So, I messed with Second Life for something around four years. I waited for ever and gave Playstation Home a try. I poked at a buncha OS grids. I spent a day as a Therian with an SL friend who had an older There.com account. I used Google Lively in B4 shutdown. I’ve even doc’d my experience with Blue Mars. (^_^)<\/p>\n
So, yeah, virtual worlds… I been there. =^-^=<\/p>\n
So, now I’m hearing about this Twinity thing. Seems they wanna be a virtual bridge to RL world kind of thing. (O.o)<\/p>\n
Like most other VWs I’m aware of, it’s free to join and use, but, eventually you’ll reach a point where you gotta pay for things. But, only if you choose to. (^_^)<\/p>\n
So, where do I sign up?! XD<\/p>\n
erm… Twinity.com, of course. (O.o)<\/p>\n
Okay, so I made an account and named her Imnotgoing Sideways… Yah, I’m an original thinker, no? (=_=)<\/p>\n
Still… so, I singed up.\u00a0 The first thing that happens is a welcome area\/tutorial area.\u00a0 It’s nothing special, my AV hasn’t even downloaded to rez yet, so, I’m a ghost of myself but still in some sort of humanoid form.\u00a0 All the basics are covered.\u00a0 Walking, running, chatting, sitting on things… The usual stuff.\u00a0 Oh, but, it comes with a reward.\u00a0 For every tutorial passed I got rewarded with inworld monies. =^-^=<\/p>\n
So, I get that over with and set out into the world.\u00a0 The first thing flashed in my face is “You get a free start apartment! Claim it now!”. (o.o)<\/p>\n
Uhm, okay… This ain’t bad.\u00a0 I get my own place right off the bat. =^-^=<\/p>\n
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So, there I am… All casual and stuff with… that… freaking… creepy… smile? (O.o)<\/p>\n
There isn’t much I was able to do with the avatar.\u00a0 Height spans were narrow.\u00a0 Shoulder, waist, hip, and boob size were all adjustable before getting to the face. (^_^)<\/p>\n
Now, the face had a lot of adjusters, but, they take a bit to understand.\u00a0 Plus, each slider can shove the other sliders around… Possibly due to size, dimension, or ratio limitations.\u00a0 I dunno.\u00a0 What ever it was, there was a very narrow band between ‘freak’ and ‘tolerable’. (O.o)<\/p>\n
When I found that I couldn’t do much to pull my eyes out of a wide-set Asian appearance, I gave up, broadened the nose and pretty much just set everything to keep the head round. (._.)<\/p>\n
I also noticed that almost everywhere, my avatar always appeared to be lit from underneath.\u00a0 Any time I panned over my face I felt like I was ready to hear a scary camp story.\u00a0 S’up with that!? (O.o)<\/p>\n
Oh, and that’s another thing… THE FRIGG’N CAMERA STINKS!!! DX<\/p>\n
Or, at least, I haven’t figured it out yet. (._.)<\/p>\n
So far, it seems like it’s perpetually anchored to my AV, pivoting is done by right clicking and moving the mouse.\u00a0 But, clicking on different surfaces doesn’t make the surface the target of the camera.\u00a0 So, placing it in a good location for seeing a room, placing objects, or building is near impossible. (>_<)<\/p>\n
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I was kinda lucky enough to get the camera in a place to see mostly of my apartment… And that creepy under-lighting on my avatar became even more prominent!! DX<\/p>\n
Okay, that’s one bloody plain apartment.\u00a0 Hows about buying some furniture with the reward I got from passing the tutorials? =^-^=<\/p>\n
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There was no store to go to… As far as I could see. (O.o)<\/p>\n
So, I used the inworld shopping tool.\u00a0 It’s just one of the buttons on the bottom of the screen.\u00a0 Digging through the furniture, I found some nice cheap office items.\u00a0 A desk and chair looks fun.\u00a0 They seem to resemble Ikea stuff.\u00a0 I’m half tempted to check the item names to an Ikea catalogue to see. (o.o)<\/p>\n
Sitting is simple enough.\u00a0 Look for something that can be sat upon, right click, choose sit.\u00a0 Sitting on the desk, though… Not an option. (=_=)<\/p>\n
Standing is a matter of simply stepping away.\u00a0 So, if you even so much as accidentally tap a walk button, you’re on your feet again. (>_<)<\/p>\n
So… Back on my feet, I decide to walk around my room and see where I can and can’t go.\u00a0 The desk stops me, doors are untouchable and the windows are surely solid. (^_^)<\/p>\n
… Until… Uhm… I’m not quite sure how this happened.\u00a0 I noticed the gap in the corner window and walked straight at it… And kept walking. (o.o)<\/p>\n
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So… There I am… Mid air… Outside… Because every single wall in my joint has gone phantom.\u00a0 DX<\/p>\n
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The fun part is that it gave me the opportunity to see that the surroundings to my place are all simply a flat texture.\u00a0 Which is the other observation so far… Of what I’ve seen, everything seems to be a generally poorly textured low-poly mesh. (=_=)<\/p>\n
Well, by now I’ve pretty much determined that my place is rather boring… Time to venture out! =^-^=<\/p>\n
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So, this is “search”… I think.\u00a0 You get a selection of world regions and a list of places in each with a couple choices on how to filter.\u00a0 On the right I see there’s a bit of a ratings system plus indicators for if the place is flagged as “Adult”, how many AVs are present, and if it’s a public place or not.\u00a0 If the place is public, you can just click “go” and you teleport.\u00a0 Otherwise, you have to “Knock”.\u00a0 I haven’t tried it, but, I think it messages the owner so that they can decide if they’re gonna grant you access.\u00a0 (^_^)<\/p>\n
Not too bad a system, but, it seems quite directed toward isolating people. (o.O)<\/p>\n
So… OOH!! Goth place! XD<\/p>\n
I know what I’m gonna check out.\u00a0 And, there’s two people there… GO! GO! XD<\/p>\n
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Hmmm. (-_-)<\/p>\n
Okay, so, the default apartment got re-textured, packed with laggy glowy things and there’s two guys dancing some considerably poorly performed mocap dances in what seem to be self-made outfits.\u00a0 Still… They’re friendly, quite welcoming, and apparently having a ton of fun.\u00a0 Though, on the male avatars, that creepy smile and under-light gets even more creepy! DX<\/p>\n
Oh, and, I’m sure you remember how small my room looked.\u00a0 Okay, this is the exact same sized room, just packed with club furniture and two large guys… Claustrophobia, here we come! (=_=)<\/p>\n
Okay, time to find something more public.\u00a0 Private spaces are far too cramped. DX<\/p>\n
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Mami Flori…. What the heck? (O.o)<\/p>\n
Well, here’s yet another collection of amateurish low poly models covered with bleak textures totally contrasted by a relatively good tree rendering system.\u00a0 This is also the first time I saw the progressive loading of images… Including the mesh that makes a tree far off in the distance which is LOD’d to death. (o.o)<\/p>\n
So… Ooh… A Starbucks! XD<\/p>\n
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So, I’ll just pop in to see what I can see… Or not.\u00a0 Uhm, in spite of there being a wide open gap in the wall which is totally lacking any sort of representation of glass or a door… I CAN’T ENTER!!! DX<\/p>\n
So, bereft of e-coffee, I wander off to see what else is around.\u00a0 By now, I’m already starting to see how deep the Blue Mars similarities run.\u00a0 Doesn’t help that the place is totally empty.\u00a0 Not a one other avatar around.\u00a0 No noise.\u00a0 Nothing to see.\u00a0 Nothing to do.\u00a0 It’s a very static representation of a shoreline. (._.)<\/p>\n
Oh, but, shoreline means there’s a beach, right? =^-^=<\/p>\n
Well, yeah… There’s a beach.\u00a0 It’s mostly a slightly more angled ground structure with a tan noise texture as opposed to the green noise texture used for the grass. (=_=)<\/p>\n
But, here’s my chance to see water reflections… So, I walk out into the water. (^_^)<\/p>\n
And I keep walking… (o.o)<\/p>\n
And, even though I can’t walk through a door-less opening at the front of a Starbucks, I can walk through water as if it’s not there. (=_=)<\/p>\n
Though, I do eventually find an edge. (=_=)<\/p>\n
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While there is a rather obvious loss in resolution, water reflections are quite crystal clear.\u00a0 So, that makes for a nice effect.\u00a0 Would have been more fun if the water actually had ripples and wasn’t much more than a phantom translucent mirror. (>_<)<\/p>\n
Oh, and there’s that creepy avatar under-light again!!! DX<\/p>\n
Okay… So, I’ve seen how deep the water goes.\u00a0 How deep does the city go? (^_^)<\/p>\n
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… Not that deep.\u00a0 Probably two or three blocks, at most. (=_=)<\/p>\n
At some point, there’s a “Do not enter” barrier and one block beyond that the buildings are reduced to little more than un-textured boxes.\u00a0 Sense of scale fail! (=_=)<\/p>\n
Okay, so, I’ve had enough of FauxMiami.\u00a0 I walk away from ambition unrealized to…. Ooooh… Anshe has land here!!! (O_O)<\/p>\n
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If anyone remembers my review of Caledonia in Blue Mars, you probably remember me mentioning that Des did a decent job of making BM look like SL. (=_=)<\/p>\n
Well… Anshe’s production makes SL look like a gem.\u00a0 Right away, seeing the flower garden being made up of path cut cylinders and ground sunken spheres, I knew I was in a build of great fail.\u00a0 (=_=)<\/p>\n
Though, that statue looks to be a rather good Blender job… But, those can be seen in SL sclupties well enough.\u00a0 Come mesh, it’ll be spot-on. (=_=)<\/p>\n
While walking around, I found two things.\u00a0 (^_^)<\/p>\n
One, FINALY a light that’s bright enough to make it look like I’m being lit from above… Though, it’s so intense that the shrubberies around are turned nuclear. (O.o)<\/p>\n
And, the first pair of poseballs… Heart shaped. =^-^=<\/p>\n
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Though, at best, I continue to be unimpressed. (=_=)<\/p>\n
Ooh… (o.o)<\/p>\n
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Seems gambling is allowed. (o.o)<\/p>\n
Okay, so, enough of this place which, yet again, is little more than a static representation of… A place.\u00a0 I’m not even quite sure what the theme is there.\u00a0 But, like most other places I went, the population consisted of one of me. (O.o)<\/p>\n
Well… After seeing much of SL’s club scene, what’s a club in Twinity look like? (^_^)<\/p>\n
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Hrm… Well… At least the mirror works. (O.o)<\/p>\n
I’ve already found devices made as workarounds for missing features and flaws.\u00a0 One example is a giant button between the entry door and an outdoor courtyard area.\u00a0 “Click here to move outside”…. Okay, yeah, because nobody would believe they were in the right place if they simply WALKED outdoors. (O.o)<\/p>\n
Also, seems there’s a rather default sitting animation with one other feature… (o.o)<\/p>\n
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… It wipes that creepy smile off my face. (^_^)<\/p>\n
So, now that Im sitting there all SRS BZNS I continue to notice that… There ain’t anyone else around. (O.o)<\/p>\n
Now, technically, the graphics are nice.\u00a0 Being that everything is low poly mesh, lag will be very little issue.\u00a0 I found there’s no maximized window size… Just full screen or a floater window.\u00a0 So, my favorite interface is missing. (._.)<\/p>\n
All in all, Twinity is not Blue Mars or Second Life.\u00a0 The current leanings indicate that it has many of the failings that BM has and would be greatly improved if things from SL are ported over instead (camera control, for one).<\/p>\n
I’m going to have quite a difficult time making my AV look right… Though, I think I’ll see what happens if I use a picture of my SL Immy to make this AV’s skin. =^-^=<\/p>\n
Is Twinity any good?\u00a0 Not yet. (^_^)y<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So, I messed with Second Life for something around four years. I waited for ever and gave Playstation Home a try. I poked at a buncha OS grids. I spent a day as a Therian with an SL friend who … Continue reading