Mike's opinions

The first thing I will talk about is the google video with the Linden Lab guys. I thought the video was very information and enjoyable to watch. I learned a lot about Second Life including how large the game is, how Linden labs makes money, and how the games itself operates. The most interesting of these three topics to me was how large the game was. The main speaker said the game was increasing at a rate that a user would to be able to keep up with how quickly it was expanding and I felt that was very interesting. I always felt like Second Life was so large I would never see it all, and this confirms this belief. I also learned that Second Life has over 144,000 users and that a maximum of 5,500 could be online at once. This is interesting because that is less than 4 percent of all second Lifers could be online at once. This is interesting cause I always feel like I am meeting new people, and I have never once been unable to get into the game. So I just wonder when is it that the game tends to reach its maximum enrollment levels. I also found it interesting how Linden labs made money every time a transaction from real money to Linden dollars occurred, between the game and a user and two users. I thought it was very interesting cause I never thought if the game made money off a user to user transaction but now I know they do. I knew that they made money from a money charge or rent for land use. How large and code complicated Second Life is is also very interesting. I never thought about how much coding and timing goes into programming the game but now I know that there are thousands of hours of coding, computer programming and brainstorming that go into keeping the game operating and growing the way it has been growing. The developers and users both use coding to help the game grow, but the developers also need to keep in mind the numbers of servers needed to keep the game operating appropriately. The video was pretty good in my opinion.

The second thing is the blog that we had to read. I think the blog summed up very well everything that Second Life is and it brought up a very interesting issue in my mind. I am very firm in my belief that second Life is not a game, you can make games inside Second Life but it is not a game. However, Second Life and similar avatar games are the future of the gaming industry. I believe that the gaming industry is going to change their own definition of a game so that they can stay on top financially. I think it is very interesting how Second Life is not a game but it will end up being grouped with games so that it can be marketed appropriately. I believed the blogger guy was right when he said there is no way to describe second Life in a sound bite like the media will try to do. It is not a game, and not a new world it is a new medium that can be found somewhere between and until we find others like it will be very complicated for us to define it.