Tai'lahr wrote:It is very much like Second Life and even uses the same viewer, tools, interface, etc. The biggest difference is the money. The sim in Second Life that costs $295/month is only $12.50/month there. I'm ready to move there! But, will the Eder D'Uru builders be willing to move the build there? Will other Uru refugees in Second Life come to visit?
These are hard questions for which to have definite answers. Dot and I have been discussing various costs and options. Posted some
cost comparisons for Blue Mars in an article on my blog. The BoA grid is an example of what many are doing, making private grids which are open to the public. I have my own private grid on my workstation and may someday give it a public access point.
This is not simply a matter of will folks come and visit. I think much of the answer is in what the UU era revealed. Empty MMO’s don’t really attract people.
An advantage that is coming is grid interoperability. Some are predicting we will see this happen in late 2010. That is sort of a
Cyan soon. When that happens travel from grid to grid will be like travel from region to region. That should increase the likely hood of visitors.
Also grids may grow… Blue Mars offers areas up to 16km x 16km and one can build out beyond that but AV’s stay within that, which makes SL and OS regions look tiny (256m x 256m). I doubt BM will participate in the shared grid and I’m not at all convinced they will survive. But a 10 concurrent AV sim of 256,000,000 sq km for US$30/mo is pretty attractive. Metaplace, or verse or something, with a similar philosophy is closing too. While the big areas make me drool I am way skeptical of the BM business model. However, with meshes coming to SL, probably early 2010, BM content will be usable in SL and OS.
OSGrid is having physics problems. That hopefully gets fixed this month.
Tai'lahr wrote:And, with Dot moving Channelwood to a different Open Source grid, will the community end up divided? I need more information and advice.
I assume you mean more divided than it is now? I think that is a yes. Will open source make MOOSU… MOOU… (I really have to pick one someday) possible in 2010? I hope but the Riven for iPhone rumors have me wondering.
I don’t know if division is good or bad. We will divide and consolidate and go through cycles. That is just how it seems to work. So, if we are smart, we plan for it.
JWP, I’m not sure how much we/you should rely on Eder D’Uru as an example. I am very surprised it is closing for financial reasons. At $200/mo with shops and homes and some game play… I would think it was funded. Rumor is there were other issues too. If you have not been in SL’s D’Uru then make a quick visit, if possible. While D’Uru had some great experiments in process, it was definitely not the Myst-Uru
game one could play. I hope to learn more about why it is closing. If differences in vision, ideas or drama are part of the reasons for its closing then it may fall into the projects that may be helped by the
Stds. for Discussion & Debate. Not being a resident of D’Uru I don’t have good information.
Again it was a mostly deserted region whenever I visited. The efforts with Devokan to attract players have shown some possibilities. The idea of using journals to bridge story for low population areas has possibilities. We’ll see how that translates for use on the OSGrid.
Tai'lahr wrote:One major plus: without the stigma of the Second Life name, I believe more members of the Uru Community would join us there - whichever one we choose to settle in.
That is possible. I’m not sure how much of a group that would be. I’m also not sure how much they would find to do there. Will the shops work on the new grid? Commerce may be out. How many core SL people will move over and help new folks?
I suspect those that dislike SL will not be happy with OS and private grids.
One area of hope is Crux Isle. Jandai’s Myst-Uru style puzzles age. It has gone into testing. There is no projected opening date I know of. What is the Cyan scale value after soon? I’m teasing. Jandai and Taimaru do nice work, are creative and from helping out earlier I can say the puzzles I saw are fun. I think its popularity will tells us how people like puzzle ages. For now MadPea puzzle regions seem to have good interest. But then I understand the funder, Orange Comm, withdrew their support.
The Dark RP sim NoR is shrinking now, 28 down to 14 sims. Some other combat RP sim's are growing. It's not hard to see what is selling... WoW, GW...