Possibly by investors, hence the article -but then all the commercial names worth mentioning have already left -no surprise there, never could see the point- if I want crap advertising thrust down my face, I would stick to RL

SL is not about that crap =about time Lindens realised that

Damn it.

Better recheck your facts.

Of the gamers among my friends, (about 20 people) all but 2 are male, all are indeed aged 15 – 35, but NONE of them is single. The age might be explained by the fact that I dont have any friends under 16, or over 40.

And I agree that a gamer (person who plays videogames in general) is something different from a Second Life player. Yes, there’s SL players who are also gamers, and gamers sometimes also play SL, but they’re still miles apart.

To Two Worlds:

I have also been in SL since ’05. I barely know how to install Windows on a computer, thank heavens my significant other is a programmer and can handle all the technical stuff for me. However, since day one i have had no problems with Second Life in the way that it was too difficult.

I have tried to understand the LSL scripting language, but I gave up pretty soon… It is gibberish to me, even with the help of the WIki page. But that’s only a very small part of the platform. The building tools are relatively easy, especially compared to other 3D programs like Maya, and the only ‘difficult’ part of clothing making is the creative aspect, what to make, and of course understanding the tools: third party programs like Photoshop or Gimp.

Second Life is quite easy, even a complete computer illiterate like myself can ‘play’ this ‘game’.

Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it.

As for the rest of you…you say that I just get worked up and obsessed over an Internet forum. It’s not that I’m obsessed with the SA Forums. It’s not that I get worked up too easily over just Helldump. I get angry at people arguing. I get angry over people disagreeing, and not being able to work out their differences. That’s part of the “Two Worlds” thing. I look at the world around me, and I see it constantly divided, and almost hopelessly reconciliable. Democrats and Republicans…Christians and atheists…confessional Lutherans and mainstream Christianity…big city people and small town people…countless others. I look at the world around me and I see division, and people not willing or not able to understand why other people are different than them. And you all are not any different. We are not just Helldump and GBS and FYAD and BYOB…we are the SA Forums. We have to find common ground, before there is no ground under us to stand on at all.

I know many of you Helldumpers voted for Barack Obama, a President who vowed to bring change and healing to a nation hurting from division over ideology and politics. Can’t you do the same thing on here? Why do you vote for a Presidential candidate who brings hope and change and unity…and yet your words on here are completely opposite to all of that? Don’t divide us. Don’t be like the previous administration, and the previous political body. Unite us. Change us. If you don’t like the way that the Forums are going, then show us how to do better. If you want to lead us, be a leader, but please, don’t pull us back, because we don’t need that.

You all claim I’m obsessed with the “goon community”. I’m not obsessed with that…I guess if there’s anything I just feel an intense need to belong to something. I feel a need to find people to call my own “group”. That’s a need people everywhere have. That’s why we have nations, and governments, and churches, and clubs, and societies, and yes, even Internet forums. I want to be a part of something bigger than me. That’s why I teach–because I’m a part of the huge community of people who makes this world better by teaching. That’s why I’m a confessional Lutheran–because I belong to the huge organization of Lutherans who define themselves by the Christ-centered foundation of God’s Word, and the doctrinal solidity of the Augsburg Confessions. And that’s why I’m a goon–because I find friendship and camaraderie in the 100,000+ strong SA Forums. I like the same humor as goons. I go to the same websites as goons. I join the same groups as goons, read the same books, watch the same movies. We’re united in what we like and what we don’t like. That’s what Helldump needs to re-think. You all need to figure out what you have in COMMON with the rest of SA…as opposed to why you’re DIFFERENT from them, or why you’re better than them.

I don’t remember what was the first time that I felt true pride and solidarity for these Forums. Maybe it was the first time I saw the SA Dating Game. Maybe it was the first Geno invasions on Habbo Hotel. Maybe it was the first time I saw the video of Gooncon 2k4, and I saw a huge mass of goons all cheering and yelling at Lowtax and having fun. Maybe it was when I was at Gooncon 2k5, and I saw our goony group begin to infiltrate the masses on Bourbon Street. It’s might’ve been the first time I played OJ in Goon Theft Auto, or the first Second Life Safari I participated in. Whatever it was, it made me realize something…we can do BIG things. We can be a huge force to be reckoned with…whether it be for bad or for good, a worldwide group of 120,000 so widespread and diverse as us can change a lot. But only if we’re united. Only if we stand together. Archimedes once said “Give me a lever big enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” We are that lever.

But we’ve got enemies. We’ve got people who want to destroy us. 4chan. SASS. Any roving bands of hackers that steal our passwords or whatever kind of information. And they’d like nothing more than to see us bickering and squabbling about who’s a nerd and who’s one of the cool kids. You want to do that? Great…but you’ve just broken our lever, and you’ve taken away any chance of us getting anything done. Everyone can bring something to SA…or they can take away from it. What have you done, Helldumpers?

Yeah, it is. What is so funny about that though? I’m getting the impression that I don’t know the whole story. /r/ link plz

What, you can’t run a browser and SL at the same time?

Yes, I have a laptop graphics card and yes, I realize this isn’t the right kind of rig for ANY MMO–whether it be EVE Online, World of Warcraft, or Second Life. However, this is why places like Habbo Hotel, and Metaplace will have infinitely more success than Second Life, despite less “nice shiny things”–it’s not too resources-intensive, anyone can get it up and running in minutes, and it has a very low learning curve. Anyone–even a business-class laptop cheapa$$ like me, can open up a Metaplace account (once it goes open to the public) and start walking around and doing stuff. Best part of it all–it runs completely in a browser, and I can do stuff like check Facebook, IM friends, etc in the meantime. There’s no way I could do that with Second Life. After being on the open betas for apps and sites like Quake Live, Loudcrowd, and Metaplace I’m convinced–browser-based is the way to go.

No body says they are not enjoying themselves in the the gay Gorian, Furry orgy pits of SL, just something things don’t go better with Coke. Apparently you aren’t a success officially if you don’t plaster Coke Cole advertisements all over everything like a nascar racer.