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Second Life used to teach relaxation techniques

Jef Reahard — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, MMO industry, News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds, Miscellaneous

Who says Second Life's best days are behind it? Not Medical News Today, which reports that the long-running virtual world from Linden Lab has been successfully used to teach relaxation techniques. Massachusetts General Hospital researchers recently conducted a study that concluded that online worlds like Second Life can be useful in "teaching a mind/body approach that includes the relaxation response."

The study found that by doing away with the limitations of face-to-face meetings (and easing the minds of participants who are uncomfortable in real-world group settings), virtual worlds can foster more relaxing and healthy experiences. The study featured 24 individuals who were divided into three groups and subjected to eight weeks of online sessions in Second Life.

Researchers found that participants "showed reductions in depression- and anxiety-related symptoms," though it's also important to note that participants had prior experiences with virtual worlds.

Second Life used to teach relaxation techniques originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Linden Lab's Second Life 'extremely profitable,' company looking to expand

Jef Reahard — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds, Miscellaneous

Second Life has dropped out of the limelight in recent years, but if a new piece at GamesIndustry.biz is on the mark, the long-running virtual world may be primed for something of a renaissance.

Former Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon vacated the throne in June 2010, and veteran developer Rod Humble took over at the beginning of 2011. Since then, the EverQuest and The Sims veteran has been working hard to bring a bit of structure to Second Life's virtual sprawl, and in the process, reinvigorate what was one of the first MMORPG media darlings.

"I was taken aback by just how big Second Life was," Humble says. "To be honest, it had fallen off my radar until I got the call offering me the position. And I looked at their numbers; this is a world that has got 1 million people logging in every month, generating well in excess of $75 million a year -- it's extremely profitable."

Humble spent much of 2011 refining the product, and everything from the sign-up process to the UI to world transportation received some attention. The result was a 40 percent uptick in new users, and now Humble is bent on expanding Linden Lab's offerings beyond Second Life. "Linden Lab has been very successful with one innovative product, but I want to stretch the company out again, to make it a really exciting place where people can't wait to find out about the next unusual title we're going to release," he said.

Linden Lab's Second Life 'extremely profitable,' company looking to expand originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MV Guide: February 6-12, 2012

Rubi Bayer — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Massively Meta, Livestream, Miscellaneous, MV Guide

MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively TV.

Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During our streamed events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, streaming is subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.)

Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule!

Continue reading MV Guide: February 6-12, 2012

MV Guide: February 6-12, 2012 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Previously on MV TV: Week of January 30, 2012

Rubi Bayer — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Massively Meta, Livestream, Miscellaneous, Previously on MV TV

Welcome to Previously on MV TV! Our livestreaming schedule has picked up a lot over the past few weeks, and our readers have busy lives, so we know it's impossible to watch every single streaming event live. Fortunately for you, we save all of our streams all for posterity on Massively's Twitch TV channel, so you can view them at your leisure. Even better, we've got a roundup of a few of last week's MV TV highlights from the livestream team. Follow along after the jump for the best of the best!

Continue reading Previously on MV TV: Week of January 30, 2012

Previously on MV TV: Week of January 30, 2012 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Free for All: Old Second Life documentary still highlights truths

Beau Hindman — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Real life, Video, Business models, Culture, Opinion, Second Life, Free-to-play, Virtual worlds, Free for All, Sandbox

So I was working on this week's Free for All last night when a buddy of mine asked me if I had seen a certain older Second Life documentary. I didn't think I had before, but it turns out that my usual record of consuming everything MMO still stands, and it was fun to re-watch the older documentary again for several reasons.

One of the most important things I noticed about the film was just how universal to MMO gaming the documentary was. The issues it brought up are still issues, the problems with virtual worlds are still problems, and the fact that any technology older than six months looks laughable on film is still true. It was also encouraging to see how well Second Life has aged since 2007, but it's slightly depressing to see just how horrible MMO documentaries can be at showing the entire picture.

Continue reading Free for All: Old Second Life documentary still highlights truths

Free for All: Old Second Life documentary still highlights truths originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MV Guide: January 30-February 5, 2012

Rubi Bayer — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Massively Meta, Livestream, Miscellaneous, MV Guide

Continue reading MV Guide: January 30-February 5, 2012

MV Guide: January 30-February 5, 2012 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Previously on MV TV: Week of January 23rd

Rubi Bayer — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Massively Meta, Livestream, Miscellaneous, Previously on MV TV

Continue reading Previously on MV TV: Week of January 23rd

Previously on MV TV: Week of January 23rd originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MV Guide: January 23-29, 2012

Rubi Bayer — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Massively Meta, Livestream, Miscellaneous, MV Guide

Continue reading MV Guide: January 23-29, 2012

MV Guide: January 23-29, 2012 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MV Guide: January 16-22, 2012

Rubi Bayer — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Livestream, Miscellaneous, MV Guide

Continue reading MV Guide: January 16-22, 2012

MV Guide: January 16-22, 2012 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Previously on MV TV: Week of January 9th, 2012

Rubi Bayer — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Massively Meta, Livestream, Miscellaneous, Previously on MV TV

Welcome to the brand-new Previously on MV TV! Our livestreaming schedule has picked up a lot over the past few weeks, and our readers have busy lives, so we know it's impossible to watch every single streaming event live. Fortunately for you, we save all of our streams all for posterity on Massively's Twitch TV channel, so you can view them at your leisure. Even better, we've got a roundup of a few of last week's MV TV highlights from the livestream team. Follow along after the jump for the best of the best!

Continue reading Previously on MV TV: Week of January 9th, 2012

Previously on MV TV: Week of January 9th, 2012 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some Assembly Required: A virtual world roundup

MJ Guthrie — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Super-hero, Aion, Anarchy Online, City of Heroes, Darkfall, Dofus, EVE Online, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Fallen Earth, Final Fantasy XI, Flyff, Lord of the Rings Online, PlanetSide, Ryzom, Wurm Online, Opinion, Second Life, Star Trek Online, Ultima Online, Vanguard, RuneScape, Free-to-play, Virtual worlds, Mabinogi, Mortal Online, Wizard101, Runes of Magic, DC Universe Online, RIFT, Xsyon, Family, Post-Apocalyptic, Some Assembly Required, Sandbox

If you are perusing this column, chances are you are a fan of virtual worlds and the sandbox genre. Join the club! (Dues will be due on the third Tuesday.) The aspect that compels many aficionados to delve into a game is the ability to make an impact on the world in some small respect instead of making them into Hive Member 1593072 running a static, predetermined gauntlet. How that impact is accomplished, however, varies; there are multiple features that can facilitate it, and which ones are considered most important depends on the player.

With the loss of one of the best sandbox games just last month, some players may be feeling a void. Others still are looking/hoping for the "ultimate" sandbox that contains nearly every virtual world feature. Certainly, there are some upcoming games that make some drool-worthy promises, but what about playing something now? There are actually games out on the market that have at least one aspect of the genre, if not more.

To start off the new year, Some Assembly Required looks at some of the top features of virtual worlds and lists games that incorporate these features. While this list isn't exhaustive (considering the sheer number of games when you include all of the smaller free-to-play titles, I'd run out of column space!), it is a comprehensive enough overview to point you toward some games worth playing that perhaps you hadn't considered before.

Continue reading Some Assembly Required: A virtual world roundup

Some Assembly Required: A virtual world roundup originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Second Life rolls out Linden Realms publicly on December 1st

Eliot Lefebvre — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, News items, Second Life, Free-to-play, Browser, Virtual worlds, Miscellaneous, Sandbox

Something very unusual is coming to Second Life on December 1st: a game. All right, that in and of itself isn't all that unusual, since the virtual world has long empowered users to create their own systems and their own games. But this is still something different because it's not a user-created game. Linden Realms has been developed specifically by Linden Lab, and as of December 1st all users will be able to experience what a first-party game for the virtual environment feels like.

Second Life content creators will, rather unfortunately, be facing off against an in-house project. Luckily, the tools used in the development of Linden Realms will also be made available to the community, giving everyone a chance to play with the new tools and improve upon gameplay experiences. Whether or not this is a good thing or not for the game's overall health remains to be seen, but it may well provide an interesting boost to the community's user-created content.

Second Life rolls out Linden Realms publicly on December 1st originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The MMO Report: Giving it away for free edition

Brianna Royce — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Video, News items, Opinion, Humor, The MMO Report, Miscellaneous

Today on The MMO Report, Casey chronicles DC Universe Online's F2P growing pains ("It's almost like they're giving it away for free," he says cheekily) before moving on to the Total Recall MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic's server types, Guild Wars 2's pet system, and the bizarre addition of Second Life to the FBI's watch list for criminal gangs and drug traffickers. "Way to give criminal organizations a wonderful idea, FBI," jokes The Beard.

This episode also sees the return of Uncle Casey's mailbag and a new contest to devise an MMO Report-themed drinking game. Winners will receive (what else?) World of Warcraft-themed MEGA Bloks.

Casey ends the show on a Skyrim note: "For some reason, I am always drawn to the most useless skills and end up creating a character that's only good at talking to people and getting lower prices on things but not so great at killing things." Sounds like some of my toons!

Hit the break for the full episode!

Continue reading The MMO Report: Giving it away for free edition

The MMO Report: Giving it away for free edition originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rod Humble details experimentation and innovation at Linden Lab

Matt Daniel — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Virtual worlds, Miscellaneous

Linden Lab's popular Second Life is known for being one of the more creative, outside-the-box titles available on the market. That tradition carries over into Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble's newest initiative, which he says "puts the 'lab' in Linden Lab." Rather than having his developers spend all their time between projects working on bug-fixes, Humble has begun a rapid-prototyping R&D initiative. For all the information on this new project, head on over to Gamasutra and check out the full feature.

Rod Humble details experimentation and innovation at Linden Lab originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Second Life's CEO Rod Humble talks anniversaries

Beau Hindman — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: Video, Interviews, Second Life, Free-to-play, Virtual worlds, Massively Interviews

Second Life recently hit a milestone in the MMORPG industry: eight years in service. This is ancient in MMO terms, and yet the game has shown continued growth. How would you explain such success, especially when the game... er, world... is such an enigma? Even the players are not sure how to describe it.

Well, we called out the big guns and sat down with Rod Humble, CEO of Linden Lab, the maker of Second Life. He was kind enough to not only do the interview but allow us to embed the audio in the article for you to hear! Don't worry; we've also written up much of what was said, so you can choose to listen, read, or both!

Click past the cut and let's get right to the interview with Rod as he talks about success, explaining Second Life and some of the surprises he's met with along the way.

Continue reading Second Life's CEO Rod Humble talks anniversaries

Second Life's CEO Rod Humble talks anniversaries originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Global Chat: Room for improvement edition

Rubi Bayer — Sun, 29 May 2011 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Opinion, Massively Meta, Global Chat, Miscellaneous

Welcome to this week's Global Chat! We love hearing what you have to say at Massively, and we love it even more when we can share the best comments with all of our readers. Massively staffers will be contributing some of their favorite comments every week, so keep an eye out every Sunday for more Global Chat!

We love our MMOs here at Massively, but we'll be the first to tell you that nothing's perfect. There's always room for improvement, but sometimes things just are what they are and you find a way to work with the situation and enjoy yourself anyway.

Today's Global Chat is all about acknowledging those limitations and less-than-fun aspects of gaming and what you can do in spite of those potential roadblocks. Follow along after the jump to see what the Massively community had to say this week!

Continue reading Global Chat: Room for improvement edition

Global Chat: Room for improvement edition originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 29 May 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rise and Shiny recap: Second Life

Beau Hindman — Sun, 15 May 2011 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Video, Culture, Opinion, Second Life, Free-to-play, Hands-on, Virtual worlds, Humor, Rise and Shiny, Livestream

I thought writing about Second Life would be easy. I figured that my seven-year experience with the game -- er, world -- would make writing this that much easier. I was wrong about that. I could list many of the technical specifications, telling you how to build something or how to script a basic weapon. I could also tell you how to host an event or how to form a group. In fact, I could make this recap a list brimming with specific details about the most sandbox of sandbox games in existence.

Instead I decided to let you watch the embedded video for building details while I write up how I felt during this week long revisit. Technically I have never left the world of Second Life, but over the last week I crammed in more hours building, buying and exploring than I have in a long time. I found many new ways of doing things and many wonderful places. Second Life is not, and never was, about one specific thing, so let me just tell you what I found over the last week.

Click past the cut to read it, and be sure to leave any questions or experiences in the comments section!

Continue reading Rise and Shiny recap: Second Life

Rise and Shiny recap: Second Life originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 May 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Project Skylight puts Second Life right into your browser

Eliot Lefebvre — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Second Life, Browser, Virtual worlds

When most people (who don't play) think of Second Life, they don't have a terribly flattering picture in their head. That's neither fair nor even-handed, but it's hard to convince someone to download a new game and install it on the basis that it might be better than expected. So it's a good thing all around that Project Skylight, a new viewer for the game, is now available. It's a viewer with a crucial difference -- it's a browser-based client that allows players to start tooling around immediately with no prior installation.

According to players, the client works well enough, albeit with some caveats such as a limited amount of time allowed per day. The service is clearly aimed at new players, as a 45-second promotional video plays before the client can be accessed, and players can only log in using guest accounts. That being said, it's a full client inside your web browser, requiring no extra setup or commitment beyond the willingness to try the game. Second Life fans should be happy, but people who have never tried the game should be happier, as it just got easier to see if the virtual world might be the place for them.

Project Skylight puts Second Life right into your browser originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 17 Nov 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Storyboard: Winner's circle

Eliot Lefebvre — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard

It's time for another rant here on Storyboard, or at least an animal that's in the same general family as the dreaded rant-beast. Considering that both this column and WoW Insider's resident RP columnist Michael Gray have been covering similar ground over the past few weeks, it seems only appropriate to dip back into the well of the tools that roleplayers need, deserve, and want. And while I had considered a different column, it occurred to me that I wanted to take a very different tack this week.

The past couple ranty columns have both focused on what games are getting wrong and what we deserve that we're not getting. But generally speaking, I prefer to be positive instead of negative, and amidst all of my justifiable complaints, that was getting lost. So this week, we're going to look at five games that are doing pretty well at supporting roleplayers. My list is far from exhaustive, and it doesn't include every game I'm personally involved with at the moment -- Final Fantasy XIV isn't on there, for instance -- but it is a good snapshot of who's on Team RP.

Continue reading Storyboard: Winner's circle

Storyboard: Winner's circle originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 01 Oct 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Second Life's Emerald client facing obsolescence

Eliot Lefebvre — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds

Recent months have not been wholly kind to Second Life, and those circumstances don't seem finished just yet. The Emerald client, one of the most popular third-party viewers -- estimated to be used by as many as half of all players -- has fallen out of favor with Linden Labs and is no longer an officially endorsed option. Scott Jennings has posted a full rundown of the client's history, charting its progress from the earliest inception of the project to its current status of having fallen from grace.

The short version (or as short a version as you can get for drama four years in the making) is that Emerald's coders included some rather... hack-tacular backdoors in the client's coding. This is a downside for reasons that should not need to be specified, but does add up to some major problems for the large playerbase still using Emerald. Second Life has had a hard time getting its users to switch to the 2.0 viewer, and about the only upside may be that the removal of Emerald will change that... but the overall drama isn't going to be kind for either the Emerald project or Linden Labs itself.

Second Life's Emerald client facing obsolescence originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Threatening

Eliot Lefebvre — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Classes, Game mechanics, PvE, Opinion, The Daily Grind

While not every MMO features aggro mechanics (Second Life is remarkably free of them, for example), nine times out of ten endgame content will at least peripherally involve someone tanking something big and nasty. Usually with claws. And in almost every case, tanking involves a series of mechanics about threat. There has to be some reason why the big nasty is targeting the character in four-inch-thick armor with a shield instead of the robed priest that has a coughing fit when she walks too quickly, after all.

For the upcoming expansion, World of Warcraft's team is considering making some changes to threat mechanics, something that Spinks summarizes and rails against quite eloquently. It does raise the question, however, of how responsible a tank ought to be for managing threat. How big a part of gameplay should tanking actually be? Do you prefer games where you never have to worry about threat, or games where tanking is a very near thing? Which game do you think featured the most engaging methods for holding enemy attention that you'd like to see more of?

The Daily Grind: Threatening originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 11 Jul 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Linden Lab hands down Second Life metrics for Q1 2010

Tateru Nino — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Economy, News items, Opinion, Second Life, Virtual worlds

Today, Linden Lab is releasing the quarterly metrics for Second Life, showing overall performance for Q1 2010, and contrasting that with the performance of previous quarters.

Linden Lab claims that Q1 2010 was an all-time high for the Second Life economy. We'll drill down through the metrics and see if that's so.

Continue reading Linden Lab hands down Second Life metrics for Q1 2010

Linden Lab hands down Second Life metrics for Q1 2010 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fahy vs Linden Lab: No case to answer?

Tateru Nino — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Opinion, Second Life, Legal, Virtual worlds

Last week, on Thursday 8 April, Corey Fahy in Philadelphia filed a lawsuit against Linden Lab and more than 25 others, in the Pennsylvania East District Court (case number 2:2010cv01561, assigned to judge Joel Harvey Slomsky). Fahy alleges that an algorithm in one of his Second Life products has been subjected to copyright infringement, accompanied by the usual requests for damages, statutory damages, ten times damages, attorney's fees and all that.

Where do we even begin? We'll spare you most of the cruft and go straight to the heart of the problems that we can see with this particular lawsuit.

Continue reading Fahy vs Linden Lab: No case to answer?

Fahy vs Linden Lab: No case to answer? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Do you want player housing?

Eliot Lefebvre — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Game mechanics, Opinion, Player Housing, The Daily Grind

It features in Lord of the Rings Online, doesn't make an appearance in World of Warcraft, and an extended form is the heart of Second Life. It's player housing, and it's had a long and interesting history ever since Ultima Online pioneered the idea. There were hiccups to the approach back then, so many that some later designs have eschewed the entire idea.

Other games that use it have gone with an instancing model a la Final Fantasy XI, ensuring that there's not actual game space being taken up by unused houses. But like so many features, there are debates as to its worth. For every person who loves the idea of player-run cities in Star Wars Galaxies, there's someone who would rather see the same amount of development time going toward endgame content or system balancing.

Housing has always struggled to be an element that's meaningful beyond the cool factor of just owning a player-made house... but then again, many would argue that the cool factor itself is meaningful and why they want it. Where do you fall? Do you like the idea of player housing, are you opposed, or do you fall somewhere in the middle?

The Daily Grind: Do you want player housing? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 04 Apr 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Planet Calypso's David "Deathifier" Storey talks about his purchases

Eliot Lefebvre — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Economy, Interviews, Virtual worlds, Planet Calypso

MMOs are a big business these days, and even though they're not real items, a lot of the goods within a given game are worth quite a bit of money. This is transparently true of Second Life, but hardly limited to it -- witness, for example, the real-world price of EVE Online's ships. Or, take David Storey, alias Deathifier, alias "that guy who spent a whole lot of money on Planet Calypso items in auctions." And he's spent quite a lot of money -- in the game world, he owns both an island and a staggeringly expensive egg with a yet-undisclosed purchase.

So why did he buy it? As he puts it in a recent interview available on Forbes.com, the same reason people make any expensive purchase -- because it makes you feel good. According to the interview, it's not as if the investment has been a poor business decision. The virtual island he bought in Planet Calypso for $26,500 brings in roughly $100,000 a year, as he uses it for a rare game preserve and taxes local hunters. The full piece has more information on his outlook and business practices, as well as a brief overview of the markets of virtual worlds and MMOs in general.

Planet Calypso's David "Deathifier" Storey talks about his purchases originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Leveling, the playing field

Eliot Lefebvre — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, Leveling, Opinion, The Daily Grind

They might be called security levels, they might be split between ranks and levels, they might disguise themslves as skill grinds. But in pretty much any MMO you care to name, there will be levels of some kind. (The only exception that springs to mind is Second Life, and even that can be argued.) Generally, it's accepted that the most meat to the game will come after you've made it to the apex of the leveling curve, whether it's a low cap or a high one. But that's not when you started liking the game -- no, even though most players see it as an impediment to getting to the good part, the leveling game is what first hooks you on the game as a whole.

So today, we ask a simple question -- what game have you played where you most enjoyed the leveling process? Forget all of the endgame nonsense, whether you had a broad endgame or a fairly narrow one. When did you just enjoy the path toward the endgame, perhaps even enough to be a bit saddened when it was over? Or have you always wanted to just get to the end without bothering with the whole "journey" element?

The Daily Grind: Leveling, the playing field originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Linden Lab acquires Avatars United, Enemy Unknown AB

Tateru Nino — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: EVE Online, Business models, MMO industry, News items, Opinion, Second Life

In a move that will no doubt perplex, flummox and befuddle many media commentators and technology columnists who erroneously believed that Second Life was a Web 2.0 social networking tool, Linden Lab has acquired social networking site, Avatars United (and developers of same, Enemy Unknown AB). This also has the side-effect of shooting down any semblance of Wallace Linden's identity piece last week being an overture of a conversation, instead making it look like the usual introduction to a Linden Lab fait accompli.

We've written about Avatars United on a couple of previous occasions, but never really had much call to get involved ourselves. The social networking tool includes a large number of MMOGs and non-game virtual environments, being best known for it's strong application support of open-ended space-based MMOG, EVE Online.

Continue reading Linden Lab acquires Avatars United, Enemy Unknown AB

Linden Lab acquires Avatars United, Enemy Unknown AB originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Roleplaying and the lack of it in MMOs

Eliot Lefebvre — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, Opinion, Roleplaying

We refer to our genre as MMOs in shorthand, frequently, as an abbreviation of MMORPG. Of course, there are entries that don't fit the mold -- Planetside makes no pretense of being an RPG, for instance, while Second Life is really a virtual environment rather than a game per se. But the roots of the term do define what most MMOs are fundamentally aiming at: being an RPG with a massive component of players. Which is ironic, because as We Fly Spitfires points out, they're not really RPGs at all. They feature the stats and the leveling, but nothing of the larger sense of place and story that the genre hails as its strengths.

Compared to games such as Dragon Age: Origins or Oblivion, it's clear that for all the strength of options we might have in some MMOs, we lack any sense of real character specialization or unique progression. Part of the concern, of course, is content -- you don't want to necessarily force any player who didn't happen to make the right choices in a dialogue tree to miss out on a major endgame event. The ubiquity of communication also helps herd players toward a specific set of specializations or ability tree, with little to no deviation encouraged.

But there's more that can be done, and games such as Star Wars: The Old Republic seem to have a greater intent to focus on individual story and progression. Even if you don't necessarily like the impromptu acting which is usually associated with roleplaying in the genre, it's hard to deny that a greater sense of individual choice and uniqueness would be intoxicating.

Roleplaying and the lack of it in MMOs originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Study finds explicit material for minors in virtual worlds

Eliot Lefebvre — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Second Life, RuneScape, Legal, Academic, Virtual worlds, Kids

Along with violence and game addiction, inappropriate content is one of the bugbears that video games in general and MMOs in specific can't get away from. A recent FTC study took a look at the general safety available in twenty-seven different virtual worlds, including Second Life and Runescape, and their findings were... well, if you're at all familiar with Second Life, you can kind of guess at the results. Nineteen of the worlds surveyed featured some sort of inappropriate content. The worlds targeted explicitly at minors didn't fare a great deal better, with a full half of the fourteen kid-oriented worlds having some explicit content.

The report goes on to suggest certain approaches to better handle gating content for younger children, including further prevention of children from fraudulently registering in worlds that are supposed to be exclusive to adults. However, some elements of the study's methodology are a bit questionable, especially as their list of explicit material included words common to anyone with a history of playing video games. (Or cable television.) The full report is worth looking at if you're a parent or if you're interested in the findings, and we'd be remiss not to mention our own ongoing series about playing MMOs in a family setting.

Study finds explicit material for minors in virtual worlds originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Avatar dress codes might happen sooner than you think

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Culture, News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds

You're in a business. Your business has a presence in Second Life. In your business, you have two furries, three hot vixens who probably belong in a strip club, the token emo goth guy, and the dude who made his avatar just like his real world self. Everyone's happy with how they look and how they represent the company, right?

Well, according to the analysts at Gartner Inc., the winds of change might be blowing through virtual companies. The analysts are saying that over 70% of all virtual companies will end up adopting avatar dress codes by the end of 2013, in a move to look more professional and focused.

While avatar dress codes aren't the best option in the world, we too understand that some level of conformity in virtual business is needed. Of course this all depends on the business, as more independent companies can take a looser stance on dress codes. But, in a world where you can be literally anything, you might want to add some level of professionalism to your business avatar.

Avatar dress codes might happen sooner than you think originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Attend Dragon*Con via Second Life

Seraphina Brennan — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Events, in-game, Second Life, Virtual worlds, Massively Event Coverage

We here at Massively know that not everyone can spend the money or the time to come out to Dragon*Con. But we don't want you guys to feel left out of the fun!

Tonight there's going to be a Second Life panel being run here at Dragon*Con, and we'd love it if you attended! The panel will be run simultaneously in Second Life and in real life, hosted by us here at Massively.com. Come, meet your fellow Second Life Massively readers, and you can even interact with and send questions to us here at the convention!

The panels topics will cover the entire culture of Second Life, serving as a player meetup opportunity and a pubic forum for everyone to talk about Second Life and discuss issues relevant to the virtual world platform.

Interested in attending? The panel will start at 7 PM ET (4 PM SLT/PT) and you can find our meet up as easily as clicking this link to boot your Second Life client. See you tonight, hopefully!

Attend Dragon*Con via Second Life originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Government workshop on evaluation of broadband included Second Life users

Seraphina Brennan — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Events, in-game, News items, Second Life, Politics, Virtual worlds

This morning's workshop on using broadband internet to increase the US government's transparency and citizen participation included a brand new feature -- Second Life participation.

The workshop was streamed live to the MacArthur Foundation's island in Second Life as a representative forwarded questions from the citizens over to the participants of the FCC's workshop. Second Life citizens were able to be hands on with the workshop, getting their questions sent over a specific channel to be answered as they came in.

"In developing our nation's National Broadband Plan, we are committed to finding innovative, cutting-edge ways -- both online and offline -- to reach out to the public and elicit suggestions, questions, and insight regarding our nation's broadband future," said Jen Howard, the FCC chairman's spokesperson, to New World Notes. "We are delighted that this first workshop will have an aperture into Second Life and that staff is experimenting in such ways to reach all stakeholders."

[Via GamePolitics]

Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Government workshop on evaluation of broadband included Second Life users originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Share your Second Life summer look for a chance at L$10,000

Seraphina Brennan — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Contests, Culture, Events, in-game, News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds

Today seems to be a day of contests! First we have the DDO stress test contest that's going to be occuring tonight, and now we have another one for Second Life! A contest of summer style, no less! Who's up for some virtual modeling?

It's the summer, and Linden Lab is interested in seeing everyone's summer attire -- like swimwear, bright colors, and the things you generally wear on the beach. So interested, in fact, that they're willing to lay L$10,000 on the whole deal via an Xstreet shopping spree.

Continue reading Share your Second Life summer look for a chance at L$10,000

Share your Second Life summer look for a chance at L$10,000 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anti-Aliased: The reason why you hate Second Life and a few ways to fix that pt. 2

Seraphina Brennan — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Tips and tricks, Opinion, Second Life, Free-to-play, Virtual worlds, Anti-Aliased

Tip #1 -- Take the time to learn the UI

The tutorial, while not the best thing in the world, isn't a bad introduction to learning how to navigate the user interface. It shows you the ropes (dryly) and lets you get in some practice before you're dumped onto the main grid. Take your time through it, listen to what it has to say, and then jump on into the world.

For gamers, here's a couple of protips. Right click opens a radial menu, and holding it down does nothing. If you're looking to spin the camera, remember to use alt + click and hold. However, also remember that alt + click centers your camera on whatever you clicked on. If you want to orbit your avatar, alt + click and hold on your avatar, then move the mouse left and right to orbit and forward and back to zoom.

Resetting your camera is the escape key. That's very handy.

Clicking activates many, many things. Try clicking on objects, as you never know what might occur.

If moving is too slow for you, try flying. Hold down E to start flying, then use E to go up and C to go down. Beware that you can't fly everywhere though... look at the top bar to see if flying is amongst the "banned symbols." It looks like a little man flying.

Tip #2 -- Search is your friend

If Second Life is the internet, then the search button is your Google. This little fellow is super handy for finding stuff that you want. Interested in finding a Star Wars group? Just type Star Wars into the group search box after you press the search button, and you're on your way to finding Star Wars fans like yourself. Do you want to buy a lightsaber? Open the "places" tab and type in lightsaber -- you're sure to find a few hits.

You always know where to go when you master the search tool.

Tip #3 -- Be social!

You see the people over there? Talk to them! You like someone's avatar? Tell them! You looking for a specific sim? Ask questions!

One of the most important assets you can have is to speak with the others around you. Find out new things, make new friends, and actually experience SL rather than just watching it on your monitor. If you want a good place to check out that's reliably filled with people, I recommend the city of Nova Albion. If you're new and you want more help with Second Life, then I recommend checking out all of the help options at New Citizens Incorporated.

Tip #4 -- Know what you want

Lastly, set a goal for yourself in Second Life. Don't just go in to wander, go in and search for something you like. Does roleplaying interest you? Search for some roleplaying sims. Games? You'll find a wide variety of independently created games in Second Life. There's even an MMORPG inside of SL! Clubs? Yeah... there's way too many clubs to really count in SL.

If you follow these few tips, your time in Second Life will probably benefit greatly. Of course, if the system isn't your thing, then it isn't your thing. You can't enjoy what you don't enjoy. But if you were always on the fence with Second Life, perhaps now you can give it a "second look" (see what I did there?) with confidence.

Colin Seraphina Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who thinks all games should be given a fighting chance. When she's not writing here for Massively, she's rambling on her personal blog, The Experience Curve. If you want to message her, send her an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com. You can also follow her on Twitter through Massively, or through her personal feed, @sera_brennan.

Anti-Aliased: The reason why you hate Second Life and a few ways to fix that pt. 2 originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anti-Aliased: The reason why you hate Second Life and a few ways to fix that

Seraphina Brennan — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Tips and tricks, Opinion, Second Life, Free-to-play, Virtual worlds, Anti-Aliased

Second Life gets a really bad rap from the MMO community that's largely undeserved. I get to hear all of these slams like it's a usless waste of data, there's nothing to do, it's a bunch of sex sims, and how I should work on my "first life" before my Second Life. Har, har, har.

But, like I said at the opening of this column, Second Life doesn't deserve those punches to the gut. The world of SL is pretty vast and has much to offer any gamer, regardless of what they like. It's important to remember that this system is not a game. It has no objectives and no overt goals, but it does have an unlimited supply of imagination and creative possibilities. It's not a place of "serious business," because something that's fun shouldn't be taken quite that harshly. Sure, you can make money, but you guys want to have fun, right?

So let's talk about Second Life, the reason the masses hate the system, and how you can find something enjoyable inside of "the grid" even if you've tried it before and got some negative first impressions.

Continue reading Anti-Aliased: The reason why you hate Second Life and a few ways to fix that

Anti-Aliased: The reason why you hate Second Life and a few ways to fix that originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Schrodinger's Gossip Girl: It's dead but it's still alive

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Events, in-game, Launches, Second Life, Free-to-play, Casual, Virtual worlds, Massively Interviews

It's been a long run for the Gossip Girl simulation on Second Life, two years in the making actually, but all good things must come to an end. The well trafficked sims will be closing the doors tomorrow, as Warner Brothers and The CW discontinue their virtual marketing campaign for the show of the same name.

But that doesn't mean the Gossip Girl community is dying...

Fans of the simulation will be overjoyed to hear that the Gossip Girl community is transitioning to a new home thanks to the Metaverse Mod Squad, the builders and moderators of the original official sims. While the official sims, and the setting of the Upper East Side, will be retired on June 30th, the new doors will open on July 1st to large fanfare and a great number of festivities.

Continue reading Schrodinger's Gossip Girl: It's dead but it's still alive

Schrodinger's Gossip Girl: It's dead but it's still alive originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blue Mars beta and launch dates disclosed

James Egan — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, Business models, Launches, News items, Blue Mars, Virtual worlds

When it comes to virtual worlds, Massively's main focus to date has clearly been on Second Life, but we're also interested in some of the other choices that are becoming available to residents in virtual spaces. Blue Mars from Avatar Reality is one that's caught our eye -- it's a sci-fi themed virtual world, set on a terraformed Mars in the year 2177 AD. The potential is there to have some stunning visuals, as Blue Mars is built on CryEngine2, best known for giving Crysis its look.

The official Avatar Reality site lists a beta release for the end of 2008, but they've told Eurogamer that Blue Mars enters beta in January 2009. "The first-time developer expects this to last for around three months, before the full game launches in April," Eurogamer's Rob Purchese reports.

Continue reading Blue Mars beta and launch dates disclosed

Blue Mars beta and launch dates disclosed originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cinemassively: Being Virtual

Moo Money — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Video, Cinemassively, Virtual worlds

Davey Winder wants the world to know that virtual interactions are about more than just business. They're about contact with other humans, finding love, or seeking escape from a disability. While this video may not provide the answers that his book does, it highlights the interesting misconceptions that people may have.

When Davey was struck by a brain virus, he lost everything that meant something to him. Looking for solace, he discovered text-based online communities. He recently wrote a book, Being Virtual, that looks into the personal interactions centered around virtual worlds. In doing so, he answers a lot of questions that may come from having a virtual life, such as identity issues and embarrassment.

If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.

Cinemassively: Being Virtual originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cinemassively: Relay for Life sims tour

Moo Money — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Video, Second Life, Free-to-play, Cinemassively, Machinima

MarkTwain White has released the first part of his three-part tour series of the SLRFL08 sims. The theme, Heroes, was put to good use. There were builds dealing with superheroes, ancient lore, and everything in between.

MarkTwain, the proprietor of the Holly Kai Golf Club, was able to capture the hard work and dedication that went into this event, which ran over the weekend for a full 24 hours. For those that missed it, the builds will be up until the end of today, at which point Linden Lab will reclaim the land. Go check them out before it's too late!

If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.

Cinemassively: Relay for Life sims tour originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cinemassively: Walking the SLRFL track in real life

Moo Money — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Video, Second Life, Cinemassively, Machinima

Over a year and a half ago, Moriash Moreau, then a team member of McDunnough's Relay Gang for the Second Life Relay for Life, created a contraption that would let him walk virtually using his real body. Channeling MacGyver, he used a treadmill, a butchered USB keyboard, and assorted spare parts to enable him to participate in a whole new way! He even outlined the steps from start to finish on his website. Set to music by Torley Linden, he documented his test journey using popular sims throughout the grid to make sure that his method worked properly. In the end, he walked a whopping 23 miles, or 84 kilometers in Second Life!

With SLRFL08 coming to a close, we'll have some interviews and statistics available to you soon, so stay tuned!

If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.

Cinemassively: Walking the SLRFL track in real life originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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