OpenSim, the Decentralized Second Life?

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Update: Per Jupiter’s post via AcitivityPub

Little nitpick: OSgrid is not "the OpenSim grid". It is not even "the official OpenSim grid". There is no such thing as an official OpenSim grid, only 4,000+ big and small grids that are independent from both each other and OpenSim's development.

Read more here.

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Lately, people have begun to take another look at OpenSim, the open protocol version of Second Life, built on the same code. In theory, OpenSim seems awesome! It’s open source, it’s run entirely by a community of devoted fans of the “metaverse” (not the Zuckverse), and a lot of it, if not all of it, is linked together across grids. You can even download the simulator yourself and host a region on your own machine. But, all of that comes with a catch.

I logged into the default OpenSim world, and, since there aren’t really any high quality bodies or skins available right off the bat, I found an alien skin and then resculpted myself a bit. I think I’m happy with this for the time being.

But, what’s the appeal? Why are people checking this out?

It could be, that logging on feels like a trip back to 2007, back before the land barons had completely taken over Second Life. You know what I’m talking about. Endless expanses of rented land, and commercial shopping events manipulated by the landlords who exploit the creators. Or, maybe it’s the extreme amount of money that Linden Labs asks for the ability to rent or buy land directly from them, wherein owning your own region can cost upwards of 200-300 USD, per month. Which, is pretty nuts, when you consider how much it costs to rent a server for literally any other “virtual world.”

Just look at Minecraft, where you can rent a 50 player server for … 30 dollars a month?

And Minecraft is infinite in size.

That’s also not the case in the OpenSim, where most land is offered for free.

But, good luck trying to find a parcel that isn’t already rented out to someone.

And, if you’re wondering if there’s really all that much to see: There is.

You know how Second Life is a grid, and the world is on this big huge map? And that’s all of Second Life. Okay, now, remember that all of Second Life is one grid. Well, so is OpenSim. OS is a grid. And there are many other grids. You might be thinking, “Well damn, how do I choose?”

You don’t have to.

All of these different grids on the OpenSim protocol are accessible between each other … FROM WITHIN THE VIEWER YOU’RE USING.

Your avatar teleports between grids, loads your inventory, reloads your avatar. It’s as if you’ve logged out and logged into another grid seamlessly (mostly seamlessly).

That’s … pretty impressive. Like a Mastodon of Second Lives.

The below screenshot was taken on a different grid. You can tell because my legs hadn’t fully loaded in yet.

Now, there are some negatives here.

People have and are actively ripping creations from creators in Second Life, and uploading them to the OS grid. Mostly all of it is free, but still, I don’t really approve of that, and don’t think I’d like to participate in using stolen items. And, on the topic of stolen items, there are quite a few places I’ve seen in OpenSim worlds, and across different grids especially, where users are using a ton of generative images. I don’t approve of this either.

Do these two things kind of cheapen the experience? A little bit.

But, I think it comes down to personal choice. I can choose not to engage with stolen content and generative imagery, and hope that, if the community continues to grow from this point, maybe there’ll be a reckoning. Maybe not.

There’s really no way to control it, you know, it being open source and all.

That aside, you’re probably now wondering, “Are there actually people there?”

Yes!

In the couple of hours I spent exploring, I’d say I’ve seen around the same amount of people I see hanging out in Second Life on a regular basis. Some sims are dead empty, some have a few people keeping to themselves on their own property, and the landmark gathering areas have people coming and going seemingly constantly.

For all intents and purposes, it seems to be no less or more healthy than Second Life.

Anyway, I think if you’re into virtual worlds, and specially Second Life, maybe you should give it a shot! Make sure you have the Firestorm viewer that allows grid selection, and then head over here to make an account on the OSgrid, and you’re set.