Linden Lab, the company behind Second Life (2003), has been cooking up their new VR-ready virtual world in stealth for some time now. The company has revealed two screenshots giving us the first glimpse of what that new world will look like.

‘Stylish’ and ‘beautiful’ are two words that come to mind when looking at the first two screenshots of Project Sansar, but those same two words are rarely associated with Linden Lab’s aging virtual world, Second Life.

The new views are but a glimpse into what the company hopes will become an expansive virtual world built with the new generation of immersive VR devices in mind; clearly visuals, and perhaps more importantly, style, are a major focus.

While Second Life is capable of looking good in the right circumstances, the company acknowledges that it isn’t optimized for the high-performance rendering requirements of VR headsets. That’s one reason why Linen Lab is starting from scratch with Project Sansar.

“The fact is, we will never ever get the framerate in Second Life to be what it needs to be to have a smooth comfortable experience in the Oculus [Rift],” CEO Ebbe Altberg told me. “We now have VR in Sansar and it’s super smooth… we have the framerate and we’ve got some really beautiful scenes up and running.”

project-sansar-screenshot-liden-lab-second-life-2

The two new views of Sansar show a more modern, and apparently stylized world, rather than aiming for photorealism. Style is important to any game that plans to stick around for a long time; cutting-edge graphics are only cutting-edge for so long, whereas a stylized world derives its looks from internal and self-controlled means, rather than the graphical fashions of the day.

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As I’ve done before, I’ll point to a title like Halo 3 (2007)—a game with a stylistic approach combined with a reasonably good lightning system—as having aged much better than games that went for the high-poly & high-texture of the time.

Lighting is crucial because it suggests form even without any texture, whereas texture without lightning can create misleading illusions of form. Without a decent lightning system, your textures will look like cardboard no matter how high resolution they are. Thankfully, it looks like lightning is a big focus for project Sansar, with the new views showing simple but effective reflections, bloom, and atmospheric perspective. This will keep it looking fresh for years to come as long as Sansar sticks with a stylized aesthetic.

But consistent style is major hurdle for a company transitioning from Second Life, a platform that offered users near infinite freedom in user-generated content creation, creating a range of content that is as varied performantly as it is aesthetically.

“Second Life is going to have its 12th birthday this year. The way Second Life was built was quite substantially ahead of its time,” Altberg told me. “It achieved something that, back then, was borderline nuts to even try to accomplish…. to retro-fit SL, to modernize that stack to become as performant as you need it to be would be a massive undertaking, and we decided it would be easier and less disruptive to start anew, and leave SL as it is for those that love it for what it is.”

Update (11/5/15, 11:51AM CT) – A Linden Lab spokesperson reached out with the following clarification:

“We won’t actually create content nor will we dictate a cohesive style for Sansar experiences; instead, users create the experiences and they’ll be extremely diverse in type and style vs. a singular cohesive “game” world. These [screenshots] are merely to show the diverse range of experiences our current alpha users are creating and how much detail you can derive from our platform.”

Original article continues below.

Sansar on the other hand, may ultimately encourage or require that creators abide by a certain set of performance guidelines, with the help of Linden Lab.

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“Our users are starting to understand that VR is a different medium and they may need to approach it differently than they have in the past [for performance and experiences],” he said. “We’ll do a lot of things to help users understand how to create performant content. There’s a lot of work yet to do, but we have plans for things like automatic optimization of content, polygon reduction of content that preserves quality at the same time, including showing users that create content some sort of visual indication of how performant their content is going to be across various platforms… I’ve already see stuff in Sansar that I know you’d never see in SL.”

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Allie Tomsen

    You refer to Second Life as an “AGING” Virtual World? How about “established,” or “proven?” It seems that loaded adjectives are now a part of everyday rhetoric.

    • A Hyena

      from the technical/engine pov wise, it is rather aged compared to new stuff and they can only do so many more improvements to it’s old bones

    • Jen

      yeah like it or not SL is AGED.. and this is coming from someone who has been playing/active since 08 the only way they are going to effectively bring in a newer crowd they are going to have to probably start a whole new project and that’s what this is….part of business is changing with the times.. and since they are kind of borderline game/chat/opensandbox mix type thing they are going to have to change with the times at least sometimes.. they wont bring in new people if they cant appeal to them.. shit I am 34 and I think SL needs a new installment.. it needs upgrading big time.. from its code platform down to its servers.. .. then again I have always been quite adaptive and love new things.. xD.. im gonna be that 80 yo granny with the newest gadgets.. and playing the latest games.. :F

      • Rhiannon Welles

        It may be aged but it is the best virtual word going. Nothing else I’ve seen comes close.

  • Jen

    @.@ i want to play in it.. I wish i could get invited.. but my level of creation for sl is extremely low quantity.. tho i love it so.. I know everyone else is extremely on guard when it comes to the new world.. but I for one am all up for the new.. I could probably leave SL for a new world providing it can out do SL.. the images are great. Tho I do hope that they will have a wider range of vr compatibility.. I know right now VR is extremely new but there are already PC VR sets that will undercut the Rift in price.. and compete with them.. so i hope that they do not stay exclusive to Rift.. also I hope that it will be able to be played by people who don’t have any VR set.. only because i can see that it can diminish the amount of people who will log in.. since right now VR isn’t really a normal thing that even most house holds will have for a couple years yet..

    • RayneSaltair

      Same here. I’m a mesh creator but I don’t think they will invite someone that isn’t bringing in a certain amount of cash.

      • Jen

        yeah i am pretty positive you have to be a bigger better known creator.. I can do mesh to, to a degree.. but the items I make I only make cause I want to not specifically cause i think it might sell… so While i do sell enough to have most my SL life paid for.. i definitely do not “bring home the bacon” in a sense it has no effect on my RL.. just SL… So i am pretty sure it has to do with the high roller creators.. and people who are pro skilled ya know.. I do wish at least there were more people that were in this beta that are willing to report more on it.. or record some of their testing and building.. that would be nice..

      • Jeeves7

        Itll be land as far as high dollar, as always.

    • madethatway

      If they didn’t invite you, Jen, then it’s their stupid loss (on top of the $20m they’ll lose). You have fun & you love what you do – to hell with stodgy, crusty, dried out, skanky, stinky, boring, snobsville, Sansar.

  • Michel

    when will Sansar be available…

  • Amanda Moore

    I’m so excited about Project Sandsar! I love VR and can’t wait to “walk into SL” OMG so facinating! I spend approx 22 hrs in a bed due to illness and SL is a great way for me to interact with people. I love it. I perform in SL so doing this with my VR headset will be so amazing. I would love to help pioneer that effort!

  • Jeeves7

    Im sorry, but the graphics they are showing are gonna have to be better. Its still hard edged, fake-lit scenery, and the avatars are going to have to be better as well. they had better bring in some concept artists at least, and give us the virtual space with its proper shadows, lighting and atmosphere.

    • madethatway

      Ugly as all hell, too.

    • Rose Wallace

      this isnt a console game! we will hopefully build our own av’s.. i dont care about the basic ones.

      • Jeeves7

        I do care about the basic ones, and LLs is going to go by the ol’ ‘F up’ till they get it halfway right, though Im hoping they wont do this as a regular thing like old SL.

  • Spiritdove Smith

    so that means they dictate how I build my Vr world? what if I like simple and dont care for having a college degree just to build..

    • madethatway

      Yep. They will dictate absolutely everything you do. They will also dictate that your avi must have your RL name as well using your FB account.

      I saw this crap coming months ago – LL has become a mindless, greed-obsessed dictatorship.

      • Spiritdove Smith

        well then forget it. im not using it. Sl is fine for me

  • Jess

    to be honest i dont agree. some stuff is cool. but there is stuff i payed for. and I’ve heard that Secondlife 2 will NOT allow you to import your inventory. . so until they can find a way to fix that. no i will not be apart of the hype for a new sl world.

    • madethatway

      Not only will you not be able to import, you won’t even be permitted to take your avi over there.

      You’ll be forced to create a new Avi that must be given your RL name, using your FB account, so you’ll be forced to have one of those stupid things as well if you really want to bother with Sansar.

      I have no interest whatsoever in the mess called Sansar and I suspect the only ones who do, are LL hob nobs and their rich-bitch henchmen.

      Well, good luck to them in Sansar all by themselves; we plebs will stick with the better world of SL.

  • Freedom Rocker

    80% of SL residents run on out of the box PC’s or laptops

    Out of the gate 80% of LL’s existing customers will not be able to run Sansar.

    This is the pinnacle of head in the sand stupidity!

    • madethatway

      LL is very good at head-in-the-sand stuff. They haven’t learned a damn thing in how many years? 11 or so? And they don’t listen to residents. At all. Ever.

  • DaKangaroo

    I’ve been in SL since ’07. Trust me, if there’s one thing you can count on, you can count on LL to screw up a very simple concept. Mesh rendering, animation rigging, normal maps, I’ve never seen them do anything without completely screwing it up in some new unique fascinating way which I’ve never seen anyone else do before. SL’s problem isn’t the fact it’s an aging platform, the world wide web is an aging platform, but it has been enhanced through the years so that it evolves with people’s needs. SL on the other hand, LL allows it to rot, they take years to do even the most basic changes, and when they do make the changes, they do a terrible job of them. SL’s problem is LL, and for that reason alone, I have no hope for Sansar being any better, it will just further fragment SL into two platforms.

    • madethatway

      You’re so very right. They seem too stupid to see the bleedin’ obvious; fix what they’ve already created. But do they? Ofc not!

      Instead, they flush $20m down the toilet to create a new mess that very few, if any, have any desire to partake in.

  • Skip Forward

    I have been working in the Sci-fi sector on Sl for about 5 years and we have made some major advances especially on the asthetics of our ships. Most of our latest are comparable to what you will find in any new release atleast in looks but the limits of sl’s sxripting is a major handicap. We are hoping that this new release will give us the freedom to really make our creations fly if the physics have been updated to a more modern and expansive platform we will make the move asap.

  • Mitford

    I’ve been in SL since 2005. I’m not a creator, I’m a socializer. The majority of people I meet in SL are over the age of 40, and most are in their 50’s and 60’s. They aren’t very computer savvy, they aren’t computer or game geeks. They use mid-range computers out of the box, and many have old computers that can barely run SL. Also, many are on laptops. These people do have some disposable income, but they tend to not want to spend a lot of it on a “computer game”. Many have told me they will not be buying Oculus Rift or any VR headset and would rather spend their money on their family. These are the same people who won’t spend the money on a premium membership in SL, won’t spend money on buying Lindens and use the freebie avatars and clothing. These people I’ve found aren’t the minority citizens in SL but are the majority! Many creators in SL have spent years making their virtual products. They have built up an Inventory that has cost them real life money. Many have said that if they can’t transfer their avatar and Inventory to the new Sansar, they won’t be a part of it and this also goes for the citizens of SL who aren’t creators who have spent money in SL. Although many in SL treat it like virtual porn or cartoon sex, a way to “have an affair without actually having an affair”, many others who don’t treat SL that way, love to buy clothes and houses and various skins, etc. They have spent hundreds of dollars over the years and have thousands of items in their Inventory. If they can’t transfer all this to Sansar, they won’t be a part of Sansar as they can’t afford to do both SL and Sansar and they don’t want to leave their Inventory behind that has cost them hundreds of real money over the years. If Sansar does withstand the test of time and becomes popular, I predict it will only be with those who are younger, have more disposable income and are more of the tech/computer/game geek types.

    • Travis Smith

      Ok for the most part I agree. I have been running SL for at least 8 years and probably closer to 10 years? I know I have spent thousands of dollars over the years. That being said I don’t play SL much anymore for a lot of reasons. As to so many people using base avatars? well I don’t think that is really true? but that being said a lot of people will after playing for a few months only buy minimum lindens and refuse to spend much. Most the people I know will not transfer thoagh because they have SL jobs and spent fortunes on there avatars even thoagh they have not invested much cash into SL.

      All this being said as people move over and less and less revenue can be made in SL more and more people will transfer over to this game or others.It will take time but I believe most people will actually end up moving over. I also know many people that want to check this new world out and will transfer over an Alt account just to see what will happen before even thinking about trying with there main account. I know I will try on an Alt account first even though I am not currently running SL. Note: If there isnt much in the way of Clubbing then i probably wont stay with this new version long before taking another good break regardless of graphics!!!!

      • Mitford

        From what I understand about Sansar is that it will be a closed world, meaning you will not be able to transfer over any existing SL accounts, avatars or Inventory. Also, from what I understand, in order to play Sansar you will need to purchase Oculus Rift. The trouble with that for a lot of people, aside from the cost of Oculus Rift, is that many computers are not Oculus Rift compatible. My computer is not and my computer is a Dell gaming computer that is only 2 months old. I’m not about to buy another computer just so I can play Sansar.

        • madethatway

          Don’t forget that anyone creating an Avi in Sansar will be forced to use their RL names (via FB) as their Avi’s name.

          How’s that for blatant privacy invasion?

          I won’t be bothering with Sansar; it’s a dictatorship run by the obnoxious.

    • madethatway

      They’re better off not bothering with Sansar, as many who value their privacy won’t be.

      As I mentioned in another response below, creating a new Avi in Sansar means you’ll be forced to give it your real life name via FB, which is a disgusting move by LL.

      Sansar’s a really bad joke.

      • Mitford

        That’s easy to get around. Just create a FB page for your new avatar name. For example, say you want your new avatar in Sansar to be named, “Dodopickle Boogerface” just start a new FB account with the first name as “Dodopickle” and the last name as “Boogerface”. Many people in Second Life currently have FB accounts in their SL name and these accounts have nothing to do with their RL or their RL name.

        • madethatway

          Yeah, I did (eventually) think of that but I find FB so repugnantly resplendent with all manner of sleazy privacy invasion techniques, that the thought of even touching it with rubber gloves and a 50′ barge pole turns my stomach.

          Besides, the concept of Sansar just doesn’t blow my skirt up…

          • Mitford

            LOL!

          • mike gotswag

            I hope that do not happen as am sure you stink and we need not to smell of your fish to sink up this place. or our new world of freedom from you snobs.

    • Rose Wallace

      Being able to copy over our .ini files (aka avatar inventory), would be ideal and is doable form what i understand. I hope the Liden’s Listern to the residence … they havnt been good at that in the past and look where its gotten them. failure failure failure, now they are back to developing SL 2.0. A venture they once considered giving up on! Hope they dont make the same errors again.

  • Rose Wallace

    I have been in SL since 2008 too and i worked full time there for 3 years… the friends and world are very dear to me. I even met my RL partner in world. It will be the saddest day when we finally part… i hope the new world doesnt fall too far from the tree. Try and improve rather than reinvent.

    • mike gotswag

      To hell with you and your friends. its you old geezers that keeping us back. hateful snobs that think your better then others. Hating people of color evil vamp blood sucking, gang banger and witchcraft loving fools, need to be gone the sooner the better.

      • Hayden Lazer Laffoon

        Mike Gotswag, you ain’t got no swag talking like that. Nobody is saying they are better than you, nobody said anything about color. Quit being a troll and get some real swag to go with your nick there buddy, cause right now, you are Mike gotnoswag.

  • Rose Wallace

    Oh for god sake dont make this Rift only… that will kill the world before it starts. Not everyone likes 1st person! i have always been a 3rd person lover. get that on a tee!