New World Notes

New World Notes' Top 5 Second Life Machinima for 2011!

Happy New Year, NWNers! While we wind down 2011, here's my top five favorite SL machinimas for the year, more than worth watching this weekend. Starting with number five, first blogged here, here is Arbit Delacroix's utterly stylish official music video for "Pixelated Truth" from RL Danish band Giana Factory:

At number four is Eric Boccara's face-punching "Juroney" (first blogged here), which proves you can make visually smashing, totally believable action-oriented machinima in SL:

See selections number three to one and an honorable mention after the break!

SL Stylista Steals & Stabs in Skyrim (Sexily, Snarkily)

SL fashionista Alicia Chenaux has a fun post on exploring Skyrim, the single-player virtual world, wherein her motto is, "I just want to kill stuff and look pretty doing it", which is as good as any other. However, she's right about this: "I was going to be a reptile or a cat... [but e]ven the elves aren't cute!" Yes, most of Skyrim's character models are decidedly odd and blocky looking, lacking the details and polish that SL's best avatars have in abundance. But Ms. Chenaux still has a grand time in Skyrim, wantonly stealing and stabbing anyone who gets in her way. Which come to think of it, are usually what SL fashionistas accuse each other of doing. (Both of which activities are better enjoyed, like Alicia, in a single-player world.)

And speaking of looking pretty in Skyrim (and making Skyrim itself prettier): Iris Ophelia has info on user-made mods which do just that.

Second Life Statistics for 2011, Beautifully Presented

Here are some internal and search-based charts of Second Life activity in 2011, beautifully presented by Aaron Parker, a PhD student who occasionally blogs about SL. For instance, above is a chart showing data we were just talking about earlier this week: New user sign-ups, which are still strong 8 years into SL's history. According to Aaron's data, the daily sign-ups in 2011 have increased from 2010 (even if that growth doesn't seem to be translating into retained users.) See much more here.

Pop Quiz: Which of These Photos of a Photographic Studio is From Second Life?

Snap decision: Which of these photos above is a photo of a real life photographic studio, and which is a screen capture from Second Life, depicting mesh-based objects that only look like a photographic studio? Don't think about that question too deeply, because in normal circumstances, you likely wouldn't.

The answer: Let Ms. Brie Wonder show you, for she it was who took one of them. (And took it well she did, yes.) The other photo is from Trusted Reviews, though after this, I'm guessing there's half a chance you won't trust that either.

2011's Top 10 Second Life Fashion Items: Iris Ophelia's List!

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of virtual world and MMO fashion

With the year drawing to a close, it's time to reflect on my favorite items I've covered since January 2011, mesh and non-mesh alike, and to predict which releases will endure the test of time to be fashionista favorites well into 2012!

10. Moira (pictured above), Dress from Paper Couture (originally posted September 22nd)

"Moira is easily my favourite dress from the collection. Though I love the subtle colours and the black lace bodice, the biggest reason that I adore it is that it's absolutely designed to turn heads. It's bold, it's glamorous, and it's impeccably well made. As I mentioned, Paper Couture's textures are all usually very painterly and meticulous, which makes each design stand out from your everyday dresses in SL."

Keep reading for the complete list!

Top Facebook Game Genres for 2011 (My Latest Report)

2011’s Most Popular Facebook Games by Genre: Arcade, Casino, Hidden Object, Strategy is my latest report for Inside Social Games and AppData, an in-depth look at the genres which did the best for new games on the social network in 2011. (And no, none of the genres are farming.) Among the genre leaders is Strategy/Combat, and the leading title by user numbers and engagement rates happens to be Battle Pirates... which also happens to be produced by my lovely friend and fellow Linden Lab alum Lauren Lamonica, who helped lead development on innovations with SL land and mapping features, and now leads development on innovations in real time, multiplayer gaming on Facebook. And while I can't be biased on hard user numbers, I am biased when I say Battle Pirates is pretty damn cool, especially if you're into sci-fi acquatic, base building, face-punching action.  Go here to check out Battle Pirates.

Head-Turning Dresses for New Year's Eve in Second Life

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of virtual world and MMO fashion

Now that Christmas is out of the way, New Year's Eve is approaching quickly. There are only a couple days left to pick up your perfect party dress, so I have some suggestions for those of you spending the last hours of 2011 in Second Life.

Black and silver are generally my favorite colors for New Year's outfits, so League's Sequin Scoop Dress [Cick here to teleport to League in DUENDE] is a nearly perfect New Year's dress as far as I'm concerned. It can be tricky to make a convincing sequined fabric texture in SL, but this dress does a fabulous job at imitating the look of sequins on light, flowing cloth, without going overboard. The cowl, skirt, cuffs, and shoulder pieces are all prim, so you won't have to worry about the anti-mesh crowd missing out on your splendour.

However... This dress is definitely not for the fashionably faint of heart. Keep reading for a more modest (though no less stunning) alternative, as well as the details on accessories to match both ensembles!

NWN in Japanese: Kailua Beach経由で訪れる、オバマ大統領のハワイ別荘（UPDATE 12月26日リアルオバマ出現）

私は今、ホリデーでオアフのKailuaにいる家族を訪れている。そして偶然にも、オバマ大統領もKailuaでホリデーを過ごしている。私は毎日、大統領一家のビーチハウスのすぐそばでジョギングしたり、サーフィンをしているのだ。普段、私はこういうことをブログに書かないのだが、今回は写真と情報を載せたいと思う。12月27日UPDATE：12月26日にオバマが目撃された！詳細は、記事の最後にて。

The Mystery of Second Life's Flat Growth in 2011 -- Despite 16K New Users Daily! (As NWN Readers Predicted)

In January 2011, I asked New World Notes readers how much Second Life would grow in terms of users this year, and a plurality of you had it about right:

As it stands, Second Life has about 1.05 million monthly users, a metric Linden Lab changed over the Summer. (When the Lindens reported 800K users last year, they were defining "user" as a returning user who's logged into SL at least twice; now, a single login suffices.) So while 2011 has seen some growth, we're also seeing quite a lot of churn. Seriously, a spectacular lot of churn.

In fact, this remains Second Life's greatest mystery to me: The company reports that Second Life still attracts an average of 16,000 new users a day, i.e. 480,000 a month, i.e. 5,760,000 new users a year. Yet somehow, total growth of retained, returning users remains nearly non-existent -- from Q2 2011 to Q3 2011, it was in the four figures.

Dot Friends: New Facebook Virtual World With Some User-Generated Content -- Renewed Investor Interest in Synchronous, Avatar-Based Socialization?

.Friends is a new virtual world Facebook game developed by a company of the same name, with private investment funding. Very similar to Shaker, another new startup which got significant Valley buzz this September, it is like Shaker described as a "Second Life meets Facebook" social space where your real life social identity is connected to a somewhat customizable avatar in a Flash-based 2.5D world/chat space capable of streaming YouTube videos... and so far, like Shaker, not much point beyond that. Dot Friends does have one upcoming feature hinting at some user-generated content: "Soon you will be able to open your own virtual place and create amazing events", .Friends' tutorial says. Depending on how robust that feature is, .Friends might interest virtual world fans, but we'll have to see. At the very least, along with Shaker, .Friends suggests the investment world is re-gaining a glimmer of its past interest in synchronous, virtual world/social spaces. The challenge is integrating them with Facebook. All the variations of Habbo Hotel on Facebook have nearly 2 million monthly users, according to AppData, but that was already a popular world when it entered Facebook. Shaker, by contrast, and despite the hype, has... just 20,000.