The Inevitable City
Perhaps one of the earliest computer toys, if not actually the earliest, was Sim City. Before that of course there were plenty of computer games, but not really any toys. For me, although both involve play, a toy does not have a preset goal; you can’t “win” with a toy, except by defining your own goals, independant of whoever made the toy. This, by the way, is why it is generally far better to give children toys to play with instead of games; defining their own goals is a key step in developing young minds.
But I digress. Sim City was also the first meaningful computer simulation toy. Sure, there was Life, which has probably accounted for more processor time than anything before or since, but its rules are very simple - simple enough to hold in your head - and don’t even pretend to seriously simulate anything in real life. And there were plenty of simulator games, especially flight simulators; but those were not toys. Sim City naturally enough spawned many sequels and branch titles. Sim Earth in particular was one of my favourites, and very much under-rated at the time.
At the same time that simulation toys were becoming popular, social interaction was appearing on teh Interwebs. At first these were text only, such as IRC, then limited graphics started appearing, MUDs, MUCKs, forums, web-based chat rooms, GUI chat… the whole nine yards.
It was inevitable that social interaction webs and simulation toys would eventually merge.
SL is the most widely known of these. It is getting a lot of press coverage, at least compared to others. I think this is because major corporations are moving in to the Grid. Other examples of socia interaction simulation toys include There and TSO. Maybe some of the more advanced MUDs count; it can be a fine line indeed. WoW definitely does not count though. It is a game, and a very good example of one. But it has very clearly defined winning conditions and rules; rules which make it nonsensical for a corporation to establish a presence in the game world in the same way they can contemplate doing so in SL. I’m not saying that is good or bad; just different.
So the relationship of SL to social interaction webs seems really really obvious. But… you are maybe wondering why I also call SL a conceptual descendant of Sim City? Well, for most residents, it isn’t. But at the higher end of the scale - corporate continents, Anshe Chung’s Dreamlands, the Elven continent, and so on, people really are zoning land and extending inhabited spaces and building communities and establishing police forces, exactly like they do in Sim City. It’s just a little more expensive than playing Sim City.
March 2nd, 2007 at 9:06 pm
My understanding was that the goal in SimCity was to get as much citizens in you city as possible. Similar to what LindenLabs is trying to do with SL. And when the population grew to much and the infrastructure of the city couldn’t cope with it, a lot of traffic jams formed and the sims started to riot.
That also sounds very familiar to which what’s happening in SL right now.
So in that analogy, LL is the player, and us residents are merely the sims, needed to occupy their game.
March 13th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Interesting, Kees, but that sounds a little bit simplistic, to say that we are residents merely needed to occupy their game…
I don’t enjoy being compared to a little character that only knows where the closest bus station is, what the air quality is like, and a few other things… I like to believe that I’m a very complex being with complex needs.
With similar language, I could say that the Lindens are puppets which we can use to shock ‘n awe with out own set of ideals with…
I’d prefer to look at it that way,as it helps me feel more useful
…. However, if the Lindens want to stay in front, they really need to do stock takes, and realise that if they want player retention, they gotta work for it . Fix up those ‘water not appearing’ bugs. Make the ’stop animations’ buttons *work*, and easy to locate….
Face it , LSL sucks, too…. I have spent a little time learnign to program LSL , but I’ve realised that the financial returns for me even attempting to dig in far outweigh doing real work, like working on web applications, that actually have some sort of standards. LSL is open to change. You might spend 10 grand building up a set of AI pets or something, only to find the next release breaks them all in one swoop!!!
March 13th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
I’ve strayed from the topic somewhat… But yes……
Back t the topic, it’s a great life simulation….. However sorely limited by the default Linden phsyics engine, default wind sound effects etc…
If it is to go one step further, we will be seeing flexibility with this, into the future, as it all becomes open source..
Make the programming backbone solid, and we will come….
If it’s blowing in the wind , like it is now, then the rats will forever be leaving their cages looking for some tasty morsels to much on… I believe we should wait before we place the flags of digital evolution into the ground …..