New World Notes

Linden Lab Apparently Pushes Sansar Release Schedule From Open Beta This Spring to Open Alpha This Summer

So in March, Upload VR reported this: New Linden Lab Video Promises Sansar Open Beta this Spring.

But earlier this month, the Irish Times reported this:

Sansar goes into open alpha in summer 2017, allowing anyone with a VR headset to sign up and try it out

Now a difference between Spring and Summer is just 2-3 months, so that's not much of a delay. But a difference between Alpha and Beta suggests Sansar is still in a very early stage of development. At that rate, we may not see an official post-Beta release until the holiday season or even 2018. This would explain why Linden Lab is even now looking for someone to help create a voxel-based terrain editor for Sansar. My first thought at that help wanted ad was, "Cool!" Followed by, "Um, shouldn't you have hired someone to build that maybe 2 years ago?"

Watch "The one that I want": Bryn Oh's Utterly Eerie Machinima Shot in Her Latest Metaverse Art Installation

If you've got chills, watch this and they'll be multiplying -- shot in dynamic shadow and swooping camerawork, it's a gorgeously creepy music video created by Canadian government-funded Second Life-based artist Bryn Oh, shot in her latest installation: "The Hand", which is "the story of Flutter, a girl who has something precious in a suitcase and lives in a world of Sleepers."

Click here for the official in-world listing, and read about it on Bryn Oh's blog. Second Life being Second Life, it's an enormous pain to enjoy the optimal experience as the artist intended:

Survey Results: SL Users Without Premium Accounts Show Strong Preference for More Virtual Land to Upgrade

Here's the results from last week's survey, asking Second Life users on this blog what they would need in order to get a Premium account. With 200 responses, this is a relatively large (if informal) data sample of hardcore SLers, so it's notable that nearly half already have a Premium account. If all of SL's roughly 600K active users converted to monthly premium, Second Life could exist into perpetuity, despite constant loss of private land sims and tier. So it's notable that a strong plurality wants a larger tier allotment to make that upgrade.

Also, there's copious amounts of virtual land on the main continents of Second Life. According to analyst Tyche Shepherd, over 20% of the mainland represents abandoned land. So Linden Lab could easily expand the tier offering for Premium subscribers.

Expanding tier would probably also encourage existing Premium holders not to downgrade. As reader "Snowhawk" puts it:

SL Premium Isn't Very Premium; Bring Back SL Go! (Comment of the Week)

Last week's survey asking SLers what they would need to convert to a Premium account attracted this smart diatribe from reader William Burns, who analyzed the core of the problem, as he sees it. I hope Linden Lab staffers are reading this (as they often do), because it's a smart analysis:

The problem with Premium Accounts is that there is little incentive to actually buy into them. Most of the "perks" are merely duplications of things a non-premium member can attain as a regular citizen, or are superficial "upgrades" that aren't really a big deal.

1. 300L Stipend. Essentially you'd get this if you spent the same amount normally to buy the L$ as you needed. Most "jobs" in SL alone can net you far more than this per week without paying into the system.

2. Exclusive Access to Premium Only areas. The citizens of Second Life create a massive amount of open regions which are pretty amazing. Putting content behind a premium account doesn't seem like a compelling reason.

3. Premium Virtual Gifts. Every virtual item I've seen Linden Lab offer as a premium gift has been matched or bested by independent designers on Marketplace openly. You remember the "Hoverboard" pack right? VETOX had a far superior hoverboard system for free on MP. Dune Buggy? Same deal. There are better alternatives without the Premium Account, or at least comparable.

4. Customer Support. I'm not entirely sure this is worthwhile on its own, but I'll throw it in there as a possible positive for people who aren't as tech savvy.

The rest is pretty much inconsequential to me.

So what would compel Mr. Burns (Mr. Burns, excellent!) to convert to Premium? Here you go, Linden Lab:

Top Five New World Notes Posts from Last Week!

• Space Adds Free, Customizable Private Room & Furniture System To Its Unity-Based Virtual World
• Oculus Founder Palmer Luckey Revealed As Major Trump Donor, Contradicting Previous Statements
• Facebook Spaces: VR Product Without Much Market Or Reason To Be
• Do You Want A Master Metaverse Artist To Photograph Your Virtual Home?
• Survey: Do You Have A Premium Second Life Account, Or If Not, What Would Make You Get One?

SL Machinima Masterpieces: Lainy Voom's "Fall" (2009)

Fall from Lainy Voom on Vimeo.

Still among the very most powerful machinima I've ever seen, Lainy Voom conveys deep emotion with perfectly composed shots and edits timed to a perfectly chosen soundtrack (by Claire Fitch), integrating clever use of WindLight (when it still very new to Second Life) and the scripting system for visual effects. As she told me back then:

Space Adds Free, Customizable Private Room & Furniture System to Its Unity-Based Virtual World

Space, the new Unity-based virtual world from veteran Second Life developers (and proud sponsoring partner to New World Notes), has a fun new feature you could try (for free, of course) this weekend: A customizable private room and furniture system, dubbed Floorplan. The goal is to make it seriously simple, even for MMO noobies, to lay out and personalize beautiful scenes. "We don't want to force users to learn complex tools to do common tasks like decorate a home or personal environment," as lead Space developer Adam Frisby puts it. "The new Floorplan system lets users get started quickly, but still perform complex edits if they want to."

Tutorial video below. To get started with Floorplan, just create a free account, download the client or launch the web-based version, and click the Home button to start (see below):

Watch Live Now: High Fidelity Hosts The First Talent Show in Social VR

Live now above, with avatars competing for a $1000 prize. Unless I missed another example, this is the first avatar-based talent show in social VR with full VR rigs.

Professional 3D Designer Defends Advocating for Better Optimized Digital Design in Second Life

Veteran Second Life content creator and real life designer/visual arts consultant Penny Patton posted a pretty funny FAQ based on feedback she's gotten from her incredibly valuable posts on how to optimize SL builds (as here and as here). To judge by the questions she's responding to, a lot of SLers get strangely defensive about her advice:

* Why should the average SL user have to be an expert on digital design?   

I frequently talk about how optimizing content can greatly benefit your SL experience and this has lead to some people mistakenly taking this to mean that I believe the average SL user should be doing these things.

I do not. My position has always been that the average SL user should not even need to think about optimization or any other digital design issues. Good content should be made available by proficient builders.

* So then you believe only those who are experts on digital design should be allowed to create content?

 Again, no. I believe there are things LL can and should do to make it easier for the average SL user to follow some basic practices which result in a better shared experience for everyone, without SL users even thinking about it.

Here's another question with an answer that should be set in virtual stone:

Don't Forget to Take NWN's Survey on Upgrading to SL Premium

Click here to take by next Monday. Linden Lab marketers are standing by (maybe).