Lessons from Second Life for the MMO Community

I’ve ranted a bit before about the unseemly banality of Second Life and the static staleness of most MMO offerings. Second Life, though more like a user created side show than “game” has actually given us a few things to think about. Likewise, the ambition of Ryzom has held the promise of delivering content in perpetuity through user created content.

As many have pointed out, content is king and kings are not born every day. At least not quality content. Quality (and polish) cost vast quantities of money and take enormous quantities of time. Time is money and money is something relatively scarce in the MMO development community. Or, if it is available, its more than likely that property in development is maybe not so risky, not so different to make it an unsafe bet. Another fantasy MMO anyone?

Enter user created content. Yes, yes, I can hear it now. Thats what SL is about and all they got was flying penises and furry riffing and people selling virtual designer goods to virtual people. Oh, and the pervs. Yes, I’m being a bit unfair, but anyone who lives in a city and reads the newspaper knows they don’t report the culture index or the well-being index, they report the crime index, etc. We only hear about the prurient details which drown out the many interesting things that may be going on there. Too bad I can’t hear them over the din.

Stop. My own eschewing aside, the SL community is actually creating the community that they want, more or less. Moreover, the entire virtual universe in which users participate is almost devoid of pure “company” content as in Linden Lab content, not “company” as in the “Man.” That’s a different post. With so many MMOs being hamstrung by budgets and lambasted by users for a lack of new content (which is consumed extremely rapidly), isn’t it about time for MMO developers to take a few lessons from SL to heart and create a mechanism for user generated content?

What form would this take? I don’t think most traditional MMOs would be willing to simply allow any registered user to bolt on their own craptastic phat lewt spewing pinata content module. Furthermore, there have to be some limitations to how much leeway a dev could provide a user via a content creation editor v. a completely internal design team, but still, it could be done. And aren’t we getting to the point where such tools could generate more than NWN or Diablo-esque maps to explore?

Time and time again, I hear about the dearth of content generation in the bigger MMOs. Blizzard just announced that Wrath of the Lich King will be its next expansion, though no date was set. I hope I live to see it. Even so, as its been billed, it leaves a ginormous hole as far as new content.

Now I can’t imagine a company so hell bent on quality, polish and balance like Blizzard giving players the opportunity to bolt their own player created amusement park onto Azeroth or Outland or Northrend, but if an MMO is designed with that level of community contribution in mind, it might be just crazy enough to work. Hell, they said the same thing about open source software…

So how would it work? Game companies would start out of the box with an MMO game design that would build in the idea of user created content. This could be either on a server by server basis or network wide basis. Obviously, some genres are a bit easier to add this sort to and keep immersion. Science Fiction space environments come to mind most because a la Eve Online, its fairly easy to tack on another solar system without having to usurp the game’s initial foundation. Its a little more winky to conceive of purely instanced user-created continental zones.

The lynch pin of this whole idea is of course (i) an IP within which the development of such user modules would be consistent and (ii) a robust enough editor to be able to extend a meaningful amount of content creation to most users (rather than a small subset of Uber users).

Such an environment would be everchanging but still built within the constraints of the original IP. Likewise, the original developer could still develop significant content expansions on a longer time frame (much like Blizzard’s 2-4 years).

Imagine raiding the stronghold of a petty warlord or the lonely citadel of a long forgotten wizard or reclaiming some lost mine of the dwarves, etc.? Seems like such a system could be built into the basic gaming system at release. Imagine having thousands instead of hundreds of developers working for free out of passion for the game contributing new content all the time…

Of course, it could just end up like SL, but then again, a guy can dream can’t he?

Second Life: Non-Impressions

Erf. Why do I do this?

I’ve probably read the same amount of hype/crap out there about Second Life, the self-described “online digital world” as everyone else. In the interest of avoiding of being one of those uninformed bashers I thought I’d drop in and see what the hype is about.

I was able to download the thin client and get into the noobie island for about 45 minutes before I just had to escape. As far as I can tell, PT Barnum and HL Mencken were right. There is a sucker borne every minute and no one ever went broke underestimating the taste or intelligence of the American people.

To be honest, I had a slightly more enjoyable time creating an avatar with Yahoo! Messenger. And I didn’t feel the need for a shower afterwards.

Not burdened with the weight of objectivity, I confess I went into this expecting to merely confirm that SL is largely a vehicle for anti-social sex predators, stalkers and grifters. My prejudices were largely confirmed, though I still remain open minded that there might be places in SL where there is something of redeeming value. And, to be fair, I will probably return on something other than a weekend day to see if performance is any better.

Signing up is very easy. Visit the website, fill in some basic information and start the 30MB download. I was able to pick a first name of my own choosing and then select a last name from a pick box. After entering a date of birth I was able to select a basic avatar style (later customizable). As a male, I was able to select from “Boy Next Door,” “City Chic Male,” “Harajuku,” “Cybergoth,” “Furry” and “Nightclub.”

I selected City Chic Male which basically looks like the stereotypical grad student– suitably shabby clothes, long sleeve shirt over tee shirt, shin length pants, beard, glasses and academically wild hair. I had about ten of these archetypes as roommates in the now distant past. Most importantly, all the basic avatars have a great ass, which seems to be a pre-requisite in SL regardless of style or gender.

I eschewed the opportunity to subscribe or purchase Linden dollars, the in-world currency and started the 30MB download. The download crashed on the first attempt, but a second attempt was succesful.

A quick install and I was logging into the world. With a thin client, SL must download all the textures and graphical data required to render the scenery and characters in your area. I knew this and expected a certain amount of lag, but not nearly as much as I encountered. For the time I was in SL, the lag meter never went below red.

I was dropped into the noob zone, “Orientation Island.” Here, you’re given an opportunity to learn the basics of SL: customizing your avatar, movement, etc. A helpful tutorial box popped up explaining the four different tutorials available which would only take a “couple minutes” to complete. Unfortunately, neither the “continue” or “close” button on the tutorial dialog box would operate. I logged and re-logged. Still no go. I clicked and waited thinking it might be lag related, but no. So, for most of my time in-world, I had this tutorial billboard covering half my screen.

On my own, I started exploring the various menus as dozens of other noobs dropped into Orientation Island. Chunk was the word of the day. There were probably about 20-30 noobs in the starting area and it was heavily lagged. I took a quick stab at customizing my avatar with mixed results. I ended up with some orange zebra stripped pants and a mullet before I decided to call it a day. I did have the opportunity to create a hulking behemoth wash-myself-with-a-rag-on-a-stick kind of avatar, but thought better of it. This place was creepy enough.

With no opportunity to go through the tutorial, I was left to my own devices.

Despite there being signage prohibiting it, the noob area was rife with folks hawking their “wares.” Most prominent while I was there was an arms dealer trying to sell guns. Chat was filled with the same 13-year old quality flame chat as I’ve come to expect in any internet space that is largely open to the public.

Fortunately, I only received two or three invitations to “be someone’s friend” in my first 15 seconds in the game. It certainly felt like being asked if I wanted a “date” in certain portions of town. I can only imagine what it must be like if I was a “hot” chick. There were probably 3 or 4 characters lurking around with names like “Sexilicious” or other monikers like “I like lesbians” or “virgin instructor” or some such. And this was the noob zone. I wonder what the seamier areas must be like.

Throughout there also seem to be player constructs that are in essence pay-per-click advertising objects. Unclear how this fits in with the admonition against sex, selling and offensive conduct in the noob zone.

Having given up on the tutorial, I took the opportunity to fly around Orientation Island. Textures were simplistic and the continual lag made rendering the screen almost unbearable. When I decided to consult the map and it took more than a minute to populate the world map, I gave up.

Now, I’m not a prude, nor an internet infant but I felt distinctly like the immigrant bumpkin dumped into the big evil Gotham. Immediately innundated with all that opportunity for the basest of human expression left me little interest in returning to see if there is any there there.

So far, if Linden’s intention was to create an acid-eating trip down Ken Russell’s carnival midway of cyberlife, they might have succeeded, but performance was so terrible that I’ll (ugh) have to return to confirm or dispell such a notion.