Open Forum Question: Could Second Life Work on a Touch Screen / Tablet Optimized for Seniors?

We know that many seniors like the late Fran Serenade (above) have found great value in using Second Life, both as a social/creative platform and (as in Fran's case) even finding therapeutic value in them. However, many seniors have difficulty learning or using the SL viewer for Mac/PC.

But what if the virtual world was accessible via a touchscreen? 

Caltech astronomy professor George Djorgovski, director of the university's Virtech campus in Second Life, recently put it to me this way:

Many seniors who would benefit from the social opportunities in SL are not very computer-savvy.

They may be comfortable with an iPad, but not a standard laptop/desktop. iPads and similar devices simply do not have the hardware power to deal with something like SL, and whatever apps do exist (and are still available or maintained) are little more than messaging apps.

There are, however, notebook/laptop machines that have a touch screen, which someone who is used to a tablet may find easier to use than a laptop proper. Also, I know that it is possible to boot Linux on at least some Chromebooks, and use a Linux SL client, but I don’t know about the performance thereof. Any experiences or recommendations along these lines would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, George and I discussed the late-lamented Lumia app for Android devices, but that's no longer officially supported (far as I can tell), and as great as it is for established SLers, wouldn't work well for the target audience he's talking about:

Ideally, what we're talking about here is a completely new third party viewer, optimized for devices with touchscreens. It would ideally include large onscreen buttons for basic functions (moving around, talking, etc.) and perhaps, teleport buttons to take users to specific designated areas optimized for low-ended laptops/tablets. Perhaps something like the (also late-lamented!) SL Go from OnLive, but without the costly streaming feature. (Watch above.) 

Not sure if there's a third party viewer to meet those specs now, or if this is an indirect call for one to be created. As George notes, the potential value to seniors especially would be quite high.

Comments

[Ron Jeffries]

i'm love to see SL on the ipad, and the new ones are probably fast enough to do it. you'd need fast wi-fi. me, i'd use my magic keyboard, but the on-screen keyboard would be ok.

it'd be challenging to build in SLon a touch screen.

i think the real issue is it'd be a big effort with unknown return.

[Adeon Writer]

It depends on what kind of experiences you want to have.

But text chat is very difficult on a touchscreen keyboard, especially for the elderly.

As far as avatar manipulation goes, it will be slow and less neuanced, but to most in SL they just stand around and talk.

What you would miss out in a major way is alt camming, which would need to be fairly akward touchscreen gesture controls if they exist at all.

All in all I would say it would work best for someone who primarily uses voice chat and does not walk around or explore but rather just sit around.

I don’t know if that’s the prime demographic.

[Adeon Writer]

(Of course things like avatar customization and moving attachments around with the build menu would be exceptionally terrible on a touchscreen.

So I would say would primarily be used for people who already use second life on a computer and have already made their avatars. it would not be suitable for anyone new joining second life as they would be having a completely different, much shallower experience that is only a for hollow facsimile of the true experience. I personally think too much would be lost but to someone who doesn’t know what they’re missing out on? who knows. I think custom avatars are a huge part of second life and if you skip out on that I personally don’t see the attraction

[Pulsar]

"iPads and similar devices simply do not have the hardware power to deal with something like SL"

They deal perfectly with Avakin Life, though, that is indeed something like Second Life.

It is SL that barely deals with any hardware. SL can run on potato computers, but poorly; on the other hand, despite some improvement, the two decades old engine wasn't made for today modern hardware and it doesn't run so well. Let alone the vast amount of unoptimized user-made content that worsen everything.

SL is awesome in how you can tinker with your avatar, but avatar customization in Avakin Life or Roblox on iPad, is much, much easier and user-friendly than in SL. You have previews, you click and you change that part of your avatar.

I agree that a completely new and ad hoc viewer is needed, and mobile regions.

Adeon has a good point about text chat.
I'd add that the therapeutic value that requires immersion, maybe works on iPads, but usually it works better on larger screens.
Still, seeing how many user Avakin Life has, a generally easier to use SL viewer for mobile devices would likely make SL more accessible to many people, senior or not.

[Andabata Thor]

Hello. I am often on SL by tablet CHUWI Hi10X 10.1 inch. 1200x1920 and Clear Linux OS.
I think that for a senior like me it is not a bad experience, expecially in the second place... :>

https://gyazo.com/eb15517473c8ce6f550c16b0afa02786
https://gyazo.com/88f18d2dfb0fcef3b6c450c39840ba2c