Hamlet has a post published where he frames questions about Project Sansar® he would like to see asked at the next Lab chat. See: Top Project Sansar Questions I’d Love to Hear Answered on the Next Lab Chat. If you have questions you would like to have answered, post them here: Lab Chat Returns January 21st, 2016 with Linden Lab CEO – Ebbe Altberg – you’ll supposedly find it in the Second Life Forum in the Events section every month.

~Retrato~

Hamlet thinks there is a ‘massive’ controversy about whether Sansar will cannibalize Second Life. I suppose there is some controversy. I suspect nearly everyone has an opinion. I do hear people voice the fear. But, I’m not seeing the clouds of doom or marching protesters.

First, Will we still be able to create objects with prims?” – Yes, sort of. This has been asked and sort of answered before. I suppose Hamlet means will be able to build with prims that are like those in SL. That is where I think the ‘sort of’ becomes key. While no one is saying I think we will have something that is a blend of Cloud Party and SL. After all there are those voxel things so many people are looking at building into new virtual worlds.

Ebbe keeps saying they plan to make something even novice users can work with.

Second, Will SL residents be able to take anything with them from SL to Sansar? If so, what?” Yes. This has been asked many times and we get the same answer each time.

Scripts, no. But, we have already seen someone build a converter that takes Linden Scripting Language scripts to C#. But, there is the problem of not having the Sansar side of the problem to match the conversion to. For instance, without knowing how a rotate commend is implemented in Sansar there is no certain way to convert an SL ‘rotate’ to Sansar’s C#.

Animations, no. We have been told custom skeletons/armatures will be a part of Sansar. The chances of Sansar using the same bone names as SL is slim, even with Bento.

Mesh buildings and things, yes. If you built it in 3D Max, Blender, or Maya it is still a mesh and there will be a way to import it.

Textures, yes. But, that doesn’t mean they will useful in the same ways. So, if you made a classic shirt, that shirts texture is unlikely to work in Sansar. We’ve been told the avatar’s mesh layout will be different.

If you made a mesh item with a UVMap and texture, you can bring the set into Sansar. San and SL don’t change those. How Sansar handles them may be different. We may have to touch up a normal map.

Clothes, depends. You will not be able to bring your SL inventory across to Sansar. Your Classic clothes are not going to work with the new avatar. Nor will you be able to bring you mesh clothes across. The designer can bring their original work in as a new mesh.

It looks like we will have to start with a new wardrobe.

Third, What will happen to Second Life large land owners if everyone gets free land in Sansar? Wow. Now that is a question. I suspect the Lindens have yet to figure out what to do with that one. I think this is Hamlet’s most explosive question.

Fourth, Has any thought been given to the impact differing economic bases will have on the currency and economy as a whole?” Ebbe has been talking about Sansar’s financial model and how it will remove many of the barriers for content creators. So, the answer is yes.

Fifth, What has your reaction been to the cost of Oculus and how do you see this affecting Project Sansar? The device seems aimed at hardcore gamers, would Project Sansar appeal to such a niche group? This question is a first. The answer will be interesting. But, it may be predictable. We know people are going to buy VR headsets. Just look at the Oculus sales.

There is also going to be competition. So, there will be low cost headsets.

Will Sansar appeal to hardcore gamers? I’m pretty sure no one knows. But, I will point out that it isn’t Sansar that will need to appeal to gamers. It will need to appeal to GAME DESIGNERS. What they build will need to appeal to gamers.

The challenge is can a game designer build a good enough game in Sansar cheaply enough that the decision of whether to use Unity, Unreal, Cry, or Sansar becomes the issue. I think for hobbyists the choice is going to be Sansar. The question is how much of the professional market can Sansar capture.

Remember. Microsoft dominated the software world and made Windows the OS of choice for most programmers by providing the best tools. Did that rub off on Ebbe? We’ll find out.