A way for us to socialize

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For more than a year I have been playing an online... well, its not a game. Environment I guess. Its easy to say game.. but its a environment that contains games.

The real beauty of it is that it encourages and celebrates oddness. I should post some screen shots about here...

<screenies>

There are several things that can be done in world.

1. Create all manner of characters, from avatars that look like 12 foot purple trees with exploding worm filled fruit(but why would anyone? why????), to infants. This includes mundane stuff like making clothing in game. The owners allow players to import their own textures for clothes and skin. Change your sex at the drop of a hat.

2. Create objects ranging from trees that sway in the wind all the way to spaceships. Or flying space trees... if thats your personal kink. Yes cockneyrebel, you can make routemasters too, and drive them around.

3. Using an ingame system, you can write C like programs to control your objects behavior. As soon as Yahoo and msn get in gear, there is a line up of programmers that will make in game communicators that will interface with messengers.

3. I like the number three, ok?

3. I really like it.

4. Import textures, sounds and some poser animations. When you do that giant plaid chicken avatar, you'll need legs that bend backwards, and clucking sounds, and a good plaid pattern. You can bring them all in. 99.xxxxx% of the stuff you see in game is player created.

5. You can socialize. Write an in game roleplaying game, if thats your thing. No one even notices my AS.

6. You can sell your creations(avatars, critters, vehicles, houses, clothing, games...) to other players, then sell the game dollars, with the blessing of the people who run the world. They provide a service to exchange game dollars for real ones. Nothing is made from a template, so you are not just recoloring a sword. The terms of service grant you exclusive rights over your creations. Nobody owns them but you.

At the time I started playing, it cost 10 bucks to play after 7 days, but recent changes have nullified that. Because of the way money works in game, its not likely to ever change back.

Anyway, its getting to sound like a sales pitch, and I dont want to sound that way. You can see by my post count(or read my posts) that I am not just a spammer; I am here for the long term. I'd like to see you all in second life(the game).

Oh! Because of the adult content, you have to be 18 or older. There is a teen grid, but I dont know much about it. In some places, there is sexual behavior, but most lock their doors.

One other thing: The only reason to own a billed account is so you can own land. Even with the basic account you can rent from others(such as me).

My game name is Ossified Ogre... I'd like to start a AS group in there.. maybe we could teach some classes to NTs, or hold an event and raise cash for WP.

Here is the link; it will allow me to find you when you enter the game.... If I do get a kickback from secondlife for you signing up, I will share it with you.

http://secondlife.com/ss/?u=2a7c8637bcb ... 1c9c0ce22f

There is no real competition in the world; people benefit most by being helpful and friendly. Join up, explore, meet some people. I didnt buy land for 6 months, so dont feel pressured by anyone(not likely to happen though)

I am heading to work now, but I'll post some screen shots later, and If you need, feel free to PM me here at WP, or instant message me in game. WP admins, let me know if any of this isnt kosher, but I'd like to see you there too!

Oh! I didnt mention the Game properly. Its called Second Life, and can be found at www.secondlife.com, but use the first link, because then I can find you. I want my AS people as friends in game!

Fuzzy

I have hated games of all kinds all mylife. In college I tried to become friends
with some nerdy RPG people. They made it very clear they did not want me
around.They told me they did not like me. I choose to be alone before I try to
be friends with those people again. One of those nerds was in my chemistry
class. I scored 100 or more so many times that the grading curve wiped him out.

Sounds pretty cool! This almost sounds like The Sims 2, which I just LOVE, and I use that as my 'second life', to live out some of my fantasies sort of (like to be able to get the guy I can never have in reality, etc). It is a very very creative and customisable game. Ofcourse it isn't all that social, but you can share your lots and characters and items with friends, you can even make your own Machinima (movies) to make stories, or share screenshots. It's great. But it doesn't PLAY online, you can just share content online.

I also have tried a 3D instant messenger program, called IMVU. It was pretty cool as well. But there wasn't alot you could really DO with the characters, it was just a really cute way to talk and react to each other.

But yeah, I'm gonna look more into this Second Life, because I wonder how much you could do with it. It would be a great way to roleplay with online friends (I actually roleplay using my imagination in MSN messenger. It's quite fun really)


TheMachine1: RPG nerds turned you down? Ouch! Man, I though those people would be accepting of anyone who has a hard time making friends. What the heck.... Thats rough =( But I'm sure there are ways for you to meet people online who you can be friends with. And I am a big gamer myself, but thus far, its never been online gaming, because I tend to come across jerks in online games, or just people who are way better than me and I have no fun. I don't like to multitask either, so for me, I can either chat with friends, or play a game. But I'm not very good at doing both at the same time.

I like the idea of having a Visual Utopia in which we can all hang out.

Link please

Anything like this for minors?

link is.... http://secondlife.com/ss/?u=2a7c8637bcb ... 1c9c0ce22f

Iammeandnooneelse, there is a teen grid area.. look around www.secondlife.com

Be honest with them. When you will turn 18 you graduate to the adult grid.

Yeh but is it still charged for a minor?

No, no new accounts are charged. You do not have to provide banking information, but it looks like they are providing means for individuals to block their land to people that do not provide billing information. This is to ward of griefer accounts, which might become a problem.

On the other hand, a basic account has no possible account charges against it, so if you have a paypal account, it is safe to use that.

The two items you can be charged for are monthly server charges for being a land owner(based on amount of land owned), and charges for buy game cash for in world transactions. This is entirely voluntary, and is initiated by the player, and is handled on a transaction by transaction basis.

A premium account is 10 US dollars per month, but the only thing that gets you is the ability to buy land(for which you pay a separate server fee(based on land size).

Second Life is a fascinating experiment, because there are political, social and economic ramifications to events in game.

huh? Sounds good, can't be bothered with billpayer's permisson though.

Ironically, signing up for a Teen Grid Account requires a credit card while for an Adult Grid account it does not require any identification.

Double check; I've created accounts with only a paypal account. The act of revoking CC and paypal billing information is an attempt to make secondlife friendly to people outside countries like Canada, US, britain, france, most of europe and asia.

A lot of real world countries lack property laws that allow for deeded land ownership. Unfortunately, major banks use legal addresses to secure bank accounts. This prevents say, mastercard or visa from extending credit in third world countries. Same goes for paypal, which is really a american bank account. You might be a millionaire, but if your bank cannot protect itself with liens against property, then they will not extend you credit.

This being fact, SL has made it easier to join up.

That touched upon the REAL reason that third world countries cannot get ahead. Its not that the first world countries oppress them(not that such oppression doesnt happen), but rather that socialist and dictatorship styles of government prevent the use of property as an asset. I aught to post a separate topic on this?

I prefer just using message boards for role playing. Heh.

I've heard of this Second Life, though. I dunno, I try to stay away from any MMO's because they can be so addicting.