Wavering moment of doubt

Hmmm. Our story doctor, Melissa, showed me Unreal 3's editor. I learned how to use the previous version, Unreal 2004, a couple years ago. Unreal 3 is now much improved, in areas that always pissed me off before.

Hmmm. The new level editor makes me want to use Unreal Editor 3 to make Emeralda. I don't know what to do. It might be a worthwhile endeavor to make the game in both, just to compare, but I think Bill's been waiting long enough to see something tangeable, considering how infrequently I can work on it.

Hmmm.

Here's a comparison (scroll down cause it seems Blogspot has trouble with tables):

SecondLife/SpotOn3D	Unreal Editor
Massively multiplayer functionality already built in, including chat, voice, commerce, and messaging capabilities.	Can have multiplayer functionality, can include a chat HUD, but that would take extra work. Voice chat and commerce would be out of my skillset. However, we could charge a one-time fee through PayPal.
The server that runs the game is always up, and maintained by Linden Labs.	I would have to run the game server 24/7 on a computer that I own.
Monthly land ownership dues starting at $80 per month.	A one-time license fee. I've emailed to find out how much. TorqueX is only $100, but I know Unreal costs more. Update: Looks like I'd need a "royalty-bearing license", which is $100 according to this page.
Can only run on PC.	Can build for PC, Xbox, or PlayStation 2. (Hmm. TorqueX can build for PC or Xbox, and gives you more control. But I'm less familiar with it than with Unreal.)
Designed for social realms.	Designed for first person shooters, but you can modify scripts to omit weapons, change default avatars to they don't look like soldiers, and provide other objects to manipulate. That would take a LOT of work, though.
Custom 3D objects (sculpty prims) are very restrictive. Ie, you can only start with specific objects (cylinders, spheres) with a set number of vertices. This makes sharp edges and crisp textures almost impossible on flat surfaces.	You can design any 3D object with any number of vertices you want! Complex objects too.
Custom 3D objects (scupty prims) take a long time to load, including their textures.	Unreal object instantiation is fast.
Lag due to lots of factors.	Less lag, more under my control.
Limited number of objects on your land.	Unlimited number of objects.
Limited space/land.	Unlimited space/land.
Restrictive terraforming.	Unrestricted terraforming and bump-mapping.
Simple UI, but still daunting to our demographic (35-65 yo women).	More control over the UI.
Noteriety and popularity, and useful to our players for other things besides playing our game.	No other usefullness.
Object animations cause lots of lag.	Again, Unreal is faster by default, and faster still because of how few people will be on the server.
Avatars are highly customizable, which is a pretty attractive feature.	Letting people customize their avatars would require a LOT of work. Might be out of my skillset.

Wow. Still don't know what to do. I'd better chat with Bill.