Good Conversation About SpotON3D's Second Life & OpenSim Deployment for Facebook

HyperGrid Business has a good conversation about SpotON3D's wrapper/plugin deployment of OpenSim/Second Life in Facebook which I think is a big breakthrough. The post itself is a statement from the company attempting to address accusations that it's improperly attempting to patent its technology (which you can read about here.) Those claims mostly seem to be coming from competitors (which may or may not be relevant), but in any case, the conversation continues in the post's comment thread. There, Hypergrid Business' Maria Korolov does a good job explaining why the deployment is important. For starters: "The plugin isn't intended for existing users of Second Life and OpenSim since it doesn't offer anything new or useful. The plugin is intended for Facebook-using noobs." And for my money, a comment from Serendipity Seraph addresses the patent controversy which intuitively seems to me the most accurate assessment of the issue:

It is not at all clear that SpotON3D will be granted this patent. If it is granted there are, as others have mentioned, many ways to arrive at this functionality. It is very unlikely that any real lock out will occur. While I generally think that software patents are a travesty I don't see all that much danger here.

Read much more here.

Comments

[Kim]

The fact that they are trying to patent this is not a "threat" to anyone. It's a joke.

The availability of a "plugin wrapper" does not mean "Facebook using noobs" will be more likely to download and install the SL viewer, let alone take the time to learn it's notoriously difficult UI.

"Breakthrough?" You've got this one dead wrong.

http://iliveisl.com/patents-or-how-browser-access-will-cost-you/

[qarl]

Hamlet - do you understand that to use this "plugin", you still need to download the viewer?

[Arcadia Codesmith]

If you could integrate the client download and install so it's in the background, then it wouldn't be any different than other FB apps from the user's perspective.

[Hamlet Au]

Yes, Arcadia, exactly. Of course I know it requires a download, Qarl, but placing it within Facebook, which has a giant ass userbase of people doing SL-like gaming stuff and are accustomed to loading games to play (even if they're just in Flash) would remove a huge friction point and introduce SL/OpenSim to a whole new audience. Even if just 1% of them tried it out, that's 2 MILLION people.

[qarl]

ok - i guess i just don't understand then what you meant when you said:

So we now have a strong movement to bring Second Life, which has remained a niche in great part because it is a downloaded client, to the largest website in the world.

because, with this new breakthrough system, YOU STILL HAVE TO DOWNLOAD THE CLIENT.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

Yes and no... the client has to be downloaded and installed, but there's no reason that couldn't be done seamlessly in the background.

And if it's implemented that way, then to the average Facebook user, there's no difference between this and any other game/app.

It's not an elegant solution. Bit of a kludge, really. But if it makes getting into a virtual world as easy as getting into Farmville, it serves the purpose.

[Kim]

Arcadia, if that is where they're headed, it's definitely a huge step forward, but still nowhere near a breakthrough--it's still SL/OpenSim.

The one issue that everyone's been skirting here is that once it's installed and running in Facebook, it's still the clunky software that most Facebook users (indeed most who have tried SL) have zero time and zero patience for.

Farmville is easy to use, easy to install, and runs on almost any system. SL/OpenSim--none of the above.

[SpotOn3D Press]

This is an official statement from SpotON3D

Due to the reaction of the OpenSim community about our World on the Web plug-in and the pending patent, we’ve decided to take the debate to another level and give everyone - BOTH SUPPORTERS AND NON-SUPPORTERS, the chance to bring their ideas and questions directly to us one-on-one. Our goal here is not to win anyone to a particular way of thinking, but to try answer the biggest questions and at least understand each other's POV. And who knows? Maybe this can help start a continuing dialog between the OpenSim community, SpotON3D and the many other grids out there.

Stevan and I will try and answer as many questions as possible in a 1-1.5 hour period of time. Due to a previously schedule business trip, Stevan will most likely only have one hour. I will be staying an extra half hour or more if necessary. I can not answer any legal questions, because … well, I’m not a lawyer! Any questions about the legal aspects of the patent, plug-in or other legal matters not answered at this event can be addressed directly to Stevan via email at [email protected].

THE VENUE< TIME< DATE – August 7th at 8 am PDT/SLT/MVT
The meeting place will be in SpotON3D in a Quad MegaSim called OUTREACH. Any and all voice chat in the main sim will be relayed over all four sims, so please be patient and fair to everyone else. This mega sim will hold about 150 people, so it will be on a first come first serve basis. Below you’ll find some general guidelines

This event will be filmed, archived and uploaded to our media page, as well as the usual web sites for everyone, so that everyone will have something to review and point others to.

We are looking forward to this being a productive event for both SpotOn3D and the community. You can teleport directly into OUTREACH ISLAND, if you have the World on the Web Plug-in installed on your Windows PC, (sorry MACers and Linux guys ... that's next on our to do list) and just click on the 3DURL below - works just like a SLurl. http://3durl.com/map/veesome/Outreach%20Island/135/126/22

Thank you!
Tessa & Stevan

[CiderJack]

So, still no patent number provided? No explanation on exactly what makes this plugin unique? No answers to legal questions? I'm not sure anyone really has any questions that aren't about the legality of the plug-in.

Personally, I don't understand the fuss. Arguing whether this plugin violates the GPL or not, while no small matter, seems to miss the core issue. Software patents in-and-of-themselves are anti-competitive, anti-progress and in this case actively destructive to the open web. SpotOn3d should be condemned purely on that basis. End of story.

[qarl]

Arcadia - i'm having a hard time imagining when this background download would take place.

you're on facebook - a friend sends you an invite to facebookSL, you click the link... and wait for a massive download and installation before you can use facebookSL.

aside from mindreading - how can this occur without making the user wait?

[foneco zuzu]

If the grid cant handle 60000 users at a time, how cn handle 1 million?=
And honestly, pushing facebook users into v2 interface!
But a huge download? That i cant agree.

[foneco zuzu]

Ho and im sorry to say but Facebook is banned from a lot of countries while sl isnt!

[Arcadia Codesmith]

qarl, in terms of cutting code, you're a rock star and I'm nobody special. If you're seeing a big roadbump in the end-user experience, then I'm overlooking something glaringly obvious.

But I can't think of any VW clients thinner than the SL/OpenSim clients, and that includes browser-based worlds like Free Realms.

So... I don't know. I still think it COULD work, and it might have some benefit as a short-term solution, pending something more integrated and optimized.

[qarl]

Arcadia - i just don't see how a background download would be possible here.

obviously, the download cannot be started until the user indicates they want to play second life. and once they indicate they want to play - they want to play NOW.

i suppose the download could occur while the player is choosing their avatar... but that's not really a lot of time. there's still a wait. there's still installation. the easy "flow" of facebook games is broken.

[Hamlet Au]

Qarl, most Facebook games require downloading and installing Flash, or at the very least, downloading the game's assets. And many Facebook games are getting relatively heavy, asset-wise, and will probably become even moreso, because higher quality games monetize better. And as you say, you can give the new user shit to do with their avatar and such while the SL wrapper is downloading in the background. You're right most people will quit out during the download/installation process, but again, we're talking about a giant audience to draw from; so even if just a fraction stay, we're talking hundreds of thousands or even millions.

And yeah, I should have described SL as a separate, standalone download hosted on a much smaller website. That'd be more precise about why this FB plugin/wrapper thingie is important. (But much more of a mouthful.)

[qarl]

i guess time will tell.

[Metacam Oh]

Here's a question... does logging into Second Life from this viewer embedded in Facebook, violate the TPV policy?