New World Notes

With Oculus' Mandatory Facebook Policy, It May Be Up to Congress or the EFF to Save the Future of VR

Image via Upload VR

Surprising nearly no one, Oculus recently added injury to the insult of requiring Facebook log-in to use the Oculus Quest. Not only will VR users need to log in via Facebook, they are now required to keep using Facebook on pain of losing their Oculus content:

If you’ve linked your Oculus account to Facebook and decide you want to delete your Facebook account, your purchases on Oculus will be lost as well... Conversation surrounding the account deletion policy continues to unfold and there was a recent House subcommittee report which seemed to suggest Congress should view policies like Facebook’s as anticompetitive.

That last line is especially on point, given the upcoming election, with a heavy likelihood of Democrats -- highly critical of Facebook's monopolistic behavior -- taking both the Senate and the White House. Up until very recently, Congress has seemed too out of touch with technology to sufficiently confront Big Tech, but that's changed quite a bit -- especially now that leading Congressmembers are actual, genuine gamers.

At this point, the Electronic Freedom Foundation may beat Congress to the punch, with the venerable digital rights organization firing a shot across Oculus' bow last Summer with this statement:

Top 6 Posts Last Week Including: AOC's Twitch Gets FOX-Level Ratings & Among Us Gets an Unofficial VRChat Version

• Play Among Us In VRChat: New Fan-Made Version Adds Visual Tasks & VR-Based Body Language Gameplay To The Original
• Second Life Registrations Down In 2020 Despite COVID Concurrency Bump
• This Artist Uses Depth Of Field & Dynamic Lighting To Make Screenshots From SL Seem Like Photos
• Carmen King Kicks Up Second Life User Concurrency -- YouTube Star's SL Videos Likely Lead To 1st Growth Since COVID Quarantine
• AOC's Twitch Viewership Already Competitive With FOX & MSNBC Ratings
• Founding Linden Hunter Walk: When Launching Second Life, "We Over-Indexed On The Community" Versus Broadly Appealing Content

Tomorrow in SL: Acclaimed Artists Bryn Oh, Cica Ghost & Mr. Wainwright Live Build a Sculpture In This Plaza, With Music from Skye Galaxy & Others

This looks like an amazing SL event from metaverse art patron Chuck Clip: Beloved artists Bryn Oh, Cica Ghost, and Mr. Wainwright will live build a massive "exquisite corpse" sculpture in this plaza of Clip's Sinful Retreat sim:

It is one artwork, which is sure to be perfectly strange, to reflect the overall intent of the sim itself. That sculpture, which even I have not seen, is complete, and will be unveiled for all of us during the event piece by piece. In addition to all the beautiful new art, Mariposa Upshaw and Tayzia Abattoir, two veteran curators, agreed to do a rotating exhibit of old Second Life works of art. These will change out roughly every month. With the collections at their disposal, it could take years for them to display every piece they possess. 

Famed SL/RL musician Skye Galaxy and others will also perform -- first show starts at Noon PT.

Click here to attend. More info on Clip's blog.

Play Among Us in VRChat: New Fan-Made Version Adds Visual Tasks & VR-Based Body Language Gameplay to the Original

Attention AOC and other Among Us fans: There's a new community-fan, playable version of the hit deception and backstabbing game in VRChat: Click here to play. (No, not the horror-themed fan version of Among Us I mentioned the other week, that's another project still in development.)

While this VRChat version of Among Us is faithful to official original game, longtime reader Adeon Writer tells me, adds some new and interesting gameplay features only possible in a 3D, VR-enabled world:

"We had a group play it for about 3.5 hours straight." (Highlights in the video above.) "If you're one of the impostors in this one, you actually have to fake doing your tasks and stuff since everyone can see what you're doing with your hands and such, which is unexpected if you're used to the original, but kind of great. If you've got good players it opens up a whole new aspect of trying to deduct who's faking everything."

Here's how:

Casual & Glamorous SL Fashion Shopping Tips from the Perfect Fashion Blog

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

Look Perfect Fashion is a blog by Carol Bebb that features fun fashions with decor. This pic above drew me in by finding an orange pickup truck. It’s post number 1898, so Carol has been busy. I like her outfit, but I really fell for the pickup truck. 

• Pitaya&Tropix - Harvest truck @Kustom9

Superstar fashion after the break:

Second Life Registrations Down in 2020 Despite COVID Concurrency Bump

Recent SL sign-up stats via Tyche Shepherd's Grid Survey - click to embiggenate

Talking to Second Life data expert Tyche Shepherd about the Carmen King bump brought up another set of data points that aren't as fun. While it's true, as Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg said back in March, that "[w]e are seeing an increase in new registrations and returning residents during this [COVID] outbreak," that increase didn't last last very long. 

"Trend in signups is down," as Tyche tells me, sharing the chart above. "There was a boost in late March-April but these have been declining since May and there is no significant change in September... Overall this implies that any growth in concurrency is more likely explained by more frequent usage by existing accounts (either lapsed returning or longer online times by active users or a combination of both) rather than new users."

Also the decline in registrations is part of a longer trend: "It also looks like signups have been significantly lower than last year," Tyche adds.

And while SL concurrency did see a COVID bump, that didn't last long:

This Artist Uses Depth of Field & Dynamic Lighting to Make Screenshots from SL Seem Like Photos IRL

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

Seeing “Hidden Lake 01,” it is easy to understand why Vivena was the official SLB photographer from 2014 to 2018. This is simply stunning. She has an excellent eye for capturing the details that make a striking picture. Depth of field gives it verisimilitude, the kind that makes you ask, is it life or is it Second Life? 

More masterful land and cityscapes ahead:

Carmen King Kicks Up Second Life User Concurrency -- YouTube Star's SL Videos Likely Lead to 1st Growth Since COVID Quarantine

Recent SL concurrency stats via Tyche Shepherd's Grid Survey

It's been over a month since YouTube gaming celebrity Carmen King started streaming hilariously raunchy Second Life videos on her channel -- September 3, to be exact -- but has that led to growth in Second Life use by her nearly 1 million subscribers? Based on data shared to me by Tyche Shepherd of Grid Survey, it sure seems that way. 

"There has been a rise since September (though there are signs this is falling in October) but not anything as dramatic as we saw in March/April," as Tyche tells me. March and April is when Second Life saw a spike in usage due to, well, the COVID-19 pandemic and a global quarantine. "See [chart] attached which shows the underlying trend in median daily concurrency after controlling for weekly seasonality."

See above, click to embiggenate. Before Carmen's videos, median daily concurrency for SL was declining to around 38,000. That's since grown to roughly 41,000 at peak. To be sure, her videos aren't the only factor at work (Tyche tells me the upward trend started in mid-August), but seeing as her SL videos have amassed over half a million views so far, they're almost certainly a major factor.

They've definitely been a major factor on Carmen King's inbox:

"All of my direct messages are filled with people asking me to help," she tells me laughing. 

Despite this sudden surge, she tells me Linden Lab has hardly connected with her -- but as a longtime social game doyenne, she does have advice for the company:

AOC's Twitch Viewership Already Competitive With FOX & MSNBC Ratings

As you already may have noticed if you're even somewhat online, US Congresswoman (and bonafide gamer) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hosted her first Twitch stream last night, a Get Out the Vote promotional effort disguised as an Among Us play stream (or vice versa). The viewership was massive:

Almost 700,000 tuned in on Twitch to watch her play with several streamers and fellow Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. At the broadcast’s peak, some 440,000 people went to the Twitch stream set up by AOC, while another 200,000 or so followed sepaerate broadcasts by gaming stars Pokimane, Jacksepticeye, HasanAbi and Moistcr1tikal.

Many have pointed out that this makes AOC one of the very top streamers on Twitch, but a better comparison point is probably partisan political media. And on that front, her Twitch stream is already competitive with the very top shows on FOX and MSNBC:

This Artist Makes SL Screenshots Come Alive With Virtual Light & Shadow

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

I loved this picture the moment I saw it. I love the cats and how natural their poses are. We have all seen cats in spats. I love how it is lit from outside, from the bright lights of the city. It creates a chiaroscuro effect that is simply brilliant. I featured Paradox Ivory three years ago with an interview. Since then, her work has only grown in confidence and creative vision. 

Stunning images exploring light and shadow.