New World Notes

Open Forum: Why Is Second Life Machinima Waning?

Visually, Second Life has never looked better or been more versatile than it's ever been before (assuming you have a high-end machine), but apart from an occasional gem like the airborne travelogue above (highlighted by Iris recently), I haven't seen much excellent Second Life machinima in many, many months. You go to the YouTube feed for Second Life-related videos, you get barraged by SL griefer videos, Linden Dollar scammer videos, the occasional Linden Lab-sponsored video, random SL footage videos, and other effluvia. But far as actual, formal, narrative machinima which takes full advantage of Second Life as a platform, selections are getting pretty sparse.

Don't get me wrong, there are exceptions:

Iris' Most Anticipated Game Releases for Fall-Winter 2014

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

Summer can be pretty slow when it comes to games... And just about everything else. It's hot, it's humid, it's sticky, it's sweaty, and it feels like there's just nothing new and exciting to play. So every now and then when the weather and the restlessness are equally unbearable, I like to close my eyes and think of all of the releases I'm anticipating this fall. Pretty much as soon as August ends I know I'll be on a roller coaster of releases straight through to Christmas, and I absolutely can't wait. Here are the ten games I'm looking forward to the most in what remains of 2014:

SL Go's Fitted Second Life Mesh Display Problem Fixed

The SL Go streaming service for using mobile devices and low end laptops with Second Life had a problem with displaying fitted mesh in SL (as Iris reported here), but SL Go creator Onlive has fixed the problem, Senior Product Manager Dennis Harper just told me. (He sent the before and after screencaps above as proof.)

Trouble was, when SL Go was being prepared for launch, as he explains, fitted mesh "wasn’t a big thing at first because [it] was a high-end, experimental feature only used by super-builders. But then in May 2014, Linden released 24 new newbie avatars that used the fitted mesh feature. All of a sudden, we saw these stretched out avatars everywhere. We needed to fix it."

How did they do that? "Warning: techie stuff ahead," Dennis warns, and then tells me:

Iris Wants to Know: What Are Your Experiences with the DMCA Process in Second Life?

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

With the removal of the Wowmeh mesh body line from Second Life, there's been a lot of talk about whether or not the DMCA process is helpful in SL, or just a huge hindrance. In case you missed it, the Wowmeh body was a phenomenally successful mesh body that was the target of a DMCA takedown. Creator Baby Ghosn maintained that it was unjustified and malicious, but as she was unwilling to release her personal information to someone she claimed was purely a troll, she decided to revamp Wowmeh and replace any potentially dubious components. When she released the new body it was taken down again, allegedly for being a re-release of a taken down item. At that point Baby called it quits, saying that the process of supporting and defending Wowmeh was more than she'd expected and was willing to take on. 

While Hamlet has already explained his position that Second Life and the DMCA process are incompatible, I'm not so sure. That's why I want to hear from SL designers who've ever tangled with either end of a DMCA. Click here to fill out a super-short survey and share your experiences, and share it with fellow SL content creators! Next week, I'll report back with results and the most interesting feedback received.

We've Been Keeping an Eye on Mr Godard's Hyper-Realistic Second Life Photography, and You Should Too

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

Remember Mr Godard? I wrote about his work back in January, and was recent;y reminded that we're long overdue to check in on him. Mr Godard is behind some of the most realistic shots of Second Life that you'll ever see, courtesy of some clever pre- and post-processing magic. He's not shy about using subtle lighting or introducing film-grain effects to mask the typical tells of an SL snapshot. Second Life is often a little too bright, a little too smoothe, a little too polished, a little too focussed... But Godard, he's got a gift for returning that natural-feeling grit to his shots.

Be sure to check out Mr Godard's Flickr gallery here.

(Hat tip: Gogo)

Advertise Your Second Life Content on New World Notes With Linden $ - Here's Typical Clickthrough Rates You'll Get

We're now accepting Media Partnerships with select companies, organizations, and individuals who want to promote their Second Life content on New World Notes, the oldest and largest blog with a primary focus on SL since 2006. (Or 2003, if you're counting its launch while I was contracting for Linden Lab.) Rates are negotiable, with discounts for smaller brands that Iris and I admire, and we do take Linden Dollars. If you'd like to discuss this opportunity, contact me by IMing me at Hamlet Au, or via e-mail to wjamesau at gmail dot com.

Why New World Notes? According to SimilarWeb, NWN got 200,000 visits last month, with heavy traffic from SL-centric sites like Plurk and SLUniverse. Far as results, the screencap at left shows traffic from a recent three month Media Partnership, with about 400 clickthroughs from NWN to the Partners' SL Marketplace page, and about 100 to their web landing page. (Another campaign with another Partner got clickthroughs upwards of a 1000 in three months.)

A typical partnership looks like this:

In San Francisco This Wednesday: Free Mixed Reality Show Merging Real Dance With Second Life's Famed SkyDancers

Click here to RSVP for an arts event happening this Wednesday early evening in San Francisco, merging a Second Life performance broadcast on a screen in the Little Boxes Theater (Dogpatch district of SF), with seasoned dancer Kathleen Moore on stage before it. The SL performers are Dancoyote Antonelli's acclaimed SkyDancers, who've been performing in SL for over 8 years. The free event starts at 5:30pm with free drinks and a curator/artist talk from DC Spensley (Dancoyote IRL) with the show itself kicking off at 6:30pm. Go here for all the details.

Try Out This Shortcut for Super Cute Sims in The Sims 4 Create-A-Sim Demo

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

I'm going to share a clever trick for The Sims 4 that a friend pointed out to me this weekend, in case you're having any trouble creating the perfect sim. Although the game itself isn't out yet, last week the Create-a-Sim demo launched for everyone on Origin. It's the perfect opportunity to hone your character-customizing skills with the new tools and techniques the game will provide. They're fairly intuitive, but it's still pretty easy to find yourself in a position where you're not 100% satisfied with the sim in front of you. Something's just a little bit off, and you aren't quite sure how to fix it. That's where the trick comes in.

Here's how you can use The Sims 4's Genetics feature to fudge your way to a cuter sim face:

Just How Big is Procedural Space Exploration Game No Man's Sky Going to Be? Well...

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

It would take a person five billion years of non-stop exploration to spend one second on each of the possible 18 quintillion plus planets in the upcoming game No Man's Sky. At least, that's what Hello Games co-founder Sean Murray told IGN at Gamescom last week as he explained their choice to generate the game's universe based on a 64-bit number rather than 32-bit. 

That kind of scale seems jaw-dropping, but even more so when you compare it to something a little more familiar. For example, Second Life sims...

Top Seven New World Notes Posts Last Week

• RIP Robin Williams, Roleplay Gamer
• Lindens Hate Her! This Designer's One Weird Trick for More Efficient SL Marketplace Listings
• Here's How the Developer of Gunpoint Confronted a So-Called Ripoff of His Popular Infiltration Game
• Acclaimed Second Life Creator Alina Lyvette Describes Her First Life in Putin's Russia
• 80 Days Delivers the Smart Steampunk iOS Travel Sim You Never Knew You Wanted
• Despite Little Growth in Bitcoin Usage, Leading VC Marc Andreessen Still Bullish on Virtual Currency
• A Second Life Public Service Announcement: Here's Why Free L$ Cheats Don't Work