1. America’s Cup in Second Life – Part 5
2. SIM “Emerald Green” Second life
3. How it Ends (Second Life) filmed in Missing Mile
Archives for February 2010
Second Lie: costume etiquette and primadonna management
February 18, 2010 by 4 Comments
It’s time for the first of what hopefully becomes a regular Q&A segment with our new resident agony aunt, Second Lie. It’s all about sharing insights, finding common ground and a healthy dose of cynicism.
Remember, if you want to get your own slice of wisdom, you just need to contact us and we’ll forward your question on. Pretty much any issue is up for discussion, as long as it’s legal and potentially interesting!
It’s a win-win-win scenario: you get enlightened, Second Lie gets to spread his love and magic and we get to fork out money to Relay for Life. Does it get any better than that?
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Dear Second Lie,
A nightclub is having a Costume Contest this evening, so I went to a store and purchased a nurse costume. But SL said there was a “security error” with the transaction so my money is gone but I got no outfit.
So I went to a different store and purchased a nurse costume, and I waited “up to 15 minutes” (as directed) for SL to complete the transaction, but it never did, so my money is gone and I got no outfit.
So now I’m broke, so I went to XStreetSL to get a free costume, but the FREEBIES category doesn’t permit word-search.
Tell me, Second Lie, when you need a new outfit within the next 15 minutes, what do YOU do?
Thank you so much for your expertise!
Sincerely,
Second Life Addict & CoDependent
Dear Second Life Addict & CoDependent,
First off, congratulations on getting the last names of Addict and CoDependent.
We’re proud of our limited-release Mental Health Awareness Month names, which not only highlight many popular disorders out there in the real world, but they provide fair warning to anyone crossing paths with these headcases.
(I was going to get CoDependent myself, but you weren’t around to tell me if it was a cool idea to get one. Do you think it’s a good idea to get one? I’m not sure, maybe it is, I don’t know, what do you think?)
Anyway, we’re awfully sorry about you not getting your product and losing your Lindens as a result of the mussed-up transactions, but here’s a bit of friendly advice: don’t buy anything unless there’s been an “In-World Issues” post to Twitter by @SecondLife. Then, when they give the all-clear, it’s going to be safe to buy things for a few hours until the whole system comes crashing down again.
Getting this advice now won’t help you with your immediate predicament, for certain, so how do we get you an outfit lickety-split that will for-certain win you the contest?
Well, when it comes to getting dressed in a hurry, never underestimate the power of copybotting. Hop over to another party that’s just finishing, rip the winner’s clothes right off of their back, and head over to your party. Sure-fire way to win, even if it puts you on every wanted poster at the Lab.
Next, there’s always The Library… a little mix-and-match, a few impromptu clothing layers, and you’re got Cardboard Robot-Headed American Flag Faced Girl Next Door, Snowy Gamer Guy Skull-Headed Fireman, Punk Grass-Shirted Businessgirl Furrytail, and Man Made Of Old Wood Who Likes To Glue Lots Of Torches To His Body. The possibilities are endless!
Fifteen minutes is a little short notice, but there’s always an ex-Mentor at the Orientation Islands wandering around, grousing about how they got screwed over and lost their Linden Scouts Toadying Badge. Just repeat “A/S/L” and “I need a job” enough, and they’ll drop an outfit folder on you that they’re prepared for newbies. (Which is also full of advertisements and landmarks for their store – the REAL reason why most content creators joined Mentors, you know.) Do it enough, and one will accidentally drop some actual decent stuff… wear that and teleport over to the party!
Last but not least, who is this party being thrown by? If it’s the Lindens themselves, then it doesn’t matter what costume you wear because you’ll look far more cool and flashy that any of them on the grid. Have you seen what some of these lazy bums are going around wearing? Heck, the creator Philip himself goes around with that creepy spiked hair and blingy codpiece. If he’s there, you’ll look dashing and magnificent by comparison if you’re wearing just a plywood cube!
Good luck with the contest, and remember: I get 25% of your winnings.
Love,
SecondLie
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Hello Second Lie,
I work in SL as a producer of a TV show called “Live n Kickin” for Treet.TV. It is about live performance and is filmed all across the grid, sometimes venues but usally not. We try to match up our performers with locations that we feel suits their music or personality or just looks fantastic and would make great machinima to watch while they perform. Sometimes there is a struggle of visions for the show – our production company has one vision and the artist has another, and they are usually quite opposite of each other and meeting in the middle can be next to impossible. They want to stand and sing on stage at Carnegie Hall and we want them in a empty wherehouse or on the deck of an aircraft carrier because we know how great it will look on film.
My question is: what would be proper etiquette here when we don’t meet eye to eye? Tell them to shut up and ‘trust us we know what were doing’? Go along with what they want even though we don’t like it? Something else? Remember, no-one really wants to tune in to see a musician standing there playing the guitar or whatever for 30 mins on UncleFrodo47 Tipmongers lil venue stage over at live-music-is-awesome sim, or they would not watch the show they could just listen!
Delinda
Hello Delinda!
Ah, yes. It’s always the struggle between the performer and the producer trying to bring out the best of that performer for the medium, isn’t it?
My advice to you is to let the whiny baby prim-adonna performer have their way. I mean, they know best, right? They’re performing in Second Life, not some coffeeshop or bar or biergarden or county fair or Carnegie Hall or somewhere they actually might get some press for their absent talent.
Fuel their delusion with apparent submission to their experience and wisdom. Concede to them on every point. Give in. Yield. Let them believe that they actually have potential and talent when you know they’re just a washed-up hack or a deluded fool craving fame like a cat craved catnip-filled socks.
On the evening of the performance, they’ll get rezzed on a stage made of Old Wood textures and sploders and cheesy speaker stacks. They’ll struggle with the microphone poseball and end up leaning back and forth like a pathetic Chuck-e-cheese animatronic, covered with pizza-vomit from frightened birthday kids.
It doesn’t matter. Let them have their way. Heck, their pathetic fans will still come and hoot and holler, even if the stream’s set to NPR news stories.
Meanwhile, fire up a second session with the -multiple flag and get over the kick-ass location you’ve busted your hump to find. Fill it with all your best-looking friends, and then have someone work up an alt with the best guitar-playing animations you can find. Unlike the performer, your friend will be able to sync the animations to the music, stopping when the music stops and switching from gentle strumming to hard long windmill loops.
Obviously, the show to film will be the “shadow” show you’ve arranged. (It’s not like those prim cameras actually have film in them, right? Ha ha!)
Sure, there’s always risk of your deception being caught before you get the episode in the can. The performer might ignore your warnings to ignore requests for teleports, they may have such a huge ego that they’ll want to watch the show on another window, etc. But if you assume that they’re barely able to afford a clunky desktop and a dialup connection, they
shouldn’t be able to handle much more than just the stream and a minimized SL window on Low.
Once the show is over, tell the performer what you’ve done, and if they don’t want to look like a total jackass they’d better keep their trap shut
and play along with the ruse.
Oh, and while you’re at it, here’s a services contract to sign for the new awesome-looking avatar outfit and the animation set… sign here… and here… and then here…
Ah yes. A star is rezzed.
Keep rocking in the freebie world!
SecondLie
Smart Ass
February 18, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Two youngish businessmen were sitting down for a break in their soon-to-be-opened new store, in New York.
As yet, the store wasn’t ready, with only a few shelves set up.
One said to the other, “I bet you that any minute now, some senior citizen is going to walk by, put their face to the window, and ask us what we’re selling.”
No sooner were the words out of his mouth when, sure enough, a curious senior walked to the window, had a peek, and in a soft voice asked, “What are you guys selling here?”
One of the men replied sarcastically, “We’re selling ass-holes mate.”
Without skipping a beat, the old Bloke said … “Must be doing well… Only two left.”
Seniors — don’t mess with them!
Merged realities – events and issues for virtual worlds
February 18, 2010 by Leave a Comment
1. As mentioned previously, Deakin University’s Jon-Paul Cacioli is conducting a study on body image in virtual worlds. He needs around 300 males to complete the survey, and to date has received over 100 responses. If you have time, please take the survey.
2. If, like me, the idea of a Lego MMO appeals like hell to you, it’s not too late to sign up for the closed beta.
3. Don’t forget our newest Columnist, Second Lie, is waiting for your questions.
4. Edward Castronova has a fascinating post over on Terra Nova covering his evolving thoughts on role-playing, the intrusion of monetary transactions and ‘the magic circle’.
5. 3D world development platform Unity has reached 100 thousand registered developers.
6. Tateru Nino has a great post on intellectual property rights over at Massively.
7. Have you joined the Metaverse Aid team yet?
8. Frenzoo continues its evolution with addition of Facebook Connect for new users (with current users receiving that access soon) and a new ‘mini-machinima’ feature.
Bottle of wine
February 17, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Bottle of Wine
A woman and a man are involved in a car accident on a snowy, cold Monday
morning; it’s a bad one. Both of their cars are totally demolished, but
amazingly neither of them is hurt. God works in mysterious ways.
After they crawl out of their cars, the man is yelling about women
drivers.
The woman says, ‘So, you’re a man. That’s interesting. I’m a woman. Wow,
just look at our cars! There’s nothing left, but we’re unhurt. This must
be a sign from God that we should be friends and live in peace for the
rest of our days.’
Flattered, the man replies, ‘Oh yes, I agree completely, this must be a
sign from God! But you’re still at fault…women shouldn’t be allowed to
drive.’
The woman continues, ‘And look at this, here’s another miracle. My car is
completely demolished but this bottle of wine didn’t break. Surely God
wants us to drink this wine and celebrate our good fortune. She hands the
bottle to the man.
The man nods his head in agreement, opens it and drinks half the bottle
and then hands it back to the woman.
The woman takes the bottle, puts the cap back on and hands it back to the
man.
The man asks, ‘Aren’t you having any?’
The woman replies, ‘No. I think I’ll just wait for the police…’
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Women are clever, evil bitches.
Don’t mess with them.
Problem-based learning in Second Life: new resource
February 16, 2010 by 1 Comment
Another cross-pollination from sister-site Metaverse Health
A comprehensive new resource has been released by the UK’s University of Derby and Aston University, Titled Best Practices in Virtual Worlds Teaching: A guide to using problem-based learning in Second Life, this 40+ page publication covers a lot of ground in an easy to understand way. It’s available as a free download of a little over 6MB in PDF format.
The pivotal section for me is the one on making problem-based learning work in Second Life, with the succinct message being:
The possibilities for education within Second Life are limitless and one must be careful not to use this resource for the sake of it. Any teaching resources provided within Second Life must be embedded within traditional learning methods and fulfil a direct need within the course. Simply using Second Life for the sake of it will require time and effort from students and staff that is unwarranted and provides no additional benefit. There must be a direct applicable benefit to the material contained within Second Life, so purpose-driven use is advised rather than speculative-use.
As I’ve mentioned previously, the documentation of teaching methods in virtual environments continues to improve, and this document provides a superb overview for those new to the approach. From a health viewpoint, some good examples of Psychology projects undertaken in Second Life are given.
Teacher arrested in New York
February 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment
A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a compass, a slide rule and a calculator.
At a morning press conference, the Attorney General said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.
‘Al-Gebra is a problem for us’, the Attorney General said. ‘They derive solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in search of absolute values.’ They use secret code names like ‘X’ and ‘Y’ and refer to themselves as ‘unknowns’, but we have determined that they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, ‘There are 3 sides to every triangle.’
When asked to comment on the arrest, President Obama said, ‘If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, he would have given us more fingers and toes.’
White House aides told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the President. It is believed that the Nobel Prize for Physiques will follow.
The Watch – virtual worlds in the news
February 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment
1. ReadWriteWeb (USA) – Kids on The Web: Are They Satisfied With Virtual Worlds and Games? “For kids under 12 years of age, entertainment websites and virtual worlds are all the rage. My 8-year old daughter plays ToonTown a lot. Club Penguin and Moshi Monsters are also popular in this demographic. But are these types of sites fulfilling the potential and talent our kids have with technology? In order to help us answer that question, we’re asking those of you who are parents of a child aged 12 or under to do a short survey accompanied by your child. With this survey, co-hosted by Boston research firm Latitude, we’re hoping to discover what kind of web apps kids want but don’t necessarily have right now.”
2. VentureBeat (USA) – New Zealand’s MiniMonos raises $550,000 for kids virtual world. “Virtual worlds aren’t exactly fashionable these days. They went through a hype cycle when everyone predicted that we’d all be living virtual lives in online worlds like Second Life. Now our expectations of them are more down to earth — but new virtual worlds continue to pop up. MiniMonos is the latest. The Christchurch, New Zealand-based company has raised $800,000 in New Zealand dollars ($550,000 U.S.) for a virtual world for children.”
3. Inside Higher Ed (USA) – ‘The Warcraft Civilization’. “Virtual worlds have been making headlines in higher ed for a number of years now. From The Sims to Second Life, all-encompassing video games have caught the attention (favorable or otherwise) of faculty and administrators as well as students. But it’s safe to say that few have explored virtual realities with the fervor of sociologist William Sims Bainbridge. Bainbridge — who is currently co-director of Human-Centered Computing at the National Science Foundation and adjunct professor of sociology at George Mason University — spent over 2,300 hours (that’s more than a year of 40-hour work weeks, if you’re counting) playing World of Warcraft as part of the research for his latest book, The Warcraft Civilization: Social Science in a Virtual World (MIT Press). Bainbridge spoke to Inside Higher Ed via e-mail, discussing what he’s learned from and about virtual worlds — and the vast potential they offer for future research.”
4. Wall Street Journal (USA) – Zynga To Buy Social Gaming Developer Serious Business. “In just two-plus years, social gaming is proving to be a lucrative business for Internet start-ups, particularly for the largest maker of these games, Zynga Inc. The San Francisco company, founded in 2007, has put some of the $180 million it raised in December to work, acquiring smaller and younger rival Serious Business Inc., also backed by venture capital. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Zynga, whose popular games include “FarmVille” and “Mafia Wars,” is the oldest in the nascent social-gaming industry and also the largest with more than 235 million monthly users. The company is reportedly generating upwards of $250 million in revenue per year. It also develops games for Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iPhone. Its two biggest rivals are Playfish Inc., which was acquired by Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS) for $300 million in November, and Playdom Inc., which a day later raised an unusually large $43 million first-round of venture funding. Playfish was founded in 2007 like Zynga and has more than 49 million monthly active users, while Playdom, which has said it’s profitable, was formed in 2008 and boasts 25 million monthly active users, according to Appdata.”
5. Psychology Today (USA) – Cool Intervention #2: Virtual Reality. “Get ready for Avatar-meets-Xbox-meets-Freud’s-couch as techies like USC’s Skip Rizzo usher psychotherapy out of the 1980s and into the information age. Just in time to become one of the Ten Coolest Therapy Interventions. When it comes to technology, psychotherapy has woefully trailed the other sciences. Biology, physics, chemistry, engineering and other “hard sciences” pounced on each technological advance to squeeze every last kilobyte of data from the research. For years their supercomputers thundered away while psychology gingerly tapped at a Commodore 64. Geophysicists studied paleomagnetism using an arsenal of techno-gagetry and we hand-scored Rorschachs with our trusty slide rule and abacus. In a field that takes pride in its progressive thinking, psychology was largely comprised of Luddites. Until now.”
6. Mashable (USA) – Glitch: Flickr’s Stewart Butterfield Explains His Ambitious Online Game. “Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield and five other former Flickr employees are joined by one Digg alum, one games expert and several freelancers in Tiny Speck, a company that’s working on an online game that has a shot at rebooting the stagnating massively multiplayer online game genre. The 2D game — called Glitch — incorporates beautiful illustrations and cutting edge game mechanics, but its most interesting features are its social aspirations and the lessons it learns from the web that its founders mastered at their previous gigs.”
7. Gizmodo (Australia) – Apple Patent Shows A 3D Virtual World For Buying Their Goods In. “There was a time, before Avatar, when 3D meant crummy virtual gaming. A recent patent granted to Apple shows they are (or were) considering a 3D virtual Apple Store – a more welcoming way to shop for Apple products.”
8. The Sunday Leader (Sri Lanka) – Avatar As America’s Political Unconscious. “When one watches James Cameron’s Avatar one is tempted to dismiss it as a special effects film with a very traditional plot. After all, what is new about a story that tells you about a hero, Jake, a paraplegic war veteran, who leads a resistance against bad Americans? The film uses some hyper-romantic version of primitivism to talk of a better world. The simple, nature-connected natives are good; the technologically-advanced, materialistic Americans are bad. The bad Americans want to conquer the resources of the planet Pandora, and when the natives get in the way of this they must be pushed out or exterminated.”
9. TechCrunch (USA) – In English-Crazy China, 8D World Teaches Kids To Speak In Virtual Worlds; Lands A Deal With CCTV. “In China, learning spoken English is giving rise to a huge and growing market. For instance, in addition to English classes in public schools, parents send their children to about 50,000 for-profit training schools around the country, where English is the most popular subject. Instead of American Idol, on CCTV, the national government-owned TV network, they have the Star of Outlook English Talent Competition. This is possibly the largest nationwide competition in China. Last year, 400,000 students between the ages of 6 and 14 took part in it.”
10. Virtual Worlds News (USA) – Weopia Launches Dating Virtual World. “Virtucom announced the launch of its entrance to the virtual worlds space today: Weopia, a virtual world aimed at bridging the gap between meeting someone through an online dating service and then meeting in the real world. Unlike Utherverse, which looked to partner with sites like Flirt.com, Weopia stands alone–something that may be an extra hurdle in the way of users downloading the software. It sounds, though, like Weopia envisions itself as related to other sites: users pick the person they want to chat with in the virtual world and share a link to their private space rather than mingling with strange avatars. Matches occur elsewhere, and meetings occur in Weopia.”
Death in the family
February 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment
A blonde goes into work one morning crying her eyes out. Her boss asks her sympathetically, “whatever’s the matter, pet?” The blonde replies, “Early this morning, I got a “phone call saying that my mother had passed away”.
The boss, feeling incredibly sorry for her, says “There, there. Look, why don’t you go home for the rest of the day? Or take the rest of the week even? Just take some time off to relax and get some rest”.
“Thanks, boss, but I think I’ll be better off here” says the blonde. “I need to keep my mind off it and the best chance I have of doing that is if I stay here and get on with some work”.
Her boss reluctantly agrees and a couple of hours pass by before he decides to check on her again.
When he sees her, she is crying hysterically once more. “Are you sure you’re OK?” he asks her. “No”, exclaims the blonde, “I just received a horrible phone call from my sister and her mum has just died too”.
Introducing: Second Lie
February 14, 2010 by 6 Comments
Second Lie is arguably one of Second Life’s most interesting people. I’ve run across him a few times over the past three years and every time found him to be mightily amusing, as well as having some great insights on everything Second Life. I can’t tell you a lot more except that he’s based in the United States and makes some pretty impressive content in Second Life.
In recent weeks I asked him if he’d be interested in writing for The Metaverse Journal and he’s kindly agreed.
On a regular basis, Second Lie will answer any question you may have on Second Life. Whether it’s negotiating the etiquette of personal relationships in-world or the potential pitfalls of becoming a Second Life entrepreneur, Second Lie will do his best to simultaneously enlighten and entertain.
Here’s how to get started: just use our contact form, which contains an option to select ‘Submit a question for the Second Lie column’. We’ll forward every question on and we’ll publish responses in groups each week or fortnight depending on volume.
Even better, you’ll be helping to fund Relay for Life. Each time a group of responses is published, Second Lie has requested his payment go to that rather than his pocket. A funny, intelligent columnist with a philanthropic streak: does it get any better?
If you want a taste of Second Lie’s approach,check him out on Twitter. Start submitting those questions so the fun can begin!
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