As we all know, Sansar® is not giving the expected results of Linden Lab®, representing, to date, an expense and indeed not a company.
Anyone who has entered Sansar® at least once knows its limitations and has guessed the reasons for this failure that should have been understood by LL before embarking on this (shipwreck) adventure.
Moreover, the “initial secrecy from CIA” and the access allowed to a few creators, now makes everything even more curious … all this confidentiality for something that currently interests very few.
The reasons for the failure of Sansar® are very well known and already analyzed and can be summarized in this short list:
- Interactivity is missing: that is, you enter Sansar®, look … all very beautiful and realistic, but … then? You can not use the objects you see or interact physically with other users. The result? A boring environment. Without interactivity, Sansar® becomes a “museum” accessible in VR and nothing more.
- All is different from Second Life®: it is presumed that Sansar® is primarily addressed to SL® inhabitants (even if not only), but they have many difficulties in learning how to use and customize the 3D environment through experiences. Hardly anyone who has already struggled to understand SL® will invest further time in learning Sansar®.
- Ok, we admit that you do not care about interactivity and you have become an excellent creator also in Sansar® … but you’re alone. Oh yes, because in Sansar® there are very few users logged in and the maximum tip was 50 souls simultaneously present in the game (see article New World Notes).
- The avatars are ugly … but really really ugly. Ok, you do not want to be a fashion blogger, but let’s face it, logging in and seeing yourself as Fantozzi’s daughter is not gratifying. I am amazed that after a long time Sansar® has not yet managed to improve the appearance of the characters.
- Infinite loading times of experiences: finally enter Sansar® after a long login, visit an experience and unfortunately decide to change experience … I had never done it! As nothing you find yourself staring at the monitor waiting for signs of life and the loading bar starts to have a hypnotizing effect. Ok, I’m going to have a coffee.
And although Sansar® has some official experience of connecting Spielberg’s success, Ready Player One, released at the end of March, hyper-realistic virtual world traffic does not improve.
The opinions of those who have tried the VR platform are so unique that I have the impression that Sansar® will never succeed in raising its fate. I do not want to be defeatist, but I really do not see any future prospects. In any case, there are good experiences that deserve to be told so I will continue to talk about it, even if interactivity is still lacking.
I’m interested in knowing your opinions on Sansar®, so feel free to comment.
Among the many comments received on Social, Blog, and in-world, I was very impressed by the Vassay that you find at the bottom of the article. Her point of view (different from mine and probably from an active user of Sansar®), deserves to be highlighted to give more in-depth information on the VR implemented by the LL.
Let’s see point by point how Vassay thinks.
At point number 1, I say, lack of interactivity, or the possibility of interacting with objects.
Vassay: There is some level of interactivity already, and it will only be more varied with time. For now, there’s two dynamic games and a lot of interactive environments.
In point number 2 I say: everything is different from SL®, so it is challenging to learn again how to customize the environment.
Vassay: Time and time again, Sansar is not SL. It is an evolution of social space, and shouldn’t be compared. You don’t compare jets to cars, or rickshaws, right?
At point number 3 I say, there is little turnout, you enter the virtual world and you do not meet almost anyone.
Vassay: Seeing as Sansar is still in “Creative Beta,” that shouldn’t be a concern. Once again, let’s compare concurrent numbers with SL’s numbers in 2003, for example. Or did you think Sansar would magically skip 15 years and have 10 million users already?
At point number 4 I say: avatars are ugly, it would be essential to improve this aspect to attract more people.
Vassay: I partially agree with you, I don’t like avatars very much. But calling them ugly? Have you looked at other social spaces default avatars lately? Even SL default avatars look like piles of polygons. Sansar’s avatars at least resemble human beings, and if you took time to actually attend any of community meetings, you would see, that the avatars feel very much alive, especially when people are talking. Sansar has a great technology that recognizes phonemes and moves the face accordingly. The result is very emotional and quite convincingly moving face.
In point number 5 I say: the loading times of the experiences are too long.
Vassay: Again, partially agree. Yes, it takes time to load an experience. But then again, there are different experiences. Some load almost instantly, some take longer to load. If you want a comparison with oh so beloved SL, just tell me honestly, how much time does it take to FULLY load some big, region, like InSilico? Sansar is deliberately loading all the resources before putting user inside so that they would have the best experience. Yes, sometimes you have to wait. But if you want to see a detailed experience, that is bigger than a room, there is no way in the world it would load quickly.
In our dialogue, I point out to her that there has not been a mass migration from SL® to Sansar® and she answers me that way.
Vassay: Concerning SL population migration, and a small number of new users – it’s two-fold.
First, most SL users run it on 10+year old machines, and they don’t have the ability/desire to upgrade just for prettier graphics. They feel great where they are now and see no point in moving somewhere else. Add the fear of innovations, fear of losing contacts, and most important (but silly, if thought through), fear of losing inventory. These are most prominent reasons that keep people in SL.
Second, my understanding is that LL envisions completely different age and interest groups for SL and Sansar. SL is mostly populated by mature people, most well over 40, some as high as 90+. Sansar, on the other hand, is a shiny VR world, targeted for a younger audience. My guess would be 20-40 for the target demographic, maybe with even younger users down the line.
What I’m trying to say, Sansar is a different product, posed for a different group of people. Adoption will be of course slower, because of a different time, market saturation, user age and hardware requirements.
I note to Vassay that LL also has its responsibilities for creating unfulfilled expectations. For example, in the beginning, Sansar® has been promoted as the future of mobile phone VR, a perspective that has proved to be challenging to implement. Furthermore, LL was not clear from the beginning about the role to be given to Sansar®, inviting the creators of Second Life® to enter to give life to projects. If we say we do not have to compare Sansar® with Second Life®, that’s fine, but that should have been clear from the beginning.
Vassay: Yes, a lot of disappointment comes from unmet expectations. Partly it is LL’s fault, partly – people’s. We will see how it will all untangle in the future, but I hope LL will be more clear about WHAT exactly Sansar is supposed to be so that people wouldn’t get disappointed once they come inside.
Thanks, Vassay, your support has been precious.
ITALIANO
Come tutti bene sappiamo, Sansar® non sta dando i risultati sperati da Linden Lab®, rappresentando, ad oggi, una spesa e non certo un’impresa.
Chiunque sia entrato in Sansar® almeno una volta ne conosce i grossi limiti e ha intuito i motivi di questo insuccesso che avrebbero dovuto essere compresi da LL prima di imbarcarsi in questa (naufragante) avventura.
Oltretutto, la “segretezza iniziale da CIA” e l’accesso consentito a pochi creatori, rende ora il tutto ancora più curioso… tutta questa riservatezza per qualcosa che attualmente interessa pochissimi.
I motivi dell’insuccesso di Sansar® sono molto ben conosciuti e già analizzati e possono essere sintetizzati in questo breve elenco:
- Manca l’interattività: ovvero, entri in Sansar®, guardi… tutto molto bello e realistico, ma… poi? Non puoi usare gli oggetti che vedi né interagire fisicamente con gli altri utenti. Il risultato? Un ambiente noioso. Senza interattività Sansar® diventa un “museo” fruibile in VR e nulla di più.
- Tutto è diverso da Second Life®: si presume che Sansar® sia indirizzato in primo luogo agli abitanti di SL® (anche se non solo) i quali però incontrano molte difficoltà nell’apprendere come utilizzare e personalizzare l’ambiente 3D attraverso le esperienze. Difficilmente chi ha già faticato molto a comprendere SL® investirà ulteriore tempo nell’apprendere Sansar®.
- Ok, ammettiamo che non ti interessa l’interattività e sei diventato un eccellente creatore anche in Sansar®… però sei solo. Eh si, perché in Sansar® ci sono pochissimi utenti loggati e la punta massima è stata di 50 anime contemporaneamente presenti nel gioco (vedi articolo New World Notes).
- Gli avatar sono brutti… ma davvero davvero brutti. Ok, non vuoi fare la fashion blogger, però ammettiamolo, loggare e vedersi come la figlia di Fantozzi non è gratificante. Mi stupisco che dopo tanto tempo Sansar® non sia ancora riuscita a migliorare l’aspetto dei characters.
- Infiniti tempi di caricamento delle esperienze: finalmente entri in Sansar® dopo un lungo login, visiti un’esperienza e malauguratamente decidi di cambiare esperienza… non l’avessi mai fatto! Come niente ti ritrovi a fissare il monitor in attesa di segni di vita e la barra di caricamento inizia ad avere un effetto ipnotizzante. Ok, vado a farmi un caffè.
E, nonostante Sansar® abbia delle esperienze ufficiali di collegamento con il successo di Spielberg, Ready Player One, uscito alla fine di marzo, il traffico del mondo virtuale iper-realistico non migliora.
Le opinioni di chi ha provato la piattaforma di VR sono talmente univoche che ho l’impressione che Sansar® non riuscirà mai a sollevare le sue sorti. Non voglio essere disfattista, ma davvero non vedo prospettive future. A ogni modo, ci sono belle esperienze che meritano di essere raccontate, quindi continuerò a parlarne, anche se manca ancora l’interattività.
Mi interessa conoscere le tue opinioni su Sansar®, quindi sentiti libero di commentare.
Tra i molti commenti ricevuti sui Social, sul Blog e in-world, mi ha molto colpito quello di Vassay che trovate in fondo all’articolo. Il suo punto di vista (diverso dal mio e probabilmente da utente attivo di Sansar®), merita di essere messo in risalto per dare un’informazione più approfondita sulla VR implementata dalla LL.
Vediamo punto per punto come Vassay la pensa.
Al punto numero 1 io dico, manca l’interattività, ovvero la possibilità di interagire con gli oggetti.
Vassay: Esiste già un certo livello di interattività e sarà solo più varia nel tempo. Per ora ci sono due giochi dinamici e molti ambienti interattivi.
Al punto numero 2 io dico: tutto è diverso da SL®, quindi è arduo apprendere nuovamente come personalizzare l’ambiente.
Vassay: Poco per volta, Sansar non è SL. È un’evoluzione dello spazio sociale e non dovrebbe essere confrontato.
Al punto numero 3 io dico, c’è poca affluenza, entri nel mondo virtuale e non incontri quasi nessuno.
Vassay: Visto che Sansar è ancora in “Beta”, non dovrebbe essere un problema. Ancora una volta, confrontiamo i numeri concorrenti con i numeri di SL nel 2003, ad esempio. O pensavi che Sansar avrebbe magicamente saltato 15 anni e avrebbe già avuto 10 milioni di utenti?
Al punto numero 4 io dico: gli avatars sono brutti, sarebbe importante migliorare questo aspetto per attirare più persone.
Vassay: Sono parzialmente d’accordo con te, non mi piacciono molto gli avatar. Ma brutti? Hai guardato negli altri avatar social di default ultimamente? Anche gli avatar di default di SL assomigliano a pile di poligoni. Gli avatar di Sansar assomigliano almeno agli esseri umani, e se prendi il tempo di partecipare effettivamente a qualsiasi riunione della comunità, vedrai che gli avatar si sentono molto vivi, specialmente quando le persone parlano. Sansar ha una grande tecnologia che riconosce i fonemi e sposta la faccia di conseguenza. Il risultato è una faccia molto emotiva e abbastanza convincente.
Al punto numero 5 io dico: troppo lunghi i tempi di caricamento delle esperienze.
Vassay: Di nuovo, parzialmente d’accordo. Sì, ci vuole tempo per caricare un’esperienza. Ma poi di nuovo, ci sono esperienze diverse. Alcuni caricano quasi istantaneamente, altri richiedono più tempo per essere caricati. Se vuoi un confronto con il così amato SL, dimmi solo onestamente, quanto tempo ci vuole per caricare COMPLETAMENTE alcune grandi regioni come InSilico? Sansar sta caricando deliberatamente tutte le risorse prima di mettere l’utente all’interno, in modo che possano avere la migliore esperienza. Sì, a volte devi aspettare. Ma se vuoi vedere un’esperienza dettagliata, che è più grande di una stanza, non c’è modo di caricarlo rapidamente.
Nel nostro dialogo, le faccio notare che non c’è stata una migrazione di massa da SL® a Sansar® e lei mi risponde così.
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Gonna leave my 5 cents for each point you made.
1. There is some level of interactivity already, and it will only be more varied with time. For now there’s two dynamic games, and a lot of interactive environments.
2. Time and time again, Sansar is not SL. It is an evolution of social space, and shouldn’t he compared. You don’t compare jets to cars, or rickshaws, right?
3. Seeing as Sansar is still in “Creative Beta”, that shouldn’t be a concern. Once again, let’s compare concurrent numbers with SL’s numbers in 2003, for example. Or did you think Sansar would magically skip 15 years and have 10 million users already?
4. I partially agree with you, I don’t like avatars very much. But calling them ugly? Have you looked at other social spaces default avatars lately? Even SL default avatars look like piles of polygons. Sansar’s avatars at least resemble human beings, and if you took time to actually attend any of community meetings, you would see, that the avatars feel very much alive, especially when people are talking. Sansar has a great technology that recognizes phonemes, and moves the face accordingly. Result is very emotional and quite convincingly moving face.
5. Again, partially agree. Yes, it takes time to load an experience. But then again, there are different experiences. Some load almost instantly, some take longer to load. If you want a comparison with oh so beloved SL, just tell me honestly, how much time does it take to FULLY load some big, region, like InSilico? Sansar is deliberately loading all the resources before putting user inside, so that they would have the best experience. Yes, sometimes you have to wait. But if you want to see a detailed experience, that is bigger than a room, there is no way in world it would load quickly.
It’s very easy to give up on something, because it’s not perfect. But remember, greatness takes time. Sansar will get there.
First of all, thanks for commenting. I hope you’re right. For the moment what I see is what I write about. Maybe the purpose of Sansar is not to create pleasing avatars, and then I’m wrong in this claim. It’s possible. But this is an aspect that interests many, and I think that, if improved, it could only bring benefit. In my opinion, LL should have drawn from the splendid resources of SL to create something unique and superior. Sansar seems to be a step backward. You say you do not have to compare them and maybe you’re right, but the comparison is inevitable, because we talk about virtual worlds in both cases and why it’s interesting to understand why there is so little turnout in Sansar that has beautiful graphics and, should, then be very charming.
Again, take a look at SL’s default avatars without any mesh addons and you will be horrified. The only reason SL has prettier avatars are custom mesh bodies and heads. They will be in Sansar at some point, I’m sure of that. LL is working on giving people options regarding their appearance, but they also want to avoid the trap SL has now, where there’s like ONE good mesh provider, and everyone HAS to conform to them, or die without recognition. Also, the problem of buying an outfit that doesn’t work with the body you bought earlier. They are thinking about the ways to streamline content creation – and purchasing.
I can agree with you that LL’s focus is not exactly where majority of creators and users think it SHOULD be, but they still are working on creating a long-lasting product. Yes, they lack features that SL users have come to love and depend on, but that will come.
Concerning SL population migration, and small amount of new users – it’s two-fold.
First, most SL users run it on 10+year old machines, and they don’t have the ability/desire to upgrade just for prettier graphics. They feel great where they are now, and see no point in moving somewhere else. Add the fear of innovations, fear of losing contacts, and most important (but silly, if thought through), fear of losing inventory. These are most prominent reasons that keep people in SL.
Second, my understanding is that LL envisions completely different age and interest groups for SL and Sansar. SL is mostly populated by mature people, most well over 40, some as high as 90+. Sansar, on the other hand, is a shiny VR world, targeted for younger audience. My guess would be 20-40 for target demographic, maybe with even younger users down the line.
What I’m trying to say, Sansar is a different product, posed for a different group of people. Adoption will be of course slower, because of different time, market saturation, user age and hardware requirements.
Your analysis convinces me, and I thank you for sharing it. We will see what will happen. The inevitable comparison between SL and Sansar has provoked by the initial opening to the creators of SL, for which many have thought that LL tried to make people move from SL to Sansar. Also, Sansar was promoting, in the beginning, like a VR to implement on mobile, but later the facts have denied dreams of glory. In short, a campaign of wrong promotion, in my view. If they had merely created Sansar without too many secrets and desires of fame then denied, there probably would not be such negative and disappointed opinions (vox populi is slightly skeptical towards Sansar).
Yes, a lot of disappointment comes from unmet expectations. Partly it is LL’s fault, partly – people’s. We will see how it will all untangle in the future, but I hope LL will be more clear about WHAT exactly Sansar is supposed to be, so that people wouldn’t get disappointed once they come inside.
could I add some parts of your comments in the article with your name to give a better idea about Sansar?
That would be wonderful. Thank you for not dismissing an alternative view, a lot of people love bashing Sansar at every chance they get.
thank you too, much appreciated.
Vassay is but one creator and unfortunately a company man, one of the remaining few 20 or so hardcore users of Sansar who can’t accept that it has failed.
Now we are a few years later, and they, the users and staff and owners have deluded themselves that it is not their fault that they have failed.
Yet they continue to exploit passionate creators and users on their platform, the only ones who can survive the rampant “Woke” and narcissistic cult mentality that has undermined Sansar from the beginning.
Almost every decision and failure made can be chalked up to narcissism and complete incompetence.
While other worlds flourished and grew in the same time, Sansar withered and died, so clearly the platform is not the problem but it’s cult like ‘fanboi’ culture who lets no one in, bans anyone who disagrees or is critical, silences all free expression and speech, yet has a cult like ‘we’re all family’ falsehood that continues to draw a few people into their manipulations.
Sansar has no problem banning creators and continuing to use their worlds and store items to make $$ for themselves, the only saving grace being that they’re such a failure, no one is paying for anything Sansar related anytime soon.
Even as they attempt to sell the platform, I doubt anyone would pay for it when it has 5 concurrent users on it daily.
It’s too bad you only heard from one creator and user on Sansar, and quoted him like he’s the only say.
There are hundreds of banned people and thousands of users who left because the platform was woke, politically driven, and exclusive to a fault. No documentation, no forums, everything locked away and behind a Discord server, favouritism, elitism and rampant narcissism.