Archives for 2008

Turds for World Peace.

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Exhibit ‘A’
They drift through the night, lonely, bored, itching to vandalize; weapons of creation on the tips of twitching fingers, eager to leave their mark across that vast, digital landscape of Second Life. Their prey? The sleeping, the unattended, the distracted.

Exhibit ‘B’
I recently set my account to never be away from keyboard (AFK). I did this for personal reasons; my Second Life girlfriend has done the same, and we can ‘spend the night’ together, should we desire. It is a pleasant way to go to bed, and a pleasant way to wake up. It rather helps bridge the time zone gap; two hours, in our case.

Exhibit ‘C’
In their heyday of world fame and fortune (not that it’s ever really dwindled, but when it was forefront, let’s say), The Police had a thing they called being “taken to the party”; this evolved from efforts to relieve the boredom of traveling, and resulted in a sleeping member of the entourage being dressed up in all manner of found objects, such as swizzle sticks, gaffer’s tape, magic marker, articles of clothing that didn’t belong to their gender, etc. It made for some interesting images and stories. Later, the practice extended into the studio, culminating in one episode where a crew member was sound asleep in the control room, snoring loudly, even while music was blaring from the speakers. A microphone was hastily applied, the sound recorded, slowed down, and very nearly made it as a sound effect on ‘Synchroncity II’, as a monster. They chose to replace it with Andy Summers’ guitar work, towards the end. We should be thankful, I guess.

•••••

As with so many things in life these days, it seems, the obvious cannot be stated enough. This would be the point in my ramblings where I point out that exercising the privileged option of ‘never AFK’ be conducted in the privacy of one’s own quarters, with appropriate security measures in place. On a recent evening, my SL girlfriend, “M”, opted to log off and go to bed early. I took the opportunity to do a little more building, constructing some cabanas and tweaking a few details on some apartment buildings. (Did I mention that I’m doing building, now? No? Oh. Sorry. Yeah, I’m kinda hooked on it. I’ll bleat about that at some other juncture.)
After a while, I tired, and figuring that since she wasn’t at home, I’d camp my pixel posterior on the deck of one of the cabanas; being a new, private sim, I didn’t reckon there’d be much interference, if at all.

If I could earn a modest stipend for every time I’ve been wrong, I could probably buy out Linden Labs, or at least become a majority shareholder.

When I came ’round the following morning, I found that I’d been ‘taken to the party’, replete with a large turd stuck to my head, and an equally large penis stuck to my crotch, with a proportionately-sized pool of man-butter attached and resting at my feet. The culprit was someone who had been introduced to the property just hours before, by one of our friends. In fact, she is an SL ‘old-timer’, having been around since almost the inception. Fortunately for me, her building skills had diminished significantly, a nugget of info I discovered upon viewing the public chat log, racked up whilst I slept. Payback, as they say, can be a bitch. How to administer appropriate payback to an SL old-timer is quite the conundrum, I assure you, and not a task to be taken lightly. Very little they haven’t seen, by now, and aren’t likely to be taken by surprise.

I was not bothered by this affront in the least; we are, after all, cartoons in a cartoon world; our entities can be pushed off buildings, hit by cars, roasted by flamethrowers, and crushed by 1-tonne weights, only to spring back out of such events looking as fresh as the day we stepped out of the portal. It did, however, get me to thinking about my own real-life reactions to similar things; I’m one of those people who, ten, maybe fifteen years ago, would have been incensed at such a prank, but in the years following, I’ve learned not to really give a damn. As long as nothing gets destroyed, I’m good. And SL pranks such as that can kind of help nurture a more balanced, good-natured approach to life.

So, if SL could help a former hothead such as myself learn to brush things off, imagine what it could do for foreign affairs and international policy? Imagine if we could somehow let Hugo Chavez put a big brown turd on Bush’s head while he slept, or give Putin a bigger penis than Bush, while he was busy quelling ceding factions of his once-intimidating empire? Merkel could have a slender, model-like figure, always a sure-fire tactic in negotiations. North Korea? Well, that might be the ‘wild child’ in the batch. Someone might have to put some account limits on that one. And the Middle East is anyone’s guess. In any case, an international game of ‘kick me’, SL-style, might be just the ticket to turn back the Doomsday Clock.

“Giving someone shit” takes on a whole new context, especially when inked in official government documents.

“Turds For Everyone”… truly, a ‘one-world’ policy.

World Stock Exchange communicates after lengthy hiatus

Controversial Australian Second Life resident LukeConnell Vandeverre (RL: Luke Connell) gave an update on the World Stock Exchange, which has been offline since January.

I wasn’t able to attend the live event due to its time although I was offered a preview over the weekend which I also wasn’t able to make. Nobody Fugazi from Your2ndPLace has a scathing critique of the information provided today: “this seemed like a monotone message of desperation with an Australian accent”.

I’m hoping to glean further information in coming days but it’s safe to say that WSE’s future is still far from assured.

Update: the Second Life Herald has also covered the announcement.

The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

1. Gamasutra – GDC: Emotiv Knows What You’re Thinking. “On Thursday at the 2008 Game Developers Conference, Julian Wixson and a small panel of associates described and demonstrated the Emotiv headset and SDK, suggesting how a developer might incorporate the technology into a new or even quite finished production. The svelte Emotiv headset uses an array of sixteen EEG sensors to detect electrical impulses in the scalp. These signals are then interpreted by a suite of tools, each with its own range of applications”.

2. Tech.Blorge – The government begins plans to monitor World of Warcraft. “If you’re a die-hard World of Warcraft player, you probably aren’t too concerned about having your online identity known by others; how would you feel if you knew that big brother was monitoring your MMO action? The U.S. government is beginning a program that will monitor the most popular online MMOs so as to identify terrorists online”.

3. Courant.com – Virtually Divorced From Reality. “It started with World War II games on the computer. He would spend hours flying jets, fighting the Germans. And then his interests changed. “I’d wake up in the middle of the night, and he’d be at the computer looking at women’s pictures,” said Jennifer of her ex-husband. “It was lonely for both of us.” Her ex became far more interested in his fantasy online virtual world, with its endless supply of pornography, than in his real family”.

4. BBC News – Virtuality and reality ‘to merge’. “Computers the size of blood cells will create fully immersive virtual realities by 2033, leading inventor Ray Kurzweil has predicted. Exponential growth in processing power and the shrinking of technology would see the development of microscopic computers, he said”.

5. Information Week – Turning Work Into Play Is No Game. “It sounds like techno-utopian silliness to say that businesses need to learn from online games how to make tedious knowledge-work more enjoyable. But many knowledge-work jobs are so deadly dull that the typical worker lasts just nine months — in call centers, for example. Extend that by a few months, and businesses stand to save piles of money, said Byron Reeves, a professor in the department of communication at Stanford University”.

6. BBC News – Virtual and real blur in Eve Online. “Virtual worlds are becoming increasingly rich and diverse environments with complex social and economic eco-systems. Science fiction trading game Eve Online is one of the most dynamic worlds, with its own economists helping players get to grips with the intricacies”.

7. Gamesindustry.biz – Home is “best-looking multiplayer world”. “The creative director of Sony’s Home project has told GamesIndustry.biz in an exclusive interview to be published in full next week that he believes the PlayStation 3 virtual world platform is the “best-looking” and most “user-friendly” multiplayer experience he’s seen so far. Talking on a recent trip to Monaco for the Imagina conference, Ron Festejo explained his feeling that other virtual worlds, such as Second Life, were garish, while other online experiences were simply too hardcore for most people”.

8. ZDNet – Solving the Virtual World Interoperability Problem. “Despite the popularity of Second Life, there are in fact several such services on the market today. Enabling interoperabilty between There, Entropia Universe, Moove, Habbo Hotel, and Kaneva could go along way towards promoting the Virtual World industry. IBM researcher Ian Hughes’ excellent post poses the question of what that interoperability might look like”.

9. Mediaweek – Disney Goes Virtual Kids’ ‘Studios’. “Disney has announced the formation of Disney Online Studios, a new division within the Walt Disney Internet Group focused on virtual worlds, gaming and social networking initiatives aimed at kids. The announcement comes as the company’s latest virtual world, the young girl-aimed Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow, was previewed during Toy Fair in New York on Feb. 19”.

10. ZDNet – Is open source giving Second Life a second life?. “Linden Labs, whose Second Life is so cool yet so lacking in profits it’s been lampooned in an IBM ad, sent out an e-mail alert this week boasting that open source is giving the company, well, a second life”.

Australians in Second Life Update – stagnant as she goes

Linden Lab have released their latest set of metrics through to the end of January 2008. The metrics show that the Australian active user population is 10,885, up marginally from last month’s 10,644. Australia remains at its long-standing 11th position in the world, with 2% of the overall active user population.

The lack of growth is becoming a longer term issue and it’s natural to wonder what the impact of ongoing glitches and lag (due to no local SL servers) is having. What do you think?

Proposals sought for content creation in Second Life

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I received an interesting notecard in-world that will interest Second Life content creators:

“FFRC Seeking Proposals for Rich Content Project Funding

Do you have an idea for a project that would enrich the lives of Second Life Residents? Some event, interactive environment, game, cultural or artistic production that would make the landscape of the virtual world more interesting? Or some completely new idea that will engage and interest residents?

The Foundation for Rich Content is a funding organization here in SL that awards grants, seasonally, to makers of rich content. Past fundees have produced SL sports and performance events, classes, interactive museum displays, building contests, events for new residents and more.

If you believe you have an idea for a project that would enrich the lives of SL residents, consider completing our application form and submitting it by March 15. Proposals should be titled FFRC Spring 08 application (name of project). Proposals should be sent to Persephone Phoenix at FFRCOfficerPerse@gmail.com by midnight, March 15, 2008. Three grants will be awarded for a maximum of L$25,000 (Twenty Five Thousand Linden Dollars) each. Someone interested in making a smaller project (say a weekend event) can ask for an appropriate level of funding, but the FFRC will not grant more than $25,000 for a single project in this round of funding.

For more information, contact Persephone Phoenix or Jamys Vuckovic, or check out the Google Groups page by Googling SL Foundation for Rich Content.

Weekend Whimsy

This week we’ve gone for a dance theme…

1. Cliquez pour ajouter un titre…

2. Kozo Imako – Ballroom Dance 1

3. Light Dancers of Aurora – Second Life

I’ve lost my WordPress password – what do I do?

You use this excellent (and free) tool. You just need to have access to the server your WordPress installation is on and you’re laughing.

New TV show on business in Second Life launches

Australian-based SLCN TV have added a new show to their in-world offerings. Real Biz in SL will feature interviews and stories with personalities and real-world businesses involved with Second Life.

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You can view each of the shows live in-world by checking the schedule or you can stream them via their website (QuickTime required).

Using SLURLS to get around Second Life

Linden Lab’s Torley Linden has created another useful tutorial, this time on using SLURLS to get around Second Life.

It’s a great read for a new Second Life user but I’d also recommend it for more experienced users as I’m regularly confronted with veteran Second Life residents who don’t grasp the wider functionality of SLURLS.

Linden lab have also instigated a ‘Knowledge Base Article of the Week’ post – today’s is about groups and how they are disbanded.

Linden Lab give glimpse of Dazzle

There’s some welcome improvements on the way with the vanilla Second Life browser interface. They’re cosmetic improvements, but a much needed step toward making in-world navigation that little bit more pleasant.

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