Frustration

I'm afraid I've already been turned off by my Second Life experience. For some reason my computer (a fairly new iMac with the latest greatest OS on it) does not work and play well with Second LIfe.

Sounds like a technical support issue, right? I guess it is. But...

The bigger thing is that my motivation to play the game is flat. Instead of looking forward to going there, as I did when I first learned about Second Life, I now dread the thought. I'm sure I can probably go through the effort to troubleshoot the issue, or I could learn to live with the the difficulties of movement and staring at the 'beach ball' as my computer locks up for a while. But now it's not fun anymore. It's work.

I know what you're saying about now: "Wussbag!!!!!" Maybe I am one. But when designing games, you have to consider the wusses of the world. It takes a lot of motivation to overcome the hurdle of having things not work the way they're supposed to. Is the game valuable enough to the player to be willing to work first in order to play? Or are you designing for an audience that likes that kind of challenge? And does the game need to be bleeding edge, or will another, simpler design work?

So my experience with Second Life has made me think more of motivation than anything else. I don't know if I'll end up being able to use Second Life. I wish I could. It looks fun. But not THAT fun.