New World Notes

A LIVING MEMORIAL CONTINUES

The Iraqi War Memorial was created in 2004, in honor of Coalition troops who have lost their lives in that ongoing conflict.  When it first opened, the shrine wound up situated alongside a highway, in between a disco and a Walmart knockoff.  It's since been more suitably relocated in the stratosphere of Galactica, on a tranquil platform high above the shopping malls and homes, and a recreation of the spinning earth.

Real names and faces of the war dead are displayed across the shrine; in that sense, it is one of Second Life's first mixed reality installations, and certainly among its most somber.  (Read about the opening here.)  A message at the entrance reads, in part, "This site is NOT a place for political discussions, where people share their pro-war, anti-war, pro-Bush, anti-Bush feelings.  There are plenty of other places in SL for that."  And that's as it should be, for the memorial has been funded and sustained by supporters and opponents of the war alike.  "Here, it is only the memory of these men and women, that is important."

To visit it, you take a short teleporter ride from the base of Galactica.  SLURL to the site at this link.

WEEKEND OPEN FORUM

Events, projects, discussions; announcements, observations, amazements: post all and sundry here, for highlighting anon. For US Residents it's a long Memorial Day weekend for US Residents, so if you know of special events going on over these next three days, be sure to flag them here.

Update, May 29: Cyn Vandeverre wonders above the Coke contest status.  Rodica Millionsofus answers.

A CRISIS OF FAITH, CONTINUED

I wondered how the Avatars of Change had voted on the question of whether Islam was tolerant enough to allow Muslim Residents to join their inter-faith metaverse group.  The Confucian founder of AoC had departed before the final tally, however, so I visited one of the group's new leaders, a BDSM aficionado who built the synagogue in a Jewish neighborhood that is festooned with Israeli flags.  I had to wait a few minutes, because she'd turned off the town's anti-gravity setting to deal with the griefer she just caught trying to build a swastika in the sky above the temple.

"Someone was being a dork earlier," Beth Odets shrugs, by way of explanation.  "You know, the silly things people do at synagogues in virtual worlds. It was no big deal."

Ophelia's Gaze: Being Lady Hamlet

Exclusive to NWN, Iris Ophelia's ongoing showcase of all things stylish in SL

Idle pixels are the Devil's playground, and with the second issue of CO•MA waiting for a final contribution, I had a creative itch to scratch. It's hard to be an English student like myself without being familiar with Hamlet, and while it's not my favourite play by the Bard, it has a lot of images that made a great impression on me. My last name is no coincidence, after all. Neither is Mr. Au's first name, so who better to share it with?  Since the play's been done to death, I decided to switch up the genders and the costumes to make it a little more interesting (including neko Ophelia and Laertes).

More glimpses of our gender-bent version of Hamlet to gaze upon after the cut.

LAST CALL FOR NEW SL BLOGS, NEW SITES!

Got one, know of one?  Post the link here, with description and URL.  Tomorrow at Noon SLT I'll close off suggestions for a few months and start wading through Comments to update my SL blogroll/site list.

Rik's Picks for May 24-27

Rik Riel's weekly round-up of upcoming SL events...

Diversionarium is a new, non-commercial venue for social games and creative play started by Kate Amdahl and Eris Fallon.  Come to the official launch party this Friday, May 25, from 7:30 to 10:00PM and check out all the cool interactive games they have built including: a "Mystery Build" (similar to primtionary), "Aviquest" (a game to match notecards to the avatar who wrote them), "Quoste" (a quotation guessing game), Limeruckus (a collaborative limerick writing game), and Improv games.

I asked Kate what was the motivation behind the Diversionarium.  She explained, "What we wanted to do was to create a place where you could go that was first, free; second, clearly different from other places you could go to play in Second Life by having none of the same attractions; and third (and maybe most importantly), by its very nature got people talking to each other, even shy people." So come out and be diverted, folks, and maybe make a friend. The Diversionarium is at Noul (41, 17).

Also coming up this week: Mitch Kapor talks about getting young people of color into science and technology. Plus dancing bovines, battling MCs, fast cars for sick kids, NASA goes virtual, and of course, sculpties.  All that and more after the fold...

OPEN FORUM: SHOW US YOUR SCULPTED PRIMS!

When the world came back online today, I had an inkling that the sculpted prims would already be blooming.  And so they were-- I stumbled into this floral arrangement by Oxoc Ah within minutes. And since this is the birth of a whole new form of matter, I want to see more.  If today you come across or create a sculptie (as they're already called), post links to screenshots in Comments, and I'll display my favorites in an update.  Be sure to include the creator's name, for credit!

HELP ONDER GET HIS GAME ON!

FPS, RPG, or some other genre we've never seen: if it's a Second Life game, NWN reviewer Onder Skall wants to play-- and if it rocks, cover it here.  Got suggestions?  Go and post them to his Open Forum.

WHAT'S YOUR SOCIAL CIRCLE?

Opinion Polls & Market Research

When I posted my eyeball estimate of Second Life's social circles last week, Ivy Norsk proffered a superb suggestion: let NWN readers choose which circle they belong to themselves.  So read the definitions, and make your choice.  And for the purpose of the poll, note the "primary activity" clause; only select "An entirely equal combination" if you can honestly say your activities are truly divided that way.  Deadline's the 30th!

OPEN FORUM: WHAT IN THE WORLD SHOULD ONDER PLAY?

Onder in Midian City

It worked so well with Iris' grid-wide fashion tour, let's try it with NWN game columnist Onder Skall:  what are the great, uncovered SL-based games that Onder should play and review for New World Notes next?  Here's a full list of games that have already been featured on NWN; barring exceptions as ambitious as the FFVII-inspired Midgar, our preference is for entirely original games. 

Post titles, post descriptions, post links to screenshots and related sites, post SLURLs for finding them in-world!  If any sound particularly promising, I'll highlight them in a front page update, to encourage readers to check them out while Onder does.