New World Notes

Linden Lab Hires Activision & EA Vet as Marketing VP, Hinting at Game-Centric Promotion Strategy of Second Life

After several months of downbeat Second Life news, here's a note of optimism: Linden Lab has hired Kim Salzer, an alumnus of Activision/Blizzard and Electronic Arts (LinkedIn Profile here), as the company's Vice President of Marketing. I believe that position has been unfilled for at least a year, so the newly dubbed Kim Linden enters the world with much work on her hands. However, I'm excited that she's coming from two of the game industry's biggest companies, for it suggests that she'll have fresh ideas for emphasizing the fun, game-like elements of Second Life, and moving the user base out of the Dwight Schrute, "Second Life is not a game" echo chamber.  By hiring her, the Lindens are also signaling they desire that direction too. (Up until recently, many of Linden's executives have hailed from companies like Adobe, which explains a lot about the company's unfruitful positioning of Second Life as a development platform.) Also worth noting that as a game franchise, Electronic Arts' Sims series probably has spawned the largest community of user-generated content online. (On YouTube, Sims-based machinima has been seen tens of millions of times.)

Chestnut's Choices 9/2 - 9/8: Author Todd Action Poetry Reading, Pop Art Lab Celebration with Interactive Exhibits, New Media in Education Conference and Much Much More!

 

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

On Saturday 9/4 in an event that spans half a day to accommodate timezones across the globe Pop Art Lab, will open Art Breaker, an exhibition of interactive digital artwork by eight prolific SL artists.  From 12pm to 12am the public is invited to an opening event will mix interesting speakers, artists introductions and live music in a celebration you won't want to miss.  The exhibition is a celebration of Pop Art Lab's second anniversary and is a partnership between the Nordic Virtual Worlds Network (NWVN), Treet.TV and Pop Art Lab.

The artists involved in Art Breaker are Bryn Oh, Abstract Baroque, Sunn Thunders, Miso Susanowa, Misprint Thursday, Sabrinaa Nightfire, Binary Quandry, and Sledge Roffo. They were challenged to create works made of visual and sound art and they were encouraged to make the art interactive and reactive to the visitor.  As you tour these impressive works you will be treated to live music by Skye Gallexy, The Dead Heathers, Craig Lyons, Engrama, Tasuku Ghost, MommaLuv Skytower and many others. In addition, there will be talks by Binary Quandry (Art Breaker), Claus Uriza (PAL), Dusan Writer, and many others. You can watch the festivities live on Treet.TV or attend inworld.  In Pop Art Lab. [Slurl teleport at this link] 

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Thursday 9/2

2pm - The Rails Band Live

The Rails is a band performing live, original, indie rock music on electronic keyboards, guitar, bass & drums, with female lead vocals, and 3 part harmonies. Their sound will appeal to people who like rock, new wave, goth or punk genres. People say they resemble The B52s, but please come out and form your own opinion! "This Toronto band is cool, innovative, raw and are not trying to be something they are not" [IndieCan music review]  In Mieto.    [SLurl teleport at this link]

5pm - Matthew Perreault & Crap Mariner Music and Storytelling

Come out and enjoy some fantastic music and brilliant storytelling at a joint event with Matthew Perreault, guitarist and lead singer of The Matthew Show, and Crap Mariner, resident storyteller and Idiot in Chief of my home estate.  In Madhupak.  [Slurl teleport at this link] 

5pm - Starflower Orbit at Stargazer Cafe

Starflower is influenced by performers like The Beatles, Stevie Nicks and Jewel. This popular singer will perform her own original songs from her CD called "Starmaps."  This show promises to be a little bit of magic.  In Artic Circle.   [SLurl teleport at this link]

Also after the break: Learn to be a Virtual World Critic, Discuss Middle East Politics, Long Afternoons of Live music at The Patio and Molaskey's Pub and much more.

Continue reading "Chestnut's Choices 9/2 - 9/8: Author Todd Action Poetry Reading, Pop Art Lab Celebration with Interactive Exhibits, New Media in Education Conference and Much Much More!"

New World Survey: What Second Life Viewer Do You Most Use Now? (I'll Install and Blog the Most Popular!)

With the all-but-certain banning of the extremely popular Emerald viewer, it's now time to survey the best alternatives. (Or if you prefer, the least worst option.) What Second Life viewer among this list do you use, drawn from Linden Lab's official viewer listings and third-party directories?

Online Surveys & Market Research

For clarity's sake, I didn't include Second Life Project Viewers, or third party viewers without full 3D graphics. Please share your preference, and get your friends to do the same. Not only will I install and use the most popular viewer, I'll give it a full write-up here. Vote by Thursday of next week!

Emerald is Gone (Apparently), Claiming Inability to Meet Linden Lab Demands to Remove 3 Developers (Supposedly) UPDATE: Added Linden's Official Comment on Emerald

The Emerald Viewer team has announced that they've discontinued development of its popular but now-anathema third party Second Life viewer, claiming the reason is that they're unable to comply with some Linden Lab demands to meet compliance. Specifically:

The final demand was to "delete" 3 key members of our team. While making this demand, Linden Lab was quite aware that this was effectively the guillotine to the project.

Who are those unwanted three, the Emerald blog does not say. However, on her own blog, Emerald team member Jessica Lyons says:

Lonely Bluebird, Skills Hak and Discrete Dreamscape be removed from the project. The alternative was that LL would block the viewer from access to the SecondLife Grid. While Discrete and Skills gracefully stepped down, Lonely refused.

Like the man says: Lonely is the head that wears the crown. I took screenshots of both these posts, because I half suspect they'll transmogrify or disappear in the next few hours. I'm also checking with Linden Lab to confirm if this demand is indeed the case, because at this point, who knows? With so many reversals and free-floating avatar names associated with this whole drama, it's all become irrelevant. Somewhat ironically, the only party I trust at this point is Linden Lab, because, you know, it's an actual company with actual names. With avatar-to-avatar trust so thoroughly broken in this case, I highly recommend you do the same.

And yes, I know by Internet standards, Keyboard Cat is an old meme. But I still find it funny. In any case, the assumption that anonymous Second Life avatar identities are as trustworthy as real ones is also an old meme (just here, hardly as humorous.)

Update, 1:15PM: Just got an official response from Linden Lab, after asking them to confirm the gist of the Emerald team's statement, and here's what the Lindens say:

Continue reading "Emerald is Gone (Apparently), Claiming Inability to Meet Linden Lab Demands to Remove 3 Developers (Supposedly) UPDATE: Added Linden's Official Comment on Emerald"

New World Products: Machinima Master Lainy Voom Sells Second Life Housewares (Supremely)

If you're wondering what happened to Lainy Voom, the acclaimed machinimatrix who created "The Stolen Child" and a number of other short masterpieces, here's the thing: Since last February, she's been making and selling Second Life housewares under a brand called LISP Bazaar. [SLurl at this link] She suggested to me modestly that it was just cutesy, everyday stuff. But have a look at the machinima commercial she made for her products, and tell me if "cutesy" is what comes to mind when you watch. More like gauzy glimpses into a home from another era's dreams:

She shot the video in in Emerald "before all the drama emerged", she tells me; the light in the window is not a special effect, but actually a sculpted prim by Yuki Aabye. As for how much this whole set costs, it can all be yours for L$1,000. Even better, Lainy says she places to use her furnishings in an upcoming machinima.

Open Forum: What's Your Dream Project in Second Life/OpenSim/Blue Mars?

Someone named Andra Snoodle recently told me she'd like to create "a large scale project for a sociological study about exclusiveness in Second Life." To do that, she wants a sim to build a place called The Manor (working title) where a group called Society hangs out. "Only known to each other within the walls and unknown outside to the populace at large," she explained, "we will progressively pick those in SL that we think can be a positive player in this social experiment." The point, she said, is to see if "in a place that is so open and free, what happens when exclusivity invades? Will it spread like wildfire as it does in real life, or will inclusivity prevail?"

An intriguing if devlish idea. What dream project would you build in Second Life, or if it was cheaper, in an alternate OpenSim world, or Blue Mars? Let your imagination leap like a gazelle on amyl nitrate in Comments -- if you're lucky, maybe someone reading will take you up on your idea.

New World Gaming: Why Wikipedia Has No Social Gaming Entry (Hint: Geeks Don't Like Them)

In my latest Social Times post, I ask Jimmy Wales why Wikipedia has no real general entry on social gaming, which now counts 200 million-plus players and several leading companies worth billions. For myself, I think it's the same reason Wikipedia's MMORPG entry is 4000 words long: As a user-generated Internet site, Wikipedia editorial skews toward geek-heavy interests, and the coverage often doesn't reflect the actual, broader interest in a given topic. This is both its blessing and curse. However, it does lend itself to a confirmation bias that makes many hardcore gamers and virtual world users believe their interest is larger in the scheme of things than it actually is. So unsurprisingly, while FarmVille with 65 million users rates a Wikipedia entry that's about 2100 words long, World of Warcraft with 11 million users gets a Wikipedia entry with 4000 words, and Second Life with its 1 million users gets an epic, 6000 word Wikipedia entry. Anyway, more here.

Second Life Fashion Study Finds SL Consumer Behavior Parallels RL Spending (But Market Is Still Under-Served)

Market Truths, a research firm that does reports on the Second Life economy, has an extensive study on the state of the Second Life fashion market, on who buys what, how much, and why. Research director Dr. Mary Ellen Gordon (PhD) shared a copy with me recently, and it's full of fascinating details. Her own three key takeaways from the study are just as interesting:

Second Life consumer behavior parallels real world consumer behavior:

"We see that often in our research in SL," Dr. Gordon tells me, "but when it comes to wearables, the differences are particularly tangible. For example: The more people browse for hair in SL, the more they spend on hair care in RL; the less they browse for underwear in SL, the less they spend on underwear in RL." This opens up the possibility of Second Life as a prototyping space, for as she puts it: "[F]or real world apparel marketers, the link between SL style and purchase behavior and RL purchases creates a lot of potential for using SL as a venue for testing and promoting RL clothing (and other personal appearance products and services.)"

There's still many under-served fashion markets in Second Life:

"From the perspective of content creators and even Residents in general," Dr. Gordon tells me, "I think it’s interesting that the set of unmet needs identified this year is identical to that identified in 2008 with a different sample. Given the large number of talented designers in SL and the fact that sales to existing users have stagnated somewhat and growth in new users is not that rapid at the moment, I would have thought that by now there would be more people creating niches within the SL wearables market targeting these different customer groups."

However, the problem may largely be a technical one: "[I]t’s likely that this and the search problem are inter-related," she speculates, "in that some of the things that people say they can’t find actually are available, but they’re just not finding them because of the limitations of the search functions both in world and in the marketplace."

Finally, a third takeaway of particular interest to Linden Lab, which purchased the online shopping site XStreetSL, and to content creators who sell their items there:

Continue reading "Second Life Fashion Study Finds SL Consumer Behavior Parallels RL Spending (But Market Is Still Under-Served)"

Falco Rocks: Real Life Filmmaker Merges Second Life Machinima With Masterful Post-Production Effects

Falco Tomsen is the Second Life name of Adam Falco, a German filmmaker who's been making amazing SL machinima for the last couple years. (But as often happens, I just accidentally encountered his work only recently.) Falco leverages his real life post-production skills to add incredible visual polish, sound editing, and special effects to the raw footage take from Second Life. Watch his show reel:

A visual effects supervisor for TV-Spot in Germany, discovering Second Life for Falco, he says grinning, "was important for me at least like Columbus. Second Life unleashed all my creativity with absolute freedom from what is unfortunately not possible in real life." He makes his machinima as an artist's labor of love, "inspired by stories and dreams of the people that I love". His main post-production tool is Avid Media Composer, but "if necessary, paradoxically, I could realize my ideas with a hammer and chisel."

To see how his post-production effects merge with Second Life in a completed work, watch this machinima he made for the opening of a medieval sim called Hyboria (after the break):

Continue reading "Falco Rocks: Real Life Filmmaker Merges Second Life Machinima With Masterful Post-Production Effects"

New World Gaming: "From Dust", a Dynamic Nature Simulator Where a Whole World's Your Plaything

Coming soonish for the Xbox 360 and PS3, "From Dust" is a realistic dynamic nature simulation and god game which aims to recreate the experience you had as a child building and destroying sand castles -- except here, you play with lava floes, whole oceans, and other fun stuff. Watch this awe-inspiring demo:

Lead developer is Eric Chahi, creator of the groundbreaking AMIGA classic "Out of This World", and set for a 2011 release (but for the ambition evident here, don't be surprised if that date slips.) Meantime, here's an interview with Chahi.

Hat tip: The all-seeing eye of Mal Burns.

Partner News: Koinup's Metaverse Wallpapers App Puts Second Life Art and Scenery on Your iPhone and iPad

Koinup, the virtual world social network (and New World Notes sponsoring partner) has created a Metaverse Wallpapers app for the iPad and iPhone. If you have iTunes installed on the device where you're reading this post, this is the direct link to the app on Apple's store. It's just 99 cents and includes a large range of SL-related screenshots around a number of themes, like landscapes, avatars, and my favorite, surrealism. (You can easily save any image to your iPhone's photo gallery, and from there make it your wallpaper.) I am utterly biased, of course, but I'm digging the variety and quality; it's probably a good way to quickly show off great Second Life content to your friends without the arduous process of logging in. (Much more here on Koinup's blog.) Also, Koinup is giving away three free copies to New World Notes readers: e-mail to editor at koinup dot com, and put "New World Notes Promo" in the subject line; first three NWN readers to ping Pierluigi and the other Koinup kids get a Metaverse Wallpapers gift code.

Want to Write a New World Notes Guest Post? Keep Those Nutgrafs Coming!

I'm immensely stoked by last week's New World Notes Guest Post by Night Flower, who wrote about the challenge of integrating her first life with her second life. Her story is still attracting a passionate comment thread, and that's no surprise: The nutgraf which begins it is totally compelling, clearly conveys her essay's core idea, and hints at what's to come:

I once created a Second Life avatar named Night Flower, but in 2008, gave her up. I left Night to save my marriage, my family, maybe even my own soul. I left Night knowing that unless I could claim in earnest the kind of life I'd only been living vicariously through her, I could never come back.

I have more guest posts of comparable quality coming up, and would love to publish more. Here's my guidelines on submitting guest post ideas to New World Notes. Once the nutgraf rocks like Night's, everything afterward is easy.

What People on Facebook Recommend on New World Notes

Here's a new-ish Facebook widget that displays links that people on the social network have recommended, in this case from New World Notes:

Speaking of which, here's my semi-regular shout-out to Facebook's NWN fans, featuring excellent faces by the hundreds:

New World Notes on Facebook

Go here to become a member, and Facebook friend me while you're there. I'm also on Twitter as "SLHamlet".

Emerald Developers (Attempt to) Answer Your Questions on Rezzed TV -- But Without a Linus, Should We Listen?

Over the weekend, Arabella Steadham and Jessica Lyon of the embattled and de-listed Emerald viewer talked with Phaylen Fairchild of Rezzed TV --- here's the video:

Feel free to discuss in Comments! For myself, as I've said before, unless and until someone with Emerald comes forward with their real name and agrees to assume responsibility for the software, with trust already degraded so substantially, anything said is a non-starter. At this point, I'd say Emerald needs a leader who is a widely known and respected individual. But can there be a Linus Torvalds of Emerald?

Last Week's New World Notes Posts You Don't Want to Miss

All About Emerald-Gate

• With Emerald Gone From Third Party Second Life Viewer List, Prudence Suggests Imprudence
• New World Editorial: Emeraldgate Illustrates Limitations of Trust Based Only on Second Life Avatar Names
• Linden Lab Finally Issues Statement on Emerald -- Which Now Reportedly Accounts for Nearly HALF SL's User Hours
• Emerald Contributor & Ex-Linden Karl Stiefvater Praises New Team's Response to "EmeraldGate", Keeps Head Down

Second Life News, Innovations, Analysis, & Opinion

• Losing Night: The Woman Who Abandoned Her Avatar to Save Herself, Only to Have Her Avatar Save Her (Guest Post)
• Did Neal Stephenson Say Second Life is "Pretty Much What I Imagined"? Not Exactly, Says Neal Stephenson
• Ophelia's Gaze on the Second Life of "Mad Men": The Incomparable Joan Holloway
• Tuesday Machinima: Lyric Lundquist Explores Insilico in Wireframe (And Celebrates Her Birthday This Week!)
• Grow the Metaverse By Improving Body Language and Facial Recognition Technology, Says Ex-Linden John Lester

Other World Notes/New World Gaming/Machinima

• Peter Greenaway Joins Machinima Contest Jury!
• New World Gaming: Backyard Monsters Reaches 1M Users -- 20% of Whom Don't Fight, But Only Build

Open Forum: What Second Life Events Are You Looking Forward to This Weekend?

Chestnut's Choices won't be running this week, because sad for us but lucky for her, she's out near the ocean where the Net can't come in clearly. So here's an open forum for upcoming events: Which are you looking forward to, when are they happening, and where will they be? Post description/day/time/SLurl in Comments!

August 28, 3:00PM: Bumped up because, you know it's the weekend. Right now, for example, Soundsmith Kamachi announces "Ambient Summer", a 3 hour journey through live musical soundscapes at Vista Hermosa Art Center [SLurl here]

Grow the Metaverse By Improving Body Language and Facial Recognition Technology, Says Ex-Linden John Lester

While we often talk about how the Metaverse of Snowcrash influenced Second Life, ex-Linden Lab staffer John Lester (known then as Pathfinder Linden) points out that in the novel, the Metaverse didn't grow because you could have cool sword fights or ride motorcycles in it. Instead, notes Pathfinder, it was something seemingly more prosaic:

What made the Metaverse in Snow Crash insanely successful was technology that could read Real Life facial expressions and body language. Then the information was instantaneously and realistically reflected on avatars. Where other people could see and understand.

Trouble is, too many developers are not focused on this aspect of the Metaverse, and by extension, nor are they on that aspect of Second Life. Rather:

In my experience, most programmers and developers of virtual worlds tend to ignore “soft” scientific concepts like empathy, emotions and the squishy human nuances of interpersonal communication. They primarily want to build tools that allow people to create and exchange things.

Instead, he points to Microsoft's Kinetc project (formerly known as Natal) and the work of Anton Bogdanovych (who I wrote about here, video embedded below) as pointing the way to the future.

I agree with my pal John that people and how they interact virtually is way more important than what they do with their stuff. So keep following the path of Pathfinder's thinking here.

Second Life Fashion Shopping In a Seaside Industrial Wasteland Called Gawk

Emilly Orr of Razorblade Cookies visits Gawk, a shopping sim beautifully made to look like an industrial port that's seen better days, and comes back with many photos (like the one above.) Lots of great details, especially if you have your ambient sound on. I briefly visited and was impressed by the finely wrought squalor. It's a bit like going on a shopping spree in a Half-Life 2 level, except with less face grabbing. [SLurl]

With Emerald Gone From Third Party Second Life Viewer List, Prudence Suggests Imprudence

Many Second Life users are looking for an alternate third party viewer in the wake of the Emerald implosion, and a lot of them have turned their interest to Imprudence, a TPV with a stellar reputation and little Emerald-esque drama surrounding it. Nalates Urriah has a good write-up of Imprudence's features, which even include similar physics-enabled décolletage that helped make Emerald so popular. Full disclosure: As a Hawaiian, I have a bias for Imprudence, since its logo is the "shaka" hand sign beloved by Hawaii locals, surfers, and President Obama. (Maybe the Imprudence team can work him into the logo?)

Peter Greenaway Joins Machinima Contest Jury!

Peter Greenaway, the acclaimed British director of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover with Helen Mirren, and The Pillow Book with Ewan McGregor, will be a judge on the 48 Hour Machinima Film Project I mentioned last week. Greenaway is probably the most renowned real life film director ever to judge a machinima contest, so this is a great recognition for the medium. That it's Greenaway is not entirely surprising, because as 48 Hour curator Chantal Harvey notes, Greenaway has been involved in other machinima/Second Life art projects, registering his support for the embattled Second Life art of Rose Borchovski, and with The Blue Planet, a multimedia theatrical production by Greenaway and Saskia Boddeke which incorporates Second Life machinima. Knowing this background, Chantal contacted the director about joining the panel, and is duly stoked to have him involved: "To have a real life filmmaker in the jury is like a major recognition for the teams and their work, and [machinima] being the creative new way for young people to film -- makes this so very different."

And now you have another reason to join the contest: Go here for all the details and to start the sign-up process.

Hat tip: Bevan Whitfield

Ophelia's Gaze on the Second Life of "Mad Men": The Incomparable Joan Holloway

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

Joan Harris (née Holloway) is one of the defining characters of "Mad Men", and the curvaceous Christina Hendricks has become the face of the show as far as the press is concerned. It was a no-brainer that after tackling the Drapers (you can find Don here, and Betty here) my next target had to be the office Aphrodite herself.

The skin and shape were likely the easiest pieces of this avatar. I picked Launa Fauna's new Lola skin from L.Fauna [SLurl], also the source of all of my eyes for these avatars, for Joanie because Launa tends to give her skins a soft and fleshy look, allowing for more natural looking curvy features on the face and body-- and this steno pool overseer has curves from here to Manhattan. Joan's hairstyle of choice after hours tends to be a ringlet-laden do, so I opted for the Linda hair from Truth [SLurl] by Truth Hawks. I found a sexy ruched black dress appropriately named Vixen by Miko Omegamu of Icing [SLurl] that shows off just the right amount of cleavage, has a nice slim pencil skirt shape (which is essentially mandatory when dressing Mrs. Harris), and goes rather smartly with a pair of Betty Doyle's ruffle-accented Freynii pumps from Ingenue [SLurl]. The final touches are a vintage-flavoured gold and onyx necklace named Diana from good old Donna Flora [SLurl], a reappearance from the colour-changing Pixel Mode [SLurl] prim nails, and of course some gartered stockings from a 5th&Oxford [SLurl] lingerie set. An ensemble worthy of Marilyn Monroe (though don't forget, Marilyn's really more of a Joan!)

After the jump, Joan brings her hair and her neckline up for a day at the office!

Continue reading "Ophelia's Gaze on the Second Life of "Mad Men": The Incomparable Joan Holloway"

Losing Night: The Woman Who Abandoned Her Avatar to Save Herself, Only to Have Her Avatar Save Her (Guest Post)

A New World Notes guest post by Night Flower

I once created a Second Life avatar named Night Flower, but in 2008, gave her up. I left Night to save my marriage, my family, maybe even my own soul. I left Night knowing that unless I could claim in earnest the kind of life I'd only been living vicariously through her, I could never come back.

For me, never lasted 17 months.

Two weeks ago, I found myself staring at the familiar Second Life login screen, my fingers tingling above the keys. I knew that long-time Residents commonly feel compelled to take extended breaks from the virtual world. But after all this time, and all the grief Night caused my real life, why would I return?

Continue reading "Losing Night: The Woman Who Abandoned Her Avatar to Save Herself, Only to Have Her Avatar Save Her (Guest Post)"

New World Editorial: Emeraldgate Illustrates Limitations of Trust Based Only on Second Life Avatar Names

"Second Life Rocked by Denial-of-Service Attack Involving Anonymous Avatars, Open Source, Bouncing Breasts" is my summary of the Emeraldgate scandal for Social Times, and while the title may seem somewhat salacious, it is very true that Emerald's addition of realistic breast physics drove massive adoption of the open source viewer.

In any case, I want to highlight and reiterate a point from that post: Emeraldgate "illustrates the limits of trust in a world where users are mostly known only by their avatars." Second Life avatar names were originally intended to be concrete identities who earned their in-world trust from the community by the users' behavior. This intention was degraded back in 2006 by removing a payment/credit card registration requirement to avatars, which made it easier for bad actors to create multiple avatars. However, because most or many Second Life users consider the world a game or low-risk play space, the desire to maintain a good reputation is not as compelling as it is in the real world. And in my opinion, this tension came to a head with Emerald.

Continue reading "New World Editorial: Emeraldgate Illustrates Limitations of Trust Based Only on Second Life Avatar Names"

Tuesday Machinima: Lyric Lundquist Explores Insilico in Wireframe (And Celebrates Her Birthday This Week!)

The bedeviling Second Life machinima artist known as Lyric Lundquist hasn't made a video in awhile, so this is a double treat: a trip through the cyberpunk landmark metropolis Insilico, created by Skills Hak, rendered even stranger when viewed in wireframe:

Lyric's notes on the production: "The only avatar in the video is Skills Hak, the lagoon was built in Insilico for me as a film haven by Hern Worsley. (Skills generously donated the prims.)" And because this is a Lyric production, there's additional elements layered on top of the Second Life footage: You'll notice the shots with strange black swirls. Those were created by using this scribbler tool. "I used screen capture software to tape myself drawing, then imported it into Final Cut to layer on top of scenes from Second Life. I also created a layer in Photoshop that looked like the glare of the sun, which I layered over wireframe clips to give it a more dreamy kind of feel."

When Lyric showed this machinima to her real life mom, she said it reminded her of an Erector Set from her childhood; hence the video's name, "erek-tor". "I liked the duality of the word," Lyric Lundquist tells me, "because I felt it also spoke to filming in wireframe, which shows the bones of Insilico and how much work it took to erect such a masterful world."

Marvelous stuff. And as it happens, this week is Lyric Lundquist's real life birthday, so as she offers us this gift, do join me in celebrating this young woman with singular talent we're fortunate to have part of Second Life.

Linden Lab Finally Issues Statement on Emerald -- Which Now Reportedly Accounts for Nearly HALF SL's User Hours

Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale has just issued a statement acknowledging that the company removed Emerald from its list of authorized third party viewers after it was used by the lead developer in a denial-of-service attack, and is discussing its fate with the anonymous development team behind it, almost all of whom are only known by their Second Life names. The company may still disable Emerald logins, but reportedly, has not decided on that yet. These moves bring Linden Lab in substantial conflict with the activity of its own users, because Emerald is currently used by an extremely large number of active Second Life users.

How large? Last July I reported that nearly 1 in 3 daily Second Life users are accessing Second Life not through the official viewer software, but via Emerald. Since then, however, reliable sources have informed me that Emerald activity is even larger than that number suggests. That, in fact, Emerald now accounts for nearly 50% of total Second Life user hours. (I checked this figure with Linden Lab, which declined comment.) What's more, that third party viewers attract more combined user hours than any of the official Linden-made viewers, with Emerald far and away the leader. That's part of the broader context for this policy move, which also adds more context to the layoffs and corporate tumult that recently beset Linden Lab: Not only did the company's Viewer 2 not gain many more new users (despite the enormous resources spent on it), but it's been eclipsed by a third party viewer created by a development team of unknown provenance and a history of dubious activity. And this story has only gotten started.

San Francisco Business Times on Second Life's "Fickle Fate"

I just discussed Second Life's current state in the market with San Francisco Business Times' Patrick Hoge. Reading it at first, I didn't quite agree that Reuters closing its SL news office last year was indicative of corporations losing interest in the world, since Reuters' departure was mostly indicative that the news bureau didn't understand Second Life in the first place. However, that's probably an academic quibble, because if corporations did maintain interest, Reuters likely would have stayed. Then again, the real issue there was slowing user growth, and a realization that the world was much smaller than the widely touted registration numbers seemed to suggest.

Did Neal Stephenson Say Second Life is "Pretty Much What I Imagined"? Not Exactly, Says Neal Stephenson

Last weekend's "Weekend Edition" on NPR has a story on technologies influenced by science fiction, which includes Philip Rosedale talking about how Neal Stephenson's classic Snowcrash (which his wife Yvette gave him) inspired Second Life. NPR then quotes Neal Stephenson himself, who seems to say, about Second Life, "I think it is pretty much what I imagined." Which is a bit different than what Neal Stephenson told me for my book, to wit: "I know that people are finding this hard to believe, but I have not checked Second Life out yet. Too many other things going on in my life." But the NPR story implied he had looked at SL closely since then, so I double-checked with the author. Was he quoted out of context?

"You are right to be suspicious of the editing," Neal Stephenson told me by email. "The line that they quoted was, I'm almost certain, uttered with reference to Google Earth, not to Second Life." (The story also credits Stephenson for inspiring that technology.) "Certainly when I was referring to Metaverse-style virtual worlds I was quite careful to underline all of the ways in which current real-world implementations differ from what is described in Snow Crash." And no, he added, he still hasn't visited Second Life yet. I offered to give him a tour with the promise that there are many things in Second Life that indeed echo Snowcrash. Though as recent news might suggest, they're not always as cool when they actually happens.

Photo credit: Devin Hahn for Bostonia.

Emerald Contributor & Ex-Linden Karl Stiefvater Praises New Team's Response to "EmeraldGate", Keeps Head Down

As I noted last week, innovative 3D programmer Karl Stiefvater (recently fired from Linden Lab) has joined the development team of Emerald, which has since become embroiled in a controversy now known as "EmeraldGate". I asked Karl (known as Qarl Fizz in SL) to comment on the situation now, and this is what he said:

"Mostly I'm keeping my head down, to avoid getting hit with any of the fireworks. I gotta say, though, I'm pleasantly surprised with how the Emerald people are handling the mess. They're taking full responsibility for their screw-ups and making the hard decisions to correct them." You can read more about some of those decisions by reading Emerald's blog and by listening to the team leader's interview with Paisley Beebe.

Tech Forum: The Alienware M11x Looks Like Sexy Ass Awesomesauce, But Can It Handle the Metaverse?

I need a new laptop that can handle my day job of working in the metaverse, and the new Alienware M11x is an extremely portable, 11" laptop with black matte Batmobile studliness that makes my geek propeller spin like mad. Reviews seem quite good. Graphically, it rocks a one gig NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M which can be upgraded to 8 gigs (I'll probably boost it to 4 gigs.) I checked with someone at Blue Mars, who said this system should be able to handle that world just fine. How about Second Life, running Viewer 2? Help me, tech savvy readers -- my heart says yes, but should my brain go along?

New World Gaming: Backyard Monsters Reaches 1M Users -- 20% of Whom Don't Fight, But Only Build

Social Times has my interview with the CEO behind Backyard Monsters, which you may remember me writing about here last month as the Facebook game for gamers who hate Facebook games. Since then, it's grown by about 750K monthly active users, and now has just shy of 1 million total -- proof positive a relatively complex “gamer’s game” can work on a social network, without any brainless clicking of cows or other farm animals. Interestingly, 30% of the player base is female, and 20% of players don't attack others, because they prefer to spend all their time building and tinkering with their monster base, often turning them into amazing garden sculptures and other designs. (Which come to think of it, given SL's activity distributions, suggests that about as many people regularly spend their time creating 3D content in Backyard Monsters as do in Second Life.) Anyway, much more here. And if you think you can successfully invade my base (buahahahaha bring it), go here to play Backyard Monsters.

Last Week's New World Notes Posts You Don't Want to Miss

All About Emerald-Gate

• "Emerald Gate" Gets a Twitter Hashtag: Follow It Here!
• Listen & Discuss Here: Emerald Leader Arabella Steadham Talks on "Tonight Live" (But Who's Arabella Steadham?)
• Embattled Third Party Second Life Viewer Removed From Linden Lab's Approved List; Lead Emerald Developer Reportedly Resigns
• Emerald Developers Deny Using Software to Launch DDoS Attack on Rival Developer's Blog With "Silly Idea"

Second Life News, Innovations, Analysis, & Opinion

• Philip Rosedale Q&A With Shava Suntzu: Teens & Second Life, Open Source, Interoperability, Search & Topics Galore
• Project Connecting Motion Capture Suit to Second Life Now Even More Second Life-ier!
• How Meshes Will Decrease Lag in Second Life: An Illustrated Explanation
• Eshi Otawara Turns Second Life Avatars Into Real Life Paintings on Squares of Sanded Glass
• Ophelia's Gaze on the Second Life of "Mad Men": Donning Don Draper!
• Is There a Better Way to Deploy Alternate Second Life Display Names?
• Top 5 Takeaways From SLCC 2010: Viewer Goes LGPL, Educators and Developers Fret, Vivox Expands, Convention Goes Pro
• Ex-Linden Lab Developer Karl Stiefvater Joins Development of Emerald, The Popular Third Party Second Life Viewer

Other World Notes/New World Gaming

• Metaverse Star Adam Frisby Launches ResLive, a Web-Based 3D Virtual World For Live Music
• Does LEGO Universe Excite You?
• With Osmos for the iPhone, the Future of Virtual Immersion is Touching

"Emerald Gate" Gets a Twitter Hashtag: Follow It Here!

Update, 3:45AM: Just tuning in?  Here's the gist of what's happened since Friday:

• Emerald Developers Deny Using Software to Launch DDoS Attack on Rival Developer's Blog With "Silly Idea"
• Emerald Update: Embattled Third Party Second Life Viewer Removed From Linden Lab's Approved List; Lead Emerald Developer Reportedly Resigns

And in a sign the scandal has arrived, the Emerald controversy covered here over the last few days not only has an inevitable title, "Emerald gate", it's got its own Twitter hashtag: #emeraldgate. More from me on Monday, but meantime, monitor it here:

Listen & Discuss Here: Emerald Leader Arabella Steadham Talks on "Tonight Live" (But Who's Arabella Steadham?)

UPDATE, 11:15PM: This is the MP3 audio of the show. Give it a listen, Paisley asks some very good tough questions. Since the show is over, I've disabled the embedded video. (Thanks Delinda Dryssen)!

Tonight at 6pm SLT/Pacific, Emerald communication manager Arabella Steadham will appear on Paisley Beebe's "Tonight Live" to talk about the third party Second Life viewer that's been the source of major controversies (as noted here and also here.) Apparently the live soundstage has been beset by griefers, so the show is now being recorded in a closed locations. However, I've embedded the show below added the MP3 link above, please watch and discuss in Commments:

According to Paisley's pre-show post, Ms. Steadham is going to make an announcement about the future of Emerald. But then, who is Arabella Steadham? If the viewer is going to exist in any form going forward, it seems an absolute necessity now that its development be led by someone who is known in real life, and can be held accountable for the actions of her or his team.

At any rate, watch and opinionate here!

Emerald Update: Embattled Third Party Second Life Viewer Removed From Linden Lab's Approved List; Lead Emerald Developer Reportedly Resigns

Emerald, the extremely popular third party Second Life viewer, is no longer listed among the viewers that Linden Lab officially recognizes as compliant with company policies. At the moment, I can't report when it was removed from the list, but as of today, as this screen capture indicates, it's definitely no longer there -- here's the list of third party viewers Linden Lab officially recognizes. "Beware of third-party viewers that are not in the Viewer Directory," Linden's page reads, "they have either declined to self-certify or been refused for noncompliance with our policies." As of today, that includes Emerald.

Perhaps related to that, on Friday I mentioned the "silly idea" which Emerald's blog described as "a poor attempt at boasting that failed miserably", but others described as a DDoS attack on a rival site. Taking responsibility for that incident, and a previous controversy, lead Emerald developer Fractured Crystal is reportedly leaving the team. I say "reportedly", because given Emerald's track record, combined with a lack of real world developer names heading the project, or an identifiable, legally sanctioned company associated with it, it's insufficiently clear what that announcement actually means.

So, once again, here is Linden Lab's list of compliant third party Second Life viewers. Hat tip: Katharine Berry.

Last Chance to Nominate Your Favorite Folk/Bluegrass/Country/Blues Second Life Performers!

Last chance to nominate your favorite Folk/Bluegrass/Country/Blues Second Life Performers in our New World Notes Readers Poll is this weekend! Here are the nominees so far:

• Arman Finesmith
• Avatar Quinzet
• Beth Odets
• Blindboink Parham
• Brendan Shoreland
• CelticMaidenWarrior Lancaster
• Charles Bristol
• Cosmic Haystack
• Cylindrian Rutabaga
• Dakila Lacava
• DannyQuinn Irelund
• Etherian Kamaboku
• Frogg Marlowe
• HondoMesa Kidd
• Jaycatt Nico
• JueL Resistance
• KelvinBlue Oh
• Komuso Tokugawa
• Madmax Huet
• Montian Gilruth
• MrMulti Writer
• Noma Falta
• Shannon Oherlihy
• Serv4u Conacher
• Tone Uriza
• Von Johin
• Ziffy Zarf

Notice any missing? If so, post in Comments, and be sure to include links to their performances on YouTube or elsewhere!

Update, 8/22: Bumped up. Remember, nominations end THIS WEEKEND (i.e. Sunday 11:59am SLT)!

Emerald Developers Deny Using Software to Launch DDoS Attack on Rival Developer's Blog With "Silly Idea"

On the blog for the extremely popular Emerald Second Life viewer, in a post entitled "Shennanigans" [sic], the anonymous developers deny allegations (such as those made on the SL Universe forum), that they were recently involved in a DDoS attack on a rival developer. What actually happened, they explain, was "a silly idea":

This idea was to target a blog owned by a creator of a malicious viewer, and boast of the traffic Emerald has captured. The method for doing this was to add links to the Emerald log in page linked to said blog. Each time anyone logged in, our page loaded up and also the other page loaded up – simply to show off our volume of traffic... This was a poor attempt at boasting that failed miserably. Once we discovered this, these links were deleted and the dev concerned was disciplined.

More here, with apologies to Emerald users, and promises that this won't happen again. However, I tend to think we'll be hearing more about this soon. Especially since the third party Emerald viewer is used by 1 in 3 daily Second Life users.

Second Life Community Convention: The Street View

ArminasX Saiman of Second Effects has a very good, photo-heavy personal recounting of SLCC, the kind of event where if you are lucky (and don't you wish you were), a gorgeous Broadway star will sit on your lap and sing. It's nice street view complement to Shava Suntzu's NWN guest post from a few days ago, and it contains this lovely paragraph about NWN event writer Chestnut Rau, who met her longtime in-world partner Zha Ewry in real life for the first time there:

I approached her and introduced myself, but she seemed a little awkward as those were her first moments meeting avatars. We had a brief discussion, when suddenly over her shoulder I observed someone entering the lobby pulling a suitcase: Zha Ewry. I immediately held up my hands to beckon Chestnut to stop talking and said in a totally calm voice, “Turn. Around. Right. Now.” She looked at me quizzically and rotated. In less than a picosecond she recognized Zha, who did not notice her. I will never forget the look on Chestnut’s face at that moment, as her emotions radiated brilliantly in all directions.

I bet many have felt the same way in similar circumstances. Read the rest here.

How To Get Second Life Shadows in Viewer 2

Ms. Banana Vella has a helpful, illustrated step-by-step guide for enabling dynamic shadows in Viewer 2, so you can go from a Second Life that looks like the pic at left to the one at right.

Other World Notes: Metaverse Star Adam Frisby Launches ResLive, a Web-Based 3D Virtual World For Live Music

Over on Social Times I have a story on ResLive, an upcoming virtual world developed by Adam Frisby (known as Adam Zaius in Second Life), a major developer in SL and OpenSim. Now in early Beta, the post includes special invite codes for a live show at 3pm SLT, so if you're around, you might want to give it a try today. It uses Unity 3D for the graphics (which are pretty impressive, for the web), and OpenSimulator as a backend, and as I note in the article, ResLive seems to solve a lot of the problems that have bedeviled performers and fans of live music in Second Life.

Here's what Adam says when I ask him what ResLive offers Second Life users in particular:

"[L]et me preface first with a 'We're still really really early on -- what you are seeing is a work in progress!', BUT:

• Bigger events -- we built this out of the event we did with Long Range back in 2006 in SL. We want to get crowds of hundreds if not thousands at a single event.
• Shinier regions (this isnt so much visible just yet I know), but our engine supports a lot of very fancy tech which we're slowly putting into practice; graphically we'll be somewhere around Blue Mars in a couple of months (just a matter of completing the art and polishing it to an acceptable degree.)
• We're working on a lot of stuff specifically designed around the needs/wants of live performers, and their audiences; in-world visualizers, better dance animation possibilities (such as multi-person animations, which are hacky at best in SL.)
• High quality acts -- we're not closed to anyone, but because of the people we are associating with, we're able to put names on our roster which are recognized globally; which we hope will also bring in some fresh faces and people who havent touched a virtual world before."

Much more about ResLive here.

New World Gaming: Does LEGO Universe Excite You?

Courtesy Negko Devinna, here's a fascinating sneak peek at LEGO Universe, the online world which will combine MMO roleplaying/questing elements with, well, fricking LEGO. From this depiction at least, it looks like a brilliant marriage of gaming and user-generated content; specifically, to build objects of your own, you first need to go on adventures to earn LEGO bricks:

Ironically, I think LEGO Universe will be recognized more immediately by a mass market as being a virtual world with user-generated content, before Second Life -- since after all, the word "LEGO" has been synonymous with user-generated content for decades. Do you think you'll jump in, when it launches this October?

How Meshes Will Decrease Lag in Second Life: An Illustrated Explanation

In last week's NWN tech forum on fixing Second Life lag, ex-Linden Lab developer Karl Stiefvater argued that meshes would be a giant boon. At first I was skeptical, but a Resident named Followmeimthe Piedpiper (oh yes) sent me these two compelling visual illustrations:

"The first shows a normal cubic prim rendered in Second Life as a wireframe." (At right.) "Without any cut sides or hollows it still uses 56 vertices. All these need computing to rez." That's a lot of excess machinations, because by contrast, "A normal basic real life 3D cube in comparison only has 8 corners." Mr. Piedpiper went on: "Now compare a simple wall with two offset window holes in it." (After the break.)

Continue reading "How Meshes Will Decrease Lag in Second Life: An Illustrated Explanation"

Ophelia's Gaze on the Second Life of "Mad Men": Donning Don Draper!

 

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

Don Draper: As perfectly embodied by Jon Hamm, Mad Men's masculine icon of a bygone era, smoldering rogue, mysterious object of female desire. I don't know if I can accurately describe the trepidation I felt when starting to create this avatar for my series on Mad Men fashion in Second Life. It can be a real chore to build a foxy male avatar in SL, and it's infinitely harder if you don't want that avatar to look goth or emo or even Gorean. This was not an endeavor for the faint of heart!

To create a Don Draper worthy of the name, I visited Laqroki [SLurl], as I did for Betty before him, to pick up their Daniel skin, which is one of the few male skins with a bit of a "muzzle" of manly stubble that doesn't look scruffy. Building his shape was tricky, but trickier still was finding the right hairstyle for him! I settled on Harrison by Aemilia Case of Philotic Energy [SLurl], but I spent some time editing it to make it rest much closer to his scalp (the "Edit linked" checkbox is a godsend.)

Next up: Decking out our Don! Suits can also be fairly hit and miss in SL, so I combined the top from Donna Flora's Ronnie outfit with the pants from their Alex outfit. While I'm a huge fan of Squinternet Larnia's brand Donna Flora [SLurl], in particular their jewelry, I'll admit that this suit jacket's skirt layer bothers me-- the textures don't seem to quite match, though that could simply be because Don has larger hips than normal, since it is a mesh skirt. The texture on the prim pant cuffs also seemed to be a bit off, however neither issue was enough to spoil the outfit in my opinion. I didn't have to change Don's shoes for this outfit, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to pimp the incredibly affordable colour-changing men's loafers from HOC Industries [SLurl], something that no well-dressed modern male avatar's wardrobe is complete without. I added some eyes by L.Fauna [SLurl], and of course a smoldering cigarette from FNKY! [SLurl], to complete this Mad Man's outfit.

As anyone who watches the series knows, Don is most recognizable while sprawled out and brooding at his desk. After the jump, find out what I've dressed Don in for a day at the office!

Continue reading "Ophelia's Gaze on the Second Life of "Mad Men": Donning Don Draper!"

Chestnut's Choices 8/19 - 8/25: Industrial Band RedZone Machinima Party, Extropian Art Exhibit and Reception, "The Masks We Wear" Masquerade Ball and Much Much More!

 

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

Redzone is a British band with a unique and original sound, fusing industrial, hiphop, electronica, classical, with alternative and ambient influences. Band members Cabaret Voltaire (vocals/electric violin), Red Xu (guitar/bass guitar/samples), and Avomatsur Rustamova (synth/electric double bass/theremin) are experienced live performers and have been credited by Wired and Reuters as the first band to tour Second Life.

 In association with Autonomous Media Playground, on Sunday 8/22 from 2pm to 7pm RedZone presents five hours of music topped off by the inworld screening of the Band's new Machinima "The Wasted Runner." First up at 3pm is a set of music by DJ JR Wahrhaftig followed by a live performance by RedZone!  5pm brings the screening of "The Wasted Runner" followed by more music, this time from DJ Karu Seetan (AKA Jurobear.) Listen to the stream here or attend in world in Allalinhorn.[SLurl teleport at this link]

***

Thursday 8/19

4pm - The gReefers Simulcast From Across the US Live at the Hummingbird Cafe

This show is sure to be a stand out so don't miss the opportunity to listen to SL musicians playing together live from four disparate locations across the US.  The gReefers is a band formed by Bass player Ictus Belford (Tulsa OK,USA) with Max Kleene (Niagra Falls ONT,CA) on guitar and vocals, Thunder Lexington (Upstate NY,USA) on Drums and Allister Westland (Toronto ONT, CA) on lead guitar. Their songs range from alternative to rock country. In Menorca.  [SLurl teleport at this link] 

5pm - Dann Numbers Live at Fibber Magees

I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Dann Numbers at SLCC. Dann is a wonderful guitarist who knows how to put on a rockin show. Listen to his blend of blues, rock, country and gospel today at Fibber Magee's pub.  Dann plays both acoustic and electric guitar and his eclectic performance style ranges from quietly soulful to sweaty and loud.  See you at the show.  In Dublin 3.   [SLurl teleport at this link]

7pm - Live Reading of The Poetry of Pablo Neruda

"Body of a Woman", Callipygian Christensen's current exhibit at Palais Orleans Galerie D'Art, was inspired by the work of Pablo Neruda, the Chilean poet considered by some to be one of the greatest poets of the 20th century.  Tonight you will be treated to a live reading of the poems that inspired the art.  Three new Neruda-inspired pieces will also be introduced at this event.  The poetry will be read over the music stream, making it accessible to those who do not use Voice in SL. In Tasogare.   [SLurl teleport at this link]

7pm - Breakers Discussion Group:  Political Correctness

Join this interesting discussion group in the Breakers Coffee Shop. Tonight's topic is: Has Political Correctness Gone too Far? What do you think? Come share your opinion. Everyone is welcome.  In Breakers.   [SLurl teleport at this link]

Also after the break: SLCC Musicians Jean Munro and Debi Late Perform, SL Twitter Meetup, Author Brunnhilda Quonset Reads and much more

Continue reading "Chestnut's Choices 8/19 - 8/25: Industrial Band RedZone Machinima Party, Extropian Art Exhibit and Reception, "The Masks We Wear" Masquerade Ball and Much Much More!"

NWN in Japanese:日本のパンクは、フレンチメイドのファリーとナルトがあれば、さらに良い（でも、そんなこともう知っていたでしょう？）

今日、あなたに必要なもの。そう、そのとおり：重力に逆らったナルトを食べつつ、三つ首の熊の毛皮の上でフレンチメイドの格好をしたファリーが激しくロックする傍らで、セクシーな女の子がハエに囲まれる日本のパンクロック。（思いもよらなかったでしょう？）そして、製作者は一羽の小鳥。では、いってみよう：

Continue reading "NWN in Japanese:日本のパンクは、フレンチメイドのファリーとナルトがあれば、さらに良い（でも、そんなこともう知っていたでしょう？）"

Eshi Otawara Turns Second Life Avatars Into Real Life Paintings on Squares of Sanded Glass

Juliet Ceres, the Second Life avatar, and the acrylic portrait by Eshi

Eshi Otawara and I were recently commiserating over the suckage of missing out on SLCC, when the metaverse artist and fashion designer showed me her latest project: Real world paintings, based on Second Life avatars. She does these on commission, creating them on 12x12 squares of sanded edge glass. "I haven't been painting for a few years and this is a very important step for me," she told me, "going back to my original medium. I would love to merge SL and painting through the avatar portraiture which makes avatars look so much more alive and radiant than [screenshots]." To do that, she puts a lot of thought in her brushwork: "I think of the paintings as records of my fluid dance. The strokes are long and clean, I try to make them look very confident and elegant." You can see more of her works on her Flickr page, or take a look at reproductions of them in Second Life, at her gallery: SLurl teleport here.

Can You Make a Great Machinima in 48 Hours? Contest Now Open, Produced By Chantal Harvey

The 48 Hour Film Project is a long-running, widely covered guerrilla filmmaking contest that challenges people in cities around the world to make a halfway decent movie in two days. The contest recently added a machinima arm, and well-known Second Life machinimator Chantal Harvey is producing it. Along with Second Life, you can make machinima entries in World of Warcraft, Twinity, Half-Life, Moviestorm, iClone, the Movies, Grand Theft Auto, and more. "All rights have to be owned, and all has to be shot in real time, during the 48 hours of the contest," Chantal tells me. "Winning machinima will be screened at Filmapalooza Festival, and the 10 best films from that festival go to Cannes."

Go here for all the rules and registration page. Entry fee is $48, which may seem steep, but is actually much less than the fee you'd pay to enter a real world film in the contest. Plus I'll be covering the winners/runners up here!

Update, 8/19: In case you needed even more incentive, Chantal adds that the winning machinimas will be screened at the next Miami International Film Festival. Which is a perfect fit, because a lot of folks in Miami already look like avatars.

Update: Project Connecting Motion Capture Suit to Second Life Now Even More Second Life-ier!

Last month I wrote about the ambitious project of Anton Bogdanovych (shaqq Korobase in SL), a University of Western Sydney researcher who's been developing software that connects a motion capture suit to movement of a Second Life avatar. While his first demo video still seemed fairly rudimentary, Shaqq has a new video, and it's pretty impressive:

I especially like how his avatar conveys his offhand body language while he's talking. Shaqq argues that this is the future of interaction on the Internet, and he makes a strong case: To the extent that immersive virtual worlds are part of the Net's future, it's likely we'll see more interfaces like this. Read more about Anton Bogdanovych's project in my interview with him here.

Is There a Better Way to Deploy Alternate Second Life Display Names?

As promised last weekend, Linden Lab just announced and attempted to explain their upcoming system for allowing users to customize their Display Names. I say "attempted", because judging by the long, long thread of user response, the policy's causing more confusion and consternation, than enthusiasm. Much of that tumult seems to be caused by worrying scenarios like this, as explained in the Display Name FAQ:

With existing avatar names so inextricably linked to Residents' businesses and reputations, many of them worry the Display Names will inadvertently encourage to identity hacking and related griefing. At the same time, in fairness to the Lindens, it's difficult to imagine a policy in which Residents can easily customize their display names (a feature many desire) without it leading to at least some confusion and abuse. Or is there? Hat tip: Ziki Questi.

New World Gaming: With Osmos for the iPhone, the Future of Virtual Immersion is Touching

When we talk about "immersion" in gaming and virtual worlds, we're usually referring to the 3D graphics and sometimes the sound, and how they bring your perception "into" the experience that's on the screen. But with a game like Osmos, from Hemisphere Games, an award-winning title recently ported to the iPhone, immersion comes through touching. The basic gameplay premise has been done many times before (you control an amoeba-like sphere, and use it to absorb other spheres around you), but never has it been this sensual an experience. Here's the trailer, which should give you a sense of the visual, ambient, physics-enabled dreamscape the game is:

But the sound and 2D visuals are just a part of what makes this game so seductive. The amazing thing to me is that Osmos was originally developed for the PC, because it seems so perfectly suited for the iPhone/iPad. The tactile experience of using your fingertips to move through a galaxy of beautiful lifeforms transports you into that place. And the fact that you're peering at such a small display doesn't take you out of the immersion, because you're literally linked to it physically. Watch this gameplay walkthrough after the break:

Continue reading "New World Gaming: With Osmos for the iPhone, the Future of Virtual Immersion is Touching"