New World Notes

Unity Can Now Run 3D Graphics on Chrome Web Browser *Without* Plugin - Should Make OpenSim and Second Life Easier to Web Up

Early last week I noted how a version of OpenSim was coming to Unity, the plugin that runs 3D graphics, games, and virtual worlds on the web. Late last week at the Google I/O conference, there was even bigger news -- it's now possible to run Unity content on Google's Chrome browser without a plugin. This video explains how that will happen with Native Client, an open source code in Chrome-- the 3D joy starts at about 8:30:

Much more details on Unity's blog. As suggested there, this is a game changer for 3D game development and other 3D content. For readers of this blog, it's now far more likely that we'll see OpenSim and even Second Life running on the web (at least in Google Chrome), and fairly soon. And that would be a true game changer for the ideal of the metaverse.

Hat tip: Andrew Wooldridge

Last Week's Top Five Posts

• Second Life the Beautiful: Sam Lowry's Latest Machinima is Patriotic Paen to the Meaning of the Metaverse
• Should We Call SL-Unique Art and Creativity "Virtualist"?
• Second Life Avatar Survey Results: Majority Choose Non-Realistic Avatar Types
• Tabitha Eichel Explains Why Second Life Identities Are Important
• Change Your Facebook Settings to "Friends Only" By Pushing Just One Button -- New Web App From Two Linden Lab Vets

Sunday Open Forum

You have the floor! What's on your mind lately?

NWN in Japanese: Sanny Yoshikawaが、セカンドライフに帰ってきた・・・息子と！

New World Notesの日本語翻訳担当Sanny Yoshikawaは、この1、2ヶ月このブログから遠ざかっていたが、うれしいことに今週NWNに帰ってくる。

Should We Call SL-Unique Art and Creativity "Virtualist"?

Raven Haalan of Prim Perfect has a very interesting post on "virtualism", a term drawn from art historian Frank Popper which Raven applies to uniquely Second Life creativity across a number of disciplines: gravity-defying architecture, fashion that would be near-impossible to implement in the real world, only-in-SL environments, and so on. As Raven defines it (and illustrates with a number of examples), Virtualism is:

[A]n art movement which exploits the relaxed physical rules and enhanced capabilities of virtual worlds. Virtualist works are characterized by elements and/or behaviours which are specific to virtual environments. The primary considerations of this aesthetic are psychological and/or social, as the physical is irrelevant.

I like the term for a number of reasons. For one, it's a succinct coinage encompassing all forms of Second Life/virtual world creativity. (While I admire and appreciate DanCoyote Antonelli's "hyperformalism", by contrast, the language and the works associated with it lean heavily to abstract sculpture.) Additionally, "virtualism" is a concept that's relatively easy to quickly grasp, both for people already familiar with Second Life, and the larger art world that doesn't, and is still skeptical (exceptions like Cao Fei notwithstanding) that virtual worlds can be a platform art in the first place. For Second Life-based art to become part of the wider art community, I think it needs a common language that intrigues and inspires. So I put the question to Second Life's many working artists and their admirers: Should we rally around the Virtualist flag?

Image credit: Prim Perfect.

OpenSim/Second Life Versus Unity on the Web, Explained

Here's detailed, geek-centric background on the back-end differences between Second Life and OpenSim and a virtual world running on Unity, the web-based 3D plug-in. Metaverse evangelist and IBM alum Ian Hughes (better known in Second Life as Epredator Potato.) Now that a UK company is developing a version of OpenSim that's compatible with Unity, this is important background to have. Pictured: Ian's charts on SL/OpenSim operation, and Unity running with a massively multiplayer server platform called SmartFox.

Eclectic Street Fashion For Second Life From Japan

Euclid is another Japanese Second Life blog with a unique style and presentation, promoting a brand of the same name. I'm just not sure how to classify Euclid's look: Is there name for the retro unisex schoolboy with ironic trucker caps spiked with Japanese flavor look? (Help me out, Iris!) Thanks to Naoyoshi of Metaverse.JP (a sponsoring partner to this blog) for the tip!

Change Your Facebook Settings to "Friends Only" By Pushing Just One Button -- New Web App From Two Linden Lab Vets

Given all the recent controversy over Facebook privacy policies, and the confusing tangle of 50 options you need to navigate, to manage your privacy on the social network, the One Button Rule probably couldn't come at a better time. As the name suggests, it's a web app (for Firefox and Chrome) that changes your Facebook privacy settings with the push of a single button. It was developed by two alumni of Linden Lab (who are also, full disclosure, friends) -- on the tech side, Ian Wilkes, who was the main guy behind scaling Second Life, and on the business side of things, Linden's former lawyer and VP of Corporate development Ginsu Yoon, who as it happens, just wrote a post on his blog about Facebook's expanding levels of control over its users. This app, as it turns out, is meant to be part of a solution that gives consumers more control over their Facebook options:

New World Notes Comment of the Week: Tabitha Eichel Explains Why Second Life Identities Are Important

There's been a lot of conversation about enabling more connections of real life identities with Second Life avatars, such as through Facebook Connect, or through the viewer's new profile window. While I believe there are many reasons this option is important, NWN reader Tabitha Eichel recently made a powerful comment on this blog about the importance of anonymous Second Life identities, which she fears will suffer as a consequence. Read below! - Hamlet Au

I show my real identity to long time friends, but mostly I don't. I have friends who are uncomfortable with this, though. One of my friends is a burn victim and typical to the myth, lives in his parents' basement. He's a great guy that I care a lot about, but he doesn't fit into society when people see him. I know him in real life, so I know what Second Life means to him. I have another friend with a cleft palate. She's a pretty and smart young lady, who has a hard time speaking clearly, so she won't use voice in Second Life. After voice came out, she received more and more harassment. People were so concerned that she was a man because she wouldn't use voice, that she finally made a male avatar.

Why is it so hard for some people to believe that a large portion of the Second Life community is there for escapism and not to interact with real identities? This escape was what made Second Life desirable for many people. Not everyone is beautiful, popular, confident or whatever in the real world. There are many difficulties interacting with real people, that were negated in Second Life. It didn't matter what you looked like or where you were from. That made Second Life great for us.

But now, just like in real life, the beautiful, confident, fully-abled, popular people are calling the shots.

Chestnut's Choices 5/20 - 5/26: Epic Surfing Competition, International Missing Children's Day, Nonprofits, Gaming & Virtual Worlds Brainstorm Bash and Much More

 
Chestnut Rau’s weekly round-up of upcoming SL events…

There is a large, active surfing community in SL and on Saturday, 5/22 from 11am until 2pm you will have the chance to enjoy the SL Surfing Association's Invitational Competition.  The SLSA is the governing guthority for surfing and windsurfing activities. They promote surfing, kiteboarding, and windsurfing and provides guidance on competition, judging, and instruction in the sports.

During the Competition there will be music and a carnival-like atmosphere. You will be amazed at how much fun it is to watch the competition which will include more than 30 surfers working the 100m wide wave!  If you get the itch to learn to surf there will be plenty of experts on hand to get you started. In Chi.   [SLurl teleport at this link]

Also after the break: RFL Buttons & Bows Hunt, History Talk on "How the West Was Undone," Savannah Coronet's Live Tribute to Patsy Cline and much much more