New World Notes

Nylon Pinkney Is Online: Second Life Price Change Announcements Feel Like...

Want to Meet the Sinespace Team in Los Angeles During E3 2019?

Virtual world platform Sinespace (New World Notes' proud sponsoring media parter) is going to be in Los Angeles during the Electronic Entertainment Expo next month. They won't be sponsoring a E3 booth this year but are available for meetings in and around E3 in downtown Los Angeles during the event. If you're a virtual world or VR developer, an indie game creator or 3D artist, or with an organization/education group that uses virtual worlds/VR, or a reporter/blogger/analyst covering virtual worlds/VR/Unity 3D, and you're interested in Sinespace, they'd love to meet. Here's how to request a get-together:

Survey: Do the New SL Land & Premium Costs & Upgrades Interest You?

Linden Lab just announced new region prices (slightly cheaper) and Premium subscription offer (slightly more but for more benefits) -- but do they interest SL users in paying/continue paying? Please take this survey and share with other SLers!

Results reported next week! Summary of these new offers below:

Seed, the World-Building MMO, Has Yet to Launch, But Fans Have Already Created Competing Political Factions & Other Groups for When It Does

My latest story for Seed, the world-building MMO with a political system designed by Larry Lessig, delves into the many fascinating fan groups that have already formed around the yet-to-launch game:

They're inspired by government systems throughout history, including a dictatorship in which the scars of memory are still fresh. Many got their start in other online games, and are now in search of a new world. In real life, they're from across the European Union, North America, Australia, New Zealand and beyond - from Iceland and Russia to South Korea and Vietnam. Some even drive big rig trucks across America while they plan a new society. Between them, they make up the player-created groups of Seed.

While some factions got their start in game worlds like Grand Theft Auto Online and Second Life, others have  also been inspired by real-life governments throughout many eras, including feudal Japan and the Austria-Hungarian empire. And as its name suggests, the government structure of the Usamgov faction is inspired by the United States - just without some of its key flaws.

"For example," says founder Michael Weston, "we do not have an Electoral College."

More on the group that originated in Second Life:

Oculus Quest -- The Unboxening! Inside the Packaging, Hardware Design... and the Advertising & Cartesian Evil Deceiver Fine Print

It's sleek, it's beautiful, it's black matte everywhere because it's from the future -- my Oculus Quest rig recently arrived! If there's one standalone VR HMD that stands any chance to attract mass growth, it's this one.

But does the unboxing experience rival the pleasure and aesthetic joy of, say, unboxing a new iPhone? Let's take a look:

Casja's Flickr Pick: Scott Silverdale's Stylish, Experimental Second Life Imagery

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

“Dune Bunny” is a bit different from the majority of Scott Silverdale’s photostream as its touch of whimsy and puntastic title stand out from his more serious landscape and fashion photos. This playful side is usually expressed just in the titles, though humorous photos are sprinkled here and there in his photostream to show he is someone who looks at life with a twinkle in his eye.  A surreal twinkle if you go by “Sing for Supper! Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” Nonetheless, even in whimsy his penchant for finding beautiful places in Second Life is evident.

Chouchou Update from Owners: Beloved Second Life Sim Still Set to Close End of June -- Largely Due to Unchecked User Harassment

Chouchou photo by Shiva

Since news broke that Chouchou, the beloved Second Life owned and created by Chouchou, a Japanese music duo of the same name, would soon close, the dream-like place has been inundated by SLers taking farewell photos. I finally heard back from the duo's manager with the help of Sanny Yoshikawa, who translated their responses into English.

First off, as Sanny confirms from them: "The closing date of the sim is end of June (not in a few days )." So it's not closing as soon as originally reported.

After I first reached out to them a couple weeks ago, they've been inundated by messages from Second Life users: "[W]e received tons of messages through email, IM and Twitter. Most of them were very emotional. We became too busy to answer his questions."

And unlike most other beloved Second Life sims which have closed due to the high cost of monthly sim tier maintenance fees, Chouchou's owners say their main motivation for shutting down is unchecked trolling on their property:

With Worlds Adrift Closing, Promise of Ambitious, Improbable-Powered Single Shard MMOs in Peril

Oh this is heartbreaking and more than a bit frustrating:

Worlds Adrift was an ambitious undertaking for us: a community crafted MMO built on freedom and player agency with multiplayer physics, set in a huge world...

However, Worlds Adrift just hasn’t reached the level of popularity it needs to continue. The challenges that came with our ambitious project meant that all our work went into making the game work rather than making it the experience we wanted it to be. As a result we failed at making a game that could capture the imaginations of millions. Creating an MMO like Worlds Adrift is a huge financial commitment and unfortunately the game is just no longer commercially viable.

I've been following Worlds Adrift as a fan for years, because it had all the markings of an incredibly ambitious MMO/virtual world crossover that could potentially bring hundreds of thousands of players together; in fact, it's arguably the most ambitious single-shard MMO that's currently playable on the market right now. Or rather, was.

Even more disappointing, Worlds Adrift was among the most ambitious MMOs deployed on Improbable's Spatial OS technology, which was designed to make truly massive, single-shard MMOs possible. But as I reported last March, the company has mostly been moving away from single-shard MMOs:

Cajsa's Choice: Minecraft Meets The Beatles' Abbey Road

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

I love “Minecraft” by Andrey-S on DeviantArt. The artist has few pictures, but I don’t care. This picture makes up for everything. Ingeniously recreating the iconic Beatles “Abbey Road” cover (compare below) with Minecraft avatars complete with proper shadows on the street reveals a sensibility to fall in love with.

Linden Staff Need to Meet More Linden Customers (Comment of the Week)

Last week we were talking about the trouble of seeking Second Life user feedback when few actual users beyond the most hardcore users are willing/available to give that feedback in a survey or in-game meeting; reader Soda Sullivan suggests a better way:

[I]n six years I have met one Linden employee in-world. One. We actually had several long conversations and he was fascinated with how I spent my time, why my home was like, how did DJ-ing in SL work, what were relationships like, etc. He was curious why I would never consider living on the mainland (poor zoning laws and shitty grass textures). He had no concept of sales events and their popularity, or how outfit folders where actually used by residents. He usual response was "I am just a coder, but this is interesting".

That is the conversation more Lindens need to be REQUIRED to have. No meetings, just log in and walk around talk with someone. And yes, analytics are VERY important. Crucial in fact! But with a world that really has no clear objectives and guidelines, I think they need to be tied to first hand evidence as well. A previous CEO apparently cut back on allowing Linden staff in world. To me that was a travesty. Good riddance. [Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg] seems to be a bit better. He will drop in once in a while, take some abuse and the leave.

As it happens, some Lindens have told me that the previous CEO and his executive team discouraged extensive interaction with Second Life users by staff, primarily to avoid misinformation and liability concerns. In any case, I've also heard Altberg reversed that policy, and encourages more Linden to SLer interaction. 

Ms. Sullivan believes it should be mandatory: