Second Life
I was thinking about indie music promotion and the net yesterday, when I remembered a Brad Sucks post that described the fact more and more musicians are heading to Second Life to promote their First Life (here) music, there. Almost two million, people are doing their virtual thang in Linden Lab’s world now, so the potential impact and exposure is not unlike MySpace. (Nor is the experience a bloated, painfully slow one either, like MySpace!)
I remember applying for being a beta-tester of SL waaaaay back when it was crazy talk that a virtual world could be anything fun and worthwhile. I didn’t have the video card or processing power necessary to run the client then, and so I pretty much forgot about SL.
Yesterday I set about getting in there and seeing what all the fuss was about, and maybe throw up a few virtual posters pointing to my website and music. Well, that wasn’t exactly how it went down….
The first thing that happened was that the client informed me that my SiS chipset was out of date. If you’re wondering what the hell a SiS chipset is, we’re kindred spirits. Luckily a few Google searches of that error message turned up some info on the SL forum, and after jumping through some hoops and turning a few software wrenches, I upgraded my machine and was ready to make my grand entrance. Uh, which wasn’t so grand after all.
I started out in a bit of a coral with what I’d guess were other first-time Lifers, most of whom were naked. (Not to worry, the detail isn’t pr0n-esque) and who were all editing their appearance by adding clothes and changing their physical attributes. Funny thing was I couldn’t see myself other than a bracelet and a swatch of hair over what I figured was my head. I was invisible. I figured this was just how you started until you got dressed, until some kind person decided to ask me if I needed any help. When I asked how to get dressed, (couldn’t find anything in my menus), and they confirmed that it was weird I didn’t have those options, it became clear that there might be a glitch somehow. I thought it was maybe because I hadn’t bought any Linden $ (the currency on SL), but in fact a live chat with another helpful Linden Labs staff member uncovered that I still probably had driver issues. Two hours into this thing (and let me tell you time FLIES here), and two driver set upgrades, and I was dressed and ready to rock!
I’ll stop here for now to say that while the barrier to entry is higher than most online game experiences, the payoff is pretty cool. At least in terms not knowing what to expect and being pretty much blown away by what is there. I was pretty impressed with the complexity of the environment and how fluid the movement and rendering was. I got nowhere near accomplishing anything last night except wandering around and trying to figure out just what this place is all about. Guess I’ll have to poster the place up next visit….. I’ll keep you posted.
Until then, check out this QT video of some Second Life expert building Suzanne Vega a guitar for her avatar. She gave a virtual concert back in August. Who’da thunk there’d be luthiers over there?
Comments
HipCola -
When you get a chance, log into SL…I’d like to catch up with you…
Morris
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