New World Notes

Sansar Wasn't the Successor to Second Life That Second Life Needed (Comments of the Week)

Lots of interesting reader comments about my podcast interview with Philip Rosedale, including this reaction to my suggestion that a successor to Second Life running on a modern engine like Unity should be integrated as an option in the official viewer. For illustrative purposes, imagine two big buttons side by side on the log-in page, labeled "Click here to teleport into Second Life Classic" and "Click here to teleport into Second Life 2", or whatever it's called. Reader "0xc0ffea" thinks that's basically already been done: 

The new grid new engine idea was Sansar. No one used it. It crashed and burnt.

This is true, but misses some important nuances. As "Pointer" writes:

Top 3 Posts Last Week, Featuring the Flat Growth of ROBLOX & a Long Metaverse Chat With Philip Rosedale

• Listen: Philip Rosedale & I Talk About Transforming The Future Of Second Life & Making A More Humane Metaverse
• ROBLOX Website Usage Has Been Flat Since Its Spring 2021 IPO
• Microsoft Buys Least Metaverse-Friendly Game Company To Boost Its Metaverse Plans

Listen: Philip Rosedale & I Talk About Transforming the Future of Second Life & Making a More Humane Metaverse

Wagner James Au · Philip Rosedale & Wagner James Au on the future of Second Life & the Metaverse

UPDATE, January 21: Bumped up for weekend conversation!

On the day when Philip Rosedale announced his return to Second Life and his plans to compete with Big Tech's "ad-driven behavior modification" would-be Metaverse projects, he and I had a long chat about just that subject -- listen above. This audio is actually a rough cut for an upcoming podcast series that Philip and I are developing, but he very coolly gave New World Notes readers this exclusive early listen sneak preview.

Here's some highlights from our chat:

0:00 - 2:45 : How I become Hamlet Au and Second Life's embedded journalist, and meeting the legendary hacker Catherine Omega in one of my very first visits. (Who Philip recently reconnected with in-world, as she still visits from time to time.)

2:45 - 4:50: Walking across the single-shard world of Second Life -- and the missing opportunity of missing serendipity of metaverse platforms without a single contiguous world.

Friday Fashion Blog: Luna's Wardrobe for Fun & Sassy SL Style

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

Luna’s Wardrobe is a fun and sassy fashion blog by Megumi. I was drawn to her blog by her pictures. This outfit in Hypnotized is so spicy. The black and white top and stockings have a bit of rockabilly joining the very goth collar and shoes. Is that Rock-a-Goth? 

• hoodie: Lunar - Demi Hoodie Jacket @mainstore by LunarStore
• boots: [Salem] Ezra Boots - Glass @kustom9 closes Feb 10th by SalemManager
• skirt: [[Salem]  Roxy Skirt @anthem Closes Jan. 30th by SalemManager
• top: [Salem]  Roxy Top @anthem Closes Jan. 30th by SalemManager

For more fun fashion, click here:

Today's Flickr Pick: Wry & Rousseau-Like Images Created by Bianca in Second Life

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

Bianca’s “Who’s Crying Now” is accompanied by Journey’s “Who’s Crying Now?” and she has the sassy, I-figured-it-out look that might ask that question. It’s a lovely pic with plants and a ladder shelf, and I like the bold, rich colors. 

For more great pics, click here:

ROBLOX Website Usage Has Been Flat Since Its Spring 2021 IPO

Data via SimilarWeb

ROBLOX enjoyed a breakthrough year in 2021, with a spectacular IPO last March and increasing talk that it's the leading metaverse platform, with growth to 43 million daily active users late last year.

According to SimilarWeb, however, there's one thing ROBLOX didn't grow in 2021: Website visits.

Since at least June 21, visits to the official site have remained flat at around 1 billion visits per month, give or take. (Which is, of course, an insane number of visits.) Unlike most other metaverse platforms, the ROBLOX experience is very tightly integrated with the website, with an online shop and a directory of popular/engaging/recommended worlds. So web traffic offers a pretty accurate insight into overall ROBLOX user activity.

And to go by that standard, ROBLOX usage is stable -- but not growing.

Why? The likeliest answer is something I've discussed before:

This Artist Turns SL Screenshots Into Evocatively Conceptual Images

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

Aurelia von Troubles posted this sample from a recent exhibit of her work. The project is called My Seven and this particular picture is “Wrath”, one of the seven deadly sins. They occupy Dante’s Fifth Circle of Hell. Dante saw wrath as the desire for justice perverted to a desire for revenge. Her epaulets suggest her wrath began with justice or at least the approval of society. Her legs are scratched and covered in mud, fitting for those who eternally drown in the River Styx. She is Wrath embodied. 

For more thoughtful and emotionally evocative images, click here:

Survey: How Does Philip Rosedale's Return to Second Life Change Your Outlook on the Future of the Platform -- And The Metaverse in General?

Note: Take this survey on laptop/desktop for best results!

Now that everyone has had time over the long weekend to process the news of Philip Rosedale's return to Second Life, here's a survey to express your sense of how that will shape the future of Second Life -- and other metaverse-type platforms. If history is a guide, Philip's return to active virtual world/metaverse development will make him a leading voice in the industry, while his last startup High Fidelity has technology being licensed to other metaverse platforms.

 So what's your high level sense on this move?  

Diagonal Compositions Done Well Add Drama to Lishy's Charming SL Photos

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

Lishy’s untitled avatar pick looks ready for her action movie. She’s all dressed up and ready to save the world. She comes with an accompanying action-appropriate song called String Theory that is definitely not up my alley but difference is what makes the world exciting. I just know that she is a defender of truth and humanity. She looks like one of the good guys. I can’t wait to see the movie. 

For Lishy living her secret identity, click here:

Microsoft Buys Least Metaverse-Friendly Game Company to Boost Its Metaverse Plans

This is one of those surprised/not surprised news items:

Microsoft Corp. plans to acquire Activision Blizzard Inc. in its largest deal yet as it looks to boost its gaming business and capture opportunities in the metaverse... “Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” Chief Executive Satya Nadella said in the release. 

The deal definitely makes sense for Microsoft's gaming war chest, but talk of the metaverse makes me wonder if Microsoft actually grasps the concept. (I mean if I were head of Microsoft's metaverse strategy, I'd spend less time trying to acquire legacy old school game companies, and more time updating and rebooting Microsoft's Minecraft into a full-fledged metaverse.)

And yes yes, Activision Blizzard has a great track record of creating hugely successful mass market games (good relations with its employees, not so much) with highly polished UX and deep narrative/world building. What Activision Blizzard is not especially well known for is the key feature that comprises any metaverse platform worth the name: