New World Notes

New World Newsfeed: The BBC Joins Second Life Media Backlash Two Years Too Late

The BBC's news magazine has a grotesquely lopsided article curiously entitled "What happened to Second Life?", which largely recapitulates points from Wired's notorious anti-SL piece of 2007, which was fairly skewed in the first place. (It's astounding any credible media outlet would cite the experiences of American Apparel and Reuters' ill-fated SL bureau of two-three years ago as if they were relevant to Second Life as it is now.) As it happens, I was contacted by the BBC about this article yesterday, but wasn't able to respond in time. Not that that would have mattered, as the article's dubious thesis was already set in place by then. "We're running a story tomorrow about what happened to Second Life," the BBC's Jonathan Duffy told me brightly, "it seems to have slipped off the mainstream radar." Which is a strange thing to assert about an online world that's more than tripled its active user base since 2006, is used by numerous Fortune 500 companies and several branches of the US government, and is run by a company that was just ranked among the top 25 Internet start-ups. However, the BBC makes the classic mistake of confusing media attention with general attention. Then again, were the article called, "What happened to Second Life (when the BBC wasn't paying attention)?", it would be framed more accurately -- but would also point the failure where it actually belongs.

Open Forum: What Are the Best Blog Posts on xStreetSL's New Freebie Policy?

Controversy and anger over the new xStreetSL freebies policies continues, which you can see in this comment thread from yesterday. Ciaran Laval of Your 2nd Place has a pretty good post wondering how much user feedback was actually sought before the Lindens' implemented it. What other SL blog posts are worth reading?

Oxford Creates Immersive SL Space For World War I Poetry

I haven't had a chance yet to explore the War Poets Exhibition in Second Life, an extremely ambitious Oxford project that presents World War I poetry contextualized in an immersive simulation of WWI battlegrounds. However, the agile Emily Orr has, and after taking care of some personal business, has an observant review of the experience here: "The aid station was stark, terrifying. Bodies laid out as best they could, desperate conditions, too few nurses and too many wounded men, as happens in any war, all wars." More here.

Image: razorblade-cookies.blogspot.com

Why SL Inventory Transactions Fail, and What You Can Do About It -- Peter Stindberg Explains

Peter Stindberg has a very lucid and useful post on why inventory transfers in SL often fail -- a problem that's become so acute, the Lindens are thinking of making guaranteed delivery a for-pay premium service. Fortunately Peter has several suggestions for minimizing delivery failure, at least from your end. For example, I had no idea belonging to groups which send a lot of group notices tends to exacerbate the problem, but Mr. Stindberg says they do.

Deshima, New Roleplay SL Space Station Under Construction

Paulina Oceanlane of Who Let the Dorks Out explores Deshima Space Station, a massive, impressively detailed space colony still under construction but already boasting its own greenhouse and surrounding asteroid field. [SLurl teleport link] And what better way to explore it than as Paulina does, as a disembodied head with its own life support on a motorized unicycle? Oh yes.

Bizarre xStreetSL Products Get Their Own Snarky Blog (If It's Not Too Late)

NextStreetSL is a fun, Schadenfreude-ish blog devoted to snarking on the stranger items found on xStreetSL, the Lindens' ecommerce site. Featured at left, for instance: Virtual Percocet. (Warning: Occasional NSFW posts.) Anonymously written and relatively new, NextStreetSL arrives on the scene during peak controversy over recent xStreet policy changes against freebie items. Ironically, many of the products covered by the blog are freebies, so NextStreetSL may wind up becoming a historical record of products soon to get pulled. (Then again, unless it's being created in Second Life by the good people of Endo Pharmaceuticals, SL "Percocet" is an unauthorized trademarked product.) Hat tip: Ms. Alicia Chenaux.

Lyric's Desire: Erotic SL Machinima From Lyric Lundquist

There are many Second Life machinimas that aim to titillate with sexual imagery, but for my mojo, at least, few are actually sexy. Then there's "Sideways Time", the latest from Lyric Lundquist, whose expressionist machinima I've celebrated before, a geometric burst of sensual imagery. Possibly unsafe for work viewing, but more evocative, than explicit:

"Although there are sensual undertones in a lot of my machinima," Lyric tells me, "I really wanted to take it to another level with this video." She was inspired by the discovery of Igor Ballyhoo's latest creation [SLurl teleport link here]. "I was floored with how sensual and powerful it was. I was also hanging out a lot at Selavy Oh's installation while obsessively listening to the 'The White Flash' by Modeselektor." Both builds are featured in "Sideways Times", Ms. Lundquist's attempt "to create something that would evoke the viewer to feel the emotions that both installations made me feel."

Continue reading "Lyric's Desire: Erotic SL Machinima From Lyric Lundquist"

Chestnut's Choices 11/19 - 11/25: Fleet Week in New Babbage, Celebrate Two Years of the Crown & Pearl, Virtual Praxis Women's International Conference and much more

Chestnut Rau’s weekly round-up of upcoming SL event.....

New Babbage is a steampunk city-state located inside Second Life.   The builds are extraordinary and the community consists of dedicated roleplayers who are friendly and welcoming to visitors.  You can read all about New Babbage here and see beautiful machinima here. 

If you are interested in all things nautical, make sure you visit New Babbage for the first ever gathering of Second Life's Steamland Navies now through November 21st. Tonight at 7pm there will be epic naval skirmish featuring the navies of the steamlands slugging it out on the open ocean. The Fleet Review is Friday at 1pm wherein the Navies present themselves in their finest regalia for review by the Public. Please be sure to pick up a notecard at the TP landing point for the rest of the Fleet Week activities including a Shipbuilders Contest, Submarine Races, Windjammer Race, Epic Ironclad Battles and a fancy dress Uniform Ball.While you are there make sure to explore the wonders of this Steampunk community and meet its interesting residents.  In Port Babbage.    [SLurl teleport at this link]

Also after the break: The Originals Day-long Live Music Festival, Drama Libre Hosts The USO, Live Comedy, Music of the 1920s and much much more

Continue reading "Chestnut's Choices 11/19 - 11/25: Fleet Week in New Babbage, Celebrate Two Years of the Crown & Pearl, Virtual Praxis Women's International Conference and much more"

Survey on Linden's Upcoming Freebies Policy: Is It Good For the Second Life Economy?

Online Surveys & Market Research

The Lindens just announced a policy for its ecommerce site, targeting low-cost freebie items sold on XStreetSL: "[Since] the increasing quantities of free, cheap and stale goods are hindering that experience for shoppers and merchants alike," as Colussus Linden puts it, "we will take action to counteract and balance them within the marketplace, for the benefit of all." This will be done by adding small fees and commission charges to all xStreet sales, effectively penalizing extremely cheap items. The announcement has riled many content creators, including talented figures such as Ordinal Malaprop, who's retaliated by removing all her wares from the ecommerce site. Outrage aside, my main curiosity is this: As quality content offered at very low rates, freebies are often blamed for harming the SL economy. So will this new Linden policy help improve the economy, at least the aspects that are part of xStreetSL?Please take the survey, and discuss in Comments.

Hat tip: Wizard Gynoid.

Ophelia's Gaze: Three Favorites From The Vanity Universe Skin Fair -- And How To Wear Them

Exclusive to NWN, Iris Ophelia's ongoing showcase of all things stylish in SL

Vanity Universe's Skin Fair (SLURL link here), is running until Sunday November 22nd, and features a lot of new designers who weren't a part of the last fair, along with new releases from old favorites. Better yet, every designer at this Fair has an item out to benefit Care International, a poverty relief organization. If you're in the market for a fresh new face or a trendy makeup, the Skin Fair is the place to be this week. 

My favorite three fair finds are after the cut -- along with tips on wearing them well.

Continue reading "Ophelia's Gaze: Three Favorites From The Vanity Universe Skin Fair -- And How To Wear Them"

New World Newsfeed: Linden Partners With Online Gambling Service To Handle Online/International Payments

The Lindens have partnered with 888 Holdings, an online gambling company, to handle payment services, especially for international Second Life users. As M. Linden puts it in the press release, "[W]e’re pleased to work with them to provide easy and secure payment options for our users outside the United States." I was curious that the selected company is mainly known for providing online services for large casino concerns like Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment. Did this partnership mean the Lindens planned to re-instate L$-based gambling, which was banned in 2007 out of concern for US laws?

"That's not something on the current roadmap," Peter Linden told me by email. "The agreement is technically with Gisland, their payment processing division (888 Holdings is the public limited company, Dragonfish is the brand name of 888’s B2B Division, and Gisland is the operating company.) We're working together with Gisland on a cashier interface and other tools that will give Residents more payment options and make it easier for Residents to pay in a wider range of native currencies than they can now. Gisland will also help Linden Lab implement appropriate anti-fraud measures as we expand these payment options. In addition, Gisland will assist Residents directly with payment-related issues, including failed transactions."

Willow's Playlist: Blindboy Gumbo, Slide Guitar and Cheeky Rhythm n' Blues -- From Northern England!

Exclusive to NWN, Willow Caldera covers SL's burgeoning live music scene

Any performer capable of bringing soulful melody to a song about an adult toy is one worth listening to, and Blindboy Gumbo's cheeky sense of humour defines his on-stage presence - along with his gruff and gravelled voice and the kick of his slide guitar. All just part of his irresistible Northern UK charm:

This video was shot by Sound'r at the Cup and Spittle and features the original song 'Sleeping in the Ground'

If you ask him, he'll tell you he was raised by wild Hunting Hedgehogs, who passed on the secrets of rock n' roll guitar and then left him to his own musical devices in the north of England. Where he developed, it seems, a love for the blues and indie, with a little alternative country thrown in for good measure. Add to that a portfolio of original songs that range from sing-along ballads and hum-along rock to the one about the aforementioned plaything and you have a live set that brings more than its share of pleasant surprises.

"I started playing when I was a kid, maybe 7 or so, but didn't really take it seriously until after I left school," says Blindboy. "Why? Cos music is the one thing that gets me lost, I can just drift away, best drug in the world." 

Continue reading "Willow's Playlist: Blindboy Gumbo, Slide Guitar and Cheeky Rhythm n' Blues -- From Northern England!"

Second Life Stat of the Day: Only 6% of SL Land Is "Adult" Rated For Pornographic Content

Awhile ago I mentioned the invaluable work of Tyche Shepherd, a Resident who meticulously tracks in-world Second Life data such as "Incident" reports. In a recent report posted on the SL Universe Forum, she has exhaustive details on the full scope of Second Life land, summarized according to content rating (PG, Mature, and Adult, a relatively new designation for SL content with graphic sex and violence). Here they are:

• Estate - Adult: 1303
• Estate - Mature: 19264
• Estate - Offline: 9
• Estate - PG: 3222
• Linden - Adult: 348
• Linden - Mature: 3835
• Linden - PG: 1422

"Adult regions," Tyche notes, "grew by 27 to 1651 (5.6%), PG Regions grew by 5 to 4644 (15.8%)."

Continue reading "Second Life Stat of the Day: Only 6% of SL Land Is "Adult" Rated For Pornographic Content"

Fun With Sim-Wide Havok 4 Physics in Second Life

This is one of the lovelier demonstrations of Second Life Havok 4 physics at its most, well, physical:

This mayhem is brought you to by a metaverse developer called Bytegang, helmed by the aptly named Loki Dancer. "We did the video just by the way, when cleaning up a simulator after a finished project," Loki tells me. The 'prim explosions' we caused by the physics engine of Second Life. I selected the whole sections of the build, unlinked them and set all the primitives to be physical. The results were rather amusing."

I'd love to see more full-fledged machinima using this effect -- imagine what you could do merging the footage to some well-placed sound effects and visual flourishes in post-production. Bonus: Shoot the physics footage in KirstenLee's dynamic shadow-enabled viewer.

Bettina's Back: Second Life's Art Maven Returns To Blogging, But Better Than Ever

When Bettina Tizzy announced she was suspending her NPIRL blog a few weeks ago, there was understandable sadness, for the woman near single-handedly catalyzed a metaverse art movement from hundreds of disparate talents. As it turns out, however, she's simply upgraded her blog into a better form:

Behold Bettina's new blog: Not Possible IRL - A Digital Shoebox

As that name suggests, it's a compilation of short and punchy posts (using Posterous), mostly devoted to art created in Second Life, but also OpenSim and other medium. Frankly I think it's a more ideal use of Bettina's tastemaking talent, than the old text-heavy, post-light blog. Though it's not even a fortnight old, it's already bursting with tasty posts. Just go forth and read already, and be sure to RSS on your way out.

Pictured: Kikas Babenco and Marmaduke Arado's wearable art.

Philip Rosedale's New Company Building Version of Linden Love Machine -- Original Inventor Cory Ondrejka Weighs In

On the blog of his new company, Philip Rosedale recently confirmed what some have speculated: His start-up is making a version of the Love Machine, an internal Linden system for spreading and aggregating praise to staff members. (However, that's not the totality of the company's plans, Philip coyly suggests, in true Philip fashion, by quoting the Third Stage Guild Navigator from Dune to say, "I see plans within plans.")

But will it serve a need to outside businesses? That largely depends on how well the original Love Machine worked. I asked Cory Ondrejka, Linden Lab's former CTO, co-creator of Second Life and inventor of the Linden's original Love Machine (before he was forced out of the company in 2007), for his take:

"The Love Machine was incredibly popular and allowed Linden to grow while reducing some management and communication problems, but it also raised new management challenges. Philip and Ryan will need to make it a more effective product if they're going to sell it to other businesses." Cory has a much more thorough analysis on his own blog, from the history of the original Machine and how it might be implemented on a broader scale.

My Seven Favorite New World Notes Posts From Last Week

• Meet Second Life's oldest Resident: She's 97 years young.
• How to Make Second Life Truly Mass Market, Part 2: Point-and-Click Avatar Movement! (Heated but interesting conversation in Comments)
• Philip Rosedale Unveils New Company: "LoveMachine Inc" Offers AI, Destruction of the Ego, Lots of Money-Making.
• Open Forum: If Second Life Notecards Are So Frustrating, Why Do Residents Keep Using Them? (Frustrating if enlightening conversation in Comments)
• Do you make your avatar more attractive to make more friends? (Awkward if revealing conservation in Comments)
• Willow reviews [Engrama] -- think White Stripes via Buenos Aires and SL
• Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon gives us a colorful look inside his thought process

Weekend Machinima: Torley Explores the Cyberpunk Wonderland of Sick

Here's what Second Life looks like with a high-end graphics card and all the viewer features turned up to full: Presented by Torley, a rollicking, single take trip through Sick, one of Second Life's best cyberpunk city islands, creation of a Japanese Resident named MK Curtiz. I interviewed him last year, who told me, amazingly enough, he built Sick as "a hobby". [SLurl teleport link to Sick here] Mr. Curtiz is also a superb machinima maker himself: After the break, have a look at the subtitled version of an anime-inspired short he made back in 2007:

Continue reading "Weekend Machinima: Torley Explores the Cyberpunk Wonderland of Sick"

NWN in Japanese:Willow's Playlist:ボーカリストPhoe Nixのアコースティックピアノ

NWN限定、Willow Calderaの新しいSLライブミュージックシーン情報

どちらの世界でも、クリスタルボイスを誇り、聴衆の髪を逆立てるような体験をさせるシンガーは少ないでしょう。エレガントなカバー曲とオリジナルソング両方で、Phoe Nixは自信に満ちたピアノの旋律で伴奏された、非の打ち所がない、情緒的な音楽を演奏します。

Continue reading "NWN in Japanese:Willow's Playlist:ボーカリストPhoe Nixのアコースティックピアノ"

I Like Banana's (Second Life Travel and Fashion Blog)

Banana Vella is the quirky name of a fashionista with a yen for SL travel -- and her blog is named the same. Amid sporadic fashion spreads, she lavishly illustrates her many travels in SL, and they're locations you'll want to visit too: say the underwater dreamland in Raimondo, the magical Bentham forest, and an island called Photon Pinks, "sim that looks like someone threw up candy all over it. I mean that in the nicest way possible!" Now won't you care for some Banana too?

Do You Make Your Avatar More Attractive To Make More Friends?

In Second Life, it's a truism that the more gargantuan a female avatar's breasts are, the more likely the owner is actually a man in real life. In an interesting if limited study, Pixels and Policy's Gatsby Crumb conducted a survey female avatars, and found that wasn't always the case. 70% of female avatars told Gatsby that breast size was an important consideration when creating their persona. Most of those surveyed self-reported as women in real life, and while many said they resisted making their breasts stereotypically large, several said they did so... so they could make friends easier. Not for sexual reasons, necessarily, just to encourage basic social contact:

"At first I played with an avatar that I thought represented me physically... But not many people talked to me. Now [with a large-chested avatar] people go out of their way to IM me and send me friend requests."

The study inspires feminist game blogger Tami "Cuppycake" Baribeau to wonder about the social expectations of virtual attractiveness: "I’m an overweight female in real life, yet my avatar in Second Life is thin and adorable," she acknowledges. "Why is it, that we fight the typical female appearance ideals, yet when given a choice to create our avatars as overweight or as similar to ourselves as possible, we don’t?" Image: pixelsandpolicy.com.

What RL Country Has the Most SL Spenders By Proportion?

Quaintly Tuquri, an SL Resident living in Malaysia, looked at the most recent Second Life economic statistics, and noted something interesting: Her compatriots are responsible for 4% of in-world user-to-user transactions. That would not seem like much, but then, Malaysia only has a population of 28 million. By comparison, Japanese Residents also account for 4% of in-world spending -- but Japan has a population of 128 million. (This may have something to do with the fact that SL users in Malaysia can buy their Linden Dollars with a pre-paid debit card sold at retail -- but Japanese cannot.) This makes me wonder which country has the most Second Life consumers by proportion. My quick eyeball guess is Hong Kong, whose citizens account for 3% of in-world spending -- drawn from a population of only 7 million. Or am I missing another country which proportionally counts more big virtual spenders? Image: quirkyquaintly.com

New World Tableau: Musique Gable's "Snowball Fight"

I love this bright and perfectly composed tribute to winter from Musique Gable.

"Not only was this cheap to shoot," she tells me, "but fun as well. I staged the area using sculpty snow (free from a friend), snow particles ($50L), Linden winter trees (free), an igloo (another freebie -- threw some pillows in there to add some warmth) and some Lost Angel poses. Grabbed a friend and started whizzing snowballs at him until he begged for mercy."

After taking several snapshots, the post-processing magic began: "Threw it into Photoshop -- making everything black and white, except for me and my reluctant snowball victim (to draw your attention to the snowball fight) and the pillows in the igloo (to give it a splash of color), along with a little brushwork to add depth and shadows."

See more of Musique's great SL-driven art on her Koinup profile, see the whole New World Tableau series here. To best submit entries of your own, join my New World Tableau group on Koinup, and start uploading them there; be sure to tell us a bit how you created your image.

Chestnut's Choices 11/12 - 11/18: Concert Series Blends Live Jazz & Immersive Art, Science Author Dorion Sagan Speaks, All-Day Fall Music Festival and Much More

Chestnut Rau’s weekly round-up of upcoming SL events…

If you like live Jazz and 3D immersive art, there is a series of mixed reality events that should tickle your fancy. JazzLive at The Crypt presents a short season of jazz concerts celebrating the wealth of talent in the UK jazz scene.  The shows will be broadcast live from the RL venue into a Second Life space filled with art by some of the virtual world’s most respected artists -- DanCoyote Antonelli, Oberon Onmura and Juria Yoshikawa. 

The art covers the entire sim and creates a wild, pulsing, colorshifting environment which serves as the background for the music.  As you can see from the photo above the art is large-scale. What you can't see is the work reacts to avatars which creates an engaging immersive experience.  During performances the RL audience will be able to view the art on a large screen and the SL audience will be able to see the action at The Crypt.  Jazz is experimental by nature and the same can be said about virtual art so the two seem like ideal partners. 

On Friday, 11/13 at  8pm in London and Noon in SL, The Dave O'Higgins Quartet will perform, featuring Dave O'Higgins on tenor & soprano saxes, Tom Cawley on piano, Arnie Somogyi on bass and Matt Home on drums.  For more information about this show and for a schedule of weekly performances please go here. As a special bonus this week, there will be a set by SL jazz musician Seba Sideways who will be playing starting at noon.  In JazzLive.  [SLurl teleport at this link]

Also after the break:NMC Covers 2 Sims with Work from 30 Artists, Political Humor in the Age of Obama, Old-time Thanksgiving Stories, AIDS Benefit and much much more

Continue reading "Chestnut's Choices 11/12 - 11/18: Concert Series Blends Live Jazz & Immersive Art, Science Author Dorion Sagan Speaks, All-Day Fall Music Festival and Much More"

How to Make Second Life Truly Mass Market, Part 2: Point-and-Click Avatar Movement!

World of Warcraft, the largest 3D online world with 12 million subscribers, has it.

Sims 2, which is often compared to SL, and is the biggest single-player 3D game for the PC, selling 13 million copies, also has it.

But Second Life, the largest 3D virtual world with only 750K active users, and a growth plateau, does not have it:

Point-and-click avatar movement.

With a point-and-click interface, the user clicks the mouse somewhere within the display, avatar goes there. Display camera automatically follows the avatar. The basic interaction is common to anyone who's ever used a modern computer.

With Second Life, by contrast, the default movement interface is still based on first-person shooter keybindings -- A strafes left, D strafes rights, and so on. The reason for this is simple:

Continue reading "How to Make Second Life Truly Mass Market, Part 2: Point-and-Click Avatar Movement!"

Willow's Playlist: Indie Rock From [Engrama]: SL's answer to the White Stripes, with added Spanish flair

Exclusive to NWN, Willow Caldera covers SL's burgeoning live music scene

For Pupito Abrahams and Lakua Arriaga, performing in Second Life has become a real-life career. Taking their influences from bands such as Joy Division and The Cure and sprinkling over them a dash of Spanish guitar, [Engrama]'s live presence has a whimsical quality that perfectly complements its indie cool.

The duo live together in Buenos Aires, though Pupito hails originally from Argentina and Lakua from Spain. [Engrama] was born from a shared interest in musical experimentation and blends Pupito's interest in the local independent music scene and Lakua's goal to 'musicalize' images, which comes from her background as a photographer. 

This video was shot by Sound'r at Idylls Club.

"We use to watch a movie and put down the sound and try to do the soundtrack of the movie, and one day we start playing without that mechanism and started making music," says Pupito.

Continue reading "Willow's Playlist: Indie Rock From [Engrama]: SL's answer to the White Stripes, with added Spanish flair"

Philip Rosedale Unveils New Company: "LoveMachine Inc" Offers AI, Destruction of the Ego, Lots of Money-Making

The mystery around Philip Linden's new company keeps getting, well, mysteriouser. Just announced on his Facebook feed (where he also created an invite-only group for it), the LoveMachine Inc site is pretty sparse so far, except to say, "We believe that the right band of people can work together, have a huge amount of fun, make a bunch of money, and try to save the world."

Adding a bit more meat to that mission statement is Philip's help wanted ad for an executive assistant posted to Craiglist, which mentions that "what we are doing is about Artificial Intelligence," then somewhat curiously, says the company will value "freedom, fun, greatness, and the destruction of the ego". (My theology is a bit rusty, but aren't elimination of the ego and massive money making usually considered mutually exclusive?) In any event, it does seem to involve creating, as I first suggested, a mass market version of the original Love Machine, apparently with some AI functionality. Part of me thinks this is all or largely a lark, especially since the job application requirements demand that you start by finding the "word written in sharpie on the lower edge of the sign outside the [Linden Lab] door." Then again, in today's economy, I wouldn't be surprised if several applicants have already made their way there. Image credit: www.lovemachineinc.com. More fun from Dusan Writer here.

In Survey, 90% Call For Critical Second Life Fashion Blog -- Here's Some Advice on Writing One

Noting the dearth of SL blogs that are critical of Second Life fashion, I recently surveyed the demand for same. Here's the results: nearly 90% are potentially interested in reading an SL blog with negative product reviews. Iris Ophelia wrote a classic guide for spotting poorly made Second Life fashion, so here's three suggestions for blogging about them with a minimum of drama:

Continue reading "In Survey, 90% Call For Critical Second Life Fashion Blog -- Here's Some Advice on Writing One"

Open Forum: If Second Life Notecards Are So Frustrating, Why Do Residents Keep Using Them?

Every time I go into Second Life, I'm inundated by all the text notecards that have been piling into my holding queue since I last logged in -- press releases, event announcements, long messages, and so on. Often they take forever to open, and in any case, there's no way to immediately reply to them (you need to discern who sent which notecard, then contact them, a process of several steps), and if you accidentally close or discard one you need, good luck trying to find it in your Inventory. There's no way to automatically export them out of Second Life, so if you want to blog about them, you have to arduously copy/paste the notecard text from multiple windows. For all these reasons and more, I have a profile message begging people to contact me via email, and a post announcing the same. Despite this, the notecards keep coming. I'm hardly the only one frustrated by them, so the mystery is why they're still such a mainstay of Second Life miscommunication. What's your take?

New World Newsfeed: Top University's Online Advisers Now Required To Maintain Office Hours on Second Life Campus

Penn State is ranked among the United State's very best public universities, and now the Chronicle of Higher Education reports it has another distinction: The school's online advisors are required to maintain office hours as avatars in Penn State's Second Life presence. Judging by the website calendar, that means 12 Penn State representatives being available in SL throughout the week. I wonder if the University's Second Life island gets enough foot traffic of students and would-be students to justify such an active schedule -- but then again, all it really requires is running a SL window in the background, and popping it open when you hear the clicky-clacky typing of a visitor. Direct SLurl to Penn State's Island at this link. Image: worldcampus.psu.edu.

Virtual King Tut Photo Contest - $100 Each For 3 Winners

NWN partner Rezzable is sponsoring a photo contest of King Tut Virtual, their Tutankhamen exhibit running on an OpenSimulator grid. (Direct link here on Rezzable's Heritage Key site.) Three winners will get $100 (USD, not Linden Dollars) for taking high-res pics around these themes: "Avatars exploring", "What in King Tut Virtual would you show to your friends?", and "What's real in a virtual world?" Go here for all the details. Pic by Prad Prathivi.

The Art of M. Linden -- Abstract Peek Into Mind of Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon

In a very interesting interview with Mark Kingdon on Massively, the Linden Lab CEO casually told Tateru Nino about his art student background, and pointed to his Flickr stream of drawings, a striking series of abstract and intricate meshes. I was curious to know more, and how they might relate to his current work in Second Life.

"I've been doing these drawings for 15 years," M. told me, "although the ones you see on Flickr are from a very condensed period of time... Drawing helps focus my mind, like meditation.

"The less colorful/intricate drawings on Flickr were done at the office while on long conference calls -- black ink pen, basic printer paper. (Yes, I can concentrate on the conversation while drawing.) I remember exactly where I was when I did the last one in the set (it's shaped like a lopsided Africa). I had to crop it because it had telephone numbers on it. A true doodle. The more colorful/intricate drawings -- the ones where I used colored pencils -- were done at home. They take a long time (and they're messy) because I am forever sharpening the pencils. I haven't doodled much at all since joining the Lab. When I am in in-world meetings I am always camming around."

So how does his artwork relate to Second Life and his management of Linden Lab?

Continue reading "The Art of M. Linden -- Abstract Peek Into Mind of Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon"

Second Life's Oldest Resident is 97

Los Angeles architect David Denton uses Second Life as a tool for his work (more on that soon), and when colleagues complain that SL is too complicated, he has a novel reply: "If my 97 year old mother can do it, you can do it."

Because that happens to be the case: meet LS Back, who is almost certainly Second Life's oldest Resident. (When I told David about the 88 year old blues singer and the 87 year old Holocaust survivor who also use SL, he snorted: "Whippersnappers.")

Ms. Back, David tells me, enjoys flying around and exploring, and visiting the exhibit hall which David built for her, to display her watercolor paintings in-world. (He made it as a surprise for her 95th birthday.) We are fortunate to have a real life photo of her, because Ms. Back was initially reluctant to be profiled. For as she first told David, "Southern ladies do not reveal their age."

Photo and screenshot courtesy of D. Denton.

Second Life Machinima Shot With an iPhone

Want an economical way to shoot Second Life machinima? There's an app for that. As demonstrated by Botgirl Questi, who captures SL video with her iPhone:

I actually like how the iPhone gives the footage a glassy, abstracted appearance. (This is roughly the way Douglas Gayeton shot his Molotov Alva SL documentary, with a high definition camera pointed directly at his monitor.) Botgirl also edited this video with an iPhone app called ReelDirector, so it's entirely an iPhone package.

My Favorite New World Notes Posts From Last Week

If you missed them last week here's a last chance to check them out before they slide off the front page:

• How to make Second Life truly mass market, Part 1: Deep Integration With Facebook (Very interesting conversation in Comments)
• Iris Ophelia's guide to spotting badly-made virtual fashion (a must read for fashionistas)
• Korean company developing multitouch metaverse screen interface for OpenSim/Second Life
• US Army funds Second Life-based therapy for amputees
• Virtual law expert Ben Duranske's advice on SL Content Theft. Biggest one: Register the copyright of your SL content!
• In reply to Stroker lawsuit, Linden lawyers cite "Unclean Hands" defense -- an expert analyzes why
• How big is the market for SL's enterprise solution, anyway?
• Willow profiles vocalist Phoe Nix, a bit like Tori Amos meets Kate Bush
• The social fallout of SL content theft
• Goodbye Bettina from Second Life blogging (but not gone besides that)

Today Meet Virtual Goods Expert Susan Wu in Second Life!

Today (November 8) at 4 PM SLT/Pacific, virtual goods expert Susan Wu will be the guest on SmarterTechnology's Second Life show, where she'll speak on "The Internet Economics of Vampire Fun". Fast Company named her one of 2009's 100 most creative people in business, and for good reason: Susan's the founder and CEO of Ohai, a new MMO game developer, and before that, was CMO for the Apache Foundation, VP of Strategy for Opus360, and most recently a partner at Charles River Ventures. (She's even been involved in some SL-related projects.) Even more important, she's a good friend of mine, and one of the smartest people working in virtual worlds and games. Please come if you can, you'll learn a lot about both -- including City of Eternals, her upcoming vampire-themed MMO, which I'll be talking more about here soon.

This is the SLurl teleport link to SmartTechnology's auditorium. If you can't reach the in-world venue, here's how to watch the video stream on the web:

Continue reading "Today Meet Virtual Goods Expert Susan Wu in Second Life!"

NWN in Japanese: IBMとNokiaが、より進歩したリアリティー会議システムをセカンドライフで開発している

IBMとNokiaが、より進歩したリアリティー会議システムをセカンドライフで開発している。この開発によって、参加者はリアルとバーチャルの会議スペースを共有することが出来る。ここにあるシステム作動中の映像では、目とアバターの位置を追跡するヘッドマウントカメラが取り入れられ、現実世界とセカンドライフのビデオをまとめている。これにより、デモではミーティング参加者がセカンドライフの中にしか存在しない３Dの建物をチェックしているところを見ることができる：

Continue reading "NWN in Japanese: IBMとNokiaが、より進歩したリアリティー会議システムをセカンドライフで開発している"

Virtual Law Expert Ben Duranske on SL Content Theft

Chestnut Rau has a good summary of a recent in-world presentation on legal issues and SL content theft by virtual world law expert Benjamin Duranske (Benjamin Noble in SL), author of Virtual Law: Navigating the Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds. Among the highlights Chestnut reports: "He remarked that the class action suit recently brought against Linden Lab regarding content theft was very well done", and "suggests content creators make sure they register their copyright with the government because in the US doing so increases the ability to sue for damages and recover legal costs". Emphasis mine, because I strongly second his second point. Shockingly, in a recent survey, 85% of SL content creators polled say they have not registered their works. So I'll put it even more bluntly than Benjamin:

If a Second Life content creator wants to show they're actually serious about protecting their SL content, they should register it with the US government.

Anyway, read the rest of the summary here, with more from Phaylen Fairchild.

Image credit: A slide from Benjamin's SL talk, from Dusty Artaud's Flickr stream.

The Heartbreak of Second Life Content Theft

SL fashion designer Sasy Scarborough has a long and tormented post on the heartbreak of content theft, sent to me by my style columnist Iris Ophelia. Here is Sasy talking about one of her regular routines, tracking down stolen content, so she can report it:

Let's start with the malls, the places that are so seedy that I used to feel dirty just being there, and even worse would constantly panic that someone might think I was actually in a stolen content store to actually shop, because I couldn’t say anything, wasn’t able to explain, just had to get in get info and get the hell out. 

Then there are the full blown stores selling every single item you have in your inventory from the original creator, up there so blatant in its copybotted glory, that I used to have to stand there for twenty or more hive inducing minutes to rez it all, and then to find out it was even worse because it was all being sold full perms, so the travesty would continue.

Last week, I noted that it's difficult to see evidence of substantial content theft's impact in the Second Life economic reports, which show continued growth of revenue transactions. (My basic sense is that most content theft is too low margin and fly-by-night to show up on a macro level.) However, I also suggested then that the moral and social impact is grave. Ms. Scarborough's story is but one illustration of that.

Iris put it best, when I asked for her take on content theft's economic impact: "It's hard to say," she told me, "because money is still being spent and we can't see where it's being spent. Designers who get copybotted incessantly like Maitreya still do well, but we have no idea how much they could be doing better if content theft wasn't so rampant."

However, she continued, "In truth the only thing that we really can measure is the stress that it puts on designers and people in the community who do care like Sasy, and the added strain it puts on the system of Lindens in charge of dealing with governance and copyright enforcement issues who already have a hell of a lot on their plate to begin with."

Image credit: sasypants.com

In Defense Against Stroker Serpentine Content Theft Lawsuit, Linden Lawyers Cite "Unclean Hands" Defense Against Plaintiffs -- an Expert Analyzes Why

The Lindens' lawyers have filed a response to the content theft-related lawsuit filed by Stroker Serpentine and Munchflower Zaius -- the Alphaville Herald has a full copy here. Among the defenses is the legal doctrine of "unclean hands", in which a defendant argues that the plaintiff (Serpentine and/or Zaius in this case) are acting unethically or have acted in bad faith. To me this seemed a surprising defense to make, but since I'm not a lawyer, I contacted an actual one, for his opinion: Sean Kane of Kane & Associates, who's an expert in law related to virtual worlds and online games. Here's his take:

"Linden Lab's inclusion of Unclean Hands as an Affirmative Defense in their Answer to the Complaint may not mean much of anything. There are several Affirmative Defenses that are almost always included in an Answer because if they are not raised they may be deemed waived. Unclean Hands is one of them." (More after the break.)

Continue reading "In Defense Against Stroker Serpentine Content Theft Lawsuit, Linden Lawyers Cite "Unclean Hands" Defense Against Plaintiffs -- an Expert Analyzes Why"

New World Tableau: "Surfer" by Arminius Heron

Ideal viewing for a cold Fall day, Arminius Heron shot "Surfer" in a beach region with a kneeling model pose and a surfboard, turning a static shot into a perfect freeze frame of action. (You definitely want to click to see the full effect.)

"It was quite difficult to obtain the right camera angle," Arminius tells me, "because what you would never suspect is that Vanessa is actually hovering about one meter above the board. Plus, this was before WindLight and environmental controls were introduced to SL, so the lighting was rather dull, too. The water and splashing effects are all Photoshopped in using only default-brushes, A LOT of layers and emboss effects."

See many more of Mr. Heron's great SL-based images here, and see the whole New World Tableau series here. To best submit entries of your own, join my New World Tableau group on Koinup, and start uploading them there; be sure to tell us a bit how you created your image.

Survey: How Big Is the Market for Second Life Enterprise?

This week, the Lindens officially launched its behind-the-firewall product, Second Life Enterprise™, formerly code-named "Nebraska", with a starting price of $55,000. It comes out the gate with 14 clients, including a number of high profile firms like IBM and Northrop Grumman; how many more potential clients are out there? Please make your best educated guess below:

Online Surveys & Market Research

Possible points to consider: On the plus side, the stellar reputation of SLE's existing clients may encourage many more companies to invest in this, as will the recommendations of leading analysts who consider virtual world enterprise solutions a rising business trend, and Second Life's brand name dominance in this space. On the negative side, much of the same functionality for SLE can be obtained at much cheaper prices with OpenSimulator-based virtual worlds, such as ReactionGrid. Looking at the larger market, the existing user base of consumers active in 3D immersive non-game virtual worlds is still relatively small (probably under a million total), which means an organization which chooses to invest in SLE will not only have to pay $55K+, but plan for a long learning and adoption phase. So what's your take?

Open Forum: What Upcoming Second Life Events Should We Cover In Chestnut's Absence?

Chestnut Rau's real life owner is under the weather, so Chestnut's Choices won't be running this week. If you know about excellent Second Life events happening from today until next Wednesday, please post details in Comments. Don't forget to include description, date/time, and SLurl, and include related website links where available, especially to images. And wish Ms. Rau a quick recovery!

Ophelia's Gaze: 5 Signs of Low-Quality Second Life Fashion

Exclusive to NWN, Iris Ophelia's ongoing showcase of all things stylish in SL

I've decided to give you a pretty pic up top because it's going to get real ugly after the jump, believe me. There's been a lot of discussion going on lately about the value of highly critical fashion blogging in SL. Do you gloss over the flaws or zero in on them? Even if you aren't a blogger, how can you tell if the item you're wearing is truly well made? It's a fairly broad subject to cover, but I've got five points and some very valuable advice for anyone who wants to start poring over the contents of their virtual closet with a little more scrutiny.

So if you want to be critical of SL fashion, or you just want to be a more discerning consumer, here's what to look for...

Continue reading "Ophelia's Gaze: 5 Signs of Low-Quality Second Life Fashion"

US Army Funds Second Life-Based Therapy For Amputees

The United States Army is funding a Second Life project to develop a virtual environment therapeutic space for amputees, through the auspices of Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) of the US Army's Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC) branch. In Second Life, the project will be handled by Virtual Ability, a non-profit that's been using SL as therapy for the disabled for years, and Remedy Communication, a Canadian media agency whose well-known representative in SL is Dusan Writer.

The Army's TATRC, Dusan tells me, "was aware that virtual worlds are helping to bring people together, whether people with disabilities, vets or casual users, and are increasingly being used in therapy and peer-to-peer support." This project in Second Life aims to establish a "global standard" to this phenomenon. It'll operate in SL's recently launched "Nebraska" behind-the-firewall enterprise solution.

I'm fairly skeptical there's a large and sustainable market for Nebraska yet, but in this case, it's a perfect match:

Continue reading "US Army Funds Second Life-Based Therapy For Amputees"

Willow's Playlist: Acoustic Piano From Vocalist Phoe Nix: Think Tori Amos meets Kate Bush in Second Life

Exclusive to NWN, Willow Caldera covers SL's burgeoning live music scene

Few singers in either world can boast a voice so crystal clear and haunting that the collective hair of the audience stands on end. Performing a mixture of elegant covers and self-penned songs, Phoe Nix delivers a flawless, emotional set accompanied by the confident notes of her piano.

Phoe Nix began her career singing in choirs in her native Singapore, moving on to run her own studio, Firebird Music, and reached the Asian Top 40 with her debut release, 'Binary Star'. In the real world, she has toured globally and played venues from the Coventry Skydome Arena, with 50 dancers accompanying her set, to the Whisky A Go Go on Sunset Boulevard. She now lives in the UK, where she fronts electro-rock band greenhaus.

This video was recorded by Sound'r at A Cluster of Stars, a beach venue designed for the romantic music lover. It features the original song 'Still You're There'.

"I'm a piano-vocalist-songwriter playing jazzy folk/pop lounge original and cover songs," says Phoe.

Continue reading "Willow's Playlist: Acoustic Piano From Vocalist Phoe Nix: Think Tori Amos meets Kate Bush in Second Life"

Leading Blog for Metaverse/Second Life Art Suspended

Bettina Tizzy has just announced she's suspending her NPIRL blog, the leading voice for art created in Second Life and other immersive virtual worlds. She is not departing from SL or her role as metaverse art maven, however, just reportedly devoting her energies elsewhere.

"It's bittersweet, Hammy," she tells me, when I ask her how she feels to do so. "Delicious to have a soapbox from which to highlight and discuss both the good and the worrisome about virtual worlds. I can remember worrying that I'd run out of things to say, content to feature, and great content creators to interview. Ha! My only regret is that I never wrote about some of the best, and there are so many new talents coming on board now. Simply not enough time in the day."

While praising the blog's collaborators, especially Turkish designer Alpha Auer, she also hinted at what's to come: "I am not going away. The Not Possible IRL working group and the in-world Impossible IRL group remain. As for a hint to what I'll be doing next, I'm looking at Google Wave as as way to encourage discussion and collaboration, as well as other web platforms and worlds, and I'm taking on a few projects which I'll talk about soon enough."

Good to know Ms. Tizzy will still be around. Still, losing the blog is a sharp blow to the evolution of metaverse-based art. Image credit: Bettina Tizzy in 2007, showing me one of AM Radio's first SL art installations, based on "The Death of Marat".

How To Make Second Life Truly Mass Market, Part 1: Deep Integration With Facebook

The latest official economic stats for Second Life are now available, and they tell a mixed picture: while user-to-user transactions continue to grow, the absolute number of unique users does not. After a steady growth period at the start of the year, monthly unique repeat SL users have plateaued to around 750K. In his report, Linden Chief Product Officer T. Linden suggests this flat growth is the result of the new policy (imposed last May) banning Traffic-gaming bots.

That may well be the case, but what's undeniable is that Secnd Life is still struggling to become a virtual world with mass market status. By way of comparison, consider today's largest virtual world: YoVille, from Zynga, a web-based MMO played in Facebook and MySpace. Only launched in May 2008, it now counts nearly 20 Million unique monthly active users on Facebook alone. (Making it much larger than not just World of Warcraft, but web-based MMOs like Habbo.)

There are a number of reasons for YoVille's rapid and sustained growth, but one in particular stands out: Deep integration with leading social networks, especially Facebook with its 300 million active users. This explains how YoVille managed to grow so speedily, for its appeal is not just the virtual world itself (cartoonish and simple as it is), but the desire to play it with Facebook friends. "At their most fundamental level," Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, recently told me, social network-based games like YoVille "are games that you can play with real people with real identities."

I recently wrote about how mass adoption is so crucial to Second Life, and at the time, I promised to offer suggestions for making that possible. Taking YoVille's success as a reference point, my first recommendation is this: Second Life needs deep integration with Facebook.

Continue reading "How To Make Second Life Truly Mass Market, Part 1: Deep Integration With Facebook"

Korean Company Developing Multitouch Metaverse Screen Interface For OpenSim/Second Life

Watch this cool early prototype video of a multitouch screen interface for interacting in OpenSim/Second Life, the possibilities are exciting:

100" Multi touch screen with Second Life from junhee, yeo on Vimeo.

It's being developed by IMG512 (site here), a development lab with a South Korean company called Zentium.

"That SL server (we're using OpenSim server we implemented) can communicate with the client PC that connects to the OpensSim server by the Internet," Junhee Yeo, a VP with Zentium's Interactive Media Group, explained to me by email. "Also client PC has the multi-touch engine. That multi-touch engine gives touch event to the SL client like a mouse or track pad on your laptop." Junhee tells me the company is now focused on improving the multi-touch hardware, but may return to improving their SL/OpenSim interface later on. Hat tip: Gromike in Second Life.