I’ve made a couple of posts now about Star Wars: The Old Republic. I’ve also over the years made posts about World Of Warcraft, Eve-Online and City Of Heroes. The thing is, all of these games should have a Second Life presence, especially now that we have the advent of mesh.
Second Life is perfect for gaming companies to setup a sim or two displaying their wares, they can have video promotions on touch, they can show part of their world on a sim, they can’t do combat of course but with a little bit of careful scripting they could provide some very basic quests, but most 0f all they can show people how their worlds look, they can even sell outfits and own the IP and when it comes to intellectual property infringement, all of these companies have the power to slam a copybotters backside from here to kingdom come.
The question therefore remains, why don’t they? USD$295 a month to own a sim is probably a lot to you or I, but to these companies it’s a drop in the ocean. Are they afraid of Second Life’s tarnished image? I find that hard to believe as the Internet as a whole has far more dodgy content than Second Life.
Linden Lab should be reaching out to these gaming companies, telling them that they can setup a sim worth of their content in a 3D setting that superbly displays their wares. The gaming companies should see this is an area where they can extend their reach, really, having people running around Second Life with lightsabres might not appeal to everyone but it is good publiciy for Star Wars, it simply extends reach. Second Life is the perfect environment for gaming companies to give people a small try before you buy experience, it isn’t going to be the full experience, but in terms of richness, it’s a far better way of doing things than a simple 2D website, the gaming industry should seize the day here and show us their wares.
With the new technology and capabilities coming to SL and Rodvik pushing the MMORPG meme in his latest blog post – who’s to say they’ve not got an eye on the wider gaming community? :).
Indeed, it seems that Linden Lab do want to embrace the gaming industry in one way or another. This will be interesting to watch.
I can see EA’s sim…avatars visiting and meeting denizens of The Sims, hmm.
Ah I could go off on one about one of my favourite subjects here, multiple grids, an EA grid running Second Life technology with content creation and uploads off yadda yadda yadda but I’ll spare you that …. for now!