New World Notes

Come to Chess Wonderland to Feel Like a Pawn in a Mad Man's Game

Chess Wonderland in the Second Life sim of Egypt (click here to teleport) is among the best SL experiences I've visited in quite awhile (that's me dwarfed by the bow and arrow), full of giant, looming chess pieces in a distorted chess board that is also the world itself, lit up by a strange aurora borealis.

Mary Meeker Devotes Deep Focus on Games in Latest Internet Trends Report

Internet Trends 2017 Report from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

VC guru Mary Meeker has just released her latest annual Internet trends report, and as with every year, it's mandatory reading. Unlike previous years, she's devoted quite a lot of space to talking about gaming and virtual worlds, not just as industries, but as pioneers for shaping broader technological shifts and trends. (Starting above at slide 80.) Very interesting stats on the massive growth of Roblox (sort of Second Life for kids/teens) and registered developers with Unity. Couple key slides grabbed below:

Mystery of the Mysteriously Sinking World Somewhat Solved

So yeah, about the world which seemed to be sinking around my office:

You Know The More Bitcoin's Value Goes Up, The More Useless Bitcoin Likely Becomes -- Right?

Despite a recent market correction, Bitcoin's trading value is now sky high:

On May 24, bitcoin hit an all-time high of $2.791.69. But on Monday, the digital currency was trading at an intra-day high of $2,267.73, marking a more than $520 drop or 18.7 percent decline since the record high, according to data from CoinDesk.

I keep seeing Bitcoin enthusiasts super-excited about this rise, which seems seriously strange for several reasons:

• The higher Bitcoin's price goes, the less likely anyone is to buy Bitcoin.
• The less likely anyone is to buy Bitcoin, the less likely it is to become useful as an actual currency for buying actual goods and services.

This strengthens the observation from a Bitcoin insider that it's really a Ponzi scheme: When the currency goes up, the few buyers who got in early at a low rate can only hope that some rich sucker will make them an offer. As Edmund Edgar put it early this year:

Demand to send transactions still seems to be going up, so the cost of sending a transaction has been increasing. I think (although I'm not confident) the amount of value in each transaction has been tending to increase, so effectively low-value transactions are getting priced out, and it's being used for progressively higher ones. The upshot is that Bitcoin is becoming progressively less useful as money, and being used increasingly as a "store of value" (or phrased less charitably, an enormous Ponzi scheme).

But as the cost of entering the Bitcoin market grows, the pool of likely buyers shrinks. And so it's stuck where it's been for the last twelve months:

Real Life Cop Enjoys Second Life Policing Players in Grand Theft Auto V

Pretty fascinating Glixel article about a retired police officer who applies his background to police players on his favorite GTA V server, with LOL-able results (see video above). However, his reasons for first doing so were no laughing matter, but as a way to recover from RL tragedy:

The Virtual World Is Sinking Beneath My Office and I Don't Know Why

The other day when I went in-world to water my lovely and giant pot plants, I found them looking like this:

Floating in the fricking air along with my beloved Snow Crash shrine and assorted office furniture. I totally haven't tweaked the position or height of my land in many months, so I don't know WTF. However, my office is located in the Linden-owned Waterhead region some 50 meters from a welcome area, so it's possible Linden land management is tweaking with the ground beneath my feet.

Top Seven New World Notes Posts from Last Week!

• Cajsa’s Choices: The Second Life Art Nouveau Of Jewel Appletor
• Worlds Adrift Open Sandbox MMO Gets New Trailer -- And Feedback From Early Playtester!
• High Fidelity Using Social Work Platform To Help Build The Future Of Social VR
• Second Life Sees Spike On Google Trends After Ozimals Outrage
• Survey: VR Hurt By Price, Motion Sickness Fears, Fundamental Disinterest
• Should Linden Lab Have Saved The Ozimals From Extinction?
• Sansar "Open Creator Beta" Planned For This Summer, Says Linden Lab

New World Notes' Memorial Day Weekend Open Forum

Say anything as long as it's virtual in some way. Will update this post if any interesting event or announcement is posted in Comments. BONUS POINTS: Please tell us if you know of any virtual world event, fundraiser, or memorial on behalf of Manchester's horrific terrorist attack this week.

Space MMO Preview: 66 Avatar Adjusters, Including Customizable Booty

Space, the upcoming virtual world (and proud sponsoring NWN partner) has a pretty cool feature they're adding to avatars soon: 66 sliders, so users can tweak their avatars from head to toe. So yes, that includes customizable booty. Space leader developer Adam Frisby (who you may remember as SL/OpenSim pioneer Adam Zaius) just gave me more specifics:

Survey: What's Your Favorite Second Life Subscription Box Service?

Strawberry Singh has a very valuable compendium of SL subscription boxes, along with dozens of YouTubers who shoot unboxing videos for them. A relatively recent phenomenon in the SL economy, I'm fascinated by how popular these subscriptions for discounted virtual items have become, so here's a survey to take over the long Memorial Day Weekend -- select your favorite subscription service below: