1. Yes, i've been paid the Premium fee and i won't throw it away. I hope next update makes it all better, almost "normal".

Best Regards

Posted at 3:42PM on Oct 17th 2006 by Mark Hinkle

2. Not aware of another place where one can create content as in SL. I imagine about 10 or 15 minutes after a stable competitor comes along that can do the same, mass migration will occur. I can't help but think that part of the rush to add features is for this reason, but who knows (not me).

Posted at 4:04PM on Oct 17th 2006 by Intolerable Ginsburg

3. I'm only a couple of months old, so this kind of instability is normal to me. Despite the crashes and bullshit I've made some genuine friends and have great fun - that's what keeps me coming back.

I hold out hope that we'll get stability one day, but as a software developer I know when things get as complex as SL nothing short of a re-architecture will fix some of the interdependencies that are causing some of the latest bugs and exploits. When I release a bug or exploit into production it's a real 'doh' moment, but it does happen.

Posted at 4:46PM on Oct 17th 2006 by Fred Fish

4. I can't create content or own land in WoW.

I love the wildly chaotic nature of SL. I think most of us that inhabit SL know that it, or something like it, is the future. I think in ten years or less I'll be making my living primarily within such a virtual environment along with millions of other people.

I'm putting up with it because it's the future.

Posted at 4:49PM on Oct 17th 2006 by TAD

5. I much prefer it when SL crashes to when RL crashes.

But it's just lots of fun, and I like the people, the furries, the wolfs, and the daleks I meet.

I hope to be logging in when I am old and in my wheel chair, or old enough to wet the bed again.

BTW Run out of stock photos Akela?

Posted at 5:15PM on Oct 17th 2006 by Shockwave Plasma

6. As others have pointed out
1) There's really no competition to second life where we can migrate to (for now)
2) The belief that it will get better and the bugs will get worked out

This kinna makes me wish Blizzard would make a competitor to Second Life so we can enjoy that level of polish. The current state of second life (learning curve, poor user interface, bugs, server stability, etc.) makes it very difficult to recommend to anyone but the most enthusiastic computer users.

I've met so many people who were intrigued by the concept but turned off by the implementation

Posted at 5:21PM on Oct 17th 2006 by Todd Borst

7. Blizzard acheive polish with WoW because it is not a completely dynamic environment. SL wouldn't be the place it is if you were limited to basic 'macros' and interaction with a preset environment.

If Blizzard (or anyone) attempted the same thing as SL they would have to rehash the bugs, performance, and security all over again.

Having said that, anyone building a virtual world from scratch could learn a lot from reading the release notes, blogs, and history of SL =)

Posted at 5:46PM on Oct 17th 2006 by Fred Fish

8. The friends I've made are primarily what keeps me coming back. Several of us have started a business together recently, and we have too much invested to throw in the towel just yet. I have to say, though...SL needs to get their stuff fixed, and soon, because if a new competitor were to come along that offered anything close to SL's creative abilities, we would all be out the door.

The really sad thing is that all this stuff is correctable. SL just refuses to admit their mistakes and fix them.

Posted at 7:01PM on Oct 17th 2006 by Boss Melnitz

9. I just think people overreact, and have no sense of proportion about how much time SL is up and down.

Every other Wednesday, there's an update: some go well and are done by noon, some take longer. That's just the regularly scheduled weather. Every VW has an equivalent; I played FFXI for a year, and it was just as frequently updated.

Occasionally there's a grid attack, which is usually resolved in an hour or two. It's been more frequent recently, but we can't tell yet if that's a real trend or just coincidental, random clustering.

Meanwhile, what I can do in SL is a decade ahead of what I could do anywhere else, and none of the "competitors" are even trying to address the things they lack. Metaverse and Croquet don't have a true shared world, only a bunch of isolated worlds with no real discovery system. WoW has no user content, and if it did, it would be just as "laggy" as SL, or far more so because they have no experience with streaming content.

Posted at 8:24PM on Oct 17th 2006 by Kami Harbinger

10. Second Life is the single most complex software system I've ever seen or used; it's natural that there be bugs. But there literally is nothing else like it; it's like nothing I've ever imagined. And it's got its hooks in me.

Plus, with Danielle gone, I have responsibilities at the Gin Rummy to consider...

Posted at 12:21AM on Oct 18th 2006 by Erbo Evans

11. I spend most of my free time in SL! Why, because I can! But mostly because, like what a lot of other commenters have already pointed out, it's the only place where one can imagine, create and BE! Cali, you know as well as I do, and other too here (someone even said it). Whatever phenomenon Second Life has created for the masses .. it IS the WAY OF THE FUTURE! Definitely. Some say I'm nuts! But who wants to be normal anyway. I keep coming back because IT IS THE FUTURE and I am going to be a part of it no matter what!
This was a great question to ask!~ Thanks for asking it. I enjoyed reading the comments of those before me.

Posted at 7:01AM on Oct 18th 2006 by Maxine Montale (Second Life Resident)

12. The one thing that holds me to SL is the radio station Nala and I own. I love to DJ and this is my outlet. Not to mention all the other DJs that are family to us. If it wasn't for the station, I would've quietly faded out of sl; tiered down, sold off land and gone away.

Posted at 12:08PM on Oct 18th 2006 by Trinity Serpentine

13. The honest answer is: I like the concept of SL, and at present nobody else is doing anything like it, so in order to keep "in the loop" with the development of this type of virtual environment, I have no option but to return.

Posted at 6:30AM on Oct 19th 2006 by Stan Pomeray

14. Free porn.

Posted at 7:14PM on Oct 21st 2006 by Neoagent Meek

15. Second life reminds me of how the internet was when it first started. A lot of people don't remember (or are not old enough to remember) how crude and unrealiable it was in the beginning. My gut feeling is that this type of environment will be the future and next direction of the internet as a whole.

It's exciting to be here. Just like it was when the internet was young.

Posted at 9:24AM on Oct 31st 2006 by R. Holiman

16. Well, I'm a newbie - I've only been on a month. So to me the crashing seems like the norm. When it stops, I'll be over the moon!

I've previously explored in Ultima/Oblivion/City of Villains, built in The Sims and chatted on talkers and irc. Here I can do all three, almost at the same time!

The magic hasn't worn off yet. I don't know when it will.

Posted at 8:25AM on Nov 16th 2006 by Marcus Prospero

17. I think the future of this type of application will involve the migration of an application like Google Earth, where a simulated real world would be created, and users could live within this virtual space as they wish they could live in real space. Imagine if you could purchase real estate in Manhattan from the "Donald Trump" character, or you could purchase and run a virtual McDonald's franchise! I think Second Life (or a similiar program) would be thought of as a Second Chance...you get to do things that you haven't done in real life.

Posted at 11:34AM on Nov 16th 2006 by J. Rad