a thing or two about the value of a Titan ship.

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January 29, 2014

Everquest Next Landmark Announces Alpha System Specs

First of all, you may be wondering what Everquest Next Landmark is. I’ll provide Sony’s words:

EverQuest Next Landmark is a Free to Play, next-generation online sandbox game. Build and explore a world unlike anything you’ve seen before.

Bold claims and not much to go on you may be thinking, so I’ll provide more information from Sony:

Build Anything — Create and build anything you can imagine. With Landmark’s state of the art tools, you have unprecedented control over your creations. A range of materials with realistic physics means how you build makes a difference.
Explore — Explore massive Landmark worlds and claim territory, building materials and much more. Delve deep into the earth and discover procedurally—generated adventures that will never be the same twice!
Make Your Mark — The best buildings players create will become part of Norrath — the EverQuest Next world — FOREVER! We’ll run exclusive contests to design parts of the world AND our designers will keep an eye out for the coolest fortresses, castles, caves, treehouses, fireplaces – anything awesome that fits within the world of Norrath.
Collect — The rarest resources, objects, gear, character customizations and secrets are scattered across the worlds of Landmark! Can you find everything?
Earn Money — Buy and sell items in Player Studio, SOE’s marketplace for player-created goods. Design, create and sell items and earn real world cash on every purchase! Click here for more details on Player Studio.

The last point may be the one that grabs the attention of Second Life content creators, although it should be pointed out that for now, Player Studio is only available for US players. The text I pasted doesn’t actually include a link for Player Studio, but one I made here does! Eligible creators can earn 40% of net sales, here’s a bit more info:

SOE’s Player Studio program invites players to download sample geometry files for actual in-game objects and through the use of standard third party art tools, learn how to develop, design and personalize items of their own – from re-coloring and re-texturing, to reshaping an item’s geometry. Once complete, players are encouraged to name and create a description for their item, describe how the item will fit into the game’s ongoing narrative storyline, and submit it to SOE for review and possible inclusion in the SOE Marketplace. If a player-created item is selected for inclusion in the SOE Marketplace, SOE will share 40% of the net amount it receives from the sale of the item with the player that created the item.

The link also has links to 3D modelling software, such as Maya and Blender as well as links to Adobe Photoshop, familiar tools for Second Life content creators, so there’s potential here.

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January 23, 2014

2 Broke Girls Episode Includes Second Life Jokes

I’ll be honest, I don’t really watch 2 Broke Girls on the television, I’ve watched the odd episode and it seems to be on the telly a lot during the evenings in the UK, along with the Big Bang Theory. I’ve watched far more episodes of the Big Bang Theory.

However news reaches me via a post over at SLUniverse by Brenda Connolly (AKA Connolly) that a very recent episode of the show included references to Second Life. I mean really recent, like this week! This is backed up by an update on the wikipedia page : Second Life in popular culture which also references the episode. Actually that page is missing references from The Big Bang Theory.

Anyway, there were apparently a few references in the show. One exchange related to a character called Han (not solo) who missed an arranged visit to one of the characters because his Second Life wife was having a baby. The character complained that he had had fake sex nine months ago and not told anybody …. I guess you had to be there!

According to the SLU thread there was a further reference regarding the traditional don’t you need a first life before you have a second, ho ho ho. Anyway, this does exemplify that Second Life is still a popular and relevant enough name to be made fun of. There’s no such thing as bad publicity …. usually.

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