New World Notes

What's in a Name? Site/Bot Census Taker Tracks SL Surnames, Observes Trends

If you suddenly see a metal robot with a suspicious resemblance to Bender from Futurama, it's probably not a camping bot-- just an automated census taker, quietly gathering names, and compiling them into a database.  The bot is an alt account of Adz Childs, proprietor of SLNameWatch, a site which does exactly that.  Reading his list of top surnames in Second Life suggests all kinds of social analysis.  Why is Allen far and away the most popular, currently with 154,317 active users holding that last name?  How about the name Oh, a distant second with 96,164, or Beck at third with 95,952?  (A high degree of Asia-philes and fans of the surreal Scientologist popstar?)  The high number of Residents named GossipGirl (83,841) confirms the popularity of the themed area promoting the popular TV show, while the excess of Writers (70,205) implies a strong presence of creative types.

To gather these names, Childs' bot logs into Second Life, does a surname search, collecting 101 names every few seconds, then dumps these to the SLNameWatch server.  (A more detailed technical explanation after the break.)  Through this process, he tells me, "I can verify that the [number of]registered users number on Second Life's economic stats page is accurate, at least within 96%...  I know because I have counted nearly every one of them!"  Through this process, Adz Childs also has a plausible explanation for the number of strange first names you may have noticed recently, with numbers and odd use of capital letters.  I assumed people were just recreating their AIM/MSN Instant Message names, but Childs has another theory:

Rik's Second Life Event Picks, 1/31-2/3: Formal Wear for the Gentleman Avatar, a 7 Continent Art Show, and More

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

I have found that for the gentleman avatar, his sartorial options are much more limited than for his female counterparts. Nearly every week, a new women's clothing store seems to open its doors or hold a fashion show for their latest line, while men's clothing seems confined to a few dozen designers. (That said, the blog Men's Second Style does a fantastic job covering new men's fashions.) So I am always selfishly pleased to get announcements of new men's wear stores opening in SL.

On Saturday February 2, "Styles of edo" is having a grand opening party for their new sim Tyche (click here to teleport) featuring their line of men's formalwear. The shop is situated in a romantic Mediterranean village setting, perfect for picture taking in your new duds.  The shop is neatly organized by two-button and three-button suits, tuxedos and accessories -- everything you need for that upcoming formal ball or business meeting. Come by Tyche at 2AM PST to catch Styles of edo head designer edo Tone. Then later at 2PM, sim designer Ao Kilara will be on hand to talk about the build.     

Also Coming Up This Week: Learn how to script to sit, a seven continent streaming exhibit, a futures researcher forecasts the next 25 years, Español para los newbies, a benefit concert for AIDS relief, an Asian-themed machinima showing, and much, much more coolness...

Iris Seeks International SL Designers / Iris Cherche les Créateurs Internationales de SL / アイリスが国際的なＳＬデザイナーを探してます / Iris Procura Designers Internacionais no SL / Poszukuję twórców Second Life / Ik ben op zoe

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

I am looking for Second Life designers who are at a disadvantage because English is not their first language. If you know anyone who makes clothing, hair, skins, accessories, shoes, or even builds furniture, send me a notecard with a shop landmark, or leave a comment here or anywhere on my blog with a SLURL. Just be sure to leave your SL name, too. Why? If I have never been to that designer’s store before, I will personally pay you L$100. This offer does not have a time limit, it will be a continuous part of my efforts to reduce the publicity gap between creators who speak English and creators who don’t.  (And if you can help translate this message in any language not featured here, please do so in Comments.) More languages after the cut!

Update, 1/31: Added Spanish, Dutch, and Polish translations-- thanks much to Dpende Control, Daman Tenk, and Anulka Zimminy, respectively.  Keep 'em coming!

Update, 2/1: Added Korean, thanks to Arwen Epin!

New World Newsfeed: Famous Balloonist Trains for World Record... with a Cubey Terra Wind Rider (Updated)

Recent dispatches from the outside world...

This news is several levels of cool:  Michio Kanda is a seasoned balloonist who holds the world record for longest duration balloon flight (50 hours and 38 minutes.)  He's now preparing to make a daring (deranged?) flight from Japan to North America; if successful, it'll establish yet another world record.  Trouble is, Kanda isn't fluent in English, a problem when he enters US/Canadian airspace.

Like a Natural Woman: Raven Sells Swaying Breasts

Outside her store, Smashing Prims-- since 12/07, up to 1000 chests served

In her first life, Raven Ivanova is a woman who was none too satisfied with the size of her chest.  "I've always been small breasted and disliked being that way most of my life," she tells me.  Motherhood recently changed that, however, giving her what she dubs "half decent breasts". She chuckles, recounting how she took that transformation strutting outside. "I wear more revealing clothes now," says Raven, "and for the first time I wear bikinis and like to populate hot tubs."

In a sense, this is the experience she offers customers in her Second Life store, Smashing Prims-- website here, direct SLURL teleport at this link-- through a unique synthesis of virtual fashion and technology.  Raven's fashion comes from the evening gowns, lingerie, and custom skins she creates.  The technology is derived from two relatively recent innovations to Second Life 3D building: "flexi prims", building blocks which bend to physical forces like wind and gravity, and "sculpties", prims designed to more realistically simulate organic shapes.  Merging art and science, Raven Ivanova has launched a quiet revolution in female avatar fashion-- and for that matter, the very definition of what women avatars should be:

Bouncing breasts.  Breasts that you can snap to your avatar as attachments, or in a dress you wear.  Breasts that sway and gorgeously swell under clothing, when a woman walks; breasts that briefly take flight, when a woman moves with still more vigor, such as dancing, or maybe a bout of kung fu. To see them up close is to see the Uncanny Valley crossed at chest level, but failing a first-hand look, Raven's product demo video should suffice.

"This is interesting," I tell Raven when I meet her at Smashing Prims, "because it's usually assumed only men want big breasted avatars."

Human Pinball Wizard, Havok 4 Style (Updated)

After years of delay, the Havok 4 upgrade to Second Life's creaking Havok 1 physics engine is imminent, and should happen this quarter; very early adopters have been on the test grid for months, however, playing with the Havok 4 version of Second Life, showing off entertaining demos of various Newtonian noodling.  I've also been curious to see what game developers would make with the updated physics, which should be powerful enough for real time, fast-action games.  I just spotted this rudimentary video from Moy Loon an unknown Resident, and it's the coolest use of SL-enabled Havok 4 as a game platform I've seen thus far:  pinball, but pinball but on a giant scale, where players are inside the balls themselves.   Trying to contact the developer now for more details.

Update, 9:25pm:  Just heard back from Moy Loon, the game's creator.  Read those after the break.

Still Surveying!

My Federated Media reader survey is still open-- if you haven't already, please go here to take it, and tell us who you are.  I'll post some demographics after they're compiled.

New World Tableau: Haley's "Faeries on the Bad Side"

Why wouldn't a pair of faeries put on leather and fishnets and take to hanging out in dark Goth clubs?  It's the casual collision of genres that I love about Haley Salomon's Tableau photo-- that, and the mischievous glow on the green-haired one-- because it captures the essence of the SL experience. 

Details for submitting your own Tableau after the break.

See You at Metaverse U: Stanford, Feb. 16-17th

What does Howard Rheingold think of the virtual community he imagined as it currently exists?  How does Raph Koster think Metaplace will thrive as a more user-friendly Second Life?  Where do Cory Ondrejka's passions lie, in the post-Linden era?  I'm guessing all those answers and more will be answered at Stanford's Metaverse U, conveniently running the weekend before the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco.  I'll be joining a stellar roster of speakers, and I'm excited to announce, this will be the first place where The Making of Second Life will be on sale, a week before it hits US shelves-- I'll be signing copies, of course. 

Registration info is here; logistics details are here.  It's the brainchild of Henrik Bennetsen, himself no metaverse slouch-- he's director of the Stanford Humanities Lab, and in a previous life, Henrik Linden, and the author of the influential "Augmentation versus Immersion" essay.

Rezzable Runs the Hard Numbers: Activity Up 30%, But Spending Down Since 2006

Creators of Greenies (above) and a number of other marvelous sites, the small UK start-up Rezzable is easily among the most popular real world companies working in SL, in terms of foot traffic earned and quality interactive content embraced by the community.  (And many months after I first wrote about them, I should add by way of full disclosure, they became an occasional advertiser on this blog.)  Their revenue model depends in large part on virtual item sales (like copies of their insanely cute Greenies aliens), which puts them in a unique place to analyze the growth of Second Life in terms of users and economic activity.  On Rezzable's blog, the company churns Lindens' numbers from December 2006 to December 2007, and finds that active users have increased by a third in that time-- Residents logging in over a 60 period up from 1,047,908 to 1,354,339, for example.  However, that increase has not been matched by spending of Residents: