Been going back to Second Life over the last few days, which is not really a good thing since I do have projects and school coming up. But I figured that I should just drop by to see how things are since I left last Oct.
It started with a message from old SL friend NikCartwho mentioned that she had just started playing again and was hoping to find me in game. Last I heard she was still actively playing, so I was intrigued by what make her leave and come back again.
And it turns out to be : World of Warcraft
Heh….well that’s a surprise. I was actually expecting some soap drama like thing that seems common-place in Second Life. That I was prepared for.
It seems somewhat of a backward step for the people in Second Life to be drawn so deeply by WOW (Especially for CriSnshn…Hi Cori!). It’s surprising that anti-violence, shopping loving, creative and talented females would turn to and actually find Orc bashing to be such a draw. While I have played the beta and I am in agreement that Blizzard has put out a polished and engaging gameplay environment, I have to wonder how much of the initial draw was due to marketing? How did they manage to break through the already established mindsets and attitudes long enough to hook them with the gameplay? And while WOW is good, they actually did not do anything innovative except being able to put together all the best aspects of previous MMORPGS in a single package. What would happen if they actually tried out the new breed of MMO’s that actually try to innovate but do not have the marketing or brand recognition like Warcraft does?
Once again the spotlight falls on the fact that MMO games are the way to go in the future. One just has to find a theme or niche that would interest them and soon there will bound to be a game to cater to you view. And even if there isn’t any, why not just try something different? Who knows, it might just break your mindset and hook you anyway.
If so…shouldn’t you try out Second Life as well? It’s different from anything else out there that are so hyped through the normal gaming media channels, but you never know…you might just like it.
