New World Notes

In Praise of Perceval Dryke, Founder of SL Deadwood

Diogenes Aurelia Kuhr has an inspiring profile of Perceval Dryke, lead founder of Deadwood 1876, an SL roleplaying region based on the old West mining town which was also the basis for a cult HBO series of the same name. (Official website here.) Ms. Kuhr explores the many fine, historically accurate details Dryke has brought to Deadwood, including a mining simulation, and pistols which leave huge gouts of smoke when they fire, as guns using black powder-loaded ammunition would. Most intriguing to me, Diogenes writes that Deadwood has evolved over its two years as a community, which currently counts nearly 2000 members: "In an odd sort of way, it also kind of parallels what is going on in Second Life itself," she writes, "as the 'Wild West' times are passing, and new social, political, legal and economic pressures make themselves felt. Not everyone is going to be happy." Read the rest here, and visit the place for yourself: [SLurl teleport at this link]

With this profile, Ms. Kuhr was responding to my SL blogger challenge to profile the world's many undiscovered and under-appreciated personalities. If you'd like to write one of your own, here's several dozen suggestions. Post the URL of your profile in the Comments there, and I may blog it! Image: ephemeralfrontier.blogspot.com</p>

Kowloon in SL Adds Feng Shui Battle System

Sanny Yoshikawa brings word of a new game system in Kowloon, the beautifully realized Asian cyberpunk city based on a classic videogame [SLurl teleport at this link]. "Now visitors who wear the HUD can enjoy monster hunting while they are exploring the world of Kowloon," she tells me. (Above, Sanny, a brave squirrel, fighting off what seems to be a possessed ironing board.) "But this mini-game is only operated in Japanese." (Maybe Snowglobe's new translation system can help there.) Sanny, by the way, is this blog's Japanese translator, and is my indispensable resource for Second Life/OpenSim news coming out of Japan. Her own blog is mostly in Japanese, but comes with lots of screenshots and SLurls, so worth a look by all. (My bias for helpful squirrels aside.)

Steampunk Treasure Hunt Starting This Week

This looks like tremendous fun: a Steampunk Treasure Hunt, with gorgeously wrought gifts by numerous artists found across the sims devoted to a 19th century that never was. Running throughout September, the in-world group for fortune seekers is Steam Hunt Punks, and the adventure begins, of course, in a sim called Mieville. [Direct SLurl teleport at this link]

Hat tip: The Heliograph.

New Jessie War Journal: Blog For Second Life Military Roleplay News, Space Commando Drama

The New Jessie War Journal has been in operation at least since last November, but I only discovered it recently, thanks to a pointer from Nexii Malthus. For that matter, that's the first time I learned there was a sim of the same name [SLurl teleport here], named after the legendary Jessie war sim of Second Life's early era. It's pretty well-written and worth a look if you're interested in the combat roleplay groups of SL, like the Spartans I wrote about several days ago. Another social curiosity: It contains long, excessively detailed, vehement accounts of interpersonal drama between various feuding squaddies. The phenomena known as "SL drama" is generally associated with fashionistas, but that turns out to be somewhat unfair, since as it turns out, even Second Life space commandos get the SL drama blues. Image credit: thejessiewarjournal.wordpress.com

SL Steampunks Blogswarm Steelhead Shanghai!

In the recent week or two, Steampunk-centric Second Life blogs have become quite enamored over Steelhead Shanghai [SLurl teleport at this link], a new region the creator winningly calls “hysterically accurate American Victorian steampunk”. Which is to say, since steampunk creates a science fiction 19th century that never was, Steelhead is a gold rush-era Chinatown from that same alternative past. (Here's fascinating historical/creative background on the new sim from its creator, Total Lunar Eclipse.)  Many more blog posts assembled here on the SL Steampunk blog, The Heliograph, including this post by Eladrienne Laval, from whence the photo above emanates. If someone creates steampunk-themed kung fu machinima in Steelhead, a la Shanghai Knights, please let me know!

New World SLurl: Wild Racing Awaits On the Island of Rune

The forest island of Rune is new home to what Toxic Menges recently told me is "the best racetrack in Second Life". I just gave it a quick whirl, and can confirm it's certainly a leading candidate in that category. You rez a free vehicle at the starting point (dirt bike, ATV, etc.), hop on, and plunge headlong into a beautifully realized race course, with glowing red arrows helpfully guiding you along the way, up steep slopes, along the water, beneath snowy mountain caps, and more.

Rune is the work of Maxwell Graf, who is still adding final touches to the racing elements: "I haven't even really had the opening yet," he tells me, "though people can already come and ride the track. I still have to do the damage systems with blood and so on, the interactive elements."

"So when the bears attack they'll actually kill you?" I ask him. (Yes, Maxwell has made Steven Colbert's nightmare come true: bears bolt out of the woods and try to maul you off your vehicle.)

"They will, yes, and the sharks, spikes, wasps, lava, rocks... for elimination rounds during the championship events we are working on weapons for the passenger, like teams of two, so you can have one drive, one attack [with] trash can lids and stick, chain, I think." (Curiously enough, that part reminds me a bit of Road Rash, the videogame franchise Cory Ondrejka was working on, before he became a Linden.)

A supremely talented content creator, Maxwell tells me all this manic inventiveness was made as a response to frustration over content theft and recent Linden policy changes. "You begin to question your options, your reasons," he tells me. "I needed to find something fun to do, both in building and that others could come and goof out on. I'd love to see it become popular, but even if it's not, I had a blast doing it, and I needed that."

I think you are likely to share Mr. Graf's fun (especially if you bring your friends): Direct SLurl teleport to RUNE at this link.

The Spartan Army Of Second Life Has A Beautiful Base (If You Can Fight Your Way Far Enough To See It)

Some months ago I came across this video, revealing the interior of a military base in Second Life, built with such fine detail, it compared quite favorably to most anything you'd come across within a standard first-person shooter. The creation of a Resident called Siiaas Saarinen, it's the headquarters of a combat roleplaying group called the Spartans. I sought to see it for myself, but that turned out to be more difficult than I originally assumed. There is no direct SLurl teleport into the base, for one thing; for another, if you're not coming with a squad of hired guns willing to fight their way in, you have to plead for safe passage with the Spartan king. Fortunately his Highness Bruno Ziskey and his unofficial Aide-de-camp, Aleena Yoshiro, were friendly sorts (at least with embedded journalists), and not only did he escort me into the interior, he gave me an account of Second Life's large and vibrant community of combat gamers, who've managed to create a system of clans you'd usually associate with shooters like Halo or Team Fortress, rather than SL.

"Do you remember the Residents of the Jessie Wall in the early part of the millennium?" Aleena asks. I tell her I do, because I wrote about their war in 2003. "A number of roleplay militaries got together and storm each other's bases." Ziskey estimates there are dozens, some with just a few members, some with hundreds. (The Spartans count forty among their number.) "Dedicated militia roleplayers such as the Alliance Navy," Yoshiro goes on. (Another would be Ordo Imperialis, featured here last June.) "There are also national combat groups who band together based on nationality or language."

Which explains why the interior of the Spartan base, as beautiful as it is, is guarded on a regular basis, and locked away from outsiders by several armored doors, elevators, and passageways that only Spartans can access. Another reason: If an invasion is successful, every Spartan online dies.

New World SLurl: Grungeboardin' Above Grendel's Children

High above Grendel's Children, the store for fabulous avatars, is a board-riding wonderland (ably depicted in this machinima by Pyewacket Bellman), the invention of Constantine Riel, which he dubs Grungeboardin'. You can ride for free, just be sure to follow the equipping instructions in the lobby. Getting there is a challenge, as it's three thousand meters up, so you need to use this teleport SLurl, just provided to me by Grendel owner Flea Bussy. (Tell me if you have trouble ascending.) Direct SLurl to Grungeboardin' at this link.

Kanomi Plays: Roleplay Gaming Combat System Called RPCS

Kanomi Pikjuna plays Second Life's most promising games

• Title: Roleplay Combat System (RPCS)
• Released: 2009
• Genre: Sim-level gamemaster tool set for roleplaying games
• Age Category: N/A
• Summary: Turn your lackluster sim into an action packed WoW-a-thon!
• Price: Free for players / variable for owners
• Estimated Play Time: Indefinite
• Where to Buy: XLstreet (free player HUD)
• Web Resources: RPCS blog; RPCS Wiki; The RPCS API
• Developer: Colleen Marjeta

Online games in particular only matter if a community embraces them, and communities can gather unexpectedly around modifiable games -- that is, games that are open to customization by its own fanbase. But as PC gaming hardware has marched on and the MMORPGs have risen to the fore, as development tools became ever more sophisticated and teams ever larger, the ability for the average computer user to create complementary content has seriously waned in recent years.

But how many of you out there are making your own World of Warcraft levels? How many of you out there can use Autodesk Maya? Unless we're talking about a game like Neverwinter Nights or The Sims 2 -- games deliberately set up to facilitate community content -- community power in terms of mods is pretty threadbare these days.

So where are the aspiring game-makers turning? Second Life is an increasingly attractive option, particularly for junior MMOs: it has a real 3D-rendered world, a huge online player base, minimal content restrictions, and open access for building objects and scripts. So it's not surprising that SL harbors some of the most diverse and innovative roleplaying groups and experiments online, or that enterprising individuals have created whole in-world tool kits that let aspiring game-makers do just that: create their own games within the framework of SL.

Today we'll look at one of those gamemaster's kits that help aspiring gamers create their own multiplayer content in SL. And although there are several, this is the newest and hippest dark elf on the block.

The Hidden Armies of Second Life

By one estimate from a leading member, roleplayers in the various Second Life military clans range in the several thousands, and count a couple dozen affiliations. (Some allied, others at a tentative truce, but many in fierce blood feuds.) Despite those relatively low numbers, the high attention to detail and the culture that's evolved around it is deep, detailed, and passionate. Via Nexii Malthus, here's a well-produced machinima from MJ Katsu that depicts one the leading militaries, Ordo Imperialis. Also: looks a bit like something Leni Riefenstahl would make, if the Axis was largely comprised of furries.