New World Notes

Here's How Making Realistic Mesh Humans SL's Main Default Avatar Type Has Hurt Second Life

Image by Susanne Drechsler

Since the flat avatars of Project Mesh Revolution have provoked quite a lot of buzz -- but also, a fair amount of anger from SLers who were expecting a standard mesh body -- here's an apropos excerpt from Making a Metaverse That Matters.

While many people in the virtual world industry buy the myth that ultra-realistic human avatars should be the end goal, my reporting about what they did to Second Life suggests otherwise. Here's the excerpt:

Myth: Photo-realistic human avatars and world graphics are the Metaverse’s end goal

This is a favorite myth among metaverse advocates who consult or work for companies producing 3D graphics cards, 3D development software, and 3D engines.

There is actually no proven relationship whatsoever between the popularity of a metaverse platform and photo-realistic graphics. Despite this, a wealth of metaverse startups and platforms frequently announce new plans to roll out ever more realistic environmental graphics, and ever more eerily human-like avatars.

The very most popular platforms, Minecraft and Roblox, are intentionally low-fi, immersive through their physics and responsiveness. Their whimsical avatars are similarly abstract. 

Why this is likely relates to their core user base: People in their teens and pre-teens, who are often still uncomfortable and unsure about their own real life identity and appearance. This seems even more acute for teen girls and young women, still negotiating the social expectations and judgements around their real life presentation; presenting them with a lifelike avatar to customize is effectively asking them to take even more social expectations and judgements. 

We also have something of an opposite proof point.

At launch, Second Life avatars were human by default but not realistic. The internal prim creation tools encouraged the construction of avatar attachments (robot helmets, furry tails, etc.), which led to a wide variety of avatar types and environments to explore.  

The arrival of mesh in Second Life in 2010 -- high resolution 3D files created in offline software and then uploaded into the virtual world -- greatly changed this dynamic: 

BREAKING: Project Mesh Revolution's Cardboard Avatars Evolve from April Fool's Prank into Genuine Second Life Social Phenomenon

Originally published on my Patreon

Longtime SLer Ciaran Astral was in a hopping club last Sunday when they realized an unexpected thing: Though surrounded by upwards of one hundred avatars, they were dancing and socializing in a space free from lag. (Watch above!)

"It was amazing," as they recall it now. "I remember saying to someone, 'Holy crap there's this many people, and I have 150fps."

But it wasn't just a matter of feeling liberated from lag:

"It reminded me of the old days of Second Life," Ciaran tells me. "Loads of people making silly fun stuff and either giving it away for free or just charging a tiny amount for it -- makers coming together to create a community event, a sort of 'DIY it, let's have fun' atmosphere." (Ciaran created the cardboard club, of course.)

All this was possible, because everyone in the club was outfitted in the new Project Mesh Revolution mesh avatars -- low poly cardboard cutouts that began as an April Fool's prank, but have quickly become a genuine Second Life phenomenon:

"Lots of people made their own mods or clothes; what was cool to see was looking around at everyone, almost nobody had the same outfits/looks. Which, considering these 'Bodies' came out less than a week ago (at the time), is quite a testament to the creative power of the Second Life userbase."

And I do mean "phenomenon": Since becoming available early last week, roughly 1 in 5 of the entire Second Life user base has gotten themselves copies of the PMR avatars:

Is the Second Life Controversy Over Gen AI Mainly About SL Images That No Longer Look Like Second Life -- Not Over AI Per Se? (Comments of the Week)

Since writing about Primfeed's survey on whether AI-enhanced images should be allowed on the social media site, the vote continues to lean heavily on No. 

One challenge, however, is that "AI" is still broadly or loosely defined. As SL creator  Jennifer Fluffington comments:

We need to define more what is considered 'AI' to be allowed in the public forum. I.E., I use Photoshop Generative AI to make minor repairs that would take me 5-6 steps and layers to do in one click.

Am I lazy? I don't think so, I being smart with my time spent on a project that I am making pennies on the hour for.

Yes I enjoy my craft, but let's face it, we all have limited time in a day and many things to do, so if I can shave 15-20 mins off 3 different defects on a project that almost an hour saved in my day.

So, because of those repairs that don't alter the overall aesthetic of the photos, are my photos going to be rejected from the public forum? This is a discussion we need.

Fair question! One possible answer is implied in a comment from Kate Nova -- when an avatar image no longer looks like the avatar themselves does in Second Life:

Second Life's Gen AI Controversy Leads to Drama Over Banning of AI-Altered Images on Primfeed -- And This Primfeed Survey

Primfeed recently became the most popular website focused on Second Life not owned by Linden Lab, and so inevitably, the "Flickr-for-SL" social platform is now a flashpoint for the key controversy among SLers: Whether AI programs like LLM-powered NPCs like those from Convai and Gen AI platforms like Midjourney should exist in the virtual world at all. The drama around the platform's current "no AI images" policy became so heated, owner Luke Rowley posted this survey, asking:  

Do you think Primfeed should allow AI edited Second Life images in the Public Gallery?

Launched earlier this week and running for 11 more days, it's already garnered nearly 2,000 votes -- about 10% of Primfeed's weekly active users. (Which is quite a lot for online surveys, which typically get less than 5% engagement.)

This survey comes after hundreds of angry posts, many on other social networks (of course), complaining to Luke about Primfeed's no-AI policy -- one of them from a top SL content creator. (Who perhaps not coincidentally, used Gen AI in a recent promotional video.) Luke even created new code to make a poll on Primfeed like this possible, he tells me:

 

AI Is Either Something Second Life Can Learn to Live With -- Or Will Destroy the Virtual World Economy as We Know It (Comments of the Week)

The fact that these two reader comments on my post about Philip Rosedale's promised Town Hall on AI are right on top of each other is a good indication of how divisive the topic is.

First up, from Tami, making the case that gen AI is something we can live with in Second Life:

AI won't go away, as much as I'd wish it would, I know that it is here to stay. So, let's try and focus on AI as a complement, a supplement, or a tool that benefits SL. For example, instead of AI-generated clothing, let's have AI as a tool to help clothing designers realize their visions when they run into technical hurdles and issues.

Yes, I know that this idea can be abused, so the issue isn't "how to use AI" but on "how to prevent AI from usurping humans" in SL. In some ways, the past methods of creating content for years, learning over time to become better creators, are in danger. Can we stop AI from short-circuiting that process -- probably not. So, what can we do do to prevent AI from taking over the content creation market?

Perhaps, we can't stop AI, so maybe the answer is to make it easier to use. Instead of everyone buying things on the marketplace, anyone and everyone can create their own magical world filled with things they used AI to create. Instead of SL being driven by the economy, it can be driven by creativity using AI to make the dreams come true. SL doesn't have to be RL and moving away from economic models and wealth isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's change, and SL is well know for its resiliency with regard to change.

I don't want AI, but I will use it to make SL better if that is my only choice.

And now here's Riannah, making an opposite case:

As Primfeed Adds Video Upload Option, Here's Some Pretty Impressive Stats for the Social Media Platform for SLers

Originally posted on my Patreon

This machinima by the inimitable Teal Aurelia (read my profile of her ) was created as a fun way of introducing the long-awaited video option on Primfeed, the social media platform for Second Life users. (Short, lower-res clips for free users, up to 10 minutes on 720p for paying subscribers.)

Primfeed was originally launched last June as an alternative for SL users of Flickr, after Flickr policies around advertising irked many in the community, who believed the photo sharing service was being actively hostile to Second Life members. (When I interviewed Flickr's Community Manager, she told me that that's not the case.)

At any rate, Primfeed has since grown into a relatively active platform in its own right. Here's some stats:

Second Life's New AI Character Creator Creates Sharply Divided Community Reaction Related to the Very Nature of the Virtual World

Linden Lab unveiled the latest version of its AI Character Designer late yesterday (website here, login required), created in partnership with Convai AI -- watch the demo on YouTube above. To judge by social media, the SL community reaction has been, well, contentious.

Here's a sample of YouTube comments:

So this looks like a nice feature, and just what I need for my land.

This is a game changer! We can't even imagine how it will influence the experience we'll soon have in Second Life! 🤓 Awesome work!

... and here's a sample from /SecondLife in a post with the somewhat negative title:

Eat your SLop™" - LL releases a new "How to make AI Bots" video on their official channel... a video that is itself written and voiced by AI.

wow i hate this

f*** this, give us better ways to socialise

Might as well play The Sims at that point.

That last comment is quite trenchant actually, speaking to a sharp divide between the Second Life community who see the virtual world as primarily a human-to-human socialization platform -- and others who interact with it more as a kind of spicier version of a life simulator game. (And roughly generalized, oldbie SLers tend to fall in the former category, while new-ish users who discovered SL on YouTube and other social media fall into the latter.)

I touched on this topic in my recent interview with Philip Rosedale and Brad Oberwager:

The Scary Problem With Virtual World Fashion Creators Putting RL Fashion Brand Logos on Their Products (Guest Post by Alicia Chenaux)

 

With Linden Lab just announcing they plan to be much more aggressive around IP violations in Second Life, this great social media post on a related topic from famed SLer Alicia Chenaux is worth highlighting in full:

 

I keep being shown a viral Instagram post about someone tagging major real world logos that are showing up unauthorized in Second Life.  So let's talk about it.

 

Will anything happen because of this one post tagging RL brands? Debatable. However, if someone were to professionally write to the legal teams at Chanel, Balenciaga, Kellogg's, McDonald's, etc., yes. Something could happen.

 

Only not in the way they think.

 

When you sign into Second Life for the first time, or whenever Linden Lab updates the Terms of Service, you have to agree before proceeding. Does anyone really sit and read the whole ToS? Probably not. But let me hit you with a couple of lines from section 6:

 

Linden Lab encourages the creation of original content in Second Life. You should not use copyrighted, trademarked, or celebrity material in Second Life.

 

So those items I showed you the past couple of months with Versace and Vuitton on them? You guessed it. They're breaking ToS.

 

"But, Ali. Fashion can't be copyrighted!"

 

No, it can't, for the most part. You can absolutely recreate a pair of Alice+Olivia jeans in the cut, style, and shape. What you can't do is take one of their embellished jeans and recreate them down to the EXACT graphic design down the legs. You could recreate them and put flowers down the legs, just not the exact ones that are designed specifically for Alice+Olivia.

 

You can recreate a Juicy tracksuit. You cannot put the exact Juicy logo on the butt.

 

Now here's where it gets a little iffy:

 

Bluesky Second Life User Starter Pack With Many Hundreds of SLers

If you're on Bluesky and want to connect with other SL/virtual world fans, Caspian Morningstar created this whole huge, two part starter pack. (You can also request to add your own account to the pack.)

Morningstar's packs are up to about 300 members so far, though I'd estimate there's at least 3000 SL-related accounts on Bluesky. (That's roughly the number who follow the official Bluesky Second Life account.)

VRChat's Solution to the Social Problem of Poorly Optimized Avatars

Recently saw a Reddit rant about a VRChat avatar with a hilariously ridiculous number of triangles (above), and had to laugh in recognition at the title: "Friends joining with these half a million polygon avies are literally ruining the experience (not only for me)! This is outrageously stupid and unnecessary!"

Maybe unnecessary, but also inevitable, on metaverse platforms: When you give novice grassroots creators UGC tools for enhancing their avatars, many will add so many enhancements, they often end up making avies with quite a lot of polygon junk in their trunk. 

This also has been a challenge in Second Life for many years. Many of the top-selling mesh bodies in SL are extremely resource heavy, and tend to degrade performance of everyone around them, including the users wearing these bodies. (They're so resource heavy, a former Linden Lab engineer once compared them to a local DDOS attack!) Some SL shopping events have even taken to setting up a "viewing sim" near the actual kiosks, so shoppers can view the wares at a safe, less laggy distance. 

As for VRChat, there's some guidance in place which makes this less of a social problem: