Second Life (made a Hypello! Image included)

I've been in Second Life for about 5 months now, and am still very impressed by the technology.

Unfortunately (for some of you)i t's an 18+ game as it has mature content in some areas, but for those here who are of the right age and into online worlds it's worth consideration :) For the others, something to drool over for a little while.

Really cool... you can build houses, objects, vehicles, anything you like and add scripts them so that they can animate and interact. Own land. Attend events such as the popular club parties, contests, lessons, themed (And non-themed) chat session etc. Shop for clothes and objects. Go to some of the highlighted areas such as a community-build theme park.... and that's just the "PG" stuff, I won't even go into what you can do in the Mature areas ;)

There's even an area for fighting, though it's only small and combat is a very rare/minor part of the game.

I also use the term 'game' very loosely. It's a world, and is whatever you want it to be... some use it as a glorified chat room, some show off their artwork (in terms of pictures or building skills), others like to own a ton of land, own a house etc. Personally I have my own house on a waterfront at one area, and a pub/bar in another that features a rocky hillside protruding through the walls with seating around it where people can meet up.

You need a pretty good computer, broadband (I'd say at least 300kbps) and a good graphics card (NVidia). And a credit card as proof of age. On the flip side, if you fit the criteria you can get in for around a $10 flat fee and have basic access (go in world, attend events, chat, shop etc) for life. If at any time you want more income or want to own land to build on, you can step up to a monthly subscription.

Pretty cool, I'm thoroughly impressed :)

I'm a pretty rubbish builder, but managed to make a start at creating a Hypello hehe... I needed a barkeep for my pub :) I'll probably script him to say hello to people ("Welcomesh! Drink ze shtuff?") and some basic interation.

Here's the top half looking vaguely familiar:

http://www.cloudk.clara.net/storage/hypello.jpg

Just need to finish him off :) BTW, if anyone has some decent Hypello screenshots or drawings to work from, please do link to them. They seem pretty rare.

Second Life is at:
http://www.secondlife.com

If anyone does give it a try, look for Del Dayton. I'll try to show you the ropes, get you into a Final Fantasy Lovers group that exists etc :)
(btw, throw that name into the referrer box too hehe)