I know that some fellows here play Second Life, so I had a few questions I would like to pose before I seriously consider signing up.
1. How casual is the role-playing environment, where applicable (i.e., in RP-specific locations)? In other words, if one could not spend five hours per day logged in and actively role-playing but, instead, could only afford a few hours per week, would one quickly find oneself marginalised? I realise that the environment is likely to vary from region to region, campaign to campaign; nevertheless, I am interested in your impressions of your own SL RP experiences.
2. How automated is the mercantile system? In other words, if I eventually wanted to set up shoppe to peddle custom prims, etc., do I need to maintain certain store hours while remaining logged in and available to interact with customers, or could my establishment do business in my avatar's absence?
3. How soon would it become apparent that I need to upgrade from the free account to a paid subscription? As soon as I want a plot of land? As soon as I want to build? As soon as I want to import or design custom prims? As soon as I decide to patronise a virtual adult establishment? ;)
4. Has it been a rewarding experience? Not only financially but also artistically (as far as game modification/creation is concerned)? Socially?
Thanks, in advance, for your input.
ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Whirled Braker
I think Syn is the person to ask.
I'd quite like to hear the recommendation too. Maybe I'll stalk you in your second life, Tiobe.
wow, a little late raply >.> but I thought i'd shed some light on the situation :P
the casualness of RP depends on where you go, and what you want to be in that community.
there are places like Valahari, and Ironmoor (both fantasy rp) that are very laid back, the star wars community can be, but some groups will demand a certain amount of input per week, then there's places like "city of perdition" which is a modern day "real life" RP, tho a city infested with crime, it's very rp intensive (unlike others, all combat is performed "free form" so typing, sometimes dice rolls, instead of scripted weapons and health meters) that being said, if you could be a lawyer or a hired goon who turns up once a week for a few hours, or you could be a cop or a beggar thats on 7 days a week, obviously again, if you become something like a crime boss, or police chief, or county judge, you'de be expected to be on more, all in all, it's upto you, whatever job you take on, decides how much you are "required" to be around.
(my current RP character in the star wars community -> http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx264/synthos84/VevecWP.jpg warning, may come out as a large picture >.>)
the mercantile system is pretty straight forward, I used to use a scripted vendor system, where I put my stuff into a box, which was hooked up to a website, I put in all my product info on that website, and then any "vendors" I put out, diplayed my products from a central server and delivered them for me., the only thing you need is somewhere to put your server box down and somewhere to put out your vendor.
although, I have abandoned this method in favour of putting my stuff out in individual boxes and setting them to "sell copy" which is an automatic SL function.
another method is the marketplace, which involves another server box, but instead of setting up vendors, the items are displayed directly on the secondlife marketplace website, which interacts with your inworld balance, they take a small percentage cut from your sales but nothing big, this method only requires you to have 1 prim out "inworld" to sell items to the largest "audience"
all this tho, is handled by scripts and general objects, once your items up for sale, you dont need to be around, or even online.
free account to paid subscription? I wouldnt.
I rent my land privately, I pay a little more a month than I would renting directly from SL, but I wasnt required to buy the land initially, and I dont have to pay linden labs a monthly stipend. another issue with buying land yourself, is having to sell it when you no longer have use, the last plot of land I owned, I bought for 80,000L$, by the time I was ready to move on, I ended up selling it for 20,000, purely because I was losing money on just holding onto it waiting for a buyer.
you can build on any account, no subscription needed.
same with custom prims (sculpts, and expected to go live within the next 1/2 months, collada format meshes)
adult establishments? as long as you have a drivers license to verify yourself as an adult, again, no subscription needed.
i'll tackle the rewarding experience thing in sections:
financially.... SL is my main income, it paid for my last holiday, it paid for my bigscreen tv, it paid for my gaming pc, it paid for xmas, it pays for any pc games I ever want to buy, aswell as renting large stores on multiple sims, and runnng a full sim myself.
artisticly? i've made alot of cool stuff, the previously mentioned sim is coming together of about 80% my own design, i'll get round to taking pictures at somepoint XD but I can honestly say it's improved my texture and model work in no small amount.
Socially? I have ALOT of people i'm happy to call friends in SL, from fellow builders, to roleplayers, to people that just send me messages because they like the stuff I sell, there's a few bad eggs in SL, it's prone to attracting griefers in large amounts, but all in all, I enjoy my time there immensly...
well, thats about all I got for answering, if there's still any interest flying around, i'll keep popping back to this thread to see what I can answer for people :)