Tech! Kit! For Friday fun, watch this pretty hypnotically hilarious video, featuring YouTuber Creamy and his pal Tim Apple randomly bopping around Second Life in their Apple Vision Pros, marveling at the virtual world and all the assorted avatars in it.
Side note: If "trolling" is interrupting a virtual social space to be an a-hole, what do you call it when trickster goofballs interrupt to sprinkle some genial weirdness? How about "elf-ing"?
Anyway, you can actually access Second Life with a Vision Pro (kinda sorta), but not as Tim Apple:
Courtesy Convai,the AI company partnering with Linden Lab to bring helpful NPC guides for new Second Life uers, here's an in-world demo of Convai bots in action.
It's an early prototype demo, so I don't want to judge too harshly, but I think Convai's "intelligent bots" will need to be deployed much differently to have a substantial impact on new user retention. For starters:
Most new new users quit during download/installation, so these bots would actually need to be part of the website/set-up process (and maybe they will).
Second Life is already crawling with bots, most them not as intelligent as what Convai is showing off here -- but that's also trained active users to generally avoid all bots. (So I'm not seeing a scenario where a Convai bot acts like someone's wingman at a nightclub, like the video suggests.)
Second Life is inherently and at its most valuable as a social space with other live human people, so I strongly believe there needs to be a clear demarcation between Convai bots and human-driven avatars. That's not evident here, except perhaps for the android-looking bots. (But then again, many human SLers have android avatars.)
Just as key: Will Second Life's content creator community also get to play around with Convai's platform? No word there (unless I missed it). I've reached out to Linden Lab to check on that.
Anyway, those are just my initial thoughts to this very early demo. Looking forward to how this project evolves.
More feature details from the official announcement and a video demo by Linden Lab's Brad Oberwager:
But that was in 2019. Now, inevitably, Tilt five is also proposing to compete with Apple Vision Pro's "Spatial Computing" model. (See above -- or if you're at GDC 2024, come by their booth).
Maybe I'm mad, but the Tilt Five experience immediately strikes me as a much more scalable vision for Spatial Computing. It's not purporting to be your new computing system like Vision Pro -- and do you really want to wear one for nine hours a day? -- but a lightweight, optional, lower cost device for when you actually need or want to interact with 3D content, especially in a work context.
Emphasis on cost: Whereas a Vision Pro is $3500+, Tilt 5 devices start at... $359.
In case you missed it (and I sure have!), Cajsa's regular column covering her favorite Second Life-based Flickr photographers and artists has been paused, as she deals with some various real life logistics.
Meantime, who are some of your favorite photographers/artists she should cover? Please post their feeds in Comments, or tag a specific picture with #CasjaNWN, aand add Cajsa Lilliehook on Flickr to the image.
Last month I reported that Linden Lab was investigating allegations posted to social media regarding toxic internal company operations among some staffers. Now Brad Oberwager, Linden Lab's Executive Chairman, is publicly confirming this, and reporting that the investigation is ongoing and expanding:
I promise we hear you. We know you're angry and you're confused. We are working to do our best to resolve your concerns and restore your trust in us. These are complicated issues and we want to do things right. We will make mistakes along the way. I wish I could say we will not, but we will.
As owner of Linden Lab, I have initiated a thorough investigation, both internally and with external partners, to review whether or not there have been any violations of our company and community policies by employees, contractors, or community members. While early preliminary internal investigations suggest that some of the accusations are unfounded, I want to make sure that we get additional investigative support externally to ensure that the process is fair and thorough.
The "anger" aspect is accurate -- many community members have bristled at the allegations, and the lack of any public acknowledgment of them by the company. But as I wrote recently, there are very good reasons for a large organization to maintain radio silence in situations like this.
One of the sources for my February post tells me this is what they'd expect from a thorough investigation:
"They need to look into allegations of nepotism by some in management, and allegations of a hostile work environment among moles [Linden Lab content creation contractors] and Linden staff working in the Linden Department of Public Works group related to potential nepotism."
As I understand it, Linden Lab is finally and reluctantly making this public statement at the behest of Second Life community leaders and content creators who've lobbied for it -- which is a reassuring testament to the power of Second Life's community.
As for the investigation itself, we should probably expect it to take several weeks or even months, with some or all of the findings not even made public. As I wrote (speaking from general experience):
The timing is probably coincidental but it's hard to miss: Universal Music Group, one of the music industry's major labels, just signed a partnership to put its music in Roblox through a virtual boombox item cleverly called Boombox:
“By integrating Boombox, UMG solidifies its position as a vanguard of music innovation within the gaming sector,” said Alvaro G Velilla, senior vice president, New Business at UMG. “This integration not only enhances superfan experiences on the platform but does so with an extensive array of fully licensed music from UMG's global roster of artists and labels, setting a new standard for how music can be integrated into the platform for the entire sector.”
RSVP here! Joined by award-winning VR creator Athena Demos, here's the roundtable summary:
XR (Extended Reality) has transformed industries from gaming and entertainment to healthcare and education through immersive technologies that alter reality like VR, AR, and MR. How does community building work in a virtual world and what can community builders learn from the XR space? What do community builders need to know about all of this to stay on the cutting edge of the field?
Kickoff time is pretty early for West Coat people, I know, but I will be highly caffeinated.
Convai has joined forces with industry giants such as Frost Giant Studios, Linden Lab, and Carbonated to integrate AI NPCs into their games. These collaborations underscore the growing demand for AI-driven characters in gaming and virtual worlds, with Convai’s technology driving engagement and utility for end-users.
“We’re excited to partner with Convai to bring its conversational AI into Second Life to add new and exciting engagement experiences to our community,” says Brad Oberwager, chairman of Linden Lab, in a statement. “This partnership is just the latest example of our ongoing commitment to innovation in virtual worlds as Second Life has been a pioneer and leader in the establishment of digital economies, cultures, and communities. These AI characters can not only ease the learning curve for new users by providing necessary information, but also help entertain and engage them by giving them a tour of the virtual world, carrying out different actions based on conversation, and connecting them with other players and characters.
Emphasis mine. Given the particular wording, the likeliest use case for Second Life is addressing the first-time user experience, which remained the core friction point for growing the virtual world's user base. Roughly 99% of new users never return, overwhelmed by the complex user interface, and the intimidation of a virtual world that's not a traditional game with clear goals/rewards. An AI-powered Liaison Linden could definitely help address some of this challenge.
Then again, that doesn't mean AI is the panacea to Second Life's core problem!
For one thing, LLM-based NPCs will be notoriously unreliable and need quite a bit of training not to hallucinate. For another, I'm concerned that starting new users off with an NPC companion will distort their impression about Second Life culture, which is all about actual live users and live user communities. Finally (to judge by the demo above), the NPC interactions are still very much in the soulless, uncanny valley area.
Then again, I'm also open to the possibility that an AI companion will be less stressful than dealing with a live human assistant/volunteer, especially for new users who already feel overwhelmed, and want some time by themself to get acclimated.
Anyway, we'll see. MMO game designer Damion Schubert made some interesting points when this tech was first unveiled:
Storytelling in games is ALREADY much harder than other forms of media because we don't control the pace of delivery, or (frequently) the order players encounter story nuggets. Hell, we have to deal with players putting down their controllers for a week and reengaging.
As such, narrative design is an incredibly important and incredibly delicate design field. Because it's about the EXPERIENCE and not the NARRATIVE.
It's not going to be achievable simply by about firing all your writers and replacing them with robots.
Or to apply it to Linden Lab, growing the user base is (probably) not going to be achievable by adding robotic community managers!
For all your "This is Fine" meme needs across all realities -- and good god there so many occasions for this right now -- Mad Pea Studios has this animated stool which comes with a cup of coffee and a cartoon bubble. (Raging fire not included.) Also: "The raging flames are part of the attachable stool and they come with sizzling fire sounds as well!"
It's now available from Mad Pea Studios for L$199 at the EQUAL10 shopping event (direct teleport here), though that means wading through a lag of shoppers, and is somewhat hard to find at first.
"From the event landing point, walk towards the center of the event," a Mad Pea team member advises. "At the sponsor ad wall turn left. You will find our booth on the left-hand side, it's the one on fire!"
I'm secretly hoping this becomes a Second Life-wide Flickr meme for Cajsa to blog (hint hint) -- and that original artist KC Green says this is fine, too.
