Second Life, the newest massive multiplayer online game coming to a PC near you promises the ability to completely reshape the world you play in. From building homes to creating any object you can imagine, Second Life is attempting to break the MMORPG mold and start a whole new genre of gaming. Game Culture Magazine had a chance to sit down with Philip Rosedale, CEO of Linden Lab.

GCM: Describe Second Life.

Philip: Second Life is a burgeoning new online society, shaped entirely by its residents. It is a shared 3D space where players have the opportunity to explore, compete, connect with each other, and create anything in their individual or collective imaginations.

GCM: Coming off disappointing sales of Sims Online, what separates Second Life from The Sims on the game store shelf?

Philip: First of all, one important distinction is that Second Life will not be a boxed product sold on store shelves. Because the Second Life client is a small, 10MB file, we will be offering it as a download, distributed on the Internet. This strategy means players don’t need to make an up-front investment in a boxed product. Second Life residents will simply perform the free download and begin their virtual lives immediately, paying an ongoing subscription fee.

GCM: Sims has always been criticized about its focus on hygiene and eating. How does Second Life get around this and how does this effect gameplay?

Philip: Second Life does not require its residents to do real-world things like sleep and go to the bathroom, nor does it impose “skill” building activities like pizza making, etc. Our intention is to give our players a virtual sandbox of sorts where they can build, compete and interact on their own terms. This focus has already had an overwhelmingly positive effect on gameplay. Our residents have staged their own virtual wedding, sponsored an in-world flea market, and created a sword-fighting game without any Linden Lab participation whatsoever. This society is taking on a life of its own.

GCM: One of the most exciting things about this game is that users can shape and build things in real-time within the environment. Some level of programming knowledge will be needed to participate in this advanced feature. How do you think this will affect gameplay and how will this be appealing to the general consumer?

Philip: While it is true that some level of programming is required to add interactivity to objects, building can be accomplished without knowing any programming, or even how to model in 3D. First, newbies can easily customize existing objects, created by other users as well as by Linden Lab. For example, they can customize a house from a kit by deciding whether or not to include the porch. Second, residents can make objects their own by personalizing them in unique ways - for example, by decorating their Second Life home with real-life pictures. Third, SL residents who have 3D modeling and/or programming skills can use them to create lavish mansions, fantastic costumes, or intricate weapons from scratch. Newbies are then able to purchase these items and customize them if they wish. Some of our residents have even begun conducting in-world building, texturing, and scripting classes to teach these skills. We now have classes at the beginning, intermediate and advanced skill levels being taught by SL residents.

GCM: Describe the tool used to build items in Second Life. Is it a WYSIWYG tool or are users expected to learn more complex programming languages?

Philip: It is a WYSIWYG tool. The building functionality is integrated right into the Second Life UI. There are no separate tools to learn or applications to load. If you want to create a box, you click on the "create" tool and click on the ground in front of you. The box appears in front of you, and can be seen immediately by anyone standing nearby.

This means you can build in-world in real time, either on your own or collaboratively with others. The building tools and scripting system are easy for beginners to pick up, yet powerful enough for advanced artists and programmers to really flex their creativity - you can easily build objects that look great.

If you want to take the next step, there is a simple scripting language that can give these objects behaviors or special effects. Scripting is easy enough for non-programmers to pick up quickly so that, for example, they can make things spin, change color, or react when clicked.

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