The 6th Annual Scare Me Silly Event in support of Team Diabetes of Second Life will take place October 15 to 22, 2021 and will feature shopping, a hunt, art, live music, contests, giveaways, tricks, treats, & more!!
100% of the funds raised during the extravaganza, Team Diabetes of SL Marketing Coordinator Jessii Warrhol tells me, go directly to the American Diabetes Association: "Funds are donated via an official avatar to our online donation and authorization page." That page is here.
Good god Sotheby's now has a Metaverse page ("Sotheby’s Metaverse is a home for this new art movement built on the foundations of crypto and NFTs") which suggests the definition for the Metaverse has become so broad it now effectively means, "Digital stuff we can maybe make a fuck ton of money from."
Speaking of which, Steam just banned blockchain and NFT games, with a developer hit by the policy saying, "Steam's point of view is that items have value and they don't allow items that can have real-world value on their platform." If one of the world's largest distribution platform for PC games keeps consistent with this policy, I'm not sure how much blockchain and NFT-based games can sustain themselves. The obvious alternative is The Epic Games Store, which now reports over 160 million active users to Steam's 120 million... but Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has also voiced serious reservations of getting involved with NFTs. To wit:
Replied:
We aren’t touching NFTs as the whole field is currently tangled up with an intractable mix of scams, interesting decentralized tech foundations, and scams.
Epic Games Store will welcome games that make use of blockchain tech provided they follow the relevant laws, disclose their terms, and are age-rated by an appropriate group. Though Epic's not using crypto in our games, we welcome innovation in the areas of technology and finance.
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
“Forever Friday SL” is a blog by Malayaa Morningstar that has a strong focus on home decor, though there is some fashion mixed in. She posted Waking Up to Autumn on Monday. I love the coziness that is not one bit overstuffed with bric-a-brac. I love the curtains hiding the area under the bench. I imagine it is packed with shoe boxes. The nightstands are adorable, too.
MYSA [Dema Fairport] – Vila Collection Bed with Headboard (Fameshed ends October 27th)
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
HotDog has a photostream full of ghoulish fun. I love his macabre pictures. Most of his work is for vendor pics for his eponymous store, but he also includes a few wonderful story-telling scenes. For example, “This way or that way?” suggests the meeting of two opposites on a road. He is an extreme ectomorph and she is an endomorph, he is formally dressed and she is anything but formal, a regular Jack Sprat and partner, but a picture that seems to be taken by someone who likes them both. There is a fondness for the people that comes through.
Here's the latest Second Life concurrency stats direct from Tyche, the woman who knows more about them than anyone outside Linden Lab (and possibly even more than anyone still at the actual company):
"The trend in maximum daily concurrency is pretty flat for the past 3 months or so [see chart here], the same with Median and Mean Daily. It is down on from what we were seeing in the Spring but still above pre-Covid levels."
The COVID "spike", however, was just a few thousand more active users, and most of them were existing SL accounts coming back during the quarantine.
Which leads to the mysterious plateau of Second Life user concurrency. My takeaway from what Tyche tells me next:
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Anja Mexicola’s “Bouquet” is a lovely romantic picture. The background is one at the Backdrop Photo Dome, a place often used by bloggers who can use the backgrounds rezzed there but she did a great job using a filter to give the entire picture the feeling of being hand-painted. I love that she was not tempted to be too symmetrical placing the flowers and birds. She is not symmetrical either, her left arm and hand are visible with a billowing eyelet lace sleeve. One the one hand, it is exuberant with so many flowers and the birds, but then there is restraint in her colors. She’s smart in her choices.
If you want to know why you should never have a mermaid roommate, click here:
As promised last week, here's the results of a survey conducted last weekend by staff at Blind, an anonymous messaging/virtual community app for employees, asking users their opinions on the recent whistleblower allegations made against Facebook. About 5,000 responded across many social media companies, with nearly 10% of them (482) staff members at Facebook itself.
Courtesy Team Blind, here's the survey results from Facebook employees only, starting with the question, "Are you convinced by Facebook’s defense to the whistleblower’s allegations?"
Here's how Facebook staffers answered:
Notably, a significant minority of Facebook employees (1 in 4) did not find their own company's defense against the allegations to be credible.
There was a similar result to another question: "Do you believe Facebook puts profits over user safety?"
Here's how Facebook employees who took the survey replied:
Many seniors who would benefit from the social opportunities in SL are not very computer-savvy.
They may be comfortable with an iPad, but not a standard laptop/desktop. iPads and similar devices simply do not have the hardware power to deal with something like SL, and whatever apps do exist (and are still available or maintained) are little more than messaging apps.
There are, however, notebook/laptop machines that have a touch screen, which someone who is used to a tablet may find easier to use than a laptop proper. Also, I know that it is possible to boot Linux on at least some Chromebooks, and use a Linux SL client, but I don’t know about the performance thereof. Any experiences or recommendations along these lines would be greatly appreciated.
Yes, George and I discussed the late-lamented Lumia app for Android devices, but that's no longer officially supported (far as I can tell), and as great as it is for established SLers, wouldn't work well for the target audience he's talking about:
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Vivien DeLancoure’s “Sometimes time doesn’t heal wounds” brings together two very different aesthetics into a glorious union. On the one hand there is the baroque delicacy of the filigreed bird cages. Then there is the Steampunk/Goth fight-ready toughness of her boots and gloves, but she is not without her own baroque ornamentation as you can see in her corset. The contrasts are balanced and work so well. The birdcages are all empty suggesting several wounds that are still unhealed. I love the careful balance between the industrial elements and the baroque elements. It’s beautiful and her cast-down eyes create the emotional effect she intends. She also blogs and these items were the Engine Room event that ends October 20th.
To see extraordinary Dark Fantasy pics, click here:
Just in time for Halloween and Squid Game roleplay in Second Life, the Really Dangerous Explosives Pack is a fun new addition to the Really Needy HUD (a proud sponsoring partner), which turns SL into a Sims-like game experience. Now, with the help of major style brand Izzie’s, any damage from nearby explosions will cause visible wounds to appear on your avatar.
Here’s Really Needy creator Grace7 Ling with more details, along with some new NSFW partnerships:
Roleplayers can now give their urban game more gritty realism with theReally Dangerous Explosives Pack, which includes a feature that auto-applies blood-splattered BOM layers onto your avatar body, if hit by an explosion.
This is a feature of theReally Needy HUD which are used by roleplayers in Second Life to simulate their avatars having Hunger, Thirst, Energy, Health, Hygiene and even Toilet and Procreation needs.
This new release builds on the different types of injuries recognized by the HUD (which goes much beyond a simple combat meter), such as burns, falls and gunshot wounds, and now blast injuries.
As covered in a prior New World Notespost, gunshot wounds automatically appear on the parts of the body where the avatar was shot. With this new release, avatars within the blast radius of a fragmentation grenade will get covered in blood splatter or bloody cuts (depending on how much gore you want), or might be bruised badly if they suffered shock damage from a nearby explosion.
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Victoria Konnor James' recent post Thirsty for her blog “Pretty Things, Nice Life” has me wanting those beautiful illuminated pumpkins in real life as well as first life. I mean, let’s get serious about pumpkins. I like roasting pumpkin seeds and will happily substitute pumpkin for potatoes in a stew or even make a pumpkin soup or two or three, but one good-sized pumpkin is about as much as I want at one time. Also, if you put out a pumpkin the first week of October, it passes it’s prime long before Halloween. But these pumpkins are so pretty and of course, they don’t smell of pumpkin 24 hours a day, not even 1 hour a day. I want them. Do they exist in real life?
While Mark Zuckerberg and other executives strenuously defend Facebook against the allegations and documents made public by whistleblower Frances Haugen, denying any serious wrongdoing, the company's employees have a very different perspective:
80% of them believe the whistleblower's revelations will at least cause some short term damage to the company, while a full third believe the damage will be much worse, causing serious harm to the company's revenue, or even lead to an Uber-level crisis, where top executives are fired or forced to resign. (See above.) Almost half consider the impact to be serious. (Love the "Biden joins the chat" option, i.e. new government regulation/penalties are imposed.)
This all according to a user-created survey posted earlier this week on Blind, an anonymous messaging/virtual community app for employees, accessible only by company staff. (They're only able to log onto Blind's forum for Facebook via a company e-mail address.)
Over 6300 Facebook employees took the survey -- roughly 10% of the entire company, a huge sample. In other Blind-based surveys I've reported on, such as this one about curbing hate speech on Facebook, only a few hundred employees typically participate. So this new survey is a fairly reliable barometer to the corporation's internal collective sentiment.
So that in mind, it's notable that just 1 in 5 of Facebook employees seem fully aligned with their executive team:
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Ella Pavlova is a maximalist. While many artists strive for minimalism or realism, a maximalist goes for excess. “More is more” might be the catch-phrase that defines maximalism, but that does not mean undisciplined or chaotic. Yes, she and the bluebird are surrounded by flowers but they curve around her, encircling her. They do not obscure her, though perhaps the bluebird is hard to see at first glance, but then, it is King Charmant visiting the imprisoned Princess Florine, who is, it seems, in a prison of flowers. Elle links to the exquisite Bluebird pas de deux from Sleeping Beauty.
ROBLOX just updated its Terms of Use for customers, and given the many reports describing the massive virtual world platform as a Metaverse, the updates are fairly fascinating. They provoke the blunt question, "Is ROBLOX really making a Metaverse, or is it still making a game for kids?"
Because for starters, ROBLOX's version of the Metaverse forbids any virtual expression of romance or real life politics:
We value friendly debate about issues and topics that matter to Robloxians. However, to maintain a civil and respectful environment, we prohibit the discussion or depiction of: Current candidates running for public office, including their slogans, campaign material, rallies, or events... [s]itting real-world elected officials.
Roblox is a safe space for meeting online friends, chatting, and collaborating on creative projects, but we prohibit content that seeks or portrays romantic relationships, including: Animations of kissing, hand holding, or other romantic gestures... [e]xperiences that depict romantic events, including weddings, dates, and honeymoons
As for the new rules against romance, according to top ROBLOX YouTuber KreekCraft, they run counter to what the ROBLOX community is already doing in-world now:
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Riowyn Magwell’s “Break Time” is not typical of her photostream. It is a rare moment that catches her at rest. So savor the opportunity. It doesn’t happen often. I like the wash of light from blue to gold. The interior of the club is the cool blue while you can see through the windows the golden heat of the outdoors.
Now for the action shots, including some excellent Lara Croft cosplay in Second Life -- click here:
Click here to RSVP for a Metaverse-based fireside chat happening October 21st at Noon PT with analyst and VC Matthew Ball, who has perhaps done more than anyone else to convey the value of virtual worlds and metaverse-related technologies to mainstream business audiences in recent years. Hosted in Breakroom, Sine Wave's metaverse platform for real events, this is also (I believe) the very first time that Matthew will discuss the Metaverse within a metaverse, in avatar form.
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Ethan Lane’s “The Heist” is an action shot of a thief jumping off a balcony to escape the three-headed guard dog Cerberus. That he is robbing the joint reminds me of my own personal catnip, the caper story.. I love the cleverness of the caper undiscovered until the crew is safely in another country as the credits roll. Add an element of camp and you have the perfect caper whether it’s “Ocean’s Eleven,” “The Italian Job,” or the original “Mission Impossible” series. I wonder. Does Cerberus make this camp?
Interesting new comment from Tad Noodle and Jerom Franzic on an older post on Second Life's upcoming iOS app. How about Second Life on consoles? Specifically, Valve's Steam Deck, set for release this December. (Trailer above.)
As Mr. Noodle wonders aloud:
I wonder if Second Life would run decently on a Steam Deck? I watched a video with my husband and they said you could use 3rd party gaming apps on it, since it's basically a small PC.
Click here on the Marketplace or go here in-world to start playing Forever Tourist a fun and fairly brilliant game with a simple adventurous premise: Explore designated locations throughout Second Life, find the kiosk in each, and collect a stamp on your travel passport, displayed as a HUD.
Now with nearly 200 locations to visit and 2500 players, Forever Tourist is the brainchild of Feorie Frimon, who is using the funds collected by participating location owners to restore the Second Life mainland -- basically a Nature Conservancy for SL:
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Roberta’s blog Dear Star had a recent post that cracked me up. This post from September 11th has a backdrop to die for if you’re a blogger. I love that she used green throughout, even coordinating her lingerie. A lot of women like to choose lingerie to match their outfit, but matching walls is less common.
"I usually modify plants and trees and bushes," as he puts it. "Sometimes I will take sets apart and just use certain pieces from sets. I might resize different things to make a tree a bush or a bush a tree. I’ll also unlink and link different objects together or even retexture roads is I’m going for a certain look. A lot of the landscaping is custom."
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Brad Zeura’s “Help Me!” is a pic that made me stop and just say “Wow!” That green is just so bold and perfect in this picture of two long-deceased avatars waiting by a vehicle that has likewise seen better days. And of course I wonder if they ran out of gas and why didn’t they walk to the next station. Is that fog some version of ectoplasm? These are the things that make me wonder. Brad’s stream is full of pictures that prompt your imagination.
For more inventive story-telling pictures, click here:
Could You Run Second Life on Steam Deck? Would You Want To?
Interesting new comment from Tad Noodle and Jerom Franzic on an older post on Second Life's upcoming iOS app. How about Second Life on consoles? Specifically, Valve's Steam Deck, set for release this December. (Trailer above.)
As Mr. Noodle wonders aloud:
I wonder if Second Life would run decently on a Steam Deck? I watched a video with my husband and they said you could use 3rd party gaming apps on it, since it's basically a small PC.
That sounds right. And Mr. Franzic expands:
Continue reading "Could You Run Second Life on Steam Deck? Would You Want To?" »
Posted on Monday, October 04, 2021 at 02:33 PM in Comment of the Week, New World Tech | Permalink | Comments (1)
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