Call me stupid, but after reading through the descriptions of each of these, I had a very serious "what the hell are they thinking" moment. Then after playing with dio (was it named after Ronnie James Dio??) and looking at the others more in-depth, my feelings of doom, despair, defeat and dread only grew.Dio, it seems to me, is nothing more than a do-it-yourself, point & click version of the old computer text game, Colossal Cave Adventure. I wasn't old enough at the time to know about or play Colossal Cave, but I've read enough references to it that I think I'm safe in saying that dio seems like much the same thing. Which begs the question, why? Why cobble up a full beta site for a game concept that's 40-years old? Why put resources into it? Where did this silly idea come from? And they're going to use ad revenue to drive it? Is the target audience 60-something bookworms?
Next up, Versu. OMG boring. I do a lot of writing for a living but the thought of doing interactive stories on an iPad totally underwhelms me. If I'm going to write something, I'm going to use something with a real keyboard. If I'm going to read something on a tablet, it's going to be a real book by a real author. Or I'm going to be browsing Coldwater Creek or Zappos. I can think of 100's of things to do on a tablet before I'd consider something like Versu. :P
Creatorverse - on multiple platforms no less. So you get to put cartoony, 2D shapes and things in motion and watch them do shit? Woohoo! Sign me up Rodvik! I guess it's kind of like Flash for the unskilled. Well the unskilled part fits me but exactly what am I supposed to do with something I create? Show my friends? "Hey Justin, check out this cool rocket I made on my iPhone! Can we get married now?" "Lookie here Flo! I made a happy pink poodle out of circles that runs in place. Isn't she cute?" I mean seriously Lindens? This creates revenue? 
And finally Patterns. Make your own giant canyon or mountain that looks like a crazy quilt and walk or fly around it. Gosh, where do I sign up? Oh hmmm. Maybe at www.SecondLife.com where the mountains you make actually look real and not like something in a Torley Linden nightmare.
All this seems like a grasping at nonexistent straws if you ask me. (Well you didn't really ask so I'm telling you.) Maybe some of my blog readers can tell me the silver linings or paths forward in these ventures. Is this sort of creative direction coming from Rodvik Humble or further down the food chain? I welcome your comments!
I had exactly the same feeling when I heard about these new revenue streams. They are not for me. And if they are not for me how can they be attractive to anyone else? LOL :)
ReplyDeleteGood one Orca!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty open minded about new things and am always game to give something a try. None of the four projects seemed even remotely interesting from a long-term, sustainable perspective. dio seemed especially odd since they have a high-profile, 3-letter domain and they're filling it with 70's text-based stuff. Something is just horribly wrong about that, especially with today's low-attention span ADD users.
I barely have enough time for a Second Life let alone boring games. Even all the facebook games have not managed to hold my attention for longer than 5 minutes. So is this why LL's cut staff and diminished customer service? to lure us to $1 computer board games? Since my magical entry into SL and LL's great staff culls in the hunt for higher profits, LL's seems to continually find bigger and better ways to disappoint me. I am on the verge of closing down my Sl, if it wasn't for all the virtual stuff i own that will disappear.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read about these other products, I can't help feeling slighted. I don't have an i-pad, and I'm not going to shell out for one. I can't justify it. If there is any money to be spent on Internet-related things in my house, it has to be likely on a new graphics card or even an entirely new desktop, because I just can't *see* Second Life anymore.
ReplyDeleteI feel left out...I'd like to have my own "creatorverse" on my sims...find my own patterns...tell my own stories...make my own dio, whatever that is (it looked like an old Dungeons and Dragons concept). But I can't, because I can't even load the world and see it, and I keep crashing....
Hi Prok, last I knew you had blocked me on Twitter. How'd you find out about this poastie? LOL. Not that I mind.
DeleteGood Commentary & observations to the point, I read your email saying this had been take down on the LL website - seems they dont like subscribers opinions. Like Mal, I don't have enought time for other 'games' I pefer to use my recreational time in my beloved SL which BTW I do not consider a game. Thanks for heads up Snickers.
ReplyDeleteYeah they took down my original post and the some 20 replies there too. Plus the moderator who did it never answered me as to the specific RULE I supposedly violated (posting 3rd party links).
DeleteGreat article, Snickers. Well said!
ReplyDeleteI was looking for some kind of update on dio as I hadn't heard much about it since it opened. No buzz about it. I took a look at it when it opened. Once was enough.
I'm with you, not interested in these products. Now, maybe if they repackaged Tetris they'd have me.