New World Notes

Why Virtual World Gamers Will Want to Try Once Human, the New Cozy Crafting Combat World

A thrilling trend I'm starting to see in popular new games is a mash-up of multiplayer combat with virtual world gameplay, where customizing your avatar, crafting your home, raising/caring for pets, and casually hanging out with friends and exploring the world together is just as emphasized as the face-shooty aspects.  

Once Human is among the latest examples, and it comes across like a zany mash-up of Fortnite and Palia, the cozy MMO. I'm even tempted to coin a new subgenre name for it: Cozy Crafting Combat World.

Sparkle and Gogo, who largely spend their virtual world gameplay socializing/creating content around Second Life, are now fans of Once Human. So much so, they created a channel of their Second Life Cafe Discord devoted to Once Human, and even have an affiliate code for the game: This one right here. 

"I am trying to earn points for a snow globe," Sparkle explains, laughing. "I am giving a gun for people to use in their as well, they also get gifts.

"I'm not a gamer at all," Gogo allows, "I've only played Second Life for the past two decades. So what I found interesting about [Once Human] is that it's fairly easy, soft grinding, but there are lots of rewards too. And you can play with friends, that's important to me. I hate playing games by myself."

"You can play solo but as you progress it encourages people to work collaboratively," Sparkle adds. "Everyone gets different specializations and contributes resources to the group. Or you can sell or trade with other players for in game currency."

More on the virtual world/cozy aspects of Once Human:

Second Life Combat 2 Development Tips from Linden Lab's Creator Tools Product Manager

Since Linden Lab recently unveiled Combat 2, a major update to Second Life's combat system, I got in touch with Kyle Linden, the company project manager under the Avatars and Creator Tools initiative. A Linden since 2007, Kyle's also a longtime gamer and even owned a roleplay region in SL before joining the company. "[O]ne of the things I have always wished for Second Life is easy to enter combat situations to enhance role playing games our residents create," he tells me.

While there are many impressive user-made game systems in Second Life, the platform's streaming architecture is not immediately optimized for high speed, physics-based combat out of the box. So I asked Kyle for some tips for community developers getting started with implementing Combat 2:

Cajsa's Choices: A Whole Flickr Group Celebrating Autumn in Second Life

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

Rawnie Lane’s “Foggy Woods” seems the perfect picture to open my exploration of Autumn in Second Life, a Flickr group exploring the wonders of the season in our metaverse. This is a beautiful forest with a path meandering through it and leaves falling to the ground. Yes, it is raking season, but I want to make a pitch for leaving the leaves in your yard rather than burning or putting them out with the trash. Why? Because lots of little critters need the leaves for shelter and they also add nutrients to your soil. We are losing butterflies, so let’s leave the leaves and help save the butterflies. Butterflies would love this forest. 

For more from Autumn in Second Life , click here:

Resonite Update: One Year After Launch, Patreon-Sponsored Virtual World Has 10,000 Monthly Active Users from 60,000 Installs

This report brought to you by the Virtual Worlds Museum, now creating digital hubs across many virtual worlds. Contact the Museum team here to get involved!

It's been almost exactly a year since the launch of Resonite, the free-to-play virtual world/metaverse platform that was spun out from a prior project (read about its history here) by lead developer "Frooxius", who supported its creation from his Patreon, which currently brings in $18,000+ per month.

Since then, the indie project has seem some fairly impressive organic user growth. Here's some recent Resonite stats:

• About 10,000 monthly active users
• Almost 60,000 installs/user accounts total
• About 60-75% of users are on VR headsets, versus the PC client
• 45% of Resonite users are from North America, while 23% are in Western Europe; 13% are located across Asia

I got this data from Resonite's finance officer (known as "bobthegood" on Discord/in-world), which is another indication of it's evolution into an actual business. (The platform is slowly selling education and enterprise/government SaaS licenses to organizations.)

As for the culture of the current user community, Bob shares this (along with the pic above and some influencer videos):

Second Life Mobile Updates: Experimental Voice Chat Added, Access Expanded to All Subscriber Levels Including Plus

Linden Lab just announced some pretty big updates to its Second Life mobile app (watch above, featuring a celebrity cameo) chief among them being these:

• Voice chat is now available in mobile on an experimental basis in some regions
• Mobile access is now expanded to all subscribers levels, including Plus (i.e. $5.50/month)

The announcement goes into detail on how all areas of Second Life are accessible, regardless of content rating -- something I discussed a few weeks ago:

Cajsa's Choices: Gorgeous Historical Cosplay Pics by Niely Atheria

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

Niely Atheria has a wonderful stream of historical cosplay pictures like “Fairytales Dream” above. The prince chasing Cinderella looks like he has a chance of catching her, though. I love the ornate carriage almost out of the frame, but you can see how fancy it is. The dress is also exquisite. I love that it’s not too frilly, just gorgeous. 

For more of her great cosplay, click here:

Read an Excerpt of The Hivemind Swarmed: A New Oral History of Gamergate, the 2014 Online Harassment Campaign That Changed Everything (Plus Get a Special NWN Discount Code!)

It's impossible to understand US politics or Internet/gaming/virtual world culture without knowing about Gamergate, the numerically small but highly coordinated online harassment campaign unleashed almost exactly 10 years ago. Fortunately there's a new oral history on the topic: The Hivemind Swarmed by David Wolinsky, and the book's summary puts it well:

Gamergate holds the grim distinction of being the first modern online harassment campaign. It arguably served as a model for the alt-right movement that would help propel Donald Trump to the White House. And it highlighted a toxic media culture—not just in gaming, but in film, TV, journalism, and more—in which leaders, through their passivity, took the side of the oppressor. Now, 10 years later—in the wake of #MeToo, Charlottesville, the Trump years, and the January 6 insurrection—the questions discussed here are more important than ever.

I was honored to be one of the many people David interviewed for the book, a highly readable and engrossing first-person account of that period, and what we've (hopefully) learned since then. Thanks to him and his publisher, New World Notes is featuring a lengthy excerpt (below) and a special discount code:

Click here to order the book from Beacon Press and used SCHOLAR25 as the code for 25% off the list price, along with free shipping.

Here's the excerpt, featuring indy pop star Jonathan Coulton, journalist Clive Thompson, virtual world pioneer Richard Bartle, and others (including, well, me, very briefly piping up here):

Cajsa's Choices: Imaginative Tributes to Nostalgia & Outdoor Adventure by Brian Werefox

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

Brian Werefox created this fabulously imaginative picture picturing himself back in earlier years, called “I wish that we could go back in time to those days that made us who we are.” It was taken at Mall Paradise, a place that must have reminded him of the thrill of renting a movie back when videotapes were new. I do remember how my friends and I would wander the aisles trying to pick a movie. Maybe when it is as easy as clicking a button online, the thrill is not so great, especially since Netflix won’t run out of copies. That reminded me that there is still one last remaining Blockbuster and it’s here in Oregon. There’s even a movie about it. 

For more of his delightful pictures, click here: