New World Notes

Flickr of the Day: Akemi Asukai Shoots Fashion With Teeth

Occasional teeth, and much personality. See what I mean here. Via Emi of Haha Die, which has teeth of its own.

What Philip Rosedale & Other Experts Look for in a "Killer App" for Virtual Reality

One great thing about helping put together the Gear VR Killer App contest is getting to ask Philip Rosedale and other VR veterans their vision of what kind of application would fit that definition, at least for mobile. Here's Philip's criterion:

“What we are looking for is: Gloves! Some kind of mobile way to use your hands would allow real creativity and communication from within the Gear and instantly make mobile VR as compelling as desktop.”

Here's what Taylor Freeman, co-founder and CEO of Upload, Inc., seeks: “I am looking for an app that boosts productivity and enables multiuser collaboration.”

And Paul T. Kim, Director of Content and Services at Samsung: “What I think could be a killer app is something one can use to create or encourage active engagement... Any proof-of-concept app that shows a glimpse of this potential, that focuses on creation, I would rate high.”

Most extensive was this description from Nicole Lazzaro, creator of the great "Follow the White Rabbit" VR experience:

Why Do Virtual World Companies Rarely Build Virtual Worlds? (Comment of the Week)

Good point from JohnC, looking at the latest from virtual world companies:

It always seems strange to me that companies that create virtual world platforms never seem to create actual virtual worlds. To me it is as if in real life you were to go to an estate agent to buy a house and you find just pictures of plots of land with a stack of bricks and some sacks of mortar standing in the middle of them. Even if the whole idea is that this virtual space is to become a place for people to express their own creativity, there must surly be some kind of show homes to demonstrate all the possibilities. And these show homes must be spectacular. Linden Lab never did this with Second Life, so even now people outside the walled garden still think that it is incapable of great looking graphics.

In fairness, Linden Lab has always had starter areas, but to his point, they've never been very extensive. And in recent years, Linden Lab has been expanding on the "world" aspect with full-fledged game experiences. And in the very early days (2003-2005), there was an attempt to make the Second Life mainland seem like a world, with a "Governor's" mansion, an official public auditorium, the free fire Outlands, a prim-spewing oil rig, and so on. But in my view, Linden Lab didn't devote enough consistent efforts to this project, then let go of their world-building duties too soon, leaving new users to wander, confused and frustrated, in a big empty.

Anyway, more on this theme from John, and how it applies to new virtual world platforms Sansar, High Fidelity, and "space":

Top Six New World Notes Posts from Last Week!

Years of abusing its own users by demanding "real names" and now Facebook is cratering itself over fake news. Too perfect.

— joanne mcneil (@jomc) November 13, 2016

• Maybe Mixed Reality Parties Are VR's Killer (Mini) App
• Facebook Spent More Time & Effort Blocking Fake Avatar Names Than Fake Real World News
• Second Life Support Group for Hillary Clinton Becomes Support Group for Harassment Victims in Trump-Era
• Trump Appoints Ex-Virtual World Company CEO & Gamergate Advocate as Top Presidential Adviser
• Play SL, Win Real Money: Linden Lab Launches New Games With Linden Dollar Prizes
• Submit New/Recent Unity & Web VR Apps & Demos to the Gear VR Killer App Contest Judged by Philip Rosedale & Other VR Experts!

Submit New/Recent Unity & Web VR Apps & Demos to the Gear VR Killer App Contest Judged by Philip Rosedale & Other VR Experts!

The Gear VR Killer App contest, as the name suggests, is a competition to find an application which is so powerful and awesome, it makes mobile-based VR seem indispensable. I'm honored to help manage the competition, with the grand prize winner being selected by Philip Rosedale, Nicole Lazarro, and other VR experts. If you have a recent/new demo or app made in Unity 3D or Web VR, please consider submitting! The first submission deadline is coming up very soon (11/23), but for that, you just need to send video or pics of your app/demo in action. Apps published since September to other platforms are also eligible.

Whoa-Worthy Demo of Bento-Based Elephant Avatar

We've seen what the new Bento extended skeletons can do to a human avatar head, now witness them in action inside an elephant avatar. Actually two skeletons in this case, since one of them is used to articulate the fricking trunk!

SL Cosplay of the Day: Dr. Strange vs. Kaecilius

There's a Benedict Cumberbatch-as-Sherlock avatar in SL, and there's a Mads Mikkelsen-as-Hannibal avatar in SL too. Which takes us to the next level, presented by Strawberry Singh: Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange versus Mikkelsen as Kaecilius. More mind-bending facepunching from Ms. Singh here.

Maybe Mixed Reality Parties Are VR's Killer (Mini) App

Highlights from our Day of the Dead live event earlier this month. Thanks to @theorkestrate and @brandundeshay, and to all who came by! 🎶 pic.twitter.com/xXwSTeRkDB

— High Fidelity (@highfidelityinc) November 17, 2016

Here's what High Fidelity's Day of the Dead party looked like from both in-world and from the point of view of the live musicians who performed for it. It's easy to imagine this being turned into a full-fledged party in the real world, making it into a mixed reality event. I could even see this becoming a mini-killer app for VR, popular at parties, nightclubs, and so on:

SL Flickr of the Day: Mystique Cosplay from Sugarfairy88

"Mix of old school comic book Mystique and the new one from the movies. Hope you like!" Yes we do,  Sugarfairy88, yes we do. In fact, we're pretty amazed by pretty much every single spectacular screenshot in your Flickr.

Facebook Spent More Time & Effort Blocking Fake Avatar Names Than Fake Real World News

Author Joanne McNeil recently pointed out the brutal irony:

Years of abusing its own users by demanding "real names" and now Facebook is cratering itself over fake news. Too perfect.

— joanne mcneil (@jomc) November 13, 2016

Facebook's obsession over blocking fake avatar names has been going on for about five years and only partly resolved itself last year after a lot of back and forth negotiations between the company and community leaders like Sister Roma. By contrast, Facebook has been slow to do anything about the promulgation of fake real world news on Facebook, even though it probably influenced the US election:

In the final three months of the US presidential campaign, the top-performing fake election news stories on Facebook generated more engagement than the top stories from major news outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, NBC News, and others, a BuzzFeed News analysis has found. During these critical months of the campaign, 20 top-performing false election stories from hoax sites and hyperpartisan blogs generated 8,711,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook. Within the same time period, the 20 best-performing election stories from 19 major news websites generated a total of 7,367,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook.