Alphaville Herald

Linden Land Stats Coverup Enters 5th Month

Lab too embarrassed to publish land data?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

In February, Linden Lab halted publication of resident land "ownership" statistics after what is believed to be thousands of regions were returned by players reeling from October's surprise OpenSpace price increase. In the aftermath of the negative economic news and removal of the raw statistical data feed, the Lab promised the land stats hiatus was a temporary measure while "we correct our reporting mechanisms to account for the recent addition of Openspaces and Homesteads" and went on to apologize for the "inconvenience".

Five months later, the Lab still refrains from sharing land ownership statistics, leading to speculation that the land market has yet to recover from the Lab's price hikes and a down real life economy. Shocks to the land market are far from over, with concerns that the forced migration to the new Adult-only continent and devaluation of existing Mainland holdings are unlikely to improve the situation as players are reminded that the Lindens changes the rules of the game to suit Lab interests - generally at player's expense.

Given how willing the Lindens are to publish other economic statistics here, we have to ask how bad things look on the land front. If the current statistics are able provide information on land in the process of being auctioned, why remain silent on the actual size of the world?

 

We'll let you know when there is good news

Support Virtuality -- Help Game A Netflix Popularity Contest!!!

by Idoru Wellman, staff writer

The Netflix "Find Your Voice film competition" is a great new game where everyone can participate by forming gangs to vote for the independent film maker that best represents their community and interests. Consider this a more positive version of the gang abuse report used in Second Life to get the Linden Governance team to ban enemy players. However, instead of helping bring the ban hammer down, in the Netflix Find Your Voice game, you can help a few lucky filmmakers receive some financial and in-kind support for filmmaking.

To play the Netflix game, you'll need a working e-mail address - but Google, Yahoo, and Hotmail and others are happy to hand out spare alt account e-mail addresses for a reason -- so you can play games that want e-mail addresses! What are you waiting for? Vote early and vote often.

Here at the Herald we are partial to SARAHN_12 - an entry from Sasie Sealy with a plot that should strike a chord among the Second Life players. The director's statement tells the tale:

Metaplace Founder Raph Koster Chats Up Linden Lab Co-Founder Cory Ondrejka

The hairy edge of augmented reality colliding with virtual worlds

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

At a much anticipated game god gabfest yesterday, Raph Koster and Cory Ondrejka neatly avoided the controversy over Metaplace male's second-class sit animations - possibly the most vital issue facing the metaverse today - by standing throughout the event. Rather than focusing on avatar emotes and poses, the Raph and Cory chose to discuss smaller issues - presence in new media, how virtual worlds are affecting the web, user generated content, the role of economies in sorting the gold from a sea of user created dross, and music in the virtual realm.

As predicted, a touching Linden Lab alumni scene was played out with Sunchaser - Robin Linden Harper - in attendance. A full transcript of the event (courtesy of Cuppycake) is reproduced below, and the Herald's own Urizenus Sklar was pressed into duty as a photographer.

(left to right - Raph Koster, Cory Ondrekja, Sunchaser )

Raph: Well, Cory, I'm glad to have you here today...
Raph: Seems like several years since I first told you about this crazy Metaplace idea!
CoryOndrejka: Great to "see" you after catching up at state of play
CoryOndrejka: Austin Game Conference, 06 right?
Raph: Yup... a long time ago :)
Raph: So our goal back then was to build a next generation virtual world platform, something that worked mor elike the web
Raph: It is fitting that you are the first guest at an event in the remote embed :)
CoryOndrejka: I think being able to toss up not only a pointer to the event and the event itself on my blog is great
Raph: It seems like a lot of the discussion around VWs is about "pleateaus
CoryOndrejka: Kudos to your team for getting this working so smoothly
Raph: lately.er, plateaus. What do you think about that?
CoryOndrejka: I'm just glad I don't have to spell plateau :-)
Raph: Yeah, kinda tricky :)
CoryOndrejka: Interesting choice, given the explosion of interest in "real time"
CoryOndrejka: and "presence" on the web
CoryOndrejka: we've seen some key elements of VWs and games coopted by Twitter, FB, et al
CoryOndrejka: so I'm not sure that Plateau is accurate at all
Raph: It does seem like many previously asynch experiences are becoming synchronous or at least a lot faster
CoryOndrejka: How about "a lot less asynchronous"?

Pornosophy and Philip Linden - The Renaissance of Porn Part 2

by Bunny Brickworks

She called and they all followed. Loglady Loon is one of the most banned non-griefing avatars in SecondLife. She is highly disputed, either loved or hated and the creative mastermind behind Freak Show. The first exhibition of Freak Show was called Beauty vs. Paranoia and all SL artists were invited to participate by simply handing in a full perm picture representing their vision of a freak.

In a virtual world where everyone is beautiful, well-built and dressed to kill, this was quite a task. The show was a success and encouraged her to start a new project called Pornosophy – SL’s first explicit porn show, uncensored and without any limitations.

More than 60 artists heeded her call and handed in their interpretation of porn. No limits… one would think this might be a dangerous thing. Rape, child porn, there’s a lot of sensitive subjects you rather don’t want to see digitalized but it wouldn’t be the Loglady if she had imposed any censorship on her artists. And no, there was no child porn, we might be digital imagery pervs but we have well-functioning hearts and minds.

Sim Boundary White Line Fever - Bad Roads in Zindra

by Suzie Skybeam

In Second Life, crossing a boundary between sims is slow, and, to be honest, a bit buggy. So most designers create their builds so that the sim boundaries are in places where there will be as few people as possible crossing across them, or where people won't mind a few seconds of lag as they cross - but not in the new adults-only continent of Zindra.

As I was driving east along the highway in Zindra, I sped through Tovaris, Ironauld, Pfeiffer, Uxert and Tyrnaeur. I was, of course, driving on the right-hand side of the road - British drivers please take note!

Meanwhile, the sim on the other side of the white line down the middle of the road was respectively Morgarsen, Keraxic, Van Tessa, Jonesford Heights and Gianno. If I had pulled out to overtake someone, my vehicle and I would have been handed off to another sim - after a second or two of delay, and with a distinct risk of being transported somewhere else entirely.

Locks of Love -- Hair Fair 2009

Four sims and 134 hair designers for the next two weeks

by Tenshi Vielle

Hair Fair 2009 has successfully kicked off! Another year of raising L$ to donate to Locks of Love, a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.

SLUniverse.com forums has a thread going currently where people are showing off their favorite must-have purchases and freebies.

By early friday night, the four sims attempting to handle the crush of avatar traffic coming and going had gone through two or three sim reboots already. If you choose to attend, please be considerate to others and make your avatar primless or at the very least, drop the excess prims you might have.

PhotoLife Drama In Second Life

You mean I need permission to sell your Flickr photos in SL?

by Tenshi Vielle

Besides nameless SLobrities showing up at SL6B friday evening, the talk of SL6B has been claims that PhotoLife's recently violated the Flickr standards - and Darkley Aeon's artistic rights.

The back story:  Darkley Aeon was using PhotoLife's stage system - I beg refusal to call it anything but - to use her photographs, performed occasional customer service for the PhotoLife group - without pay - and was in their in-world group and Flickr group.

Somehow, this meant that Gregg Paslong thought he could take Darkley's photographs off of Flickr, upload them into Second Life, and use them at the PhotoLife booth without permission. It is also alleged that these photographs were set for sale at the PhotoLife booth.

SLB6 Is a Crypto Copycat

Mysterious rot13 and secret decoder rings at SL birthday party

by Tenshi Vielle

SL6B is a copycat! Some darn robots copied Gigs Taggart's Shanti encoded promotion from last year for the Meerkat viewer, but twisted it, turned it, put it up on its side and included lots of fun puzzles - including a slider! Resident Joshua Nightshade was one of the first to discover and report this strange robot code from Epoch Aeon:

"-- Instant message logging enabled --
[11:16] Epoch Aeon: (Saved Thu Jun 25 03:35:02 2009) }%? :)99? @12? %}
[11:16] Epoch Aeon: (Saved Thu Jun 25 03:35:08 2009) 01110011011101000110111101110000001000000110100001 1001010111001000101110
[11:16] Epoch Aeon: (Saved Thu Jun 25 03:35:14 2009) 01110000011011000110010101100001011100110110010100 10000001101000011001010110110001110000
[11:16] Epoch Aeon: (Saved Thu Jun 25 03:35:19 2009) SL6B Callisto 182.851,115.018,22.077

I was gonna ignore it until I paid attention and got the binary part (Save her, please help, etc) and the location of the sim so for kicks I teleported in. I've no idea what the first line means or what it is.

Shortly after getting there I saw a notice saying to click the robot and got this along with an object (look by the flowers!):

SL Ban in Oz Worries Chicken Little

by Tenshi Vielle

Concerned Australians in Second Life are donning chicken little avatars and chirping that the sky is falling, with news of Australia's proposed ban on adult online games including Second Life circulating. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, has been nominated by the British ISP industry for its annual "internet villain" award. Meanwhile, the Inquisitr.com, which sounds well suited for a supermarket checkout lane, has this report:

"The Australian Minister for Censorship has today confirmed what I’ve been reporting for nearly two years: online adult games including Second Life will be banned in Australia.

A spokesman for Censorship Minister Stephen “Goebbels” Conroy confirmed to Fairfax newspapers that “under the filtering plan, it will be extended to downloadable games, flash-based web games and sites which sell physical copies of games that do not meet the MA15+ standard.” In Australia, the MA15+ rating means that the content is restricted to those aged 15 and above. Australia does not have a R 18+ or similar rating for computer games, with all adult games automatically being classified as RC (Refused Classification.)"

This shocking news has also been confirmed at the Gamasutra.

A ban on Second Life in Australia would deprive the metaverse of such favorite hair creators as Aemilia Case and Truth Hawks, and Second Life character favorites Adam Zaius and Joshua Nightshade.

Jack Linden: Child Avatars Welcome In Adults-only Continent!

But sexual ageplay is not

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Friday, Jack Linden delivered a stunning rebuke to anti-child avatar advocates, saying

“Child avatars are allowed on adult land as long as they are account verified like any other Resident. Those choosing to represent themselves with a child avatar do not represent a minor as the account holder. Not all adult land is going to be hosting adult content either. There is plenty of protected land on Zindra that will technically be adult but safe in terms of content.”

The Lab’s Zindra update was serious setback for those who would impose minimum height requirements on avatars visiting the Zindra Adults-only continent. Jack Linden did take pains to point out that sexual ageplay is forbidden everywhere on the grid - but this is unlikely to appease the anti-child avatar activists. Look for Jack's child-friendly news to inspire even more incoherent outrage concise, closely reasoned think pieces such as an audio soliloquy published, then removed by well known community activist and protest group disorganizer Vryl Valkyrie.

Sources speculate that some of the uproar over virtual children may be motivated by certain players’ economic interests - and for those who depend on land values on the Mainland or running sex-based businesses, fighting the children has a certain logic. For porn moguls, keeping Second Life from developing a pedo-playland image is important to avoid bad publicity-driven real life crackdowns on the Lab's virtual garden of cyber delights.

Are Mainland IM and Chat Doomed To LL's Naughty Word Filter?

Linden's new Community Standards include broad Adult Content powers

by Jessica Holyoke

Linden Lab uses the Big Six of the Community Standards as an addendum to the Terms of Service (ToS).  Until now, the Big Six were Intolerance, Harrassment, Assault, Disclosure, Disturbing the Peace and Indecency.  Now Indecency has been replaced by Adult Content.  With the new Adult Content policy included in the Community Standards, and by extension, the ToS, the actual enforcement and meaning is a bit different than before.   

This is the old standard:

5. Indecency
Second Life is an adult community, but Mature material is not necessarily appropriate in all areas (see Global Standards below). Content, communication, or behavior which involves intense language or expletives, nudity or sexual content, the depiction of sex or violence, or anything else broadly offensive must be contained within private land in areas rated Mature (M). Names of Residents, objects, places and groups are broadly viewable in Second Life directories and on the Second Life website, and must adhere to PG guidelines.

This seems to mean that public land rated mature cannot have nudity or sexual content or have violent or sexual depictions - but this has changed in the new standard:

Adult Regions, Groups, and Listings
Second Life is an adult community, but 'Adult' content, activity and communication are not permitted on the Second Life 'mainland.' Such material is permitted on private regions, or on the Adult Continent, Zindra. In either case, any Adult content, activity, or communication, that falls under our Adult Maturity Definition must be on regions designated as 'Adult,' and will be filtered from non-verified accounts. Other regions may be designated as either 'Mature' or 'PG.' For more information on how to designate land, events, groups, and classified listings, please carefully read the 'Maturity Definitions.'

If Linden Lab is following through on what they have told residents previously, when the Lab is saying any type of communication, what they are really saying are land descriptions, event descriptions, group descriptions and classified listings.  But the policy as written above is broader than anything that they have stated before and is much more inclusive as to what is covered.  It seems to prohibit any adult communication received  by anyone not age verified.  

The Renaissance of Porn – Part 1

by Bunny Brickworks

If Second Life residents are one big family, www.flickr.com surely is their family album. Whenever something important happens, we take a snapshot and share the pictures with the community – our first, second and third wedding, a trip to a tropical beach, a party with friends and the fourth or fifth wedding.  But as in every decent family album we do not post our porn pictures on flickr. Never, that’s a no-go!

Cuddling on the beach or in front of a fireplace was acceptable, as the cheeky ones uploaded some naughty lingerie shots from time to time - but full front nudity and explicit sexual actions – whether alone or with two or more partners - those were out of the question. After all, what would Aunt Bettie say? ]

But something changed and suddenly porn was there - everywhere - on Flickr.  Couples, threesomes, orgies, blowjobs, BDSM – you name it, Flickr had it. What happened?

Secret Shadow Settings in New SL Viewer?

PCs with DirectX10 video might already have it made in the shade

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Are the Lindens sneaking support for shadows into the Second Life viewer? Rumors of a shadowy Second Life in the near future could be true, if the notecard Jenny Thielt sent the Herald is accurate. The notecard contained instructions for enabling dynamic shadows in the newest Second Life viewers - at least for PCs with DirectX 10 video. But does it work?

The Herald adheres to the highest standards of journalistic integrity, and I have to report that I was unable to verify that the instructions actually do anything other than make the fan start running very fast on my MacbookPro. Attempts to locate someone - anyone - with a DirectX 10 capable video card on my friends list was futile, so this may be another case of the Lab adding a feature that is beyond the reach of everyday avatars. I was surprised at how many of my friends run Macs and how reluctant the PC owners were to change anything - but that is a another story altogether.

In any case, the notecard is reproduced below the fold. If there are any readers who can make this work it would be interesting to see a screenshot - and Macintosh owners will certainly enjoy running their computer's fan on high.

Paying For Free SL Love

How Linden Lab profits from adult verification

by Jessica Holyoke

The Internet and Virtual Worlds have tried to monetize pornography in different ways.  Red Light Center, and other pornography web sites charge a monthly fee to access the naughty parts.   IMVU has made the same types of overtures.  In the past, I've seen one time payment of an access fee to guarantee that you are an adult.  But Second Life was always good about relatively free love.  You would pay to look good and for bits that work, but otherwise, you didn't have to pay to have access to sex.  What if Linden Lab came up with a new model to get money from Adult Content?

When Linden Lab rolled out the initial discussion of Adult Verification, they stated that while it would be free for paying customers, they might charge for the basic residents that don't pay a fee of any kind to access Second Life.  So far, in order to encourage use of the AV system, its been a free service.  How does the Lab make money from it?  For that, you can look no further than the new search and classifieds system.

As it stands right now, as reported many times by Ciaran Laval at your2ndplace.com, Search will be dependent on what type of content you tick that you want to see.  PG, Mature and Adult have to all be ticked in order to see all types of advertisements.  The better option for a marketer is to buy classifieds and land to hit all three search types.  Previously, if you wanted to search and include Mature content, you would see Mature and PG content.  Now you need to say specifically that you want all three types to see all three options.  

Linden Lab Co-Founder Cory Ondrejka to Visit Metaplace

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

 

Cory's Second Life profile

After parting company with Linden Lab last year, Cory Linden Ondrejka joined EMI, where he seems to be doing well - and was recently promoted to senior vice president for digital strategy. Given Cory's credentials as a co-founder of Linden Lab and creator of many core technologies in Second Life and his work in the digital music industry at EMI, the Metaplace event should be fascinating.

Beyond an erudite discussion new media, look for a Metaplace in-world reunion between Cory and Sunchaser - ex-Linden game god Robin Linden Harper. The event is scheduled for 2:00 PM PDT June 30th at TheStage.

Of course, the most important question is whether Cory will opt for a male or female avatar in Metaplace.  Experts agree - girls are more relaxed than boys when seated in Metaplace. Given Cory's calm and confident Second Life profile, we have a good idea of what to expect.

Vaneeesa Blaylock Pushes Second Life's Limits

I am a unique individual. And so am I.

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

My graphics card has nearly recovered from attending Vaneeesa Blaylock's "I Rez Therefore I Am" performance art event in early June. The artwork consisted of 25 silent female avatars wearing identical shoes and their own shapes - an invitation for viewers to ponder identity, the speed of rezing, and the whine of your computer's cooling fan as the GPU tries to save itself from death by meltdown and skins slowly materialize on the motionless avatars.

 

The artist's willingness to push the outer limits of what Second Life can handle was part of the performance's charm. While hoping for skins to snap into focus your expectations are reset - I cheered quietly each time a skin rendered and there was plenty of time to ponder how much of our time in SL is spent waiting -- and how much effort is put into constructing an SL persona. 

Aspiring SL designers may want to consider participating in a new piece involving a scarf design contest which will feature 16 performers helping Ms. Blaylock illustrate her tag line: I am a unique individual. And so am I.

Mystery Inside Investor Sells Stake in Linden Lab

Someone unloaded their Linden Lab holdings - but who?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

With reports circulating that an individual investor's equity stake in the Lab had been sold to Stratim Capital, the rumor mill can be expected to go into overdrive speculating about exactly which insider sold their shares - and why.

Stratim Managing Partner Zach Abrams is reported to have said his firm "bought almost the entire position of an existing shareholder". Abrams also said the shareholder who sold out was not one of the venture capital firms that have funded Linden Lab to date. Avoiding the VCs may make some sense from Stratim's point of view - their web site claims "to target individual investments of $3-5 million".

While Stratim specializes in "late stage companies with profitable opertations and strong business prospects" at least one current or former Lab insider has apparently decided that their personal financial interests and the Lab's have diverged. The whirring sound you hear is the Second Life fanboi press revving up their spin - as well they might.

As M Linden continues to place his mark on Second Life there have been a number of recent high profile departures from top management - Cory, Robin, Zee, and Ginsu Linden come to mind - a group the previously handled technology, community, finance, and legal/business development areas. The equity stake sell off is sure to add a certain frisson to the speculation -- was the sell off for personal cash flow or due to bad feelings about future prospects for the Lab?

Lab Moles Dig Up Second Life Adult Mainland

Empty adult storefronts just as boring as PG/mature mainland

by Jessica Holyoke

 

Mixed messages from LL: a safe hub on the new Adults-only continent

Today I had a chance to travel to Zindra, the new adults-only continent, and plumbed new depths of dullness for what was supposed to be a continent of sex and violence. Granted, this was the preview period where residents who have adult content plots on the older PG and Mature mainland continents are able to scout out where they would like to be placed when they have to be get to be moved in the upcoming weeks.

Wandering around, I got to see long beaches and unfilled plots, except for those with buildings that would look perfect as stores near the Mosh infohub - I am certain other adult content landlords are happy that the Lindens are providing that service.  For some reason, there are at least 5 sims of ocean.  Really, if I am going to do a Red Light District, do I want 5 sims of ocean? [Lindens expect strong demand for adult watersports? - the Editrx]

SLchan.com -- W-Hat.com’s Bratty Little Brother?

New media watch

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Our attention was recently drawn to www.SLchan.com - an image-driven site catering to the tastes of Second Life’s /b/tard community - mixing the ironic hypercute, the profane, and a smattering of iconic griefers as the community collectively defines an internet subculture with random pictures and short comments.

While the SLchan site mimics the 4chan approach with primarily anonymous posting, the focus is on Second Life and maintaining the memes that define the group zeitgeist.

Presumably the SLchan organizers hope to grow their community by recruiting at the site.

Until recently, SLchan.com incorporated a Second Life account sign-up page. Will more accounts please the Lab as the /b/ work to improve the human condition using Second Life? Or is there some other agenda at work?  Images on the site are a very mixed bag - anyone easily offended will want to give SLchan.com and 4chan a miss.

\

While the SLchan site is a recent development, the W-Hat goons' www.w-hat.com site is the elder statesmen of un-serious Second Life business. W-hat.com has been a fixture in the Second Life blogosphere since 2007, and it shows. The look is slick and professional, illustrating a basic tension between the /b/tards and the goons.

Residents Join Flickr Photo Fight for Same-Sex Marriage Rights

NoH8 Proposition 8 silent protest picture campaign comes to Second Life

by Bunny Brickworks

The ordinary Second Life resident is a lazy, unmotivated and unpolitical slob hiding in mom’s basement without knowing or caring what is happening in the real world. That might be true for some - but a growing number of residents are voicing their opinions on California's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage. With real life grassroots campaigns taking on a new urgency - driven in part by a California Supreme Court ruling upholding Proposition 8 - protests are now spilling over into Second Life..

This online movement is powered by word of mouth, in-world groups, and notecards [text after the jump] as the virtual world social media are harnessed in-world and via flickr to explain Proposition 8 -- and call on residents to join  the NoH8 campaign - a photo project and silent protest started by RL celebrity photographer Adam Brouska. Trace Osterham and Kristen Pick are organizing Second Life in-world activity with some success. Yesterday Trace Osterham had already taken more than 180 pictures of individuals, all wearing the face paint and duct tape in support of the cause.

A flickr group has been established for all those who create their own pictures and post them on their streams http://www.flickr.com/groups/noh8onsl/pool/. Free face paint and duct tape attachments are available at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Zion/121/80/699. On days like these I am more than proud of my fellow residents, artists and flickrites!

Underground in Gor: A Kinder, Gentler Counter-Earth?

Part 6 in a series

by the Wanderer

“Welcome, stranger.”

I was not in Gor anymore, at least the Gor I'd known.

Maybe it was the kajirae, dressed in their finest silks and not rags. Maybe it was the “wedding” cake they were serving. 

Or maybe “welcome” and “stranger” used together, in a world where “stranger” and “enemy” mean the same thing. It seemed that I'd come to town on an auspicious day. 

By the time I strolled up, a man and woman had become free companions. From what I have gleaned online, it's probably easier to be a slave-girl on Gor than the free companion of a Gorean male.  

The city notes it is a by-the-book region, but the woman was breaking Gorean rules left and right by speaking to other men and being rather bubbly. Their SL profiles showed that they professed love for each other in terms that would make John Norman squirm.  In previous cities I'd seen male profiles with a “chain of slaves” listed, like some sort of perverse set of jewelry.

Meerkat Viewer Runs Wild in Second Life - And Beyond

Is unleashed client a threat to Linden Lab supremacy?

by Tenshi Vielle

The long anticipated Meerkat viewer has been released for both Windows and Mac - and features radical goals such as cross grid access without a central authentication authority and cross grid content import/export - goals that may ultimately threaten Linden Lab's control this corner of the metaverse. Given the number of viewers already out there, here's hoping this one is both stable enough and feature-worthy to give us something to depend on, since LL's viewers are so crashtastic.

The Meerkat viewer is being developed by the Open Metaverse Foundation. Beyond clever coding, a smart Meerket marketing effort began with a viral campaign called "Shanti" that left internet cryptographers scratching their heads at the SLUniverse forums for some time in a marathon 2200 post thread last year.

The Meerkat Viewer goals:

• To create a fully GPL viewer (no proprietary dependencies)
• To encourage a community of developers that will submit patches for prompt integration
• To have the freedom to make the sort of changes that Linden Lab has traditionally been unable to integrate (translation patches, refactoring, fixing intentionally crippled features, changes that touch many files)
• To retain compatibility with Linden Lab's grid and protocols, present and future
• To implement a loosely coupled cross-grid functionality that requires no central authentication authority.

Adrenaline Lite - Adventure Sports in Second Life

by Fiend Ludwig

I like that you can't die when skydiving in SL. The blood pool animation when you hit the ground (much) too hard is about as real as it gets. Or is it. Why would anyone want to skydive in SL when you can fly...?

With a healthy dose of virtual trepidation, I strapped on my Terra Sport III PRO parachute, took my place on the Abbot's Aerodrome Skydiving Pod (vaguely resembling the seats in an airport departure lounge), and held on. The Pod launched me to 4000 meters into the sky then unceremoniously ejected me into free fall. After a bit of expert-looking plummeting, I pulled the ripcord and, held aloft by my Canada flag-emblazoned canopy, drifted slowly back to earth. The view was pretty good - once the details rezzed - and the parachute reacted to my control actions like I would imagine a real one would.  My landing was rated ("CRUNCH! Hard Landing") and the distance from my launch point was recorded (quite a long way away).

Bruce Schneier vs DJ Cuppycake - Event Showdown Part 1

No questions from the audience makes for a bad show

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Security guru sinks into his chair while talking to disembodied voices in virtual world

Second Life - a fancy dress party trying to become serious business - came in a poor second place to Metaplace in Thursday night’s virtual event showdown between security guru Bruce Schneier and DJ Cuppycake. At least in terms of event interactivity for in-world players, Metaplace won this round easily.

In the news business it is important to both look good and be prepared, so I stopped by the in-world set for Jimbo Hoyer’s Virtually Speaking show several hours early and ran into Widget Whiteberry. Ms. Whiteberry assured me that audience questions would be entertained during the Bruce Schneier interview, so I dropped off four questions with her that would be of particular interest to residents of Second Life. Ms. Whiteberry promised to pass the questions on, and I braced myself for the usual live event scuffle to get the moderator to pay attention to hard questions -- something I first learned about when covering Hamlet Au interviewing Julian Dibble several years ago.

But by the time the show was running events had taken a turn for the worse. Jimbo Hoyer’s computer wouldn’t run Second Life and Bruce Schneier was ignoring IMs from the engineering staff, so we were treated to what might as well have been a pre-recorded interview.

The telephone interview between Mr. Hoyer and Mr. Schneier was piped in world, but there was no interaction with the audience. The in-world audience's view of the event was a pony tailed Bruce Schneier avatar sunk into a chair, all alone on stage, talking to an invisible interviewer. Eventually CS Kappler decided to sit in the interviewer’s chair to help keep up appearances. At times like these, the cognitive dissonance becomes overwhelming and I wonder at the wisdom of holding events in any sort of virtual world.

XStreetSL Hates on Yo Ass Sometimes

Inconsistent Linden Lab censor can't make up his mind

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Orion Shamroy was surprised earlier this week to learn that all of his XStreet offerings had been pulled by Linden Lab for a ToS violation - using the word “ass” in the product description. But as of this writing, “Bukkake Sperm Sex Ass Arsch” underpants were not categorized as mature content at the wildly inconsistent virtual storefront.

The Herald was alerted to the issue when Orion called to say,

“Woke up this morning to find that all of my items have been removed from XStreet because the item descriptions contain the word "ass" in an attempt to make them sound more sexy or racy.  Certainly not pornographic or "adult" as surely you'd see worse things on MTV or even in any pop song on the radio.  Statement thought to be profane was: "Straight from my locker to yo ass! Come on gym rat, show off your hot stuff!  You won't help but be noticed wearin this hot jock boy's gear! "”

Could there be a bit of selective - or ineffective - enforcement at work at the Lab’s web-based storefront?

Avatar Mute Feature May Have Dangerous Side Effects

New mute feature: No avatar at all!

by Tenshi Vielle

the One and Only Delora Starbrook - muted

I love this new feature. SO MUCH. Now when I mute someone, I don't even have to look at them. I don't have to see any obscene avatar poses, obscene t-shirts, or anything.

See no evil, hear no evil!

---

New Mute Feature Generally Effective Against:

- Blingtards
- Gestutarders
- Particletards
- General Assholes
- Trolls

Dangerous Side Effects May Include:

- Whispering "I see grey people."
- General feeling of unrezzed-ness
- Excessive calm
- "Inner peace" and drama reduction

---

The Second Greatest Story Ever Told. Now in Paperback!

Dawning of the Age of Metaverse Enlightenment

by Dr. Ocularis, Herald Book Club

As we survey the broad sweep of the last two and a half millennia of Western culture, several efforts stand out as “Great Books” of this tradition -- The Bible, Plato’s Republic, and Aristotle’s Poetics, for example. Is it not time to add to this august list the story of Urizenus Sklar and the Second Life Herald? Well, you may not think so, but pointy headed intellectuals beg to differ! Let’s review the accolades received thus far by The Second Life Herald: the Virtual Tabloid that Witnessed the Dawn of the Metaverse:

• American Association of Publishers, Professional/Scholarly Publishing award for “Best Book in Media and Cultural Studies, 2007” .
• Choice “Outstanding Academic Title, 2008”
• Library Journal “Top Sci-Tech Book, 2007,” (Ranked one of top 39 science books of 2007 and top book in category of Computer Science).

And now, finally, the book appears in paperback so that the masses may partake in cranium expanding properties of this instant classic. Sleep tight tonight, grizzled Oxford Dons, Western Culture has never been in better shape.

Anti-Inspect Prims' Growing Popularity

by Tenshi Vielle

Ah, the new, shiny, stupid things Second Life residents create to make people spend L$. It's like your Aunt Gertrude buying the ShamWow! from a television commercial. Not necessary, completely stupid, and yet she loves the thing like a long lost child.

The new trend in Second Life Stupid Products is the Anti-Inspect prim. These showed up quite a long time ago -- a few years ago, in fact - but are now gaining popularity thanks to built in features on viewers like the Emerald viewer.

extending clothing layer protection shields to prim acessories?

An Anti-Inspect prim is basically just a huge, invisible prim that prevents anyone from immediately right clicking on your prim accessories to find out whose items you are wearing. Its beyond me why having someone inspect you is a problem, but apparently it is reaching epidemic proportions within Second Life.

Stroker Serpentine Slams Linden Lab for Sexbed Blacklist

We almost never blacklist by Asset-ID, It's dangerous -- Data Linden

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

A single Linden Lab staffer working after the Lab’s California-based offices closed may have been responsible for the Second Life sexbed breakdown that rendered thousands of residents’ avatar animations temporarily impotent -  a romantic disaster for some, and a huge headache for the Stroker Serpentine’s virtual sex toy business.

After the Herald broke the story friday, more details began to emerge when Stroker Serpentine took a break from fixing broken beds and handing out gifts to his unhappy customers to shed some light on the unfortunate situation in a series of posts to the SLUniverse forums.

Beyond suggesting that a single unidentified Linden created the blacklist nightmare, Mr. Serpentine confirmed that Data Linden assisted in correcting the blacklist, and shared a bit of chatlog:

Stroker Serpentine: Going forward..Any indication as to WHY it was blacklisted? The LS one and NOT the Mono one?
Data Linden: And the blacklist has propagated to this region already and the script now remains in the object if rezzed
Stroker Serpentine: LSL*
Data Linden: That I still need to find out, the person who did add it is not yet available
Stroker Serpentine: I mean, this was kind of sudden. It blind-sided us
Data Linden: It is a bit weird too, since we almost never blacklist by Asset-ID
Data Linden: It's dangerous

At least Data Linden was somewhat responsive. Mr. Serpentine describes a curious lack of communication after he contacted  Cyn Linden and the Lab’s legal council Marty Linden in his search for answers. 

Strokerz Second Life SexToys Broken

Frustrated cheerleader shoots Data Linden -- Lab blacklist blamed as thousands seek repairs for nerfed sexbeds

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

In mid-april, thousands of residents of Second Life discovered the avatar animations in their virtual sex beds were non-functional - a disaster of epic proportions for players interested in working through the Kama Sutra of Second Life with a close friend or two.

The cause of the cartoon world coitus interruptus appears to have been a Linden Lab blacklist and deletion of a key script in Stroker Serpentine’s toys. While shooting victim Data Linden and the broken beds are expected to make a full recovery, the episode raises troubling questions about the Lab's control over user generated content and the uncertainties of business in the virtual realm.

Stroker Serpentine prepares for more customer service work

According to Mr. Serpentine, on April 14th Linden Lab blacklisted a data loader script that caused thousands of his Strokerz Toyz products to stop working - a customer support nightmare for Mr. Serpentine. The nightmare was shared by Cheergirl Allen who retails a line of Bimbo Cheerleader branded sex bed that use Mr. Serpentine’s scripts.

The worldwide script deletion incident apparently had nothing to do with upcoming adult content controls from Linden Lab - but it is puzzling how Stroker's scripts could have been deleted at all. According to a reliable source, blacklisting and expunging of scripts or objects from Second Life requires sign off from a Lab supervisor so that over-eager first tier support does not accidentally remove  important features of the world.

Underground in Gor: A Man Needs a Maid!

The Wanderer's Underground in Gor series outsourced to a contractor

by Pappus Enochus, High Blutarch o' Bugtusslistan

Well, it are nigh unto Memorable Day an' the Wanderin' Feller in Gor dun telled Miz Pixeleen he needed the day off tu go play with sum Panther Gals.  

But for me, no rest fo' the wicked! My trailer were such a mess I needed me hip-waders. A man needs a maid, like that skinny ol' Hillbilly, Neil Young, dun sung one time. My clothes, both sets of overalls, smelled like they'd been sprayed with Musturd-gas.

Then it hit me like a fencepost up side the head: slave gals o' Gor. I heared they am trained up to be good in bed. Maybe they'd even be rite good at makin' one!  

I tried readin' them Gor-books, but the copies at the Enoch Holler Publick Libary was ruined. Pages was all stuck together! So I slipped a 20 to a kid with a Meth habit an' he did some top-notch research at sum'fin named Wackypedia.  He telled me all about Gor, so I changed up my profile at SL to fool them Gor-boys:

Pappus Enochus, that am my proper name upon Gor. I are the High Blutarch of Bugtusslistan, and keeper of them Scrolls of the Burning Shame, handed down from them-there Kings n' Dukes in Aeons past.  I fite agin' Looftar Untanglian and The Stinking Horde, dang their hides. I are on a quest to git gals for the fair vale o' Breezewood Park, where mighty tasks am dun in the trailers--I mean the castles--tu keep the manly Masters rite happy-like while they watches the chariots race on the deadly ovals of Nascarius.

Second Life Grid Support Outsourced to ComSys?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

A new clan sharing the Comsys brand last name have joined the pantheon of game gods. I personally witnessed a divine double sighting in Second Life earlier this evening. Based on both job postings and avatar profiles, it appears that Comsys is taking over first tier support from Linden staff. Could this be a cost cutting measure by the Lab? There does seem to have been some significant departures from the Lab of late.

My first encounter with the strong, but silent men of Comsys came while researching a story on the mysterious Pulseburst Flow. While cataloging Mr. Flows' land holdings, I noticed a pair of avatars near Mr. Flows' Gumtree sim -- a sim that had crashed and stayed down for at least 30 minutes.

No Linden staff were present, but Comsys had come to the rescue - although noobie PedroP Comsys seemed a bit preoccupied with something on the ground. The confident demeanor ChrisJ projected was reassuring, but I wondered why Pedro was wearing long black latex rubber gloves - had there been a problem in Furnation recently?

LL to Players: Stop Gaming Search Results With Camping!!!

Low-skill entry-level jobs threatened by policy change - "model" bots left untouched

by Jessica Holyoke

Camping for L$s may soon be banned in Second Life - a move that will prevent entry level players from being paid to park their avatars in place for hours at a time to skew the Search results. Yesterday, Jack Linden posted a clarification of the upcoming anti-camping policy on the Second Life blog. The policy limits methods of artificially raising traffic numbers for a parcel - but exempts self-identified bots acting as models from the ban. Businesses using techniques such as camp chairs to  enhance traffic will receive a warning on the first violation and removal from the Search results for repeated violations.

To gauge resident reaction to the policy change, I went to several popular camping spots to talk to the people most effected - the campers.  I was faced with a lot of silent, empty faces and blank stares as news sank in that this could be the end of their livelihood in SL.  As one camping resident put it, "It Sucks."

Zonja Capalini <3 Opensim in Linden Lab Smackdown

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Did Linden Lab really think through last fall's 66% OpenSpace price increase - and what it would lead to? You might wonder after reading Zonja Capalini's diary of the diaspora: The Openspace fiasco: six months later - a tell-all tale of her journey to metaverse self-sufficiency. The Lab's fanboys are not going to like it, but Ms. Capalini's advice on selecting a virtual world platform for business and education rings true - and leaves the Lab's marketing hype looking hopelessly optimistic, at best. Some highlights of Zonja's targeted takedown of SL:

Skype voice quality is by far much superior to Second Life voice quality! In particular, 3D spacial voice is a nuisance for education (because it forces you to constantly zoom around the virtual classroom when the speaker’s voice is not audible enough), and Skype’s dynamic feedback and noise cancellation algorithms are so good that most virtual students can attend the class without even having to mute/unmute their microphone.

Ms. Capalini goes for the throat on Second Life support:

If you are absolutely forced to do business with the Lindens (which I obviously won’t recommend, given my experience), don’t even think there will be somebody there who knows about you and about your business. 3,540 US$ + VAT per year doesn’t entitle you to be treated like a customer. They don’t even have a list of how many islands you own, or how much money you spend per month, so that they can care about you and advice you properly. Or if they do have such a list, it doesn’t show. Plan ahead of them, taking into account the inefficiencies of their support system — you’d better do, because you’ll be paying for them (i.e., when you transfer an island, neither you nor the buyer can use the island in the meanwhile — but you have to pay for it anyway, and there is no guarantee about how much time it will take them to implement the transfer; if their queues are collapsed, you pay for their collapse).

Underground in Gor: Angst and a Wish for Orbital Bombardment

Gor is disgusting: get free, break a rule, get enslaved - part five in a series

by The Wanderer

I plan to heed the advice of my readers and go back to Panther-country, since that would be the Gorean-Male thing to do.

But as I got ready for a teleport, I dragged my virtual feet.  I no longer fear rape by the forest-girls. No, it's something bigger: I'm getting disgusted with Gor.  In fact, seeing the tables turned on a Gorean “Master,” even me, might be the curative I need to finish this series.

In fact, every time I log off from by-the-books Gorean sims, despite all the sexy (and enslaved) eye-candy, I feel the need to vomit, not masturbate.

The other night, I watched a Free Woman bound, stripped, humiliated, and forced into slavery.  I never really figured out what rule she'd broken. Bit by bit, her clothing was cut from her, and last of all her veil was ripped away. She lay trussed, naked, soon to be collared and branded.

In any other RPG, I'd be getting my pals together to take on the slaver and his guards, cut them up and leave them to rot.  Even my evil characters tend to savor freedom and dislike castes and those who pull the strings. Makes me wish for leveling up, sometimes, and a real game so a band of us could form an outlaw guild and murder all the slavers.

Herald Readers Smash 50,000 Comment Barrier

Militias, mafias, land barons, Lindens, griefers, Goreans, furs & fashionistas form huge drama pump

by Pixeleen Mistral, Herald Editrix

Friday, the Herald staff assembled at a local sushi bar to sample the fugu, watch the reader comment counter, and place a few friendly wagers. At issue - the content of the 50,000th reader's  comment.

The wagers were - of course - entirely a skill-based virtual game, so nobody was really gambling -- except on the fugu. If any money spacebux changed hands, it was something like playing zyngo in Second Life - just another game the Lab seems more than happy to tolerate.

Back at the sushi bar, Audrey from typesetting bet big on the recent crypto-mystic quantum mechanics fad, while the sports desk hoped for Nacon to call someone an idiot - yet again. As the comment counter ticked to 50000, a classic Herald topic bubbled up to the top of the heap and everyone's favorite - Gorean sex - claimed the place of honor. For the record, the 50,000th Herald reader comment was from Herald writer The Wanderer - who will risk his virtual virtue to get the Panther Girl story in classic Herald style.

Underground in Gor: Panther Country

Sim line saves Wanderer from sex-slavery in part 4 in a series

by the Wanderer

The kajira looked up at me, worry in her eyes. “They will capture you and rape you, Master.”
“Who?”
“The forest-girls.  Don't go into the forest.”

A noob Gorean like me can sure be stupid.  Despite several warnings, I went into the forest.  

Only a sim-line stopped my becoming a sex-slave.

A Geekboy's Ultimate Wet-Nightmare

Who are these wild women of Gor?  You've seen the outfits, and they fulfill a subcategory of male fantasy that is too good to resist: babealicious babes in animal-skin body floss and warpaint who drag men off for sex.

Only problem: that Gorean will-to-power thing. When the Panthers are done, boy-toy does not get to be king: he gets sold off and remains a slave. By-the-book Panthers might be escaped kajirae, or they might be born wild. Either way, if you have a prick, even if you are not one, you become prey. 

Lab To Cripple Furry, Tiny Avatars With Faux Bug Fix

Player protests on JIRA leads to 1 day suspension from Second Life

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Maya Remblai was given a one day suspension from Second Life last friday after some vigorous discourse with BigPapi Linden caused BigPapi to start SHOUTING IN ALL CAPS on the JIRA bug tracking system, while refusing to address legitimate resident concerns about his forthcoming bug fix. Eventually the Lab called in Alexa Linden to start swinging the ban stick, and Maya spent a day off the grid.

The cause of all this drama? A disagreement between the Linden game gods and custom avatar creators specializing in robots, gargoyles, furrys and tiny avatars over how to hide the standard human avatar mesh.

In a virtual world where much of the gameplay centers around constructing elaborate representations of fictional characters, the timing of bug fixes that affect the rendering of avatars is a hot topic - particularly since the Lab has not provided support for transparency in the standard avatar mesh despite well documented needs dating back two years.

Currently at issue is BigPapi’s fix for the mega-invisiprim bug - a bug which some avatar creators use to entirely hide the normal avatar mesh, so that only attachments are rendered. This bug is particularly useful for very small or non-human avatars, since using smaller invisible prims create ugly visual artifacts.

Underground in Gor: Playing by Their Rules

by the Wanderer

The girl's bare feet whisper over the fine rugs, as her Master sits, brooding, watching the gyrations of the dancer in the pit.  Her only rag, a mere wisp of silk, rustles as she kneels carefully, lowering the bowl of cold paga into his waiting hands.  She looks up, bashfully, into his serious eyes.

Tal, readers, from Counter-Earth.  Thanks to those who provided good advice during the first two chapters. I decided not to give my avatar's name and not to name the sims I've visited.  

Before you read on, a word of warning. If you are expecting deep secrets about SL Gor, find something else to read.  I haven't found them…yet. What's on offer is a look at a newcomer's experience in a by-the-books Gorean sim.

Hitting the Ground Running

Most “pure” Gorean sims have lots of ways to help noobs out. As much as the OOC malls help support them, they want more players who, presumably, will be paying renters when tier comes due. I began in sims as a tagged visitor, but I quickly decided “in for a penny, in for a pound” and entered the roleplay, including the combat HUD.  

Joan Sweetwater, who went to Gor with a big chip on her shoulder, was right when she admitted that Gorean men and kajirae are decent enough to help someone new enter their RP.  Even a free woman I met, a rarity in Gorean RP if not in the books, defied Sweetwater's rants about them as cold and haughty.

A kajira helped me find a watering hole and explained how the visitor's role worked.  So I soon was in the game, sucking down paga in a tavern with a warrior, a slaver, and a group of slave-girls.

Underground in Gor: Stuck in The Kajira SkyMall

by The Wanderer

My avatar was about as ready as I planned to make him. I’d joined several Gorean groups to listen in on announcements and get a feeling for their RP.

Then I went to the first Gorean Sim that looked more or less “by the book” and also had enough green dots present to make the journey worthwhile. And there I found... shopping.

At each of five sims I tried to enter, I arrived on a platform high above the in-character action. Goreans make the largest roleplaying group in SL if Hamlet Au is to be believed -- and I was stuck in a stupid MALL.

Then, I saw them - a guy with three kneeling babes who had, between them, not enough clothing to make a decent bandanna. 

The Wanderer: good evening sir
Kajira 1: rolls her eyes at the preening male

The Wanderer: I see the girls know their manners
Kajira 2: giggles and coughs at the same time. *Couha!*
Gorean Master: greetings sir
Gorean Master:  laughs

The Wanderer: I come from a far land.
Kajira 2: smiles warmly... Greetings Master.

The Wanderer: and have a certain difficulty
Gorean Master : oh? And what would that be sir?

The Wanderer: where ever I go I seem to find myself in a marketplace
Gorean Master: chuckles
Gorean Master: the merchants guild is indeed powerful and far flung

How Profitable is the Second Life Fashion Game?

by Tenshi Vielle

I recently ran a very informal survey at Shopping Cart Disco in attempt to learn what Second Life's fashion designers cash out of Second Life per month. The results are summarized in the table below -- the average earnings for all designers was $850 USD/month.

Inexperienced designers claiming to take home an average of $490/month and experienced designers make $1145 on average.

The figures in red represent claimed income (withdrawn from SL in United States Dollars) averages across the comment input board. Each column is labeled on the bottom for experienced or inexperienced designers.

Here are some comments  from both experienced (1+ years) and inexperienced (under 1 year) designers:

"I’m a new designer, I have a small store with less than 20 products in it and not even a customer group. The past couple months I’ve cashed out $100usd. I made more than that, that is what was left over after I shopped and played around all month, that also is the amount minus my land expenses, etc, and with me leaving some in SL to use. While a hundred dollars isn’t allot by any stretch, I can see how the larger stores with allot more products, a large customer base, as well as several bloggers and magazines that promote them, could be pulling in a living. I’d like to be there some day, but for now my store covers my costs, lets me play and buy what I want, and also gives me a little extra RL cash. :)"

Underground in Gor: A New Series

by the Wanderer

Recently, a blogger named Joan Sweetwater explored Gorean culture and regions in Second Life, as a freewoman and, later, as a kajira. 

I began to wonder what a geeky man would do in these settings. 

Sweetwater began with a large chip on her shoulder: she despises Gor and its culture of male dominance. Goreans may note the small percentage of slaves in their culture, but it's the exception people remember. As Sweetwater put it, “no slaves, no Gor.”

So, I decided to go to Second Life's version of Counter-Earth not as a troll but as a reporter who would roleplay as best I could, inside the Gorean culture. 

Here's a caveat. I dislike Gor too, though not with Sweetwater's level of venom. I found the novels badly written, even when I was a horny teenager. Back then, for dumbed-down versions of Nietzsche's will to power, I preferred the Conan novels, with their strong hero and often strong women.

Mob Attacks Second Life Vice

by Miss Petunia Amaryllis Courtney Taliaferro, SL League of Decency

An overflow crowd recently gathered to protest vice, depravity, and bad taste that mark the current state of Second Life. SLOD reserved a PG region (there being no G regions, sadly) and came well armed against any roaming perverts. 

 

Overflow crowd demands end to Second Life vice - supports coercive interrogation of avatars

Many speakers, taking the lead from my organization, called upon Linden Lab™ to begin coercive interrogation of avatars caught “in the act,” so that a List of Those Who Must Be Lashed™ can be made available to the Linden Beadles™ who will soon be roaming all regions of Second Life, including Pervert Island™, the new concentration camp adult continent. These stalwart doers of the public good will employ my own creation, the Expunge-O-Matic™ permaban system.

The zenith of our gathering was the appearance of none other than the sensitive and talented Septimus Severus Legume, the greatest poet alive in any virtual environment. Mr. Legume read many of his heart-rending verses, including my favorite, “He Who Must Be Burned to a Crispy-Crisp”:

Better Than a Freenis - Tenshi Gets A Boob Job

by Tenshi Vielle, fabulous fashionista

Skin: Blowpop Skins, Bikini: Shai, Hair: ETD

Ladies, digital boobs are no longer good enough for us. There are places the skin layer simply cannot go. That skin you love so much might just need a little enhancement for that special night out on the town. Nobody wants to look like a Spaced Out Sally in a tube dress. You, my dear, should look at least twice as valuable as the Olive Garden-esque meal he is now treating you to.

A new era of digital female enhancements brings the shirt and jacket layer "cleavage enhancements". See for yourself: [photo after the jump]

Why the SL Avatar Mesh Fails

by Tenshi Vielle, fabulous fashionista

slmesh.jpg - Courtesy of Annyka Beckers, creator of Blowpop Skins

In an amazing feat of web-stumbling, it has been revealed that 3D meshes work best when they do NOT contain triangles. 

Triangles, due to their odd nature when subjected to division create bumps and humps in the avatar's appearance. We, of course, see this nearly every damned time we take a screenshot in Second Life.  You can see it on my avatar in this shot, mostly on the inside of my right elbow and just below the avatar's breast.

Please allow me to quote Blender Newbies (lulz, Newbie facts) for their "a3D Modeling For Dummies" explanation:

Ex-Second Life Newspaper SLNN Now Covering Golden Grrrls?

Metaverse loses another news source as SLNN changes ownership and direction

by Tenshi Vielle

SLNN's coverage of the Second Life world has gone missing and is now feared dead. For nearly two weeks, the formerly Second Life-oriented news service's web site has been unresponsive.

Readers attempting to access current or past articles are greeted with an ominous message:

"BANDWIDTH EXCEEDED. The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later."

Google responds in a similar fashion:

"This Account Has Been Suspended. Please contact the billing/support department as soon as possible."

There does not appear to have been any moves made to remedy this problem, suggesting that SLNN has moved on to another, better world - a twitter news world, where selling ads and paying reporters are just a distant memory.

Could the SLNN be pointing the way forward for the mainstream media - which is also suffering from diminished ad revenue and flirting with new media?

Crowdsourcing Grief in Second Life's Remembrance Garden

Will residents remember the dead in Linden-approved style?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

I  join several scantily clad residents in Linden Lab's new "Remembrance Garden" and click on Flower Dispenser 55. The dispenser replies in soothing tones, "Please type the name of the person to commemorate.  The person must be a SL avatar name.  Please take care to spell and capitalize correctly".

So spelling counts -- and this memorial is limited to Second Life names. My eyes mist up, and along with the other mourners I type the name of an avatar I know will never be back, then click on another flower dispenser:

Pixeleen Mistral: Tizzers Foxchase
Poppies 28 whispers: Planting flower...
Orchid 70 whispers: Planting flower...
Daylily 23 whispers: Offsets Saved
Flower Dispenser 23: Please type the name of the person to commemorate.  The person must be a SL avatar name.  Please take care to spell and capitalize correctly.

The number of Hunter Talon flowers suggests that the Justice League Unlimited visited recently and power flower spammed the Remembrance Garden. Once again, the players have found a way to make what is appears to be a Linden marketing ploy into a game of their own.

Under M Linden's reign, the Lab has taken an active role in trying to shape Second Life resident actions - and media coverage. The Remembrance Garden would be ideal for heartwarming stories about the crossover between the virtual and the real -- if the players will just cooperate. But if there is an authentic need for commemorative sites why not let the players create these themselves? Or is a virtual astro-turfed outpouring of grief the real point of the Lab's gift garden?

My musing is interrupted as I notice Flower Dispenser 23 seems to be following Flower Dispenser 55's lead, so I play along:

Pixeleen Mistral: Plastic Duck
Poppies 24 whispers: Planting flower...
Flower Dispenser 23: Please limit yourself to one flower per garden.  Thanks!

Now the game has taken an interesting turn - the flower dispensers are designed to prevent residents in mourning from flower spamming and there are only four gardens so I'll have to chose carefully. Too bad the designer didn't bother to check to see if the "dead" avatars have logged in recently. Corsi Mousehold, a very much alive furry and sexbed entrepreneur is commemorated in the flowerbed. I'm only going to plant flowers for prema-banned avatars to stay in-theme.

Two women - one wearing a transparent blouse and photorealistic breasts that might not pass muster in the Lab's new PG/Mature rating system walk over to me.

It's 4/20 -- Do You Know Where Your Medical Marijuana Is?

Part time griefer and journalist advocates for medical marijuana

By Doctor Ocularis, Herald Medical Desk

photo stolen from Metro Spirit

Today being April 20 (aka 4/20) it is only fitting that we link to a story about weed. In this case we link to a story by Joshua McCracken in the Augusta Georgia Metro Spirit. Josh, if you don't know, had a former incarnation in Second Life as Deadly Codec (d3adl3yc0d3c); he had an impressive career as a griefer and tied for third place as 2008 avatar of the year. He is also a former Herald Contributor. 

Joshua is now in Metaplace as Satan (not griefing so far as we know). Josh is also an AIDS patient, and this has led to his interest in medical marijuana. From the story:

Because I cannot have legal access to potentially more effective (and less addictive) medicine — such as marijuana — I am prescribed meds such as hydromorphone for pain caused by golf-ball sized lymph nodes in the sides of my neck. Hydromorphone is an opioid painkiller that is five times the strength of morphine. It is also known by the brand name Dilaudid. For the record, I am grateful that my doctors gave me the relief that they could (some of them might be reading this).

But Wilsey and I both could be helped by something much cheaper and less dangerous. I believe our pain and suffering is being compounded by draconian drug policies. Government entities such as the DEA continued to push their agendas without regard to people like us, or the millions who support our option to be treated with the medication called marijuana

Blaze on, C0d3c. Blaze on.

<3

Which SL Celebrity Inspired This RL Avatar?

This Second Life Avatar created by Shawn Wheeling was inspired by which SLebrity?
select one answer

o        M Linden
o        T Linden
o        Z Linden
o        Hamlet Linden
o        Philip Linden
o        Plastic Duck
o        Gene Replacement
o        Luc Besson
o        Leon The Professional

SHOCK! Sky News Closes Second Life News Bureau!!!

by Sigmund Leominster

The Prophets of Doom can wallow in the demise of yet another major news corporation's exit from the Second Life virtual world. Britain's Sky News has announced that it is formally closing down its SL island and moving to a "new 'Immersive Workspaces' platform in Second Life where employees meet to exchange ideas and do business."

News will still be delivered to these workspaces via "News Pods," a essential a screen with streaming video.

Obliquely referencing the departure of other news providers, Sky News says that "life, even Second Life, and technology, move on. In Second Life, increasingly, the trend has moved away from corporate islands like the Sky Newsroom."

Virtual world Cassandras can eagerly point to this as being further evidence that "the end is nigh," whereas more sober commentators will simply point out that the economics of news reporting and delivery in Second Life is very different from real life, and spending lots of money to have virtual world analogs of real life newsrooms doesn't necessarily make any financial sense.

[reprinted by permission from sigmundleominster.blogspot.com]