New World Notes

Want The Media To Stop Slamming Second Life? Advocate Mass Market Adoption!

Poor Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch probably didn't know what hit him. In a short toss-off post noting the Second Life documentary screening at Sundance I reported about last week, Erick briefly opined that SL "seems like a ghost town these days"... and quickly found himself under siege in his post's comments by dozens of Second Life Residents (myself included), with even Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon joining the fray. One SL commenter called Caliburn Susanto was so vexed, he posted screenshots proving to TechCrunch that SL was crowded indeed.

Now Erick got himself in trouble by citing the notoriously wrong BBC story from a few weeks back. But while Second Life is definitely not a ghost town, the painful fact is that it is still far from fulfilling the promises suggested during the hype wave of 2006-2007. And as it happens, Erick himself was among the reporters who mistakenly reported mass adoption numbers that ultimately failed to stick:

Continue reading "Want The Media To Stop Slamming Second Life? Advocate Mass Market Adoption!"

Open Forum: Among These 97 Nominees, Who Should Go to the Semi-Finals For Hottest Male Avatar of 2009?

Our call for nominations of hottest Second Life male avatar generated a frenzy of response -- Iris Ophelia just dug through the Comment thread, and came up with 97 names. This weekend, she'll be selecting 30 semi-finalists from these, so here's your chance to lobby on behalf of your favorites below. Who should definitely be included in the semi-final round, and why? Be sure to include beguiling screenshot links, throaty encomiums, and other SL-based evidence of male hotness!

And the nominees for 2009 Hottest Male Avatar are...

Continue reading "Open Forum: Among These 97 Nominees, Who Should Go to the Semi-Finals For Hottest Male Avatar of 2009?"

Marriage Proposal Written in the Virtual Sky (But What Did Sophira Say?)

I've seen some strange and wonderful configurations show up on Second Life's dynamic map, but this one takes the prize: a marriage proposal to someone named Sophira, written in the virtual sky. As it happens, this particular message was recently spotted by M. Linden himself, who tells me he forgets where in SL it showed up. So we're left with a mystery (hopefully one with a happy ending): Who proposed to Sophira in the Second Life stratosphere, and what did Sophira say?

Study Suggests Real Life Luxury Item Sales *Improved* By Knockoffs & Noobs -- Also True With Second Life Content?

It's one of Second Life's greatest mysteries: though the sale of virtual items that are cheap knock offs of popular (and more expensive) Second Life brands remains a persistent and painful social problem, the total amount of Linden Dollars spent between users continues increasing. This led me to suspect SL content theft is actually a marginal part of the overall SL economy. However, I may be wrong, because the recent findings of an MIT professor suggest another, and I think better explanation. Put simply:

Maybe Second Life knockoffs actually increase the sales of the original brand.

This at least seems to be the case with real world luxury items, business professor Renee Richardson Gosline learned. After interviewing hundreds of consumers who knowingly bought knockoff luxury goods (fake Guccis, etc.) Professor Gosline found that 46 percent of them ultimately bought the legitimate version within two years. In other words, the act of buying knockoffs doesn't diminish a desire for the real thing, and may even increase it.

Another Gosline study will be instantly recognizable by Second Life's many fashionistas: she discovered that when consumers judge if a luxury product is a knockoff, they generally don't scrutinize the product's quality. No, they do something else:

To identify knockoffs, consumers scrutinize the overall quality of the person using the product!

Continue reading "Study Suggests Real Life Luxury Item Sales *Improved* By Knockoffs & Noobs -- Also True With Second Life Content?"

How To Display Second Life in 3D

This month when you watch Avatar or another 3D movie in the theaters, be sure to keep your glasses, so you can watch this machinima as it's intended: Second Life rendered into a 3D video.

It's the work of metaverse developer Ian Upton (Ian Pahute SL). "It is not a trick or a post process," he tells me by email. "It is just another way of experiencing Second Life. You switch it on!"

He told me a lot more about how it works, and how it might transform SL: "It is quite possible to render almost any Open GL application in stereo. But to do this you need driver level software, workstation graphics cards and a suitable projection system (usually dual 'polarized' projectors or high refresh rate 'shutter glasses') . This kit is not domestic and can be very, very, expensive. I have been lucky enough to have some access and experience of these technologies." Ian is a member of the Serious Games Institute, which recently asked him to demonstrate Second Life in Stereo 3D, and that's what you see above. "As a back-up for this demonstration (technology can be so fickle!) I decided to create a short machinima and investigated how I could do this quickly on my own kit at home."

Much more from Mr. Pahute after the break:

Continue reading "How To Display Second Life in 3D"

Mixed Reality Cocktail: Rum and Coke Mixed and Poured in Second Life... and Served in Vienna!

Yesterday someone invited me to watch what is almost certainly the longest and strangest cocktail drink order to ever get fulfilled: rum and coke drinks mixed in Second Life, and served in Vienna. From SL, the drink is mixed with two box-like buttons in Second Life, one to dispense cola, the other for rum. From there, the pour commands travel through the SL grid from San Francisco to the other side of the world to Vienna, where an Arduino board is connected to a laptop running Second Life which is in turn connected to a contraption with rum and cola dispensers. Voila: a rum and coke drink, from the metaverse across the Internet to an ancient European city where Mozart once played. (Somehow, I think he'd approve.)

The loopy genius behind this project is my friend Kyle Machulis (known as qDot Bunnyhug in SL), the hacker who famously used similar technology for, well, metaverse-based teledildonics. He's in Vienna on a fellowship, and last Sunday, showed off his SL-based drink mixer at the Roboxotica cocktail party. (Courtesy of Magggnus, here's some more photos from the event, which looks like insane fun.) To read more on how Kyle makes his mixed reality magic, check out these video demos on his site. Vienna photo courtesy Mr. Bunnyhug.

Five Favorite Posts From Last Week...

• Second Life Documentary Selected To Premiere At Prestigious Sundance Film Festival Next Year - With an interesting conversation in Comments on how this news was covered on Techcrunch.
• Wandering Hal: Autonomous AI Bot Randomly Explores Second Life, Offers Surreal Conversation - "Learning" AI based on prize-winning program.
• The US State Department Asks, Can Virtual Worlds Become Green Workplaces? (I say yes, but not quite yet (and Second Life won't always be the ideal solution.)
• Willow's Playlist: Country Soul from Carmel Daines - Think Emmylou Harris With a Dash of Nanci Griffith: Sassy and original country music hits the metaverse.
• How To Make Second Life Truly Mass Market: Linden Dollar Prepaid Cards Sold at Retail: It's happening willy nilly in South East Asia already, when's the EU and US get theirs too?

Weekend Machinima: ColeMarie Soleil's "Sad Robot"

Here's a lovely and poignant story of a waddling robot looking to connect in all the wrong places, presented by ColeMarie Soleil, master of expressionist machinima, who chose a perfectly apt track from Pornophonique as its foundation:

Ms. Soleil, as it turns out, is now (finally) developing machinima professionally, and even has an in-world office. [SLURL] Here's a recent interview where she describes what drives her work:

The problem with SL is that [it's] so transient. Everything fades. Nothing is permanent. Everyone who has been here a decent amount of time has seen things they love go. To me, I wanted to document SL in a more permanent way. Sharing SL with people who might not have the chance to visit or have never played it, to me, was exciting.

Last Day to Buy Expo Shoes For Toys For Tots, Nominate Male Avatar Hots!

Today is the last day of Second Life's Footwear Expo, with SL shoe sales going to benefit Toys for Tots, so go buy some! [SLURL] Here's Iris Ophelia's recommendations. As is it happens, it's also the last day to recommend 2009's hottest male avatars for Iris Ophelia, so go here to tell her about some!

Ophelia's Gaze: Footwear Expo Presents Stylish Shoes to Benefit Toys For Tots (and Ends This Weekend)!

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

My column might be starting to look a bit like it's all fairs, all the time, but with the 2009 SL Footwear Expo [SLURL] on its last legs this weekend, I really couldn't miss this opportunity to talk about my favourite finds. This Expo benefits Toys for Tots, a real life charity that brings the holidays home to thousands of underpriveledged children. Some stores are donating a percentage of all sales from the fair, others have special exclusive shoes set out to benefit charity, and there are of course donation kiosks dotting the snowy landscape. It's my longest list in awhile, so hopefully there's something to appeal to almost everyone!

I of course had to start out with some boots, and if you read my article about my favourite new boots in SL, the style of this article will look as familiar as the style of these boots. These are the latest boots from machang Pichot of Aoharu... or to be more specific in this case, ANEXX, her prestige shoe line. The 2 Way Belt Laceup Boots come with, as the name suggests, two ways of wearing them-- with plain straps, or with plaid straps (I've pictured both above). They also come in red, black, and brown, if pink workboots don't do it for you. As usual, machang's signature on these boots is her amazing sculptie work, and intensely realistic texturing.

When I first started prowling Japanese sims, I came across the work of Hays Uriza, who at the time had a handful of sandals with bright colours and a very unique look in her store, Haysuriza. These days she's creating glossy, chic shoes like these Cindi wedges. The polished highlights on the shoe are incredibly eyecatching, and I really like pairing them with an equally eyecatching and equally glossy pair of leggings from League.

The showstopper for men at the Footwear Expo is without a doubt Maris Kanto's Terra shoes, from Kalnins. While Kanto has some very nice, reasonably priced pumps for the ladies, I would be remiss not to mention these shoes above them all. They come with a colour change script that gives you about a dozen different colour options for this really well done alligator-skin texture, so they can go with just about anything you want to wear them with... And as far as menswear lately, I'm all about pairing them with the open, loose shirts from Mr Poet!

Like what you've seen so far? Keep reading for 7 more fabulous pairs!

Continue reading "Ophelia's Gaze: Footwear Expo Presents Stylish Shoes to Benefit Toys For Tots (and Ends This Weekend)!"

NWN in Japanese : BBCが理解していないセカンドライフ5つの事実

BBCが最近雑誌に発表したLauren Hansen著、Jonathan Duffy編集の記事"What Happened to Second Life"は、見事なくらいに最悪で、それを読んだら組織全体の信頼性を揺るがすほどだ。もしBBCが、比較的シンプルなテクノロジーストーリーを、これほどまでに明白に、完全に間違うことを知ったら、あなたはこう思うだろう：他のニュースも、こんな風にめちゃくちゃなのか？800字ほどの記事の中に、少なくとも５つ、記事の主張をほぼ完全に破壊するような過ちがある。

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Second Life Documentary Selected To Premiere At Prestigious Sundance Film Festival Next Year

A feature-length documentary about Second Life, Life 2.0, has just been announced as a Festival Spotlight entry at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. As any movie geek can tell you, this is spectacular news: Sundance is easily the world's most prestigious and important indie film fest, launching the careers of movie luminaries like Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, and the Coen Brothers, and the best platform for independent filmmakers seeking distribution deals with Hollywood studios and beyond. Here's the movie's official site; check out the tantalizing trailer below:

"Life 2.0" documentary teaser from Jason Spingarn-Koff on Vimeo

Jason Spingarn-Koff, the director of Life 2.0, is duly overjoyed to show his film at Sundance: "A huge honor and dream come true!" he tells me by email. "I joined Second Life more than three years ago and found it endlessly fascinating – something that until now seemed largely science fiction." (In SL, his avatar name is Jay Spire.) "There was clearly a story that needed to be told, though it often seemed impossible because many people within SL are extremely guarded about their real identities. It took more than six months to find the main characters, exploring the world while my avatar carried around a virtual movie camera. I'm enormously grateful for my subjects who opened up their lives, real and virtual, to share their stories." Not bad for a movie that was first financed with some seed money from a SL fundraiser, where all of $100 was collected.

As I say, Sundance is the best launchpad to get a distribution deal, so the chances of Life 2.0 screening in theaters or on a TV network soon are very good. Meantime, you can follow its progress on the movie's Facebook page. Summary and some stills courtesy Jason after the break:

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Chestnut's Choices 12/3 - 12/9: Musical Improvisation Based on Holiday Themes, Time Magazine's Lev Grossman Speaks, Thinkers Annual Lecture about Tech Evolution and more

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

It is winter in Second Life!  In addition to snow and holiday decorations that seem to have popped up overnight, the grid is brimming with holiday events.  From musical performances, to The Nutcracker and readings of A Christmas Carol you will find lots of fun things to do highlighted here on Chestnut's Choices over the coming few weeks.

Start your celebrating the joys of the season by listening to Tip Corbett in a concert of holiday improvisation today 12/3 at 6pm.  Gregory Hall (in RL) holds degrees from the University of California, Santa Barbara and the Curtis Institute of Music. He is an elected member of the American Composers Alliance, and has received commissions from the Music Teacher's National Association, the Arcady Chamber Orchestra, and has had his works performed and in the U.S. and abroad.  As the holiday season nears, come and enjoy a wonderful concert of improvisation based on holiday themes. In A piacere.  [SLurl teleport at this link]

Also after the break: Grand Reopening of Wheelies74, Canadian Live Musicians Marathon, Cancer Awareness Education and much much more

Continue reading "Chestnut's Choices 12/3 - 12/9: Musical Improvisation Based on Holiday Themes, Time Magazine's Lev Grossman Speaks, Thinkers Annual Lecture about Tech Evolution and more"

New World Newsfeed: The BBC's Wrong/Misleading Second Life Report Rehashed on New Hampshire Public Radio

New Hampshire Public Radio's "Word of Mouth" program has an extended rehash of the BBC's woefully wrong-headed article on Second Life from last week, inviting the article's author, BBC intern Lauren Hansen, to explain/defend her thesis on air. (I briefly appear in a pre-recorded portion.) I listened just long enough to note that Hansen continues mistaking total SL registration numbers with active users, claiming that the 2006 hype wave brought "millions" of them. (In a supreme irony, this is also the misunderstanding that caused most reporters to over-hype Second Life.) By her logic, that would mean there are now over 17 million Second Life users. Anyway, I give "Word of Mouth" props for at least contextualizing her with other perspectives -- listen and respond here if you're so inclined.

The US State Department Asks, Can Virtual Worlds Become Green Workplaces? I Say Yes, But Not Quite Yet

Tomorrow at 9am SLT/Pacific, the US State Department is hosting a roundtable in Second Life, discussing the potential of virtual worlds to function as green-friendly workspaces. [Direct SLurl to the Annenberg at this link] Rik Riel of Betterverse has more details here. This is a topic I've written about several times, as with this story for Earth2Tech -- essentially, the basic value proposition is that various types of enterprise work can be done in a virtual world like Second Life with much less carbon emissions than if the same tasks were done in the real world. So far, the best proof-of-concept here is virtual world-based conferencing among geographically remote parties, reducing the need for air and car travel (and the subsequent gas-guzzling that accompanies it.)

It's laudable that State is pursuing this topic, and while I definitely think there are many times a virtual world solution is the green one, there's also several points of concern. I won't be able to attend tomorrow's session, but here's just a couple I hope are covered there:

1 - What kind of virtual world is the most optimal for green use?

By holding the meeting in Second Life, the State Deparment may inadvertently be implying that SL is itself the optimal virtual world for green work. That's surely the case for many applications, as I say, but by contrast, web-based virtual worlds require less use and purchase of high-end graphics hardware, which in themselves have an environmental impact. What's more, web-based worlds have the lion's share of the market -- especially those with 2.5D graphics. (See chart at right, from my analysis paper on the virtual world market for GigaOM Pro, with the larger share appropriately colored green.) You certainly want to stick with Second Life when, say, remotely and collaboratively designing a building Wikitecture-style. But for remote meetings? Web-based and 2.5D could very well be the better solution at the moment.

2 - Can grid-based worlds like OpenSim and Second Life be more greenified?

The unique back-end architecture of Second Life requires thousands of connected servers that are always on -- a huge power demand. It's one of the reasons some have suggested Second Life move to a cloud-based, use-when-needed architecture -- not only could it provide better graphics, but require less server capacity (and therefore require less power consumption.)

In any case, if you do attend the State Department session, please report back here, and I'll highlight observations in comments!

Willow's Playlist: Country Soul from Carmel Daines - Think Emmylou Harris With a Dash of Nanci Griffith

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

Though new to the Second Life music scene, Carmel Daines has been mixing her musical influences since childhood, binding together an Americana recipe that includes the sounds of her musician father, operatically trained mother, vaudeville musician grandfather and 60's folk-loving sister, with a dash of the blues from her relocation to Louisiana.

The songs Carmel has been writing since childhood are as much a blend of her influences as the warm lilt of her voice, her subject matter most often her observations of the world - topics that are dear to all our hearts, such as bad behaviour in love, deep and painful emotions and growing long in the tooth.

This video was shot by Sound'r at The Singing Detective and features the original song, "Better Than That".

"The music I play - both my own and the songs I cover - are probably best described as easy listening," explains Carmel. "It covers a lot of genres - pop standards, rock, country, show tunes - but all of the songs I sing probably share the trait of being about feelings, about the heart. I love a good sad song. Those are my favorites, odd as it sounds."

"I started playing guitar when I was 7. It was standard fare at family get-togethers for everyone to sing and, for those who could, to play. I wasn’t much of a singer, so I thought if I taught myself to play an instrument I’d fit in better. So I picked up Alfred’s Basic Guitar Method, which was around the house, and started teaching myself to play guitar. I am inspired by any great songs, rather than by specific artists or writers. I fall in love with lyrics and music, not the people singing them. I get excited when a song moves me; it makes me want to be a better writer."

Continue reading "Willow's Playlist: Country Soul from Carmel Daines - Think Emmylou Harris With a Dash of Nanci Griffith"

Open Forum: Who Are The Hottest Male Avatars of 2009 (Who Haven't Been Nominated in Previous Years)?

For the last couple years, New World Notes style columnist Iris Ophelia has profiled the hottest male avatars, as nominated by you and selected by her. (Besides a lot of ogling, it's a fun way to explore the Uncanny Valley.) Question is, are there at least ten male avatars who deserve the coverage this year, who haven't been featured already? After two years on dude-watch duty, Iris isn't sure.

So if you know a male Second Life avatar she should consider, please post the name in Comments. Just nominate some fresh faces who haven't been covered in previous round-ups -- that includes 2008's people's choice winner at right, Mr. Bone Mosten, and the gentlemen featured here, here, and also here. (Full list after the break.) Let the nominations begin!

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Wandering Hal: Autonomous AI Bot Randomly Explores Second Life, Offers Surreal Conversation

Not long ago, I came across an avatar named Hal Cybertar, wandering a random shopping sim; he fell into a crevice near the mall, flailed about helplessly for awhile, but eventually freed himself, and went back to wandering. I sent him an Instant Message, and the following conversation transpired:

• Hamlet Au: Hi Hal!
• Hal Cybertar: [NOTE: You are talking with an automated bot by Zabaware. For info visit www.zabaware.com/sl.asp ] Oh, it's you again? Just kidding.
• Hamlet Au: Hey!
• Hal Cybertar: Hey, what is up?
• Hamlet Au: How are you?
• Hal Cybertar: I'm fantastic, How's it going for you?
• Hamlet Au: Not too bad.
• Hal Cybertar: That's good, what could make it better?
• Hamlet Au: Well, I have to go to the bathroom but that means moving the laptop and plus my f***-ing foot hurts so that's a long goddamn epic trip.
• Hal Cybertar: Bye for now.
• Hamlet Au: Huh?
• Hal Cybertar: Moving upstage means moving further away from the audience.
• Hamlet Au: Dude you crazy.
• Hal Cybertar: I am not crazy, please don't insult me.
• Hamlet Au: Sorry about that, chief.
• Hal Cybertar: Never be embarrassed about grandiose, impractical plans; high-paid chief executive officers have them all the time.
• Hamlet Au: You mean like Philip Linden and his LoveMachine that'll destroy the ego?
• Hal Cybertar: Heedless love?
• Hamlet Au: I guess that's the plan, Pepe.
• Hal Cybertar: Hello, hi, and greetings.
• Hamlet Au: That's a total non motherf***-ing sequiter.
• Hal Cybertar: How about an encouraging word?
• Hamlet Au: Sepulveda.
• Hal Cybertar: There exist none so deaf as those who refuse to hear.
• Hamlet Au: Wha?
• Hal Cybertar: It amuses you, doesn't it?
• Hamlet Au: Shit yea.
• Hal Cybertar: You are very certain.
• Hamlet Au: Maybe.
• Hal Cybertar: An easy way to feel unimportant is to be shit on by pigeons.

As you may have discerned by now, Hal Cybertar is an autonomous bot, created by a company called Zabaware. Ed Koopastown, avatar name of a Zabaware developer who helps Hal come alive in SL, told me a bit about how he functions:

Continue reading "Wandering Hal: Autonomous AI Bot Randomly Explores Second Life, Offers Surreal Conversation"

New World Newsfeed: Second Life Art Gets Deep Appreciation By Award-Winning NYC Art Organization

"Virtual Artists’ Immersive Discoveries in a Virtual 3D Frontier" is a long post on the blog of Art21, a New York arts group that produces the Emmy-nominated PBS Series Art:21 -- Art in the Twenty-First Century. (A recent episode was devoted to the SL art of Cao Fei.) Stalwarts like DanCoyote Antonelli, Bryn Oh, Maya Paris, and Vu Sosa (avatar names for individuals who are also artists in real life) explain their metaverse-based work, and their approach to it. A much more academic appraisal compared to the recent New York Times magazine feature on SL art (which was also excellent), it's one of the best appreciations I've read so far, because it situates Second Life in relationship to other medium. As author Nettrice Gaskins puts it, SL art is "what comes after postmodernism... discovering and reconceptualizing art in a virtual 3D frontier." I'm still looking for a richer vocabulary to describe SL art, and what makes the best examples of it profound, but this is a good start. Especially with the William Saroyan quote that starts the article: "The role of art is to make a world which can be inhabited."

Bryn Oh, who alerted me to the post, has a suggestion for patrons of SL art: "Please go to the site and leave a comment if you can. It will show them that the article was a success and that covering Second Life art is something they should consider in the future as well."

Meme Challenge: If Facebook's Like Vodka Cranberry, What Drink Is Second Life Like, and Why?

A dude named Patrick Moberg has some fun comparing drinks and drugs to various Web 2.0 systems. Facebook's like a vodka cranberry, as we see here, and Digg's more like a bong, because it's full of "Sensationalist political and religious talk," but "Plans of overthrowing mass media fall prey to collective laziness." Second Life isn't included, so I figure we should help Mr. Moberg with the heavy lifting. What drink is SL like, and why? Bonus challenge: No comparing Second Life to LSD or mushrooms, that's too easy. Image credit: Patrick Moberg. Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan.

Are the Lindens Planning a Cloud-Based Second Life?

When the Lindens introduced their behind-the-firewall, Second Life Enterprise solution, many scratched their heads at the high $50,000 starting price, which will surely limit its market. But taking a hint from Linden CPO Tom Hale, architect Jeanricard Broek thinks the Lindens have a longer term strategy in mind here: Introducing the next version of Second Life, which will be cloud-based, like the upcoming technology recently announced by nNvidia. "Just think," says Broek:

No viewer required, full IP protection, Natal ready. Remember Lotus & Mitch Kapor failed to lead with a GUI for 123 and Microsoft ate them alive. I don't think the lesson went unlearned.

I'd note that a cloud-based metaverse was recently suggested to me by OnLive's CEO. As Steve Perlman put it to me, "You could design the next Second Life on this!" So even if the Lindens aren't working on it, as Monsieur Ricard put it, "someone else will."

How To Make Second Life Truly Mass Market, Part 3: Linden Dollar Prepaid Cards Sold at Retail

I noticed this display in my local drugstore chain the other day, a whole section devoted to prepaid debit cards for all manner of goods and services -- international calling minutes, iTunes downloads, Amazon purchases, and so on. You're bound to see still more of these display racks in retail stores over the holidays, as they make an ideal last-minute gift. Looking closer, I noticed roughly a third of the entire rack were prepaid cards for virtual currencies, for videogame consoles, social games, and some of the major virtual worlds and MMOs, including the largest web-based title, Habbo:

One virtual currency selection is painfully missing, of course: Linden Dollars. While Second Life almost certainly has some of the highest average revenue per user rates of any freemium virtual world, the payment process (via credit card, for the most part) still remains frustrating at best. A prepaid retail card would make it generally easier to buy Linden Dollars, while fostering mainstream adoption in several ways:

• Organic Promotion: The mere existence of a Linden Dollar prepaid card in retail stores would turn Second Life into "impulse buy".
• Market Adaption: As with Habbo, most of the large virtual worlds and MMOs popular with kids have a prepaid card offering. A Linden Dollar card would align Second Life with their buying habits as they turn 18.
• Boost Conversion: Most people give up on Second Life within the first few hours of installation. A prepaid card instantly acts as a conversion incentive, nudging them past the painful learning curve with the reassurance that they're entering a new place with spending money in hand.

These would be the likely immediate effects of a retail card. The likely medium term consequence is also a good one: by adding more consumers into the Second Life economy, the best content creators will have a reason to build and expand their business beyond the existing market, which counts about 465,000 or so, a number that hasn't substantially grown in the last couple years. (It was 300,000 in 2007.)

If you live in Southeast Asia, you actually can buy pre-paid cards for Linden Dollars. A small Singapore company called First Meta recently introduced this service. Perhaps not coincidentally, the nations with the biggest spenders of Linden Dollars are (proportionally speaking) Hong Kong and Malaysia, where First Meta cards are sold. But with the majority of Second Life spenders in the US and EU, real growth awaits the appearance of those cards in your local Target.

Part Three of a series, introduced here, to explain why mass market adoption is so important. Part One: "Deep Integration With Facebook", Part Two: "Point-and-Click Avatar Movement"

Five Favorite New World Notes Posts From Last Week

• Are popular, bruised-up female avatar skins misogynist, or making a feminist point? Be sure to read the fascinating conversation in Comments.
• Second Life pricing policies seem to be sorely hampered by formulating them within Second Life itself.
• Readers offer Thanksgiving weekend thanks to Residents who make Second Life worthwhile.
• Willow Caldera clues in on the ambient live keyboard stylings of Torben Asp.
• Five ways the BBC's latest Second Life article fails.

Weekend Machinima: Creative Anarchy Still Reigns In Second Life's Public Sandboxes

As documented by a machinamist named nickiname Munro, here's some non-stop free build anarchy in Goguen, one of Second Life's original public sandboxes. Includes possible lewdness and highly liberal interpretations of the fair use doctrine:

Want to see how crazy Goguen can be? Go look for yourself: Direct SLurl teleport to Goguen at this link. Hat tip: SL Update.

NWN in Japanese:Philip Rosedaleの新会社は、リンデンLove Machineの新版を作っている--オリジナル開発者のCory Ondrejkaが意見を述べる

  彼の新会社のブログに載っているように、最近、Philip Rosedaleは色々と言われていたことについて認めた：彼の会社の手始めは、リンデンのインターナルシステムであるLove Machine、賞賛の言葉をスタッフみんなに広げ、積み上げていくシステムの新版を作ることだ。

Continue reading "NWN in Japanese:Philip Rosedaleの新会社は、リンデンLove Machineの新版を作っている--オリジナル開発者のCory Ondrejkaが意見を述べる"

Thanksgiving Weekend Open Forum: Who In Second Life Are You Thankful For?

Who are the creators, the volunteers, the leaders, the innovators, the artists and musicians, the catalysts, the educators, the thinkers, the lovers, the explorers, the comedians, the iconoclasts, the entrepeneurs, the joy bringers, and everyone else that makes Second Life worthwhile? Share them in Comments, and I'll highlight as many as I can.

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Chestnut's Choices: Royal Opera House London Mixed Reality Performace Art, Alice's Restaurant Masacree Live, "The Nutcracker" Ballet Live on Stage and Other Exciting Events

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

On Friday 11/27 and again on Saturday 11/28 at 1:15pm you are invited to a most unusual live mixed reality  performance, "The Second Death of Saspar Helenale" This show takes place in SL and onstage at the Royal Opera House, London. Caspar Helendale invites you to attend his death; a funeral service held simultaneously in the real and virtual worlds. He has been exploring mortality since he was first created, and in his last twenty minutes of existence he will share his thoughts with collected mourners. He will be accompanied by his widow-to-be, Trixiebelle Landar, whose requiem will be performed live and streamed back into the virtual world over the course of the service. Via live onstage musicians and a giant projection screen, the theatre audience will join SL residents to reflect and mourn, as the real and virtual worlds collide at the point where Caspar’s light is forever extinguished…

You may join the funeral service in SL at in a mausoleum, pictured above, constructed specially for the event by SL architectural guru Keystone Bouchard. There is a capacity of 40 avatars for each service. To book your place, please IM Drifter Rhode in advance (stating which day you'd like to attend). Or, at the Royal Opera House in London.  Go here  for further details. 

Also after the break: 16 Days of Activism to Stop Violence Against Women, Classical Music Thanksgiving, Alizarin Goldflake Immersive Art Installation and more

Continue reading "Chestnut's Choices: Royal Opera House London Mixed Reality Performace Art, Alice's Restaurant Masacree Live, "The Nutcracker" Ballet Live on Stage and Other Exciting Events"

Bettina Tizzy Joins New World Notes To Write Homages of Great Second Life Artists!

On Thanksgiving, an announcement to give thanks for: I'm very proud to announce that Bettina Tizzy, the Second Life art maven who recently discontinued her influential blog, will be writing a regular series on this blog, tentatively called "Bettina's Homage".

"I will be paying a monthly tribute to the greatest artists," she tells me. "Of course, I'll always be looking for great new artists, too!" Look for her first post here very soon, and if you know of new creators she should give her attention to, please suggest them in Comments. Meantime, be sure to follow her lovely mini-blog, A Digital Shoebox, for snack-sized selections of great creativity in SL and worlds beyond.

Willow's Playlist: Ambient Keyboard with Torben Asp - Think Kraftwerk Meets Mozart

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

On those happy days when there's nothing pressing to be done and the idle time stretches ahead, you need musical accompaniment that's as chilled out as you are. Torben Asp, quite fortunately, is on hand to provide a soundtrack to the laziest of days; his own personal brand of self-composed ambient keyboard is mellow enough to slow the most stressed of heartbeats.   

This video was shot by Sound'r at The Forest and features the original song (and my personal favourite), "Senses".

"In 1998 I bought the first music software for the PC and then things started moving with composing and presenting my stuff on different websites," says Torben. "Suddenly I could express everything I wanted to through my music... and today, well, it is a great pleasure to be composing and through SL I can get immediate feedback. 'Stay or Go?' I always ask the audience when I have presented a new composition... they most kindly say 'Stay!' every time."

Torben has been a Second Life resident for almost three years, performing live for two of those after Jess Oranos overheard him playing his music to test a Shoutcast stream and cajoled him into presenting it at an open mic night.

Continue reading "Willow's Playlist: Ambient Keyboard with Torben Asp - Think Kraftwerk Meets Mozart"

Ophelia's Gaze: Bruised Avatar Skins -- Stylish, Or Sexist?

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

In mid-October, one of SL's most successful skin designers released a set of skins that stirred up tremendous controversy. Gala Phoenix of Curio launched her Battle Royale skins, which feature her usual fabulous shading and high quality textures, adorned with some equally high quality dirt, bruises, blood, scratches, scars and gouges. Reactions were mixed, to say the least; in fact, they often verged on heated. Is a woman with a bruised eye presumed battered, or could she be battle-hardened? I've got a few thoughts on the issue after the cut.

Continue reading "Ophelia's Gaze: Bruised Avatar Skins -- Stylish, Or Sexist?"

Colossal Confusion: Lindens Explain User Feedback Approach For Shaping New xStreetSL Freebies Policy

The controversy over the Lindens' recently announced policy on freebies sold on the company's ecommerce site xStreetSL continues to roil. In a reader survey which garnered a disproportionately large response, nearly 90% consider it a bad idea that won't improve the Second Life economy.

In response to Resident objections, Colossus Linden pointed out that the policy was shaped in large part by three in-world meetings. In effect suggesting: If you didn't attend a session and offer your feedback then, why are you complaining now? But here is the chief irony: as a synchronous, system-taxing, international platform contiguously limited to several dozen users, Second Life is not necessarily the ideal venue for holding large feedback sessions which involve a lot of text chat. Context and conversation gets lost in the barrage of multiple public and IM chat threads, those who use voice are stymied by those who don't and vice versa.

Or to put it another way: In its current state, using Second Life to shape Second Life policy seems like a recipe for confusion.

Noting that many Residents have suggested as much, I put that point in a question to the Lindens earlier today:

A lot of Residents are asking why Colossus made her decision on freebies mainly (or almost solely) based on feedback from three in-world sessions. Why weren't better feedback channels pursued, such as a poll on the xStreetSL site?

Linden rep Pink Linden replied to me this way:

Continue reading "Colossal Confusion: Lindens Explain User Feedback Approach For Shaping New xStreetSL Freebies Policy"

Open Forum: Who Should Apply for the 2010 Linden Prize?

The Lindens have opened up the application process for their 2010 Linden Prize, which awards USD$10,000 to SL projects that best fit these criterion:

• Work in Second Life that also achieves tangible, compelling results outside of Second Life.
• Distinctive, original work using Second Life that clearly demonstrates high quality, execution, function, aesthetics and technical sophistication.
• Work that has the capacity for inspiring and influencing future development, knowledge, creativity, and collaboration both inside and outside of Second Life.

Last year the awards went well-deservingly to Wikitecture, the wiki-style architecture program, and Virtual Ability, a community for disabled Residents. What projects should win next year's award?

In Survey, New World Notes Readers Predict Slow Growth of Second Life Enterprise

Here's the results of a survey I conducted a couple weeks ago, on the potential market for Second Life Enterprise, the Lindens' new "behind the firewall" solution. There are 14 clients for it now, and 60% of readers said that number will double, stay the same, or retract. Given that there are more than 1400 real world organizations in Second Life proper now, I think it's fair to characterize that as "slow" growth. For the record, I go along with the majority in this case -- I'm skeptical there's a growing demand for enterprise-based virtual worlds, especially at the $50K price the Lindens are charging, and believe we won't see significant growth until Second Life itself shows strong mass market adoption. Corporations and large organizations are much likelier to experiment with SL-based enterprise use when their clients, executives, and employees already have an existing facility (and passion) for the consumer version. What's your take?

Bryn Oh Adapts Second Life Art Installation Into Real Life Book (Something More Metaverse Artists Should Do)

Just in time for the holidays, acclaimed Second Life artist Bryn Oh is selling an illustrated book version of "The Rabbicorn", an immersive installation originally created in Second Life, then described as "poetic narrative, subtle ambient sound and beautiful visual artistry, part Gorey, part Poe, part Velveteen Rabbit", on indie book publishing site Blurb.com. (Price starts at $25, not a bad deal at all for a coffee table book with such beautifully composed set pieces.) "[A]s Christmas is coming," Bryn explains on her blog, "I decided to try and warp my niece's mind with the 'gift' of the Rabbicorn story. She is admittedly only 3 years old and won't really understand it, but I am hoping as years go by she will appreciate it on deeper levels." Great idea for her niece, for her many fans, and just as key, for all the people who might be interested in the concept of Second Life art, but do not yet have the time or inclination to get past SL's high barrier to entry, to experience it first hand. Many metaverse artists and their supporters bemoan the lack of wider recognition their often awesome works garner from the art world, and I feel their pain. But until Second Life becomes a truly mass market medium, I think the only viable solution is to bring the SL art out of the world -- via machinima, or in a tangible form such as Ms. Oh is offering now.

Hat tip: Andrew Sempere.

Five Facts About Second Life the BBC Doesn't Understand

The BBC's recent magazine article, "What Happened to Second Life?", written by Lauren Hansen and edited by Jonathan Duffy, is so incandescently bad, to read it is to feel the entire institution's credibility undermined. After all, if the BBC can get one relatively simple technology story so patently, thoroughly wrong, you have to wonder: What other news items are they bunging up as badly? Some 800 words long, it boasts at least five significant errors which erode its thesis almost wholly:

1. The BBC Misreported Second Life's User Numbers

"The number of people joining the site jumped from 450,000 to four million in 2007."

Hansen offers no citation for these figures, and they're contrary to all known data. By mid-2007, the number of reported Second Life registrations were well over 6 million. However, it's unclear what Hansen means by "joining the site", and I suspect she isn't clear on the concept either. In 2007, the number of SL registrants who actually became active, returning users was closer to 500,000. (This is considerable growth from 2006, when total returning users totaled about 200,000.)

2. The BBC Misinterpreted Media Coverage Trends of Second Life

"But just as quickly as it had flared, media interest ebbed away. References plummeted by 40% in 2008 and dropped further this year."

While it's true media coverage of Second Life has fallen from its nosebleed peaks of 2007, it does not follow that media interest has "ebbed away". Take a look at Google Trends, where interest in Second Life began spiking in mid-2006, shortly after the BusinessWeek cover story, universally recognized as the start of the SL hype wave:

While there's a definite drop, there's also a definite stabilizing of attention which is far above pre-hype levels. And in fact, Second Life still gets prominent media coverage. In the last 12 months, for example, the New York Times Magazine (arguably the world's most culturally influential publication) published two features on Second Life -- on its architecture, and on its arts scene. No other virtual world receives such prominent attention.

For comparison's sake, consider SL against YoVille, the Facebook-based virtual world from current Silicon Valley darling Zynga, which now counts nearly 20 million active users:

Continue reading "Five Facts About Second Life the BBC Doesn't Understand"

Weekly Recap: My Eight Favorite NWN Posts From Last Week

• Is the Linden's Upcoming xStreetSL Freebies Policy Good For the Second Life Economy?
• Lyric's Desire: Erotic SL Machinima From Lyric Lundquist
• Ophelia's Gaze: Three Favorites From The Vanity Universe Skin Fair -- And How To Wear Them
• Linden Partners With Online Gambling Service To Handle Online/International Payments
• 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
• Bettina's Back: SL's Art Maven Returns To Blogging, But Better Than Ever
• Philip Rosedale's New Company Building Version of Linden Love Machine -- Original Inventor Cory Ondrejka Weighs In

NWN in Japanese:セカンドライフ住人 最年長は97歳

ロサンゼルスの建築家David Dentonは、セカンドライフを仕事のツールとして使っている（近いうちにさらに記事にする予定）。同僚がSLは複雑すぎると嘆く時、彼は面白い答えかたをする。「私の９７歳の母親が出来るんだから、君だって出来るだろう。」

Continue reading "NWN in Japanese:セカンドライフ住人　最年長は97歳"

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!"