Note: For best results, take survey on a laptop/desktop!
Now that we've had a week to digest the new Premium Plus offering (details infograpic-ed below), here's a survey for the money question: Will you as an SL user actually upgrade?
Continue reading "SLer Survey: Will You Upgrade Your Account to Premium Plus?" »
|
|
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Slowness Resident is a Second Life traveler and luckily for us, she takes pictures along the way. Here is a picture of Dukedom, a sim that is much-loved by photographers. I can imagine Elliot Ness doing a stakeout here.
For more of her travels, click here:
|
|
Updates, 7/30: Added feedback from Tony Parisi, who was metaversing before the Metaverse was cool, and Neil Trevett, VP of NVIDIA & President of the Khronos Group, the host of the Metaverse Standards Forum. Excerpts at the bottom of this post!
You may have noticed last week's announcement of the Metaverse Standards Forum, a consortium of companies and organizations anchored by Meta, Epic, and other industry leaders, proposing to create universal standards for metaverse platforms going forward:
The Metaverse Standards Forum aims to foster consensus-based cooperation between diverse SDOs and companies to define and align requirements and priorities for metaverse standards—accelerating their availability and reducing duplication of effort across the industry.
“The metaverse will bring together diverse technologies, requiring a constellation of interoperability standards, created and maintained by many standards organizations,” said Neil Trevett, Khronos president. “The Metaverse Standards Forum is a unique venue for coordination between standards organizations and industry, with a mission to foster the pragmatic and timely standardization that will be essential to an open and inclusive metaverse.”
I didn't blog about it last week, because I was waiting to receive an answer to the questions I sent to their press contact:
|
|
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Stevo Kozlowski shoots Second Life rugby. Who knew Second Life rugby looked this real? It’s changed a lot since Miffyhoi Rosca, Hatchy Mills, and I went to a stadium in 2007. I am blown away by these action shots. Wow, wow, wow! But there’s more. He gives some color commentary for the three pics in the composite:
Stevo not only has play-by-play commentary like this, but includes links to all key fashion items in the image.
For more sports pics, click here:
|
|
Reuters is having a free webinar tomorrow on the future of the Metaverse featuring several esteemed panelists, which you can register for here.
But wait a minute: If we're so excited about the Metaverse, why are we talking about it... on the web? Especially when there are a number of metaverse platforms on the market which could easily host a hundred or more attendees, with an overflow crowd who could watch it streamed on YouTube and Twitch.
I put it to Reuters' event manager Pete Carkeek, who defends the use of webinars to talk about the Metaverse this way:
|
|
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Second Life residents often stick to quotidian subjects, fashion, décor, and roleplay. At times, though, the events of the world break through and they respond with their art. On Friday, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the right to abortion. The vast majority of Americans disapprove, but the Court is not accountable to anyone. Whiskey Monday’s “Futile Dissent” gets at that dilemma. The flowers make me think of masses of people out in the streets protesting with the certain knowledge that the Supreme Court does not care.
For more responses to the Supreme Court decision, click here:
|
|
Now available for free in Second Life thanks to Edyn Starlight -- an abortion rights avatar tattoo. Edyn writes:
I don't typically like to get political, not on the best or even the worst of days, but Roe vs. Wade being overturned is fucking ridiculous... In support of those affected by this, I'm releasing this tattoo as a free gift, and it will remain free forever. I'm not a US resident, but I have so many friends whom have been there for my entire life that are affected by this decision.
Click here to teleport to Edyn's mainstore in Hamamura to get a copy.
Are there other abortion rights events and content in Second Life -- especially those which benefit real life orgs and women/girls impacted by the end of Roe? Please post details in Comments, and I'll highlight some in another post.
By the way, I've also asked Linden Lab if the company plans to make any policy announcement around the gutting of Roe and the coming of anti-abortion laws throughout much of the US. Specifically:
|
|
|
|
Click here to teleport to a place where the birds sing a pretty song, and there's always music in the air. That's right: There's a whole Second Life sim devoted to dream world genius David Lynch, and there's a grand 7 hour event happening there tomorrow starting at 2pm PT. (All the details here.)
"Lynchland is not about roleplay," group leader Myrdin Sommer tells me, "but we do like to dress up as characters from a Lynch movie; LynchLand is a cool place to indulge David Lynch's eccentric persona so to say! And as a dress code we ask this from our visitors at events, but it is certainly not mandatory." But if you had the chance to turn your avatar into a character from a Lynch movie or TV show, why would you not?
"And that goes for everything in LynchLand," says Sommer, "The Bang Bang bar, The little church, the Blue Velvet Diner, The Mulholland Drive-in Cinema or the Lost Highway Motel, where we even have a room specially for David, so he can stay over when he is in ' town."
And you never know when Lynch will be in the neighborhood: He just made a visit the Metaverse just a couple years ago.
More on LynchLand next week, meantime, here's some images from the LynchLand group on Flickr. (Warning, not all of them are worksafe viewing, not even when it's the Log Lady.)
|
|
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
I like warm, colorful kitchens like the one in Mrs. Sasypant's post Groove Is In the Heart in her blog Layers upon Layas. The name is a pun on her old avatar name Laya Felisimo, something I learned in her About page. Every blogger should have one. This kitchen is wonderful and I like everything. I decided to focus on the foundation pieces, the Mediterranean Kitchen pieces. They were for Happy Weekend, but they will be still be available at full price.
For a look at her fashion style, click here:
Continue reading "Fashion Friday: SL Style & Houseware Choices from Mrs. Sassypants" »
|
|
As hinted at in a recent in-world Q&A, Linden Lab just announced Second Life's new "Premium Plus" subscription plan, with greatly enhanced content and features for $24.99/month or $249.99 a year -- see above, with a helpful compare/contrast with the existing Premium Plan. As my heated reader commentary suggests (some choice samples below), this new offering is sure to cause controversy. But it's a necessary move by the company, nudging players toward a sustainable revenue base built on user subscriptions, versus unsustainable sim tier. (Also reflected in the new event region offerings, high capacity sims designed for short term use.)
Or to put it another way on this day, which happens to be Second Life's official 19th birthday: If you want Second Life to be around and still active for SL30B, better consider getting Premium or Premium Plus.
Reader feedback below:
|
|
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
I thought after a week of celebrating Second Life’s 19th birthday, it was time to look at the pictures being tagged on Flickr with "sl19b". And wow! This pic from Kiva is amazing. Someone get her a job at NASA. This is such a powerful picture. This is exciting! [Click here to visit the location yourself]
For more from SL1919B, click here:
Continue reading "Cajsa's Choices: Favorite Photos from Second Life's 19th Birthday Bash" »
|
|
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Sonic is such a great Second Life artist, I page past her pictures, assuming I have featured her before, because how could I not? But then I wondered and Googled and now I am making up for my oversight. Now, her photostream is dangerous because you could fall in and never come out. It has that kind of creative energy. Take “Enlightenment is the unfolding of divinity within.” for example. It’ s not just the makeup, the flowers, the eyes, or the pose, it’s all of them together. Her work is the perfect example of synergy, of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.
For more synergistic creations, click here:
Continue reading "Today's SL Flickr Pic: Unique & Amazing Avatar Portraits by Sonic" »
|
|
Second Life's famed annual Hair Fair to benefit RL charity Wigs for Kids is unfurling this weekend, and empresario Sasy Scarborough is offering 5 (five) New World Notes readers special early access to the event. Here's how:
Continue reading "Get Early Access to Second Life's Hair Fair to Benefit Wigs for Kids!" »
|
|
Starting at around 24.00, Linden Lab's VP of Product, known in-world as Patch Linden, teased out a new Second Life product offering coming (hopefully) on SL's 19 anniversary of June 23: Premium Plus.
Offerings for the monthly subscription include:
All yours with a special introductory offer of $24.99, then moving to $29.99/month or $249/year. A pretty solid offer for core content creators, who end up paying quite a lot to Linden Lab.
Gorgeous Aurelia has a good comparison explainer here, with an infographic to boot. The full interview with Saffia Widdershins includes some interesting tidbits beyond that, including:
|
|
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Rafael Correia shoots amazing black and white photos, mostly of wildlife and landscapes. However, I can’t resist the man and his horse photos. I used to ride the Linden Road on horseback for hours. He is riding much more scenic routes.
For more horse pictures, click here:
Continue reading "Today's SL Flickr Pick: Great Western Roleplay Photos from Rafael Correia" »
|
|
Core, the upcoming Unreal-based, Epic-backed, user-generated game development platform, just announced (somewhat unexpectedly) that it's adding NFT integration to its platform:
Today we’re excited to announce Core is expanding to include blockchain technology, starting by integrating with the largest crypto wallet, MetaMask, and the largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, for a first-of-its-kind API that enables creators to make full metaverse experiences based on their NFT collections.
I say "somewhat unexpectedly" because key funder Epic CEO Tim Sweeney isn't exactly a fan of NFTs, and since the crypto crash, the already tiny NFT market has gotten even tinier. So why even bother?
"We understand not everyone is interested in NFTs and that is why it's not a requirement to connect a wallet or engage with NFT content on Core,” CEO Frederic Descamps, CEO of Core developer of Manticore Games, tells me in response.
However, he goes on, many third party developers are interested in adding NFTs to their own metaverse experiences in Core:
Continue reading "Core Metaverse Platform Adds NFT Option -- But Why? CEO Explains" »
|
|
"People can't tell how far back this blog goes!", was some very helpful advice a friend recently offered, and so I'm slowly expanding my archive of posts tracking the history of Second Life and the Metaverse in general starting from 2003 (when I was still with Linden Lab) up until now. (If you're on desktop, they're available on the right column.)
That includes classics like "Fighting the Front" from 2007 (above), "Impeachable Offense" from 2005, and, of course, 2003's "The War of the Jessie Wall". Adding more years soon!
|
|
Really good essay from Tom Boellstorff, a professor at UC Irvine and a longtime researcher of virtual worlds. While the definition of the Metaverse might seem, well, academic, Tom points out how corporate and moneyed interests are already trying to define it to conveniently suit their own interests:
For instance, many pundits define the metaverse as based on blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. But many existing virtual worlds use means other than blockchain for confirming ownership of digital assets. Many use national currencies like the U.S. dollar, or metaverse currencies pegged to a national currency.
Another such rhetorical move appears when [Meta communications head Nick] Clegg uses an image of a building with a foundation and two floors to argue not only that interoperability will be part of “the foundations of the building” but that it’s “the common theme across these floors.”
But Clegg’s warning that “without a significant degree of interoperability baked into each floor, the metaverse will become fragmented” ignores how interoperability isn’t prototypical for the metaverse. In many cases, fragmentation is desirable. I might not want the same identity in two different virtual worlds, or on Facebook and an online game.
Much more here. I am in fierce agreement with this point. (See my own take on Clegg's Metaverse vision statement.) In my view, Tom's take is yet another reason for adhering to a definition that's as close as feasibly possible to the one from Snow Crash:
|
|
Smart thoughts from reader and tech exec veteran Luther Weymann, reflecting on the questions of AI sentience brought up by a recent Washington Post story on the Google developer who believes the company's chat bot has already achieved it:
Artificial intelligence programs running on machines use databases on computer systems to receive instruction for action and sound. These databases can deliver information from dedicated databases. Still, more likely for more human-like interaction, the data comes from many types of databases into a central repository and then to the machine.
The ability to have anything even approaching what we socially call “sentient AI” will require mainframe processing and a massive database repository at the ready. Conventional servers process about 300 million operations a second. To truly power AI into a world where the AI machine will be really human-like is going to take mainframe power into the 300 billion operations a second capacity. Mainframe databases, when appropriately distributed, can meet that challenge.
But now comes the exciting part:
|
|
|
|
Second Life events abound today and this weekend. Starting tomorrow at 11:30am PT, New World Notes' media partner Seraphim opens their fun and fabulous SeraPride extravaganza gala to support a seriously important real world cause:
SeraPride is their annual one day fundraising event. Last year the event raised well over $3000 USD. Hoping to raise even more this year, the festivities will start on June 18th at 11:30am PT and throughout the day there will be DJs, a Drag Race, SeraPride Idol, Raffles, Giveaways, and more! All proceeds will benefit Rainbow Railroad, a small Canadian based organization that helps LGBTQI+ people threatened for their lives to relocate to a safe place.
[Click here to teleport into Serapride]
And as Casja just blogged, SL's official 19th anniversary party started yesterday. That means it's pretty much my 18th year of grousing that the birthday is pinned to the world's commercial opening, when I think it should be tied to the moment when the first closed beta user created the first content in Second Life.
Anyway! SL19B includes a massive music fest, featuring many legendary live music performers who've been singing in SL for years. That includes breakout star Skye Galaxy and -- holy crap -- blues singer Frogg Marlowe, who I first wrote about in 2005, jamming with fellow stalwart Jaycatt Nico.
|
|
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
Yesterday was the grand opening of S19B, the 19th birthday party of Second Life. I cast about to see if any bloggers had been reporting yet and found “SL19B Is Open” from Chic Aeon of Chic at Phil’s Place. This is her eighth or ninth year building for the event and was excited to find her build was right by the Arboretum, her favorite of the Linden builds. The theme this year is steampunk so the builds should be a lot of fun.
For more from SL19B, click here:
Continue reading "Steampunk-Flavored Shopping Tips for Second Life's 19th Birthday!" »
|
|
The Washington Post recently ran this great article on the power and influence of the YouTube channel People Make Games, which ROBLOX reportedly "pressured" to make a retraction when it started looking into serious allegations about the metaverse platform. The Washington Post confirms that the company did request a retraction, and gets what People Make Games couldn't get, despite many tries -- an official reply from ROBLOX:
In a statement to The Post, Roblox’s Nevius characterized both of PMG’s videos as “not accurate,” saying they contain claims “in pursuit of clicks that downplay or outright ignore numerous features and parental controls we have in place to ensure our platform provides a safe, civil and welcoming space for people of all ages to play and connect.”
Nevius also pointed to parents’ ability to set in-game spending limits on their kids, as well as a “large, expertly trained” moderation team that targets scams and inappropriate content and “aggressively deters” users moving “Roblox”-related transactions to unsafe websites. He also said that, despite “Roblox’s” young audience, the “vast majority” of top-earning and most-played developers on the platform are over 18.
People Make Games' Quintin Smith (that's him on the couch up there), however, isn't satisficed with that answer, and told me why in great detail:
Continue reading "Quintin Smith: Questions ROBLOX Still Hasn't Answered About Its Platform" »
|
|
Second Life's New Premium Plus Not Always a Good Deal -- But Could Be Made Better (Reader Comments of the Week)
Lots of good reader feedback around the just-announced Premium Plus offering for Second Life. According to Luther Weymann, getting a Premium Plus in his specific scenario would not be a very good deal:
Yikes. I imagine many SLers are in a situation like his. Speaking of product development, Dee has a very good idea of improving Premium Plus for content creators:
Continue reading "Second Life's New Premium Plus Not Always a Good Deal -- But Could Be Made Better (Reader Comments of the Week)" »
Posted on Monday, June 27, 2022 at 01:06 PM in Comment of the Week, Economics of SL | Permalink | Comments (0)
|
|