inKLine Media

By Katsumi Mika

(Photo by Feyala)

Linden Labs  announced this summer its plans to expand its presence to Steam, a portal to MMO (massively multiplayer online game) and MMORP (massively multiplayer online role-play game).  Steam serves an audience of around 2.7 million concurrent users–down from a peak of 5.5 million–according to internal statistics.

“As some sharp-eyed developers have speculated, we’re going to make Second Life available on Steam in the next month or so,” LL wrote in its press release.

The apparent logic is that this will expose SL to a larger audience, but the move has certainly empowered the perception that LL has shifted its focus more towards attracting the gaming and role-play community.

While many people join SL to complement their RL, it does indeed offer a large variety of popular user-created combat systems and content specific role-playing.  For business owners, the shift can seem intimidating, albeit uncomfortable, but it also means a chance to target a new market.

“I think for those who create items for Second Life this will be a positive move,” said DreamWeaver Chrome, a  Bloodline member.

On the other hand, Shifty5811 Resident, a common role-player, believes that “if [LL] limit [SL] to one community then they will lose many people. Many people come to Second Life for many reasons and not just to game. Some go to college using this as a distance learning tool, others to escape the harsh realities of real life. Gamers are a huge community. They should not limit themselves but incorporate both.”

(Photo by Feyala).

Pointing out an age old tension, role-play sim owner, Nash Sauber stated: “I think SL’s always been a gaming community.” When we asked him the reason behind his beliefs, he replied “It’s a simple fact that it always was. Its progression in a backwards sort of fashion I admit, Second life isn’t so different than other MMO’s out there.  Take EverQuest for example.  Most see it as a gaming community,  but to a good chunk of the people there, it was a “Virtual” community as well.  They were there to hang out with their friends, chat, socialize, hit on one another so on so forth. The only difference between the two…one was more focused on killing monsters while the other was more focused on the social aspects.”

Even if Second Life’s community may or may not change into a gaming community, many people have reacted positively to it and even encouraged the idea, saying that it would benefit the actual community. “More options are always a good thing,” said DreamWeaver Chrome when we asked her if she would encourage this change.

But what about the business owners such as fashion designers?   This industry could perhaps feel the biggest impact if SL’ shifts more towards a gaming community.   In order to adapt, will designers have to branch out to accommodate cosplays, medieval or sci-fi outfits?

“The only impact I could see happening would be a positive one,” said Sidney Hax, Project Manager for SL Fierce Magazine.  “As far as fashion goes, I know myself and many other models use some RP peices to accomodate an outfit. In SL, we are role-players too.”