New World Notes

How Sansar Solves Second Life's Setbacks -- So Subsequently Won't Suit Typical SLers (Comment of the Week)

Last week's rant by my VR executive friend "Meursault" provoked some really interesting reader replies, including this one by virtual world developer Estelle Pienaar, who recently launched an SL-based game. In opposition to Meursault, she argues that Linden Lab's Sansar is addressing the problems that hurt Second Life, especially with large companies:  

It's good to have critical voices in order to make a reality check but I don't agree. I won't answer each of the arguments. I prefer to give a different narrative. Why have big companies not created experiences for Second Life?

1) You can't find it with Google. Everyone who is looking for something uses a search engine as entry portal. You can't find Second Life content on web search engines.

2) Community tools like group chat, group messages, my SL feed etc. are isolated from the web 2.0 social networks - and the other way round.

3) Scale. Only up to 150 avatars can be in a sim at the same time.

4) Branding. A company like BMW isn't interested to be part of an MMO. But if they can use the platform as a content management system with their own branding and entry portal, then it might be a whole different story.

5) The content creator has only limited control of his [SL] content. A company wants to decide if one user is allowed to spoil their experience with a crazy furry latex avatar or if he/she has to use one of their prefab avatars; if he/she can use gestures; if he/she can speak in open chat; if he/she can IM another potential customer; etc.

6) The technology is so far behind that a scene with a wow-effect is almost impossible: no animated meshes, no shaders, etc.

7) The user interface, especially the avatar customization system and camera movement, are way too complicated and an entrance barrier.

For Esther, these points point directly to what Sansar will be -- and who it will be geared toward -- and surprisingly, she thinks it won't be ideal for typical SLers. Here's why:

Anita Sarkeesian's "Women as Reward" Video Helps Explain Tech Industry's Brogrammer Culture

Here's Anita Sarkeesian's latest video on tropes in video games (NSFW warning: contains nude/sexual imagery), which details the many, many, many games in which females or female bodies are explicitly offered as a player reward -- even in beloved franchises like Nintendo's Metroid, which has a rare female protagonist.

For people in the tech industry, her video helps answer a pressing question: What's the deal with tech's "brogrammer" culture, in which women are not seen or sought after as active and equal participants? One major reason why:

Top Five New World Notes Posts from Last Week!

• How to Connect Kinect Motion Capture to Your SL Avatar
• This is Ninja Do-Jo: Epic Guitar Gods Who Play Live from Separate Locations from Japan Into Second Life
• "Community Rules. Fidelity Does Not." - Second Thoughts on Virtual Reality Hype from an Ex-VR Executive
• YouTube Gaming Adds Second Life Channel
• Former Gartner Researcher Explains Why Virtual Reality is on Upswing in Firm's 2015 Hype Cycle

How to Connect Kinect Motion Capture to Your SL Avatar

Jessica Pixel has all the details you need for streaming Kinect-based motion capture to your Second Life avatar here, the cool hack we saw on her live YouTube stream earlier today.

"The software [called Rinions] is developed by Fumi Hax (Fumikazu Iseki IRL) at the Network System Laboratory group at the Toyko University of Information Science," she says. "Their website is here. There is actually a more recent version of Firestorm (4.6.9) compiled with the Rinions code available now and it's pretty easy to setup and run. I've even been able to get the animation server working, so if another person had the proper software installed, they could see my movement in their viewer in real time (versus over the stream)."

Got questions about the setup for Jessica? Ask her in Comments!

Famed Egyptyian Temple Recreated in Second Life

If I'm reading Eve Kazan's post right (which I'm quite possibly not, because I have the French fluency of a four year old), there's a recreation of ancient Egypt's Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, the Djeser-Djeseru ("Holy of Holies"), in Second Life. Here on the sim of Serena Barbuda.

Watch Now: Motion Capture Dancing Streamed Live Into SL!

"Someone is live on YouTube doing motion capture dancing and streaming that motion straight into SL realtime," Damien Fate just told me. Yes, watch, she's dancing IRL in the bottom right corner, with her avatar imitating her moves accordingly:

Interact with her (Jessyka Richard) here via her YouTube livestreaming page.

Beyond the seriously cool mocap action, I think this suggests a great future for Second Life content in general -- live video streaming where you can interact directly from the web with the SLer.

Don't Miss These End of Summer Deals from Second Life Shape Shop Ample Avi (NWN Partner News)

This weekend is your last chance to pick up a bargain on curvy and plus-sized Second Life avatar shapes at Ample Avi, a proud sponsoring partner of New World Notes. As I mentioned back in June, Ample Avi's been having a summer sale on quite a few of their classic shapes, and now that sale period much like the season itself is drawing to a close. The sale will be wrapping up this coming Monday, August 31st, and once it does the shapes currently marked down will be permanently retired from Ample Avi's store lineup. There are 17 shapes being retired, including the ultra-cute Kris pictured just on the left. 

If you've got weekend plans, you'll still be able to pick the aforementioned shapes up from Ample Avi's storefront on the Second Life Marketplace for a very limited time. You can browse the Summer Sale deals on the Marketplace as well, or drop by Ample Avi's main store in Pryeri [Teleport link] to see the lineup in the (virtual) flesh.

Don't forget that Ample Avi group membership is also free during this period, so it's the perfect time to pounce if you want to stay in the loop but hate group enrollment costs. And (just in case you missed it last month) be sure to read this insightful advice for aspiring designers from Ample Avi designer Xme Xue.

Friday Open Forum: Tell Me About a Great Blog, Flickr, or YouTube Channel I Haven't Blogged Before

SL-focused or otherwise related thematically, be it about High Fidelity, VR in general, immersive/sandbox gaming, or anything else you think would fit here. Go!

This is Ninja Do-Jo: Epic Guitar Gods Who Play Live from Separate Locations from Japan Into Second Life

There I was randomly watching SL machinima videos when suddenly my face got shredded off:

This is Ninja Do-Jo, a guitar duo from Japan, and they play live, epic, guitar god shows in Second Life. Their avatars are Akuma Millar and Sawa India, whose profile makes an even more amazing claim: These two perform in separate geographic locations in Japan. Yes:

"Community Rules. Fidelity Does Not." - Second Thoughts on Virtual Reality Hype from an Ex-VR Executive

"Meursault" is a former executive with a leading virtual reality/virtual world company (and a friend of mine), and he recently dropped a terrific rant in NWN comments I wanted to highlight here, because this is based on his years of experience in the business -- and frankly, a lot of what he says is still being missed by many: Oculus Rift, the tech industry media, Linden Lab, and VR startups in general. Here it comes:

From a person who lived through the last hype too - there is a fascinating set of stories to be written:

1 - Who is driving the VR hype this time? Venture capitalists, Facebook, 23 year olds at VentureBeat who missed the last few waves. Gartner? Not a single market for this headset tech has yet to be proven, or has it?

2 - Silencing the critics. It is shocking to me how experienced, critical voices are just passively ignored or passed off as cynical burn-outs. Remember when Oculus' CEO said they are going to have a billion people in MMO virtual worlds? I wanted to throw up - what an 'effing naive idiot! Just keep telling Zuckerberg that, I thought.

The worst is that Linden Lab has bought it too -- I mean, how many times have we seen Linden Lab try to work around the access barrier to entry (high GPU requirements) or other attempts (Cloud Party time) to no affect whatsoever? So now they are going to strap a headset on and up the resolution and billions of people are going to join?

No. 3 - Tech push. Something I lament with other virtual world vets -- how many times have we seen a CEO at Linden Lab try to reinvent or put a shine on the technology, with Zero innovation on the community and immersive presence elements that are the whole reason SL exists? Pixel fidelity is not a selling point, sorry, never has been. Unfortunately it takes that CEO a few years to realize they just retreaded the same water as the last CEO.

4. RL Applications. There is a lot of research out there to show how powerful immersive experiences can be to change real world behavior. How come none of them have entered the mainstream? Has there? Hmmm.

Three more points below, two particularly pointed at Project Sansar: