New World Notes

Second Life Creator in Occupied Ukraine City Keeps Selling Her Virtual Fashion to Help Support Her Family. A Russian Friend is Assisting Her.

Among the many strange moments amid an utterly horrible war, this one must be the most surreal:

Hanna of OSMIA, a leading Second Life brand, is a Ukraine citizen in real life, and since Russia's invasion, has been hiding out in her now-occupied city. She is now nearly 7 months pregnant. But because OSMIA is a key income source for her and her now-growing family, she must still maintain her virtual world brand.

And so after many weeks of sporadic Internet service -- what with the sounds of gunfire, tanks, and explosions of a genocidal war happening all around her -- she was finally able to upload a new avatar fashion release, pretty clothes for glamorous, carefree avatars:

"Creepy Mark" Bot Becomes Top Seller in Original Metaverse of Second Life

After so many stories about Meta in the Metaverse, the inevitable finally occurred: Meet "Creepy Mark", a chatty bot with a suspiciously familiar appearance which you can buy to silently stalk you in the OG metaverse of Second Life.

I just got my own personal Creepy Mark, and now he won't leave my side, following my every move while promising not to abuse my personal data and so on.  (Watch above. He does seem to get confused with climbing hills!)

The smartass brainchild of Moon Bunny Inc & Subculture X, Creepy Mark was the brand's #1 top seller in animated objects in the first days it went on sale, and became a mini-viral hit, ironically enough, on Facebook.

"My business partner created him," Moon explains. "I have been known to complain about Facebook censorship and such, so am guessing that had a hand in inspiring it!"

I'll be impressed with Meta's Horizon Worlds when it has a Creepy Mark bot of its own. (And all the technical and community prerequisites needed to make that possible). But until then, he's available to creep on you in the metaverse before the metaverse was cool.

As for how Creepy Mark works, here's a brief summary from Scribzy, who scripted it:

OSMIA Under Occupation: Update From A Ukrainian Second Life Creator Hiding In a City That Russian Soldiers Now Control

The amazing thing about virtual worlds is that you make tangible connections with people from all over the real world. That also means, tragically, that the real world's troubles often fast follow behind.

Which brings us back to Hanna, creator of the beloved Second Life brand OSMIA, who also happens to be a Ukrainian. When I wrote about her a couple weeks ago, she was sheltering in place with her family in one of the major cities -- while over six months pregnant.

Hanna just sent me this photo of where she spends most of her time -- on a reinforced cot, as Russian soldiers patrol the streets outside. Her city is now under occupation by Putin's forces.

Russian Content Creators in Second Life, Now Sanctioned & Unable to Cash Out, Contemplate Bad Options in Both Realities

Though Linden Lab has not yet announced any plans to ban payments from Russian users on its virtual world platform of Second Life, the US and EU banking sanctions have already taken their toll on SL content creators in Russia -- especially those who depend on Second Life for their livelihood:

“After the blocking of PayPal,” as reader “Alex” explains in a recent comment, “all Russian creators were deprived of the opportunity to receive money from sales in SL. For many of them, working in SL is their main and only job.”

All this happens as Second Life users around the world create pro-Ukraine/anti-Russian images and the Second Life island of Moscow has been inundated by so many anti-invasion protesters, the owners resorted to posting a massive billboard in virtual Red Square, imploring visitors to refrain from activism (above). 

In group chats, Second Life content creators based in Russia are now privately discussing their options, but are reluctant to air them with the Second Life community at large: 

“[O]ut of sympathy and compassion for what is happening in Ukraine,” as Alex puts it, “Russian creators do not bring their problems into public discussion… Many [Russian SL] creators and their families are already left without a livelihood.”

Alex believes that some creators in the short term will continue creating in Second Life, even without a cash-out option, but “we will not be able to do this for a long time and will not be able to support our customers in the game as we have always done.”

Russian creator Akirakiyoi Resident (pictured) tells me a similar story. In a painful irony, he was among the many Russian Second Life users who rallied to support their brethren creators in Ukraine. 

Putin’s base of supporters in Russia, he tells me, are “elderly people who don’t know what Netflix for example or Second Life is. Younger generations playing games and drinking Starbucks are not the people who vote for him, or who support him.” 

Many of them not only play Second Life but in recent years, as Russia’s economy continued to falter, have turned to virtual world content creation into a career.

“Most of these creators don’t have a real job since SL was their full time and we expect a major crisis in the country with high unemployment rates,” says Akirakiyoi, who then adds: “But of course the first thing that needs to happen is this invasion to finally stop.”

Will Linden Lab Block Payments by Second Life Users in Russia, Like Epic & Other Game Companies Are Now Doing? UPDATE: Russian SLer Who Helped Lead Ukraine Community Support Replies

Image credit: Meriluu Lumoss' "Peace is the only battle worth waging" from the SL Stand with Ukraine Flickr group

Last Friday, Linden Lab announced temporary payment amnesty for the thousands of Second Life users based in Ukraine:

Effective Monday, we will be further supporting our eligible Ukrainian-based community members by granting them a temporary 30-day moratorium on recurring account fees such as Premium Membership and Land Maintenance fees.  We will review this again after 30 days and assess what we can do as next steps where necessary. We invite any of our Ukraine-based community members to contact support with any specific questions they may have.

It's a good starting point, though I suspect more might be done around this situation. Epic Games and Blizzard Activision, publishers of the metaverse platform Fortnite and the MMO World of Warcraft, respectively, are now blocking sales from Russian users:

There's Likely Thousands of Ukraine Citizens Who Use Second Life -- This Weekend, Consider Reaching Out To Them

I'd estimate there's roughly 3000 active Second Life users from Ukraine. According to data from SimilarWeb, .5% of visitors to SecondLife.com are from Ukraine.  And based on public data from Linden Lab and from what insiders tell me, there's roughly 600,000 active SL users. So simple math gets us to 3,000 Ukrainians, more or less -- not a huge part of the international Second Life community, but quite a decent number. Many of them are content creators on the platform -- here's a list of just some of them -- and many are active in the virtual world in other ways.

At the moment, however, most or nearly all of them are not looking at any digital depiction of a better world on their screen, But more likely, at a bare basement like this. That was a temporary shelter for Hanna, creator of the beloved SL fashion brand Osmia, when she fled her home with her husband earlier this week, even though she is over 6 months pregnant.

I've been trying to keep in touch with Hanna on social media as much as possible. Since writing about her on Wednesday, the updates have gone from grim to worse. She is now hiding out in a city under active Russian occupation:

Osmia in Hiding: Messages from a Second Life Creator in Ukraine During Russia's Invasion - UPDATE: Her City is Now Occupied

While the Second Life community rallies to support Ukrainian users in the virtual world, such help during a time like this can only go so far. I've been thinking about that over the last few days while intermittently messaging Hanna, creator of the beloved SL fashion brand Osmia.

While Osmia is listed among the Second Life merchants based in Ukraine, Hanna has not been able to access her SL account lately, and her access to the Internet has been sporadic too. 

Or as she expressed it via a social media Instant Message: "You can ask questions. But if I disappear for awhile, it will mean that we are hiding."

Second Life users have been buying items from her and other Ukrainian merchants in the hopes that they'll be able to convert the Linden Dollar sales into local currency.

But in Hanna's case, at least, that won't happen any time soon:

"I am very grateful to everyone who is worried about me and my [Second Life] store," she tells me. "Unfortunately, getting money now is not realistic, currency exchange offices do not work with us and it is very dangerous to go to the bank."

Now sheltering in place with family in one of Ukraine's major cities, Hanna has more immediate concerns, than cashing out Linden Dollars: She is over 6 months pregnant.

Second Life Community Rallies to Help Ukraine-Based Creators on Platform

A Tribute to Ukraine  - "Long may Ukraine stand proud and free." by Rhaenys Targaryen

Update, 2/26: Bumped up for weekend support!

This is a Google Spreadsheet of Second Life stores and website Marketplace shops owned by Ukraine-based creators on the virtual world platform. It was quickly created by SL community members within the first 24 hours of the Putin regime's invasion of that country, with a goal of supporting these merchants with L$ purchases -- which they can subsequently convert into their local currency. (Whenever, that is, they are able to find a stable Internet connection in the now-embattled region.)

I have not yet personally verified that all the listed merchants are indeed based in the Ukraine, but a top expert in the SL economy confirms that these brands on the list, at least, definitely are:

• Loki (Marketplace here, SL store teleport link here)
• Osmia (Marketplace here, SL store teleport link here)
• Rouly (Marketplace here, SL store teleport link here)
• RAMA Salon (Marketplace here, SL store teleport link here)
• Evani (Marketplace here, SL store teleport link here)

The "Ukrainian Stores" list, as it happens, was created in great part by Second Life users based in Russia, who are now sickened by their government's military assault:

Six Surprising Ways Using Second Life Improved Users in Real Life

This is a pretty fascinating thread on /SecondLife where community members answer the question, "How has Second Life helped you sharpen for any real life experiences?" 

The examples given range from the funny:

Fashion. I used to dress well, then during lockdown started dressing like a trash pile, but dressing up my avi made me want to get my nice things back out in RL too. - greeneyedwench 

To the poignant:

I started playing SL in 2004. 6 years later I was in Afghanistan and another year and a half after that. SL put me in contact with fellow Vets and helped me relearn how to adjust to Civilian life and how to cull my social anxiety. - HellHoundActual

Several more of my favorites after the break:

Expect a Real Life Crackdown on Second Life Gachas, Says Expert Lawyer

Update, August 2: As Vaki predicted, Linden Lab announced the end of gachas in Second Life:

Due to a changing regulatory climate, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to sunset a very popular sales mechanism for content in Second Life.  It’s widely known as "gacha", and is defined by a chance-based outcome as a result of a payment. We know that creators plan their content releases far in advance and will need to re-tool their products, so to mitigate the impact to those affected, we are giving a 30-day grace period, until midnight SLT on August 31.  After that time, selling content via gacha machines will no longer be permitted in Second Life.

Read her analysis here. Original post from June below.

Loot boxes in videogames are considered gambling and therefore illegal in some countries, and regulated in many other jurisdictions. But does that have anything to do with user-created gachas in Second Life? Extremely popular within the SL community, they are a vending machine game of chance to win valuable virtual goods. Should we expect a crackdown on them at some point?

In a word, yes.

"Gacha games/loot boxes/etc. are gambling" says Vaki, a longtime Second Life user who is also a real life attorney specializing in privacy and internet issues; she's even represented SL users in this field. "And they're starting to slowly be regulated as such. Best way to see this is in Chinese games like Genshin Impact, where gacha functionalities are regulated and providers are required to display the actual percentage of likelihood to receive each reward."

While it remains an open question whether SL-based gachas in particular are considered gambling, Second Life creators of gachas, along with Linden Lab itself, should prepare for regulations around them: