That seems to be the central idea behind Second Life, the fully-immersive, non-game... whatever it is. Even though it has many of the usual features of your basic MMO -- characters (or avatars, as they're called), lands to explore, stuff to do -- the comparison pretty much ends there. In short, Second Life (hence called SL, 'cause I'm so hip) is a blank canvas to be filled in by the imagination.
Your imagination, to be precise.
Unlike the inevitable scenario outlined in my previous blog post, The Imagination Gap, SL is a world where only basic laws of physics are observed, and then only loosely. Gravity does exist, but you are free to ignore it. Friction, likewise. Even the avatar itself is as malleable as your imagination (and processing power) sees fit. Everything is customizable, within certain "rules".
Probably the most obvious example are the lands themselves. With the exception of the few places assembled by Linden Labs (owners/creators of SL), everything in the world was made by another player (called residents). Everything. Penis-shaped buildings, phallus-shaped avatars, starships shaped like dicks... the list is endless.
And yes, one often wonders if it's an online experience or a urological research facility.
Rules, right.
If I design something for you, like a house, I can set its rules to reflect how I want it to be used. If I set the "No Copy" flag, you will only be allowed to have one of this house. Similarly, "No Modify" means that you cannot alter my work of architectural brilliance. "No Transfer" means that you cannot give my house (or a copy of it) to anyone else. Naturally, an object I create can have none, any or all flags set.
With the exception of basic clothing, all items in SL are made of basic building blocks, known as primitive objects or prims. The more prims an object has, the more elaborate or detailed an object can be. Each prim is a pretty basic geometric solid (boxes, pyramids, cylinders, spheres and so on) with some limitations on size (usually but not always ten meters). These building blocks can be altered in many ways. Since most objects are made of more than one prim, the most common is linking. As its name suggests, it sticks two or more prims together.
Prims can also be dressed up in textures, have flags set making them physical (having mass and weight) or being phantom (being incorporeal), have shininess, roughness, brightness or transparency set. Most of those are sliders, from not at all to way lots. As you can see, as a creator you have a lot of options to realize your vision.
But even more than that, though, you can actually program your objects to act in certain ways. If I build an Aston Martin DB V (complete with the James Bond Package), it's really only a good-looking paperweight. It doesn't move. Its shield doesn't raise. The machineguns don't work. These things are achieved by writing scripts (using LSL -- Linden Scripting Language, what else?) which are then stored in the appropriate prims. The right script makes a stationary object into a vehicle. Others cause things to happen when the command is given.
Still others make use of that selective physics model. Remember that? Here's where it gets interesting. If my avatar has an animation that allows him to throw a punch, it has no effect on the person being punched. Avatars are invulnerable. However, some very clever gaming-types have developed objects called "meters" or "combat meters". These are usually small, invisible phantom prims attached to an avatar, and they are scripted to do two things: They display text above your head telling others that you have an active meter and can be attacked, and are scripted to track your hit points and the like. Now, when you are attacked with a scripted weapon (one which acts like a physical object), you get hurt, and maybe even die.
But that's not all! Just as your average MMO does more than dramatize kinetic impact damage, most meters come with scripted HUDs (heads-up displays, essentially add-ons to the user interface) which displays target statistics, character statistics and combat abilities like skills or spells. It is, in essence, a lightweight MMO system. There are, however, two very important distinctions for game play.
First, with the (rare) exception of scripted NPCs, anyone you fight is another resident. So combat is nowhere near as frequent as it is in your standard MMO. Second, XP is gained in one of two ways. Either it is accumulated over time (so much XP per 5, 10 or 15 minutes of play) or awarded by a game master (usually a sim owner or officer). So in many cases you can be leveling even without having recourse to combat.
Thus, SL offers the roleplayer some attractive advantages. Not only do you have exquisite control over the appearance and design of your character, but you also accumulate experience (and thus levels) simply by doing what you do -- roleplaying.
Thanks for reading!
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