Here's How Second Life's New iOS App Could Bring In a New Generation of Mobile Users

Pictured: Pocket Metaverse, a third party iOS app for accessing select Second Life features from 2010

With the iOS app for Second Life coming soon, reader and blogger Devin Vaughn sketches out a fascinating vision for how it could transform the virtual world. While the app itself is launching with very limited features (the late-lamented Pocket Metaverse from over a decade ago was actually more robust), Devin sees a chance to bring in a new wave of mobile users:

[I]t might be a sneak peek into Linden Lab's strategy of bridging SL and SL Mobile. This is baby steps for now, it takes time to develop code and app. But I could see it working that there are SL mobile-only sims that enforce both avatar and environment efficiency.

Imagine this: You want to 3D chat live on the phone with your friends? Teleport to SL Mobile Island 1. Oops, you are not allowed because your avatar is bonkers heavy with scripts and complexity. BUT you forgot to switch to your mobile, low lag, fast avatar first. So you just go to appearance, change outfit, and teleport is accepted. You land in a beautifully crafted environment, perhaps created by a well known genius designer who excels at kickass and fast. Much good time is had!

.....And later, you want to meet up with your special friend after work in the posh main grid where you wear as much scripts and fancy mesh as you want, or decorate to max, because the maingrid is still the wild wild west of freedom and zero enforced avatar or sim limits (if you don't mind the lag).

VRChat actually does something like this, for users of the Oculus Quest, enabling them to teleport to worlds that have been optimized to run on the Quest. That way, VRC users are able invite their Quest-owning friends into the "kiddie pool" of VRChat. (That's how I first got to meet Syrmor in VRChat!)

"Imagine if SL had mobile-only sims for mobile style avatars," Devin muses:

I'm sure SL would dramatically bring down cost of avatars. And what makes SL the longest lasting of all virtual worlds is content and being fleshed out with so much capability already. Sims that require efficient-only decor, landscaping, scripts, and avatars solve the problem. No exploding phones over content anyway. The app also needs to be efficient. And if you done doing what you want in 3DChat, but yearning to do all the nice things you can do on the main grid, you can. You just teleport into SL proper.

It's actually more likely that, as with IMVU when it went to smartphones, the userbase would grow much larger on mobile than it ever had on the PC client. But this would also be a great way to gently ease the mobile generation into the broader virtual world. 

But do you think Linden Lab is planning something as ambitious as this?

Comments

[Pulsar]

If Linden Lab isn't planning that, it's better they start doing so, because it would be great.

(Devin wrote "SL the longest lasting of all virtual worlds", but in fact that title should go to Active Worlds (1995) still active today, after 26 years).

[Mondy]

For a long time I used Lumiya, Lumiya was great, it worked and was updated. Then it got removed from Play store and I think also the TPV list. Last time I tried it the world in 3d view didn't load properly and it's been so long since it had an update that even though it's still available on other app stores I don't see the point. Plus it was android only. At least it let you use the whole grid. It's a shame in my view LL never approached the developer to work with her.

Also for a long time I used the Onlive & SL GO service until economics forced that to shut down. Full fat Secondlife on a tablet! Pure heaven.

My solution was to add Firestorm as a third party app to my Steam library. Now I log in remotely from anywhere using my own gaming system as host and run full fat SL with wifi or a fast 4G connection. Exactly like SL GO worked.(Minus the touch controls of SL GO but I can add the SL move and fly controls to the screen) It works amazingly well with a small Bluetooth keyboard/mini mouse and my tablet propped up on a stand.

Cut down Secondlife is just going to frustrate people. Not being able to even chat with all your friends? not being able to have them meet you or meet them except for special areas? I'd rather have a mobile client that is just a text interface and chat with anyone, TP anywhere and have access to inventory outfits so they can see my avatar correctly even if I can't seen them.

[0xc0ffea]

SL isn't designed with a mobile device's capabilities in mind, not at all.

A full fat SL true mobile experience is not going to happen, even if one was created for iOS, it's not something anyone is going to want to use without tethering their device to the mains (and doing that obliterates battery longevity, leads to swelling, etc - hence some of the app store rules).

LL appear to be working on a different idea, avatars are loaded up on special 'mobile client only' regions with no attachments, no local build and no local communication. You can be next to hundreds of other avatars and never know it.

We can realistically expect a full suite of IM chat tools, friend lists and (big maybe) group chatter.

It's unlikely there will be a big local chat room with all the other nearby mobile users as regular avatars wouldn't be able to participate and you might never see the same person twice - it would also end up like twitch chat due to size of local population and be functionally useless).

A mobile avatar viewer is also a possibility and should IMO be a priority feature. We might not be able to see the world, but being able to see our own and other avatars would be a big deal, toss in some photo tools, selectable backgrounds and ability to play poses from inventory .. and we have a solid basis for generating social media content.

This does impose some problems as attachments that animate the avatar wont function and dress up (which is predominantly dependent on HUDs) is probably also off the table (due to no scripts and usability issues). Not a showstopper.

Exploring the world or attending events like regular avatars, probably not going to happen. But this doesn't exclude the possibility for some events (like live music) shared with a groups mobile users being possible.

The only real wish I have right now (and it's not in the alpha client) is that it be possible for avatars in world to be able to tell when someone is logged in mobile.

[Mondy]

The fact that Xbox cloud gaming, Steam remote play & Stadia all exist and are now popular shows that "full fat" gaming on mobile devices is not only possible but desired by a lot of people.
It's unlikely to happen with Secondlife I agree because there aren't enough users of regular SL that Google , Steam or any others are likely to add it to their catalogue and add mobile controls like they have with other games. Although using an Xbox controller with Secondlife via Steam is interesting to say the least ;)

[Mondy]

Let's not forget that using Secondlife in this way (with remote play) puts no load on a mobile device beyond the actual client software. Battery life and swelling issues are irrelevant.
On Live closed because of economics, not because it performed badly.

[Pulsar]

If they do it as Devin Vaughn suggests, you shouldn't expect your same stuff just hammered into a mobile device, but a new mobile SL.
Thus not a Lumya (a client that attempted to adapt the engine in order to show the old content on mobile devices) nor a On Live / Stadia (a client working as a remote display for the old content computed on a remote server), but new mobile-compatible content on mobile-regions.

This would be a new paradigm and it could be the first step toward a new SL. Do you remember when a few of us here, between blog posts and the comments, discussed about dedicated regions for optimized content? They are making dedicated mobile-regions now (just instant messages, but they plan to add a 3D view later).
Here is the opportunity to start a sort of new SL from ground up: mobile-avatars on mobile-regions; meanwhile you keep your account, friend list, chat, L$ etc, that keeps you on the SL grid. And you would still be able to use the old style stuff in the old regions as before.

Mobile regions may have a clear grand total upper limit in texture and polygon count, instead of an obscure and exploitable "land impact". And they could be on demand, cutting the costs.

A mobile avatar could be a single item or it could be customizable by replacing the body parts with dressed parts, as other games do. Not that pile of attachments on top of each other that you see in SL.
You could still colorize the parts, change head textures etc.

If someone is 10-18 years in SL, it's understandable to have only SL as a model to think of. Look outside that box. Try out other things and see what other successful virtual worlds are doing.

Maybe you are thinking Roblox or VRChat now, Roblox surely is pretty usable on my iPad, but there is more.
For example, Avakin Life doesn't have a bad graphic for a mobile virtual world, it runs smoothly, and it is reported having 200 million registered users and 1 million logging in every day:
https://venturebeat.com/2020/11/04/tencent-leads-25-million-round-for-avakin-life-maker-lockwood-publishing/
Some people I know couldn't no longer use SL well with their old computer (that was still working ok for anything else they were doing) and they were looking for a mobile alternative, so they went there. Avakin Life is more gaming-oriented than SL, but you can still chat, socialize etc.
These are further users that LL is losing on the road.

Therefore it would be great if LL could plan ahead and aim at that, instead of creating yet another Radegast.
It would give SL a boost and a refresh, it would open a market for mobile avatars and mobile rezzables, and probably it would give SL several more years of life.

[Tad Noodle]

I wonder if Second Life would run decently on a Steam Deck? I watched a video with my husband and they said you could use 3rd party gaming apps on it, since it's basically a small PC.

[Jerom Franzic]

Tad... late I know, but the Steam Deck's hardware could easily support the Linux versions of third party Second Life viewers. If I was in the market for the SD, I'd try Kokua or CoolVLViewer on it. Probably Kokua, as I can easily run my Xbox One gamepad with that. Firestorm should also work, several users here have already mentioned running that via Steam.