New World Notes

Quest Owner Survey: Will Ads in Apps Change Which Ones You Buy & Use?

As you likely saw yesterday, Facebook inevitably announced plans to test VR ads in Quest apps:

We’re starting a small test of in-headset ads with a few developers in the coming weeks. We want to help developers generate revenue and help people find great experiences at better prices—this is a part of how we’ll create a healthy, self-sustaining platform for everyone.  

Rather than editorialize on the policy itself, I'm curious what this means for Quest owners. If you own a Quest or definitely plan to buy one soon, please answer this survey. 

SL Users in Regions That Ban Skill Games -- Are You Being Auto-Banned from Regions Even Though They Don't Host Skill Games?

Adeon Writer, a virtual world explorer whose real world home base is Arizona, was recently searching for games to play in Second Life and found himself unable to access a Second Life region because it had been tagged has having Skill Games -- i.e. a non-gambling game which has a L$ payout. (See above.)

And the thing is, he wasn't going there to play a Skill Game, just a standard game without cash rewards. "I usually expect to get blocked from ones that say Casino'" in the description, as he puts it, but this particular one only had "Play Games" in the region name.

Today's Flickr Pick: SaNY Brings Sassy Humor to Her Virtual Fashion Pics

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

SaNY is taking a look at the world from a different perspective in, “If you surround yourself with people who are Light, you will see everything clearer.” Especially if they have flashlights! I love the quirky humor in this picture. There’s a bit of humor in a lot of her work. She is also a brand-new blogger (started four days ago!) who, if her photostream is any indication, will focus on swimwear, lingerie, and athleisure. 

For some calendar fare, click here:

Should the Federal Reserve Create a Virtual Currency? Former Linden Lab Exec Gene Yoon Has Advice Based on Managing Second Life's $500M+ Virtual Economy

The United States Federal Reserve is seriously looking into the idea of creating an official US$ virtual currency -- a move, as Politico explains, "that could shake up banks, give millions of low-income Americans access to the financial system."

Before doing that, however, the Fed might want to read this white paper memo addressed to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, written for the Aspen Institute's tech policy hub. It's authored by Gene Yoon, who has some important if remarkably quirky experience with virtual currency, as a lead executive with Linden Lab during Second Life's peak period of economic growth.

"I had my time managing a 'toy' digital currency back at Linden Lab," as he puts it on Twitter. "At its height, the L$ was used in over half a billion real USD worth of transactions per year. I think the US Fed would be making a mistake in moving forward with this -- the mistake is only in going Fed-first. The United States has a wonderful advantage in 'the laboratory of the states' - experimental policies can more safely be trialed at the state level."

There is, Gene tells me, a specific example of something that happened with the Second Life economy that feeds into his advice to Secretary Yellen now:

Watch: What Reality Would Look Like With Virtual World Lag

I seriously doubt Verizon's 5G network can substantially address this as much as Verizon thinks it can*, but their ad pretty much nails the laggy virtual world experience transplanted to the real world. (Too bad there's no jelly dolls.)

* As my brilliant futurist friend Amber Case points out, rather than 5G being the Internet speed solution many people in tech have hyped it to be, the likelier scenario is phone users simply sponge up most of 5G's excess bandwidth by watching more movies and such, and so overall performance improvements will be relatively mild.

This Artist Gorgeously Evokes The Time & Place of Virtual Spaces

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

I love Existence’s photostream. His pictures are incredibly natural and realistic. It sets a mood which is augmented by his choice of music, “Small Light” by Message to Bears. This makes me think of Washington’s Long Beach in January, the very best time to visit as nearly everyone is staying inside so you can almost have the beach to yourself. Of course, it’s not ideal for swimming, but for walking. 

I asked him if he had any comments and he demurred, “It just is all about feeling, your mind is a lens and telling a story. Photography that keeps me going forward.Everyone has their own perspective, recognition, or emotion about photography pictures, which makes it unique.” 

For more a more sun-drenched picture, click here:

Linden Dollars Helped Fuel Bitcoin's Early Hype -- Even Though L$ Are Still More Used Than BTC

Pretty interesting article from the news section of Bitcoin.com, explaining how Linden Dollars helped drive up the value of Bitcoin back in the early days of the cryptocurrency roughly a decade ago:

During these nascent times, a few fiat currencies were trading with Bitcoin. At this time, Second Life’s Linden dollars (L$) were also exchanged for large sums of Bitcoin as well. Linden Dollars are featured in the virtual world called Second Life, a game developed by Linden Lab in 2003.

When Bitcoin was kickstarting into higher gears in 2010 through 2013, Second Life’s L$ and the virtual world also saw rapid growth. Second Life’s virtual economy met Satoshi’s creation in April 2011, back when the company Virwox allowed L$ and BTC trading pairs.

Bitcoin had a fascinating relationship with Second Life users because L$ could be exchanged for fiat, which gave BTC an alternative fiat gateway in the early days. Not only did the two virtual currencies form a symbiotic relationship, but it also caused people to speculate on which virtual asset was better.

Without this exchange ability made possible by Linden Dollars, it's quite possible Bitcoin might not have achieved enough escape velocity to enjoy the euphoria it does today. Then again, "euphoria" never translated into Bitcoin becoming an actual currency used to buy actual goods and services on a mass market. As I'm quoted in the Bitcoin.com post:

Master Avatar Photographer Returns to Second Life Flickr With Fantastic Romantic Images & a Dr. Who Homage

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

Anya Ohmai is back after a two-year hiatus and in this lovely self-portrait explains she is just beginning to figure out the changes that have happened in lighting and setting up images since she was tutoring others how to take shots in SL. I think she’s already leveled up.

For more from Anya, click here:

Linden Lab Still Looking for Engineering VP To Help Define Future Of Second Life -- Now Open to Remote Hires Based in 10 Oddly Specific US States (UPDATED)

This new help wanted ad from Linden Lab looks like the exact same one I mentioned last March, with one significant difference:

In this VP Engineering role, you will own the technical and architectural roadmap of Second Life and advocate for robust and lasting strategy as a part of the Second Life Leadership team. You’ll interact with senior Linden Lab leadership, and apply strong judgement and analysis toward important business decisions. Equally important, you’ll manage and coach your engineering teams; leading by example while collaborating with a group of people you enjoy working with. 

The only difference I can spot is that there's an option to take on this senior role from a remote location -- specifically, if you're in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Texas, Utah, Virginia, or Washington state "only". (Oddly specific list of US states, wonder why.)

Notable that Linden Lab hasn't been able to hire someone for this senior role yet; or perhaps someone was tried but ended up not being a good fit. Another possibility:

Great Ebbe Altberg Tributes by a Reader & Longtime Staffer Kona Linden

Reader Soda Sullivan posted this comment last week as a tribute to the late Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg:

What a guy.

I do not think it is an overstatement to say that Altberg was Linden Lab's best CEO and Second Life's best "leader' since its creator. As I read this news about his ongoing battle with illness, I keep thinking to myself, "He was this sick and he could have easily been doing ANYTHING else but he chose to stick around and put up with us lunatics." We are so lucky he did and we should all be eternally grateful.

Ebbe certainly did a lot to repair bridges between users and Linden Lab, and he did it with a sort of paternalistic view of the virtual world. Clearly, it meant A LOT to him. We were very lucky to have him lead us and he will be impossible to replace and truly missed. Let's all send our most positive thoughts to his family and his friends.

I believe Ebbe made an in-world appearance a few months ago, and helping with customer service on Twitter last April (see below) which speaks to his dedication to the community --both SL users and Linden Lab employees -- until the very end.

Speaking of which, longtime Linden Lab support team manager Kona Gurion sent me his tribute to Ebbe last week:

Top 6 Posts from Last Week Including a Rising Star in Second Life and the Falling Usefulness of Bitcoin

• Is Aufwie Set To Be Second Life's Next Break-Out Pop Star?
• FBI Just Proved Bitcoin's Much-Touted Anonymity Is Illusory, Says Financial Expert
• Viewfinder, Mind-Bending, Reality-Creating Unity Demo, Now Seeking Publishers With A Graphically Enhanced, Playable Version
• LGBT Second Life Users Celebrate Pride With Tributes To The Freedom Of Virtual World Expression & Identity
• Second Life-Based Works By Internationally Acclaimed Artist Cao Fei Now Featured By NYC's Museum Of Modern Art
• How To Import A Minecraft World Into NeosVR With Mineways; UPDATE: Added GitHub Resource

Is Aufwie Set to Be Second Life's Next Break-Out Pop Star?

Auwfie is a twentysomething singer who performs his own music in Second Life three times a week and, for my money, is destined to become SL's next break-out crossover pop star. With a distinctive, richly textured voice backed by a soundscape of vibey hooks (listen above and below), his style sits somewhere between, say, Radiohead and Ariel Pink.

Known as Aufwie Mysterious in SL, he's performing next tomorrow in-world at 5pm PT, at a venue called Industry -- click here to teleport, and join his Discord here for show news.  

Auwfie has actually been visiting SL on and off for over 10 years. "I started performing for people in hangouts just for the laughs, never really took it with proper seriousness," he tells me.

But the coming of COVID changed all that:

Second Life Community Launch Huge Event to Help LGBTQI People Persecuted in Real Life

Click here tomorrow at 12:30pm PT for SeraPride, a fundraising event with all Linden Dollar proceeds converted into US$ to benefit Rainbow Railroad, a non-profit which helps LGBTQI people escape persecution in real life.  Help on the SL sim of Seraphim, Second Life's most popular fashion blog, top brands like Blueberry are donating items/matching funds, while major performers including Skye Galaxy are performing. I just took a sneak peek and the place looks super spectacular.

All the details here, including a spreadsheet which transparently tracks all donations in real time. 

Video below to get you psyched for the party!

Fantastic SL Fashion Tips from Flickr Photographer Kaelyn Alecto

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

Kaelyn Alecto is an SL fashion microblogger providing the details in her Flickr description. I love this picture, particularly that she has the naturalistic sand on her skin and her carefree windblown hair. 

• Doux - Summertime hair day

• TETRA - Spicy Bikini @ Kustom9

• Izzie's - Sand covered body layer (bom)

For more casual fashion, click here:

FBI Just Proved Bitcoin's Much-Touted Anonymity is Illusory, Says Financial Expert -- And No, El Salvador Didn't Actually Make Bitcoin Any More Useful

When I read that the FBI had seized $2.3 million in Bitcoin paid to Colonial Pipeline hackers earlier this week, my first thought was:  This proves that Bitcoin can't be free from the powers that be, because it rides on rails that they control.

Because as it happens, that's the title of a post I wrote back in 2011, citing the observations of Bill Maurer, who's now Director at the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion at UC Irvine, and one of the world's foremost experts on alternative/experimental forms of money and finance.

"Indeed," Bill tells me now, "the Colonial Pipeline case demonstrates that the much-touted anonymity of the Bitcoin blockchain is illusory: given the right analytics and determination, an algorithm can deduce the addresses associated with specific transactions--especially big, highly publicized ones where the amounts transacted, and in what chunks, are known (since presumably Colonial Pipeline told the federal authorities in what pieces they transferred the ransom)."

That's due to the nature of transactions like these, he went on:

"Bitcoin transactions are not like, 'Here's $4M of my total stash of fungible $100M,' but, 'Here's THESE pieces of Bitcoin adding up to $4M' which makes it easier to spot transactional patterns than, say, actual physical cash. In this case it seems the FBI also got the private key(s) associated with some or all of the transactions, which means that they somehow got access, and I'd guess it's either through an informant or just plain sloppiness on the part of the attackers, by, say, having their private key on an accessible device or server somewhere."

Or to put it another way: This shows that Bitcoin transactions are not any more anonymous than real world currency transactions -- especially when the authorities have a very good reason to trace them.

But surely there still are legitimate uses for Bitcoin that don't require anonymity, right? After all -- as every single Bitcoin evangelist in your life has probably told you -- El Salvador just made Bitcoin an official currency in the country.

So does that show Bitcoin can become a means for purchasing goods and services? Maurer believes there's much more (and much less) to that move:

Viewfinder, Mind-Bending, Reality-Creating Unity Demo, Now Seeking Publishers With a Graphically Enhanced, Playable Version

Remember Viewfinder? Created by student Matt Stark, that's the synapse-thrashing Unity demo which depicted an interactive world where the user can manipulate their surroundings by taking a picture of them which, once taken, becomes its own little interactive, manipulable, physics-enabled world.

Since showing it off last year, Matt has greatly enhanced the graphics options, added some gameplay features, and has turned it into a short playable version -- watch above! He is now seeking publishers interested in bringing it to the world.  Get in touch with him on Twitter or with his development partner Callum Underwood.

As for how he does this, here is Matt's way of explaining it:

LGBT Second Life Users Celebrate Pride With Tributes to the Freedom of Virtual World Expression & Identity

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

Pitch Wyld’s “Hey Sailor” captures the exuberance of Pride. It is an homage to the “V-J Day in Times Square” shot when World War Two was finally over. A less-famous shot of those four pictures taken that day shows the woman punching the guy in the face for just grabbing her, but that is the past. Today this image celebrates Pride, a kind of V-B Day (Victory over Bigotry) and it is consensual. He also chose perfect mood music “I Am What I Am” with Gloria Gaynor.

Describing what Pride means to him, Pitch writes: 

“I have found that being involved in Second Life has allowed me to safely explore different sides of my sexuality in such a way that I can then implement these ideas, concepts, feelings in a more meaningful way into my real life. I am given an arena that is largely non-judgmental, where I can play out different scenarios and think more deeply on who I am and how my sexuality expresses itself. Second life hits my scientific side where I can gather research in the ways that other folks engage in their sexuality. This allows me to be more knowledgeable and hopefully receptive as a loving and engaging partner.” 

For more Virtual Pride, click here:

Second Life-Based Works by Internationally Acclaimed Artist Cao Fei Now Featured By NYC's Museum of Modern Art

Cao Fei, one of the world's most acclaimed artists, is easily the most well-known artist to use Second Life as an artistic medium. And now, some of her SL-based works are being featured by the world's most acclaimed modern art museum, the MOMA in NYC.  If you're visiting New York this Summer/Fall, another installation of hers, "Whose Utopia", is on display in the museum itself.

She's still engaged with her SL-related works, by the way, even making an impromptu in-world appearance earlier today via her avatar, China Tracy:

Second Life Photographer Makes Amazing Use of EEP Environment Controls

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

This fabulous picture of Portocorvo in SL (directory listing here) is so fantastic, I knew I wanted to feature it, but the name of the person who shot the picture sounded familiar, Dandy Warhol, as though maybe I had written about him before. Trying to keep finding new people, I checked and nope, I had not. Must have been thinking about the band of the same name. Anyway, the picture is astonishing. I love the color, I love how sharp and clear it is, the complete opposite of my memory. 

The word “pellucid” was invented for this next picture, click here:

Play Palia, a "Community Simulation" MMO Set in a Fantasy World at Peace

Palia is an intriguing new MMO now in limited pre-Alpha access with a somewhat odd* name from Singularity 6, a startup I last wrote about in 2019, led by many AAA developers who ambitiously promised to create worlds that built "community, friendships and a real sense of belonging.” I was somewhat skeptical at the time, but Palia announces itself as aiming to be just that: 

Palia is a massively-multiplayer community simulation game set in a brand new high fantasy world with elements of open world adventure games. It’s a cozy and welcoming world that we hope fans of the community sim genre will love for years to come.

As all that suggests, there's little or no typical "kill 10 rats" type of gameplay, almost as if it's set in a fantasy world that takes place in between the great battles that get way more press:

How to Import a Minecraft World Into NeosVR With Mineways; UPDATE: Added GitHub Resource

Update, 6/9: This is the Substrate fork on Github that Frooxius created for this Minecraft import.

Here's more info on how Frooxius, lead developer of the crowd-funded social VR project NeosVR, seemingly reverse engineered a version of Minecraft and imported it into his world:  He didn't actually reverse engineer a version of Minecraft.

"It's using a Substrate C# library called Substrate (with some updates from me) to read the data [link above - WJA] and figure out which chunks are in the file and then uses another community tool called Mineways to export the chunks as geometry," he explains. "That geometry is then imported into Neos and post-processed with materials, positioning, adding some extra things like light sources where torches are and a culling system to handle large worlds."

And here's how other Neos users can try this out:

Powerful Virtual World Photos Inspired by Malcom X & Victims of Myanmar's Violent Coup

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

Whiskey Monday introduced me to Illy S’s photostream with this painfully evocative raw photo, part of a six-photo series featuring unedited photos of the same woman with the scars of a whip on her back. Musical inspirations for the series include Nina Simone’s “Isn’t it a Pity”, Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” and Outkast’s “Liberation.” The series’ theme is power, this picture in particular, titled after Malcolm X’s powerful quote, “The most unprotected person in America Is the Black Woman.” 

I love how Illy S. shot her pics at sunset when a little moonlight brightens the gloaming just enough. In some ways, the way the dusk hides her scars, making us try harder to make them out to recognize what they are, involve us more deeply, invests us in the picture. 

As in the Great Migration, her photos move to Brooklyn -- click here:

Monday Memory: My 2014 Interview With the Late Ebbe Altberg After He Became CEO of Linden Lab

With the Second Life community and the wider industry still processing the passing of Ebbe Altberg, I went back to read my first interview with him in 2014, shortly after he became Linden Lab's CEO. It's particularly moving how he discovered the virtual world through his son:

Though he is Linden Lab’s new CEO now, one of Ebbe Altberg’s first experiences with Second Life occurred over 10 years ago, and as it happens, actually involved a violation of Second Life policy. It was around that time, you see, that Altberg’s son fell in love with Second Life, and became an avid builder there. Which is usually a fine thing, but here’s the problem: Altberg’s son was a young teen at the time, and back then they were strictly not allowed:

“So yeah, he was underage,” Altberg admits now, “so SL booted him correctly.”

Altberg convinced then CEO Philip Rosedale to be lenient, but by that time, Altberg’s young son had become a well-known content creator in Second Life... Despite all that, Ebbe's son stayed engaged in Second Life for a couple years, and even co-founded an in-world design company. And being among the first explorers of Teen Second Life, one of that world’s original islands was even named after the avatar of Ebbe Altberg’s son. And Ebbe Altberg watched all this amazed: “For a kid to have this experience so early was fantastic,” as he puts it now.

Another interesting point is how he saw VR/XR devices as a potential savior to Second Life's waning  user/revenue growth:

Top Posts Last Week, Including a Eulogy to Late Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg

• Ebbe Altberg, Ambitious & Inspiring CEO Of Linden Lab, Dies After Long Bout With Illness
• Real Life Artist Sells GIFs Of His Second Life-Based Sculptures As NFTs
• Long-Dormant Second Life Users Brought Back By The Pandemic Contemplate A Post-COVID Return To Reality
• Watch: ScavLab Test Displays Groundbreaking 4,144 Concurrent Players In Same Space, Appearances By Lead Devs & Improbable CEO As Giant Avatars

Ebbe Altberg, Ambitious & Inspiring CEO of Linden Lab, Dies After Long Bout With Illness -- MULTIPLE UPDATES: Added Personal Tributes from Philip Rosedale, Blueberry & Strawberry Linden, His Moral Leadership & How He Discovered Second Life Through His Son

Here's an announcement from Linden Lab that I've been dreading to write about for over two years:

Ebbe Altberg started with Linden Lab as our CEO on February 5th, 2014.  He took the helm of the company and immediately went to work on reinvigorating our spirit and culture.  Ebbe brought a profound openness, and transparency in his operation which was key and that had many effects on all of us internally, and externally.  Lindens were encouraged to be part of the vibrant community in Second Life, to participate in and to cherish it as part of our daily duties... As I am here before you today, it is with profound sadness that I share with you Ebbe passed away yesterday evening restfully and surrounded by the love of his family. 

What this means for the future of Second Life, recently purchased by a massive holding company, is a conversation for next week. What I'd rather do now is talk about Ebbe, who in my opinion was the most ambitious and inspiring CEOs of Linden Lab since Philip Rosedale himself. He galvanized the community and the company around a new vision to energize virtual worlds, and boosted company morale beaten badly by lack of revenue growth, layoffs, and the entrance and quick exit of two CEOs before him. (It's why the company made T-shirts for employees emblazoned with Ebbe's immortal words, "We are still the shit when it comes to virtual worlds.")

Also worth noting that Ebbe guided the company through rough waters while dealing with his illness since at least 2019: