Linden Lab Adds Recommended (But Unofficial) Second Life Avatar Authorization App to New Social Network

As controversy continues over unauthorized avatar names on Avatars United, Linden Lab's new social network, here's a new wrinkle: the company has added a third party "Recommended Application" widget to the network. Created by Resident MSo Lambert, "SL Blips" is a heads-up display worn in-world which connects a Resident's Avatars United profile with their Second Life avatar. Interestingly, this is not a Linden-made official product, and is sold with the disclaimer, "SL Blips HUD and SL Blips Avatars United application are in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Linden Lab or [Avatars United creators] Enemy Unknown AB." (But based on its presentation on the site, is still editorially "Recommended" by the Lindens and Enemy Unknown.) Question is, will this be enough to end complaints over Avatars United accounts imitating Second Life avatars they are not?

Comments

[Peter Stindberg]

I assume the "recommended" status is purely based on a popularity rating. SL-Blips spread pretty fast by word of mouth, so many users installed it in short time, and most likely this has triggered the (automatic) recommendation.

The usefulness apart from the authentification is actually rather limited. While the inworld HUD allows you to send status message updates (blips) they do not appear in the regular "Shoutbox" application (where they would make their way into the history and profile page) but solely to the avatars "SL-Blips" page.

Still it is the first plugin specifically developed for SL - the first of many more I assume.

Btw, the lugin's developer MSo Lambert is better known to most of the SL residents as the brain behind the Subscribe-o-Matic system.

[MSo Lambert]

I might be biased, but I'd say the recommended applications are probably automatically displayed or rotated based on some sort of install data (I think I've seen one or two different recommended applications over the course of a few days).

As far as the functionality goes, I agree it's pretty limited at the moment, but there's a few reasons for that:

- I only wanted to include the bare minimum of features that I could test properly in this short development time.

- The application review and approval process was a mystery to me and I wanted the app to be reviewed and approved in a fairly short amount of time in order to have some groundwork for additional features.

- Different parts of the AU profile are simply different OpenSocial AU gadgets running inside the same container. I'm still making my way through the development platform to work out the many possibilities around integration points with AU and other gadgets.

That said, getting the blips to display on people's activity feeds is my current priority at the moment, along with privacy controls to hide or show the location information attached to blip messages.

[Vax Sirnah]

It's a great little app. I don't think it'll be enough for LL to really leverage the site. Tight integration is still needed.

[Nexus Burbclave]

Personally, I think we are spending too much time on this issue, and not enough time on what a new acquisition means, given the lab's anti-competitive track record...but perhaps that's just me being paranoid. My thoughts on that other issue:
http://theburbclave.net/wordpress/2010/02/03/if-we-wanted-your-opinion-wed-purchase-it/

[Delinda Dyrssen]

If your not blippin your slippin. :-)

[Ciaran Laval]

The Lindens will have their own registration app out soon too, not excactly sure how it will work as I was multitasking at the time.