New World Notes

THE SECOND LIFE OF JULIAN DIBBELL

An evening with Julian Dibbell, author of Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot, as interviewed through his avatar, "Julian Dibbell", in a conversation about MMOs and online worlds, gold farming and virtual sweatshops, the future of work when it becomes play, advising Linden Lab-- and sales of the Second Life edition of Play Money, which has earned Dibbell, as of last Friday, nearly $350 worth of Linden Dollars.

The lightly edited transcript of last Thursday's event after the break.

 
Julian Dibbell's appearance sponsored and produced by Millions of Us

THE WEEK IN NWN

Selected highlights from the last seven days:

- Buying Play Money with play money
- Searching Amazon for a book about an online world while in an online world
- Giving real money to a real charity by buying a virtual car with virtual money
- A real movie actor using real film techniques creates a virtual movie with virtual actors

YOUR TUBE, YOUR IMAGINATION

The quantity and quality of SL machinima continues to grow by energetic bursts. BuhBuhCuh Fairchild has run his Take Five machinima festival for months now, but in the beginning, he was lucky to get half a handful of entries.  His July competition, by contrast, brought in 16, many shot and edited on a professional level-- most especially the one pictured above: "Lip Flap", by Kronos Kirkorian, which took the grand prize.  The witty story of a bickering couple preparing for a party-- until, that is, they make a shocking discovery-- it's not the most visually spectacular of movies, but Kirkorian's machinima is without question one of the most accomplished.  Much of that may be because of his background-- in real life, Kirkorian is a member of the actual film industry, an accomplished actor with numerous roles in movies and TV shows like "Oz" and "Homicide". 

And while they're not immediately obvious, several of the special effects and lighting techniques he used in "Lip Flap" are truly groundbreaking.  To take the most obvious one: the Second Life graphic engine does not enable real-time mirror reflection, like you see in the frame above.  Unlike the stars of his film, when Kirkorian explained how he did that, my jaw dropped.

But watch the movie first, and read on, for Kronos Kirkorian's guide to creating the most impressive elements in "Lip Flap".

DIBBELL LOVE

Julian Dibbell signs books for fans

Thanks to all the Residents who joined Millions of Us and I for an evening with Julian Dibbell, a ranging conversation on his new book Play Money followed by a booksigning that brought a samurai, several statuesque babes, and a pink Care Bear together to share the love of Dibbell. I'll be running the edited transcript next Monday.

ONE DIBBELL DOWN...

... and one to go.  Pathfinder Linden has already posted some lovely screenshots from the fun and dance-filled Noon booksigning with Julian Dibbell, a couple featured in this post, the rest at Pathfinder's Flickr stream here.  Purple pokey-haired blogger Rik Riel also has a nice write-up here.

The interview and audience Q&A with Julian launches in under 90 minutes.  We've already reached capacity, but if you want to get on the no-show waiting list, send an IM to event director Green Fate.

Julian Dibbell appearance produced and sponsored by Millions of Us.

JULIAN DIBBELL IN SECOND LIFE

UPDATE, 8/2: Transcript of Julian's SL appearance and interview here.

The author's alter ego has been created, the virtual edition of Julian Dibbell's Play Money has been published, and now the time and place can be posted: Julian will appear in-world this Thursday for two events:

Thursday, July 27, Noon PST:  Autograph session and informal chat with Julian.
Thursday, July 27, 6PM PST:   Interview with Hamlet Au followed by audience Q&A and autograph session.

Both events will take place on New Globe island, so seating is highly limited.  To reserve a spot, send an IM to Hamlet Au, or e-mail me, and state the event you wish to attend.  (If you're a member of the press, please note this as well.)  Preference given to owners of the SL edition of Play Money-- purchasing info here.

Event sponsored and produced by Millions of Us

Update, 10:47AM:  Added event links to both showings.

WHAT THEY GAVE

An anonymous donor to the American Cancer Society stares into the headlights of the $2000 virtual car she bought

The numbers for Second Life's Relay for Life are in, and according to American Cancer Society rep Randy Moss, the effort raised close to an astounding $40,000.  (After the Linden Dollar donations are sold and converted to cash, that is.)  Many of these donations came in the form of L$ in denominations of tens and twenties, paid to light the luminaries that run along the course, while others were considerably more:  perhaps most startingly, L$600,000 bid (around $1850-1950 at market rates) in the auction of a pink Dominus Shadow muscle car, donated by engineer Francis Chung.  Now the Dominus is a spectacular vehicle, capable of amazing burn-outs and skids, with the only possible drawback being that it doesn't exist.  So why would someone pay close to US$2000 to own it? 

After some discrete inquiries (the donor refused to have their name published) RFL volunteer Moo Money introduced me to the person who did.

AMAZON INSIDE

So a Resident scripter named Hal9k Andalso has created a search engine that helps you find objects in SL via a heads-up display, and that's cool.  It also enables you to search for SL objects on the Web, and that's cool, too. Even cooler, he's implemented Amazon's Web Services tools into his engine, so you can search for products in the Amazon database while inside Second Life--  you do that by wearing a copy of Andalso's HUD, and typing in “/411 amazon: [keyword]” on the chat line.  Here's what came up when I typed “/411 amazon: play money”:

Cooler still, these search results are embedded with web links, so clicking on them launches your Web browser, and takes you right to the specific page:

But the coolest thing of all?  Amazon already has an informal development lab in Second Life.  (Unsurprising in itself, as company founder Jeff Bezos is an investor in SL.)  So when Hal9k Andalso creates his search tool with Amazon functionality, Amazon's actual Web Services Evangelist is already in-world to notice-- and hugely impressed, blog about it.

BUYING "PLAY MONEY" WITH PLAY MONEY

To buy a copy of Play Money, the latest book by Julian Dibbell, you could, I suppose, purchase it via Amazon, but that seems so 20th century.  Especially when Julian's book is about the rise of the virtual economy in online worlds, and his attempt to make a living from the buying and selling of gold coins in Ultima Online.  The alternative, of course, is to buy a copy within Second Life-- direct teleport to the bookstore here.    That's where Julian Dibbell is selling copies of his book, with funds going directly to his SL account-- named, conveniently enough, "Julian Dibbell"-- with Linden Dollars, the official play money of Second Life.  Paying him 750 Linden Dollars (about $2.25, if exchanged at current market rates) gets you a virtual edition of Play Money created by resident Falk Bergman-- the entire book, which you can read from the first-person vantage of your avatar.  There's another option, and this is where it gets meta:  paying L$6250 (about $18.75, at going rates) gets you the virtual edition and a real copy.  (The purchase launches your web browser, and takes you to a site where you register your physical address, for delivery.)  To sum up, then:  On behalf of Julian Dibbell, "Julian Dibbell" is selling Play Money for play money

All of which leads to a reminder: later this week (tentatively Thursday evening) Julian Dibbell will appear live in Second Life to discuss Play Money, and autograph copies of the virtual edition.  I'll be hosting the event, which is being sponsored by Millions of Us.  If you're a member of the press or an active blogger, e-mail me to reserve a media slot.  More details to come soon.

THE WEEK IN NWN

Highlights from the week that was:

- Original online world journalist Julian Dibbell comes to SL on the 27th.
- SL's subscriber growth rate-- beating out World of Warcraft by 2008?
- Israeli residents respond to their country's war with Hezbollah.
- Suzanne Vega becomes "Suzanne Vega".
- Around the world in 8 minutes to fight cancer.