New World Notes

Where in Second Life is a Cat Named Dim Sum? Fun Idea for an SL Blog... Great Idea for an SL-Based Tablet Game

Where's Dim Sum is a fun new SL blog with a cute premise -- each post is a screenshot of an SL location, in each of which is a tiny white cat called Dim Sum. It's a fun way to present new and/or interesting SL locations by Opal Lei, a longtime SLer who also wrote an SL-inspired e-book, conveniently enough, Love, Like Dim Sum.

Basically Where's Dim Sum turns Second Life screenshots into a hidden object mini-game, a casual sub-genre that's huge on the web and mobile right now. (Especially on tablets, which are ideal for hands-on browsing of beautiful images.) So here's a free idea for game developers:

Top Six New World Notes Posts from Last Week

• Second Life Sim Success Stories: Here's How an SL Fashion Sim Attracts 35K-70K Weekly Visits & Covers Monthly Tier
• Linden Lab Continues Embracing Future of Content Creation on Tablets with Purchase of iPad Game Blocksworld
• Should Linden Lab Charge SL Users to Keep Excess Inventory? It's a Hidden Subsidy Hurting SL's Economy
• Miss Metaverse Manners Rants: How to Contact a Second Life Content Creator (Without Being a Jerk)
• SL's Adult-Rated Sims Grow in Number -- and Popularity, Too
• Experiment in Avatar Race Provokes Prejudice, Acceptance

Second Life Sim Success Stories: Here's How an SL Fashion Sim Attracts 35K-70K Weekly Visits & Covers Monthly Tier

I write about the constant stream of Second Life sims which leave the grid, largely from a failure to cover Linden Lab's costly monthly tier (usually $295/mo), but there are other SL sims doing quite well, and it's just as important (if not moreso) to understand why: Take the SL sim MAYFAIR (direct teleport here), home to the favorite SL fashion brand called Mon Tissu. According to co-owner Emma Gilmour (who I just profiled here), the sim attracts 30,000-70,000 weekly visits. "It's busiest when we've released in the last few weeks," she tells me, "but it's been a while since we all took holiday breaks and haven't quite gotten back into the swing of things yet. It should pick up again around Valentine's Day!" It's more than enough customer traffic to cover the sim's tier, and to be Emma's full-time job: "It's enough for full-time," as she puts it, "but it's definitely taken a lot of work!"

How does MAYFAIR do it? Here's Ms. Gillmour's expert advice, which (if you own a Second Life sim), you should read quite closely:

Here's Second Life Fashion Inspired by Downton Abbey

Ms. Gorgeous Yongho here finds and rocks Second Life fashion inspired by Downton Abbey, which I think is some kind of British TV show about extra fancy British people from the Edwardian or Victorian or Elizabethan or one of those eras moping around in a British mansion doing British things, such as passive aggressiveness or sexual frustration. I guess this is a thing, because when Iris Ophelia plays Sims 3, she puts her sims into Downtown Abbey scenarios too. "I love their clothes and hairstyles," says Gogo, "but it’s very hard to find something new in SL (in mesh) that fits the time period."

SL Steampunk Sim Armada Breakaway Soon Going Away

Emily Orr has a plangent tribute to the Second Life steampunk sim Aramada Breakaway, which is soon going away from the SL grid. "All has been done to save it, but there is just too much empty land," announced the owner. However, he added: "There will be an end of Armada party on Saturday 26 from 7-9pm SLT and everyone is invited!" Click here to teleport there.

Here's Emily on what this loss means:

This is a Second Life Screenshot Badassified Beyond Belief

This is detail from three of four excellent retouched SL screenshots that you can see here, created by SL Redditor "aiPod", who shot the image in Second Life, ran it through GIMP to add more texture and visual elements, such as shadow retouching and various wear and tear. "SL lighting and posing isn't fun," he allows, which may be the case, but just look at what he did.

Linden Lab Continues Embracing Future of Content Creation on Tablets with Purchase of iPad Game Blocksworld

Second Life landowners, take a look at what you're money's helping Linden Lab buy - Blocksworld, a fun-looking, Minecraft-like, 3D sandbox building toy with physics for the iPad which looks like this:

Looks like fun, and as with Creatorverse, another Linden Lab product released recently, shows the company moving toward tablets as the next generation of content creation.

Should Linden Lab Charge SL Users to Keep Excess Inventory? It's a Hidden Subsidy Hurting SL's Economy

In the ongoing conversation about ways Linden Lab could replace the revenue lost from disappearing sims, Metacam Oh made a very sharp point last week: "Inventory takes up space but you are not charged for inventory. There could be 10,000+ free accounts with unlimited inventory that others are paying the freight for." This is very true, especially when it's not uncommon for SL users (with free accounts, even) to have tens of thousands or even a hundred thousand items in their inventory. Back in my Linden days, Linden Lab considered the idea of charging people to own inventory over a certain amount, and I'm even more convinced it's a plan they should finally put in place. Because spinning off from Mr. Oh's point, well-known SL "land baron" Desmond Shang added a comment which explains the huge problem of allowing so many users to have so much free inventory of virtual items:

"Basically, SL is a vast maze of unspoken subsidies.

"Every time someone logs in, buys a bunch of freeware and chats on voice all day, never spending a dime, that gets paid for. With hard currency, by someone.

"Now, of course, there are more ways to contribute to the world than with money. A non-spending resident's mere presence can be considered 'content' -- a compelling reason for other spenders to visit the grid. I have been a merchant and content creator myself for years; putting labor into the grid for reward isn't lost on me.

"The problem is that the subsidy structure doesn't make sense any more:

In Upcoming Open-World Indie Game Under the Ocean, Post-Shipwreck Survival is Surprisingly Relaxing

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

Lately I've been playing around with the Under the Ocean, an open-world survival and exploration game for Mac and Windows which is currently in alpha. You play as a pretty bizarre-looking dude who's been shipwrecked on a deserted island and, in ideal circumstances, your goal is to find food, water, and build yourself a shelter. The game is still in its infancy so it's still very rough around the edges, but what it lacks in polish it more than makes up for in atmosphere.

I know that for a lot of our readers the building system will hold the most appeal, but for me it's all about Random Island generation. Some islands will be full of resources while others will be completely empty, some go on forever and some are dead ends -- and last night when I fired Under the Ocean up to start writing this review, I may have found the best island ever:

Miss Metaverse Manners Rants: How to Contact a Second Life Content Creator (Without Being a Jerk)

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

So you just bought a fabulous new pair of Second Life shoes... But the left one is the wrong color. WTF. Thankfully it's easy to contact a content creator in SL: Just open an IM window and MESSAGE THEM IN ALL CAPS, right?

That might sound crazy, but a lot of content creators tell me that's exactly how a lot of people contact them, and they've shared horror stories about rude or oblivious customers with me for years. There's a lot of unspoken etiquette that goes along with contacting anyone in SL -- ignorance of this etiquette is a huge grind on a virtual economy where content creators often make just a few pennies on each sale, causing them to wonder if all this rudeness from entitled customers (which I've covered before) is worth their time. So let's limit future damage with a few questions to ask yourself before you hit 'Send':