Second Life fits into the trend towards narcissism and emotional involvement in games, says Will Wright, developer of the popular Spore and the Sims franchise. In an interview reported by CNet, Wright reviews the trend to ego in games:
Advancements in technology have made it possible for the customization craze of the social-networking world to permeate the console and PC gaming sectors, and that has begun to open up the industry to new users who didn’t see the appeal in hardcore gaming or immersive role-playing virtual universes.
He suggested that virtual world Second Life was on the right track by making it possible for members to create elaborate in-game items, but they were too difficult for most members to partake in. “The sophistication…was pretty high,” Wright said. “For a lot of people, programming does not sound like entertainment.”
Now, whether SL residents are all a bunch of narcissists I won’t speculate. Who cares - if Wright says it’s on the right track that’s a start, although I agree - a simpler user interface would sure go a long way to taking away the “programming as entertainment” element. On the other hand, there are exponentially more consumers of content in SL than creators, and based on the number of 8 foot model-like avatars they might not BE narcissists, but they don’t mind playing one virtually.
Honestly, I think I speak for quite a few of us when I say we don’t want to take away the “programming as entertainment” element. Some of us wouldn’t be nearly as narcissistic in SL without it ;o) . I suspect the largest portion of the consumer population prefer to be consumers, while the smaller creator population actually prefer the learning curve and the challenge it presents.
Agreed.
I’d be lost without prims. Scripts I can’t handle, but prims, textures…..mmmmm…..they’re like looking in the mirror. 
I haven’t seen any need to learn programming in order to build on sl. It is more like creating art than like writing a computer program. But I am definitely one of the group who love sl’s infinite learning curve! What else is life for, if not to learn?
Hey, I’m a narcissist, and proud of it!
@Riven - I totally agree. Before I came to SL, I knew how to use PowerPoint, Word, and Excel; I could do a little Flash programming; and could run queries in Access and that’s about it.
Because of SL I now know Photoshop inside out, Maya, 3DS, ZBrush, and how to rez prims - mind you, LSL is a mystery, but hey, I’ve been thinking about other things too.
SL never ceases to amaze me - I was commenting on Prok’s blog about Blue Mars…which I don’t think will really compete with SL. I can’t think of another technology platform where there’s something new to learn about the technology ITSELF every day - or some new approach someone has, some mash-up, some augmented reality thing, whatever.
But add to that the fact that the PEOPLE are in themselves some of the most fascinating and intelligent folks I’ve ever met is what continually blows me away - and somehow I don’t think golfing on Blue Mars is going to expose me to the same types of people - narcissists and all.
a few things Second Life needs:
At any point, your oven could explode, burning your build, and killing your avatar. (circa The Sims)
With a special fancy movement of the mouse, avatars of SL should be able to godlike cast spells (circe Black and White)
If you do not enter the correct password at login, you’ll still be able to go inworld, but within 30 seconds there are hurricanes, tornadoes, and monster attacks (circa Sim City)
Second Life users should develop from multidemenional complex emotional people… into 1 of 2 dispositions… “good” or “evil” (circa Fable)
In seriousness: I’ve been enjoying seeing Metaplace develop too. Although it’s not my personal cup of tea, I like how metaplace is merging the line between Online Virtual World and Ego-Game.
Will Wright has an immense experience in user generated contents for games. He introduced UGC in The Sims pack and then further developed them in Spore and other games.
I think that Will Wright is right when he said:
“The sophistication…was pretty high for a lot of people, programming does not sound like entertainment.”
but we have to decline it in the SL mood.
The problem is not for builder/designers etc…
There are thousands of builders in SL and they are doing a tremendous job……
The problem is to give newbies and others not creators of contents the opportunity to interact more easily with the thousands of user generated contents created in SL.
I mean, if you are a newbie in SL, you haven’t
got the faintest idea where to get wonderful goods for customize your avatar, create your home, stand in cool poses and make fantastic things
Linden Lab bought XstreetSL, it could be a first step in the right direction…but I’m waiting for more integration between the two platforms.
They have to integate the virtual marketplace with the client, they have to integrate the registration process in SL, with the login in XstreetSL and make very easy (idiot proof) for newcomers the routine of buy stuffs in xstreetsl and gain skills in SL
Think to IMVU. They claim 30millions of users. They didn’t get a review on the press, but they have a fully functioning business model and with only a few advertising they are gaining millions of users, each month. Their secret is a perfect integration of the virtual items Marketplace, with the Client and of the Client with the social networking tool. I think that SL, should look at the IMVU experience and work on a better integration of the website/client section in order to become more accessible to new members…
you do ALL realize that the story of Narcissus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissus_(mythology)
is a CAUTIONARY TALE.??
Where’s the reality folks?
“The more this game can be about me, and my real life, and my real experiences and where I live, and my real friends (can mean more than) ‘I’m going to go to the game and become an orc and get a real sword’,” Will Wright
The most important theme Will Wright is putting forward about the future of games is the connection to “my real life, and my real experiences and where I live, and my real friends.” User generated content creation, as pioneered in SL, is being discussed under this larger rubric.
Tish:
You’re right, and really - this was just a ‘quick link blurb’. It’s taking things a bit far to extrapolate either that SL is for narcissists or that Wright is advocating for much more than the observation that it is the shared experiences with friends and colleagues that can be the attraction for new users of games - for people who feel uneasy about becoming a dwarf or a furry or whatever.
His example of the Wii is telling. Or think Guitar Hero - the experience itself can be shared with “real friends” and is powerful because of that. But the game itself still asks that we enter “another world” and take on other personas.
I know that with GIS and phones and whatever there’s this trend towards the idea that data about your “real self” is connected through the end-to-end Internet and all that - but I see that as a slightly different domain than games and virtual worlds - augmented reality maybe, social networks and life-logging for sure. Will they blur? Yes, of course - I really do believe that Halting State is the clearest vision of where all of this is headed.
But I purposefully didn’t dig into his “real life” comment because it’s too easy to extrapolate that to mean “therefore, the future of mass adoption in games and virtual worlds is all about a 1-to-1 connection of actual identity with our virtual selves.”
I’m not quite willing to believe, I suppose, that augmentationism is the utopian ideal in which because we connect through game/virtual space without the mediator of alternate identity, we merge the actual and virtual, and thus speed the embedding of technology into who we are and what we do.
The more that games and virtual spaces are about shared experiences that feel relevant and social, the better. The more we can do so with friends, the better as well.
But watch kids gaming: they enter alternate realities and play with their friend from around the corner, but also create deep connections with people from the other side of the world, with alternate game spaces as the mediator of social connection, rather than ‘real lives’ necessarily being the jumping off point for connection, or more valued or attractive because of it. If that were the case, then my mom would have joined Facebook so she could play Scrabulous with friends.
I’m thinking here of Born Digital, in particular, as my touch point for a new generation born with twitch fingers and mySpace pages for whom identity and connection shuttles between “real” and “digital” and to whom this parsing of ‘real’ versus ‘virtual’ selves seems ridiculous - it’s ALL real, and what you and I think of as ‘real experience’ and ‘real friends’ are anachronisms.
“it’s ALL real, and what you and I think of as ‘real experience’ and ‘real friends’ are anachronisms.”
Your’e kids still toss out last years Aibo as quickly as you get a new ipod mini, and one good solar flare will point out real from virtual very quickly.
This thread is sounding more and more like 1992 jaron lanier stuff.. burning man -extropian religious vr stuff.
Will Wrights “talents” may have been fun while all his game “humans were ants” scattering around “game board cities”.
“who cares?” wonderful;\, narcissim as virtue not vice.
come on folks. stop blogging answers.. start asking questions…
Will Wright was always trying to figure out how to break real life into pieces to reassemble it into simulated life and use it as a means to study real life. He used to talk about “investing your consciousness in a toy” in The Sims Online. One of the most fun aspects of TSO was getting to talk to Will Wright himself when he game into the game now and then on various characters.
I recently dug up an old Sims game reading list which came in the game instructions (WW would do things like that), which is fascinating:
APPENDIX 2 RECOMMENDED READING Here are some titles that might enhance your understanding of some of the background and social issues entertained in THE SIMS
Warning: all are filled with provocative ideas: Maxis disavows any responsibilty for encouraging deep thought.
Home: A Short History of an Idea by Witold Rybczynski (July 1987) Penguin USA; ISBN: 0140102310
Notes on the Synthesis of Form by Christopher W. Alexander (June 1970) Harvard University Press; ISBN: 0674627512
A Pattern Language:Towns, Buildings, Construction by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa,Murray Silverstein (1977) Oxford University Press (Trade)
ISBN: 0195019199
Architecture: Form, Space, & Order by Frank D. K. Ching, Francis D. Ching
(February 1996) John Wiley & Sons; ISBN: 0471286168
Housing by Lifestyle: The Component Method of Residential Design by
James W. Wentling (November 1994) McGraw-Hill; ISBN: 0070692939
Time for Life: The Surprising Ways Americans; Use Their Time by John P. Robinson, Geoffrey Godbey (Contributor), Robert Putnam (June 1997)
Pennsylvania State University Press (Trade); ISBN:0271016523
Maps of the Mind by C. Hampden-Turner (March 1982)
MacMittan Publishing Company; ISBN: 0025477404
Hidden Order:The Economics of Everyday Life by David 0. Friedman (September 1997) HarperColLins; ISBN: 0887308856
Making the Most of Your Lama by Linda C. Beattie (Editor),
Araneen Witmor(Illustrator), Kathyrn Doll (Editor), Dr. Linda Beattie
(September 1998) Kopacetic Ink; ISBN: 0961963417
Finding Your Perfect Love by Arthur Clark, Cassandra Skouras
(January 1998)Rosebud Press; ISBN: 0965276902
The User Illusion:Cutting Consciousness Down to Size by Tor Norretranders,Jonathan Sydenham (Translator)(April 1998) Viking Press;
ISBN: 0670875791
>the connection to “my real life, and my real experiences and where I live, and my real friends.”
Meh, get those spimes off my lawn. Virtual worlds do not *have* to connect to reality, and your connecting virtuality to reality may diminish reality as much as the escape to virtuality does.
Dusan - Yes, of course, the distinction between virtual/real is a fiction and not the point at all. But there is an important shift that has taken place (popularized by the iphone) - networked experiences are increasingly about who YOU are, WHERE you are, WHAT you are doing, WHAT is around you, etc.
On one level it is very simple, being tied to sitting in front of a pc is very restricting and a drag. We are becoming liberated from this lock in to the pc screen in more and more interesting ways. The best of what we have learned sitting behind our pcs, e.g., Will Wright’s comments about where Second Life has been on the right track re user generated content, will influence are creation of new untethered virtual/real experiences.
The frames of augmentation versus immersion and the terms Augmented Reality and Virtual World are inadequate and misleading ways to describe the new untethered virtual/real experiences we can and will create.
Prok - wow, wonderful reading list. Thanks - adding it to your previous references…I’ll hit you up in world to make sure I’ve got them all.
I think Prok is sort of echoing my comments about the real/virtual connection. While I agree Tish that geo-positioning and the ‘untethered Web’ is important, my concerns are around a few things, which isn’t to say that these technologies or trends aren’t useful:
- I’m a strong believer that the concept of the avatar, disconnected or loosely connected to the actual self and identity, is a repository for insights and change that is critical as we grapple with issues of self, society, privacy, and creativity. I tend to resist paradigms that seem, on the surface at least, as if they don’t respect the fundamental value of the avatar.
- I’m also a believer that virtual worlds are a space in which these same issues can be examined, discussed, studied, and a new language can result. Some of the language - immersionist versus augmentationist, or ‘real’/actual versus virtual, or identity versus identification are inadequate to the task but are what we’ve got (this is why I applaud the work of people like Tom Boellstorff, because he represents those who are looking for the language to frame discourse, whether it’s the meaning of AFK or his theories of techne within techne).
- I think virtual worlds are an important exploration space BECAUSE I believe that we need to be exploring these issues of self and identity now. The shift towards the “always on” and “end-to-end Internet” are happening rapidly, and I believe are happening without being tethered to thoughtful discourse around privacy, identity, and surveillance. Sure, the iPhone’s great - but technology is rolling out and it will be hard to put the genie back in the bottle: “real connections, real people” all that stuff - well, first, I frankly don’t need my friends Google mapping me and finding out where I’m drinking coffee. But I may not really have a choice - this Web of information and spimes and appliances and GIS positioning creates challenges that will bite us, and sooner than we’d care to think.
I suppose I sound like a Luddite. But having WHO I am, WHERE I am, WHAT I’m doing, and WHAT’S around me spliced into technology and the end-to-end Internet…to have myself “Web-embedded” like that….well, a Luddite perhaps I shall be.
Regardless, I feel that the use of alternate identities and the metaphoric and literal power of the avatar, the creation of safe spaces that are beyond this “always on” GIS and spime-enabled Web, and a counter-notion to the idea that being continually connected is necessarily a good thing can partly be accomplished by dispelling the notion that immersionist or alternate reality is somehow on a lesser end of the value or adoption spectrum than “hey, it’s the real me, and you can track me because my phone connects me to information appliances embedded in the world around me, and thus the Web is me, and I am the Web”.
even luddites are part of “reality”;)…although many of those who build/design/ and are funded to make networked digital mediation tools and media would rather just “delete” or “banlink” the luddites into the “nature”.
-the machine stops- em forster. 1909. better reading for this crowd:) 100 anniversary, so i guess we can call tish’s guest’s mostly old media thinkers..lol
http://brighton.ncsa.uiuc.edu/~prajlich/forster.html
Count on you for a good historical reference Cube. You’re the conscience of the 80s and 90s I know, just didn’t realize you went back to the early 1900s as well!
*prints out em forster for transit ride home*
Today I’m more a ghost in the machine of christmas past.;
Enjoy the Airship:)
http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2009/04/bruce-sterling.html
OK this is precious… reality and virtuality the same thing? Will Sterling be the next to mea cupla ala Lanier in the make believe world of the current internets…?
I wrote 3 years ago those who live by the blog will die by the blog.
boing!!!! boing!! looks like reality is hitting him in the nuts. Now i feel for him in realife empathetic ways, BUT….;)
lets see some balance occur…. but binary religious followers should know— heaven or hell is all they get;)
Is the machine is ready to eat one of its most vocal zealots?
BTW- did you like the Forster short story? I read it first in high school in 1980. kicks all CC doctorow, sterling ass;)
and it’s now FREE courtesy of copyright laws, not trendy attention meme bloggers efforts;).
Trendy? Who’s trendy?
And yes, I did like it.
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