SL8B Open Forum: What Do You Think So Far?

Click here to teleport to SL8B's Exhilarate sim

So Second Life's official 8th year anniversary celebration is open now, with many Linden-sponsored sims hosting innumerable sites. I just took a brief peek after completing some deadlines, and it seems pretty overwhelming. Also, fairly laggy. I'm somewhat surprised at the grid layout; I thought the theme was "The Magic of Second Life", not the Suburbia of Second Life. In any case, much things to see and experiences to have. What's your favorite so far, already there, and coming up? Please post details in Comments, to share with other readers!

Comments

[Eddi Haskell]

Overall, it looks very tacky - a melange of conflicting styles and images with no coherent theme. I would have liked thematic areas, more of a "world's fair" feel, or just some organization to it. I have just posted quite a few photographs on my blog. There are some real design gems here, however, and I did like much of the art. Well worth visiting.

[Ann Otoole InSL]

LL needs to remove glow from the viewer is what I think.

[My Avatar and Me]

https://www.constellation.tv/myavatar
Constellation presents the global online premiere of My Avatar and Me, June 26, 2pm EDT hosted by director Mikkel Stolt.

Get ticket today!

[Vecky Burdam]

tbh ... plain boring, not worth a visit.
I always wonder with the tons of talent we have in SL, why LL always chooses mediocrity for their festivities.

[Chaffro]

I think the tinies' Raglan Shire circus on Electrify is great.

[Rin Tae]

I have nto seen all of it yet, as it takes some time to explore all the sims but ... from the first visit it does nto strike me as something that great or representative of 'the magic of SL'

I remember the first birthday celebration I was on, where there was a clear path to walk, areas where sims of similar theme could present themselves and it was all much more about different themes and topics then showing of a small faction of the sims on SL.

It might even be that those birthday celebrations have become a exact mirror image of the lab itself and the lack of vision and idea that is attributed to it by many. I have found it all rather sad how little has been done about one of the events that could really revitalize the faith and support a true community can give to a platform like SL.

[Saffia Widdershins]

Well, I think it's great.

Sure, some parts are shoddy. Some parts show more enthusiasm than skill. But the skill can be developed with p[ractice - as long as the enthusiasm is nurtured.

And some parts - a whole, huge lot of them - are absolutely terrific.

The volunteer organisers have done an amazing job pulling this all together - and the amount of utter garbage they have had to take for pulling this off is quite simply appalling. Entitlement, much?

There are myriad small things that make you gasp, laugh, grin, think ... You just need to walk around and look carefully. Amazing opportunities to make new friends and find new communities you've never heard of.

Of course it's not super duper all-out wonderful. But then, it never was. It's a bubbling stew - and maybe you don't like the carrots or butter beans that have been chucked in but, you know what? Leave them on the side of your plate and enjoy the mushrooms instead.

Two nights ago, we packed the Main Auditorium as we hosted a talk about KittyCatS! and meeroos - and it was fun! I've been over to the Park Stage where Paige Raven has created a really beautiful US rural country fair feel and listened to Mankind Tracer - and it's great (I'll be going to more music events). There's some terrific installations, made with only 234 prims - The Owl and the Pussycat by Empyreal Dreams - an ongoing collaborative project between Ariel Wingtips and Remington Aries. Or Windyy Lane’s monochrome Soaring with Magic where you add the colour.

It's all there. You just have to take the time and look. And be prepared to enjoy yourselves.

And you know what? Instead of sighing for the good old days or tut-tutting about the Lab, find something you like and shoot off an IM to the creator. They'll love the appreciation - and you'll feel better too.

Second Life loses fantastic builds all the time - and there's no shortage of people wringing their hands over that - I do it myself. Well, if you care about what residents are creating, here's your chance to see it - for two weeks only. Now.

So go.

[Scarp Godenot]

The person who said it is just plain boring and not worth a visit didn't spend much time there or look around much I'm thinking.

OFCOURSE there are many of those who just are trying to promote their Second Life businessess in a lame way, but ALSO sprinkled throughout are some VERY cool things. But you must LOOK, or you will not see.

BTW people, going to see this has NOTHING to do with whether you love or hate Linden Labs. Those who are making things there have ZERO to do with sl politics. Hating Linden Labs is no reason not to come see what you WILL find interesting if you give it some time and energy.

Many of those building are simply just OPTIMISTIC creators who are willing to work for FREE for the benefit and enjoyment of others. They are also willing to put up with the limits and restrictions they get to make something great.

I ask you naysayers and people who are "sooooo bored", what can YOU make on a G rated 1024 plot with 234 prims and a low level of scripting? HUH?

[Vecky Burdam]

@Scarp. I took part in a past burning man and SLbday, both times my installations were among the 3 most published (in blogs and on flickr)/discussed/successful ones. Not necessarily because of building skills, but because of their content. And at this SLbday there is absolutely no interesting content, not a single expression that goes beyond what we know since years in SL. I would even go that far to call the stuff utterly uninspired.
(except one or two things that take on current events, like the japanese tsunami, that add something new to SL)

[Scarp Godenot]

@Vecky
Well, each to their own opinion... heh
I disagree strongly with it.

The idea that in order to be interesting, something has to be a never seen before process, technology or idea is one that is highly prevalent in the art world. And one that most working artists know is nice in theory, but completely not consistent with way things actually are.

It is a straw man that critics create and build up in order to beat down all art that is not what they themselves then declare as 'original'.

This is also the endless drone of criticism of virtual art. ......that it is all the same. The more one looks closely at what is going on, the more one can see that this is a false assertion. Each piece must be judged on its own merits. One can't just write off all art that is 'twisted prims' or 'moving textures' or 'scripted movement' categorically.

That would be similar to writing off painting by saying "There they go again, scrawling on canvas with colored paints..." as a criticism of all painting. Or "Just another example of chipping something into a marble block..." as a criticism of the boring sameness of sculpture.

As for viewing the SL8B event, one cannot go into a situation like this without an open accepting mind. That is when one can have great experiences......

You get out of it what you put into it. AND just because there is a large amount of typical or trivial stuff present, is no reason to damn the entire exposition....

I must also observe that hardly anyone EVER experiences everything in a large event like this, simply because it would take far more time than they have. There are surprises there if you look.

My 2 cents worth....

[callie cline]

wow! this is my 3rd year participating and i have to say i've seen so much AWESOME stuff! i LOVE to go around (and have not yet) and see what the other parts of SL do, which i have NO idea about being in my own world most of the time. i've really enjoyed what i've seen so far.

perhaps i view things a bit different as i don't expect RL "professional" things, what i LOVE is the fact that most ppl in SL do it as their "second life" and "be what they are not in RL" so to me... seeing something perhaps a nurse by day, "cowgirl in SL by night" makes is EXCITING to me.

last night by accident tp'd into a filming of this group that does live dancing and music that was being filmed, 'unity" or something and i was able to hear them interview i had NO Idea that existed and while not my thing i was pretty impressed by the time, thought and energy AND passion they had.

another exhibit i saw was a cute little build and spoof on the well known 'mouse trap" game. the phoenix viewers bird and sky on their plot is really great, next to that a little theater that looks vaudvillian, and i could go on and on...

i think our exhibit is nice too, it depicts the 'magic' of sl, using our KittyCatS, a huge one is hiding in a hat and if you look you see the only remains of the magician are his gloves over his wand... the kitty made him disappear and now is playing with his tricks...

btw. we created a special grid wide "magic cat" with "cake"food for all residents as our gift.

Some of the exhibits looks sorta thrown together and others, if you look, i think you can see a LOT of thought and imagination behind them.

i guess one can always find what one is looking for and also... it's pretty subjective.

my first year doing it i had 2500 prims, it's much more challenging to use 234 and way HARDER but it gives more ppl a chance to contribute.

i'd check it out for sure and i can't wait to see EVERY sim. it's a big word out there.

cheers!

callie

p.s. we're on the astonish sim next to the auditorium if you want to go get your birthday cat! happy birhtday!

post & photo here http://calliecline.blogspot.com/

[Saffia Widdershins]

Hi Vecky!

As you have such strongly negative opinions on the myriad builds at SL8B, and your own installations have been so highly praised, I was intrigued enough to search to see what you've created.

Sadly, the only thing I'm seeing when I Google on your name is comments on Hamlet's blog ... and I can't find you inworld either. Perhaps you have a name that you create under that I would recognise?

[Loki]

I'm enjoying the many different builds from SL users of all skill levels. I've seen some exhibits that have inspired me to learn more skills, and I've seenothers that remind me how fun it was to start out. I even found an exhibit close to my own idea, and it's great to see how someone else dealt with similar ideas. I learnt what 'kawaii' means.
I for one appreciate the effort everyone new or old to SL who contributed to this years event and look forward to next years SL9B which will be the first to have mesh. XD

[Jo yardley]

Well I had a little look around but it was too laggy and I was too busy with our own parcel.

I recreated a tiny 'taster' of what our big full region 1920s Berlin sim has to offer and every day at 2pm we gather there in the bar for a drink, dance and chat.
Something we normally do in our main sim.

It is great fun and we get lots of new people visiting our plot there who somehow never found our sim.
Some of these have already come to our big sim and appear to be very excited about discovering us.

So we're happy!

[Vecky Burdam]

@Scarp. that's how mediocrity tries to justify mediocrity. Everybody knows one cannot re-invent the world every single time, but one can add a different aspect, or re-relate old aspects so they become a new meaning. (Or maybe you are able to name me a single thing in human creation that is recognized as important and is completely lacking any aspect of something we can call "new"). There is a reason why people don't buy prim hair from 2007 anymore, but why do we still have to look at 2007 buildings at LL festivities?
And that's why there are curators. Who (in this context) should know the 'history' of SL and chose installations that have this little twist, this bits of 'new', this one aspect that makes them interesting and different from what we have seen before. (Which clearly is not the case).
Maybe LL has to go a different way, by not selecting people, but doing a kind of 'competition' asking for concrete ideas and then give the parcels to the best concepts. (And if LL doesn't know enough about its own history to judge/recognize what is good, they could invite a jury of experts, like in RL architecture competitions, who could make a qualified choice. I would for example accept Hamlet in such a jury at any time).

and @ Saffia. that is the merit of a non-facebook based virtual world. That i can speak my opinion without jeopardizing my public life in SL by simply using a fake name. If you would take that away we would sink even deeper into the RL mediocrity that already dominates also SL. And from now on, i will use yet another fake name. Good bye Vecky Burdam.

[Scarp Godenot]

@Vecky, whoever you may be...

I find I have to laugh out loud at your diatribe of self righteous condescention and denigration of the Second Life art world.

I have to call you out on this statement however "...And at this SLbday there is absolutely no interesting content, not a single expression that goes beyond what we know since years in SL"

I don't think you took the time to look at the whole thing, I think you went for a while, didn't like what you saw and left. If you did take the 20 hours of viewing it would take to cursority look at all the builds I apologize.

I have heard criticisms like yours over and over ad infinitum since starting my SL art thing in 2007. In almost all cases they come from those who are simply unaware of what or how much great stuff is going on out there.

We are collectively developing a new art form here. Yes it is its own art form, and, it is new. We use the tools we have and work with those limits to explore the boundaries and discover just what this new form is all the time.

The creators and developers of this new art form are in Second Life and several of them are at SL8B. Many of these artists are very successful artists in the so called Real World. We have been around the block and know all aobut contemporary art issues and are learning the limits of this new form.

Thinking all of this stuff is just the same old same old is just a failure on your part of finding the art or understanding the issues that are being presented and dealt with. Simple as that.

I see that you have made it so that we can't engage your contributions to this mix. And until we can judge if what you say about yourself is equal to your own opinions of yourself, we will just have to say "You are entitled to your own opinion, but we only see it as ill informed "

[Troy McLuhan]

So far the thing that's struck me the most at SL8B is the SL musicians playing on the various parcel music streams. I'm in awe how SL has made a difference in so many musicians' lives...

[Loki]

i has plug video of SL8B http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqlCcOrQlhU

[Uccello]

I'm fortunate enough to have seen almost every exhibit at SL8B and have witnessed quite a few of the shows so I'm confident when I give my opinion: It's great! It is truly a cross-section of Second Life whether it be the focus of the builds or the quality of construction. Not everyone has the same tastes or skills and that's the real magic, I think. There is something for everyone. And it is important to remember that everyone has volunteered. Don't like what you see? Volunteer to show us your stuff for SL9B! Check out my blog (click my name above) for posts about SL8B. You'll see what I've liked best.