New World Notes

Nylon Pinkney Is Online: Real Life Dating in the Tinder Age

Sinespace Users: Refer Friends for Free Gold & Premium Subscriptions!

Here's a new offer for users of Sinespace, the Unity 3D-based virtual world sandbox MMO (and proud sponsoring partner to NWN): Get friends to sign up for Sinespace, and when they do and buy Gold, you get a Gold bonus that's 2% of whatever they buy. For instance, if they buy 10000 Gold, you get 200 Gold in your account.

The Referral Program also has a Premium offer: Refer 5 friends who become Premium members, you get your Premium membership free while they are subscribed!

Click here for details for how to redeem these offers, or log into your account and click the "Referral Program" tab.

Questions? Post in Comments below or even better, join Sinespace's official Discord. 

Looking for Alina Lyvette, Creator of Lumiya, the Android App for Second Life

I'm trying to reconnect with Alina Lyvette, the Russia-based developer who created Lumiya, the wildly popular Second Life app for Android which is officially available only on the SlideME app store. (Well over 100,000 people already own a copy.)

I haven't been able to communicate with Alina for years, and she has not updated Lumiya since 2017. I recently asked the Lumiya group in SL if anyone had seen her lately, and someone immediately replied:

"Every single day someone asks that question and gets the same answer."

Important point: Her absence does not mean anything is wrong, necessarily. In fact, last May, her lead technical support person in SL suggested she's in contact with Alina:

Philip Rosedale's Case for Adding 3D Avatars to Online Work - My Take

Last May we talked about High Fidelity's pivot from building the metaverse to creating a kind of interim "virtual world for Slack" application, and now here's founder Philip Rosedale blogging his case for making that switch:

Trying to make eye contact in video calls has always been awkward at best. If you look directly into the camera, you can’t see your friend. If you look at the screen, you’ll appear to be looking below your friend’s line of sight... 

Avatar technology is a huge step up over video calls. In VR, you can be anything, and while most of us will opt to look like our physical selves, we may also use it to transform our identities completely — ushering in a new era of “blind” job interviews, where the interviewer can’t see sex, color or class. We’ve already built the tools. Let’s put avatars to work. 

I can argue Philip's case in both directions:

On the pro side, there's a whole generation in their teens who grew up owning 3D avatars (Minecraft, Roblox, Fortnite, etc) and are soon joining the workforce; they'll not only be comfortable with having a 3D avatar in an office setting, they might even expect one on some level.

On the con side, Philip might be over-applying his experience with 3D avatars in Second Life, to 3D avatars in general:

Modern 3D Game Worlds Look Better on Old School CRT Monitors Than LCD?

... at least that's the argument from Digital Foundry, and I'm totally intrigued. (Watch above.)

"For example," comments Clive Thompson, "because a CRT is a light gun painting a screen, the computer doesn't need to engage in as much processing to produce bigger image -- so you can lower the resolution in the game settings, still have a good-looking game, and enjoy the knock-on boost in game responsiveness."

Another reason:

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick: Punkarella Resident's Stylish Fashion Photos

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

While reading up on the latest SL fashion drama, I wound up checking out Punkarella Resident’s photostream today. I noticed that she is an effective fashion blogger who does an excellent job of featuring design details and putting together stylish outfits that appeal to me. If you open Vogue, you will see a mix of editorial and commercial photos because fashion needs both. There is no better choice as they serve different needs. I like Punkarella’s ability to choose great poses that highlight features of the clothing she is blogging. (As to the drama, I’ll just note -- without saying who’s involved -- that people can have a bad day and act badly, but can apologize, move on, and do better. I’ll leave it at that.)

We’ve all been there. Even if our gaming lives began and ended with Pong, the dreaded “Game Over” is never welcome. Perhaps that is another way Second Life is not a traditional game. It’s never over. Even if you’re logged out, the world of SL keeps turning and things keep happening. Of course, you can die in SL. When I first joined, I could not walk a straight line and must have died a dozen times trying to cross a bridge over alligators. In “My Favorite Game,” I like how Punkarella captured that disgust with the gamer’s dilemma. I also see she is keeping up on what’s happening on Facebook and Discord. I confess I always find it slightly strange to see SL computer screens looking too much like my own. How do they know? 

Why Optimization Matters: Even One Bracelet Can Drastically Hurt Frame Rate

Via New World Notes' Discord newsfeed and commentary channel (join here!), "Nadeja" recently posted this fascinating illustration from Second Life for why graphics optimization matters:

"Complexity, textures, triangles comparison." (Click to embiggenate.) "The first one has a Complexity of 17,000 and a huge texture usage: it remains gray for longer, but once it's loaded it has a negligible impact on the frame-rate. The second one has a complexity of 4000, a lower but still quite high texture usage, however it has a large amount of triangles (178,000!)" 

By comparison, whole entire avatars in AAA console games tend to have a total triangle count well under 100,000.

"When I wore it," reports Nadeja, "my frame-rate dropped from 45-46 to 41 frames per second. And this was a tiny element in the scene, I can imagine that multiplied by 20 avatars."

Part of the problem seems to be many virtual world users equate more triangles with better quality, even though that's not the case:

Sinespace Launches New Website With Upgraded Shopping Options, Region Teleport, Many Other Features

Click here to check out the new website for Sinespace, the Unity 3D-based virtual world/open world sandbox MMO (and proud sponsoring partner!) with many updated/expanded features tailored especially made for virtual world fans. Including:

• Enhanced shopping for buying items on the website or in-world, and for creators, a Curator page to manage and track your items, sales, tips, land and API access to the platform tools.
• Brand pages for content creators, such as this one for Synty Studios, a popular 3D content developer for Unity and Unreal which also sells their content to Sinespace users.
• Direct teleport to specific regions (kind of like a SLurl). For instance, there's an event happening at the 381 Club right now: Click here to visit.

Whether or not you're a user, the Sinespace team would love your feedback if you get a chance to give it a look: Post in Comments below or even better, join the official Discord. 

Cajsa’s Flickr Pick: Tati Hara Takes Pics to Make You Love Second Life Again

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

Sometimes a person’s photo is so stunning, I just fall in love with Second Life all over again. “Killary” by Tati Hara is one of those photos. This photo is on Buttercup, a sim I am pretty sure I have explored. But did I see this possibility? No, I went back and found that poppy, a singleton just to prove to myself that photo was really SL. She obviously is using a texture overlay or two to create the watercolor effect and the aged aesthetic.

People Keep Shouting Into the Void of My YouTube Interview With Linden Lab's CEO from Some 6 Months Ago

I'm not sure how often this happens with interviews of other CEOs of other game companies, but I continue watching in fascination as random Internet people keep showing up on my YouTube page to post Comments directed at Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg or at no one particular in response to my interview with him that was published nearly half a year ago. Here's a recent sample:

Watch: "Repeat Hikari", Sole Second Life-Based Entry in this Year's Supernova Digital Animation Festival

If you can be in Denver this weekend, you can attend this year's Supernova Digital Animation festival, a showcase of 15 short movies made across many platforms. In a sign that there's still some artistic life in SL-based machinima, here's the sole festival entry made in Second Life: "Repeat Hikari" by Tess "Tizzy Canucci" Baxter, a rhythmically hypnotic dreamscape mood piece.

"Can't describe how pleased I am to be included in that category," Tess tells me. "I think it also shows that machinima is no longer a helpful name -- most machinima is now game play, and artistic work in Second Life is better thought of alongside other art forms, whether that's called 'digital animation', artists moving image, or video art (the old name!)"

That's a very good point. Since raw video capture of 3D gameplay is now among the most watched category of videos on YouTube and beyond, it may be time to shelve the "machinima" term.

Tess wrote this in-depth blog post describing her artistic vision for the work, which emerged out of the limitations of the medium, i.e. Second Life. For instance:

Cloudpunk: Voxel-ish Indie Game Looks More Immersive Than 2077

Cloudpunk is an indie game coming soon-ish, and while it may be Keanu-free, its moody, voxel aesthetic and soundtrack sure makes it look more engrossing and immersive than the much-hyped (over-hyped?) Cyberpunk 2077:

Cajsa's Flickr Pick: Oyo's Amazing Second Life Shots Without Post-Processing

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

Groovie Goolies! Fresh from Horrible Hall, oyo’s “Hotdog’s Passion” isn’t really an homage to the cartoon band, but it was the first thought that came to mind. When I read her “About” page on Flickr I discovered she does not use PhotoShop or GIMP. I know you can create WindLights to give a sketch-like look, though I can’t tell you how. There are also some presets in the browser. I don’t know how she did it, but this looks like a pencil sketch. It’s such a compelling photo of people who came together to celebrate a favorite creator.

Why Apple Owns the AR Industry Even Without Owning AR Glasses (Comment of the Week)

"Joey1058" has an excellent rant responding to my speculation on just when (probably not any time soon) Apple will announce the launch of its much-awaited augmented reality glasses. To which he replies:  

HMDs do exist in the wild. A company called Vuzix has been tackling hardware issues for decades. Their flagship product is called the Vuzix Blade. [Pictured here] In my humble opinion, their glasses are every bit as good as Magic Leap, Hololens, or the current darling that is sparkling everyone's eyes, Nreal. The hardware isn't an issue. My issue is Apple.

For some ungodly reason, the industry has taken a "wait-and-see" approach in development that centers around Apple. We all know that Apple has been working on developing AR for some number of years. At first, buying up companies and patents. Then releasing ARKit. And now the buzz is all about its U1 chip and Ultra Wideband tech. But somehow, they've been dragging their butts in releasing an HMD. So in the meantime, smaller companies are developing on what already exists.

That's not to ignore the big tech company other than Google (LOL Glass) which jumped into AR early:

How Much of Second Life's Economy Is an Oligopoly?

"It's interesting to see you use the term 'oligopoly'," writes "Bart", responding to last week's post debating how far (if at all) Second Life has fallen away from its original "Your World, Your Imagination" vision. "People have been saying this for years in SL and it's nice to hear you coming around to understanding its hindrance to diversity and uniqueness."

For the record, I referred to "the oligopoly of mesh avatar makers", as it's fair to assert that that particular market is dominated by a handful of brands. But that's just one of Second Life's largest industries (so to speak), and I don't know if others are also under oligopolic control. Bart, however, believes that's the case:

Top 7 Posts Last Week: AR for Apple, VR Programming for Rec Room, Optimization for Second Life, Badonkadonk for Sansar

• Nylon Pinkney Is Online: The Sexy Second Life Of Frankenstein's Secret Lab
• SL Tutorial: Penny Patton's Quick Tips For Optimizing Second Life Builds To Have High Frame Rate AND Still Look Great
• Rec Room Has An In-World, Spatial, Embodied, Full VR Programming Language Called Circuits
• Apple Apparently Testing AR Glasses, But Don't Expect Them Anytime Soon
• Syrmor, VRChat's Beloved Embedded Reporter, Interviewed On HBO's Vice
• Sansar's Stick Thin Default Avatar Provokes User To Immediately Create Kardashian-Esque "Badonkadonk" Prosthetics
• Here's What An Optimized Second Life Scene Looks Like, Even On An Old PC

Nylon Pinkney Is Online: The Sexy Second Life of Frankenstein's Secret Lab

What Great Second Life Artists on Flickr Should Cajsa Consider Choosing?

I love Cajsa's thrice-weekly column devoted to great Second Life-based artists on Flickr and hope you do too. It's amazing to see how massive and deep that community has become, and Cajsa tells me she'll accidentally discover new (to her) artists on a fairly regular basis.

Speaking of which, are there any she hasn't covered, but should? (Here's her complete collection thus far.) Please post their Flick account links in Comments and yes, that can include your own, too. 

Pictured above, some of my personal recent favorites (from left to right):

Join New World Notes' Discord! (Or Let Me Know If You Can't)

Click here to join with an invite link that's supposed to be permanent and for everyone. Several readers have reported being kicked out of our Discord -- which is either a service bug, or due to an old invite code with the wrong settings. If you do experience that problem, please let me know in Comments, so I can try and locate the bad link.

Speaking of Discord, there's an outstanding mesh complexity question from "Ianua" in the sl-news-and-coolness channel that needs some expert attention:

SL Tutorial: Penny Patton's Quick Tips for Optimizing Second Life Builds to Have High Frame Rate AND Still Look Great

Ever since I posted about "Nar Shaddaa", this beautiful Star Wars-inspired bar created by Penny Patton, two questions from readers kept coming up:

• Does this scene really have such a great frame as claimed -- even for older computers?
• How can I optimize my own SL scenes as well as Penny Patton?

Answer to the first question: Yes, if you follow the usage guidelines. But don't take my word for it, check out this in-person tour by Amanda Magick, using an old Mac.

For the second question, here's Penny Patton with some starting tips:

"Unfortunately," she begins, "there's no simple way to break it down. Linden Lab makes it extremely difficult to build optimized environments. There's no real tools for it. You just need to know what to look for and what to avoid."

Here's how:

Rec Room Has an In-World, Spatial, Embodied, Full VR Programming Language Called Circuits

"If you care about VR and visual programming," tweets artist Evelyn Eastmond, "did you know that Rec Room (of all things!?) has this totally wacky in-game, spatial, embodied, dataflow programming language?"

An in-world, spatial, embodied, dataflow programming language has been a kind of Holy Grail in the world of VR for decades, so I'm grateful she's pointing out Rec Room's version of that, as rudimentary as it may be. Documentation available here:

Circuits are editable networks of Chips, Circuit Boards, Gizmos, other gadgets, and dynamic props that can be used in Custom Rooms to execute more or less complex programs. These programs can control animated and interactive elements of a room, for example, animated or interactive spot lights, sound effects, holotar projections, or complete games.

Behold a demo video by Ms. Eastmond below:

Cajsa’s Flickr Pick: Mind Carlberg Creates Fantastic Photos & Comics in SL

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

Mind Carlberg’s photostream is not for pixel prudes. It is possible he is simply allergic to clothing, but that does not keep him from presenting fantastic photos with a subversive wit that delights me. This photo is, of course, perfectly G-rated even though any honest assessment of human sexuality would acknowledge that the bits and bobs that shock are nothing without our minds, not to mention the senses of smell, taste, touch, hearing, and sight. Our faces and our brains, that’s where sex begins. 

I love this photo because of the beautiful contrasts of dark and light. It would be a stunning photo of any face, but this face! I love this face! The unapologetic nose, the ears that take no prisoners, and the rough-hewn angularity challenge the Ken-doll blandness of the ordinary avatar. Bravo!

Apple Apparently Testing AR Glasses, But Don't Expect Them Anytime Soon

Despite some insider rumors that Apple would announce its highly anticipated augmented reality glasses this week, nothing is so far forthcoming. Yesterday,  however, a developer more or less confirmed that those AR glasses do indeed exist, and that they're being tested -- because there's mention of a device that can be "worn" in the notes of its next operating system:

It comes to us in the form of this screenshot from iOS developer and reliable leak-finder Steve Troughton-Smith...

The screenshot pretty much says it all: Apple is testing an internal device known as “Garta,” and if you want to test your stereo AR apps with that device, you’ll want to set them to “worn” mode so that it can apply different “distortions” than if the app is being “held” instead.

Which implies that Garta is a stereoscopic AR headset — because that’s the kind of device you would wear, and which would adjust the way an augmented reality app would look to match lenses in front of your eyes. (AR and VR headsets typically adjust their computer graphics “projections” to properly stretch across your field of view while using as little processing power as possible.)

Click to embiggenate Troughton-Smith's screengrab of the OS notes. I'm far from an Apple Kremlinologist, but barring a miracle (more on that later) I wouldn't expect any mass market AR glasses announcement from Apple in the near future -- certainly not next year. A few reasons why:

Cajsa's Flickr Pick: Kat.E's Second Life Images Look Beautifully Real Life-Like

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

Kat.E’s “Listen” is extraordinary. It is such a lifelike photo with that water texture. The sea and sky horizon is subtle and the pier functions as its own horizon–and is appropriately placed according to the rule of thirds. There is a bit of whimsy in the bollards on the pier, it’s not often you see statuary put to this use.

Syrmor, VRChat's Beloved Embedded Reporter, Interviewed on HBO's Vice

It's a long time coming but it's very well-deserved: Vice on HBO just featured Syrmor, VRChat's best embedded virtual reporter. (Ignore the title dubbing him the "Dr. Phil of VR", which is notably dumb; maybe the caption writer hasn't seen any interviews by Errol Morris, which Syrmor is way more like.) If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time a major media outlet has profiled a celebrity whose fame is based on what they created within this generation's iteration of VR.

The segment itself gives us a good glimpse of Syrmor's real life in Toronto, and also, his evolution from capturing the most trollish part or VRChat to doing the in-depth, poignant interviews that made him beloved. As he told me last February: