New World Notes

Making Second Life Fast, Easy, and Fun Will Be Slow, Difficult & Boring -- Does Linden Have the Culture to Do It?

Gorgeous Yongho and Melanie774 Kidd model Linden Lab's new motto and Second Life's sexiest catch phrase (shirt by Aranel Ah's BOOM [SLurl], photo by Ms. Kidd)

Philip Rosedale wants Second Life to become fast, easy, and fun, so here's his biggest challenge: The effort required to reach that goal will be slow, difficult, and boring. It'll require a lot of unglamorous bug fixing and code slogging and staying on target, and for any software company, that's a laborious, time-consuming task. But in Second Life's case, that's the easier part. The larger challenge is that the goal also requires substantial fixes to the user interface, for performing basic activities like riding a vehicle or putting on clothing.

Take the screenshots above and below, featuring Gogo and Mela in their "Fast, Easy, and Fun" fashion. It certainly rocks and makes Second Life look like everything you'd want it to be. But to make that image possible required a multitude of steps, none of which are, well, fast, easy, or fun:

Fight Club Fashion in Second Life

After David Fincher directed Fight Club but before he directed a movie about Facebook, Fincher wanted to make a movie about Second Life. And if he did, he would have loved this brutally excellent Second Life fashion spread inspired by Fight Club, by the terminally cool kids at SLipsters. Which I found via a blog called Razorblade Cookies, which has much that's witty to say about this metaverse Brad Pitt and Ed Norton pair, and many other things too.

Philip Rosedale on the Future of Second Life: Making SL User Experience "Fast, Easy, and Fun" Company's New Strategy

"Fast, Easy, and Fun": Linden Lab's goal for what the company wants Second Life to be -- and now a sexy double entendre T-shirt in SL too! (Here made, modeled, and photographed by Callie Cline)

Second Life founder and interim CEO Philip Rosedale and recently appointed CFO Bob Komin just addressed the userbase on the future of Second Life. Here's some highlights that I live-blogged -- discuss in Comments!

• Philip says "Fast, easy, and fun" is the design goal for Second Life now, everything from launching SL to in-world activities like riding a vehicle or putting on clothing.
• Philip on putting Second Life in a browser: "We have a couple of people who are looking at exactly how that's going to happen", but suggests that won't be developed any time soon.
• Philip is asked if he's going to be at Linden Lab to stay: He answers that the focus of the executives and investors is getting Second Life back on the right direction, and suggests he won't step down as interim CEO until that happens: "We have not begun the process of selecting a long-term CEO."
• Philip is asked if he regularly reads Second Life blogs and other media about SL; he says he does, but that it doesn't influence his company strategy much. CFO Bob Komin mentions TechCrunch and other business news, but also says he's too busy at the company to read as much as he'd like.

Young Daniel Voyager has a more extended list of notes here. Some highlights:

• We’re not changing the capability of the system, just make everything easier for new and existing users
• Second Life is fundamentally not a social network [In response to questions about SL becoming more like Facebook]
• HTTP Textures coming soon

My ultimate takeaway from this meeting: "Fast, easy, and fun" is a laudable and correct strategy for improving Second Life, but I see no specifics that convince me Second Life will be able to significantly grow its userbase or revenue this year or even next.

Update, 12:30pm: Storm Thunders and Callie Cline have already turned "Fast, Easy, and Fun" into a Second Life T-shirt. Which is a good way of expressing Second Life's development strategy. And also hinting at other things.

MMO Wise Man Scott Jennings on Saving Second Life

Oh that Scott Jennings! (Also known as Lum the Mad, also known additionally as Lum Lumley, when he's in Second Life that is.) When the veteran game developer and critic gets to ranting, he can sure unleash a righteous fury. So when speaking about how to save Second Life, here's some of what he says:

Linden is a service provider. Service providers have to have good customer service. It’s a requirement. Without good customer service, everything else is irrelevant, because your new user experience will consist of your new users leaving your hermetically sealed new user zone and experiencing something akin to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but with slightly more overweight men pretending to be female fashionistas. This is something that all successful online service providers eventually learn (Blizzard’s customer service team numbers in the thousands), and if Linden wishes to join their number, they need to learn that lesson. [Emph. mine]

(Wow, thousands to handle World of Warcraft customer support? I would have guessed in the high hundreds.) And instead of spending all that money building Viewer 2, here's what Lum would have advised the Lindens, on building a new client:

• Web-based, using Flash, Java or some other ubiquitous platform to minimize installation headaches
• Very, very low system requirements, running comfortably on netbooks and older machines
• Minimal download times
• A very, very simple user interface that passes the “Mac user/grandmother” test
• Searching and directory features that guide new users quickly and easily into Second Life’s already extant vast economy
• Ability to opt into embedding into/connecting with Facebook and future social networks

As careful readers of the last couple years may have observed, sadly, alas, none of that happened, and mostly isn't likely to happen anytime soon. When I wrote my own advice on how to save Second Life, one of the tips was "Hire a Game Industry VP With Design Background". And you know, the Lindens (if they're listening) might want to look Lum's way. In any case, do read the whole thing here.

Thursday Machinima: Japanese Punk Goes Better With French Maid Furry, Fishcake (But You Knew That Already)

You know what today needs? Yes, that's right: Japanese punk rock with gravity-defying fishcake eating and a hot horny babe beset by a housefly while a furry in a French maid outfit rocks out on a three-headed bearskin rug. (How'd you guess?) Also, directed by a little bird. So, here you go:

The machinima is by a Japanese Resident named sober Svenska (blog here), who as it happens, is a friend of my Japanese translator Sanny Yoshikawa. "This song is erotic and about imagining a lover," Sanny tells me, though you've probably guessed that by now. She adds that sober Svenska, whose avatar is a budgie (left), was disappointed to discover her chosen Second Life name literally translates to "Not intoxicated Swedish woman". But she does seem to be under the influence of something when she made this machinima. The band MeRMEN doesn't play in Second Life, by the way, because the vocalist/songwriter lives in a remote part of Nagano, Japan; but the other band member is a close acquaintance of Svenska's, who now makes machinima videos of their music. So it all worked out well. If you call French maid furries and flying fish cakes working out well, and goddammit I do.

If You Think an Achievement System is Incompatible With Second Life, You Don't Remember How Second Life Started

Second Life's homepage from 2004, via Archive.org

"How to Save Second Life in Seven Easy Steps" is my latest editorial on Social Times, and I'm gratified to see it garnering a very interesting conversation there. The most curious reaction, of course, is to my suggestion to add an achievement/leveling system to Second Life, primarily to give new users a structure that will ease them into the SL experience in an encouraging and fun way. Sample objections: "That will just make Second Life like World of Warcraft!", or "I don't want SL to become FarmVille!" At heart to these objections is the assumption that a leveling system is fundamentally incompatible with Second Life, which is such an ahistorical notion, it's worth addressing here.

In point of fact, before World of Warcraft launched and FarmVille existed, Second Life did have a leveling system, and had one from very earliest days.

Ophelia's Gaze on Second Life Summer Swim Wear: Let's Hear it for the Boys

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

I've spent a lot of time talking about swimwear for the ladies, but don't think for a second that I would forget about the guys! I wanted to feature two pairs of swim trunks specifically, because they both have a feature I really appreciate-- prim bottoms. All-mesh swim trunks always look a little bit off to me, so I'm glad that there are more prim-legged options available. On the left, we have the plainly named unisex Board Shorts by Syler Morgwain of Doppelganger [SLurl], which is an excellent place to find swimwear for both guys and girls. I like the slim silhouette of these trunks, but if you want a slightly looser fit (or a more dynamic print), I also highly recommend the Floral Swim Shorts by Cereberus Noel of *GField* [SLurl], which even has matching bikinis available for your partner or bff.

I've got a must-have accessory for beach-bound guys, keep reading to find out what it is!

Chestnut's Choices 7/9 - 8/4 - Metaverse-only Music Group Chouchou Performs, NASA eEducation Summer Fair, Concert to Protest Gulf Oil Spill Disaster, and much, much more

Chestnut Rau's Weekly Roundup of Upcoming SL Events.........

Chouchou is a Japanese music group that exists only in the virtual world of Second Life.   Juliet Herberle (above) lends her vocals and arabesque Choche provides the music that is Chouchou.  Together the duo have released two albums and several Machinima, the newest of which you can see here.  Read more about Chouchou here on NWN.  

Chouchou will be performing in their unbelievably beautiful new sim at 7:30am on Saturday July 31st.  The group has a devoted fanbase who have been eagerly awaiting the duo's return to live SL performance so make sure you get there early to get a seat.  The sim will open at 7am.  Please set your draw distance to 512 and turn up particles so you get the full visual experience of the build.  Do your part to make the show pleasant by dressing in your low lag, low scripted best.  In Chouchou.  [Slurl teleport at this link] 

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Thursday

Today through 8/22 - Body of a Woman Exhibit by Callipygian Christensen

Some of the moving images In this exhibit by Callipygian Christensen challenge the traditional notion of what the body of a woman looks like and some are inspired by the poetry of Pablo Neruda.  Callipygian Christensen has been creating photographic art using images shot in Second Life, for over 4 years. Her images have won both juried and fan-favourite competitions and have been shown in galleries and special exhibitions.  In Tasogare. [SLurl teleport at this link] 

7/29 5:30pm - GLBTIQ Discussion Group: Coming Out 

Come share stories in a relaxed environment of the safe space of the Gay Angel Club. Coming out is the first discussion of the season, because it can be defined in so many different ways. Half of the process is "coming out" to ourselves and then being able to talk about worries, concerns or just share your story of coming out with other like-minded folks. This event is open to everyone. Any questions should be forwarded to Micheal832 Oodles. In Breezy Shores.  [Slurl teleport at this link] 

6pm - Virtually Speaking with Jay Ackroyd and Guest Philip Slater

Phil Slater has taught sociology at Harvard, Brandeis, and UCSC and has written twenty plays, taught writing and playwriting and is currently teaching online courses at California Institute for Integral Studies and blogs at Huffington Post. Today he will discuss his book The Chrysalis Effect.  The show will be simulcast on BlogTalkRadio or attend in world. In Virtually Speaking. [SLurl teleport at this link]

7pm - NCI Class: Animated Textures 

Have you ever wanted to make your creations flicker or flash, or just change a graphic? Learn how in this class that will teach advanced texture techniques like frame animation, and planar mapping. There will be a class project to make flickering Fairy Wings based on real butterfly wings.  In Fishermans Cove.  [Slurl teleport at this link]

After the break:  Song of Solomon Play, Ventura Art & Jardin Exhibition, Grand Reopening of The Patio, and much much more

Who Are Your Favorite Musicians in Second Life? Get Ready to Share in the Epic New World Notes' Readers Poll!

Second Life has a great music scene, but as everyone knows, it's difficult for artists to get exposure or a decent following. So next week, I'm going to launch an epicly epic New World Notes Reader Poll that'll cover each of the main genres, along with categories like Favorite In-World Act, Favorite Music Videos, and Favorite SL-RL Crossover Artist. (The most popular artists will get a profile on NWN, of course.) If we're lucky, it'll be a bit like the famous Rolling Stone Reader Poll, but for the metaverse; if we're really lucky, it'll help some of artists who make the list get more fame and fortune. So start compiling a mental list now, get your friends to start making theirs, and prepare to help us nominate favorites next week!

Second Life Incredibly Powerful Tool for the Disabled, Philadelphia Inquirer Story Suggests, But Needs Major Improvements For Benefits to Last

Here's a compelling Philadelphia Inquirer article on the power of Second Life to benefit the severely disabled (a thesis that won't surprise any regular reader of this blog) with marvelous passages like this one, reported on from Inglis House, a West Philadelphia clinic that uses SL to treat many of its clients. Here's what Stu Sanderson, a client with cerebral palsy, experienced on a visit to SL with a facility staffer:

His fondest memory may be when he and Waller both logged on to Second Life. He wanted to dance, so Waller and he teleported to a hall - and they began to waltz. "There were tears running down my face as I experienced a dance, something in my wildest dreams I never thought I would do. It was like teleporting out of my physical body and literally sliding and gliding," Sanderson, a poet, wrote about the experience.

Awesome. At the same time, the Inquirer reports how hard Second Life's learning curve is, most especially for the disabled, and how it's vastly limited SL's effectiveness in this regard:

All but two of 10 people in that pilot project have quit - too hard for too little return. Even one of the remaining participants, Inglis resident Stu Sanderson... plans to stop soon.