Where's the Coverage of Second Life Vehicle Communities? (Comment of the Week)

Last week (well technically, almost two weeks ago), Iris posted this lovely SL flying machinima above, and reader Phadrus Karu responded with an angry comment:

The breadth and scope of vehicles in virtual worlds is vast; Second Life is no exception. Consider this, everyone in Second Life possess at least one vehicle in their inventory. Yet, how often is this topic featured by major publications whose sole focus is Second Life itself? Indeed, the few individuals who dedicate their efforts on producing such material via social media find themselves consistently marginalized and sidelined in favor of fashion designer #523, gardener #394, interior designer #483, architect #604, breedable maker #271 and abstract artist #893.

Fair points, to which I have some replies, but first let's let Phadrus Karu unleash just a little bit more:

Yes, I will concede that on any given day, the market for vehicles will never approach the level realized by avatar customization and pets nor would Second Life be complete without interior decoration, art and grand structures. However, is it really too much to ask to feature vehicle developers and their work more than once every two years? Instead of interviewing the usual suspects, give the people who bring us those impressive automobiles, ships, aircraft and sci-fi vessels the due they deserve. If Linden Lab of all entities can see the wisdom of including a sports car as a token foreground item on its homepage, why can't the SL media at large see the pivotal role played by vehicles in the activities of SL residents?

OK, several points: If there's evidence of large SL communities (i.e. five figures) built around vehicles, please post in comments, because I'd love to shift more attention in that direction. Secondly: Even if the vehicle community is smaller than five figures, talented machnima like the above deserves more coverage, so if you know of more, please post links to those as well. Finally, some economic analysis: Because high quality Second Life vehicles tend to be relatively expensive as compared to virtual fashion, it's inevitably going to attract a niche audience. (Compare the circulation of Vogue magazine to, I dunno, Jaguar Fancier.) That said, at New World Notes, high creativity is what we care about most, so if we're missing more brilliant inventiveness in the vehicle community, please let us know.

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Comments

[Orca Flotta]

Good news for Phadrus, although he or she might have motorized vehicles in mind, the sailing community is kinda vast, very well organized, very active, consists of multiple yacht clubs and hosts around 50 weekly races and some annual cup regattas. We have a forum and several blogs *hint, hint* See, not everything in the SL blogosphere is about feshn ;)

Oh, and I'm also a collector of fine motorcycles ... and I use 'em. Not a Jaguar Fancier tho =^.^=

[zzpearlbottom]

Not only the sailing community but the Bikers MC are one of the biggest communities of Sl, period!
And if one thing any here must realize is that this is where Sl still has any advantage against competition!
So better start really reaching for the Second Life Vehicle Communities cause in no other grids we have what Sl has on this chapter.

[Adeon Writer]

I've spent more money on SL motorcycles and cars than clothes and avatars.

[Shining Sea]

+1 on Orca's comment. I have boats and motorcycles, and I'm not aware of a motorcycle community on the scale of sailing. I think it's the presence of the Blake Sea that's the difference. It creates a physical focus for all sailing, as well as concentrating sailing enthusiasts near one another. We live on the water too - I don't know of another vehicle-centric community where the people live so close.

[Seymore Steamweaver]

I'm with Adeon. LOVE my vehicle collection. It's not as good as Jay Leno's irl, but chances are he doesn't have a working tie-fighter in his garage.

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

Orca wrote: See, not everything in the SL blogosphere is about feshn ;)

@Orca: Ha ha ha ha. touche. Though there are feshn people who go sailboating on the Blake Sea. Though I don't do sailboats, I HAVE been on the Blake Sea.

As Orca says, the Blake Sea sailing community is large and organized.

[Paypabak Writer]

I've got bikes, cars, spaceships--the works--and there is nothing to compare to the things you can do and places you can go in any other SL clone. Boats in inWorldz are pretty good, though.

[Pussycat Catnap]

I see sailing and motorbiking has been covered already.

I almost got into the biking community - but a few of their sims had residents with racist Dixie flags up. I think since gone, so I might look again if they've chased those people out.

Every Thursday around 5-7pm SL-Time in Bay City there is an informal race from one part of Bay City to another. This has been going on for a few years now. Its a great casual way to get started in the SL vehicle scene... and it should be tonight.

It usually ends in a couple of pileups somewhere and then folks wander to a nearby spot to chat.

Every week is a different vehicle theme.

[Pussycat Catnap]

I am actually a little surprised that SL Vehicles don't get much blog-space.

If it was something like the SL Reggae scene - which is my thing - I'd get it. There are very few of us. Who's going to blog about that? You could probably fit us all in one sim at the same time, and still have room for some random noobs to run through with boxes on their heads.

I was going to say "yeah but the vehicle scene is small, and fashion is big, so..."

But then I remembered the sailing and motorcycle folks people mentioned above... but others beat me to pointing them out.

So...

Why aren't these people pushing their own blogs more?

I have seen some SL-Sailing websites, that looked half abandoned (hint: if you are all hanging out on one part of your website, delete the unused portions so you still look active, because if you are active, I didn't notice, and I'd bet others didn't notice either).

But I don't see many vehicle blogs... sailing or otherwise.

Promote yourselves if you've got them. Why do you think my forum signature has multiple links to my own blog for different articles I've written? My views went up a lot after I did that. They also went up a lot after I had more than 50-posts... Wordpress added me into some feed or something... and then again, when I started following and referencing other writers, other writers started doing that to me... and now I get a good amount of views... which has caused google to start thinking my blog has something to do with SL, which is thankfully correct... so my search rankings are creeping up.

- Don't sit there and wait for someone else to promote you. Promote yourself.

(and yeah, my name on my comments here... links to my blog. Because that works too. :) )

[Pussycat Catnap]

@Shining Sea:
Motorcycle communities are more split. There are a number of sims dedicated to them, some are multi-sim communities.

There USED TO BE a mainland vehicle community for 'greenlanes' - the vast array of roads in SL that had no prim road on them.

Linden Labs actually KILLED the mainland vehicle community when it tried to help them, without asking what they wanted... by adding paved roads all over SL.

Today's SL paved roads are fixed (prims at sim crossings to prevent people falling under the road) and sim crossings are better. The roads now are actually better than the greenlanes used to be.

BUT when they were added sim crossing was still a tricky business, and SL lag was still very bad... so at the time they made roads hard to use...

And the Greenlaners threw in the towel.

It was a scene that once rivaled the sailing community.

Hmmm... there's room there for an organized person to get a mainland vehicle community going again... Someone low ego, so it doesn't become 12 different groups of 12 people who all think they have to be the boss...

[TribeGadgets]

In seven SL years I have totally lost count of the number of vehicles I have had the pleasure (mostly) of flying, driving, sailing, riding, crashing spectacularly, launching into orbit although not often on purpose.... but I can count on one paw the number of skins I have bought. And boots for that matter.

There is no overall 'vehicle' community because, you know, diverse interests. Really, the grid is full of people building and racing and enjoying themselves. If you think its not a big part of the VW thang then consider IW is banging away at perfecting their new physics (with some damn impressive results) and OpenSim has their new engine getting some serious shakedown cruises underway. Quick seacrh on G+ will give a tiny idea group wise (as we can now all go play there).

(Right now we are working on a little craft to putter around the shorelines and internal waterways - in SL and elsewhere)

But tell you what - you say which particular buzz word brandname of the fortnight you want us to tag stuff with and we are all for making your life easier :)

[zzpearlbottom]

MLCC who does not know it:)

[Bear Silvershade]

The SL sailing community, as has been mentioned, is vast, and organized with several yacht clubs and other sailing groups, which put together regular races, events and regattas. There are are also a number of blogs on SL sailing, but like most niche groups, information sources tend to get overlooked unless you are part of the community or specifically searching for it.

[Bear Silvershade]

Oh, btw, if you are looking for a sailboat creator to chat with, I highly recommend Jacqueline Trudeau of Trudeau Yachts — she makes some of the most beautiful and sailable classic wooden yachts.

[Amanda Dallin]

The SL Sailing community isn't just yachts and motor boats. There are niches such as pirate ships. We have regular battles both in the Blake Deeps sims connected to the Blake Sea and in several private estates. We're not all pirates, I'm actually in a navy that fights the pirates scourge in SL.

I have a large collection of fighting sail ships from a number of different makers. I also own more than a few Trudeau Yachts which are fun to sail and look wonderful.

[Terag Ershtan]

Thank you James for your interesting post and for stimulating discussion on this topic of coverage of the Second Life Vehicle Communities. Large 'silently achieving' Second Life Aviation and other vehicle communities do exist and there are LOTS of SL airport, racing & boating sims. I estimate that in excess of 200 regions are SL airport/SL Aviation related sims. This is about 1% of the total Private Estates in Second Life. See http://sl-aviation.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Open_Airports for a bit of insight into over 100 "Open", i.e. current airports (a number of which span more than one region - some up to eight). Add in the boat (powerboat, sailing, pirate et al), car, etc vehicle regions & I'd say we have a community of at least 2% of the Private Estates total that definitely IS neglected by Linden Lab. Add in the economy that goes with approx 34,255 Marketplace "Vehicle" items (current 5 August 2014) https://marketplace.secondlife.com/products/search?search%5Bcategory_id%5D=20 and maybe you'll start to wonder (as I have) why Linden Lab does so little to promote (even acknowledge) vehicle communities. There are many wonderful SL Aviation and boating Machinima showing-off beautiful Second Life regions, but Linden Lab does nothing to promote these. Innovations in SL Aviation such as an extensive Air Traffic Control automated 'bot' network go unnoticed by Linden Lab (see https://twitter.com/TeragErshtan/status/490320914488098816). A vibrant vehicle-related economy with a decent presence in Second Life and lots of passionate people in vehicle communities. Now, why would you neglect that?

[Terag Ershtan]

Here are some recent or notable SL Aviation and Vehicle Machinima to enjoy:

Aviation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQHjwI4KD0E&feature=youtu.be
http://youtu.be/bNWxIPgiFeA
http://youtu.be/qKhK-W1BnWM
http://youtu.be/M3qe5f9NUjg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19YR4aKP_nA&feature=youtu.be
http://youtu.be/tRTpWt4yxaA
http://youtu.be/L9zRqChOucM
http://youtu.be/j_zQ8l98VU8
http://youtu.be/Oh22ab2mooU
http://vimeo.com/27009695
http://youtu.be/ZI8VmoGFrK8
http://youtu.be/RckUyPSszJw
http://youtu.be/1dDBxne3X0c
http://youtu.be/dAwbMYnet0E
http://youtu.be/Tuq1HI5Gkxk
http://youtu.be/HF2U3Dybxo4

Boating/Sailing:
http://youtu.be/YG5GAG7VAsk
http://youtu.be/GWzabWaVwcA
http://youtu.be/GBNXoLQfbE0

Car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OruHZZwR9g&feature=youtu.be
http://youtu.be/-T40qSN6wJE

Plus, the SL Aviation Network (https://www.youtube.com/user/SLAviationNetwork) produces an issue of the Second Life Aviation Magazine every week or two that covers current events and news.

[Siris Vulpecula]

As a vehicle creator I feel I should weigh in here.

There are communities for every form and style of vehicle imaginable all over SL. Though admittedly it's not always defined, but do something or start talking and you'll quickly find others interested and who will often hang out. The biggest organized are probably the sailors and aviators at the moment. Hell if you want to get in on the aviation scene just simply search "airport" and go to one of the locations and start joining groups.

Price can range dramatically on vehicles. There are many freebies out there that are of fairly good quality now, you just might have to do some hunting to find them. As a creator we do try to be fair to ourselves as well which can account to some of the high prices but there are low good planes out there too. My super cub for example (not trying to toot my own horn here i swear) is full mesh with high detail and advanced scripts and can be picked up for only 1500.

Truth of the matter there are two things that I feel have hindered much of the vehicle market in SL, politics (which i'm happy to say has reduced tremendously over the years) and sim crossings (lets face it no oone likes ending up hung on a sim wall without thier plane, boat, car, what have you).

[Terag Ershtan]

Some indication of Community Size across different vehicle types and based on some of the larger applicable groups):

SL Aviation Group = 1793 members: http://world.secondlife.com/group/9cc7debb-0031-5b6a-fb39-a3cc41e60755

Starboards Yacht Club = 2373 members: http://world.secondlife.com/group/1313b040-8fa6-1ff3-9f41-adc8f28fef40

Corse GP Racing Group: 1636 members: http://world.secondlife.com/group/2038c9b4-9c8a-3b01-3b11-e4037efa5134

Ton Up Rockers (Motorbike) Group = 1178 members:http://world.secondlife.com/group/d2b2e9be-ac7e-d3f0-3eec-982522209f7a

PiratesOfSL Group = 512 members: http://world.secondlife.com/group/d015d4eb-578c-10c3-9f06-1d7f24d8fce7

Difficult for me to come up with anything else without doing some kind of a survey or census.

[DaveDorm Gaffer]

There are more of us than you know. Second Life is full of aviators! Some of us have created large airports and airlines offering passenger service around the Grid. Others collect vintage aircraft. But we all share a love for the skies and share our passion with others. We may not be as big in number as the fashionistas. But we're dedicated and determined.

[Karl Reisman]

Speaking as another vehicle builder, I think the problem is that one seems to be looking for organization, rather than how the vehicles are used.

I started in 2006 making Ww2 Combat Aircraft and Cars, however, with the right sorts of scripts, many of the aircraft were purchased as pleasure fliers and in one memorable case, as a stunt plane for air shows (Physics based flight scripts look wonderful to spectators if the Pilot knows what they are doing).

The car community seemed larger, back when the late Pontiac Motors maintained 8 Sims for Pontiac Island and there was a lot of racing, driving and car shows an a very low lag (for the time) set of islands. at that time, that was the only organized mass car culture I remember seeing. Since then any Groupings of people with cars seem to be just friends and enthusiasts, like the Motorcyclists gathering at Alice's Restaurant on Skyline Blvd above San Mateo, CA.

Flight-wise, there is constant air traffic at large SL airports like Hollywood, and Baitoushan, and smaller fields like Honah Lee Surf. all sorts of air traffic criss-crosses above the Blake Sea, and the sims around Nautillus.

The Blake, due to it's size and unique ratio of water to land, attract a lot of boats, and planes that like to fly in it's low prim, (usually) low lag, and (generally) Ban Line Free extents. People individually get an itch to explore, see what other people are doing. Look at other people's builds, and/or vehicles.

Combat vehicles are also popular, but combat itself maybe going into a bit of a decline as it suffers from the same ego and control problems that Civil War re-enactment societies do with squabbles over rules and petty power politics. The Politics then limit the availability of sims to go use one's toys that go "Boom!".

I think what it boils down to is that vehicles are a popular purchase, but a popular individual purchase, where any grouping is almost strictly social, or solitary and exploratory. I believe the numbers are there, just nothing that proclaims itself as an organized "thing".

[Luke Flywalker]

Thank you for posting this. I have spent the majority of my time in Second Life over the last 3 years documenting the happenings of the SL aviation community. My good friend Deirdre Faulds leads the SL Grid Flight Group which conducts grid flights 3 days a week on all the major Second Life Continents. To find out more check out www.slaviationnetwork.com

[Laben Core]

Hello everyone,

It's good to see that vehicles are finally getting some much needed attention in the mainstream SL press! For whatever reason, vehicles, especially mlitary vehicles, have been given a very unfair shake as far as exposure is concerned.

As for my part, I am the founder of the "Passengers of SL" group, an organization that focuses on connecting vehicle operators with passengers. When it comes to vehicles, SL has one major advantage over any game or simulator: the ability to shuttle real live passengers from one location to the next. If you can remember the exhileration you experienced when someone took you on your first magic carpet ride in SL, then imagine that same opportunity to experience it all over again several times a day... with a passenger airliner! That is what the Passengers of SL group is all about and it has been a success thanks to the aviation community.

I'd like to make one final point. On an individual level, it's true that vehicles are more expensive than fashion accessories. Even so, it's important to realize that creating a vehicle that acts and behaves in a realitic manner is probably the most difficult thing one can do in Second Life. The sheer amount of talent required for scripting, modeling and texturing to make a quality vehicle far outstrips what is required to make clothing, especially with the abundant use of templates. Sure, rigging is a pain, but figuring out the math for scripting a realistic vehicle that you're trying to make as highly detailed as possible with the lowest land impact is an exponentially more daunting task.

Let's also not forget that the issues facing vehicles in Second Life are legion. Whenever any changes are made to the grid by Linden Lab, vehicles creators are always the first to get screwed. From sim crossings to modifications to the LSL script, vehicle creators and their customers are the hardest hit every time. Yet, these guys and girls continue to roll up their sleeves and get right back in the trenches despite the relatively small amount of income to be earned compared to fashion design. The people that make all this possible are the true unsung heros in Second Life and they deserve your support.

[SamLowry Hawks]

What a great piece of machinima!!!! Absolutly awesome work. So proud to belong to this "machinimers" group when i see that ... Breathless montage, magnificent sequences and feeling, great work on colors and scenes. Iris you ve placed the point in a high level with that: I am right now working on a new machinima since 2 weeks and this will make me to work harder and harder to deserve to be called "machinimer", big pression but it's good to improve our productions to reach that point of talent: Thank you for the great moment you made me lived seeing this video. Shared right now on my Facebook and i go back to work to reach that. Congrats again dear Iris .

[Zoe Connolly]

My blog covers SL aviation quite often. The new tagline is "A photo-journal, covering aviation and adventure role-play in Virtual Worlds"