It is not rare occasion that I find myself bored in second life. And I know I am not the only one. It happens to most of us. It is expected to logout in that case, leave it for a day or two, then come back. But no, I roam the world, looking for a miracle. There are thousands of things to do. Too many things to build, people to meet, places to see… But, simply, it doesn’t happen.
Just as physical space is expanding, metaverse is growing too. The Dark Side of User- Created Content published at Terra Nova brings up an interesting fact: At this moment, the content we, the residents, created is somewhere about 34 terabytes. And new stuff comes every second!
And it is fast exceeding, or has already exceeded, the number of people actually available to use the content as it’s created. More and more empty houses and castles and the like are lovingly constructed as monuments that few will ever see, and each becomes another wall between users, diluting their presence more and more.
But, how one can be bored in all that content? Well, easy. The space between us is getting bigger and bigger. The new things are not necessarily new and unseen. When was the last time you visited the club that is not like too many other clubs? Do you really have an idea how that unseen place should look like? No, you don’t. Otherwise, you would make it, right? But the fact that you and i don’t have an idea what could be made to be so new and fresh doesn’t mean that we won’t build already seen stuff. There is a new dance floor rezzed every day. The same dance animations are in it. The same music plays around. And every single one is mostly empty.
Let’s be clear, problem is not in the people making things. Far from that! It is not that all the content are not superb builds. That cannot and need not to be. The fact that we are not all professional 3D modelers should not stop us from making stuff. Nor the fact that one hasn’t came to second life to do business should be on the way of setting up vendor. It is just that we all get tired of huge space with, paradoxically, so little content. Even if all of it was three classes better, it would be the same situation.
Another issue are those too many things to build, see, people to meet. Faced with all the opportunities and possibilities, one feels like in front of empty canvas, thinking: “Where should I start?” And stays there without starting anything. Or starts too many things at the same time. Or just keep roaming the world waiting to get bored.
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