New World Notes

SLer Survey: Will You Upgrade Your Account to Premium Plus?

Note: For best results, take survey on a laptop/desktop!

Now that we've had a week to digest the new Premium Plus offering (details infograpic-ed below), here's a survey for the money question: Will you as an SL user actually upgrade?

This Screenshot Photographer Makes Her Second Life Travels Look Like Historical Paintings

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

Slowness Resident is a Second Life traveler and luckily for us, she takes pictures along the way. Here is a picture of Dukedom, a sim that is much-loved by photographers. I can imagine Elliot Ness doing a stakeout here.  

For more of her travels, click here:

Metaverse Standards Which Don't Factor In Metaverse User Communities Aren't Worth Formulating - Update: Metaverse Pioneer Tony Parisi & MSF Host Neil Trevett Reply

Updates, 7/30:  Added feedback from Tony Parisi, who was metaversing before the Metaverse was cool, and Neil Trevett, VP of NVIDIA & President of the Khronos Group, the host of the Metaverse Standards Forum. Excerpts at the bottom of this post!

You may have noticed last week's announcement of the Metaverse Standards Forum, a consortium of companies and organizations anchored by Meta, Epic, and other industry leaders, proposing to create universal standards for metaverse platforms going forward:

The Metaverse Standards Forum aims to foster consensus-based cooperation between diverse SDOs and companies to define and align requirements and priorities for metaverse standards—accelerating their availability and reducing duplication of effort across the industry.

“The metaverse will bring together diverse technologies, requiring a constellation of interoperability standards, created and maintained by many standards organizations,” said Neil Trevett, Khronos president. “The Metaverse Standards Forum is a unique venue for coordination between standards organizations and industry, with a mission to foster the pragmatic and timely standardization that will be essential to an open and inclusive metaverse.”

I didn't blog about it last week, because I was waiting to receive an answer to the questions I sent to their press contact:

Fantastic Photos from Second Life Rugby Games -- Yes, Second Life Has a Rugby League & Virtual Sports Photographers

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

Stevo Kozlowski shoots Second Life rugby. Who knew Second Life rugby looked this real? It’s changed a lot since Miffyhoi Rosca, Hatchy Mills, and I went to a stadium in 2007. I am blown away by these action shots. Wow, wow, wow! But there’s more. He gives some color commentary for the three pics in the composite:

1. Bulldogs v Seagulls RD9 Jovi Jordan dots down after collecting a kick from Pj Havoc which iced the game for the Bulldogs.
2. Pirates v Pitbulls RD9 One of the Pitbulls best this year, Hynes Guerrero. The prop forward has run for over 1000 meters this season. Pictured here, slipping a ball to Chip Lemongrass who scored in their narrow victory over arch rivals the BayCity Pirates.
3. Tigers v Rhinos RD9 Rhinos lock forward Tolsen Piggins has been dangerous for his side this season. He's scored 5 tries and made 8 line breaks and 17 tackle busts. He was pivotal in the Rhinos win over the Tigers.

Stevo not only has play-by-play commentary like this, but includes links to all key fashion items in the image.

For more sports pics, click here:

Why Are We Not Having Conferences About the Metaverse on Actual Metaverse Platforms?

Reuters is having a free webinar tomorrow on the future of the Metaverse featuring several esteemed panelists, which you can register for here.

But wait a minute: If we're so excited about the Metaverse, why are we talking about it... on the web? Especially when there are a number of metaverse platforms on the market which could easily host a hundred or more attendees, with an overflow crowd who could watch it streamed on YouTube and Twitch. 

I put it to Reuters' event manager Pete Carkeek, who defends the use of webinars to talk about the Metaverse this way:

Powerful Second Life Screenshots Protesting the End of Roe v Wade from Whiskey Monday & Other Community Creators

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

Second Life residents often stick to quotidian subjects, fashion, décor, and roleplay. At times, though, the events of the world break through and they respond with their art. On Friday, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the right to abortion. The vast majority of Americans disapprove, but the Court is not accountable to anyone. Whiskey Monday’s “Futile Dissent” gets at that dilemma. The flowers make me think of masses of people out in the streets protesting with the certain knowledge that the Supreme Court does not care. 

For more responses to the Supreme Court decision, click here:

Angry Second Life Creator Offers Free "My Body My Choice" Tattoo to Feminist Avatars

Now available for free in Second Life thanks to Edyn Starlight -- an abortion rights avatar tattoo. Edyn writes:

I don't typically like to get political, not on the best or even the worst of days, but Roe vs. Wade being overturned is fucking ridiculous... In support of those affected by this, I'm releasing this tattoo as a free gift, and it will remain free forever. I'm not a US resident, but I have so many friends whom have been there for my entire life that are affected by this decision.

Click here to teleport to Edyn's mainstore in Hamamura to get a copy.

Are there other abortion rights events and content in Second Life -- especially those which benefit real life orgs and women/girls impacted by the end of Roe? Please post details in Comments, and I'll highlight some in another post.

By the way, I've also asked Linden Lab if the company plans to make any policy announcement around the gutting of Roe and the coming of anti-abortion laws throughout much of the US. Specifically:

Second Life's New Premium Plus Not Always a Good Deal -- But Could Be Made Better (Reader Comments of the Week)

Lots of good reader feedback around the just-announced Premium Plus offering for Second Life. According to  Luther Weymann, getting a Premium Plus in his specific scenario would not be a very good deal:

I have a free account.
I have a 2048 store in a private region for monthly rent.
I have product development that I upload textures at L$10 each.

Suppose I buy the $249/yr premium plus, move my 2048 store to the mainland, get the weekly stipend and sign-up bonus, and stop paying for texture upload. In that case, I spend about $100 a year for the premium. I already pay about $100 a year for the SL Market sales commission. So I would go from paying SL $100 a year to $200 a year, and I only gain more groups.

Yikes. I imagine many SLers are in a situation like his. Speaking of product development, Dee has a very good idea of improving Premium Plus for content creators:

Top 5 Posts Last Week Including a New Pricing Plan for Second Life, Another Odd NFT Integration & Why We Need to Define the Metaverse Apart from Corporate Interests

• Visit A Second Life Sim Devoted To David Lynch
• Linden Lab Unveils $25/Month Second Life Subscription To Replace Eroding Revenue Of Virtual Land
• Today's SL Flickr Pic: Unique & Amazing Avatar Portraits By Sonic
• Core Metaverse Platform Adds NFT Option -- But Why? CEO Explains
• Tom Boellstorff: We Need To Define The Metaverse Before Moneyed Interests Define It For Us

Tomorrow: Visit a Second Life Sim Devoted to David Lynch, Attend an Immersive Extravaganza as a Character from His Works!

Click here to teleport to a place where the birds sing a pretty song, and there's always music in the air. That's right: There's a whole Second Life sim devoted to dream world genius David Lynch, and there's a grand 7 hour event happening there tomorrow starting at 2pm PT. (All the details here.)

"Lynchland is not about roleplay," group leader Myrdin Sommer tells me, "but we do like to dress up as characters from a Lynch movie; LynchLand is a cool place to indulge David Lynch's eccentric persona so to say! And as a dress code we ask this from our visitors at events, but it is certainly not mandatory." But if you had the chance to turn your avatar into a character from a Lynch movie or TV show, why would you not?

"And that goes for everything in LynchLand," says Sommer, "The Bang Bang bar, The little church, the Blue Velvet Diner, The Mulholland Drive-in Cinema or the Lost Highway Motel, where we even have a room specially for David, so he can stay over when he is in ' town." 

And you never know when Lynch will be in the neighborhood: He just made a visit the Metaverse just a couple years ago.

More on LynchLand next week, meantime, here's some images from the LynchLand group on Flickr. (Warning, not all of them are worksafe viewing, not even when it's the Log Lady.)