Ten Reasons Why Second Life is Better than World of Warcraft
IT Pro recently wrote about the Ten reasons why World of Warcraft is better than Second Life by Asavin Wattanajantra. He did a pretty good job but I am going to disagree and offer up the:
Ten Reasons Why Second Life is Better than World of Warcraft
1. Play for Free
Unlike WoW Second Life gives you the option of having a free account without the monthly fee. If you do not own any land in Second Life you have full access to the game and do not have to pay the required $155.88 to $179.88 (depending on your payment plan) needed to play World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King. For free you get an awful lot including a very good set of 3d modeling tools.
A Comparison of World of Warcraft and Second Life Avatar Characters
2. Be Whatever the Hell You Want
What? You mean I am limited to a certain race and characteristics? In Second Life make your avatar whatever the hell you want with no limitations or restrictions. And that includes a human, a bat, an organ, a robot, a monkey, a cat, an alien, a penguin, a wolf, a bug, a dragon, a bear, something abstract, a horse, metal, a bird, yes anything.
3. Stream Live and YouTube Videos In Game
It is just cool that you can show video in Second Life and even YouTube Videos. WoW? No? Awwwww.
4. Hold Business Meetings
Aside from the stray business raiding party (which can prove distracting to go over the minutes while fighting off a giant Monster) Second Life is the clear winner for virtual business meetings with employees from all over the world or even a virtual alcoholics anonymous meeting in Second Life. Especially when you take into account the recent developments with Immersive Workspaces 2.0 and the ability to show a Powerpoint presentation in Second Life.
5. Game Development
Have you ever wanted to create your own game or your own mini game? You can create mini games within Second Life such I am Legend first person shooter, virtual soccer, and more.
6. Second Life Gives You Intellectual Property Rights to What you Create
Read that terms and agreements from WoW sometime. Technically Blizzard owns everything including your character and everything you do or accomplish. In Second Life a developer can create full custom programs and own them and sell them. Fashion designers design clothes for large profits and more.
7. Scientific Research Can be Conducted
There are several examples of simulations, scientific programs, research, etc being run in Second Life which is extremely useful and practical. Try doing that with your Orc. There are many many organizations performing research, simulations, and scientific study in this virtual world.
8. More Diverse Players
As Wattanajantra points out you will most likely run into an IT worker in WoW. In Second Life it could be anyone from any diverse walk of life including fashion designers, business women, djs, artists, etc.
It is Not As Addictive
Second Life is more of a casual gaming experience for most and is far less addicting without the need to constantly level up as in WoW. There have been far fewer lives destroyed by playing Second Life (there have been a few) than World of Warcraft (there have been many many more).
9. Limitless Possibilities of Things to Do
In Wow it is all about leveling, crafting, trading, quests, battles, and maybe a few other things. In Second Life you can build an art gallery, become a property owner and open a mall, build a business, design clothes, program applications, shoot the breeze with friends, go jet ski-ing, play in mini games, create 3d objects with 3d modeling, get a battle Hud and fight as Storm Troopers, or fight as ninjas and that is just scratching the surface.
10. With a Move to OpenSim OpenGrid and OpenSource as Well as IBM Business Applications the Future is Limitless
IBM has developed a corporate version of Second Life, recent moves to Open Source, use of OpenSim, and OpenGrid puts Second Life into an open source world unlike Blizzard tightly holding the reigns on their software. The possibilities are limitless and the power of tens of thousands of developers can be harnessed. Just look at the success of FireFox.
Nice article about Second Life, but this is like saying that going to work is better than staying home and playing Dungeons and Dragons. Perhaps true for some, but you seem to be comparing a game (World of Warcraft) to a virtual world (Second Life). It’s a bit of a non sequitur, seemingly.
Woooow… you got me to stop playing Computer Games! And I’m going to try out Second life, and I really hope I don’t get addicted.
with regards
Lucifer
Yeah, Second Life and World of warcraft are totally different games. Second life is basically about having a whole seperate life and being able to be WHOEVER you want to be, like a fresh start on life. World of Warcraft is ‘warcraft’ the point of the game isn’t to have another life it is to quest and to pursue the war between Horde and Alliance. One cannot be better than the other it is all based on what the player is looking for out of an online video game. It is based on personal preferences.
how do i get this 2nd life? do i have to buy it from a store
No you do not have to buy anything.it is completely free!Go to secondlife.com. At the bottom of the screen, you will see some links. Go to downloads. Click on that, and your on your way. If you have any trouble, either getting to secondlife.com, downloading it, or if you’re in the game, my email is nazem89@gmail.com, and in the game, my name is amir89 ametza. Please, don’t hesitate to ask any questions!
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I absolutely love second life and even tried WoW i couldnt get into it. i love that second life is user friendly and FREE and also that i can do basically whatever i feel like doing from riding a roller coaster to ballroom dancing it is fun and exciting to see what else i can do so yes i agree to second life is better than world of war craft.
World of Warcraft and Second Life are two different genres entirely. You can’t compare them. One is a virtual world designed predominately for social networking. The other is an objective-based video game. They might both be MMO’s, but they’re both totally different products with totally different goals.
Whether one is better than the other depends SOLELY on what you’re looking for, so this is not absolute, and will definitely not apply to everyone.
I tried out second life. It completely sucks. Yeah anyone can make clothes,cars, spaceships, whatever and most of them do. So the game is flooded with advertisements for these businesses. Also you can only be whoever you want to be if you happen to be in an area where the owner allows it. I picked up a cool space ship in the tutorial area and couldnt use it in a s single spot I could find.. Is that what you call freedom?.
You make it sound so easy but it’s really not. You get dropped off in a world with no goals, no land (unless you want to spend real money), with little to know goals in the game.
It might be nice that some people have made games within the games, but finding those games is hard to do. It’s not even a game at all really. Just a social network like Myspace in a 3D world and unless you happen to be a programmer or have a lot of time to learn on your hands you’re not going to be making any real world cash out of the game in the first day.
Lastly you make it sound like its completely free but in order to do a lot of things in Second life you have to pay real money for them.
I dont’t think it’s a fare comparisson. WoW is an adventure, and second life is some kind of simulation, personally i like my own life and don’t need a SECOND LIFE, other way i would prefer a story (NOT MMORPGs).
Yes of course this guy is completely correct in every regard. Oh wait..11 million players on WoW, Something tells me blizzard are making alot more money from WoW then the company making Second Life.
lol how is being able to hold business meetings make it better
lol free u pay u get better nuff said
Comparing Second Life to World of Warcraft is like comparing apples to oranges. The only thing they have in common is that they are both online. SL is not a game, but more like a virtual chat room. WOW has quests, goals, etc. SL is just for socializing. WOW is for solving new quests, leveling, etc. SL is all about social interaction and communication.
@DaiziMay
Thanks for your comment. I agree with you that they are different. The post was largely sparked as a response to post on the 10 reasons WoW was better than SL. With the comparison started a rebuttal was necessary. I disagree with you however that SL is just for socializing. Check out some of my posts on using SL for game development and film director movie machinima making.
Nice to read SL is alive and kicking and by some of you even considered better than WOW. Reading the Belgian Press titling “Second Life one foot in the grave”, one would believe otherwise
But I agree, WOW and Second Life are two different things. While the first is an uncreative game with a clear purpose, the second is a creative platform with an unclear purpose.
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I’m glad you enjoy playing Second Life. Would be more interested in seeing a comparison to a similar game though.
Such as Second Life vs. Sims 3