How to Connect Second Life to Sansar: It's Not the Engine, It's the Community (Comment of the Week)

Interesting conversation on the feasibility of upgrading Second Life to the modern age, potentially via Unity. Reader "Seph" proposes an alternative that Linden Lab should seriously consider: Instead of updating the Second Life engine, give the SL community some specific reasons to transition much of their activity into Sansar:  

There's a lot easier ways for Linden Lab to automatically integrate existing Second Life users into a newer, updated platform. They already have Sansar that they could repurpose.

Make it so that all Second Life landowners get as a part of their tier, land/experiences in Sansar as well.

Make it so that premium Second Life members earn perks in Sansar as well.

Have L$ and the Lindex be the one currency and exchange between Second Life and Sansar.

Have a single account, single login between both worlds. Build a 'Linden Lab' launcher that can install and launch the official SL viewer (and third party viewers) and Sansar.

Stop paying Levi's, NASA, Intel, Twitch streamers, Marvelous Designer, eSports organizations, EDM record labels, etc. and redirect that money into offsetting the risks Second Life creators and entertainers would have to take in moving an idea to Sansar. I'm sure they've spent millions on these fruitless things; give a million instead to Relay For Life. In exchange, [Relay for Life] risks less donations by hosting some of their events in Sansar instead.

Just do things to make it easy and obvious instead of intentionally alienating SL users from Sansar, and then SL won't need an updated graphics platform. One's already built, just integrate it.

This all makes sense to me, and I like the last idea in particular. I understand why Linden Lab wants to keep the SL and Sansar brands separate, and to emphasize that Sansar is safe for major real world brands. (No excessive trolling , weird porn, IP theft, etc!) But for some 15 years, the Second Life community has actively and directly supported one of the most well-known and respected real world brands out there:

Second Life's Relay for Life has always been an official part of the American Cancer Society's annual fundraiser, one that countless other companies and organizations participate in. So why not expand the Relay into Sansar and encourage SL creators to build Relay experiences in the world? That's the brand recognition Sansar needs -- not to mention the expanded user activity SLers can bring to the world. 

Comments

[Wurfi]

"Make it so that all Second Life landowners get as a part of their tier, land/experiences in Sansar as well."

People do not realize that every user in Sansar receives FREE land the size of 4883 (Four Thousand Eight Hundred Eighty-Three) Second Life Sims.

[Wurfi]

Here comes the calculation:

- 1 Second Life Sim = 0.256 km x 0.256 km = 0.065536 km²

- 1 Sansar World = 4 km x 4 km = 16 km²

- You get 20 Sansar Worlds for free = 20 x 16 km² = 320 km²

- 320 km² / 0.065536 km² = 4882,8125 ≈ 4883 Sims

[maxwell graf]

As someone who has been in the closed beta for mesh in SL, open sim, cloud party, blue mars, high fidelity, sinewave space, sansar, lumberyard and magic leap, there are things that I have seen overlooked again and again with predictable results.

1. Existing inventory - Let people bring stuff. Until someone can create a suitcase that lets a user take existing inventory with them, much of which has been gathered for years and at significant cost, it won't happen. There are a hundred reasons that this can't work, including legal and financial ones, but that does not matter to someone with a bunch of stuff they don't want to give up.

2. Identity - attempts at this need to go beyond creating a new avatar with the same name. People spend lots of time and energy creating an identity, sometimes with social/commercial standing, rank or branding. You are asking people to give up status, real or perceived. It can make the transition, but steps need to be taken to make this easier. Consideration must be made. A true metaverse can exist where a singular avatar/identity can exist in multiple worlds and go between them.

3. Adult content. Love it or hate it, I have yet to see a new platform/world succeed without it. Let people fuck if they want to, it's that simple. There are plenty of technologies to make it safe and legal. A huge number of secondary markets depend on the existence of adult content even if they do not exhibit it openly or directly. Sex sells, period.

4. Don't rely on expensive, niche market hardware to run your platform. Don't make me buy new gear. Aside from cost, most people will not spend hours wearing a VR headset in order to utilize the functions of a platform, let alone the kind of hours people spend in SL. This is especially true if business/commerce comes into it; I need to answer the phone, watch tv, grab my drink and pet the cat while I am logged in. Treating desktop users as a second tier is bad. VR users should be the exception, not the primary goal. Make it an option.

5. Multi Platform/OS. Mac and Windows at the very least, if not initially then very soon after.

I am not an expert, but I do have a singular experience as a beta tester and this is my take on how to make a good virtual world platform to carry us forward. I firmly believe that SL still has legs enough to last years, successfully, if for no other reason than the conditions I mention above exist there. It is the measuring stick.

Out of all of the new platforms/worlds that I have tested, my opinion is that sinespace has the most potential to succeed, even if all of these conditions have not been met...yet. Unity is a bit of a barrier to entry for developers, but it is an excellent choice to solve a thousand problems. Adam and his team have made and continue to make the right decisions there and it has evolved into not just the only real survivor but a solid contender for where we may end up next. It is worth considering.

[sirhc desantis]

More tha plus one to maxwell graf there. Summed it up very nicely.

Content? Peronally I can make my own, add in the ease of LSL/OSSL and I would spend a lot more time seriously trying out alternatives. OK people may sneer at it but I cut my teeth back in the stone age (6502 assembler on a beeb micro? Z80 POKEd to REM on a ZX81? hihi) so its dead easiness is one reason I got hooked all those years ago. OK the pole dancing distracted me too (see point 3, made a lot of 'friends' and cash doing that).

I couldn't give a flying fig what 'language' is used (any c like derivative looks the same anyway) I just want the funcionality and ease.

[Lehmmie]

If sl changes to sansar I'd never playing again. All my experience with that sucked. I can't stand sansar. Change sl to that or Force us to move and a customer will be lost. Sansar is not like sl at all and doesn't give the same atmosphere.

[Phillip Beeswing]

I've used Sansar, and it lagged my system worse than SL ever has, couldn't figure out how to get out of mouselook, and litterally I had nothing to offer over SL. It had more of an empty feel than any empty Sim in SL. Sansar reminds me of crappy SL rippoffs like Red Light District (wanabe adults only version of SL with crappy controls, and less ootions).

[Susan Wilson]

Just imagine a typical SL person trying to set up their house and decorate it in Sansar. Imagine an SL fashionista with the ugly Sansar avatar with no sliders. Imagine an SL couple moving to Sansar and finding out there is no sex. It's just not gonna happen.

SL 2.0 is what the Lab should have made instead of this white elephant they called Sansar. I was very excited when I first heard about it and I had high hopes and spent a lot of time learning Marvelous Designer and a few other programs to sell clothing. I've long since given up on that. I don't regret the learning experience or the expensive software, but it's pretty obvious I'm not going to use those skills in Sansar.

[Wanda Ditz]

Yea, I think the problem with Sansar is that we just need to try harder to get people to love what they hate.

In other news, let's reintroduce Hillary Clinton to the Democratic Primary because I don't think people really know who she is yet.

[MzEBankz]

Me personally I love SL to DEATH been with SL since 2013. I've also tried Sansar its pretty ok and I LOVE LOVE the graphics. But I will admit I would love Sansar MORE if it had the EXACT SAME FEATURES as SL. If it is possible to combined SL and Sansar I will definitely try Sansar again. I've always wondered how SL would be in VR. Anyway yes if its possible to combine SL n Sansar plz plz plz do. I'm begging you. Only thing I don't want to do is recreate a AVI. Because I dont always like recreating one. But of course if I have to I will. Even though I'd rather combind my SL AVI to Sansar some way some how.

[Bet]

No interest in Sansar, no Mac in Sansar.

Who really paid for Sansar development anyway? Govt contract? Can't believe LL spent so much for what 50 people?

[Jo Yardley]

All those things would make it a little easier to go into Sansar but I still wouldn't have a reason to.
Right now I have land there, an avatar, even friends but do I care?
No.
Simply because I can't create anything in Sansar (I don't know Blender and don't have time to learn it) and even if I could I am already quite frustrated by the long loading time of experiences (I have 200mb internet, fibre optics) and know that the loading time of anything I have planned would drive people mad.
But most of all I'm still too busy in SL and things I can do there are not (yet) possible in Sansar.

[Kaching]

Combine SL and Sansar? I think only 25% of the player of SL use a gammer PC, and the rest of the Residents? What they will do? a lot of them are retired people who spend money in the game.

[Shirley Marquez]

One big problem for me with Sansar is that it is voice-centric. My Second Life is not. I like text; one of my favorite things to do in SL is visit my favorite club, and voice gets in the way of enjoying the music. (High Fidelity is even worse; the software doesn't even have any ability to do text chat built in, you have to add it with a third party add-on.)

@Phillip Beeswing: Sansar is a headset-centered VR environment (though it does support a conventional monitor), so the point of view that we call Mouselook in SL is at the center of the experience. But I agree that it should be easier to get out of that POV.

@maxwell graf: LL is caught between a rock and a hard place on adult content. On one hand, the potential users want it; the lack of it will seriously slow adoption and may cause Sansar to fail. On the other hand, it's poison to the corporate users that LL wants to attract; the prevalence of adult content in SL is one reason that large scale corporate presence there was short lived.

[Wagner James Au]

Also, if adult content is such a huge draw, why are PG-rated Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft, VRChat, etc. so big?

[phanrepublic]

I think so many don't completely understand why many people keep logging into SL every day. There are two things that keep SL alive despite LL wanting to do something different with it: community, and relationships. For a few, SL is fun. It compliments their very real and busy lives. For many others ... the people that truly "live" in SL ... this provide for them things they cannot have in RL. I can't even begin to calculate the number of us in here who have social issues/phobias/anxieties, and it is magic of SL that gives us a change to experience society in a safe way. For the wheelchair bound, it gives them a way to be mobile ... to see the world, or at least "a" world beyond their own four walls. For those with mental illness, it gives them the anonymity to "practice" living in a way that doesn't hurt themselves or others.

We go to parties, we have game nights, we do role play, and occasionally, we form relationships ... and in those relationships, we want a full experience, even if that occasionally includes sex. To see those special moments written off as porn or XXX ... is sickening, and it truly tells those of us who are lifted up by second life ... that we aren't real, that we're not important, that we shouldn't exist. It tells us we aren't heard, and that only valid purpose for VR is to create acres and acres of static museums.