Virtual Attitude™

New Location(s)

2008-10-06T06:52:00.000-07:00

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.

Rebranding - a Fact of [busness] Life

2008-04-21T15:19:00.001-07:00

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.

I concur. I've been managing a few separate blogs, each with different purpose. The one I called "SL Review" is the one were I actually try to make 'respectable' posts and allow it to have a little moxie and style. you know, trying to make it look all grown-up and things. Take on more serious issues and try not to let my hellacious attitude loose.

Well, I've mentioned a lot more often over there than here that I don't have any problems with Linden Lab enforcing their copyrights and trademarks. But I do have a serious issue with anyone claming a right to claim two letters of the alphabet and neither are a vowel.

Well, as such, I've decided to let SL Review sit on the shelf and fade into prosperity. I'm not killing it - it will stay put. I just won't post anything new to it. It's not a signal of defeat or anything silly like that. It *is* going to stay put - just not active. We'll see what Linden Lab says when they finally get around to noticing it.

What I am doing is using the opportunity to rebrand the blog. So from SL Review comes Virtual World Review. A new look that still fits inline with what I am going for and actually a bit easier to read for many, most likely. But in doing this, Linden Lab doesn't bring me closer, they send me further away. because of this change, I would have any qualms about posting articles and news about other virtual worlds. And not that I am feeling a bit more adventurous, I have been checking them out.

As for this blog - "Virtual Attitude" - I'm thinking of doing the same. Just mothball it and steer everyone (all two of you, I think) over to VWReview. As much as I love the Blogger system, I have that I don't really have any stats. And the dashboard used to be much better than WordPress. However, since WordPress has updated things, well - that just isn't true any more. And I like how I can split my articles into an intro and click-to-continue. *STILL* can't do that here.

So, if you do read this blog and I haven't chased you away, yet - follow me over to my new blog: Virtual World Review [http://vwreview.wordpress.com/].

I hope to see you there.

Oh - and if you really want to see the press release I based this article on:

SL-Realtor.com is now MetaRealtors.com; you can win L$5,000 | Your2ndPlace

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It's a change...

2008-04-18T11:50:00.001-07:00

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. :)

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I've said it again and again - the tax man is coming.

2008-04-16T16:24:00.001-07:00

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."

Taxing Virtual Worlds - Forbes.com

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Obama whacks Clinton... [rolls eyes now]

2008-04-14T15:07:00.001-07:00

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?"

Yes, it's a satire web site. Though I don't think this particular story is made-up. So, even real events become satire. And the sad thing is, the people involved take it seriously. It becomes the impression of satire, therefore, it is.

Obama Supporters Attack Hillary In Second Life

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Second Life Exchange - no, not THAT one!

2008-04-13T09:57:00.001-07:00

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.

"I once passed by a Vietnamese restaurant that said Sum Dum Phuck and I wanted to go inside and see if there were any dumb fucks from Second Life."

Second Life Exchange

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Thieves in the night - how to protect yourself?

2008-04-11T18:57:00.001-07:00

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."

Hey, I'm game.
I already put an "Authentic" logo on all my products and in my boxes and I do everything I can to make sure that part of my design is locked down as tight as SL will allow. But it's really not enough.

So, Charlotte, shout at me when you get this idea of yours initiated. Count me in.

Read the full Linden Lab post here:
Protecting Your Copyrighted Content « Official Second Life Blog

Oh, and a footnote: yes, I have had stuff stolen and sold out from under me. I went the "freebie" route I explained above. it worked... the stolen versions dried out and eventually, I removed the freebie version and retired the design. So, yes - I have been there and yes, I can relate to those offended by plagiaris...er... theft.

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Second Life Congressional Hearings - What a LAUGH!

2008-04-09T07:11:00.001-07:00

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.

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Want an Alternative to SL? Go Fish.

2008-04-07T08:47:00.001-07:00

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.”

At VW08, kids are the focus

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Are you in SL for the money? ...or the fun of it?

2008-04-07T07:50:00.001-07:00

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..."

This brings me to something I've been seeing and thinking about with regard to 'business' in Second Life - and tends to explain the shrill, frantic thrash-backs from residents in the Second Life blog:

Are you in SL to try to make real money?
That is to say, you develop, create, provide a service - whatever it is, you use it to earn Linden Dollars (L$) - but then actually cash some of that out and use it in real life, or (shockingly) rely on some of that?

I make good L$ in SL. But, I'm not crazy enough to even think about cashing any of it out and then rely on any part of it. I have a 'regular day job' and it feeds me, clothes me and keeps a roof over my head. I also have a freelance business that I use (read: not rely on) for some extra cash.

At first, it was my freelance videography and photography business that provided me the discretionary funding for my SL experience. However, I now use SL business to pay for... SL.

In other words, I take all the money I make in SL and I will convert it back to good old United States legal tender. But that's it. It sits there in the pot. Then, whenever the Lindenonians decide to reach into my pocket, they take whatever it is they want from the pot.

You see, that pot is the cash they owe me. So, they must pay me what they owe me before they can actually take any money from me. They simply deduct what I owe them from the credit they owe me. If I keep that credit floating higher than what i might ever owe Linden Lab - Second Life pays for itself.

As for those who earn enough to actually cash-out, (that is, to call Linden Lab on their credit and have a check sent,) well - that's all well and good. I hope it's also a 'freelance' business. What you can file with the Internal Revenue Service (in the United States, anyway) as a "Professional Hobby."

However, if you actually rely on some or (Heaven forbid) all of that money, you're better-off dumping SL and doing something in real life. You see, the dynamic is really very simple, and it shows why this 'business model' can be far more volatile than even the stock markets:

As an employee of someone, you earn a regular wage. you can budget your living and other costs off the security. Even if it's 100% commission - you have complete control in all aspects of it. The same is true if you are running a business in real life.

No middle men to muck things up for you.

Now, if your business model relies on Linden Lab, you'd better be setting some cold hard cash aside for when that falls through. You are relying on an unknown entity. You are relying on Linden Lab for your livlihood and Linden lab doesn't care about you. And neither should they.

You are simply a customer subscribing to a service. Their only requirement in this relationship is to provide you access. Stop. Done.

Hence, if permissions go awry, if someone finds a way to rip (steal) your creations and sell them, if the service goes bad (asset servers and database issues) - if anything happens that kills sales or otherwise loses you money (L$) - it doesn't matter.

LL's sole responsibility is to provide you with access.

I may be wrong, but I am totally unaware of any statement in writing or orally where LL has promised to ensure you are able to make any money at all. And, I have yet to see any promise to ever convert L$ into legal tender of any kind. The only thing they owe you is that credit. Other that, whatever means you use to earn that credit is totally volatile because there is no promise whatsoever that those means will continue the way they work now, or even at all.

So, I'm curious... if you make real money in SL - do you rely on it for anything? Or is it simple discretionary spending cash?

Even more curious: do you feel entitled to earning real cash from within Second Life?
Frankly, if you do, then I must admit I think you need to reevaluate your first life fast and hard.

2nd Sex: Second Life 2.0: The Corporations are about thesmselves

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

2008-04-05T12:59:00.001-07:00

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.

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Dorkwad Congressman ... In Second Life

2008-04-04T07:54:00.001-07:00

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

I really hate when journalists and blogger who think they are greater-than-thou profess to know what everyone else wants or believes and then think they are so influential they espouse vitriol that looks and smells like raw sewage.

It's why I choose my my sources of news very carefully and I don't rely on a single source like NBC or ABC and the rest (wow, what a joke they have all turned into, huh?).

So it's totally refreshing when someone does this on purpose and simply goes completely overboard with it. It's a very short blog post, but so humorous I wish it were longer. the read totally made my day.

this is from the "Wonkette" - a blog I think I'm definately going to have to add to my RSS feeds.

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

Virtual Losers: Dorkwad Congressman Holds Hearing In Second Life

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Linden Lab converts to Hosting Status

2008-04-03T07:20:00.001-07:00

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.

Second Life: Tamed for Corporate Consumption

UPDATE: Per Reuters - IBM will host the regions on their own servers -
http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2008/04/02/ibm-to-host-private-second-life-regions/

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Hack SL Instructional

2008-04-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

All I can do is chuckle...

'SL' is a trademarked term. Refrain from using it for things like...

2008-04-01T20:19:00.001-07:00

[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.

More on the Trademark Policy « Official Second Life Blog

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Photoshop - Dangerous to use?

2008-03-31T07:22:00.001-07:00

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?

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Friends list borked since January... on the web

2008-03-29T09:29:00.001-07:00

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:

https://secure-web5.secondlife.com/community/friends.php

The sub domain is that part before "secondlife.com" - the part that says "secure-web5." This means this page is being served from web server number 5. The server the page is served from each time you click the "Friends" link is chosen pretty much at random. (Not really, there are forces that determine exactly which server is selected, but that is beyond the scope of this post.)

So, clicking this link each time will get you a different server - and, likely a different resulting friends list:

https://secondlife.com/community/friends.php

Now, once you are on that page (and server) hitting your browser refresh button will get you the same list every time. You are simply refreshing that page from that server.

So do try this: manually change the address. Simply change the number to another number between 0 and 25 - press enter and you will likely get a different list or a notice that there are no friends online.

Something happened to cause these pages to 'freeze' - obviously at different times, which is why each server seems to have a different list - they were broken in a different state. But needless to say, the servers are not connected to the live grid, or at least are not parsing the information it finds there.

However, because each time you click the "friends online" link within the web site and get a different listing - many people may not even realize the listing is broken. Until they notice two awkward things: The first being that a friend who allows mapping cannot be teleported to as the SLURL is wonky:

secondlife:///156/224 (it is missing the region name.)

Additionally, one might cock their head sideways to see a name on the list who has not been in your actual friends list for a very long time.

It has been given the level of "Show Stopper" in the Jira. I agree.

Please go to the public Jira and vote:
[#WEB-511] "Friends' Page incorrectly reporting avatars online - Second Life Issues

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Can you hear me now? If so, then you're WRONG!

2008-03-25T04:28:00.001-07:00

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."

Well...
In order to hear "mouth breathers" and "teenaged griefers", you have to have voice turned ON!

If you had voice turned OFF (as you must certainly have, since you are so terribly against it) - then what does it matter to you whether there are any of these about? And, of course, there also are to truly useful, beneficial and enlightening feedback posts such as this:

"Wouldn’t it better to spend time on something important as content theft instead of posting stupid tutorials?"

Yes, these people already look foolish enough in their original posts. So I won't mention their names here. They already must be embarrassed enough for such drivel. And if they are not... well, that just speaks volumes about their frame of mind and ability to whine and complain that others are 'forcing their ideas' down their throats while they themselves, implore us to accept theirs.

It's laughable, isn't it?

Can you hear me now? 7 VOICE CHAT Video Tutorials! « Official Second Life Blog

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The Second Life® Brand Center - about time?

2008-03-24T14:16:00.001-07:00

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.

Second Life | The Second Life® Brand Center

Blog post here: http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/03/24/introducing-the-second-life-brand-center/

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Eon Ayres

2008-03-22T10:20:00.001-07:00

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.

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Here come the Feds...

2008-03-20T17:49:00.001-07:00

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.

Building The Feds' Virtual War Room - Forbes.com

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Gone Gitmo in Second Life: Oh Brother...

2008-03-18T04:30:00.001-07:00

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.

<Sighs, rolling eyes>

First of all, what the hell does the Unites States Constitution have to do with it?
First, they aren't citizens of the United States, so our constitution does not apply to them. Second, they are enemy combatants, so since when does our court system apply to them? Since when do they have any rights under United States law?

But the American Civil Liberties Union wants to give each a tax-paid lawyer and demand a court trial for each. Pffft. Hello? Those people want to kill you and openly admit that.

Now, I'm not saying they shouldn't have any rights or be treated humanely - Geneva convention and all that. But these are people that want us all dead, now.

And, as far as that goes, being handcuffed and detained is pretty standard fair - for any number of reasons - including simply being drunk in public. Being hooded is supposed to be inhumane treatment or 'torture'? And as for verbal abuse... oh, that's right - there's even a big to-do about 8-year-old kids teasing each other, too.

Fekking bleeding-heart liberals need to wake-up and smell the coffee. These people in Gitmo are terrorists. They want all western peoples either dead or kneeling 50-times a day toward Mecca.

As for the 'experience' in Second Life... I think I'll go take a look. I was in the military... so I wonder how accurate their representation is. The truth is, those prisoners at Gitmo eat better than you, and are likely treated better than you are treated by your own boss on a bad day.

And since they are terrorists, any treatment short of castration or poking eyes out is fine by me and plenty humane as far as I'm concerned.

And they would kill you the very instant they had the chance.

Gone Gitmo: The ACLU In Second Life

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Content Theft and Second Life

2008-03-13T04:15:00.001-07:00

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."

PlagiarismToday - » Content Theft and Second Life

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Virtual worlds ripe for real-world lawsuits...in the MILLIONS

2008-03-11T16:50:00.001-07:00

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."

Virtual worlds ripe for real-world lawsuits

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"Second Skin" Movie Opens Eyes.

2008-03-10T07:27:00.001-07:00

"...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."

This is the quote from a movie review, about "Second Skin". Apparently a documentary about people who spend much of their time in MMORPGs and Virtual Worlds. It reminds me of the recent BBC special, where they followed two separate couples (couples in SL) who met in real life.

I thought the BBC did a pretty balanced job of it, showing one couple blissfully happy and the other... well, it was balanced. As for "Second Skin", I really don't know much about it. As for the review of Second Skin, well - it's a review... by a critic.

I have no interest in seeing it. If it shows up on YouTube or something, sure I'll peek. But other than that, I'm really not too interested. So, as for the quote above... agree or disagree?

Full article here:
Current Movie Reviews, Independent Movies - Film Threat

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SL Borked Again. WOOT!

2008-03-09T14:32:00.001-07:00

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?

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Second Life and 3D Glasses, Like, Retro Far-out, dude!

2008-03-07T08:37:00.001-08:00

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."

Michiganders make a living, meet and study in 'Second Life'

Welcome Kazakhstan & Second-Life Astana

2008-03-07T08:04:00.001-08:00

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."

If you can read cyrilic writing, the original news story is here.

otherwide, the blog blurb can be found here:
kazakhstan.neweurasia.net » Second-Life Astana

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Second Life and inevitable Real Life?

2008-03-06T14:49:00.001-08:00

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."

Additionally, posted a great talkback to the article (excerpt:)

"First you say that you haven't logged in Second Life for a year and then you say you are following virtual worlds scene: You cannot follow snowboarding from a sea shore. But never mind that.... Yes, there is a possibility to abuse virtual environments as an escape from reality. But, isn't it strange to think about abuses first? I am not saying that SL is not a nice escape from the reality. But there is so much else."

I think it's a great read and very interesting. And Dandellions response also is quite thought-provoking.
Pop over there at this link:

Second Life: Inevitable, Eventual 'Real' Life? - Brian's Brain - Blog on EDN

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Cybersex is bad... or is it just ALL of SL?

2008-03-04T10:55:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it cracks me up how most journalists just don't seem to get things quite right. Now, I know they try, God bless their liberal little hearts. But, I am still amazed sometimes. Especially when they write about SL.

There's a fun-to-read article over at FOX News (link below) by Sexologist Yvonne K. Fulbright. - but before I send you off in that direction, lets take a look as a couple laughable quotes:

"The game Virtual Jenna, for example, enables any PC user to actually “toy” with a 3-D version of porn star Jenna Jameson.
"Interactive modes of cybersex, like Second Life, have soared in popularity."

Okay, fuckologi...er, sexologist or not, this is typical journalism writing to influence what's going through the readers head, especially if they are unfamiliar with the topic. In the first sentence, Yvonne directly refers to an online destination designed explicitly for cybersex. Then, in the very next sentence, she implies Second Life is just the same thing.

In Yvonne's words, Second Life is just another "mode of cybersex" and it's popularity is due to the cybersex that is Second Life. Umm... not true. Even in your own article, Yvonne, you cite an 'unpublished' study that proclaims on about 13% even dabble. So why is the above statement designed to paint such a dramatic picture in your readers' heads?

This is simply another case of the journalist mantra: "I'll spend a half-hour in Second Life and then comment on it like an expert, even though I am far, far from it and I'll be so far off-base, no one will even care."

"I have no interest in virtual sex beyond it being a sociological phenomenon. (I haven’t been into a video game since PacMan was all the rage.) So you can imagine that I felt a bit sideswiped when I learned that cybersex is the latest craze."

Wait! Aren't you a fuc...er, sexologist? How can you not know this (if it's true) if you are both: a sexologist and being interested in the sociological phenomenon? umm... HELLO? Can anyone say... oxymoron here? Or what about 'flip-flop'?

"Funny enough, Second Life wasn’t created specifically for sexual purposes. Is it any surprise, however, that humans tend to go that route?"

Thank goodness this line made it into your article. And even as it's own paragraph. Though, since your article is really all about cybersex and Second Life, this line fades away pretty quickly in the readers mind. A little more emphasis on what you are trying to say in these two statements would have been cool. Of course, it's likely you did and your editor whacked it all up.

But then again, this article isn't really about cybersex, is it? As one continues reading we learn that it's really a bash on Second Life itself and a bash on most, if not everyone who uses it? That they "need to get a life" - all in the guise of a cybersex story. Which is pretty good because you'll hook the readers into actually reading that way.

Typically pathetic. LOL

Okay - so here is the first proof that you, Yvonne have no idea what it's really like to be a "resident" of Second Life (besides never once using the term 'resident of Second Life'):

"...players can send instant messages to other avatars. Such interactions often become flirtatious, if not explicit in a matter of minutes. Virtual people start having virtual sex, with one unpublished study finding that 13.6 percent of users often or always engage in cybersex on Second Life."

Okay - your avatar is not an 'avatar' - it's YOU. In Second Life, I don't have 'my avatar' send and instant message to 'your avatar'. I send a message to you. You said early-on in your article that an avatar is your persona.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (the only canon dictionary of the English labguage in my mind), the definition of "persona" is: the aspect of a person’s character that is presented to or perceived by others.

Hence, your 'avatar' becomes you. And I become my own avatar. In other words, for most Second Life residents...er, "users" - their avatars are an extension of themselves, not some robot machine they are driving. So you have the typically inherent disconnect that 99% of all Second Life 'users' do not have. What I see on screen is you. What I expect you to see on screen is me. yes, in many cases it is true roleplay and fantasy. In Second Life - those areas are clearly defined. "This is a roleplay sim and here are the rules if you want to participate."

Otherwise, you are pretty much assumed to be the real you.
Granted, this isn't everyone in Second Life. But it is the vast majority. Now, please keep this in mind as we continue, will you, please?

"Basically, you can live out any sexual fantasy, which is a major reason these online role-playing games are so huge."

Ah yes... the old "is it a game or not" debate. And, if you'd spent any time at all in Second Life, you'd know this has been a raging debate almost since the invention of Second Life itself. Again, it would appear the vast majority of active 'users' do not view Second Life as a "game". In other words - when my avatar chats with your avatar, I really view it - and I don't mean fantasy - every bit as real as a telephone, that I am speaking directly with you.

And I do understand my case may be different from many others who are roleplaying and fantasizing. What I'm trying to convey is that I am in the majority of Second Life Reside... er... "users."

"Experts warn that it can become a self-focused, compulsive behavior. Longing for social interaction and emotional connectedness, users may become more isolated and less engaged in the real world."

Wait... which experts?
Who exactly? What are their names? Their areas of expertise? Where are they from?

Yes, yes, we know what the "experts" are claiming. In fat, it's really a no-brainer. But please take this into account: with all that I've said above, even in Second Life, I and everyone else in Second Life is enjoying real social interaction with real people. It's exactly like the telephone, but with three-dimensional imagery to go with it. It is the real world. Second Life is just the 'telephone' we use to stay in-touch.

[To qualify this: Yvonne does goes on to say that people put off eating, sleeping, school and work - and I do concur, and this is a problem... for those people.]

"Is it healthy for people to get sucked into fantasy relationships that can affect their real relationships, especially romantic ones? And what constitutes cheating?"

In World of Warcraft and Everquest and so on, I can see calling these 'fantasy' relationships. Many relationships in Second Life really are fantasy, especially if those involved may not really realize it. But I also argue that there are real relationships in Second Life, romantically and otherwise.

"To keep yourself in check, don’t be afraid to step away from the keyboard on occasion. Some of you may just realize that you need to get a life."

I totally agree with the first part of this statement.
I take the second as an insult.

It is a sarcastic remark that simply belittles you and your whole column. Many in Second Life would see this for what it really is: a cheap shot. It's the typical snarky remark every journalist seems to feel a powerful urge to rely on in order to end their calumn with some kind of bang.

But it only pops with a roll-your-eyes fizzle.

If it weren't for stupid quips like your last line, more people might actually read the news and take you more seriously than they do now. And all of you in the print media wonder why you're losing so much market share and all your numbers are falling faster that bird shit?

[yawn]

Listen, Yvonne, in case you're reading this:
I'm not trying to be hard on you.

Okay, nevermind - yes I am. And I do know with all the flip-flopping and having an agenda and all that is mostly due to some editor who is hacking and whacking the crap out of your story (see, I can give benefit of the doubt to you, just because I'm really a nice guy) - and likely spins what you wrote into their agenda.

So go and scream at your editor and tell him (or her) how bad they made you look.

Full article:

Taking on a Whole New 'Life':

"Part of the draw — there are no physical laws in this world. You can, for example, have sex on a cloud. Avatars can mimic 100 sexual positions — a feat complimented by a “moan button” no less. You can also “marry,” pay for virtual escorts or prostitutes, get a lap dance, engage in group sex, or visit sex clubs and BDSM (bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadism and masochism) bars."

Bastards! Bastards, I say! Don't Touch My Logo!

2008-03-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

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.

Besides, statistics and testing shows that most SL residents would choose a "local" (designed inside SL) brand over a recognized 'national' brand anyway!

Here's another column that you should definately read.
Link with excerpt:

Bastardized Brand Virtualization
"In the March hard-copy issue of Inside Counsel magazine, page 22, it lists even harsher realities. For instance, some entrepreneurs who make money in Second Life were making money by creating and selling unauthorized copies of Herman Miller furniture. The copies were shoddy at best, and Herman Miller didn’t want to be associated with them."

NEWS FLASH: DINOSAURS GO EXTINCT!

2008-02-28T09:29:00.001-08:00

(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.

How about a Second First Life?

2008-02-27T14:03:00.000-08:00

Okay - so you enjoy Second life for the virtuality of it, the camaraderie and community, the drama (c'mon admit it, you love the drama, don't you?)

Well, as stated in this article I reference...

If online fantasy games are just too ethereal for you, and social networks too social - Erepublik could be the answer.

So... instead of Second Life, where you play immersion fantasy (or not) and socialize with a gazillion other people, leaving First Life behind (because you can do so much in Second Life that you cannot do in First Life,) you can now play First Life virtually where it's still a computer game, but based on First Life, as in... virtual emulation.

Ummm.... huh?

I don't know about you, but I enjoy Second Life because it enables you to do so many things that just don't work or are impossible in First Life. As for First Life, why would I emulate this when I can open the back door and actually feel the grass between my toes and not have to imagine it?

Okay, I admit, I didn't read that far into the article, so I am speaking a bit blindly, here.
Excerpt follows. Them Brits just write about anything, I tell you. Check it out if you want.

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.'"

Idiots taking me for a ride.

2008-02-27T11:27:00.000-08:00

The Drifting Thoughts vendor works perfectly, and the concept of left-clicking is not a complicated one. However, I've had one girl whose friend gave her a gift card telling me for two days that she was gypped because she paid the vendor out of pocket for a L$249 stocking set.

I passed her gift card to my alt and it worked perfectly. However, she got both her friend and boyfriend to say that they received no blue menu pop-ups when they left click, even though they can get blue pop-ups from other sources (such as the help coin to the right of the vendor).

Exasperated and sick of telling them that it wasn't possible for it to work for my alt and not for them, because my alt has tested the vendor again and again and has no special powers, I got fed up and gave the friend a refund for the card and paid the stupid bitch for the stockings. So she got them for free and will continue to be an idiot.

I just don't know what to do about these people... had I been able to show her what she did wrong and chalked it up to poor instruction on my part, it would have been no big deal, but she CLEARLY had to have been lying. Stupid just doesn't go that far.

I just don't get it. :/ What can you do in such a situation but shrug and give them their money back? Sigh. I'm pretty sure it was a case of buyer's remorse and she would rather lie about my vendor (causing me much stress) than tell me "I didn't like them and I want my money back". I'm sorry but I'm much more likely to give you a refund because you absolutely hated my product than I am if you try to swindle me.

Are you hawking full perm textures? Or other prims? Reselling stolen stuff? Legal Eagles are on it.

2008-02-26T14:55:00.000-08:00

Wolfe Greenfield are legal eagle in IP law and they have their eye on Second Life.

They aren't so much worried about the poachers who steal in-world-created content and resell those items and textures and striker serpentines crappy-built sex beds.

Rather, they are, for the time being, looking out for their existing clients. So if you're building those prim shoes and throwing the Nike logo on them, or slapping a Apple Computers logo on your iPhone replica... be careful. be very careful.

For the time being, a white paper was produced and released today for any real life companies considering the licensing of their name and logo to anyone in the virtual, or real world.

Following is an excerpt:

Supply the graphics--provide the quality and type of graphics you want the licensee to have.
Exclusivity--exclusivity is always dependent on the negotiations.
Jurisdiction--It is important that your licensee has some ties to the U.S. so you'll have an effective method to enforce rights.
Tarnished brand--consider the environment in which the products are sold.
Enforcement--the licensee should have a responsibility to the property owner to make the licensor aware of any infringement.
Marking product--additional marking of the object's Second Life profile may be worthwhile.
Royalty rates--a detailed conversation with your future licensee can establish an appropriate royalty rate.
Payment reports--detailed reports should be provided and include information about any purchase, the name of the purchasing resident, the date and time of the purchase, and pricing."
Second Life Brings Infringement Risks and Licensing Opportunities, Top Trademark Expert Says: "-- Know your licensee.

virtual fishing oddly relaxing

2008-02-26T14:15:00.000-08:00

There need to be more "games" like this in SL. I'm tempted to start dragging Ari into playing things like SLopoly or one of the others that's gotten so popular. :D Sure beats forcing him to get on Yahoo! games and stomp my ass at Literati or something. Still, when you're all alone, having a game-ish activity to keep yourself busy is great. So I am definitely pleased with the fishing rods in the Land of Hope Community Island.

I also put up a little extra something for those lovesick residents.

The glass is half empty! No, wait, half full! no, er.. wait...

2008-02-22T06:43:00.000-08:00

First off, a public apology to any and all on the Linden Lab SL blog who misunderstand or worse, misconstrue the intended meaning of my posts there. Yes I am in the communications business, but not in this context 0r the way you are reading right now, for example. rather, I do sound design, professional photography and video and I create advertising.

The kind of things where you sit down, carefully consider your message and then expertly craft it to be as complete, concise and on the spot as possible. Now, when it comes to the human condition with regard to communication, especially when it is off-the-cuff, on-the-fly as we do most of the time (even this blog post is being written as I go) - I believe there are two basic sides of a coin.

We have all been asked at one time or another whether we view the half glass of water as being "half full" or "half empty". The premise, of course, being that if you view the glass as "half full" you are an optimist in general. You tend to look at the 'brighter' side of things, always looking and hoping for positive outcomes.

The theory continues to explain that looking at the glass as "half empty' would label you as a pessimist. Someone who generally expects the more negative side of things and thus has such an outlook on life.

I'm the weird one. Okay, I am sure I am not alone. But, I know for a fact I am a pessimist. Internally. Externally, I try to be an optimist. At least with regard to dealing and communicating with people. So, the way I see it, if I consider and prepare for (if not actually expecting) the negative and it comes to pass, I simply get what I thought I would get. If the opposite happens and the outcome is positive, then I am pleasantly surprised.

I figure if I were an optimist all the time, the positive will simply provide what I have prepared for, but the negative will be a disappointment. At least, that's my reasoning in it.

But that also brings me to the real argument of it: reasoning.

Again, there are two sides to a coin with regard to how we think: emotionally or logically. It is very difficult for the two to mesh. I won't go into politics for the fastest way to start a conflict is to discuss such, I will use this example: do you back your chosen candidate based on your emotion or your logic? In other word, do you like them because their words make you deel good or you are simply more in favor of their policies?

Think about this for moment.

When you are in an argument, and we've all been there, do you 'raise your voice when you should reenforce your argument'? Do you base your points on your emotions? ...or do you simply try to rely on fact, rather than impression or feelings?

There has been s study that has shown the human condition thrives of anger or conflict. Researchers placed monitoring on lab rats to measure certain endorphins in the brain - and in the experiment, they places a 'stranger' rat nearby. The 'indigenous' rat went on the defensive... becoming angry... the endorphins were flying. Yet, when they removed the intruder, the endorphins slowed considerably. They trained the rat to press one of two buttons - one for food and the other to bring the intruder back. They were astonished the little bugger often tapped the intruder button, and every time the intruder was present, the endorphins went nuts.

So, it is actually proven that our minds thrive on conflict.

The question becomes how this is handled with regard to emotion and logic.

I'm an old fart.

Okay, not really that old, but old enough to fairly say I've been around the world and have good life experience. Enough to have developed into relying more on analytical fact rather than emotion whenever I find myself involved in any debate. I rely on logic.

So, this brings me back to the SL blog. There are those who, at least try to post meaningful, thoughtful feedback, even if it is critical of the Lindens and how they are managing SL. The topic itself has a lot to do with this as well.

For instance, the whole subject on Identity Verification became very emotional for many. personally, I don't see where emotion has anything to do with it. However, just the idea that LL will introduce it, even though it is 100% voluntary, there are those who are still shrill about the whole idea. And somehow, because of all this emotion, "Identity Verification" has turned into "Age Verification" (which to my recollection has never been officially announced and being changed as such by anyone at Linden Lab - yet even Robin Linden called it this in a blog post - how easily influenced she must be) - and thus the debate becomes even more emotionally heated.

Wow.

So, when I say that the 'whiner's' are getting tiring to read, I am referring to those who rely solely (and likely without even realizing it) on emotional response.

In truth, and let's face it, we aren't as much in 'hate' of Linden Lab as we are of bugs and instability of Second Life.

I know, I know - this makes me sound like I am jumping to the Linden defense. Well, yes I am... but please indulge me here for a moment... I am very critical of LL in how they handle a lot of things. And, understand that SL started out as a demonstration for hardware and never really was intended (from its inception) to be what it is today. It grew on its own.

The problem is SL is standing on crooked legs and has to learn to walk smoothly. Unfortunately, we all are feeling the pain and shakes of this process.

When I 'defend' LL, I defend the people. Not LL as a whole or entity. I have been in the IT business for more than I'd really like to say ( a couple decades - let's leave it at that) :)

I have dealt with systems vast and wide and every bit as complicated as the Grid is. It's not an easy task to manage and it is so large and complicated, there will be problems all over the place and it will be riddled with bugs. The problem comes down to human resources and what is important to each of us. You have your "favorite" gripes about SL and so do I.

Now, I know there are many who are far worse-off than I am with the stability of SL and I don''t dispute that. But do understand, when you have 100 people trying to tackle 100,000 problems, priorities have to be arranged. Unfortunately, those priorities created by LL may not jive with your own priorities.We have all been waiting and waiting for the hair/shoes/name-your-prim-in-the-back orifice problem to be fixed. But, on the other hand, there are people whining (yes, I said whining) about the limit of only 25 groups allowed per person.

If you have to make a choice - which of these two problems do you want fixed. Not which one first - but rather which one. Assuming the other will not be touched. Period. Well, that's your personal priority choice. The problem is there are many, many other, more serious issues to be dealt with.

So, when I defend LL, what I am defending is their effort to get all this stuff fixed. I have no doubt they are trying hard and some of those Lindens do put in a lot of overtime. We just don't always see it. I know. I've been there and done that. For real.

What we see are those who are more directly engaged with the residents. So it appears they aren't trying very hard to get all these problems fixed. But if you think about it - Linden Lab has a lot of employees. Each, presumably, would have the surname of "Linden" if they ever come in-world.

How many can you name?

There are a LOT of Lindens we never, ever see. All working behind the scenes. So I say, cut the Lindens (individual employees) a little slack - and throw the book at Linden Lab the company. And the face of the company is Philip (Linden) Rosedale and Robin (Linden ) Harper.

I know the 'whiners' as I call them are simply lashing out in frustration. And in truth the ones I would call 'whiners' are the totally shrill ones with absolutely nothing to contribute but hot air.

Yes, I'll admit - I whine, too. I just prefer to whine about the whiners. So I am a hypocrite, just like everyone else is at some point or another. We all love to bash something. I simply choose to bash the other bashers. Does that make me right? Of course not. But I enjoy those endorphins just like everyone else.

As for my blog posts, such as in this thread, when I say "thank you Lindens", please understand I am speaking specifically to that post. In this case, 'thank you Lindens for posting a weekly tip, regardless how useful it may or may not be.'

So, for my whining about the whiners and the mediocre whiners who assume my whining about whiners is always about them, when my whining about whiners is really whining about the habitual whiners who whine about the same things every whine, whine in and whine out...

I apologize.

So, which is it for you -

...is the glass half empty? ...or half full?

Hey cook! Stop creating new recipes and fix the toilet!

2008-02-21T07:17:00.001-08:00

If the toilet in the restroom of a favorite restaurant is malfunctioning, do you go and loudly, publicly chew out the assistant cook? You know, rip him or her a whole new one, because of the problem and demand they stop creating new recipes and fix the damned toilet?

Like practically all small to large companies, restaurants require several people, each with different skill sets and job tasks. You wouldn't expect the bus person to cook up your t-bone steak, would you?

"Why are you replacing flowers on that table to make it pretty when my steak isn't done right?!? Damned you!"

Naoki has it right - she's dead-on when she says...

"...the introduction of this viewer skin doesn't automatically mean that Linden Lab is collectively huddled around for this Dazzle-movement while shirking more important duties."

I mean, bitching at Torley when he posts his weekly tutorials is one thing (shrill off-topic waste of hot air, to be sure - but he is a higher-level Linden... as far as we know) - but to bitch-out Jeremy Linden (knowledge base author) or Pastrami Linden (WindLight developer) about asset server issues or why the hell are teleports not working or login problems is actually nothing more that bitching for the sake of bitching.

I've said it in a previous post.

"Better to let people think you are an idiot than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."

Not only is it tiring to read these whiny rants, but also each stupid whiny rant takes up one of the precious feedback slots in that blog post. Now, I don't consider myself a Linden Lab fanboi by any stretch of the imagination. I criticize them plenty good. The difference is I am a realist and I do it directly - notecards or emails directly to the appropriate Linden staff.

Naoki also says:

"But they must know by now that this can only make it look as if LL isn't as concerned with fixing what is broken."

I do agree with this. However, one thing most people may not fully understand here is this: though we complain Linden Lab is not as transparent as we would like, they are by far more transparent than any software development company I have personally had any dealing with.

Now, transparency also is a double-edged sword. In being transparent as they are, especially with such a blog, anything any Linden says becomes an official statement. Regardless of who that Linden is and what their area of expertise is, and their authorized area of responsibility is.

Hence, I have no doubt each and every Linden who is allowed (yes, allowed) to post on the blog is required to carefully scrutinize what and how anything is said (written) there.

After all, if Jeremy gave any kind of statement whatsoever in answer to questions about the asset server - in his blog post about a tip of the week... it becomes an official statement - at least to any and all who read it. Hence, his authorized, official and appropriate response is "I can't speak to any issues about the asset server, only about the knowledge base".

To every whiner on the blog: well, duh!

So, when Torley posts about "Dazzle" or Jeremy posts about something in the knowledge base - please don't make yourself look like the village public idiot by whining about something else. If you have a critical remark that is on-topic - great! That is what these blog posts are for. To give meaningful feedback.

Now, things have been getting better. WindLight postings for instance. 90% of the replies have been directly about the WindLight viewer. Yes, some of those had to do with the interface, but that's an 'understandable misunderstanding'. It turns out the interface design is being headed up by the team working on the current Release Candidate viewer, which is separate from the WindLight viewer, but the WindLight viewer is based on.

Another thing: if you do post an on-topic 'bitch' about an issue, try to at least explain what is happening, not what is not happening. Simply saying "why does my computer crash every time I try to log on? I'm tired of it!" - doesn't do anything for anyone, especially the Lindens who really want to fix this. oh, and we're all tired of reading it, too.

Rather it would be better to explain in detail - first, try posting the problem in the JIRA - if you don't know how - then ask someone to help you, or even post the problem for you. So a more meaningful blog post might be...

"My system crashes on every login and I suspect it;s the actual viewer, but could be the server - not sure. I've posted the problem to JIRS and here is the link (JIRA LINK)"

- or "...i want to post this problem to the JIRA but I don't know how - can anyone help me? My in world name is First Last"

Now this is a good post.

Even better is if you find a problem and have an immediate workaround. What's really bad is when you don't read the original post in full. Like one WindLight release where large black stripes appeared all over the sky. In the original post, it was made absolutely clear that this was happening, that they are aware of and working on it and exactly what to do to eliminate the problem.

Yet, there were a half-dozen posts exclaiming "what is up with the black stripes?!?" "How the hell do I fix this garbage? There's black stripes all over the sky!?!" and so on. Yes, these people don't actually read or try to comprehend the post. Rather, they are in such a hurry to get their whining into this post's feedback that they jump straight to the feedback form to bitch, moan and whine.

So, please...
Read each post and comprehend it it.
Notice who is posting it and think "is this Linden able to have anything to do with any problem I am having - or not?" When you post a feedback - be clear and specific and on-topic. Whether it's kudos or a gripe - if it's on-topic, it's actually helpful to everyone, Lindens included.

Of course, you could always just open your mouth before putting your brain in gear... and remove all doubt.

Do you feel that same way I do? Or are you just one of the hot air dispensers on the LL blog?

Addendum re: evil sim owner of previous post.

2008-02-21T04:14:00.000-08:00

I was doing my weekly sort-through of my snapshot folder, in which I convert most of the images to optimized JPGs for the purpose of filing them into my Flickr account, and found the image I took of myself standing on the lot of that sim Ari posted about before. I was so in love with the parcel that I titled the snapshot "new home".

What a cretin.

Don't get me wrong... I think the way things are going to work out is much to the better, much more suitable. But it doesn't stop me from hating that guy for being a total fucking tool to us for no reason.

I think I'm still mad over it for the same reasons that it's hard not to argue with people online. You know better, but... ARGH!

Dazzle? More like fizzle. :/

2008-02-20T07:58:00.000-08:00

So I downloaded the "Dazzle" version of the SL first look client today.

Trust me, do not bother with the 70+ MB install. I half-expected to try it and like it, but it's an eyesore. It's too flashy, everything is way too square, and it's too damn bright. Torley is a smart guy; I'm not sure if the exciting prospect of a new thing just blinded him to the obvious flaws in this design -- in essence the same thing that happens to me when I've worked on a drawing for hours and have lost my ability to see the mistakes until I flip it over -- but there are a lot of problems with this idea.

And yeah, though I know there are a ton of SL employees with different specialties, and that the introduction of this viewer skin doesn't automatically mean that Linden Lab is collectively huddled around for this Dazzle-movement while shirking more important duties. But they must know by now that this can only make it look as if LL isn't as concerned with fixing what is broken.

And as a side note, I am still not getting notices when someone buys something in my shop. That function dropped off about a week ago and now the transactions show up in my history, but I get no pop-ups. Simon told me the same thing is happening to him. What gives, and why has no one mentioned it in LL? It sounds like an easy break, easy fix. I have tried searching in the JIRA but either I'm using all the wrong keywords or everyone really hasn't noticed (surely not possible).

Binker and I are off to do my stupid homework.

Some sim owners just plain suck. Better to keep your mouth shut.

2008-02-19T08:48:00.001-08:00

Residential Land on Private Estates Suck.

So many - no almost all are so incredibly under-creative, overpriced and full of horrible builds. The mainland land-barons have shifted gears and are ruining the estate business, costing the regular Janes and Johns to spend more money and become increasingly more frustrated. Sometimes SL just totally sucks.

As for the land-barons: boneheads all, I say.

it used to be that if you wanted to buy a sim, search for someone selling one before buying a shiny new one from Linden Lab. The problem is all the amateurs trying to start or run (sloppy) estate empires are buying them all up and sucking the pool dry for those of us that just want a little sim we can call our own.

Now, obviously, (on the mainland) a few give the majority a bad name. However, with regard to private estates, it's the other way a round. The majority give the few a bad name. There are some reputable land-barons and land dealers. They do it for the enjoyment of flipping land and playing the real estate game, more for fun than profit. Awesome customer service and very personable. I salute you, you know who you are.

Unfortunately, the greedy land-barons, (estate-barons?) always trying to make a quick buck, have decided to follow suit with the Anshe Chung recipe. Buy a private estate, develop it, then rent or sell the land on it and a higher tier than what Linden Lab charges for mainland, covering their own tier costs and reaping profits in the process. Some of those profits might be a bit over the top, if you ask me. But, I digress.

Now, when I say land-barons, I'm not necessarily referring the the ones we've heard so much heartache about. But rather the amateurs looking to make that fast buck through the private estate (private island or region) business. In other words, the sim owners who buy a sim for the sole purpose to this end.

But before the cause, let me go over the result very quickly.
Here's how I reached my epiphany...

I am sim-hopping left and right and up and down for private estate land to buy or rent. Holy crappola!

I can't believe how many boring, uncreative, downright ugly private sims there are! Wow! Let's start with the fact that most are just big, flat, ugly squares in the middle of the ocean. Then, some will add 'canals' to separate the parcels. Can you say 'sand-waste' or 'sand-bar'?

Now let's add the fact that most are totally overpriced in weekly and monthly tiers. Then, let's add the fact that many that are already populated somewhat are loaded with horrible, laggy, unsightly builds. It's as though there isn't any management. Might as well just go get land on the mainland.

Anyway - this is what I discovered in my private estate land search... which is more of a scavenger hunt. if you own or know of a sim where a little loving care was put into its design, and reasonable tiers, please let me know. I am still in the market. For a time further anyway.

I've now decided screw it, I might as well buy a new sim and make it the way I want it to be.

Oh, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Let me turn to what started this search to begin with...

I own my own sim. it's a mixed residential/commercial sim. It's about 80% commercial and managing it goes well. Most days it is almost no, or very little lag, except when someone has an event. But that's tolerable and fair. In all a very pleasant place to be.

Well, there's really no need to have a 'home' in SL, so I didn't bother saving any space for myself there. I also bought the sim from someone else, and it was already established with residents, so redeveloping and designing the terraform the way I'd really like is out of the question. I simply can't do that to the residents that are already here.

I try to be honorable that way.

Besides, the sim supports itself in tier and I'm not out to make a profit. So I'm happy enough with it.

My better-half does have a place she rents through another 'Estate Management Company' - but we have decided it's much larger (in prims) than we really need and we'd like to cut down tier costs and reinvest the money elsewhere.

So I go land-shopping; sim-hopping.

I do manage to find a wonderful sim designed in a tropical style. The terraforming is very nicely done and the tier rates are reasonable. On top of that, it's a straight rental. L$1 to buy the land and pay the first week's tier fee - done. I'm thinking it's a great find.

This land requires membership in a group to use the 'public facilities', so I contact the sim owner, ask him to add me to the group along with my sweetheart. Later, he comes online and does so (we play offline ping-pong over a half-day, overnight).

He welcomes us and, later my better-half comes to see the place and falls in love with it. In my openness, I happen to mention to the sim owner what a wonderful place this is and I'm happy to be there because there isn't any room left on my own sim. He's offline again.

A few hours later... a sudden IM comes through: "You have been ejected from [insert name] group" - whoa! huh? What? No IM from the sim owner, no email, no contact whatsoever. Must be a mistake. I send an IM to the sim owner. No answer - but he's online.

Hmm, let me TP over there so I can find out what's going on... "You are banned from the region" WHAT?

I tell him "Why am I ejected from group and banned? I paid tier"
He finally responds after a long delay with "You have to ask?"
I told him of course I have to ask, I totally don't understand.

He claims that he will not "allow griefers and poachers to squat" on his sim.
I told him I wasn't either. I paid tier and I'm on the up and up. I'm not even sure he got that message at all because it wasn't long before I realized I was muted. (It sure would be nice if the IM system would at least let you know when you're muted.)

First, this guy is a complete idiot and amateur.
If you own a sim - I'd love to have you rent land from me. As long as you pay your tier, what difference does it make to me? I don't care. Besides, what's to keep you from creating an alt and renting from me anyway, round-abouting such a policy?

Second, this guy is not only an idiot, he's an idiot asshole. Refused to refund my money. I paid only a week in tier, so I wasn't too worried about it. What burned me more was the whole scenario. The sudden rudeness, ejecting and banning without so much as allowing me to at least explain why I wanted to rent the land from him. Eventually, he did refund the tier I paid, but only after I reported the incident and sent logs to a well known blogger about the issue, who loves to blog about these scenarios.

I thought 'cool - I get to be a subject on this lady's blog!' ...and I have to admit, I did chuckle about it.

Not only is this sim owner an amateur idiot asshole, but he's a totally childish amateur idiot asshole. Had he simply spent five minutes to allow me to explain why I wanted to rent his land even though I already have a sim, not only would he have a new tenant, but a positive vocal voice for referrals.

You see, I don't own a sim to make money and turn it into a business. I'm content with one (I keep my own store there - that's the whole reason for it) - so I'm not in competition with these knuckle-heads ( and respectable non-knuckle-heads alike) - so I would have gladly referred friends to his estates and really talked him up good.

But now, not only will he not get that good word-of-mouth (I'm sure he's sold the plot by now) - but now he'll get a bad wrap every time I even speak about a sim owner - any sim owner - under any context. His name and sim name and group name (yes the names) will be spat out like sour milk. (I won't mention any names here, because as it turns out, even though he's a complete amateur and childish asshole at the same time - he did eventually return my money - after arbitration with a third party. And, I'm really not a griefer. So it wouldn't really be justified to do so.)

Now I also have decided to compete. Directly against him. It's become a vendetta now. Buying sims left and right is not beyond my means. And running the one I have now, I have really good experience managing them and turning them to supporting themselves. And my current tenants will surely provide wonderful references and testimonials as to my management style. oh, and since I'm in the communication, promotional, entertainment business in Real Life, I know every dirty little secret in the book when it comes to direct competition.

So I will now begin my own estate company. Can't mention my intended name here, not yet... need to establish it first. And I'll model my sims in terraform design similarly to his, intentionally. As long as I do the RAW image files myself, there can be no complaints about Intellectual Property rights or copyright, because you can't reserve a concept.

So, look out, bonehead.
I'm coming, and you're in my sights.

As for my readers... I'll let you know when the first residential sim is ready. Come on over and take look. Since I'm happy if the sim simply supports itself in tier, I can guarantee I'll have among the lowest weekly and monthly tiers in SL.

hmmm... still contemplating on posting the IM log here. It's not against LL TOS to post that stuff outside Second Life. Or, maybe I'll just update later and plaster this idiot's name all over the place.

Nah... he's not worth the effort. And I'm not really like that. But, if you are shopping for estate residential land to buy or rent - and you want to know who this is so you can avoid him (or run to him, whatever) - IM me in world. I'll be happy to spit his name out like sour milk.

So, have you had any sucky landlord experiences in Second Life?
Tell me.
I'm curious as hell.

The Pitfalls Of Online Role-Playing Games

2008-02-18T12:00:00.000-08:00

Phil, 48, hasn't had sex with his real-life wife, Sara, in more than a year. Their marriage has deteriorated into daily squabbles over raising their 9-year-old hyperactive son or whether to have Sara's recently widowed mother move in. Instead of trying to work this out with Sara, Phil has escaped to his computer. He spends hours online living his imaginary existence. Phil's avatar, Frank, is everything he's not -- young, muscular and great in bed. Frank never has a problem with his erection, and his lover never turns him down. He's become obsessed with his avatar love, Diane, a cocktail waitress with beautiful red hair and amazing legs. When he's not 'in the world,' he's thinking about it. . . . He's worried that this 'game' has gotten out of hand."

Phil has a problem. A real one.
Yes, I saw that BBC special where they follow two real life couples who are together in SL and meet-up in real life. One is a happy story, the other a lot more likely (in terms of the interaction on meet-up - but not necessarily with her real life situation.)

This is a pretty good article that basically shows-off the same concepts. However, I also believe stories like these are really the exception, rather than the rule.

It's like the myth that 'most people' in Second Life are all out looking for virtual sex. Though there is real research and demographic to show this isn't true (about 18% of SL residents relax with porn of any kind, compared to 20% of web users - actually less than the established 'norm') - I don't have any statistics for my own claim. Let's just call it a gut-feeling.

Still, and interesting read, whether you take it as gospel or a huge pinch of salt:

The Pitfalls Of Online Role-Playing Games -- Courant.com: "As graphic technology advances, virtual social interactions are blurring the lines between fantasy and reality. More people are so transfixed by the imaginary, they prefer it to their mundane existences.

Crackpot Tech ... an interesting title - but effective

2008-02-18T11:31:00.000-08:00

I know that story writers rarely, if ever get to choose their own headlines. I admit this one grabbed my attention pretty quickly. However, unlike what you might think, (don't judge a book by its cover,) this is actually a pretty good, and positive article about SL is being used by educators, collaborators and so on.
Excerpt follows:

Crackpot Tech | InfoWorld
"Collaboration and networking are two other sweetspots for companies to make use of virtual worlds. Tech heavy hitters such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, Dell, and Microsoft are already tapping Second Life as a platform for development, conferences, and forums. IBM, which has established a Business Center in Second Life, boasts nearly 4,000 employees with Second Life avatars to date, with about 1,000 routinely conducting company business inside Second Life."

Yes! Second Life... on iPhone!

2008-02-12T11:46:00.000-08:00

From Tech Digest:

No, your eyes aren't kidding you. That really is the processor-shredding Second Life virtual world running on an iPhone. But how? And why is it so slow? Well, the answer is that it's a concept demo produced by mobile technology firm Comverse.

In a layman's nutshell, all the processing is being done NOT on the iPhone, on a central server. All that's being streamed to the iPhone is the visuals - essentially, a video feed of the Second Life environment. Then, when you tap the on-screen buttons to move, or type in a message, that's sent back up to the server for processing.

So, it's not a Second Life client on the iPhone - it's just streaming Safari-friendly video of your SL session, with you able to send your commands back in the other direction. That's why it's this sluggish at the moment, because you're one step removed.

See video

Guy in Girl's Skin? Not always. You'd even be surprised.

2008-02-12T11:30:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of reasons people choose not to use voice. But, there are those who tend to just start assuming things and they are likely miles off-target in most cases. What's worse is when they become insulting and rude about it. They can be really damaging emotionally to some people for no good reason.

They are part of that third camp. The one almost all griefers and newbies are part of.

It would explain why newbies tend to just mow-down others in crowded places without thinking about it, or have no qualms about asking the girls if they 'wanna play?' and just being overly obnoxious. It also explains the whole griefer mentality.

The common understanding is that there are two camps in places like Second Life: the immersionist and the augmentationist. (Controversial full essay about the concept here.)

But what about the third camp? What I would call the 'puppeteer'. Upon first entry into Second Life, I believe this is the 'persona' everyone will naturally assume at first blush, until they learn otherwise.

You see, the immersionist may be the serious role-player. Deeply entrenched into the fantasy world they choose to be a part of. And the augmentationist might simply see SL as an extension of themselves. And there also are those who actually mash-up the two in varying degrees. But what about that group who are almost, if not totally, emotionally disconnected from the 'fictional cartoon character' they drive and control on the screen?

Well, these are the people who simply cannot grasp the idea of attaching any emotion to their avatar (and that's all it is on screen: just an 'avatar' - not even a representation of a RL human) and consequently cannot understand any emotion tied to any other avatar. These are the ones who insult others without even really trying to. But they don't understand, there are times they could be really hurting someone in a far more profound way than they could possibly imagine.

Now, take the first two groups - immersionists and augmentationists and throw them into a room together. Mix in a few technologies. Oh! Let's start with voice...

Watch the sparks fly!
The immersionists would rather not use such a technology because it can ruin the immersion aspect of their experience. The augmentationist immediately assumes the immersionist (and possibly not realizing the immersionist is an immersionist to begin with) is hiding something.

If the person in question is female in SL, it is immediately assumed the Real Life half of this person is really a male or (on rarer occasions) vice-versa. All because she refuses to use a microphone and allow herself to be heard.

This is the most common accusation in this kind of scenario. However, I believe most augmentationists either really don't care or simply don't think much about it. The ones who seem to worry about most are the ones who tend to have at least one foot still in the puppeteer camp.

Now, let's throw the puppeteer into the mix.
The puppeteer also will usually fall into one of the other two camps by default. The difference is the world they see on screen is 100% synthetic and so are all its inhabitants. They tend to speak or do without thinking how it might affect other people. Why worry about what you say and to whom? These are only synthetic fictional characters, right? How can computer cartoons have any emotion or feelings?

And if the cartoon is a female, why would the person controlling that 'puppet' refuse to use voice? Unless... they want me to think they're female. Ahah! So that's it! You're really a DUDE! A dude playing a chick! EEEWWW GROSS! HAHAHA lulz.

Now... these puppeteers, who simply can't or won't choose to grasp the idea that the majority of people in SL actually do view their 'characters' on screen as some form of themselves, don't stop to think about the myriad of reasons why this character's 'operator' would choose not to use voice. Or a webcam. Or skype. or any other technology that could or would reveal their real life anything.

It simply does not occur to them that the immersionist who may be a faerie elf simply does not sound or look too much like such a fantasy creature in real life and would probably like to maintain the illusion represented on screen.

Or that the augmentationist has had a harrowing experience in real life in the past that turned scary for real reasons... identity theft, stalking by a stranger/estranged relative or spouse/or other reason and so on.

No, they automatically assume that because it is a known practice, (though far less often than people think, I believe,) everyone who refuses to use the microphone, (whether they have the voice feature turned on or off,) simply must be a "guy in girls skin" trying to pull the wool over everyone else's eyes.

To those people, I say there are likely real reasons. Legitimate ones beyond the immersionist frame of mind. Even beyond the basic security reasons. There really are people in SL who are legally deaf and probably feel the voice feature is pretty useless to them at this point. And yes, sure - anyone can claim to be deaf and there probably are more than a few. So what? More power to them.

Yes, there are guys in girl skin. So what? More power to them. I mean, is it your intention to reach through the internet and actually mesh lips in a real life passionate tongue-swapping blissful french-kiss with them? Sheesh, get over it. Unless you are actually intending to take any kind of relationship out of SL into RL, it doesn't matter. Just focus on what you see on your screen and go with the flow.

It's likely you've noticed SL is in the news a lot over the past couple years. In 2006 through the first part of 2007, it was over-hyped 'ZOMG SL IS AWESOME!' - then through most of 2007 it was completely the opposite. But, if you've been paying attention, there are a couple of human interest stories that flew-in low, under the radar.

They featured how Second Life is proving to be a huge benefit and rehabilitative boon for those with practically any handicap. I've known this long before any of the news agencies even thought of reporting it. And I've known it works. First-hand.

There is a girl I want to tell you about. I know this girl in person, an acquaintance in RL. She's been in SL almost as long as I have. I won't bother giving her name here because she doesn't know I'm using her as my example to get a point across.

She's more or less an augmentationist, with a little immersionism thrown in. She refuses to talk about RL to strangers, and even to those she knows well, she gives nothing of identifying content. She absolutely refuses to use her microphone and if you earn enough of her trust to get her to send you a picture, the best you'll likely get is one that is two or more years old. Never, ever anything current. Her most recent self-portrait that she keeps in her profile is even almost two years old.

In RL she doesn't have a lot of friends. Unfortunately, because she refuses to use the microphone, she tends to be somewhat of a loner in SL, too. You see, she is shy. She is shy because she is self-concious over what you cannot see or hear or feel about her. And if you ask, she likely will not say or explain.

In fact, it is stated in her profile: "In SL we all are beautiful and glamorous. In RL, I was beautiful just like you, once." Okay, it's pretty sad she feels this way. She's young, only in her 20's.

You see, she was involved in an auto accident a while ago. A terrible one and almost lost her life only hours after that profile picture was taken. Many reconstructive surgeries and hospital visits later, she still struggles with her loss (her father, my friend), what happened and the emotional trauma of it all.

I introduced her to SL while she was laid-up in the hospital, stuck in bed undergoing all the long and painful treatment back then. SL turned out then and to this day to be her escape from her "RL Hell" and has provided a way for she and I to stay loosely in touch with each other since then.

I recently chatted with her after a few months of not seeing her around. It turns out she had temporarily left SL. Her always flying so low under the radar, I noticed... but didn't really notice... and I know her in real life!

Among our other catching-up chit-chat, I asked her why she had left SL and for so long. It turns out that ever since voice has become so prevalent, she is constantly questioned why she isn't willing to use it when she has it active (typing instead of speaking with the microphone.) She chooses not to say.

Then, of course, she is immediately snickered-at, eyes-rolled-to and basically accused by insinuation that she is just another guy in girl's skin. She got tired of the insult accusations about why she refuses to use voice. I also asked her why she returned, even though I already knew the answer.

"Because in SL I am beautiful again. I am normal and people can see the real me inside without all the distraction," she said.

You see, my friend's daughter had massive injuries. Broken collar bone and shoulder, broken neck, her skull was badly fractured. She's been undergoing facial reconstructive surgery off and on since then. A long, painful process. This is why she simply refuses any picture be taken of her over the last couple years. She sees her entire life as being ruined... her real life, that is.

In the accident, her throat was crushed. Speaking is difficult and painful. And when she does speak, beside the slurring, the synthetic reconstructive elements surgeons inserted into her neck make her voice sound "like a monster" (her own words.) She refuses to take a current picture or to speak on the microphone "because they are distractions that keep people from seeing and getting to know the real me."

So, my whole point is this: Second Life is so much more to other people than it might be to you and for completely different reasons you may never have even fathomed. In this girl's case, it makes her "whole and beautiful and normal" again. Literally a second life. And I suspect this is true for a lot more people than you or I might think.

If you run into her, and decide not to learn more about her and quickly cast her off as a guy-in-girl-skin all because your litmus test is whether she is willing to use voice or not... it will be your loss. You're the one who will be missing out on the friendship of a wonderful, funny, beautiful person. And you, in your own shallowness, will simply become just another one who decided to judge a book by its cover and turn away from someone you'd really enjoy getting to know.

So, augmentationist, immersionist or even puppeteer: remember that everyone in SL is here for their own reasons. Some for simple fun, others for social reasons, others to simply experiment, explore, learn and so on. And though there are sometimes 'suspicious' reasons why so many choose to mention in their profiles that "SL and RL are and will always be separate" - and many reasons why someone might refuse to speak into a microphone, even if they have voice turned on, some of those reasons really are legitimate.

Such as immersionism. Being legally deaf. Or because it's simply easier to be mute, rather than dealing with the pain of hearing yourself.

Sometimes, they just want to be "beautiful and normal again."

The next time you see someone who isn't using voice, or perhaps has that little white dot over their head but always tends to use the keyboard and refuses to use the microphone... think outside the box for a change and remember... there are real reasons why this may be so. And you may not even be close as to guessing why.

Haha. Luudites.

2008-02-08T16:58:00.000-08:00

Just don't even get me started on this nonsense.

I fear we're quickly on the path to getting the shit taxed out of us.

VSL Voicemail and phone numbers courtesy Vodaphone?

2008-02-06T15:08:00.000-08:00

Remember that survey Linden Lab offered on voice-enabled features where they asked you about voice mail, a phone number where RL can dial into SL...to YOU. Or even the possibility of converting voice to text and vice-versa?

Looks like it's the Vodafone people. Now, I don't know this for sure, and it's just a snippet in a larger story. As soon as I get the chance, I'll head over to the Vodafone site and see if I can confirm this.

This is all that was mentioned in the article:

"Vodafone recently announced the beta launch of Vodafone Inside Out, a mobile platform created in conjunction with virtual environment Second Life, enabling subscribers to contact others Second Life avatars via real-world handsets."

Calling all Sl whiners: STFU. GTFH. GTFO.

2008-02-06T10:15:00.000-08:00

So... Linden Lab releases a new Release Candidate (RC) viewer and shortly after, release a new WindLight updated viewer.

My creative side (and love is SL photography) has kept me in the WindLight viewer consistently since it's been available. The new WindLight viewer incorporates "most of the fixes" included in the most recent RC viewer.

Wow, at first I was a bit worried. I have a pretty hardcore machine, including cutting edge video board and so on. The new WindLight viewer at first blush just crawled. I went in world and everything was grey. Okay, I don't just mean grey - I mean ZERO textures in world. Nothing. Zip, zilch, nada. Wow. On top of that, my view of the world, usually an average of 25 to 25 frames per second dropped to 1 frame per second. Really. I'm serious. I timed it. Holy shitola.

Okay - so I went and downloaded the latest drivers for my graphic card (highly recommended for ATI boards, but I went and grabbed the latest nVidia just for kicks.) Installed updated drivers and everything was right as rain (in Seattle).

Umm... except for a couple of quirks: Voice is just 'on' by default.

The next quirk - and this one can be a doosey for accidental clicks: the "Release Keys" button (which is always on screen if you are wearing any scripted attachment that does or can animate you among other things) appears at the far left... where your Instant Message (IM) notification button appears. it seems these buttons are now dynamically left-aligned and shift as needed, based on priorities.

The big complaint here has to do with people being in the habit of just clicking the button that appears here, subconsciously thinking it's an IM. And, when doing so, the Animation Overrider (AO), submission collar, cuffs, rip-away clothing - whatever - comes popping off.

Wow. Totally uncool. Now, I don't blame the problem on Linden Lab. But I do blame the idea and act of making what turns out to be a radical change in the User Interface (UI) of the viewer. What the hell is that damned button needed for anymore anyway? A couple years ago - yes. But now?

Then a lesser annoyance is that active tabs in your communication window, such as IM, no longer continuously blink. Okay, that's an annoyance.

Except for the dumb move by Linden Lab to set-up the toolbar buttons that way they have (the "release keys" button ending up left-justified where it will get accidentally clicked-on more often than not) - I believe the others are simply unintended bug introduced with this update and i also have faith Linden Engineers will fix them.

But, understanding of all this aside, my gripe is with all the whiners on the SL Blog. Whiny crybabies that really need to get a clue and learn to deal with it or move on. The funny thing is that 80% of them are always the same ones!

Okay, a sampling of posting on the new WindLight announcement on te SL blog:

"skills Says: too bad latest nicholaz builds finally stopped working"

Gee, that's real helpful feedback, isn't it, Skills? (This is his/her full post by the way)

"Ponk Bing Says: I would like to be able to TP without relogging please."

Same to you, bonehead.

"Jayme Llewellyn Says: This is just typical of Linden Labs pathetic customer performance. The constantly update all of the extras and details, yet completely overlook the key issues. Linden, if you are reading this, the issue is not with the windlight or any other extras - the problems are with the main grid and the central gaming/drive engine for SL!!! For crying out loud …. listen to your customers!!! And telling us that we need to update our video cards is just you guys saying that you’re too damn lazy to fix the problem. Essentially, you’re saying its our fault. I’m telling you, Lindens, if you carried on with the pathetic level of customer service in the real world …. you’d be shut down quick smart. Get your act together, fix the main grid/central gaming-drive engine and give us the sort of internet game we deserve. Not this crap we currently have."

Yo - there is a REASON it's called beta. So, who the hell at Linden lab is breaking your arm to use the WindLight viewer? As for issues with the main grid, are you so ditsy that you can't figure out there are 'main grid' engineers that ARE working on it? That there is a WindLight team that is SEPARATE with regard to the main grid work? Please put brain into gear before engaging mouth. Oh, never mind, I guess you have to double-clutch it all time, don't you?

"Selkit Diller Says:Good god. I downloaded and installed this debacle. Lindens– I have applauded you in past, and I have criticized you. This is one occasion where I will be doing the latter quite singularly..."
~ SNIP THE USELESS ~
"Entirely glad I still have 1.18.3 to fall back on. I am discontinuing the use of Windlight in the face of these current and continuing issues. Give us an off-switch for VWR-3101’s alpha culling behavior. I didn’t ask to be saddled with that, I don’t remember anyone asking specifically for it, and now we machinimatographers are stuck with it, without recourse."

Ummm - like we really know all of SL was built just for you and only your method of use and requirements count.

Here's my favorite:

"Broccoli Curry Says: Good so far, only a couple of things."
~ SNIP USELESS BULLSHIT ~
"2) Voice on by default - please no, no a thousand times NO. We all know voice was a huge failure that nobody uses, do you really need to try and make it look like we use it by the hundreds of people who won’t realise what the white dot is and how to turn it off?
"I’d love to see the stats for how many people have voice enabled, on any given day. My guess is about 6."

It's published every month. But that's right, you don't need to go and check, because you are a genius and know everything, even more than what Linden Lab knows, right? For the record, not only is voice not a failure, it's gaining in popularity since it's introduction. BUT, remember everyone like you were predicting the demise of SL because voice was being introduced. Are you scared of voice because you're a MESBIAN? Oh, and I guess music downloads on cell phones have been a failure, too. Everyone knows that, right?

Yes, I half read the LL/SL blog as much for entertainment as for information. All the whiny blowhards that have absolutely nothing to contribute except wasted bad breath. But you know, sometimes it's better the let people think you're a fool rather than to open your mouth (or contribute to the SL blog) and remove all doubt.

So, to all you whiners about voice, WindLight, 'Age Verification" (which is really just identity verification and has nothing to do with age) - The more of you that put your money where your mouth is and 'leave because SL is going to shit" - the better the grid will be for all the rest of us.

Here come the 'real' banks

2008-02-05T11:58:00.000-08:00

Yes, Linden Lab shutdown all the virtual banks (well, the ones offering a return on investment, anyway,) unless there were licensed and registered and all that hogwash.

And, as the banks closed down or realigned themselves, the next big question had to do with all the virtual stock exchanges.

Personally, I don't see a need for a 'bank' inside SL. Neither do I see the need for a virtual stock exchange. But, a real-world back... that would handle the exchange of Lindens (L$) and real-world dollars... even manage a real world portfolio from within SL?

Food for thought?
The things that make you go 'hmmmm'

Take a peek here:
Virtual money: the next big thing in the payments market?: "... according to a report by Finextra, Danish online investment bank Saxo is establishing an office in Second Life and plans to offer residents the chance to manage real-life portfolios from within the virtual world. The bank says that it may also eventually create a market to trade the virtual Linden dollar against real-world currencies."

heheheh.
Woot!
(...still won't likely touch it, though) ;)

Wake-up from the inventory nightmare...

2008-02-04T07:09:00.000-08:00

If you've been in SL for more than a couple weeks, you already know the nightmare they call "inventory". Whew! it adds-up real quick.

Unfortunately, the interface isn't the greatest in the world. It's okay if you (try to) keep things organized. But a nightmare when you go to clean things up or look for something that isn't where you thought it should be.

For example, wouldn't it be great to be able to simply search for "landmark" and have all your landmarks listed - so you can chuck them all away (especially the bazillions of duplicates that come from your favorite store every time you buy something)?

Over at "Living in the Metaverse is a great little post that gives some tips on cleaning out your inventory. Now, the premise of the post is to help 'stabilize' or 'better' the grid. I'm not all too sure how much it would help. But I do know it will help with your experience.

The first tip is as soon as you log-in - hit the recent items tab in your inventory window. This will force your viewer to index ("search") your inventory and speed things up when you need to do a quick browse.

Another thing to do that isn't mentioned in the article is you obtain an item storage box. There are many available (I even sell a simple one here) - but for the really nice, higher-end versions, look to "PixelTrix" in-world. Sorry, no SLURL as I'm in RL right now.

This is where you put your highly-valued items that you just don't use very much. Or copyable items you already have rezzed in-world, but would unlikely rezz more copies, such as a photo studio.

Take a look at the post. Take notes. Clean-up.

Let's Make The Grid Performing A Bit Better, Please - Living in the Metaverse: "Living in the Metaverse"

All mesbians - raise your hands!

2008-02-01T07:26:00.000-08:00

As reported by Reuters, (Eric Reuters in-world,) There was a Zogby poll about internet use by everyday, ordinary folks... like all of us.

The interesting part was the following question about virtual worlds. So, any mesbians (male les

Reuters/Second Life � Poll: Most adults don’t want fantasy avatars:

"Some people are now participating in virtual worlds such as Second Life. Let’s say you’re creating a virtual you in a virtual world. Would you dramatically alter the avatar’s physical appearance from your own?

Answer
Question: Respondents: Percent
I would dramatically alter my physical appearance: 527: 14.7%
Keep me similar but enhance my more masculine or more feminine appearances: 650: 18.1%
Keep me just about the same as I am: 1586: 44.2%
Not sure: 822: 22.9%
— — —
Total: 3585: 100.0%

The poll was taken between Jan. 21 and Jan. 23 and contains a statistical margin of error of /- 1.7 percent."

How real is real ...?

2008-01-31T10:33:00.000-08:00

We hear all the time about how real emotions and feeling can be in SL. Oh the drama... it wouldn't really exist if it weren't for those 'real' feelings and emotions. And that's just because of the interaction between people. Yes, some of our avatars can look pretty damned good. But that will change.

Let's face it, our representations in SL are still a bit cartoonist. Even if you have the best kick-ass video and computer hardware and have your WindLight settings cranked to maximum, as good as it all looks, there's still that 'artificial' element in there.

But computer-generated art and graphics are improving all the time. What will happen when the imagery we see on screen become so realistic, so beautiful that it literally mimics real life? Holy shit, I can see everything that happens now - real lives blossoming... and getting hurt - all happening at ten-fold more intensity.

There is a really good article at FT.com by Alan Cane that asks "will we be able to tell reality from artificial imagery?" That day is probably not too far off. Computer-generated imagery is already being used in Hollywood movies and so effective at fooling the eye that you likely could never spot it, except for some the impossible feats these characters are accomplishing.

It won't be long before places like Second Life will really be a lot more interesting; compelling than first life. Fasten your seatbelts. folks. It's going to be an interesting ride!

Read the full article here.

Actual good advice for 'corporate' Second Life

2008-01-31T08:33:00.000-08:00

So, finally,some really good advice on how to bring your company into a virtual world, what to do and how to do it. Yes, I know, there are (by now) dozens of good advice blogs about this. But this one is concise and to the point and offers many external sources. Check it out.

Quote from the site:

Recommended Links - Do better business, virtually: “Regardless, virtual worlds are guaranteed to have widespread business impacts, if for no other reason than that U.S. video game sales soared to $17.9-billion (U.S.) last year,” he said. “That’s a lot of kids spending a lot of time kung-fuing and shooting each other’s avatars. When they eventually enter the business world, the only unusual thing about a virtual trade conference will be the lack of gunfire.”

Wow. Japanese Hotel industry using SL to it’s advantage

2008-01-23T15:10:00.000-08:00

Okay, cool.

So Second Life has it all. Including it’s own T.V. channels and news shows (yes, it really does.)

The amazing thing is, there is a hotel chain planning a campaign in Second Life, beginning with T.V. commercials on the virtual T.V. network and rolling on from there.

However, in looking at it, it looks like they might be on to something here.

Solare Hotels and Resorts Implements Japanese Hotel Industry’s
With the goal of establishing 50 locations through Japan by 2010 and to gain recognition for their “Chisun Inn” roadside hotel brand, Solare has begun a campaign using the new communication medium “Second Life.” Because a high ratio of Second Life users are thought to be those who have not had the opportunity to come into contact with this brand, such as young adults and women, who hold the initiative for trip scheduling, a puppy-themed campaign was developed to appeal to this segment

Mutiliated Furries, and.. eh - yadda, yadda, yadda

2008-01-22T15:06:00.000-08:00

Griefers in SL have been around a long time. I remember when they first started appearing. In face, the worst griefers before these organized groups appeared there othat people simply bumping into you and intentionally pushing you around.

So, unlike the SL Herald tabloid blog, Wired magazine (usually just another useless tabloid, actually) even has an interesting article based on the last large, organized attack of the Patriotic Nigras. I found it to actually be an interesting read. I’ve linked it, just in case you might agree.

Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers,
“We do it for the lulz,” ^ban^ says — for laughs. Asked how some people can find their greatest amusement in pissing off others, ^ban^ gives the question a moment’s thought: “Most of us,” he says finally, with a wry chuckle, “are psychotic.”

Your tax dollars hard at work... yeah, right.

2008-01-22T14:56:00.000-08:00

How about I compel you to cough up a chunk of change from your pocket, then turn around and give it away to some radio station so they can experiment with running a radio station in Second Life, even though you are already there, experimenting on your own, running and DJ-ing your own radio station?

Well, as is typical, it’s happened.

Your tax dollars are hard at work, working against you… again.

Here’s a cool concept: launch a branded virtual radio station in Second Life.

That’s an idea from WGBH in Boston, and now it has a grant to help. Second Life is an online “virtual world.” WGBH wants to be heard there and is one of several public broadcast entities to receive money for new media initiatives from CPB."

See the full article here: http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0100/t.10768.html

Are YOU the idiot I speak of?

2008-01-19T15:17:00.000-08:00

Ever buy something in SL and it doesn’t come? Doesn’t appear in Inventory? What do you do? IM The creator? What is your disposition when you do?

If you are one of the IDIOTS I describe below, this message is for YOU.

Second Life has issues. A lot of them. Linden Lab really needs to get their act together, and I’m not referring to the viewer software that sits and runs on your local machine. Rather it’s the back-end that needs serious work.

Don’t get me wrong, the viewer is usually borked, too. But, that affects people on an individual basis. One hiccup in the back-end (server-side at Linden Lab) can really screw everyone on the grid, whether you’re there, logged-in or not.

So sales are singing along just fine and dandy as usual yesterday. I even make a couple purchases through SL Exchange and OnRez (personally, I prefer the latter and *hate* the former.)

Suddenly, I get an IM about a purchase made from my store… but the product wasn’t delivered.

Now, here’s the part that burns me: being told my vendors are screwed up when I don’t use vendors in my store (only at satellite locations, like mall spaces and affiliates). In other words, you see a sex bed in my store, it’s set to sell a copy. You click the BUY button, you get a copy of it in your inventory. There is no possible way it can’t ‘deliver’. It’s the original, most basic way to sell anything in SL. It always works. It can’t not work.

Well, unless Linden Lab servers are borked.

Again.

All day yesterday (12-19-07) - LL had major asset server issues. Even to the point that the grid was shutdown completely with only two-minutes notice. If that’s not an emergency, I don’t know what is.

Anyway - before the shutdown, the asset server issues had been going on for a few hours. Here’s the BLOG entry: Here

If you don’t know, the Asset Server is the server machine(s) and software that keeps track of all objects in SL. That means your house, television, radio, clothes, car, primdick, everything. Even your bed.

Everyone on the grid had trouble rezzing objects, transferring objects, and objects that were placed (rezzed) disappeared into the great black void of nothingness. It was mayhem.

So, back to the IM I received…

First, I’m told a purchase was made, product not delivered, can a replacement be sent directly? Usually, after some polite vetting of the situation, I would do exactly this.

However, in this case, the IM was rude and obnoxious right off the bat. I was being accused of cheating this idiot. That I took his money and ‘the vendor’ never delivered the product (see above about use of vendors in my store). He demanded the product be transfered to him immediately.

I explained that the asset server was having problems, that if I tried to transfer it to him it might not work, but that I’d give it a go. I did. I asked if he received it. ‘No.’

Now, please keep in mind, I tried to remain calm and professional, but this individual was belligerent and cussing harder than a lifetime sailor. The exchange was becoming heated. I offered to refund his money. He was still cussing up a storm and demanded the product, refusing the money.

So, eventually I just gave him back his money and then I kicked him out of my sim and banned him. I don’t need money from a belligerent idiot. Unfortunately, there are too many of them out there. Are you one of them?

Here’s the most common one we get:

“Hello?” [long wait with nothing else said - please don’t start an IM with someone this way and then just wait for a response] “I bought a [insert scripted product here - such as a sex bed or dynamic throne] and it doesn’t work.”

“What is it doing when you rez it?”

“I don’t know. it doesn’t work”

“What is it doing when you rez it?”

“It’s broken, it’s not working for me.”

“What is it doing when you rez it?”

Get the effin idea? Telling me ‘it’s broken’ or ‘it doesn’t work’ isn’t saying anything. I need to know what it IS doing - even if your answer is ‘it doesn’t do anything’. So just shut-up and answer my effin question, please?

I usually end-up telling them to pick-up the bed [or whatever else it is they bought] and then I teleport them to my workshop, where I have control of the environment (scripts allowed, building objects allowed, etc.).

I tell them to rez the bed. Then I edit it and one of the following scenarios occurs:

The bed is fine. Everything is in there. I touch it and it starts loading up the scripts. After a minute or two (there’s a LOT of animations in our stuff) I click it again and low and behold, the menu appears and everything works fine.

It turns out the knucklehead didn’t read the instruction notecard that automatically is offered to them whenever they rez the product. The need to click on it to turn it on for the first time is clearly mentioned.

Or The bed is fine. They do click on it to start it up and don’t read the private owner-only messages that say the [product] ‘is starting up, please be patient’. They start clicking away and nothing happens (it’s still starting up) - so after 10-seconds of no response from the product, it’s “broken and doesn’t work”.

Or, The bed is fine. Turns out they rez the product on land that has scripts turned off (because they don’t have the right group active when they rez it, etc.)

Then there’s my favorite: remember, I sell copies of my furniture - no vendors. The working floor model is what you get a direct copy of when you buy. They are NOT boxed. When you buy it, then drag it from inventory onto the ground, the actual product appears. Start using it right away.

So when I have a complaining customer rez the product at my workshop and I look inside - it’s empty. It turns out the numb-skull had removed the contents from the product into a folder in their inventory.

YAY! Brilliant, you boob! Lets go buy a real life car and take it home and pull the engine out of it and then bitch and cuss out the manufacturer because it doesn’t work!

Even though as soon as you rez it in world a notecard is immediately and automatically offered to you that specifically says “DO NOT OPEN THIS PRODUCT AND COPY CONTENTS TO INVENTORY! Simply click once on it and wait for the scripts to load.”

This is why we, (and many others,) have a clearly posted (though no one ever seems to notice them, right?) refund/exchange policy that explicitly states there will be no refunds and no exchanges except at our discretion. (Because you might be one of the utterly boneheaded idiots that Darwin forgot to prevent in the evolution process.)

Oh, and all our stuff is on the floor in our showroom. It’s already rezzed, right there for you to look at it and review it and play with it. What more can we do to help you make sure it’s what you want? So if you buy a product - it’s yours. Don’t come asking for an exchange because it isn’t what you thought it was.

However, because we really do want to be customer-friendly, we now offer free demo versions that you can place in your home to check out how well the ‘colors match’ your drapes or whatever. [rolls-eyes].

Now, before you go accusing me of being a rude, crude business person that won’t last long, let me qualify all my rude, crude responses and comments above with this: these are the responses you will get from me when you are rude and crude.

All the world is a mirror.

In other words, you will receive what you dish out. If you are rude and crude with me, I might very likely end the conversation immediately and just kick and ban you and you’ll be stuck with whatever ‘broken’ item you have in your possession. However, if you are respectable and kind, I will be likewise.

I said I had purchased a couple items on SL Exchange during the LL Asset Server SNAFU (before it was known to be a SNAFU yet). They never arrived in inventory. Even though my email from SLX said it was delivered. So, I IM’d the creator. My message was very simple and all in one submission.

I didn’t do what most people seem to do: “Hello?”(User offline) “I bought something” (User offline) “I didn’t get it” (User offline) “Can I have another?” (User offline)) - all causing IM’s to cap, and spamming this poor guy’s email inbox with separate messages.

My entire message was typed out before I pressed the send (enter) key the first time.

My message was simple: “Hello [merchant name] - just purchased [item 1] and [item 2] from SL Exchange. They didn’t arrive - maybe asset server issues, not sure. I am hoping you could send them to me again when you have the opportunity. I apologize for creating a headache for you. :) Thank you very much! [my name]”

A simple, patient, cordial message that gets to the point of what the IM is about (missing inventory) , what I did (make a couple purchases and from where) and what I am asking for (manual replacement). Plain and simple. Now, these items are no copy. Usually, replacements are NOT given in this case. But, I didn’t accuse him of screwing anything up. I know it’s LL’s fault, not his.

I also offered an explanation and made it clear that I wasn’t sure that was actually the problem. I also apologized for bothering him with this issue. And I used a smiley face - to show that I am not all pissed off and grumpy - and that I understand ’shit happens’ in SL.

I’m not saying I personally expect incoming IM’s to me of this nature to look and be phrased this way. It’s just how I do it when I am sending an IM to a creator, asking for a replacement delivery of a missing item. But I have also have never been denied a replacement in these situations. Ever.

I find most merchants are understanding. And this one was. This morning in IM (email) I see a message that basically said ‘it shows that it was delivered, but I’ll send you new copies anyway’

SL is still borked, because when I login, all my IMs are usually still there. In this case - they weren’t. (So beware of this, everyone.) Anyway, I thanked the merchant for understanding and asked him to peek at the blog to see what happened and what I thought was the cause, since he was apparently unaware of the circus.

So, if you ever have problems or issues with the delivery of something you purchased - it’s most certainly NOT the merchant’s fault, unless it’s a vendor hiccup (offline, goofed configuration, something to this affect) - in which case, they will get you taken care of.

Except for vendor hiccups, blame Linden Lab. And then communicate politely with the merchant for a replacement. Remember, they are likely getting spammed with angry, rude, crude customers all bitching and cussing them out about the same thing.

Make yourself the one shining star that, at least, gives the impression that you understand the pain he or she is going through and be polite. Use smiley faces and tell them you understand and that there’s no hurry. And then really do try to understand.

You will likely be well taken care of - if for nothing else than being the one polite, understanding person in a sea of stupid, rude, crude, obnoxious idiots. And remember, when something like the asset server gets stupid, you aren’t the only one suffering. It’s not just the people buying things, it’s the people selling, too. And everyone else on the grid.

Oh, and as for the asshole who cussed-up a storm and got just plain stupid with me? 5-minutes after I refunded his money and kicked his sorry ass off my sim and banning him… a Linden grid-wide message came through to every resident saying (paraphrased): “Asset server issues - do NOT buy anything or rez anything especially no-copy objects! Do not perform inventory actions whatsoever.”

About 20-minutes later - emergency shut-down of the grid

I can only hope that asshole feels like… well, an asshole.

So, are YOU a nightmare customer when things aren’t working right for you?
Come, let me kick your ass off my sim and ban you from all my estates.

Sh!thead whiners come out of the woodwork again

2008-01-16T15:13:00.000-08:00

Over at SLNN, another Windlight review was dropped on their readers (this was posted a week or two ago - I read it then, but wanted to revisit this). Now, in fairness, a new First Look of windlight has been released since then, but the graphic enhancements are still the same.

However, according to the author, and many others, the new Windlight ‘look’ creates havoc (no pun intended) on Avatar appearances:

The skinny on WindLight and skin
With its physics-based, ever-changing lighting, Linden Lab’s beta WindLight viewer can produce spectacular sunsets and realistic rippling water. But some residents aren’t happy about the way it makes their avatars look.

“I appreciate how WindLight has made me look at my sim in a whole different way,” Venus Petrov said. “Unfortunately, it’s also made me see my friends in a whole different way, too.”
Specifically, Petrov said, WindLight “dirties the skin” and “creates shadows and lines that aren’t there in the regular version.”

I say deal with it. Linden Lab will not be able to satisfy everyone all the time. In truth, I;m not for or against Windlight. I could live with it or without it. I think things are fine just the way they are, but I don’t mind the other new features in it as well, such as Avatar Imposters and the like.

Being involved in 3D since 1987, I have to say that the lighting and shadowing in Windlight actually make your avatar and skin look better. Though I do think the default sky color is a bit bright, it is realistic.
The problem is in the comfort zone everyone has fallen into. Change means discomfort because we prefer things the way they are.

I say deal with it and get a ‘life’.

Seller beware... ?

2008-01-01T15:00:00.000-08:00

Caveat:
Noun
Warning, caution, admonition, proviso, condition, stipulation, provision, clause, rider, qualification… A warning or proviso of specific stipulations, conditions, or limitations.
Origin: mid 16th century: from Latin, literally ‘let a person beware.’

Ceveat Emptor:
Noun
the principle that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made.
Origin: early 16th century: literally ‘let the buyer beware.’

So we all know the ‘buyer beware’ rule. And it’s especially true in Second Life.
However, it’s also true for the *seller*.

We are all buyers. Even the sellers are buyers.
For example, in SL - all sellers need a place to sell from. That’s not usually an issue. You throw your stuff up on SL Exchange or OnRez.com and away you go. Though most will either buy land to set up shop or rent space in a mall or island.

So, even when shopping for a place to sell , buyer beware.

Don’t you just hate when the mall owners just start dropping notecards on people for no reason at all - advertising their malls in the hope you will be anything other than annoyed? Perhaps enough to even consider considering it?

It just so happens I received one of these. It also just so happens I was already in the process of considering vendor space in a few malls, even though I already own my own sim and 1/4 of it is dedicated to my own showroom.

Of course it had the usual over dramatic, overstated hoopla. I won’t mention the sim, the mall or the owner who spammed me… but even his exaggerated claims were lackluster at best. “the sim had more than 10,000 traffic last week.” Okaaaaaay. My 1/4 sim fluctuates between 8,000 and 13,000 every day. So whats so special about a whole sim doing that?

And we don’t use camping chairs or dancepads. (Full disclosure - since all this has happened, we did add a sim camper - but it’s an object camper that give prizes - and you aren’t tied to one spot.)

He told me “no campers”. I said “sell me - why should I rent space from you?”

He didn’t do a very good job. No compelling reason at all to even go look. But, I’m short on time and don’t want to make the effort of shopping, so I agreed to look around. When I landed, I was immediately unimpressed.

The ’sim’ was packed. I wondered if there were any available vendor spaces at all. But I saw camping dance pads immediately. And it was a forced landing point. So, my first thought was which vendor booth can I see from the landing point.

Nothing.
So he shows me a booth. There’s one right next to a very prominent, high profile retailer. I take this booth. I pay the rent (first month is free, so it was immediately refunded). It takes me a couple days to set up my temp-rez vendor (Zodiac House sells furnishings) before I can set anything out.

So I return in three days.

My booth is full of someone else’s stuff.
The rental box still has my name on it with 27 days to go.
On top of that - I check the parcel to learn that the mall owner only ‘owns’ about a 1.4 of the sim - and there’s only about 6 prims left. That with about six or seven empty vendor booths left - and no doubt, spam notecards still being distributed.

So, in a rage I Instant Message the owner - and in a someone friendlier tone, the owner of the vendors that are in my booth. To make a long story short - the mall owner had the vendor as a tenant… right where she was. Then he rearranged a bunch of booths (adding more, no doubt) - and returned all her stuff.

Before she could return her things, the owner sold me that booth. But, since I didn’t have time to place a sales box yet, the original renter returned, unknowing of my own purchased of that booth. So then I am offered to pick another empty booth and my rental box will be. On top of that, the whole parcel has a whopping sic prims available for me. I should have gotten a clue when the owner said my booth was good for “25 or 30 prims”.

Well, I just let that one pass… I left the group and such is (Second) life.
The ironic thing is that I’ve been in SL since spring 2006 (in a previous account) and have run successful businesses in the past. never had any issues with vendor space and malls, …until now.

So, even as an ‘olbie’ - I’m still learning.

Caveat emptor.

Welcome to me!

2008-01-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Okay - making the big switcharoo back to blogger.

It's just easier for me. Already have and use a dozen other Google services. So, might as well just use blogger. One login and I get mail, analytics, calendar, word processor and spreadsheet (if I need it on the fly) and - well, might as well - my blog.

Though I have to say Wordpress does have a far better selection of design templates and just 'feels' smoother to use and feature's EXCERPTS (screaming aimed at Google types) which are much easier to use and don't require a f*king HACK. LOL.

Anyway, I'm back.

Virtual Attitude™

New Location(s)

Rebranding - a Fact of [busness] Life

It's a change...

I've said it again and again - the tax man is coming.

Obama whacks Clinton... [rolls eyes now]

Second Life Exchange - no, not THAT one!

Thieves in the night - how to protect yourself?

Second Life Congressional Hearings - What a LAUGH!

Want an Alternative to SL? Go Fish.

Are you in SL for the money? ...or the fun of it?

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

Dorkwad Congressman ... In Second Life

Linden Lab converts to Hosting Status

Hack SL Instructional

'SL' is a trademarked term. Refrain from using it for things like...

Photoshop - Dangerous to use?

Friends list borked since January... on the web

Can you hear me now? If so, then you're WRONG!

The Second Life® Brand Center - about time?

Eon Ayres

Here come the Feds...

Gone Gitmo in Second Life: Oh Brother...

Content Theft and Second Life

Virtual worlds ripe for real-world lawsuits...in the MILLIONS

"Second Skin" Movie Opens Eyes.

SL Borked Again. WOOT!

Second Life and 3D Glasses, Like, Retro Far-out, dude!

Welcome Kazakhstan & Second-Life Astana

Second Life and inevitable Real Life?

Cybersex is bad... or is it just ALL of SL?

Bastards! Bastards, I say! Don't Touch My Logo!

NEWS FLASH: DINOSAURS GO EXTINCT!

How about a Second First Life?

Idiots taking me for a ride.

Are you hawking full perm textures? Or other prims? Reselling stolen stuff? Legal Eagles are on it.

virtual fishing oddly relaxing

The glass is half empty! No, wait, half full! no, er.. wait...

Hey cook! Stop creating new recipes and fix the toilet!

Addendum re: evil sim owner of previous post.

Dazzle? More like fizzle. :/

Some sim owners just plain suck. Better to keep your mouth shut.

The Pitfalls Of Online Role-Playing Games

Crackpot Tech ... an interesting title - but effective

Yes! Second Life... on iPhone!

Guy in Girl's Skin? Not always. You'd even be surprised.

Haha. Luudites.

VSL Voicemail and phone numbers courtesy Vodaphone?

Calling all Sl whiners: STFU. GTFH. GTFO.

Here come the 'real' banks

Wake-up from the inventory nightmare...

All mesbians - raise your hands!

How real is *real* ...?

Actual good advice for 'corporate' Second Life

Wow. Japanese Hotel industry using SL to it’s advantage

Mutiliated Furries, and.. eh - yadda, yadda, yadda

Your tax dollars hard at work... yeah, right.

Are *YOU* the idiot I speak of?

Sh!thead whiners come out of the woodwork again

Seller beware... ?

Welcome to me!

How real is real ...?

Are YOU the idiot I speak of?