New World Notes

A Black Woman in Real Life Reflects on Being Black in Second Life

Martin Luther King Jr. day should not be the only day we think about addressing racism as it occurs in virtual worlds, so these thoughtful videos from SL blogger Emuna Zamani, a black woman in real life, are worth a watch today or any day. Emuna has a warm and chatty presence, even through her avatar, which helps her broach potentially touchy subjects in a gentle way, including:

• She argues that it's not necessarily offensive when SL skin makers don't offer black-skinned avatars, as they can take time and special effort to make well -- while getting them wrong can cause offense.
• It's not offensive "blackface" for non-black SL bloggers to depict black-skinned avatars in their images -- but it can be disrespectful/borderline blackface when those images incorporate stereotypical aspects. (Which, unfortunately, she's encountered within the SL blogging community.)

In Part 2, she addresses reader comments, including one who insists that there's no racism in virtual worlds (very much not the case), then goes on to discuss other provocative topics:

Second Life Avatar Smiles: Some Come From FaceApp, Others Are "Natural"

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

Last week in my column, I featured this photo above by Jarla Capalini. The naturalistic smile captivated me. I know mesh heads are doing wonders with improving expression in Second Life and made the mistake of assuming that was how this smile was created. However, when Hamlet posted it to the Second Life Friends group on Facebook, several people objected and insisted it had to have been done with FaceApp. I checked with Jarla Capalini in-world and she confirmed that she used FaceApp. 

So, there is an app that creates a beautiful smile, at least in this photo. However, the majority of the other FaceApp examples I’ve seen were not nearly so successful. When I talked to Capalini she explained she tried it with several photos that did not work. The original photo from her blog produced the best result -- comparison below:

Naturalistic SL facial expressions are hard to produce, but they have come a long way from the days when we would turn on talk and slow down animations to catch a smile by saying something other than cheese. If you follow that link, there is a little gif of me saying cheese with my old legacy avatar. 

But that is from SL’s Bronze Age. In the modern era, there is the Lelutka Axis HUD that allows you to move the many individual bones in the face and head to create individual facial expressions. Nastaya’s photo here (right) has a lovely natural smile.

Cassie Middles did a video that shows exactly how completely you can control facial expressions with even more control than FaceApp. She also made a video demonstrating how it works with other mesh heads. So while Jarla made her smile using FaceApp, she also could have used the Axis HUD.

Did you know there is a Flickr group for SL smiles?

That’s where I found this gorgeous smile by Peasant:

 

SLer Survey: Over 1 in 4 Willing to Pay Extra to Change Their Avatar Name

Here's the results of that pre-Thanksgiving survey on Linden Lab's new name change payment option, set to launch early next year. With 373 SLers responding -- a very large sample, relative to surveys like this! --  over 1 in 4 (i.e. 27%) say they will pay extra to change their avatar name. That includes 14.4% who are already paying for a monthly Premium subscriptions (a pre-requisite for the name change option), and are still willing to pay a bit more.

Of course there's alternate, prim-is-half-empty way to read these results:

SLers Furiously Debate Whether They Should Pay to Change Their SL Names

Last chance to take this survey on whether you want to pay for the chance to change your SL name; I'll post the results tomorrow. In any case, it's definitely provoked a passionate conversation among readers. Here's some highlights:

I love having the limited selection as long as it's long enough, like in the old days. I can hardly wait to see the list of names and to see avatars that aren't stuck with "Resident." Currently I'm happy with my avatar names, so there's no reason to pay for new ones. I just wish that all those stuck with "Resident" could, without charge, add a last name from the list. So much nicer.

-- Acacia Merlin

Please do not make us choose from a list of names. I doubt we will get what we want that way! Custom name is worth a fee, otherwise. Unless you have my last name I want, I'll keep the old one!

-- kedvenc ivanovic 

Sorry we took all those profits we collected from your $300.00 imaginary lands and used them to make a gigantic VR bonfire and dissed you in the process.

Luckily, in the ashes, we finally hear your pleas. Our little elves are working like mad to make a doohickey that will take us back in time to the days when we knew how to give people names. You'll need to pay a fee to pay a fee to get this amazing regifted fruitcake. Happy Holidays!

"Names" was on my 2011 Christmas List. In 2019, I want justice.

-- Jenny8675309 Resident

Several more after the break!

SLer Survey: Will You Pay to Change Your Avatar Name?

At long last Linden Lab has announced plans to let SLers change their first and/or last avatar name -- but it comes with a revenue-generating catch:

We heard you loud and clear. Soon it will be possible to change the name of a Second Life account. This is one of our Residents’ most requested features and we’re working furiously to make it available by the end of January.  Name Changes will be exclusively for Premium members at an additional fee. Changing one or both of your First and Last Name will be available as a single transaction. Last Names will be picked from a list, which you can help us curate.

Hence this survey above -- please share with other SLers! Results posted right before Thanksgiving next week. 

Watch: Trans People Explore Alternate Identities Through Virtual World Avatars

This is a fascinating new video by virtual world videographer Luca, on an endlessly important topic: How trans people use virtual worlds and avatar customization to explore alternate identities. (In this case Second Life, though as Luca notes, it's a phenomenon common to many other virtual worlds.) Luca interviews several trans SLers, who discuss their avatar form and how it relates to who they are in real life.

"[I]t's my experiences with the trans communities and my trans friends that inspired me to make the video," tells me. "The subjects are all my trans friends who I befriended throughout my years on SL."

Notably, others that Luca approached refused to do the interview or even appear "on camera" -- even though their real life identity is protected by their anonymous avatar identity:

Listen: Longtime SLer Gidge Uriza Featured in Leslie Jamison's NPR Interview

NPR just featured an interview with acclaimed writer Leslie James, whose new book of essays Make It Burn, Make It Scream features an excerpt from her widely-discussed 2017 Atlantic Monthly story on Second Life. She reads an excerpt featuring SL veteran Gidge Uriza:

Can You Make Your High Fidelity App Avatar Look Like Your SL Avatar?

I mean I guess? This is what I get when I use the new High Fidelity smartphone app (free on Apple's App Store here; on Google Play here), take a requisite real life selfie, and then modify him to look like "Hamlet Au", my avatar in Second Life. (Which is, in turn, a variation of what I look like in real life, only dressed up like Tom Wolfe.)

As you might have guessed, this is part of High Fidelity's transition from making a metaverse to first creating a kind of "metaverse for Slack" online work space. So as High Fidelity founder Philip Rosedale explains, these are specifically a kind of augmented reality avatar merging real life identity with a virtual one:

We’ve seen the power of personalized avatars at creating a sense of presence, especially for teammates who are physically remote from one another. Whether they’re hopping into a private quiet space for a quick 1:1, meeting in a conference room or gathering in a cafe for coffee, avatars that are recognizable make communication easier and more organic. 

They’re also practical. Non-human avatars are an amazing way to express your creativity, but they may not work well in a professional context. Using an avatar that resembles you also eliminates the self-consciousness around video calls — no more fretting about messy hair or need to worry about that toothpaste dribble on your shirt. 

This strikes me as the wrong direction to take workspace avatars. Almost by definition, the kind of companies most likely to be interested in using 3D avatars in a work environment would be in high tech, gaming, marketing, media, and other industries where there's a premium on personal creativity. One whole point of  whimsical avatars is they're a great way of breaking the social ice between strangers and acquaintances. (Think a big Halloween costume party, but online.) Why get rid of that?

Anyway, check out Philip Rosedale's High Fidelity avatar below. Where his Second Life avatar famously had a handlebar mustache, codpiece, and leather chaps, his HiFi avatar looks more like Philip Rosedale if there was a Japanese anime biopic of Philip Rosedale:

Philip Rosedale's Case for Adding 3D Avatars to Online Work - My Take

Last May we talked about High Fidelity's pivot from building the metaverse to creating a kind of interim "virtual world for Slack" application, and now here's founder Philip Rosedale blogging his case for making that switch:

Trying to make eye contact in video calls has always been awkward at best. If you look directly into the camera, you can’t see your friend. If you look at the screen, you’ll appear to be looking below your friend’s line of sight... 

Avatar technology is a huge step up over video calls. In VR, you can be anything, and while most of us will opt to look like our physical selves, we may also use it to transform our identities completely — ushering in a new era of “blind” job interviews, where the interviewer can’t see sex, color or class. We’ve already built the tools. Let’s put avatars to work. 

I can argue Philip's case in both directions:

On the pro side, there's a whole generation in their teens who grew up owning 3D avatars (Minecraft, Roblox, Fortnite, etc) and are soon joining the workforce; they'll not only be comfortable with having a 3D avatar in an office setting, they might even expect one on some level.

On the con side, Philip might be over-applying his experience with 3D avatars in Second Life, to 3D avatars in general:

Senior Citizen Struggles to Compartmentalize Her Second Life from Her Retirement Community Real Life

Last week's post "Only The Young Think The Elderly Want To Live Their Last Years In Virtual Worlds" provoked an intriguing conversation, highlighted by some charming thoughts from Stephanie Meyer, who writes this really helpful new SL user guide blog, and has direct and very personal experience on the topic:

In RL, I am happy to live in a retirement community with many social activities.

In SL, I am happy to be able to explore and create without anyone thinking I'm weird.

In RL, I seldom talk about what I did that day in S, because I have found that it results in a lot of eyeball rolling.

In SL, I am not going to tell anyone about the RL Ice Cream Social with music by the International Philharmonic Ukulele Orchestra.

In a way, I feel compartmented. Just as sometimes I feel a disconnect in SL when changing alts and avatars, in RL I have to remind myself "Everyone act normal".

I'm hoping that by the time I am 100 there will be more integration of the realities.

With online game worlds growing larger and VR headsets getting cheaper every year, I suspect she'll get what she's hoping for soon. In the meantime, you know what they say: Second Life is for people who don't have ukulele-themed ice cream socials in real life.

Picture credit: "My Ukulele" by Susanne Drechsler, who rocks the virtual uke well.