Ugh. Second Life. I just had a coworker come up behind me and remark on the Chocobo pic, and have to explain what SL is. I told him I already HAVE a second life, it's called being at home versus being at work.

I was enamored with the idea of SL when I first heard about it... then, the furries and flying penises caused me to backpedal like a madman.

Wow, that is fantastic work. Haven't touched SL but looks to be with the $5.

Normally I don't like anything from Second Life but this is actually really cool.

@Clushje: *worth, must proof-read!

IS NOTHING SACRED?

I've had thoughts of checking out second life but I doubt it would be but so long before I started griefing. Better to leave well enough alone.

@NotAZombie: Keep in mind that you can only use it while using SL. So the cool factor is limited at best.

Man if this doesn't warrant Square Enix lawsuits, then I don't know what does.

Like SL or hate it, you can make some serious money with it.

@BD:

I was thinking the same thing...I wonder what percentage he is currently sending Squeenix per avatar sold? I can't imagine them settling for less than 100%....but I guess he's a small fish to them, so nothing will probably come of it.

Blah blah SL is full of evil penis flying furries blah blah.

Now then, speaking as an actual indie game developer who uses SL as a game coding platform... I'm leery of this sort of thing. I started out making copyright-reproduction games like Hogan's Alley before realizing I enjoy not being sued to hell and back, so now it's all 100% original games I hold my own copyrights on.

It's an avenue I recommend to all SL content developers... don't start cashing in on someone else's IP.

All it takes is one lawyer of theirs to sit up and take notice and you're in C&D and lawsuit city with $5000 (US) dollar minimum fines. Don't think security through anonymity means you can do as you please.

i recently got "into" SL. so far all i've done really is dress up my virtual paper dolly. its ok. i actually saw these avatars in a shop over the weekend. Fahey... are you following me around?

Well, they probably would have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for those meddling Kotaku readers...

@Twoflower:
Hi, Seven Shikami. :)

--

Well, I'm not a fan of Final Fantasy, but I do like the amount of detail put into those avatars. I'm guessing they're made with the sculpt texture primitives, as they lack the "lumpy" look of non-sculpt avatars.

I agree, Mike, it's good work. Great attention to detail.

And I also applaud the decision to start looking at Second Life as a platform and not something to make fun of.

Guys, Second Life is here, whether you like it or not. Many of you think it is a waste of time. Some of you like it. Great. Ultimately it's irrelevant.

My point again - glad to see the focus on content, not on the relevancy of the platform to "gaming".

@Car2oon:

1.) Picture the bahamut avatar
2.) Picture that avatar "obtaining" the previously mentioned SL unicorn
3.) Weep in despair as your childhood is ruined
4.) Repeat.

[kotaku.com]

I spent two days in total playing Second Life. In those two days I was horribly addicted though. I decided it definitely wasn't healthy being there though. It almost felt like, the more time I spent in Second Life, the more infected I was getting with some horrible virus. When all that bizarre crap you see in that game starts to seem normal, it's time to quit.

Anyway, the Chocobos are pretty cool. But I can't begin to believe this is the first time someone's done this.

Oh man, the chance to be a Tonberry! I don't even play SL and it's getting me excited. Can we say Cactaur? Then we'll be set.

Only moments before someone uses them for sex.

Definitely laudable considering how utterly crappy the tools in Second Life are. Actually learning a real, professional modelling programming is easier and a million times better looking/more flexible than jamming spheres and tubes together for hours on end in this gamey thing.

Mike Fahey: Second Lifer. But do you like breaking the second life stories or people just give 'em to you?

*insert obligatory Second Life hate speech here*

I'd like to open the betting on how long it is before this guy gets a cease & desist order from a Squeenix lawyer. My guess: no later than 1 week from today.

I didn't know you could go into that much detail on Second Life. My 15 minutes with the "game" left me wondering what all the fuss was about. The game looks like shit. Those models, however, do not.

The reason why Second Life usually looks like crap is "Prims", or primitive shapes. They're the tools used to make just about everything in world. Which means everything you see is done by twisting and scaling spheres, cubes, cylinders, toruses, and... that's about it.

The idea is to make the building tools so simple that

A) It won't crash your computer to stumble into a poorly designed area, since primitive shapes real really fast, and
B) Newbies who would have head asplode if you dropped them in front of Maya can still make things and have fun.

Simplifying down 3-D work to basic shapes is a good thing, on the whole. Problem is, like the web, it means people with no design skills can slap up some hideous eye-melting atrocity in no time flat... but really skilled folks can take even primitive shapes and make something awesome, fortunately.

The great thing about second life is that, if you're willing to spend the time, you can make yourself look fantastic. It's even more noticeable when everyone else looks like their butts got fused with their face.

It's actually quite inventive, giving users the ability to use their own 3D models in the game. You just need a nice 3D modeling software (Blender is a good start if you want something free), and have at it.

Although, I think this guy won't last long. Selling copyright material is against the TOS, and he'll be banned soon. I mean, people got banned for selling Power Ranger suits on halloween.

Why do I have the impression this is based on the FFX model viewer I wrote a while back...

The shiva model is great!.

I'm still wondering how long before someone steals the design and slaps a penis on it. Then just slaps it. Taking bets?

@Darkbeat:

"Only moments before someone uses them for sex."

It's probably far too late already.

@Dudemeister: Oh I am in Second Life a lot of the time. Lots of neat people there...which I will get into at a later date. The stories, not the people themselves.

Well, not all of them.

Hhmmm, 5$ for that. Lets compare that to how much money game companys make per game sale, and add in how much per model they make.

This is bull shit.

Time to meet up with digital SL Fahey! :)

@Fahey:

Neato, looking forward to the stories. :D

I bet it tries to have sex with you, or you have to have sex with something to get it... As is the Second Life way...

I just don't get Second Life. I really don't.

See, here's the thing, as great a job as this person did, its Second Life, and just about everyone who reads Kotaku hates it and thinks it gets way too much attention as is. So it would be really really great if you guys stopped posting about it, for like, 10 years. That would be just great!

It's weird how much hate mongering there is about second life.