Games Week on Orange Island

I “spoke” today on Orange Island to help them kick off Games Week. This was a text-only event, which is pretty hardcore oldbie stuff.

The Orange website has full details of the event series. Here’s the transcript:

[11:07] Jade Lily: thanks for coming, everyone!
[11:07] Jade Lily: sorry for the slightly late start
[11:08] Jade Lily: i’m honored to introduce you to Onder Skall, whom i’ve asked to come and give an introduction to gaming in SL to kick off our week of gaming-related discussions and activities here on Orange Island
[11:08] Jade Lily: Onder Skall (known in real life as Caleb Booker) founded Second Life Games, and has published gaming articles to the Second Life Herald as well as New World Notes. His focus moved to business in virtual worlds when he became a full-time news editor at Metaversed.com. More recently, he is working as COO of Clever Zebra, a company focused on running events in virtual worlds.
[11:08] dandellion Kimban applauds
[11:09] Jade Lily: We’ve published a full schedule at orange-island.com, so feel free to check that out and i hope you’ll return to catch more of the events this week!
[11:09] Musique Gable claps
[11:09] Jade Lily: Onder, thanks so much for coming!
[11:09] Nomad Padar: i think my chair is broken
[11:09] You: Thanks for having me!
[11:09] Jade Lily: The show is all yours
[11:10] You: I wasn’t able to prepare as thoroughly as I might usually so I’ll thank you in advance for your patience
[11:10] You: Let me tell you a bit about how I discovered gaming in SL, and what I’ve found out since.
[11:10] You: When I was first getting involved in Second Life I used to spend a lot of time around the Welcome areas. I liked watching other people acting as confused as I felt: made me feel better about being confused.
[11:10] Basil Wijaya: hehe
[11:11] You: I wanted to build games but the physics engine wasn’t all that it could be. My first attempt at a game, a simple “keep up” game where you click on a ball to kick it up, sent the ball off the sim as often as it sent it thudding onto the ground like a peice of concrete.
[11:11] You: So I decided that it was time to do a little exploring and see how the experts were doing it. Soon I discovered that there were games here of every type imagineable, and some truly creative people behind them.
[11:11] You: Soon after discovering all of these games, I discovered that nobody knew about them. On my return trips to the Welcome areas newbies would ask: “Where are the games?” to which the oldbies would answer: “Second Life isn’t a game you f&#%ing n00b!!!!111″
[11:11] dandellion Kimban: lol
[11:12] You: So I’d take pity on them and hand out landmarks. That rolled over into a “Second Life Games” blog, a column over at New World Notes, and even some work at the Second Life Herald whenever I felt like playing the “how many flames can I generate in the next hour” game.
[11:13] You: Before the gambling ban, obviously gambling machines were all the rage. Slots, roulette, poker and blackjack were all there filling up generic-looking casinos, obviously, but those weren’t the big names. It was the competetive games that really pulled in the L$.
[11:13] You: Tringo ruled Second Life, and famously made the leap onto GameBoy Advance and the PC. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tringo
[11:14] You: That was pretty big news, and suddenly people started to wonder if Second Life could be used to prototype games in general… something that HAS been done since… from RPGs to giant mech games , SL is now commonly used to do test runs before a team sits down to write the console code.
[11:15] You: But getting back to gambling for a moment…
[11:15] You: People like Rifkin Habsburg really understood the idea that gambling for its own sake wasn’t enough.
[11:15] You: We had to have fun.
[11:15] You: I think his crowning acheivement here was in a game called “Danger Zone”, where you’d play a game of chicken against others hoping to win the pot without getting blown up, crushed, or eaten by a shark.
[11:16] You: To be honest, I played to lose… it was just too funny
[11:16] Jade Lily: haha
[11:16] Musique Gable: Been there, done that
[11:16] Musique Gable laughs
[11:16] You: Now, the gambling ban came along and some were a bit worried about gaming’s future…
[11:16] You: but once again, that’s just a question of people discovering what’s out there.
[11:17] You: People often underestimate the creativity in Second Life. If you can dream it, you can probably find it.
[11:17] You: One of my favorite things in Second Life is the form that fandom has taken on.
[11:17] You: It’s not enough to just make your avatar look like Mario, for instance….
[11:18] You: You need Bowser’s Castle, the full set of Karts (working of course), breakable blocks…
[11:18] You: oh and if you don’t have at least one “Mario Jump” animation, complete with sound effect, you are NO fan at all!
[11:18] Basil Wijaya: hehe
[11:19] You: Now, for hardcore gamer geeks, this goes even further… for a long time Seven Shikami was creating arcade games that emulated old 8-bit hits
[11:20] You: He also did a really decent rendering of “Typing Of The Dead”… a game where you have to quickly type out the hover-text before teh zombies get you. (Screenshots from House Of The Dead arcade shooter)
[11:20] You: Sadly, physics in Second Life still hold gaming back a bit… but not all that much. People tend to apply enginuity, not asking “What can’t this do”, but rather “Ok, this is what this tool can do. How can I use it?”
[11:21] You: Samurai Island is a great example there… fully scripted swordplay, easy to get started and with very few lag problems.
[11:21] You: Well… unless I’m playing… then it’s lag. Yeah… that’s it. It’s not that I suck or anything…
[11:21] dandellion Kimban:
[11:22] Sally LaSalle:
[11:22] You: I’d have to say though, that the #1 gaming application in Second Life is in RPGs.
[11:22] You: No question. You see MANY full-sim games where people role-play characters, engage in combat via HUDs and scripted animations, and overall live the characters they’re portraying.
[11:24] You: Maybe they’re popular because it’s the one kind of game that takes advantage of everything Second Life has to offer. Not only are you using stat engines and particle effects, but all of those crazy fashions you’ve purchased now have a place where you can show them off properly
[11:24] You: Plus, an RPG gives you an excuse to play with architecture… there are few other types of games that give you that opportunity.
[11:24] You: Well, except one: the amusement park ride.
[11:25] dandellion Kimban: and because the strongest engine of SL is imagination of its humans
[11:25] You: I imagine most of you have been to Prim Hearts or Megabux If you haven’t, go! Uh… when I’m done.
[11:26] You: The camera angles in SL make these worthwhile… it’s the one thing the Second Life client does better than most other games.
[11:26] You: When you ride the Tilt-a-Whirl, especially in Mouselook, you’ll practically fall out of your chair!
[11:27] You: Megabux has a gigantic slide… can’t remember how big, at least 40 stories… you know, you’d think that would be a boring thing to watch your avatar do, but it really isn’t.
[11:27] Lyanis Sin: a sim that takes good advatange of the camera is REC. i mention this because i would like to see more sims like this in the future
[11:28] You: This is why my focus these days is in running events in virtual worlds. You just can’t help but identify with this representation of yourself onscreen. That’s YOU, even if it is of the opposite sex, covered in fur and about a foot taller.
[11:28] Nany Kayo: lol
[11:28] You: The best games take advantage of this. RPGs, Danger Zone, the crazy rides, even the go-karts… you can’t separate yourself from the action.
[11:29] You: It’s more true here than it is even on a console, because here you’ve imprinted the look of your avatar in your memory. In a console game you’re just making some guy do stuff on screen. Here you’re making… yourself… do it.
[11:29] Ordinal Wilks&Co Vertical Clock-Loading Pistol v0.33 whirrs and clatters, aligning a punched tape…
[11:30] You: (You know, this is one of those conversations you just can’t have at a party in RL where nobody uses Second Life… they’ll think you’re nuts.)
[11:30] Basil Wijaya: ya
[11:30] You: That’s the past, but what about the future…
[11:31] You: Definitely expect a lot more representation here from major game companies wanting to prototype new ideas.
[11:31] You: You can do it cheaper and quicker in SL than anywhere, and it’s not very hard to pull a few people in.
[11:32] You: Also expect companies that are normally a bit stuffy to be investing in games for their builds. We’ve learned the hard way, via many an empty corporate sim, that SL is about ENGAGEMENT . At the moment, that means that either people are playing or they’re interacting with one another.
[11:33] You: The big plus about a game is that they can do both… and under your brand.
[11:33] You: I also expect, with absolute 100% certainty, that we’ll see another Tringo.
[11:33] You: What I mean by that is that at least one indie game maker is going to make something that leaps out of SL and into another platform.
[11:34] You: Card games like “Combat Cards” have a good chance, as do some of the more creative maze games I’ve seen lately…
[11:35] You: but it could be anything. Nowhere is there a group of creatives this completely wild. If you were to count on anything with gaming in SL, it’s to be surprised.
[11:35] You: I guess that’s all I have. Any questions?
[11:35] Nomad Padar: Yes, what is the most innovative game you’ve seen in SL?
[11:35] Nomad Padar: and why
[11:35] You: Hmmm… well now you’re asking me to measure innovation.
[11:36] You: I’d have to say… Danger Zone left a major mark on me because it was so completely unlike anything I’d ever seen.
[11:36] You: It wasn’t the gameplay itself… the diceworks were pretty standard game mechanics…
[11:37] Nany Kayo: Where can we find a directory of games in SL to go check out?
[11:37] You: but having us STAND, first of all, around this circle and then having these booby-traps… it lent this feeling of disquiet to the whole thing…
[11:37] You: but the colors were bright so you had fun.
[11:37] You: Nany: A directory of games? Sadly, there isn’t one at the moment. One group was working on one and got caught up in other work…
[11:38] You: and even I haven’t been able to work on the Second Life Games blog as I wish I could have…
[11:38] Lyanis Sin: Onder, what is your blog?
[11:38] Nany Kayo: off the top of your head, what is interesting to get an idea of the range of stuff available?
[11:38] You: I tried to work in an advisory capacity with some other guys on a major index, but I think they overshot what they were capable of.
[11:39] Jason Swain: Do you think that the new arrival of Havok4 will make game phyisics in SL more predictable or do you think that the engine scaling factors make the engine harder to predict in low time dialation sims?
[11:39] You: Lyanis: I recently (about a week ago) handed control of http://slgames.wordpress.com to another party whom I hope take up the gauntlet and run with it. I’m just too caught up with Clever Zebra these days.
[11:39] You: Nany: I’m sorry I didn’t follow the question…
[11:40] Nany Kayo: sorry, just wanted to check out some games : )
[11:40] Nany Kayo: dont know where to find them
[11:40] Lyanis Sin: I think Mono will allow for more complex games
[11:41] Nomad Padar: I’m not sure if you script much, but what do you think would be the best new feature for LSL?
[11:41] You: Jason: I think Havok4 will make some things more common, but I’ve been a bit disappointed about how much of an improvement it is. Driving games will improve, certainly, but at the moment the only guy I ever saw really run with the new physics was someone with a giant 20-story Plinko machine. That thing ruled.
[11:41] You: Lyanis: RPGers will prove you right about Mono I think.
[11:41] Lyanis Sin: hehehe
[11:41] dandellion Kimban: many “serious” gamers are very against SL… do you think that is going to change?
[11:41] Nomad Padar: Complex games are possible in LSL
[11:42] You: Nomad: I’m not all that much of a scripter, but I will tell you that distributing the load onto 3rd party servers would be huge… many games would work better if the textures could be stored on a conventional web hosting account.
[11:42] Basil Wijaya: The scripter of the simboard redid it all since Havok4 and it is much better than before
[11:43] You: dandellion: I think it is changing. A year ago that conflict (”real” gaming vs. “Second Life”) was much more prevelant than it is now. Massively covering only MMOs, and then mixing in SL, went a long way toward closing that rift.
[11:44] You: Any more questions? Did I miss any?
[11:44] Nomad Padar: I’m fresh out.
[11:44] You: Ok there was a request for places to go play… so let’s wrap up with that.
[11:44] Basil Wijaya: Very interesting Onder
[11:44] Jade Lily: Onder, question…
[11:44] You: I don’t have SLurl’s handy so here are some things to look for…
[11:45] You: Oh… go ahead Jade
[11:45] Jade Lily: Do you want to talk about who will be taking over the games blog, or did you cover that and I miss it?
[11:46] You: I think I’ll let them come forward with that. Sad truth is that when it comes to games reporting, I’ve seen many people with best intentions not quite live up to their ambitions. This is usually because gamers would rather be playing than writing… I just happen to be a guy who thinks of writing as playing.
[11:46] You: Ok, places to play:
[11:46] You: Prim Hearts
[11:47] You: Megabux
[11:47] You: Look up this guy right here in the front row: Rifkin Habsburg (didn’t see you there!)… brilliant game maker
[11:47] Musique Gable: Rifkin owns the Malrif sim
[11:47] You: Also the “Coin Op Arcade” by Seven Shikami
[11:47] Nany Kayo: thanks! Rifkin did get in touch with me
[11:48] You: And… oh gosh… Midian City, CCS, DCS, and all of the non-XXX RPG lands…
[11:48] Nomad Padar: Oh, one more question - Does your blog focus on the big, “sim wide” games in SL? or do they cover smaller HUD games put fourth from lowly scripters like myself? (to get noticed should i move on to bigger things?)
[11:48] You: also go to SLExchange and just search for “Games”. You’ll find a ton
[11:49] Rifkin Habsburg waves. “Thanks, Onder. There’s Procyon Games signs up above peopel can touch for a landmark if they’re interested”
[11:49] You: Nomad: really SLGames was just about whatever I found whenever I found it. Size is all relative… if you’ve captured one person’s attention, you are the world to them.
[11:49] Jade Lily: Digi Vox has some freebie games up on OnRez: http://shop.onrez.com/Digi_Vox/?SortBy=best_match&Category=59
[11:49] Jade Lily: puzzle games
[11:50] Nomad Padar: Thank you Onder.
[11:50] You: I *highly* recommend getting in touch with SL reporters and bloggers and sending them landmarks. They’re usually desperate for content anyhow.
[11:50] Jade Lily: they’re out around the upper plaza area too, if you’d like to try them out
[11:50] dandellion Kimban: lol
[11:50] You: Ok, guess that’s it. Thanks everyone, happy gaming!
[11:50] dandellion Kimban: yhank you onder
[11:50] Musique Gable claps
[11:50] Fab Outlander: thank you Onder
[11:50] Basil Wijaya: Thanks Onder
[11:50] Jade Lily: Thanks so much for coming, Onder! This was great
[11:50] Ordinal Malaprop applauds
[11:51] Erik Trommler: Thanks Onder!