New World Notes

OpenSim Educators Turn to Discord for Communicating in Virtual Events

OpenSim, the open source spinoff of Second Life, has a small but passionate userbase (probably between 10,000-15,000), many or most of whom are educators who use the technology as a low cost teaching tool. To enhance OpenSim's limited communication features for pedagogical events, educator Leighton Marjoram has turned to the popular gamer platform Discord:

As people who use Opensimulator will know voice and chat range whilst in world is limited and is not helpful when exploring regions together in groups. Discord and the overlay helps a great deal as all the grid crawlers have to do is signup for Discord and download the desktop client and join a dedicated channel (voice and chat)... Also while on the Opensim Life grid we decided to do a group build region and we used to Discord for a private discussion area and used voice in-world whilst we were building. 

More here, along with tips for setting Discord up. For users who need a more secure and private chat channel, such as therapists who use OpenSim for RL therapy -- the US miliary, for instance, uses OpenSim as part of its therapy for personnel with PTSD -- Leighton recommends  Matrix and Riot app. 

Hat tip: Rocky Constantine.

Weekend Open Forum: What's Most Interesting in the Metaverse Lately?

And by "metaverse" I mean Second Life, VRChat, OpenSim, High Fidelity, Sansar, Sinespace, and yes, also Dual Universe. And by "interesting" I mean events, experiences, updates, creations, news. And yes, self-promotion is encouraged, as long as you post helpful links too. To start things off, here's a web-based portal to a scale, 3D interactive replica of Fallingwater in Sinespace (an NWN partner) created by University of Edinburgh's Austin Tate.

Inworldz's Relaunch as Islandz Inevitably Beset by IP Rights Protest Drama

Since posting about community members of the now defunct Inworldz rallying to crowdfund a new OpenSim-based world called Islandz early last week,  the comment thread has been overwhelmed by angry complaints from Inworldz users, mainly protesting the ownership status of Inworldz's back-up OAR files, and their rights over them. Difficult for me to piece out which allegations are accurate, but Chic Aeon summarizes the ensuing complaints quite well, responding to a complaint from the apparent leader of the Elf Clan, which moved its roleplaying community from SL to InWorldz many years ago:

We always have risks. We lose our digital goods. It happens. It frequently happens in SL simply because of database failures. So we don't even need to be part of a defunct grid to watch our items disappear into the mist. I have copies of all my items uploaded into Inworldz. Hopefully your clan members do also. They of course have no rights to movable copies of items they purchased unless that was an agreement with the content creator (at least one texture store OKed movement to another grid but that is the only one I have heard about).

So we will see what happens but I am guessing that things are going to either die quickly or get VERY messy here soon. :D

If things weren't messy, it wouldn't be the metaverse now would it?

Many Former InWorldz Users Departing to Other OpenSim Worlds -- But Few, So Far, to Second Life

The owner of the now-defunct InWorldz, a commercial spinoff of OpenSim (which is, in turn, an open source spinoff of Second Life) , is working with many users to crowdfund a new OpenSim world. Meanwhile, other InWorldz members are reportedly moving on to other grids. According to Metaverse Traveller, other OpenSim-based worlds, including Discovery Grid, Kitely, and DigiWorldz are seeing an uptick in InWorldz exiles:

I sent an email to Terry (Butch Arnold) of DigiWorldz asking and he replied, "We have received many new InWorldz users over the past few days. We've added approx. 150 new users to our system since 7/24/2018 and we've also added approx. 42 new regions in that same period."

 

 ... I also asked Ilan Tochner at Kitely grid, which is well known for it's unique cloud-based worlds on demand, to see if they were experiencing a similar influx. Ilan Tochner replied, "We've seen a significant number of people migrate into Kitely as a result of Inworldz's pending shutdown."

More here. However, one world doesn't seem to be seeing much growth (so far) from any movement of exiles -- Second Life itself.

 

Since late July, when word of InWorldz's troubles emerged, Second Life has not seen any sharp growth in user concurrency:

 

"No, there was no significant change in Second Life concurrency trends around or after that date," Tyche Shepherd of Grid Survey tells me. We have seen recent growth in Second Life sims, but that's likely attributable to the recent discount from Linden Lab:

 

Users of Now-Closed Inworldz Reportedly Planning to Launch New World

InWorldz, a commercial spinoff of OpenSim that was recently struggling under billing woes, officially closed up last weekend, with a final farewell party of users before it disappeared into the digital ether. But wait: According to an update from InWorldz CEO Beth Reischl, she and many users have a plan to take the $16,000+ raised in a crowdfunder and launch another world:

After much agonizing and upset, it was suggested by the residents that we use these monies to start a new grid. We'll be able to move OARS, profiles, groups. Inventory can only be taken that can be put in a box to be OAR filed. We'll be opening the sandbox for people who have no region to place their items and can get them back. If you are NOT ok with this, I urge you to please withdraw your support on the [GoFundMe]page. I do not want to take anyone's money who is not ok with this! Otherwise, please start boxing your items up on your region or ask a friend or tomorrow I'll be opening the Sandboxes up for people! 

That was announced late last week, so presumably at least some InWorldz users have saved their content to OAR (for OpenSim Archive), and are moving like homeless refugees to a new, untrammeled sandbox grid. I've reached out to Reischl for updates -- hopefully more soon.

Pic via Daniel Voyager, who has more.

Why It's So Hard to Create a Successful Successor to Second Life (Comment of the Week)

Good conversation on OpenSim's struggle to become a viable consumer product capped by this comment from reader "Pulsar":

For years Opensim attracted some because of the lower prices, larger regions and other features like that. But after a while, you see those who tried that, go back to Second Life (only few stay or stay in both).

Why? Usually the answers are: «My friends are in SL» and «...all the inventory I have too» and they have to restart from zero [in OpenSim]. The inventory maybe isn't the bigger deal (not to mention those who resort to copybotting, although that won't get the scripts), but given how many people use SL for social things, you have the old issue: People stay where people are. For the same reason it has always been hard to make a popular alternative to Facebook or Whatsapp (or MSN messenger before), until either something game-changing comes (e.g. the advent of smartphones and tablets) and/or you offer something new that works well enough (e.g. Instagram). Therefore a SL clone would have an hard time, no matter the good features.

There's been several attempts to create a Second Life successor -- Cloud Party was showing promise, until Yahoo! gobbled it up a few years ago, where it remains, presumably undigested somewhere its corpulent innards -- but none have really gained traction as yet. Pulsar has a theory why:

Today in OpenSim: Tribute to Late SL Teaching Legend Lumiere Noir

Starting at 1:30PM/SLT there's a virtual world tribute to much-loved SL building teacher Lumier Noir, who passed away in 2015. Somewhat ironically (but I suspect Lumiere wouldn't mind), it's happening in OpenSim, the open source spinoff of Second Life, which contains a recreation of his famed Ivory Tower of Prims tutorial building.

Click here to join http://sanctuary.homelinux.org:8012 :ivory city 4

More info on Facebook and Twitter (below).

OpenSim Community Devotes Week to Deceased Developer Named Cornflakes

This week is Cornflakes Week for the community built around OpenSim, the open source spinoff of Second Life. What's that even mean, you ask. Here's veteran virtual world expert John "Pathfinder" Lester to explain:

"It's all around a celebration of the work of Cornflakes Woodcock," Pathfinder explains, "who died about 5 years ago but left a HUGE legacy of free content and resources in OpenSim. Very unique guy, very creative, and was very loved by everyone in virtual worlds. Amazing to me that these celebrations are still going on after so many years. So many people talk about how impermanent virtual worlds are, but this is a beautiful example of how both content and social bonds are much stronger in the virtual than most folks can imagine."

Cornflakes events posted here, including one happening at Noon Pacific today. And here's a tribute to the man, the myth, the metaverse legend.

Virtual World Using Bitcoin Beset by Virtual Currency's Wild Fluctuations

Hey remember when someone idiotically suggested that Bitcoin might be a great virtual currency for indie virtual worlds like those based on OpenSim, the open source spinoff of Second Life? (In my defense, that was back in 2011.) But yeah, no:

 YrGrid denies allegations that it is refusing redemptions in order to profit from the recent spike in Bitcoin prices. Instead, the problem is caused by their Bitcoin wallet service provider, said the grid, which is a Hong Kong-based commercial gambling-oriented grid with a Bitcoin-based virtual currency... YRGrid, known as a Bitcoin-based gambling grid, brands itself as a Bitcoin economy in OpenSim and uses Bitcoin as their in-world currency meaning users and residents can spend and buy land or services with Bitcoin in the virtual world without having to exchange to Gloebits or Podex or other in-world currencies... In a Twitter response on December 14, YrGrid said, “bitcoins isn’t money you lost nothing.”

More good reporting from David Kariuki of HyperGrid Business. While much of the controversy stems from how the virtual world owners are responding to community complaints, even the best run MMO that tried to operate with Bitcoin would take on a whole host of heartaches -- especially now, as Bitcoin value wildly fluctuates.

OpenSim Grids Beset by World-Spanning Content Infringement, HGB Reports

In-depth report by Hybergrid Business' David Kariuki strongly suggests that content infringement is such a rampant problem in worlds based on OpenSim, the open source version of Second Life, that it's demoralized and drained the creator community uploading their own content there:

In most cases, creators do not like to engage in this time consuming and cost prohibitive activity of chasing grids. Some do not feel that it is necessary to pursue cases on the matter at all.

“I have been creating since 2005 in Second Life and since 2007 in OpenSim,” said Kelly. “I just don’t believe in lawsuits for trivial things and I would never go to the trouble to file one for my own intellectual property.”

Many OpenSim users have individually also been vocal on social media and here about illegal redistribution of creators’ content, from Moonrise Azalee to Zangrid’s Suzan Mönnink to VirTec’s Virtouse Lilienthal to Candi Collins of Genesis Metaverse to creators such as Noxluna Nightfire. The list is endless at OpenSim Virtual, OpenSim Everything and other OpenSim forums.

The post's long and passionate reader comment thread (99 comments at this writing!) affirms what a pervasive problem it is. Some suggest having a grid-spanning "neighborhood watch", which also raises the specter of vigilantism. Frankly the underlying problem seems to be deeper: