New World Notes

Dear Zuck: The Metaverse Doesn’t Need Your Ultra-Realistic IRL Avatars

You’ve probably seen this new Meta demo of podcaster Lex Fridman interviewing Mark Zuckerberg as ultra-realistic avatars while wearing VR headsets. While technically impressive, there’s a small problem: Decades of evidence that few people actually want ultra-realistic avatars mirrored after themselves in virtual worlds, that they undermine a unique value of the Metaverse -- and worse, that they import high levels of toxicity into a virtual world's user community.

There is no proven relationship whatsoever between the popularity of a metaverse platform and photo-realistic graphics. The very most popular platforms, Minecraft and Roblox, are intentionally low-fi, immersive through their physics and responsiveness. Their blocky, whimsical avatars are similarly abstract. 

The same can be said for the furry and anime-themed avatars of metaverse platforms VRChat, and the hand puppet-like avatars of Rec Room -- both of which are so popular on Meta’s own Quest 2 headset, it caused the company to raise the price of the headset. 

This preference for non-realistic avatars relates to the core user base for metaverse platforms: People in their teens and pre-teens, who are generally still uncomfortable and unsure about their own real life identity and appearance. 

But the problem is even more acute for teen girls and young women, still negotiating the social expectations and judgements around their real life appearance; presenting them with a lifelike avatar to customize -- let alone an avatar that resembles who they are in real life -- is effectively asking them to shoulder even more social expectations and judgements, just in the virtual world. 

The fundamental problem with Meta’s approach is that Zuckerberg, with no prior experience in game development or virtual worlds, apparently believes the Facebook model of real identities online should apply to the Metaverse. 

This misses the essential value of metaverse platforms as a place where people can explore, imagine, and create entirely new experiences blessedly separate from real world limitations. Beginning with personal identity. 

Overwhelmingly, metaverse platform users do not prefer avatars based on their real real-life appearance — even when the internal tools to customize them that way exist. This preference can even be seen in avatar gender choice. According to a survey of hundreds of thousands of gamers conducted by researcher Nick Yee and his firm, Quantic Foundry, 1 in 3 men prefer to play as a female avatar -- with about 1 in 10 females choosing male avatars.  

The irony is Mark Zuckerberg could have learned all this from the very person who helped bring the company into Metaverse development:

Top 6 Posts Including: Meta Apes Apple's Mixed Reality Marketing, Epic Lays Off Some Staff While Growing Metaverse Economy & the WGA Stops Generative AI's "Inevitable" Rise

• Emojis Finally Coming To Official Second Life Viewer Thanks To Community Developer
• As Epic Lays Off Employees In Metaverse Transition, Nearly 400 Community Creators Earning $100K+/Year From Fortnite Creative. Over 60 Earn Millions.
• Meta's Quest 3 Shifts Focus From VR To Tag After Apple's Mixed Reality Vision -- Despite Little Evidence Of Mass Consumer Interest
• Generative AI's Inevitable Rise Suddenly Stopped By Pesky Human Creators At The WGA
• Look At These Marvelously Meta Pics Of Avatars From Second Life Using Computers To... Log Into Second Life
• "I'm Not Sure Unity's Really Learnt Their Lesson" -- Veteran 3D Developer Adam Frisby On Unity's Pricing Changes

Second Life Fashion Friday: Detail-Rich Style Shots from Filthy Imouto

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

お休みなさい or Good Night is the fashion blog on Tumblr of Filthy Imouto. Her style is fantastical, out of anime graphic novels or tv shows. Her pictures make me think she’s playing a find-the-avatar game. The picture above comes from Number 91 Ichigo.

Unlike most bloggers, she provides more complete credits on Flickr with more pictures (a close-up) on Tumblr. I love how she is falling into a bed of cherry blossoms and strawberries that so perfectly matches her outfit that you have to look closely, a clever way of getting you to stop paging down. Besides, doesn’t this make you think of a confection, like a strawberry trifle?

• dress [NEW] • FenDuDu ʚ Dessert Princess @arcade ends September 30th
• gloves & choker [NEW] • FenDuDu ʚ Dessert Princess @arcade
• fork & hat [NEW] • FenDuDu ʚ Dessert Princess @arcade
• shoes & socks [NEW] • FenDuDu ʚ Dessert Princess @arcade
• nutcracker [NEW] • FenDuDu ʚ Dessert Princess @arcade
• hair • MIWAS ʚ Hair #Minji @mainstore
• bangs • MIWAS ʚ Hair #Daily Bangs 3 @mainstore
• necklace • Insomnia Angel ʚ Psyche rose n

For more tasty style, click here:

Emojis Finally Coming to Official Second Life Viewer Thanks to Community Developer

Finally bringing Second Life to the modern age of online communication, emojis are coming to the official Second Life viewer. You can even start playing with them now via this release candidate.

As befitting its status as a metaverse platform, this addition didn't come directly from Second Life publisher Linden Lab, but from a community developer: Kitty Barnett, who co-develops the third party SL viewer Catznip.

Kitty tells me her addition should support most every character from Twitter's open source Twemoji font.

"Aside from the multi-character emojis," she clarifies. "So yellow default smiley, not skintone-tinted emoji, or flags, or some of the job emojis will come in female and male variants, which is actually two characters joined behind the scenes -- which wasn't easy to jury rig on top of the existing SL font system - or at least not on an initial go." It will also support shortcodes and non-English languages.  

Even better news, Kitty was able to get Linden Lab to incorporate this addition simply by mentioning it and @-ig Second Life's official account on Twitter:

As Epic Lays Off Employees in Metaverse Transition, Nearly 400 Community Creators Earning $100K+/Year from Fortnite Creative. Over 60 Earn Millions.

Infographic via Game Discover

Hard news from Tim Sweeney at Epic:

As we shared earlier, we are laying off around 16% of Epic employees... For a while now, we've been spending way more money than we earn, investing in the next evolution of Epic and growing Fortnite as a metaverse-inspired ecosystem for creators. I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic.

While Fortnite is starting to grow again, the growth is driven primarily by creator content with significant revenue sharing, and this is a lower margin business than we had when Fortnite Battle Royale took off and began funding our expansion. Success with the creator ecosystem is a great achievement, but it means a major structural change to our economics.

To see the other, more hopeful side of the structural change, take a look at his infographic from analytics firm Game Discover, tracking the size of the Fortnite Creative economy. As you can see above, nearly 400 user creators are now able to earn an annualized income of $100,000 or more, while 61 creators are earning seven figures. On the very high end, five are earning eight figures.

None of this is meant to take away from the pain that Epic's now laid off full-time employees are feeling. (Fortunately Epic is giving them extremely generous exit packages.) Many of them, however, will now probably become Fortnite Creative creators themselves. So we should also note the impressive growth of this grassroots creator economy emerging:

These Utterly Stunning Images Look Like Wyeth & Hopper Paintings. They're Actually Screenshots from Second Life.

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

Claire Vuissent’s depiction of Wuthering Heights character Catherine Linton is so magnificent, I didn’t have to glance at the title to know she was running “out on the wily, windy moors.” (Yes, I know this is the original but I prefer the cover.) Claire embodies the spirit of Cathy searching on the moors for Heathcliff. To be honest, I love the song, admired the book, but have always disliked Cathy and Heathcliff. They are not good people. 

For more fantastic images from Claire Vuissent, click here:

Meta's Quest 3 Shifts Focus from VR to Tag After Apple's Mixed Reality Vision -- Despite Little Evidence of Mass Consumer Interest

The Meta Quest 3 is here, with a starting price of $499, and before I begin ranting, let me start with the positive: It's launching right out the gate compatible with Roblox (along with Quest 2 and Quest Pro), so it's immediately metaverse friendly. That's good! 

Now to rant -- or maybe "stand there, utterly confounded and amused " is a better way of putting it.

The Quest 3 launch reflects a complete shift by Meta, openly imitating Apple's Vision Pro launch from early this year. You can see that in the product trailer above, and it's heavy, near-complete focus on Mixed Reality experiences.  

Contrast with how Meta launched the Quest 2 in 2020:

Oculus Quest changed the game for wireless VR. It delivered fresh experiences for enthusiasts and new opportunities for developers, all while introducing immersive gaming to newcomers across the globe. Today, we’re excited to announce Oculus Quest 2, the next generation of all-in-one VR. Quest 2 pushes the state of VR forward with a redesigned all-in-one form factor, new Touch controllers and our highest-resolution display ever.

With Quest 3's marketing, VR is far less mentioned. Just read the announcement:

Immersive experiences like virtual reality can transport you to fantastical worlds that defy the laws of physics, but the physical world — and the connections you’ve made there — are pretty important, too. We believe you shouldn’t have to choose between them. That’s why Meta Quest 3 features breakthrough mixed reality that enables a spectrum of experiences.

This paragraph is actually the only time "virtual reality" is mentioned in the Quest 3 announcement.

Mentions of "mixed reality": FIVE.

On the one hand, this reflects the reality that the Quest 2's VR-forward approach has failed to gain mass market traction, with only 20 million or so units sold. Further, I wouldn't be surprised if this is partly an attempt to shift away from the nausea effects from full VR experiences that I mention in the book. 

On the other hand, small problem:

Today's Second Life Flickr Pick: Puckishly Humorous Pics by Megs

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

~♡~ Megs ~♡~ has a fun stream with an assortment of mise en scène pictures of her enjoying her Second Life. Here she is in “As far as I know, I’m delightful” in which she embodies the saying “If life gives you lemons, make limoncello.” She paired her picture with the delightful song “Lemons” by Brye. 

For more pics in complete settings, click here:

Generative AI's Inevitable Rise Suddenly Stopped By Pesky Human Creators at the WGA

Hey remember reading about how AI will destroy Hollywood as we know it and change Hollywood forever? Of course you do, people have been making bold assertions like that since, well, yesterday.

And then those darn pesky humans at the Writers Guild of America organized, went on strike, and in a few months, got the world's largest film and TV companies to agree to these highly restrictive terms around AI:

We have established regulations for the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) on Minimum Basic Agreement-covered projects in the following ways:

AI can’t write or rewrite literary material, and AI-generated material will not be considered source material under the MBA, meaning that AI-generated material can’t be used to undermine a writer’s credit or separated rights. 

A writer can choose to use AI when performing writing services, if the company consents and provided that the writer follows applicable company policies, but the company can’t require the writer to use AI software (e.g., ChatGPT) when performing writing services. 

The Company must disclose to the writer if any materials given to the writer have been generated by AI or incorporate AI-generated material.

The WGA reserves the right to assert that exploitation of writers’ material to train AI is prohibited by MBA or other law.

So I'll just call it right now: The WGA agreement signals the end of generative AI having any chance at becoming a disruptive force in the creation of intellectual property.

Linden Lab Looking for Engineering Intern to Help Enhance Second Life's Web Experience

Interesting new Linden Lab job listing which strongly suggests the company is adding more web functionality to the OG metaverse platform:

We’re looking for a Web Engineering Intern to make a significant impact on our virtual world platform, which has been at the forefront of innovation for almost two decades. We are seeking a highly motivated individual who can help us reinvigorate our passion for virtual worlds and our culture of learning by asking insightful questions and collaborating with our talented team of developers.

This role reports to the Senior Engineering Manager of Web and will use AWS and modern web technologies to enhance the Second Life Resident experience.

Unlike the Senior Product Manager job opening, this one seems ideal for an established Second Life user who knows what web tools need improving/enhancing.

Downside:

Look at These Marvelously Meta Pics of Avatars from Second Life Using Computers to... Log Into Second Life

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

“Figures laying on a giant computer keyboard…l” from Torley is almost nine years old but still captures the feeling of despair when our electronic companions are being repaired. 

This was me since last Thursday waiting for my laptop to be repaired. My warranty expires in nineteen days and cannot be extended, so at least the timing was good. But still, I was a regular fretnik. Which made me think about folks and their computers and what Second Life artists had to say. 

For more computers, click here:

"I'm not sure Unity's really learnt their lesson" -- Veteran 3D Developer Adam Frisby on Unity's Pricing Changes

Above: Adam Frisby in the Unity-based Breakroom (with Philip Rosedale)

In case you missed it, after a couple weeks of volcanic pushback against a price increase announcement, Unity on Friday published details amending that quite a bit:

Now, users on the Unity Personal subscription plan will not be charged the new fee, and Unity will increase the revenue cap on games made with that plan to $200,000. Furthermore, any game made with Unity that makes less than $1 million in 12 months will not be subject to the fee. The company is also changing what games can be assessed with the new fee. Previously, the fee would have applied to all games that met the specific download and revenue thresholds. This applied to games both in development and released.

Now Unity is saying that the fee will only apply to games made with the next version of Unity that is expected to launch sometime in 2024.

Emphasis mine. So for example, the much-anticipated, already-in-closed Alpha Second Life mobile app will not be impacted by this new fee. 

As for what Unity's new price policy means for developers in general, and metaverse platforms in particular, I reached out to Adam Frisby, CEO of metaverse platform developer Sine Wave Entertainment. Adam's been developing in Unity pretty much since the engine existed, so is the ideal person to analyze the new situation:

"It's the way they should have done this in the beginning," Adam tells me. "No retroactive amendment to terms, that was the element that got everyone up in arms." (Unity's CEO had previously promised not to raise fees.)

But Adam goes on to suggest Unity's walk back doesn't instantly put the company back in the good graces with developers who've come to rely on the 3D engine:

Latest Top Posts Including: VRChat Project With 500 NPCs, An "Is AI Conscious" Checklist & the Secret Power of Roblox's Blocky Avatars

• ChatGPT & Other AI Programs Not Conscious, Argue Experts Who Publish Checklist Of Meaningful Indicators Of Consciousness
• This Multiplayer Theme Park Simulator With 500 NPCs Is The Latest Jaw-Droppingly Ambitious User-Created Project In VRChat
• Amazing Group Photo Of Second Life Supervillain Cosplay -- Shot In Five Very Amazing & Unique Variations!
• There's A Large Flickr Group Devoted To Photos Of Virtual Pianos In Second Life With Fantastic Ivory Tickling Images
• Roblox's Odd Blocky Avatars Are A Key To The Platform's Success: Excerpt, Making A Metaverse That Matters
• Watch: Talking Today About Making A Metaverse That Matters With The Virtual Worlds Education Consortium!

Watch: Talking Today About Making a Metaverse That Matters With the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium!

Starting today at 1pm PT/SLT I'll be chatting with the lovely folks of the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium about Making a Metaverse That Matters in the OG metaverse platform of Second Life. If you want to join us in-world, click here to teleport -- or watch the live YouTube stream above.

Hosted by longtime virtual world educator Valerie Hill, it should be a meaty, expert level conversation with people who've been doing This Metaverse Thing for years if not decades.

Pumpkin Spice Fashion Photos for Friday from... Squibby Von Beipi!

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world

Squibby Von Beipi is a Flickr microblogger. She recently posted “Pumpkin Spice Season.” I confess I have never tasted a Pumpkin Spice drink and I hope I never will, but it does seem to have become the modern harbinger of fall taking over the internal calendar spot once held by the raucous honks of geese flying south. I love the color story in this picture and that sweater is to die for. 

Four of the items in this post are at Equal 10. I just wish she had credited that pumpkin spice latte, not that I would drink it! However, searching for it, I think I found it or something close enough, the MVT Pumpkin Spice Drink Set which is a gacha being resold. It’s likely she didn’t credit it because it’s not on sale except by resellers. It’s from MOVEMENTT who specializes in holdables and you probably could find something similar. Teleport to store, here. 

Equal 10 Items - Main Sim TP (Ends October 5th) 

•  DOUX - Light hairstyle
• .miss chelsea. Rene - Sweater + Jumpsuit.
• Ladybird. // Mahina (Chest)
• Ladybird. // Stelle (Forehead)

For more Fall foreshadowing, click here:

Roblox's Odd Blocky Avatars Are A Key to the Platform's Success: Excerpt, Making a Metaverse That Matters

Pictured: Intrance and LAGurlz, creators of the hit Roblox experience Starving Artist

As Roblox reaches upwards of 300 million monthly active users and continues expanding its feature set, one common reaction is basically: Wait, isn't that just a game platform for kids with blocky, LEGO-like avatars?

Yes... and very much no. As I explain in Making a Metaverse That Matters, Roblox has succeeded not in spite, but in good part because, of those avatars:

There's a Large Flickr Group Devoted to Photos of Virtual Pianos in Second Life With Fantastic Ivory Tickling Images

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

This photo by Ethan Lane just took my breath away. It sets the mood so well. Though candlelight is yellow the score is blue from the moonlight shining down from above. He is rapt, studying the score, marking it up with his notes. See the pencil in his mouth. And of course, it is called “Moonlight Sonata.” 

I found this picture with many other fantastic pictures featuring piano in Ticklin’ the Ivories of Second Life, a group nearly 500 strong who’ve posted roughly 2000 images featuring the pianos throughout the virtual world. 

I was listening to one of my favorite pianists when it occurred to me there might be a group devoted to piano pictures. It was a good bet, there’s a Second Life Flickr group devoted to just about everything. 

For more ivory-ticklin’, click here:

Fortnite FTC's First Fine on a Metaverse Platform - But Expect More Soon

If you or your kid played Fortnite between January 2017 and September 2022, you may be eligible to get a refund from a $520 million settlement between Epic and the Federal Trade Commission for bending online privacy laws protecting minors and getting those minors to buy in-game items from gacha-style* loot boxes. Go here to file that claim.

And if you don't need to file a claim, you can still marvel at two things:

• Wow, Fortnite may have 37 million paying users in the US -- over 1 in 10 people in America! That's how many Americans with Fortnite accounts who are being contacted by the FTC. (Then again, the FTC may be messaging anyone in the US with a registered Fortnite account -- I'm double checking this.)
• This seems to be the first of its kind: A successful fine/settlement by US government regulators against a metaverse platform.

There's been close calls before -- for instance, earlier this year, Roblox started hiding ads from 13 and under players after an FTC complaint. But far as I can recall, the Epic case is the first one where US dollars earned from virtual world purchases were then collected by the Federal government to be returned to consumers.

This also means the FTC knows enough about how metaverse platforms work (or don't work for consumers) to start pursuing other policies on other platforms. I do know government agencies have been quietly gathering notes:

 

Amazing Group Photo of Second Life Supervillain Cosplay -- Shot in Five Very Amazing & Unique Variations!

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

Loute Diesel is a great virtual photographer who has organized collaborations of French photogs in Second Life, giving us definitive evidence of how very individual virtual world photography is. Here you have the same group and yet every picture is wildly different. I love it. Her picture has much sharper color contrast than others in the collaboration. It’s a brighter picture overall, but the colors are all richly saturated. 

For other versions of this picture, click here:

This Multiplayer Theme Park Simulator With 500 NPCs is the Latest Jaw-Droppingly Ambitious User-Created Project in VRChat

I keep saying VRChat resembles Second Life in its golden age, because in both cases, amazingly ambitious community-made inventions keep popping up like magic mushrooms when you weren't looking.

Which brings us to this project by VRC creator Myro P:  A theme park builder similar to the classic game Roller Coaster Tycoon, but in full person VR. And not only do you get to create and simulate the rides, it comes with 500 NPC customers with their own AI routines. 

"Coding the NPCs was probably the trickiest part," Myro allows, "and it's still a work in progress. I programmed an AI for the NPCs; for instance, when they're hungry, they'll order food, and when they're tired, they'll rest on benches until they feel better. I had to implement my own pathfinding algorithm because I couldn't use Unity's built-in system."  

It's also multi-player, thanks to a complex process he explains here.

As with many (most?) other VRChat projects, Myro is making this game free-to-play, something for the community to enjoy.

"When I was in high school, 'Roller Coaster Tycoon' was my favorite game, and I felt like a game similar to 'Roller Coaster Tycoon' would work pretty well in VR," he explains. "I also liked the idea of being a visitor of my own theme park, which is why I added the scaling feature."

 

Last week I mentioned how Unity's recently announced price increase would be a hard blow to the Metaverse, and projects like this illustrate why:

Ask Me Anything About "Making a Metaverse That Matters" on Inkwell!

Click here to participate in a Q&A about Making a Metaverse That Matters on Inkwell, the public conference on books for The WELL, the legendary online community forum. (Starting now and for the next two weeks.)  It's viewable to everyone online, but if you want to pose questions and aren't a WELL member, you can still e-mail them to inkwell at well dot com.

We're already jamming along, here's some favorite thoughts so far:

Today's Second Life Flickr Pick: Western Roleplay Imagery to Rival Red Dead Redemption

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

Fingol Greyhaven has found his niche and he’s not just sticking with it, he’s taking it to a whole new level.  Take “Here’s Hoping There’ll Always Be a Cowboy.” What can you say but wow and how did he do that. It looks like a screen shot from a game like “Red Dead Redemption.” It’s amazing. Usually, folks like to show the subject walking into the frame, not out. But walking out of the frame is what a cowboy does, “living on the road my friend.” The title comes from a different song, one by George Fox, “Here’s Hoping (There’ll Always Be a Cowboy.)”

For more cowboy living, click here:

ChatGPT & Other AI Programs Not Conscious, Argue Experts Who Publish Checklist of Meaningful Indicators of Consciousness

Chart via Consciousness in Artificial Intelligence: Insights from the Science of Consciousness [pdf]

Here's a free gift link to a fascinating New York Times article about a group of philosophers, neuroscientists and computer scientists who published a comprehensive study on consciousness and AI:

The fuzziness of consciousness, its imprecision, has made its study anathema in the natural sciences. At least until recently, the project was largely left to philosophers, who often were only marginally better than others at clarifying their object of study. Hod Lipson, a roboticist at Columbia University, said that some people in his field referred to consciousness as “the C-word.” Grace Lindsay, a neuroscientist at New York University, said, “There was this idea that you can’t study consciousness until you have tenure.”

Nonetheless, a few weeks ago, a group of philosophers, neuroscientists and computer scientists, Dr. Lindsay among them, proposed a rubric with which to determine whether an A.I. system like ChatGPT could be considered conscious. The report, which surveys what Dr. Lindsay calls the “brand-new” science of consciousness, pulls together elements from a half-dozen nascent empirical theories and proposes a list of measurable qualities that might suggest the presence of some presence in a machine.

Here's a pdf link to the actual report, which requires some serious heavy lifting to read, but it includes this nice colored chart (above) with a checklist of consciousness indicators.

For instance: "Agency guided by a general belief-formation and action selection system, and a strong disposition to update beliefs in accordance with the outputs of metacognitive monitoring." Basically that means: When the AI knows that its conscious, and makes decisions with that knowledge in mind. Or as the Times puts it:

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Palia Particularly Appealing to Second Life Players. Here's Some Play Tips!

Second Life players party in Palia (pic via Gogo)

Palia, a recently-launched, free-to-play MMO described by developers as a cozy community simulation game (read my 2021 post on it here) has seen a notable growth of one sub-community of players in particular: Second Life users.

"All of my SL friends who joined, we're addicted," as famed Second Life blogger Gogo puts it to me. "And it's only been two weeks. What we do is farm, hunt, mine, level up all of these skills and more to access different goodies. It's all FREE. you can farm and sell your crops or mine and sell the mineral or melt it into gold bars and sell. With that gold, you can go shopping just like in SL, but the content is all created by the company."

So instead of Second Life events around, say, new brand launches or discount fairs, the social fun in Palia is around collaborating together. And unlike standard MMOs, it's not about grouping to raid dungeons or kill Yet Another Boss.

Instead, there's... cooking cakes.

"So we make like 50-100K [in Palia gold] per cooking round (cooking like 50 cakes in a team) everyone gets 50 cakes even though we only use ingredients for 50. So after we get all the cakes, we sell it and go raid the furniture store or the markets/black market. And make mansions, it's hilarious!"

Gogo counts at least a dozen Second Life players in her Palia network, and has seen many posts about it across SL-themed social media channels. Part of the appeal, she points out, is offering a break from the cash-driven creator economy of Second Life:

"I think for people that DON'T have money, they would really get into this MMO. The only time you have to spend money is to buy special outfits or hair etc, but the company provides a nice variety."

Sparkle Skye, creator of amazing SL wedding dresses -- listen to this podcast we did about that topic -- is now also a passionate Palia player: