New World Notes

Strawberry's Second Second Life as a Linden: Check-In With Famed YouTuber

It's been a couple months since Strawberry Singh, Second Life's most popular YouTuber, joined Linden Lab as an employee named "Strawberry Linden", making videos like the recent one above for the company's official YouTube channel. So I just checked in with her to see how the transition has been so far:

"I'm learning a lot and enjoying myself," she tells me. "I have full control over what I want to cover and how I want to cover it. I've started with the basics and plan to move into more intermediate and advanced tutorials soon. I haven't had that much interaction with Residents yet, other than just running into them when I'm bouncing around on the grid. Everyone's always very nice. They keep asking me for a Linden bear though, which I haven't had a chance to make yet. I promise that will be my first project as soon as I learn how to build!"

The most surprising thing she's learned since becoming a Linden? It may surprise many SLers:

Google Gets Back Into Virtual World Creation Game With Game Builder

Game Builder is a fun-looking game platform free on Steam for Mac and PC from Google's Area 120 incubator.  With block-like graphics and easy to use tools for creating games from scratch without having to know any coding (though you can add code to any game with Javascript), it's more or less a direct competitor to Roblox and Minecraft. But as explained on Google's blog, it's also a persistent virtual world: 

Multiple users can build (or play) simultaneously. You can even have friends play the game as you work on it.

As virtual world veterans might remember, this isn't Google's first foray into the virtual world/online game business:

Cajsa's Flickr Pic: Metro Exodus' Broken World Made Into Art

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

I am not sure what happened to this overpass and on-ramp or to the rest of the freeway that must have once attached, but it must have been big. This photo has been desaturated until it seems black and white, but look closely, there are red railroad cars and blue water, they just have lost their color in a world gone grey. This sure creates the sense of dystopic destruction that makes a setting for gaming mayhem, but there is a stark beauty to this scene as well.

Nylon Pinkney Is Online: The Problem With Loving Pokémon as a Millennial

Greedy Greedy, Popular SL Game, Test Launches in Sinespace

UPDATE, 6/14: Posted the recorded session above.

Greedy Greedy, a popular Second Life-based dice game from K.R. Engineering and Karsten Rutledge, is test launching tonight in Sinespace (a proud sponsoring partner to NWN!), ported by Karsten himself, who's added new effects and hilarious avatar expressions. Sinespace lead developer Adam Frisby and his team will be playing and streaming the results on Twitch and YouTube -- watch above starting around 8pm PST, or come in-world to join the fun. More details from the Sinespace blog:

Watch: Syrmor Interviews a Man With ALS Reflecting on Life While a Talking Mushroom in VRChat

The latest video by Syrmor, the Errol Morris of VRChat, is his most powerful yet, an interview with a senior citizen with ALS who plays VRChat and reflects on his last remaining years through his talking cartoon mushroom avatar.

Great Idea: VRChat Ranking Avatars By "Excellent" to "Poor" Optimization

With VRChat now working for Oculus Quest, the company is putting out new optimization policies for users of the portable VR headset, and also for PC users, to generally improve the performance for everyone in the virtual world:

You can choose to block avatars based on their Avatar Performance Rank. This option is available in the “Performance Options” menu, accessible as a button in the top-right of the Safety tab in the main menu.

When you choose a Performance Rank in this menu, all avatars that are below that rank will be blocked by default and replaced with a placeholder avatar. You can choose between “Medium”, “Poor”, or “Very Poor”.

On VRChat for PC, the Minimum Displayed Performance Rank is set to “Very Poor” by default. This means that no avatars are hidden by default on PC. You can choose between “Medium”, “Poor”, or “Very Poor” options.

On VRChat for the Oculus Quest, the Minimum Displayed Performance Rank is set to “Medium” by default.

Veteran virtual world user and 3D graphics artist "Cake" of Juicy Blog (known as Aemeth in both SL and VRChat) sees this as a smart way to not only encourage optimization, but turn it into a kind of game:

"This is a great idea," as she puts it. "Not only do people become render-conscious, but now even random players I run into know what polys are. It isn't just a 'designer' thing. Everyone is aware. You're giving a score and told exactly what's wrong and what you should do to improve it."

Doing this puts more power in the users' hands, she argues (and I agree), and challenges content creators to optimize -- something VRChat and other virtual worlds (looking at you, Second Life) surely need:

Petition Against L$ Processing Fee Increase Slows, Draws Some Skepticism

The signatures to this online petition protesting Linden Lab's plan to increase the cost of processing Linden Dollars in Second Life recently passed over 2500 total total, but the numbers of new signees is noticeably slowing (most signed signed within the first couple days). Given that there's roughly 100,000 highly active Second Life users, it's likely that the vast majority don't have much incentive to sign on.

Also, since the petition went up, I've seen quite a number of skeptical comments from other SLers who have misgivings with the petition itself. For instance, it mentions (in a message to Linden Lab) "[S]hould you agree to have a direct conversation with representatives for those who have signed this petition, we will work with you to choose those delegates." But that brings up a potential problem:

Cajsa's Choices: Flick's SL Community Creates "Bloom of Spring" Photo Series

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Lawrence D. Pryce is back with another community project. This time it is called the “Bloom of Spring” campaign and is open to all who want to celebrate femininity and the blossoming of spring. He explains the inspiration for the photos here. There are two galleries of photos, The Cigar Room: Bloom of Spring Campaign and The Cigar Room: Bloom of Spring Campaign Vol. 2.  Among the many entries, a few really grabbed my attention like this one called “Cherry Blossom” from Rose Hanry. I love how bold it is and the repetition of arcs in the arrangement of the flowers.

Top Hacker News Comments on My "Metaverse Needs Gameplay" Post

Great thread, as I said, including some SLers in comments. While I argued that Neal Stephenson's original novel which described the Metaverse included games, one Hacker News reader notes that Stephenson later made the connection between the Metaverse and games even clearer in a 2011 interview:

When I was thinking up the Metaverse, I was trying to figure out the market mechanism that would make all of this stuff affordable. Snow Crash was written when 3D imaging graphics hardware was outrageously expensive, only for a few research labs. I figured that if it were ever going to become as cheap as TV, then there would have to be a market for 3D graphics as big as the market for TV. So the Metaverse in Snow Crash is kind of like TV.

What I didn't anticipate, what actually came along to drive down the cost of 3D graphics hardware, was games. And so the virtual reality that we all talked about and that we all imagined 20 years ago didn't happen in the way that we predicted. It happened instead in the form of video games. And so what we have now is Warcraft guilds, instead of people going to bars on the street in Snow Crash.

Another Hacker Newswer makes a great case that the Metaverse needs great physics before it needs games:

Oculus Quest Likely Sold Low 6 Figures of Units in First 2 Weeks of Launch

Oculus Quest has now been out for about two weeks, and we finally have some sales figures to help us guess its install base so far:

At launch the company’s store had just over 50 titles available to download, with a mixture of free titles and games costing as much as $30... At Vox Media’s Code conference, [Facebook VP of AR/VR Andrew Bosworth] detailed that in the first two weeks of sales there has been $5 million in content sales. We have not gotten any details on device sales, though Facebook has never shares sales data on their VR products.

However, as anyone who's gotten an Oculus Quest knows, it does not come pre-bundled* with any games. (That was among my biggest disappointments when I opened my unit -- hey wait how come Beat Saber doesn't come pre-loaded on this puppy?) So the content sales figure helps gives us a good guesstimate of HMD sales:

Caja's SL Flickr Pick: Titus Palmira, Stylish Storyteller & Avatar Portrait Taker

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Titus Palmira’s photostream is one giant “Wow!” from beginning to end. Every picture tells a story and most have a title that makes the story self-evident. His avatar subjects are more interesting than the often plasticine perfection of most of ours, including my own. “His chaos births a dancing star.” not only gives us a unique avatar, but the use of radial blur creates a sense of movement from a static image.

Nearly 2000 SLers Sign Petition Against Linden Dollar Processing Fee Increase

This online petition suggests that the backlash to Linden Lab's recently announced pricing changes continue, even after the company reversed plans to limit group restrictions. Launched just two days ago, it's already attracted close to 2000 signatures from Second Life users. At issue is Linden's plan to increase the cost of processing Linden Dollars:

[We are] disheartened by the other changes that you have announced that are scheduled to be implemented this month, specifically the doubling of the processing fee from 2.5% to 5%. While we understand that Linden Lab is a business that needs to profit in order to thrive, we feel it is necessary to remind you that we are running businesses, too. As you know, many of us are more than just hobbyists, we rely on the money we earn in Second Life to pay our bills, feed our children, and survive. 

"The last time the fee was increased, it was promised that the cash out times would be faster, which never happened," one signee, content creator Mari Mitchell, tells me.

She also makes an allegation frequently raised by SLers: That the company is squeezing Second Life to benefit its new virtual world, Sansar: "Announcing that [fee increase] at the same week then removing the transaction fees from Sansar was disheartening to many of us," as she puts it, "making us wonder if Second Life creators are listened to or valued at all."

The petition claims that the signees "have a long list of innovative and insightful ideas of how Linden Lab might increase profits without relying on land and without creators having to bear such a severe financial burden." However, specifics on those ideas are intentionally vague:

Why VRChat Players Love Looking at Themselves in VRChat-Based Mirrors

In case you were wondering what inspired Nylon Pinkney's latest comic about VRChat, reader "Cake" has some more context for you in Comments:

The mirror is a big social area in your typical VRChat room. People stand in front of it and talk like they would if they were primping with friends in a bathroom. Shaders also look slightly different in different maps depending on what you're using--so even if you have one set for your avatar, you still go to the mirror to check out what you look like on that particular map.

That's actually a fascinating analogy, and does a lot to help explain VRChat's popularity:

Top 7 Posts Last Week: Making the Metaverse, VR's Coming Privacy Crisis, Transgender Avatars in SL, Fun With Baptism & Mirrors in VRChat

• Why The Metaverse Needs Gameplay & Gameplay Mechanics
• Nylon Pinkney Is Online - Why Virtual Mirrors Are Popular In VRChat
• Inside The Avatar-Based Transgender Community Of Second Life
• Virtual Reality Pioneer: A Data Mining Crisis Is Coming For Our Industry -- We Need Privacy Protections From Oculus, Vive & Others Now Before It's Too Late
• Survey Results: SLers Overwhelmingly Reject New Land Discounts & Premium Offer - But Enough Like It To Be Worthwhile
• Watch: Daily Show Features VR-Based Baptism, Hilariously Misses The Point
• Bowing To User Anger, Linden Lab Reserves Plan To Limit Group Memberships For No-Subscription Basic Accounts

Why the Metaverse Needs Gameplay & Gameplay Mechanics

UPDATE, 6/7: Bumped up for weekend conversation, added my last interview (embedded below). Also be sure to check out the excellent Hacker News thread on this post.

Philip Rosedale has a great post on the essential building blocks for building "the metaverse", and the features he proposes are all solid as far as they go:

• 3D Audio
• Big Crowds
• Reputation
• Interconnected Spaces
• Infinite Detail
• Live Editing
• Programmable Atoms
• Payments

The most obvious thing that's missing from the list -- and this is a topic that Philip and I debate about a lot -- game mechanics and gameplay! Because the thing is, anything that looks like the beginning of the metaverse, in the sense that it has at least some of the other features Philip mentions above, are games: Minecraft of course, Roblox, and increasingly, Fortnite. 

That's my a posteriori case. In my opinion, the a priori case is just as strong: Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash, the first vision of the Metaverse that is actually first named The Metaverse, very much has gameplay and game mechanics.

Let us turn to page 88 of the Metaverse According to Neal (Google Books edition) -- clicketh thy below to embiggenate:

Nylon Pinkney Is Online - Why Virtual Mirrors Are Popular in VRChat

Watch Live: Adam Frisby Builds a Volleyball Game in Sinespace at 9am PST

UPDATE, 11:02AM: The demo encountered a bug around 42 minutes, so Adam will upload the full version later today!

This should be fun, but then again I'm biased: Starting at 9am PST today, Adam Frisby, founder of Sinespace (a proud sponsoring media partner to New World Notes!), is going livestream his attempt to build a game on the Unity-based virtual world platform. Specifically, a multiplayer volleyball game.

Go here to the live YouTube stream to comment and question what he's doing as it happens. Or post in Comments below!

Inside the Avatar-Based Transgender Community of Second Life

ECLIPSE magazine has a fascinating and beautifully illustrated feature on the transgender community in Second Life. Perceptively written by NWN contributor Cajsa Lilliehook, who interviewed six transgender SL users, it connects their struggles in the virtual world with the real life activism of the LGBTQ community, and the tension they sometimes encounter with the SL community at large -- for instance, by resisting the traditional concept (and accusation) of "catfishing":

“SL allows us to be seen as the men or women we are inside," as one member explains to Cajsa. "Because of this, I feel this is not catfishing and is incredibly different than people who 'role play' a different gender. My interactions with anyone in SL, whether a romantic interest or friend, are much more genuine and real than how I interact with most people in RL because everyone in SL knows me as Tiffany... not the person I was born as."

Read it all here. Also read: "Second Life's Strength Is Its Power To Transform Identity -- And The "Weirdos" Who Embrace It".

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick: Hitsu Ruby’s Gloriously Detailed Outdoors Photos

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Hitsu Ruby’s Second Life photos are a mix of decor and relationship photos. However, I am obsessed with her streets and sidewalk photos. Something about the clutter of bikes, signage, and leaf shadows that lead off into the light in the distance just makes me happy. It’s a nice touch that she adds the SLurl so you too can enjoy the sunny day and bikes.

Virtual Reality Pioneer: A Data Mining Crisis is Coming For Our Industry -- We Need Privacy Protections from Oculus, Vive & Others Now Before It's Too Late

Vice has an in-depth and incredibly important essay by Avi Bar-Zeev, one of VR's leading pioneers -- a co-inventor of Microsoft HoloLens, and over the last couple decades, a lead developer of VR/virtual world projects at Apple, Amazon, MS/HoloLens, Linden Lab, Google Earth, and Disney. And as Bar-Zeev carefully explains, the consumer launch of virtual reality has opened up a Pandora's Box in which companies like Oculus and Vive will soon gain access, through eye tracking and other data mining, and incredible amount of knowledge of its users -- and consequently, unprecedented power to influence or even manipulate them. And at some point, VR companies are almost certain to abuse this power. As he explains:

Eventually, without corrective forces, [VR] companies will make decisions that lower their own [user privacy] safeguards. It’s the business model, not the ethics of employees, that matters most...

In The Matrix, fictional AIs would occasionally alter the virtual world to further their oppressive goals. But even the Agents didn’t use the more sophisticated techniques we’re discussing here. In real life, people won’t be used as batteries. We’ll more likely be plugged in as abstract computational nodes, our attention and product-buying decisions channeling the flow of trillions of dollars of commerce; our free will up for grabs to the most ‘persuasive’ bidders.

The potential to use VR-based data mining against its own users is very well known within the industry, but is rarely brought up by the tech/VR press, let alone by VR consumers -- even though, just a mere three years ago, Oculus owner Facebook enabled a data mining scandal which quite literally helped changed the direction of world history.

"My best guess is that the tech press figures people aren’t interested, so they don’t write about it, which minimizes interest," Bar-Zeev tells me. "Also, VR enthusiasts have to endure a lot of pain to get an early 'fix' today, so maybe they’re a lot less picky about what form it takes. Maybe they assume that any exploitation of their data is not yet happening."

However, he adds: "These would all be rationalizations, in my opinion, because unrepentant data collected today can be used against them later. The easiest time to fix this is now. But people don’t see the crisis yet."

To start addressing this crisis, here's a question that Avi Bar-Zeev recommends that the press and consumers starting asking VR manufacturers now:

Survey Results: SLers Overwhelmingly Reject New Land Discounts & Premium Offer - But Enough Like It To Be Worthwhile

Here's the New World Notes reader survey results for Linden Lab's just announced new region prices (slightly cheaper) and Premium subscription offer (slightly more per month, but for more benefits, including expanded group memberships). With about 250 readers responding  -- a much larger sample than average! -- a strong majority (73%) are not any more interested in paying for an SL region.

Then again, that doesn't mean the discount announcement is a waste of Linden's time, because 11% are now much more interested in paying for a sim. Scale that 11% up to SL's active user base of some 500,000 users, and that'd be 55,000 new sim owners -- i.e. over $150 million in extra yearly revenue. (Or more likely, assume 1 in 10 of that 11% actually do get a sim -- that would still be $15 million+ a year.)

The survey results on the new Premium offer are just as stark -- and potentially promising:

Cajsa’s Second Life Creator Flickr Pick of the Day: “@tomic Viper”

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

I admire people who use their photography to explore their obsessions and experiment. “@tomic Viper” is certainly one of those. His photostream is filled with superheroes and exploration of digital art processes. This picture “Shadow” is relatively simple, a black and white soldier in the rain. I appreciated the facial expression that captures the perseverance of a soldier at rest in the rain. Just taking it as long as need be.

Watch: Daily Show Features VR-Based Baptism, Hilariously Misses the Point

The Daily Show's Ronny Chieng featured virtual reality-based baptisms in a recent segment, hilariously noting the strangeness of AltspaceVR avatars ("God created man in his own image, not in the image of a purple dildo!"), while just as hilariously missing the actual point* by asking, "Does a virtual baptism even count?" As it happens, I just asked that very question to Bishop DJ Soto of VR Church, who's featured in the Daily Show segment, and who had a very substantial answer:

"First and foremost, we believe the sacraments of baptism and communion to be symbolic. They are an external expression of an internal experience," as DJ puts it. "We don’t ascribe to the literal transformation of the bread into the body of Christ. We don’t believe that baptism literally washes away guilt and sin. We believe these sacraments are symbolic. Therefore, in the spirit of this symbolism, VR Church celebrates VR sacraments."

Still, Bishop Soto tells me he took the Daily Show segment in, well, good faith:

Cajsa’s Flickr Pick: Artistic Screen Captures from Shadow of the Colossus

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

LaMaLaWa’s photostream is full of great photos. I love the drama of this picture, “Shadow of the Colossus” from the game of the same name. It is shot from below. Low-angle shots typically make the subject seem powerful and strong. It sure works in this picture. Parts of the horse, the rider, and the eagle have been cropped off the picture, suggesting urgency and movement. It’s all very kinetic and powerful.