no, it’s not a game

yesterday, i had a little discussion with the friendly susanne möller, computer game reviewer in the swedish daily dagens nyheter. it started with her writing that she was tired of people calling her and asking what she thought about second life. when she answers that she’s never been there, people get amazed. why not? isn’t she into computer games? “the answer i give is simple. it’s not a game,” möller wrote. so far, so good.

but when she wrote that sl was nothing more than “an advanced chat in 3d”, i thought well, if you’d been there, you’d know it was more than that.

möller compared sl to world of warcraft, where she spends 30 hours every week. because, as she wrote, “it has challenges, things i can excel in, a goal to reach – alone, or with others.”

so i wrote her. i said that if sl was nothing more than an advanced chat, i wouldn’t have lasted for more than two weeks. the reason for why i stay, of course, is that sl, just like wow, has challenges, things i can excel in, a goal to reach – alone, or with others. my everyday challenges is to find newsworthy things for me to write about. with nena, i have a common challenge to save us money to buy our own house. her challenges are her job as a model agency manager and her new gallery project.

and so it is all over second life. thousands of avatars with plans and projects. people building, designing, exhibiting, discussing, and so on.

susanne möller wrote back to say she was sorry if she had stepped on my toes. she said my challenges was just as important as it was for her to take out illhoof in the karazhan, and wished me the best of luck. still, she added, that doesn’t make sl game. and that’s true. but it doesn’t make it a chat either.

~ by theresecarfagno on May 28, 2007.