New blog locations in two flavors:

Common Sensible
Second Life observations in a rather blunt manner.

Socially Mundane: Similar observations in a highly-opinionated way. Warning: a bit sharp around the edges. Hope you don't find yourself within my sights.

Last post here... maybe. Let me know if I should continue, or move-on.

Your2ndPlace has a short article about SL Realtor rebranding itself into 'MetaRealtors". In fact, here's a quote from the press release; from Your2ndPlace:

SL-Realtor.com is pleased to announce they are re-branding as MetaRealtors.com. “While some look at Linden Lab’s new copyright restrictions as interference with their businesses, we view it as an opportunity to not only re-brand ourselves but examine the potential to expand in to other virtual worlds.” said Hel Christensen, MetaRealtors.com Chairman.

Some of you might already know I actually mange three blogs. This one, where I actually rant and get pretty stupid from time-to-time, SL Review - where I actually make a serious effort at being a decent blogger and a simple one over at Tumblr - where I syndicate both of these as well as add a few snippets interjected here and there.

Well, this blog and SL Review are both based on Linden Lab's Second Life. And, if you follow anything Second Life, you know there is a big hoopla about Linden Lab's own intellectual property rights. Specifically, their branding and use of their copyrighted terms.

Hey, I'm all for that. Go-go linden lab, I say. However, and I've ranted on this all along, Linden Lab is actually trying to claim a trademark on the initials "S" and "L" when used together ("SL") - and I find that laughable. So, "SL Review" (http://slreview.wordpress.com) will stay "SL Review" and nothing else will change until I get that 'cease and desist' letter from the spooky, weirdo legal eagles.

But, no sense tempting fate by having both that and this blog hanging on to those initials. So, welcome to Virtual Attitude. Please note the URL has changed - now at http://virtualattitude.blogspot.com.

Oh, and since we are going generically virtual, maybe we can get Naoki to post a teeny bit more often? I dunno - something ranting (or raving) about IMVU or whatever.

Okay, so anyway - a note that if we haven't scared you off, screaming just yet, you might want to update your RSS reader to the new address. :)

And now, Forbes magazine agrees with me. I'm warning you - the tax man is coming and it won't be long. The greedy politicians are salivating over the money that is exchanging hands in Second Life and other virtual world and MMORPGs. They are no doubt frantically trying to find aa way to stick their hands into your back pocket.

The hearing that occurred on April 1st this year was supposed to be some kind of exploratory thing. But in truth, and you really know this, whether your believe it or not, it was really kjust the first step into taxing anything and everything you own, whether it is real or not.

Read this Forbes article. Man-o-man do I feel so vindicated.

Indeed, the minority staff of Congress' Joint Economic Committee has a study underway, and academics are already churning out papers on the proper tax treatment of pretend online worlds with their own economies and commerce. You can buy weapons to use in battle in "World of Warcraft," or sexy outfits to go out dancing in "Second Life," or furniture to decorate your igloo in "Club Penguin."

Okay, so we all know Second Life is absolutely rife with "drama", right? Especially the love triangles and other interpersonal spaghetti tangles of web that would bring Peyton Place, Romeo & Juliet, NAY! Even the most popular soap operas to shame!

Much of it simply rates 'socially mundane'. But sometimes, the juicy stupid ones come along that rate a socially hilarious! Okay, that rating doesn't exist. so we'll settle for Socially Laughable.

How can a bunch of Obama supporters infesting a usually deserted Clinton sim inside Second Life be anything else other than drama supreme? I swear... some people really do need to get a life.

Now of course, a 'socially laughable' rating is just our way of saying 'get a freakin' life - any life but second life. And grow up just a little while you're at it.' Personally, I'm not very excited about any of the three candidates this go 'round. At least soon it will only be two of them. Then I can simply pick the lesser evil.

A quote from the site [a Hilary supporter]:

"I had one of those brief Yay, we can win! moments, but then I saw they were all clutching Obama banners and flags, and my heart sank," Lestat types, her waif-like avatar starring off into the tropical distance. "Holding an Obama demonstration on Hillary Island ... have they no shame?"

Absolutely hilarious! The first "joke" above isn't a joke. It's a real posting... somewhere. And the funny thing is how vindicated I feel about it. I've been slamming all these so-called 'business' people in SL who scream shrill cries bashing Linden Lab for not 'keeping it's promises' of a stable grid and everything working all fine and hunky-dory - and the SL "economy" becoming stable with land prices and all that garbage.

All so their little SL business will feed and clothe and shelter them in first life.

So many people like the guy above will start what they feel is a successful business in SL and actually quit their real life day job to focus on it. Stupid move unless you have wads of cash sitting in the bank to back you up. Because most, like the guy above, will end-up on the real life employment line all over again. And I've been saying this all along the last couple years.

So I ran across this web site that looks at the hilarity and irony of Second Life and actually makes fun of it. But not via anything Linden Lab says, but rather from the horses mouth: the residents own postings on various blogs, bulletin boards and so on throughout first life's Internet.

I have to say - I'm bookmarking this site and I'll have to visit it every day. Just to get the lighter perspective of things. As for making real money in SL - that's okay. But it should be discretionary cash - something that allows you to buy that new first life toy gadget you want or even maybe to help make ends meet in tough times. But to quit your day job and go whole-hog in SL is immature and reckless.

For your own good.

A very hot debate about content theft (technically plagiarizing) is flying around the SL blog again. We'll simply have to agree to disagree. Part of the replies to my post are also misunderstanding the spirit of my posts.

I've had my say and my say is this:

First - most content created in SL is pretty good. Not too bad at all, nothing that will cause a double-take, but on the whole, not too bad. Then there are those items which are absolute must-haves. The top-of-the-line stuff.

Now as for the whole content theft business goes, my basic presumption is this: if your stuff is really good, well designed, it will get stolen. If not stolen, then coveted and copied (facsimile) at least.

This won't sound pleasant, but you should be honored. It's a sign of the quality and popularity of your product. Now, don't think I don't care - I do. I sympathize with you and it is wrong. But the fact of the matter is if someone wants to steal your work, they will find a way to do it.

Why bother locking your car? If they want your stereo, they'll just smash the window.

Now, the first problem has to do with how are these people 'ripping' or otherwise able to create full permission copies of your stuff. Three ways I am personally aware of: a prim duplicator, a texture ripper and copybot.

Prim duplicators are very useful tools. I use one almost regularly. If you want to know how or why, IM me in world and I'll actually show you, beyond just explaining it. Suffice it to say I build stuff I give to my better half to sell, and i would prefer she be known as the creator, among other uses.

The only way a prim duplicator can work is that the prims being copied must have modify permissions. Without that - it won't work. Additionally, scripts cannot and will not be copied. So the copy is just an empty shell.

Yes, many will use prim hair as a classic example of content ripe for being stolen this way. Two answers to that: make it no-mod and insert a 'resize' script, allowing the customer to resize it without having mod permission - a headache to be sure (no pun intended.)

Or, accept the risk - more on that later.

Texture rippers - I honestly don't know much about them. I know it is easy to script a prim to take any texture that you know the UUID (Universal Unique IDentifier) and display it on that prims faces. As for the next step - I really don't know.

However, textures in SL always have been the least secure to prevent copying. And the majority of textures in world are all illegal anyway! They are downloaded from the web or stolen from out-world content CDs without proper license to upload them into SL. Now, I agree, the skin creators do not usually fall into this category. Unfortunately, there just isn't much you can do about it.

The third method, which works for prims and textures, et alii, is the greatly feared "copybot". I've read about it and based on what i know about how SL, databases and computers work - there just isn't anything that can be done about it.

I see posts demanding Linden Lab put a stop to its use. That's an impossibility. The copybot works on your local computer. It grabs the data from the internet stream as it goes through your computer to the graphics processor. So, unless you want to allow Linden Lab full access to your personal computer and to render the display inoperative - there's nothing that can be done.

Now, it already is known that anyone caught using copybot will get an instant ban from the service. However, there are too many easy ways to make alts and start over. So, with copybot, there really is no defense. Fortunately it is near impossible to actually meet someone who has actually met someone who has actually used one, it is that rare.

The real issue is that people purchasing a product from a vending machine or sales box will have no indication as to the authenticity of that product. How will they know they are buying a stolen copy? They don't. So, you really can't blame them - and yes, I know that ignorance of the law is no excuse. But it is what it is. Even if you know the law, you also have to know when it is being broken.

So - do you simply lock everything down tighter than a drum, or simply take the risk?

SL is a very big place. If your items are stolen, it is highly unlikely you (or anyone else for that matter) will ever know it. Unless a friend or someone familiar with your designs happens across it.

The only other way to know is if you search classifieds for your keywords and find your stuff that way. In which case, you have a stronger case to fight it with. The fact is, if your stuff is worth stealing, it will get stolen.

Do you sweat it out, or just be aware and try not to worry about it until it actually happens. When it actually happens, then, and only then, evaluate the situation, determine the damage it will do for you and then take the appropriate action and move forward from there.

In the case of the stolen commercial skins. If it were me - I make the stolen skins freebies, and be sure that most popular freebie places have them: New Citizens, Inc., Sara Nerds place and all the others. Make sure it's in a box with information about the skin, who created it and where to find more (landmark).

I know there are many who would disagree with this approach. But, it's the approach I feel would work for me. The best preventive action we can take is to educate the resident public at large. The problem is there is no CNN or other "Nightly News" that everyone turns to for information. There is no central news authority where people learn about what's happening.

Even the SL blog is visited by a tiny fraction of active residents.

So... how to let people know when they are buying a stolen copy? Easy, find a way to let them know they are buying a genuine authentic. How do we do this? It will take a lot of work and effort and help from Linden Lab.

Charlotte Bartlett (Post #139) says it best:

"Why can’t we simply all join together sim owners, content designers and creators and become one group. We can work together to create our OWN validation tool and council and work with Linden Labs to take this platform forward. Hey I know groups tend to crash - but I am personally sick of the 10 plus groups I try to stay membership of all dealing with content theft and each with their own champions."

You may have already heard about the congressional hearings concerning Second Life that were going on last week, but nothing’s really big news until The Daily Show pokes fun at it.

As usual, Jon Stewart brought the funny while reporting on the hearings, which were also broadcast in Second Life at the same time. The clip from the show really is an insightful portrait of the legal proceedings. Plus there’s a dolphin with boobs.

It ain't happening.

So, deal with the Linden Lab mantra and the SL woes of crashing, asset server issues, database wonkyness and whatever other problems creep-in, because they refuse to boil the code. it already is public knowledge that the server and viewer code is such a spaghetti mess that to 'fix' it, they'd have to start over practically from scratch - and that won't happen.

So, among all the frustrations with memory leaks, crashing viewers and sloppy, laggy sims, we have all kept our eyes pointed to the horizon... waiting for that alternate virtual world that will be rich enough in features, powerful enough in design and open enough to allow as much freedom... a replacement.

You can stop holding your breath and scanning the horizon. The writing is on the wall [emphasis is mine]:

In speaking to companies with virtual worlds in the works, no one is looking to replicate the Second Life model.“A year ago, when a lot of big companies came into Second Life, it didn’t work out for them,” said Jerry Paffendorf, the former “resident futurist” of the Electric Sheep Company, now of Wello Horld. “The reaction is to try to get away from that to these tightly controlled, kid-friendly environments.”

Lillie Yifu over at 2nd Sex (yes, cool, but... er... interesting name) has a good little post about how the corporations are all about themselves. My first question is: what this ever a question?

What srikes me most is the very first paragraph:

"One thing I think that frustrates more of the smart people I know than anything else is how many of them are not making very much money, while much less smart people are safely in well paying jobs. I meet many of these people in blogging and in Second Life. The news, I think, is that things aren't going to get any better..."

SLEX DCMA’s: Violation of Linden Lab TOS « Shopping Cart Disco

There's something to be said for everyone getting booted off the grid for twelve-plus hours while LL fights with its internet service provider.

Tenshi Vielle of Shopping Cart Disco fame brought to my attention today a stunning blunder worthy of the fumble of the year award.

In the article she quotes an original piece explaining how SLX's butterfingers handling-style has caused one SL organization to suddenly understand the meaning of the phrase "personal space". I'll let you read the articles for yourself, but the point of this post is -- we need to send a message to SLX and tell them that it is, in general, not a good idea to fork over our personal information to people who were already causing us harm without concern for our emotional or financial well-being. It sounds like what could only be a major oversight -- at least, I hope. No major business I've ever worked with has directly sent a DMCA to an offender because they knew what kind of information was on it.

Let's do something about this before more respectable developers have to give up their peace of mind. And let's ask that they be compensated for this pain in the ass, while we're at it.

Several days ago he held a Congressional hearing in Second Life, a specially designed "virtual world" for sociopaths, furries, and flying penis "avatars."

To commemorate this special event, Congressman Markey even crafted his own personal avatar: a virtual Congressman Markey who is cross-eyed with gayness.

IBM now has a secured private area of Second Life behind their own firewall. it was only a matter of time and I see this is becoming Linden Lab's primary focus eventually. it's what they really want to do. At least, it makes a lot of sense.

The cool thing is it's still Second Life. IBM employees will be able to travel to and from the "mainland" [meaning the 'public' areas of SL] and the IBM secured area without relogging. Okay, I think this is pretty cool and kudos to Linden lab and IBM for making it happen.

Basically, it's just like a private estate, like all other private estates. Unless you're in the 'group' - you simply can't teleport into there. The difference is that these estates are locked-down tight behind IBM's own firewall. I find it a fascinating proposition.

Corporate gated communities in virtual worlds, according to Mr. Yoon, will be the equivalent of corporate intranets on the Web. An employee’s avatar can travel easily in the outside realm, but only the ones with company I.D.’s can get inside the firewall.

All I can do is chuckle...

[Crossed from my other blog at SL Review - this one is just too important to me]
Ah yes... typical sarcastic blog entry about the clarification post on the Second Life® blog. But, in truth, I've never had a problem with any of it. Except for one simple rule they try to make. My only issue is how can you trademark a pair of initials? My beef is with the trademark claim on the initials "SL". Now, you can trademark them if they are in a particular context, but that requires more words.

So - does "Sign Language" no longer have a right to be truncated to "SL"? What about all the other terms that are truncated this way?

Well, I'm going to go ahead and continue using "SL Review" as the title of [my other] blog. Now according to Linden Lab™ I am breaking the rules. Not so much because I am not using the little "TM" next to it, but rather because I have only one proper noun after those initials and they say I must have two.

The same with my other blog "SL Attitude".

Well - even though this blog focuses on musings from within and about Second Life, my "SL" is simply a truncation of the full title: "Silly Little Review".

Oh, and SL Attitude is really "Seriously Laughable Attitude" - but there's not enough room in the banner to make it look good. So I'll stick with what I have.

So there.
Take that, Linden Lab. :)

...Can I use SL with my product, domain or organization name?
Yes, under our special license to use “SL.” You can use “SL” with your own trademark.

Do not throw caution to the wind. Anything you create or even edit with the new Photoshop® will become property of Adobe Systems®... for all intents and purposes.

Okay, let's clarify a bit here. Intellectual Property (I.P.) rights is a big issue in the world. It always has been. Just turn an eye at what the hoopla about the music labels and movie studios cracking down on all those who file-share.

The issue is no more important, but incredibly intensified within the world of Second Life®. I.P. issues are being raised with louder and more forceful voices. What you work hard to create is yours to decide what is and is not done with it.

You rightly should retain full control.

Anyone who copies your Intellectual property - especially the intangible stuff, such as artwork, textures and photographs - is plagiarizing you. It's theft by another word. It happens quite often in Second Life (SL) and real life (RL) quite often.

Now, back to Adobe: Adobe has seen fit for the last few releases of most of their software to cram down out throats a side-application called Adobe Bridge™. It can be useful, but personally, I think it's an overweight, bloated pig whose tasks are accomplished by better tools and utilities that are either built into the operating system or via lightweight free mini-applications available on the Internet.

One of the functions of Bridge was that it provided access to Adobe Stock Photos™. Now, Adobe didn't really own a stock photo library. Rather, it was simply a clearing house for about six or seven other stock-photo resellers. Adobe sold these for them on commission.

As of April 1, 2008, Adobe Stock Photos as a service is dead.

[Indemnification: the following is strictly my opinion and conjecture and not fact. It is the conclusions I have come to based solely on my own reasoning based on what I know, suspect and have heard. So, I may be way off-base here.]

Did Adobe kill it? I don't know and I don't care. I suspect the providers all simply pulled-out as soon as their contracts were up.

However, I also suspect adobe found it to be quite lucrative and it earned them a lot of easy money.

So, what to do? Find a way to host peoples artwork and photographs... much like Flickr or Picassa... but then how to gain the rights to use all that stuff, either for your own use, or to sell... in the same way the stock photo houses do? And, how to do it without paying a single cent in royalties?

Create an online 'lite' version of Adobe Photoshop, allow anyone to use it for free, and sneak the creepy language into the terms of service that no one ever reads.

Photoshop Express link: https://www.photoshop.com/express/

The terms basically say that anything you upload to Photoshop Express is free to use by Adobe... any damned way they please - including selling it and not paying you a single cent.

News article here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=1477

Now, the same basic terms apply to anything you pump into or create inside Second Life. However, the difference is this: Second Life is, as Prokofy Neva calls it, a "walled garden" - it's more or less blocked-off from the rest of the world. [Second Life TOS: Intellectual Property]

So this isn't as big an issue since anything you put into SL, stays in SL (provided you lock it down according to the permissions system.)

The huge uproar and backlash has Adobe reportedly reconsidering, or at least rewriting their terms of service.

Article is here: adobe-joins-list-of-companies-not-reading-own-eulas

So, do you read the terms of service every time you sign-up for some online service? Cloud computing is becoming increasingly popular. And remember, these services will write their TOS in a way that benefits them, not you.

What's your take on it?

The problem is that it is unlikely you will even notice it, but the friends list on the web has been hosed for a long time. Some say since January. I think it's really more since mid-February, for this SNAFU, anyway.

If you rely on the "Friends Online" page of the Second Life web site, you should go to the public Jira and cast your vote (link at the bottom of this article.) Here is the issue:

The friends list web pages are stuck. They are frozen in ice... time... whatever you want to call it. The reason you might not notice is that the list appears to be actively working and here's why:

For most of Second Life's web pages, you'll notice the URL address changes. Yes, obviously enough. But what I am referring to is the sub domain: the server that page is being served from. For example, with regard to the friends page it can come from:

More new Second Life tutorials from Torley and the detractors are out in force again. It's funny, as they say "sometimes the best way to show a fool for a fool is to let him have his way." Do these people realize how trivial and childish they sound?

Today focused on voice features of Second Life. Take the example quote from the talkback page of the voice tutorials released today:

"If it was so wanted to hear mouth breathers and teenaged griefers how come there were so few votes to have this “feature bling” added over stability and a little decent governance."

I think it is about time.
There have been a lot inquiries to Linden Lab about getting a hold of the Second Life logo for use in or out of world. So this new logo program is a good idea and, no doubt, it wasn't invented yesterday. These things take a lot of time to prepare and build, long before such an announcement.

So, do you plan to sign-up? I do.

And yes, I stole their banner right off their page! But i have 90-days to apply and make myself legal.  >:)

Though I am still laughing really, really hard at all the childish replies on the blog post.

could also use the inSL logo in marketing materials, on your website, on your letterhead, in conference materials, in presentation slides, on promotional items, on product packaging, and in other areas where you wish to promote your contributions to the Second Life world.

I didn't know Eon Ayres, but that doesn't really matter. This resident is a mystery to me. The reason I'm posting this is because there's a certain helpless emptiness that comes when I hear about a recently-deceased resident of SL. We've all experienced it... First there's the doubt -- not simply because people like to fake their own deaths online, but because the first, innate human response to grief is denial.

What I'm getting at is that, as someone who doesn't know a lot of people, with a small family, someone who has only cried over a lost loved one a couple of times in her twenty-five years, I find myself more speechless and more helpless than others might because I simply cannot fathom the kind of words I could say that would help or lessen any burden of pain. And because it would be awful to simply walk away, I am always left gape-mouthed and terrified, filled with guilt, because some subconscious part of me feels like there ought to be a response coming out of me. It's robotic, in a way.

Still, the point of my posting is this: If you live both an online life and a real one, whether you're a resident of SL or just do a lot of instant messaging, consider writing up a quick document that contains your passwords and people you would like to notify in case something terrible happens to you. As a person who suffers from a constant fear of the pain she would leave behind in others if she passed on, I can say matter-of-fact-ly that knowing such a document exists will help assuage the kind of fear that could keep you from living your life normally.

On the flip side, I also advise you to always treat every meeting and encounter as if it will be your last -- to an extent. I do this, but it tends to sadden me... still, I fight with the idea that were I not to do this, that I would spend years hating myself if something were to happen to someone the day I chose not to look at them as they passed down the stairs out of sight.

I don't know... perhaps it's more healthy in the long-run to be more frivolous. Perhaps it's easier to get over knowing you didn't say everything you could have said than it is to live the (more likely) day-to-day, lucky life around someone you care about constantly terrified that they'll get into a car accident or have a desperate asthma attack when you aren't around... regardless, don't take anything for granted this year if you can help it. And by that, I mean, be safe, smart, and care about others just as much as you care about yourself.

Corporate R&D, educational classrooms, commercial showrooms, fantasy Gorean swordplay and now... war room. For real life.

Forbes magazine has an interesting article on how the Feds are coming into virtual worlds to... help catch terrorists and other bad guys.

Always fun and fascinating news:

Leave it to the U.S. government to suck the fun out of innovative technology. As the inhabitants of virtual worlds like "Second Life" and "World of Warcraft" fulfill fantasies of flying between islands and fighting armies of blood elves, the feds are looking into using the virtual realm for far more mundane--if more practical--activities: sitting around a conference table, watching PowerPoint presentations and attempting to track down terrorists.

Go ahead, call me 'heartless'.

The whole Gitmo routine is really getting boring. But what cracks me up is how the ACLU (sometimes a great organization, sometimes hell incarnate) demands rights for terrorists.

Like the quote from this story:

Gone Gitmo is a Second Life experience of rendition and Camp X-Ray, the now-defunct arrival center at Gitmo, developed as a virtual world companion piece to the documentary Unconstitutional. Gone Gitmo allows SL avatars to experience being hooded, handcuffed, verbally abused and detained.

The content theft in Second Life is starting to gain attention out in the real world - places and bloggers that don't usually report on Second Life.

Though in my opinion, the content theft in Second Life is not actually "theft" by definition of the word (the creators are not actually deprived of the creation,) rather it is plagiarism, I also can understand why the term is used. It packs a heavier punch, even though the real reason the term is used has more to do with our laziness and lack of true understanding of our own language. And many can be rather niggardly about it.

This is a good read.

Not so much that it's about the complaints, (and even shrill, in some cases, whining,) about the current lead of comment, but because it applies to all plagiarism in SL - including those who 'borrow' from real life, such as popular names and logos.

"What these programs do is allow users to copy models and designs from others of the Second Life universe. However, typically these creations are sold in virtual shops and are not designed to be copied. In fact, Second Life has a permissions system that, theoretically, is supposed to prevent such unauthorized copying."

If you've been following all the SL Blogs, you know there is a lot of hoopla about Intellectual Property (IP) rights and content theft. There even is an awareness campaign being run by many of Second Life's better-known creators.

Many, including myself consider the campaign to almost be a waste of breath. Almost. But, as it turns out, this is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg and Second Life residents are the Titanic. It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

The issue is the untested waters of Second Life and virtual IP as it pertains to the law. real world law. It has already been proven, at least to a small degree that real life law can and does apply to virtual IP as found in the Eros vs. John Doe case of 2007.

If you are a creator in SL - creating your own stuff, marketing yourself, or even if you 'borrow' real life logos and marketing approaches, and especially is your are a content plagiarizer, you'd do very well to read the linked article.

For anyone involved in any way with Intellectual Property in SL, builders, designers, scripters, SELLERS... fasten your seatbelt. It's going to be a rough ride if you aren't careful.

Quote:

"For example, it's not clear whether someone who commercializes a virtual copy of a patented real world object commits patent infringment [sic] and if so, in which jurisdiction. It's also unclear whether someone who develops a trademark used only to identify virtual goods and services generates enforceable trademark rights in the real world. And it's not known whether making virtual use of a trademark, which can be confused with a real-world trademark, amounts to trademark infringment [sic].

"But rights holders can't really stand around waiting for the courts to decide the law."Failure to enforce is particularly damaging to plaintiffs in trademark infringment cases," [sic] says Kristina Rosette of Covington & Burling, which has offices in the U.S. and Europe.

"Mr. Bennett argues that abusers can do as much damage online as they can do in the real world."

"...I had heard of colossal time wasting games like “World of Warcraft,” and “Everquest” as well as the virtual worlds “Second Life” and “Sims” where people can create a character in a utopian fantasy world and spend countless hours posted in front of their computers armed with a 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew, a Hot Pocket and a waistline growing as fast as their logged hours played. But hey, to each their own and as several people in “Second Skin” say, we all have our little time wasting addictions and online gaming is theirs."

Oh the joy!
Like the Rezzable Dinosaurs, SL went kablooey. Again.
I really should have known better!

I was working on a few things. Suddenly, I noticed the scripts weren't working. No response. They weren't resetting. In fact, it was bizarre: I got the old error that there are no scripts in the object.

Of course there are scripts in the object. I'm looking at them. Just put them in there as a matter of fact.

So I took the object back into inventory and set it out again. Now, the delay in the object jumping out of world and into my inventory should have beena loud, bright clue. But it went eventually and I was multitasking in Fireworks and Photoshop at the time, so my full attention wasn't in-world.

When I set the object out again, the scripts should have reloaded. Nothing. Hmmm...

Okay - let's restart the sim.

I go back to work off-line and return about 10 or 15 minutes later. "Region unavailable, you are being moved to a nearby [read: half-way across the SL globe] location." I end-up at my home location, currently set to Naoki's shop.

Okay - I go to map and search for my estate. There it... why is it still red, reading "offline"? Okay - just stand there, go back to offline work. 10-minutes later, search the map again. Funny. Still offline. Must be my viewer.

I log out and back again. STILL offline. Okay - contact support.

So, in the chat, TJ tells me he'll get the sim marked to return to online status, but that it might be very slow because of the database issues. I thank him and move on.

Not two-minutes later comes the Linden in-world notice to not perform any land transactions or L$ transactions at all. LL BLOG is updated.

I laugh.

Yes, laugh.

I am not going to whine and be all pissed-off because the database is borked, my sim is down and all money I earn in SL is in or on (vendors and servers) that sim - so as my sim is offline and effectively dead to the SL world... I laugh.

I don't consider SL to be a game. But I don't stake my life on it either. And, I have no doubt the Linden weekend crew are jumping through bootstraps to get things working again.

So, back to offline work for me... with a chuckle and a smile.

Did the Sunday database borking piss you off?
If so, I can only shake my head and ask why?

Over at Freep.com, (Detroit Free press,) apparently a Michigan paper, is a long, in-depth article extolling the positive virtues of Second Life, focusing on a few different aspects, including a couple people who are highly successful entrepreneurs in-world (one making $150,000 - $300,000 a year.)

Also in the article is a segment about how the University of Michigan is working on both hardware and software that plugs into Second Life, for example: 3D glasses. it is reported that Linden Lab is so impressed, they may just build the functionality directly into the viewer, allowing resident users to simply turn the feature off and on through a check box in preferences.

Not only is this an interesting read, but it reminds me, and should remind you that Linden Lab doesn't always toot their own horn. Bu this I mean that there are things in the works that aren't necessarily 'top-secret', but are not publicly known.

For example, people have ben venting (whining) in the LL blog for ages that an in-world web browser needs to be available whether it's 'web on a prim' or not. Another common request/vent has been some kind of teleport history. Ta-dah! As of the most recent Release Candidate Viewer, they both are here and functional now.

Here's an example from the story:

"The lab has at least three major "SL" projects under way. First, it developed a program that allows "Second Life" users to see the world in 3D, using traditional bicolor stereovision glasses. That program has been so successful since its release a few months ago that Linden Labs is testing the idea of building it right into the world as a checkbox that people can turn on or off at will."

Yes, Second Life goes more international than we first thought.
Welcome Kazankstan! This is apparently the government's effort to improve Western perceptions of the country. It might work, I don't know. Go visit Astana and tell me if it improves yours. :)

"But social service Second Astana is something more, the first spots (central block of the left-bank Astana from Bayterek to the Pyramid) of the Kazakh land in the popular virtual world of Second Life, with which the developers seem to be in the process of establishing cooperation."

Brian Dipert over at EDN has a great article about how Second Life [and other virtual worlds] will become more and more real as time goes on. The point being the it only looks feels the way it does right now due to technology constraints, that are improving exponentially.

Now, his column is only about Second Life or the technology behind it at all. It's actually a very good read and has to do with his predictions for the not-too-distant future.

Here's an excerpt:

"Human beings, like many if not all creatures, seem to have a natural compulsion to intoxicate themselves in striving to escape the un-pleasurable aspects of real life and instead flee (albeit temporarily) to a seemingly 'better' alternative. We cling to what feels good, and we push away what feels bad...not realizing, as we do so, that this grasping and aversion is at the root of our suffering...but I digress. Yes, I'm taking you down a blue pill/red pill Matrix scenario here."

Creating in Second Life is creating.
Starting a business in Second Life is starting a business.
Marketing in Second Life is marketing.

Okay, starting a business in SL is pretty straight forward and the easiest of these three. Find a mall, plop down some Linden Dollars (L$) into a rental box - all set. But what do you sell? The first option above is a bit more difficult.

Creating in SL requires a pretty steep learning curve. And, there are multiple facets to it: Prim building (creating that sofa,) Texturing (Using your favorite image editor to create the image files that, when applied to your prim sofa, will allow it to look like a sofa,) and then scripting (adding pose balls or something more elaborate.)

Many will go the easy route and purchase a "Business in a Box" (BIAB) - unfortunately, this is a bad idea. First, BIABs are usually just chock full of freebies or someone else's throw-aways. The items are not very good, quality-wise and the prim items are usually quite bloated and heavy with inefficient prim-building design.

On top of that, if ten people buy the same BIAB and all set-up shop in the same mall, what does that do for each of them?

The next best thing is to learn to build prims. Then head off to a texture vendor to shop for textures. This saves time, and doesn't require image-editing talent or upload costs. You buy the textures, plop them onto your sofa prims and away you go.

The same for pose balls. You can buy 'resale' pose balls that you can attach to your sofa, and sell the whole kit-and-kaboodle at will. of course, this route requires a monetary investment (resale pose balls are not cheap!)

Then of course, you could simply do it all yourself, taking the time and effort to learn what you need to learn to make things happen, or a combination of all of the above, except for the BIAB.

Then comes the marketing.
Ouch.

This is by far the most difficult of anything you can possibly do in SL. The reason is that it is too easy to just buy stuff. There is always someone who creates what you create. Many will be lower in quality and many will be higher.

The problem is that there is a mall or shopping vendor in 99% of every place you could want to visit. In fact, SL is really just one gigantic shopping mall. Everywhere you turn, there is always a vendor machine or box with something to buy.

So how do you market your wares and not get lost in the 'for sale' desert?
One idea is to put your vendors in as many places as you possibly can. But be careful, this can backfire. Personally, I am so sick and tired of seeing that horrible pink "Kinky-O" logo every damned where I go. To the point that I refuse to buy anything from the creator or visit her properties (her properties are owned and run by her alt - or vice-versa.)

So, you really need to work the classified and search system. Doing this, and marketing in general is beyond the scope on this post. But suffice it to say, there are those who cheat in this, too.

We all know about campers. As soon as I land at a mall or shopping location, or any venue where I see campers, I teleport out to the next place before the floor even finishes rezzing for me.

I also stay away from bogus logos.
I've written about this before.

And yet, here is another column about the plagiarism of logos. If you use a logo without an explicit license or written permission from the logo owner, beware. The wolves are out and they are hunting. If you don't believe me - put up anything that looks like or mentions "Mickey Mouse' related to your product. You be on the national headline news before long. I guarantee it.

Yes, we all know Coca-Cola has given explicit permission for Second Lifers to use their logo. But Coca-Cola is open that way. And others like Apple Computer just brush it off, knowing it is all fandom-created anyway. But be careful, I say.

(Because of the limited time to get to see this, I am cross-posting here from my other place: http://slreview.wordpress.com/ )

If you have never been to a Rezzable sim, you just don’t know what you’re missing. If you don’t move real fast, you’ll miss their Dinosaur sim permanently as it’s being destroyed at noon SLT today.

Unfortunately, Real Life pulls me away and I can’t be there. You see, in true Rezzable fashion, something’s amiss… the process is supposed to be somewhat of an event… of some sort. I really hope Naoki (definitely my better-half) can make it there in time to see what it is they plan and get lots of pictures

Rezzable is currently best known for their “Home of the Greenies” sim. A fascinating location that brings back fond memories of the wonderful Disney movie “Honey, I shrunk the kids” - and you’re one of the kids.

I don’t know how long the Dinosaur sim has been around.
I visited there a month or so ago and found it very interesting, but rather static, and persistently dark (as in night time.)

Either I didn’t hang around long enough then, or the fine folks at Rezzable have added something new. I don’t know which it is.

As I had remembered (almost too late) early this morning that the sim was being taken down, I zapped over there to get as many decent photos as possible. I hovered in the center, knowing the darkness and distance from my camera position would keep me relatively hidden in my photos (yes, I say photos, not screen captures, James Au.) ;-)

Suddenly, a bright, bright ‘orb’ or sphere surrounded me and weird green globs (particles) started emitting from it… and strange rays of light, all ruining my photography! I was being griefed! Then I noticed… I was the only one on the sim.

It took a bit, but I then realized, this effect was part of the build!
Holy leaping lizards, Batman! This is awesome!

It’s apparently the meteor that killed-off the dinos so long ago, coming in for a crash landing… or something. It was beautiful and stunning. That’s when I pulled my camera out for wider shots after trying to get at least one good shot of each dinosaur carcass… er… remains… whatever.

If you get the chance and you are reading this before 12:00 PM Second Life Time (SLT) - search places for Rezzable, scan the list for Dinosaur and get over there before it’s too late and the place is gone forever. Sorry, I had to hit RL before I even thought about grabbing a SLURL to post here. See all my photos in larger versions here.

Erepublik offers a real second life
Explain your business to my Mum.
'Erepublik.com is a massive online multiplayer social strategy game a mix between a social network and a strategy game set in virtual version of the real world. Yes, I know - my Mum doesn't get it either but my little brothers totally do.'"