Will Steam's Hardcore Gamers Try Playing Sansar Now That It's in the Store?

Steam is by far the largest game platform for hardcore gamers on PC, Mac, and VR -- which is why many competitors have launched would-be Steam Killers in recent months  -- and so it's notable that Linden Lab just published its social VR platform to Steam. The way the Lindens categorize Sansar ("Genre: Casual, Free to Play, Massively Multiplayer) and describe it to this gamer audience is interesting:

Welcome to Sansar - the best place to hang out with friends, play games, and stay connected with your favorite communities! Host and attend virtual events: concerts, watch parties, meet-and-greets, and more. Create and share virtual spaces with your friends, and explore the thousands of experiences our users have already created. Cheer for your favorite players and teams WHILE playing any number of fun virtual mini-games: cornhole, shuffleboard, pong, bowling, and more. Shop for new items and sell what you create on the Sansar Store.

No mention, for instance, of Sansar's branded experiences for education, NASA, Ready Player One, or even its hardcore gamer e-sports partnerships. Compare the description with its likeliest competitors on Steam. Here's how Rec Room describes itself:

Rec Room is the best place to hang out with friends from all around the world! Play intense multiplayer games like Paintball, Laser Tag, Quest, and Rec Royale, or just chill with friends in the park. There are thousands of player-created game and event rooms for you to discover, with new ones added daily. You can even build your own rooms with your friends. Rec Room is cross platform and free, so come and join the fun!

And VRChat:

Imagine a world where anything is possible. Join a game of capture the flag in outer space. Share stories around a campfire while roasting marshmallows, then moments later experience a retro game of bowling with an alien and robot. In VRChat there is something around every corner that will delight, thanks to the power of true user generated content. Jump into hundreds of awe inspiring environments and meet unique avatars every day. Watch a movie on the moon. Ride the Titanic. Step into a new world every time you come online. In VRChat, you are one of us. Enjoy your stay.

Surprisingly, the VRChat description is the most aspirational and "Second Life-like" of the three, while Sansar seems more similar to Rec Room! (And VRChat gets into the technical details of its user-generated content tools.)

Anyway, will be interesting to see Steam player reviews come in; so far the reviews are positive, but they're from the existing userbase, not the average Steam gamer.

Comments

[A concerned user]

Steam users rightfully hate linden labs and this will not take off

[Chic Aeon]

The concurrency is obviously up with lots of new folks running around (and they almost always run it seems :D) so the point of the exercise appears to have worked.

The Lab was never expecting thousands of folks to come in all at once in the "if you build it they will come" model. At a product meeting last month (the STEAM one) it was mentioned that they wanted more folks on the platform for testing. And there is that with some experiences needing to spawn second and third instances -- at least that is what the numbers suggested - I didn't go look. I was in a copy of an experience yesterday but not sure if that was a 2 or a 3.

So apparently the launch went as planned.

Also interesting is that most everyone "chose" an avatar, so very few gray doughboys around. Moonwalk guys seemed to be popular. I didn't really see all that many gals but assume there are a few in the mix.

Always tricky ass-u-ming things :D.