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I did a total dumbass thing and asked a question on stackoverflow about Second Life. Then it was moved to superuser.com and was closed because it related to video games. I don't see how this was related to video gaming. Someone got a good answer in before it was closed but I think the behaviour was not really appropriate.

Update: I don't quite understand why people feel that Second Life is a video game, and not a colloration tool. Yes there is cross-over but it's not purely for entertainment. Jeff Barr at Amazon Web Services hosts meetings with it, and it's used in education. Second Life is generally considered to be a virtual world and not a video game. It would appear that users here lack a sophisticated understanding of the differences. My original question is the sort that a lot of people are bound to ask if they are interested in this area.

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    Wait... Isn't Second Life a video game?
    – Shog9
    Commented Aug 29, 2009 at 17:54
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    @Shog9 yes. Just like many other games, it can be used for other purposes. But it's still a game.
    – TM
    Commented Aug 29, 2009 at 18:29
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    It's a virtual world. It's not a game, although I guess some people use it for entertainment.
    – BrianLy
    Commented Aug 29, 2009 at 18:43
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    I have deleted my answer, since this question will be going in circles. I also take offense to the OP edit and reference to being sophisticated enough to understand a difference.
    – Diago
    Commented Aug 29, 2009 at 18:46
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    Huh... Now I feel like this post was written just to dump on video games. SO doesn't hate video games. Atwood certainly doesn't hate video games. AFAIK, the primary factor that led to game questions being banned on SU was simply that a fair number of companies automatically filter any game-related questions.
    – Shog9
    Commented Aug 29, 2009 at 19:09
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    GTA is a "virtual world" too :)
    – Jonathan Sampson
    Commented Aug 29, 2009 at 19:24
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    Heh... You know, if SL is a "virtual world", then maybe they need a "virtual Atwood" to start a "virtual SOFU" to answer "virtual questions"...
    – Shog9
    Commented Aug 29, 2009 at 19:53
  • @Diago I thought I was being polite. I could have said said something a little more direct about users. My point is really that things should not be taken on face value and everyone should try to get a full understanding rather than make flippant comments which very quickly turn into downvotes or closed questions.
    – BrianLy
    Commented Aug 29, 2009 at 21:43
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    @BrianLy. This is a Q&A site. Everything is taken at face value. As was your statement. Personally I consider this topic closed.
    – Diago
    Commented Aug 29, 2009 at 22:31

3 Answers 3

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Technically, it's not a game, although their home page does include "play" as a use, along with shop, explore, work, learn etc. They bill themselves as

an online, 3D virtual world imagined and created by its Residents.

and

the Internet's largest user-created, 3D virtual world community.

I've tried it out before just to see what all the hoopla was about, and I get the impression it's a chat room on steroids. At any rate, BrianLy's question wasn't about the gaming aspect.

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From what I remember of the Office episode where Dwight was playing Second Life, it looked like a vidja game to me. I imagine if I had asked for help setting up a TF2 server on SuperUser, it would get the exact same response. How is this different?

For the record, I find TF2 servers a much more worthwhile endeavor than Second Life servers. But that's just me.

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One of my past co-workers was making "a couple hundred dollars" per month selling stuff in Second Life. He mostly wrote code to make gun type things and explosing things. There are other people making and selling textures, clothing and other stuff for your in game avatar.

To answer the question that you've posed on the other 2 boards, my advice is to contact Linden Labs. Based on what I know and understand, the code running on their servers is closed source and not available for making "private shards."

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