Transumanar

Second Life growing up

There are two *great* news about Second Life. One is that Second Life developer Electric Sheep Company received a new $7 million round of financing. The other is that Linden Lab said on Tuesday it will launch integrated voice capabilities.

In a radio interview on Monday the interviewer mentioned the ongoing commercialization and professionalization of Second Life and asked my opinion on the inevitable negative comments that have been raised. I answered by recalling the similar debates on the web of the early nineties. Many people wanted to “protect” the pristine beauty and baby innocence of their favorite toy from commercial interests and used to say that business would kill the internet. But what happened, on the contrary, was that business interests provided the money that fueled the technical growth of the web, drove prices for consumers down, and enabled most people in the Western world to afford, access and enjoy the web. I see no reasons why the same should not happen for the metaverse.

I must say that I tend to keep away from those elitist ivory tower intellectuals who think they know what the “little people” want, or need, better than the people themselves. 15 years later, we know that the people have voted for Google, MySpace, YouTube, BitTorrent, music and movie downloads (legal or not), simple and fast flight and hotel reservations, etc. Similarly, the people will choose what they want in the metaverse. So I say Welcome to Big Business in Second Life if their money can help provide a varied, robust and interesting metaverse for the people. I want to see *more* business and marketing in Second Life if it can help creating a sustainable content development industry able to create compelling quality content that all users can enjoy.

It was also predictable that the announcement of the forthcoming integrated voice capability in Second Life would trigger a wave of outrage among some residents. There has always been some tension between those who see Second Life as a means to escape reality and those who see Second Life as an extension of their life in brickspace. In the first category there are many people who choose to be a completely different and separate person: men posing as women, old posing as young, sometimes women posing as men and young posing as old, “furries” etc. They are afraid that voice would give them away. I belong to the second category of users (in Second Life I am me posing as myself), but understand the concerns of the others. I do not think this is a really big issue because the two categories are already separated: they do not do the same things or go to the same places in Second Life. With the growth of the metaverse, there will be plenty of places to go for both categories of users, and members of each will be able to live *their* SL in *their* part of the metaverse.

But I will never understand those who think that since they do not want to do something then nobody should be free to do it. In Second Life, those who do not want to use voice will be free not to use voice and go to places where nobody uses voice. This should be enough for them - they should not try to force their choice on the rest of us. Having a wide range of options to choose from is, I think, always a good thing. Those who cannot tolerate the lifestyle of others should, perhaps, learn to live and let live.

Posted by on 02/28 at 03:22 PM

I agree that SL should allow vocal communication for those who want it. But I think it is wrong of you to use ‘escaping reality’ as the only reason people might prefer to use text rather than their ‘real’ voice. Other reasons could be:

1:The preview capabilities of text. Ask me a question about some tricky subject and (in text) you’ll get a well constructed reply, because I shape it before sending it. But if I had to speak an answer it would be like ‘yeah, quantum chromodynamics...um..well..quarks err..hang on..’

2:I often have multiple conversations going on at one and can keep track of them all if they are text-based. Now imagine dozens of people speaking at once. What a cacophony!

3: Zer Vact Ov Zer Mattere iz dat some peeepole may ave ucczents zat make for zem ze ard ti unnerand jah? (translation: ‘Also the fact of the matter is that some people may have accents that are hard for some people to understand’.)

I would like to think that people will be happy to engage their fellow Slers in communication regardless of whether it is via text or voice, and respect that for some occasions only one form of communication is accepted. But this notion that the only reason for using text is to ‘escape reality’ might have people who prefer not to use voice being accused of being ‘liars’ by those that do.

Posted by on 03/05 at 09:07 AM
Hi Extropia,

I think both voice and text have their use. I speak when I want to communicate fast, and I write when I want to communicate precisely. On Skype I talk, but I prefer writing if I want to give a phone number or a URL.

I think even with voice in SL I will be using text most of the times, but I will be very happy that the option is there for when I need it.

I do not mean that “escaping reality” is the only reason why some people prefer using text - Rather, I mean that most of those for whom SL is mainly a means to escape reality prefer not using voice. I understand and respect their choice, but I am a bit annoyed when they claim that their point of view is the only valid one and that nobody should have the option of using voice.

I speekka English weetta Italian accent in RL. Madderoffact I speekka many languages allaofemm weeta accent. Tees does nott boddermeatall in RL or SL.

G.

Posted by on 03/06 at 07:05 AM
The more choice people have in how to communicate etc in SL, the better it will be. I can certainly think of situations where voice would be more appropriate.

1: You see wonderful creations being built at sandboxes. I feel slightly guilty asking builders what they are up to, because they then have to stop working so they can type an answer. With voice, they can carry on working while explaining what they are doing.

2: Imagine if Martin Luthor King had delivered his speeches in SL via text. They would not have benefited from the power of his delivery.

3: Residents put on plays. The performance would be immeasurably improved if the dialogue was spoken by decent actors (and ham acting can be entertaining in a different sense) rather than just reading text.

There are many ways in which voice will make SL a richer experience. I am sure there will be problems too but when was SL not occasionally problematic?

Posted by on 03/06 at 09:02 AM