This year’s Second Life 9th Birthday (SL9B) celebration is coming to a close, but before the SIMs shut down forever here are some of my favorite SL9B exhibits that you won’t want to miss!

Lotus Stage (Donpatchy Dagostino)

Breathtakingly beautiful and functional.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/DreamSeeker%20SL9B%20Iwa/138/240/69

Spider of Connection (Yooma Mayo)

See things from a different perspective as you defy gravity.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/KittyCatS%20SL9B%20BirthdayBash/211/116/21

AviewTV (Thoth Jantzen)

A fantastic 360 degree immersive multimedia exhibit.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/DreamSeeker%20SL9B%20Kyuu/232/82/22

Virtual Marble Machine (pallina60 Loon)

Transform into a marble and enjoy a fun ride through the machine.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/KittyCatS%20SL9B%20BirthdayBash/159/212/22

Sustainable Living (Faint Paulse)

Educational and informative build about going green with an environmentally friendly free gift.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/FruitIslands%20SL9B%20Fun/105/142/21

Creator’s Brain (Failed Inventor)

Discover how the brain of an SL content creator works and why they are so important.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hoedown/68/47/21

KittyCats Dance Party (Callie Cline)

Adorable retro KittyCat exhibit where you can pick up an exclusive free SL9B KittyCat.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/KittyCatS%20SL9B%20BirthdayBash/10/229/21

Cake Stage (Mikati Slade)

Awesome retro stage with nine free birthday hats for you to find.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/DreamSeeker%20SL9B%20Nine/112/194/25

The Paintings and Poses Project (Winter Nightfire)

Explore this beautiful exhibit and check out the photos users have taken there.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Jamboree/20/228/21

The 1920s Berlin Project (Jo Yardley)

Travel back in time to Berlin in the 1920s and learn more about this historical roleplaying community.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Celebrate/182/9/21

My School Project… Inside Linden Lab (Loki Elliot )

Take a look at what’s going on inside the Lab at this fun and humorous installation.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/KittyCatS%20SL9B%20BirthdayBash/10/62/22

Black Rose Mermaid Fountain  (Vivienne Daguerre)

Visit this beautifully modeled fountain and don’t forget to make a wish.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/DreamSeeker%20SL9B%20Negen/32/130/21

UWA Arts & Machinima (Carmsie Melodie)

Learn more about the UWA’s art and machinima community and check out this touching installation.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Jamboree/139/227/21

100 Word Stories (Crap Mariner)

Learn more about the various groups and events related to the writing community at this exhibit.
http://maps.secondlife://FRUITISLANDS%2520SL9B%2520PARTY/200/210/22

Safe Waters Foundation  (Zohee Goldshark)

This year SL9B has underwater exhibits and this beautiful installation in one you can dive into.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gala/224/59/26

BioBreeds (Charity Goldfarb)

Beautiful fantasy area with a special gift.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/FruitIslands%20SL9B%20Party/243/185/21

Egyptian Area (KT Syakumi)

Who knows what you’ll uncover out here.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/KittyCatS%20SL9B%20PartyTime/99/153/21

Magical Meeroo Cave (Ruca Tease)

A magical fantasy cave for you and your Meeroos to enjoy and explore.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/DreamSeeker%20SL9B%20Neun/106/217/22

Cloud’s Gate (Ub Yifu)

An interactive tribute to Tim Burton.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/DreamSeeker%20SL9B%20Kyuu/165/178/21

The Colossus Of Rod (Crap Mariner)

In Rod We Trust.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/KittyCatS%20SL9B%20BirthdayBash/214/227/23

Bad Katz  (Katz Republic)

Beautiful fantasy exhibit that’s more than meets the eye.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/DreamSeeker%20SL9B%20Negen/233/206/22

SL9B Works (Eliza Wierwight & Contour)

A beautiful and creative installation.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/DreamSeeker%20SL9B%20Kyuu/218/117/22

Booshies

Stop by and have some cake with these cute creatures from Booshtopia.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Jamboree/39/79/21

While these were some of my favorite exhibits there is so much more to see so take the time to explore SL9B before it’s gone!!

This is your last chance!  SL9B officially closes Wednesday June 27th at 11.59pm SLT.

Don’t forget to add your photos to the SL9B Flickr group.  You can view some of my additional photos taken at SL9B here.

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Last week, well known virtual persona Botgirl Questi explained why she believes that Linden Lab is investing in new products “instead of” Second Life.  Botgirl’s argument, based on factors mentioned in an “employee” review, is that Second Life is built on ten year old technology that has inherent limitations. She believes that the virtual world market is stagnant; therefore it wouldn’t make good business sense to invest in reengineering the platform.  In conclusion, she asserts that we will still see tiny “incremental improvements to the client” or “small fixes for issues that don’t require a large investment,” but in a few years “a declining Second Life and an emerging OpenSim will tilt the balance and we’ll see a fast decline in both land ownership and active users.”

Fallacies

Before I can continue with the point of this post, I have to point out several fallacies in the disproportionately negative logic of this proposal:

1. Employee review
   Botgirl draws insight from what she refers to as an employee review, but this is simply a review made by an anonymous person.  We have no way of knowing if this person was ever actually a Linden Lab employee.  I would argue that with a large, active and vocal community like Second Life has, it may be more reasonable to conclude that this review was not made by an employee, but a frustrated user.  However, even if we were to assume that this review were by an actual former employee, if would still just be one factor in a big picture put forth by a disgruntled member of a large organization.
2. The virtual world market is stagnant
   This simply isn’t the case.  Just because giants like Google have focused on other current trends and haven’t publically tried to take on virtual worlds after failing at their first attempt does not mean the space is dead.  Although, I suppose this could depend on your definition of virtual worlds.  In the broad sense, many analysts have been talking about the increase in real time social environments and the rise in funding, like this recent $15 million dollar investment, only renewing interest in avatar-driven virtual spaces.  But even if you are referring to a more narrow definition of virtual worlds, Botgirl herself cites the “emerging” Opensim community and no one can argue the recent popularity of using Unity 3D based spaces.  In addition, investments like the $1 million dollars in funding that Language Lab received for education in Second Life demonstrate the power they’ve been shown to have.
3. Only tiny improvements to the client or small fixes
   All evidence points to the contrary and Botgirl has no way of knowing what Linden Lab is working on.  When I was participating in the Second Life closed beta for mesh support I heard so many users complaining that Linden Lab doesn’t listen to them, that the Lab never does anything to improve Second Life, that Second Life was dead, that mesh was never coming, etc.  I was so excited by what I was seeing that I wanted to scream it from the roof tops, but I couldn’t say a word.  Who knows what’s being developed now that we don’t know about, yet?
4. Emerging Opensim
   While I believe that certain platforms can be better suited for certain uses, there just isn’t clear evidence to support this.  Despite its misleading headline, a recent report shows that Opensim’s top grid is planning to purge as many as 50-60% of its regions due to inactivity.  Another report shows that Opensim has about 15,000 users, the same as it did in 2009.
5. New products instead of Second Life
   Botgirl’s theory overall explains why she believes the Lab is investing in new products *instead*  of Second Life, however, there is no evidence that Linden Lab is putting any less time, attention, or money into Second Life.  Linden Lab has already stated that it isn’t pulling employees from Second Life teams to explore and create these new products, they are hiring new additional ones.  They are also hiring new additional employees for Second Life itself.

Unproductive Gossip

The above fallacies are not why I wrote this post though.  On this week’s MetaReality Podcast I agreed with ex-Linden, Karl Stiefvater’s contention that these types of assertions are often unproductive.  I also happen to think they are dangerous.

Botgirl’s post is a false dilemma.  Her theory that because Linden Lab is also working on new products then Second Life must be unsavable and dying ignores numerous unknown factors and therefore leads us to an irrelevant conclusion.  In the end, it’s little more than unnecessary gossip.

The reason I find these types of posts so particularly offensive is they are full of black and white thinking, overgeneralizations and catastrophizing which only exploit the community’s emotions and trigger strong reactions from all sides.  It’s not only unproductive, it’s toxic. Yet we voraciously consume and spread it.   What’s even more concerning is that the more and more it gets repeated, the more it’s believed as truth or fact.

Accepting the Things We Cannot Change

The Dalai Lama has been quoted as saying:

“If there is a solution to a problem, there is no need to worry. And if there is no solution, there is no need to worry.”

There are so many more productive and important discussions that we can have to actually improve the future of virtual worlds.  It may be less titillating, but it’s definitely more fulfilling.  In the meantime, I’ll be in-world creating, experimenting, exploring, and enjoying the present virtual worlds.  No matter what any rumors say, they truly are an amazing experience.

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Linden Lab has officially updated their Policy on Third Party Viewers connecting to Second Life by adding four new clauses.  This led to an explosive and dramatic public outcry from users that Linden Lab was trying to kill off third party viewers (TPVs) or kill off all sources of innovation so that people would be forced to use their viewer.

These changes were discussed with TPV developers at a viewer development meeting* with Oz Linden.  With so much misinformation being posted, I sat down to talk with a TPV developer in order to learn more about these changes, understand Linden Lab’s motives, and find how they will impact the Second Life community.

*Side note: recently an audio transcript of this meeting has started publically circulating, but it was explained to me that this transcript was meant to be a record for TPV developers only and was not intended for public consumption so I will respect the developer’s wishes by not posting it here.

Here’s what you need to know about the new changes:

Privacy Changes

The first three clauses added were in relation to privacy issues.

2.a.iii : You must not provide any feature that circumvents any privacy protection option made available through a Linden Lab viewer or any Second Life service.

The intention of this clause is clear.  As of this time, this clause only seems to directly impact features that display “true online status” (displays whether a user is online despite them having set the option to hide this in their preferences).  In the near future, Linden Lab will be breaking the (llRequestAgentData) function which will cause scripted features/objects to only show “true online status” if the script is owned by or created by the subject of the request. Otherwise, the request will return a false value.  The Lab is aware of other ways this function is being used and are taking those uses into consideration when resolving privacy concerns.   Online indicators will still work as long as the script is owned by or created by the subject whose status is being displayed.  This clause will not effect client side radar features or tools.

2.i : You must not display any information regarding the computer system, software, or network connection of any other Second Life user.

2.j : You must not include any information regarding the computer system, software, or network connection of the user in any messages sent to other viewers, except when explicitly elected by the user of your viewer.

The intention of these clauses are also clear.  At this time, these clauses mainly seem to effect client/viewer tags (that publically display what viewer you are using).  Linden Lab became concerned about these tags after observing the common and widespread harassment of users (especially new uses) in relation to the viewer they were using.  Therefore, this feature will be broken grid-wide this coming Tuesday/Wednesday.

Shared Experience

The last clause added had to with the overall shared user experience.

2.k : You must not provide any feature that alters the shared experience of the virtual world in any way not provided by or accessible to users of the latest released Linden Lab viewer.

This is the clause drawing the biggest complaints.  Due to the broad scope of this clause it’s been widely misinterpreted as Linden Lab ending the TPV program once and for all.  However, in actuality, the intention of clause is nothing of the sort.  When talking to the TPV developers Oz Linden repeatedly went to great lengths to reassure them.  He explained that no one at Linden Lab wants to ban TPVs and that this clause is only in reaction to observed user confusion resulting from fragmented user experiences.  The Lab’s goal is for all users to equally be able to see and experience the same world.  Oz also doesn’t anticipate any dramatic actions as a result of the clause.  He stressed that it was not aimed at any specific current feature, nor does he have plans to take any enforcement actions based on any current feature of a TPV.  The clause will not effect features that change the way the world is “presented” (such as Exodus’ visual settings) or “controlled” (such as the way in which you move objects), but only changes to the world itself in such a way that the experience of users running other viewers (particularly the latest Linden Lab viewer) is fragmented in some way.  Oz also pointed out that this could have been enforced under the current policy, but that the Lab wanted to clarify it.

Intention set aside, many users still feel that this will kill innovative new features because the Lab now has executive control over all new features.  Oz Linden again repeatedly professed that the Lab is under new management who are very sincerely trying to do things differently.  They want to work with developers.  Oz recognized that the Lab historically has been bad about this and as a result has a bad reputation that needs to be fixed.  He pleaded with developers to try to work within the process and test this new system first, before judging.

Takeaways

Like many people, I too am skeptical based on the Lab’s own admitted past history.  However, I do believe things can change.  The Lab has no motivation to kill innovation, and would receive no true advantage by doing so.  On the flip side, as Oz pointed out to the TPV developers, the adoption rate of users running viewers capable of displaying mesh demonstrates that users will in fact upgrade when the features are sufficiently compiling.  In fact, I’m told that 1.23 based viewers now only account for 2.7% of user hours.  This dramatic change (that the Lab wanted for years now) as a result of mesh only provides them with further motivation to listen to the community, cooperate with developers, and foster innovation.  The big question is, will they?  Only time will tell, but so far, some developers seem to think that all signs point to yes.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 20, 2012- Sand Castle Studios, LLC is pleased to announce that Hunger in Los Angeles, a virtual immersive journalism experience, will debut this week at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Written by artist Nonny de la Peña (who recorded the actual event) and commissioned by the USC’s Annenberg School of Communication & Journalism in conjunction with MxR Lab, Hunger in Los Angeles  virtually recreates an eyewitness account of an actual incident in a food bank line at the First Unitarian Church in Los Angeles, in order to call attention to the growing issue of hunger in the United States.

Sand Castle Studios modeled virtual replicas of the church and scene and used the Unity 3D development platform to to bring the project to life.  Premiering at Sundance, participants can suit up and use a head-mounted goggle display to walk around and interact with other characters in the fully immersive virtual reality simulation.  They will have the opportunity to experience a virtual reproduction, with audio from the actual incident, during which the Church’s available food runs out, provoking anguish and frustration among some of those gathered. Meanwhile, a man in line falls to the ground in a diabetic coma. An ambulance and two paramedics arrive to assist.

About Sand Castle Studios

Sand Castle Studios is a full service creative company dedicated to helping organizations maximize the full potential of virtual worlds and immersive media by creating interactive, social, and 3D experiences. Our strategic, creative, and technical teams are made up of some of the most experienced and talented minds in the world working to create unique and interactive user experiences.

For more information contact:

Kimberly Winnington (SL: Gianna Borgnine)

Sand Castle Studios, LLC

www.changingworldsbuildingdreams.com

kim@changingworldsbuildingdreams.com

1-302-559-5230

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It’s a new year, and my day has been filled with new resolutions, new hopes, and new prospective clients.  However, this new air of opportunity was temporarily put on pause when I read a blog post from Gene Yoon (aka Ginsu Linden), who was formerly Vice President of Corporate Development at Linden Lab (and General Counsel at the Lab before that).

In his post, Ginsu honestly and almost poetically takes responsibility for his role in the failure of Second Life.   While I refuse to agree that a platform which has so powerfully changed users lives for the better is a failure, I can completely understand and respect Ginsu’s assertion that “failure can only be judged by the ones who were trying to succeed.”

For anyone who has been invested in Second Life for several years, it’s no secret that the platform did not fulfill the dreams it’s core team had for it.  While my own reflections can never begin to compare to the “intensely personal” ghosts that seem to haunt Ginsu, I myself have spent countless hours anguishing over when the Linden Lab core team turned that corner, who gave up and let it happen, why they let it happen, etc, but there are two thoughts that always set my mind at ease:

1. Second Life is astonishing.

To the Lindens past -

I know the Second Life we have now is not the one you dreamed of and aspired to.  I, an outsider, can’t even pretend to understand what that means or how that feels, but as a human I know that we are all fragile.  We set out on noble missions larger than ourselves and sometimes get lost along the way.  We make mistakes and choices we come to regret that result in unfulfilled dreams.  While there’s nothing I can say to change that, I need you to know one thing.  Second Life is astonishing.  As a whole, it may not be what you dreamed of or set out to create, but a part of your mission can still be found there.  Your struggles and losses were not for nothing. Right now, the things that happen in SL are seemly ordinary and only touch a select few when compared to it’s once dreamed of potential.  It’s magic is easy to miss, still unknown to many, and far less tantalizing to those with other motives, but it’s there.  Second Life changes lives.  It’s far to powerful to explain with words.  For those that have experienced it, every journey is different and personal.  We grow and find ourselves. We turn off the external noise of our daily lives and lose ourselves.  We get inspired, we inspire.  We question,  we learn,  we teach.   We listen, and speak freely.  We fall in love.  We share our stories and create new ones.

I know I have the luxury of not being chased by the ghosts that haunt Ginsu, but I am thankful for the experience we have even if Second Life’s true destiny is unfulfilled.

But honestly, I think Second Life (even with it’s aforementioned unfulfilled destiny), was before it’s time.  Many don’t understand it’s magic.   I often relate the experience to that of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”  The Violet’s and Augustus’ of the world don’t get it.  Undoubtedly, they are most likely the ones that pushed the original core team away from their goals in the first place.  I think Second Life is very much the “World of Pure Imagination” that Willy Wonka spoke of and we need a Charlie to keep the dream alive.

2. The dream is still alive.

To the Lindens present -

It’s all in your hands now.   You are the only ones with the power to turn the car around.  Second Life could have been so much more, but it still can be, can’t it?   It’s not just about bug fixes or the best way to market SL.  It’s time to think bigger.  Learn from the mistakes of the past.  Put the higher goals above personal greed.  Encourage your teams, don’t silence them.  Have fun again!  Inspire to be great!   We live in a time where anything is possible.  Games are literally changing the world.  YOU can too.

Anything you want to, do it.
Want to change the world? There’s nothing to it.
There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination.
Living there, you’ll be free if you truly wish to be.

Linden Lab has an extensive history of launching their marketing and advertising campaigns for Second Life to mixed reviews, and their most recent attempts have been no different.

Back in 2009, Linden Lab launched a new campaign on the Second Life website featuring the following ad:

At the time it was launched, I considered this ad to be a major upgrade from the stale, low quality past promotions and I was thrilled that it finally showcased a visually stunning Second Life experience, but others argued that the experience painted by this video was unrealistic and featured impossible instantaneous shopping experiences and interactions without gestures or animations.  Regardless, I have since then comfortably sent individuals who were completely unfamiliar with Second Life to the SecondLife.com website and/or shared this ad with them in order to give them a general view of SL.  That is until last week.

Last week, I noticed Linden Lab had started revamping the SecondLife.com website with new photos and ads.  Apparently, according to Sl.com, Second Life is about vampires.

To be fair, the website also showcases the new Linden Realms game and another female avatar, but the first thing you see is this vampire ad.

I didn’t complain when Linden Lab came out with it’s vampire based Google AdSense campaign as I’m sure it’s a popular theme and I wouldn’t even mind them using it as a secondary display on the webiste, but featuring it alone as the dominant first thing you see on SecondLife.com is sending a distorted and incorrect message about Second Life.

In addition, the image (as well as the other main images you can scroll through) is of poor quality.   Not only are the images not visually stunning, but they fall far short of what Second Life alone (without retouching) can achieve.  The images also feature avatars in stiff, rigid, and unnatural poses with blank stares that are too lifeless and dead for the vampire to pull off.   These images are not at all reflective of the potential of the Second Life platform (as-is) which is capable of producing brilliant, emotion evoking, photorealistic images with striking lighting, shadows, and depth of field, yet they are what potential users will first encounter.

Along with these new web images, Linden Lab has newly debuted the below machinima campaign.

This campaign is much closer to portraying a wider picture of SL, but it is still a far stretch from what Second Life is visually capable of producing.  However, while the biggest complaints about the video are that it misrepresents Second Life, the complaints refer again to things like the animated interactions and not the visual quality.

With Second Life constantly being compared graphically to popular games I would think that Linden Lab would want to show Second Life in the best light, right?

So then, why is Linden Lab underselling Second Life and why does the community want it to?

As my guests and I mentioned on last week’s MetaReality Podcast, many of the advertisements put out by the leading game developers (for games that Second Life is often compared to) aren’t exactly unretouched screen captures.

Take for example this “The Sims 3” ad below:

Last time I played “The Sims 3” it didn’t look anything like that.  The avatars weren’t nearly as realistic or cleanly modeled and I certainly don’t remember that street view.  Maybe it’s just that one ad.  Here’s another ad for “The Sims 3”:

Wow! In “The Sims 3,” I can “create EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED?”   It even, in a way, sounds like it could be an ad for Second Life even though it is much more limited and predefined than Second Life.

Maybe “The Sims” is a bad example.  At this point, everyone knows what “The Sims” is like, right?  Check out this ad for one of the hottest games this year, “Skyrim.”

Whoa, I knew Skyrim had amazing graphics, but real human actors and live action!  Why doesn’t my version of Skyrim look anything like this?

Advertising is an industry that has been built on selling a vision or dream rather than just a product.  While my “Sims 3” and “Skyrim” game play experiences weren’t really anything like their ads, I enjoyed them for what they were and generally understood that before purchasing them.  On the other hand, my Second Life experience may not be exactly like the ad because not everything is so easy or instantaneous, but I honestly find my Second Life experience to be better than its ad.

The ad can’t explain that when I’m in Second Life, I enjoy fashion and shopping even though it’s not instantaneous, and that even though I don’t really experience seamless animations I am so immersed in the moment that a *high-five* or *cheers* in chat feels the same.  The ad doesn’t quite portray the endless possibilities.. in my case, it doesn’t begin to cover the businesses I’ve built, the organizations I’ve helped, the issues I’ve brought awareness to, the once in a lifetime experiences I’ve had,  the friendships I’ve made, etc.  The ad doesn’t tell you that you too can discover the explainable magic of Second Life.

So I ask again:

Why is Linden Lab underselling Second Life and why does the community want it to?

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This past weekend, August 12th-14th, marked the 7th Annual Second Life Community Convention (SLCC), which was held in Oakland, California this year and virtually in Second Life while being streamed over UStream.

I have to applaud Avacon, the conference’s organizers, as in my opinion this was the best the conference has been for virtual attendees.  The in-world SIMs were beautiful and well organized and the team made sure each of the 33 presentations were clearly streamed in-world and online.

In addition to the many community presentations, there were several Linden panels.

Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble gave a keynote address announcing:

• 16,000 people a day are signing up for and joining Second Life
• Linden Lab will be working on other new products in addition to Second Life.  Specifically they are working on other shared creativity tools/spaces, and addressing tablets and mobile markets as well.
• Linden Lab is focusing their current Second Life efforts on improving usability, lag, and service.
• Linden Lab is looking at several future new features including a Linden made curated area, ending the need for HUDs, improvements to UI/sidebar, more in-world creatitivy tools and more.
• Read more and watch Humble’s full keynote

Linden Lab’s product team announced several new ways they are trying to address community needs:

• the team created a prototype game in order to learn about building and better understand limitations and problems in order to work on solutions
• Linden Lab may develop a gamified new user experience
• the team has been focused on improving usability and engagement
• each member of the team is becoming a subject matter expert in order to understand and support those communities better
• Read more and watch the product team’s full presentation

Linden Lab’s mesh team addressed several key concerns:

• Meshes (and objects with a physics shape type) will use the newly introduced prim equivalent to measure impact and count against land prim capacity
• theft and IP concerns  are unlikely
• meshes offers several advantages over sculpted prims, but traditional prims are still an important part of Second Life
• Read more and watch the full mesh panel

Brett Atwood/Brett Linden presented on updates to the Destination Guide:

• the Destination Guide now has dynamic, time sensitive channels that feature hot events and locations as they are going on
• the Destination Guide is intelligently removing a location if it becomes too crowded
• the Destination Guide has an Linkshare affiliate program through which you can create a widget for your location and place it on your blog or website allowing you to earn money for visitors derived from your site
• the Destination Guide now appears on the front page of the new Second Life login screen
• the team monitors resident suggestions, blog activity, and social media for new locations
• they are looking for high quality locations with broad appeal, active communities, and unique locations
• in order for your Destination Guide submission to be approved you need to include a compelling and visually interesting screenshot and text that accurately describes your location
• your submission could also be denied if it is a duplicate, your location currently violates the SL Terms of Service, your snapshot contains promotional text over the image, or the text is incoherent or inaccurate
• Destination Guide entries are non-paid; they are not meant to be classified ads
• View the slides then watch Brett’s full presentation on the Destination Guide

The commerce team presented on economical and commercial concerns:

• the Lab has been focused on new users, registration, usability, service, performance, and growth to drive traffic and increase sales for merchants
• Q2 stats show positive growth in several areas
• Marketplace moving towards direct delivery
• users will receive purchases as a folder hierarchy directly in their inventory (without the need to unpack items)
• merchants will no longer need to use a magic box, but will simply have to drag their folders into an outbox
• users will receive notifications of deliveries and will not need to be online to accept them, they will be pushed into inventory
• eventually there will be guided warnings to aid new users (use this item right away, you need land for this item, etc)
• Linden Lab looking to expand the LindenX to additional countries/currencies to in to serve more and increase sales
• View the slides then watch the commerce team’s full presentation

Marc Viale/Viale Linden presented on social experiences and communities:

• the lab is moving away from Linden run events like “Kiss a Linden” towards “sustainable communities” like the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and LEA’s Month of Machinima
• community gateways have not disappeared and are highlighted in the Destination Guide
• Viale says Linden Lab respects privacy declaring “we don’t care what your parents named you, you can be whoever you want to be in Second Life”
• Watch Viale’s full presentation on social experiences and communities

For a closer look at the more funny and social aspects of the SLCC experience check out Draxtor’s footage from the event below:

Mesh support was formally announced at last year’s Second Life Community Convention (SLCC).  Since then we have learned more details about mesh, and Linden Lab officially began rolling out the feature to the main grid in July, with the promise for it to be completed by the end of August.  So, it was fitting that Charlar Linden opened this year’s SLCC mesh presentation by declaring “The future of mesh is now.”

During this presentation Charlie Hite/Charlar Linden and Dave Parks/Runitai Linden made several key points:

1. Traditional prim count vs. the newly introduced prim equivalent

Charlar explained that there is really “no relationship between prim count and the actual impact that objects have.”  As an example he said that a torus has more impact than a cube even though they are both one prim.  Therefore, to help residents better understand how an object will impact performance, Linden Lab have introduced prim equivalent (PE) as a easy way to display the computational/resource weight of an object in terms of traditional prims.  All mesh objects (and all objects with a physics shape type) will have a PE weight that will be subtracted from a land parcel or regions prim capacity.

PE is automatically determined by the highest weight of 3 performance factors:

• download weight (how much bandwidth is required to download and view the object)
• physics weight (the complexity of the object’s physics mode)
• server weight (the impact an object has on Second Life’s server resources)

To better help you understand here are some in-world examples:

This Buddha statue created by our own Reed Steamroller is only 1 prim, but because of the detail it is equivalent to an object made of 72 prims, therefore, it is 72 PE.

This adorable boat created by Bunnie Mills is 20 prims, but 133 PE because of it’s hidden details and scripts.

2. Theft/IP

Charlar addressed concerns of content being pulled from sites like Turbosquid and brought into SL in the masses by assuring the audience that this is unlikely because these meshes would “not look good” in Second Life.  Charlar further explained these meshes are often not efficient, result in bad performance, are missing physics and LODs which are then auto generated by SL making the objects look like “crap” when you zoom out, etc.

Charlar emphasized that content creation is “a craft and an art… it’s not magic”  He said creating mesh objects requires work and skill.    Charlar also pointed out that the Lab has put several other features in place to protect against theft by requiring uploaders to have payment information on file, complete a quiz, and pay additional upload fees for mesh objects.

3. Prims vs. sculpties vs. meshes

Charlar also reassured concerned content creators and artists who are afraid of prims being replaced by meshes that the Lab still loves the idea of prims and in-world tools (CEO Rod Humble echoed these same sediments during his keynote address, even stating they were interested in adding additional in-world tools in the future), he did however state that they would be encouraging residents to use meshes over sculpted prims because meshes offer several advantages:

• custom UV mapping
• custom LOD
• physics support
• rigging to the avatar skeleton
• more control

You can view the entire “Future of Mesh” panel below:

What do you think of the Mesh panel, PE, theft, and the other announcement by this team?

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The product team (John Laurence/Durian Linden, Sarah Kuehnle/ Esbee Linden and Michael Gesner/Gez Linden) announced at this year’s Second Life Community Convention (SLCC) that they have been building, exploring, and working on a prototype game in order to learn more and examine the current limits and problems that come up when creating in Second Life.

The game requires you to collect and place puzzle pieces in order to gain access to new areas.  While doing this you encounter box monsters and turrets that can “kill you” and send you back to the beginning of the games.

The team says the game uses point and click controls, but with the physical aspects of Second Life, they would like to examine click and drag in the future.  They also faced difficulties working in a “live environment” where for example a turret would be above on a platform, didn’t respect distance, and begin shooting at them and returning them to the beginning of the game while they were trying to work.  They also dealt with building complications where for example the buildings were originally more plain and they decided to add black outlines to give them more detail and then discovered they would have to change every texture on every face of every building by hand in order to update them.

This particular game is separate from the curated area that CEO Rod Humble spoke of, and is not currently part of any new user experience. Gez Linden addressed concerns about the game stating that the Lab does not plan on releasing the game, they just wanted to show users the work they are doing to learn more in order to better serve and address the communities needs.  Gez did however express that he thinks something like this game would be useful in acclimating new users to the Second Life platform:

“I do think that there is some value in creating an experience that is simpler, it’s more guided, it gives you prompts, it gives you almost quests or achievements, things that tell you what you need to be able to do to learn how to use Second Life, but I will completely agree with the fact that Second Life, itself, is not a game.  However, you can make some great games inside of Second Life, and you can use game mechanics, and game tutorials, and game systems to help people become more engaged and comfortable in Second Life.  So, we recognize that there are a number of different experiences that you can create in SL, we’re always in awe of the things that you’ve created, but we are trying to find a way to get people over that initial hurdle of using the software and taking our gaming experience to help get people over that.”

In addition to working on the game, the product team explained LL has been focused on two main areas:

1. Usability

• rez times (including avatars appearing as a cloud and prioritization of rezzing)
• avatar customization
• basic/advanced modes
• sidebar of Viewer 2
• direct delivery from the marketplace
• inventory management

2. Engagement

• mesh support  (the mesh team also presented updates at SLCC)
• creating and selling
• NPC (non-player characters)
• web profiles, interests, groups

The team also pointed out that to further understand and support the community each member of the team has an area which the are subject matter experts:

• Art – Durian Linden
• Gaming & Breedables – Gez Linden
• Roleplaying – Esbee Linden
• Adult - Charlar Linden
• Education – Geo Linden
• Music - Nya Linden
• Fashion - Cassandra Linden

View their the full panel presentation below

What do you think of the work the product team is doing to better address the communities needs?

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Linden Lab CEO, Rod Humble, gave a keynote address today at this year’s Second Life Community Convention (SLCC) revealing more about his current and future goals for Second Life and Linden Lab.

In addition to being informative,  Humble was also quite entertaining and humorous even joking about his own “inevitable firing” sometime next year.

Here are some of the key points he made:

1. There were 4 key elements that attracted Humble to Second Life

• Strength – Second Life is still growing!  Humble says there are about 16,000 people a day signing up for and joining Second Life.     Humble says that the fact that after 8-10 years there is still this huge level of interest in Second Life is an “amazing achievement” that you never see with other MMORPG’s.
• Creativity – Everything in Second Life is created by its users and Humble finds this to be a “phenomenally important and powerful thing.”  He says there is “no better feeling in the world” then you get when creating something.
• Shared Space – Not only can you create in SL, but Humble loves that you can do so in shared space and it can be a shared experience.
• Identity – Humble says he believes in and supports “the right for you to choose your identity and the ability for you to put barriers between various identities, particularly on the internet.”

2. Linden Lab is currently working on other new products

Linden Lab is a company, Second Life is ONE of it’s products.

Humble says the elements that attracted him to Second Life (listed above) are powerful, needed, and have a large audience.

With that in mind, Linden Lab is currently creating a new product (separate from Second Life). While this new product doesn’t have a proper name yet, Humble referred it it as “shared creative spaces”  or “shared creativity tools.”

Humble also said the Lab will be “addressing tablets in part and some mobile stuff as well” with these new products.

Even with the new products, Humble said Linden Lab’s role and goals will remain the same and that the Lab will continue to

• put customer privacy first
• allow customers to make the content (while only creating themselves in order to learn how to make tools to help their customers)
• develop spaces that are shared and social.

3.  Humble’s goal for Second Life is halfway complete

Humble wants a computer user of average intelligence to be able to get-in, use SL, and be grateful to have been introduce to it.  In order to achieve this Humble said the Lab focused their efforts in 3 main areas:

• Usability – In order to make the product more useful, the Lab created “basic mode” for new users.  Humble says they originally created this mode separately so that they could make changes quickly without annoying current customers, but that it will eventually be merged back into the regular viewer.
• Lag – Humble says you can already feel many of the changes in this area including a larger cache, improved chat and group chat experiences, progress with search, and better SIM crossing among other things.
• Service – Humble says customer service was improved, ticket times have gone down, and better quality service is coming.  In addition to these changes with customer service, Humble says in the near future they are working on “making life unpleasant for griefers, in an inhumane way.”

Humble says Second Life was losing 15,000 new users a day before these changes were complete.  He says originally most people wouldn’t even make it through the registration process.  Once they added a new signup page/process they found users couldn’t understand basic concepts such as movement and camera controls, but Basic Mode changed this.  Once users understood how to explore the virtual world, they couldn’t find places to go, but the new and improved Destination Guide now highlights areas of interest.   Humble says the Lab will now focus making shopping, buying, wearing, and creating easier for new users.

4. New features and upgrades are coming to Second Life

While Linden Lab is focused on the above aspects to improve the SL experience for new and current users, Humble also gave us some insight into some new features and upgrades that will be coming to SL in the future.

• Linden made curated area – Humble says the Lindens created this area for newbies in order to learn and make tools that would improve the SL experience.  One example of something they are looking into is one permission request/button that would allow you to define an area and remove the need for additional permission/controls or HUDs.
• Marketing Campaign and PR push to bring in more users – Humble said this should help merchants and service providers and assured them that LL doesn’t plan on “taking a cut” from their sales.
• Improvements to the Viewer 2 User Interface.   Humble conceded that it’s “not an ideal UI,” but said that there are “so many new bits of tech embedded in that new code (that they) just can’t give up on it (they) have to somehow fix it.”    Humble also said that he doesn’t “like the way that whole sidebar thing works” and is working to improve that as well, but don’t expect that until sometime next year.
• New features for Premium users (without additional costs)
• More in-world creativity tools
• Addressing Intellectual Property (IP) theft and Piracy in Second Life
• Continued balance of Open Source and Proprietary
• Improved and additional social aspects/features (including to web profiles and groups)

5.  Humble wants to be accountable/available

“The only reason I’m on twitter is because you guys asked me to be,” said Humble.  He pointed out that the best ways to contact him were his SL profile, twitter, and SL Universe.

You can watch Humble’s full keynote address below.

What did you think of Humble’s address and the changes/improvements he announced?

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 19, 2011- Sand Castle Studios, LLC is pleased to announce that The Virtual Mine has been nominated for an Emmy Award for New Approaches to News and Documentary Programming .

The Virtual Mine (SLURL) is an immersive, interactive, and educational 3D experience located in the virtual world of Second Life®. It was created to to educate, explore, and examine our nation’s struggle with mountain top removal coal mines, coal fired power production, and alternative energies in support of the documentary film, Deep Down, by filmmakers Jen Gilomen and Sally Rubin with funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the Independent Television Service (ITVS), and the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC).

The Virtual Mine allows visitors to take a closer look at the challenges of balancing the environment, power demands, and economic interests by inviting them to take part in a story as it unfolds through a series of three games.  While it was created with educators and students in mind, the games can be played in groups or by individuals alike.

Deep Down and the Virtual Mine first debuted on the Emmy-award winning PBS series Independent Lens.

“We are so honored to be singled out in our industry and recognized for the Virtual Mine with this Emmy nomination,” said Kimberly Winnington (SL:Gianna Borgnine), Chief Executive Officer of Sand Castle Studios, LLC.  “This nomination is a proud achievement, and a testament to all of the incredible hard work put in by our very talented team including myself, William Reed Seal-Foss (Content Creation) and Karl Stiefvater (Software Engineer).  It also solidifies how powerful virtual worlds are as way to connect with others, examine problems, and participate in activities in order to learn more about them in a way that might not otherwise be possible.”

About Sand Castle Studios

Sand Castle Studios is a full service creative company dedicated to helping organizations maximize the full potential of virtual worlds and immersive media by creating interactive, social, and 3D experiences. Our strategic, creative, and technical teams are made up of some of the most experienced and talented minds in the world working to create unique and interactive user experiences.

For more information contact:

Kimberly Winnington (SL: Gianna Borgnine)

Sand Castle Studios, LLC

www.changingworldsbuildingdreams.com

kim@changingworldsbuildingdreams.com

302-559-5230

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Sand Castle Studios Creative Director, Reed Steamroller, took some time out to share his thoughts on avatar rigging with you in this guest post.

With mesh support coming there are still many unanswered questions for much of the Second Life community. A buzzword I think we’ve all heard so far is “rigging.”  More specifically, rigging has been mentioned in context to the Second Life avatar. What all this means brings up more questions than answers.

First, what is a polygon mesh? Polygon mesh support will be another way for artists to get their content into Second Life. Mesh is sort of a standard across game and game-like platforms for content creation, that until recently has been absent from Second Life. As I write this article, however, the Second Life developers are working diligently at getting the software for this implemented on the Second Life grid. For more on this subject you can read my previous article on the subject.

Secondly, what is an armature/skeleton? These two buzzwords have been floating around the grid now for a while as well. They’re two words for the same thing, essentially. A skeleton allows you to build a series of joints with the intention that they modify a polygon mesh in a particular way. How they will end up modifying the mesh is up to their position and orientation. Skeletons can be humanoid in appearance, or something completely abstract.

So, what does this have to avatar rigging?

Well, avatar rigging refers to binding a polygon mesh to a skeleton. That’s it; that is all it means. You make a monkey, you make a monkey skeleton, and then you bind the monkey to it’s skeleton. That’s rigging. There’s some more technical work that goes into the process such as “weight painting” (here you go, another buzzword) to get things right, though.

What does all this mean? This means that artists in Second Life can now build polygon mesh objects and have the ability to bind them to the second life skeleton. Take a scarf for instance, and imagine that it wouldn’t just sit on top of the Second Life avatar, but that the scarf would bend and move with the avatar as it did. Simple items of clothing or similar can be rigged to the Second Life avatar, all the way up to full avatar replacements.

What does this mean to Second Life?

Much richer content in Second Life will come with the support for rigged, polygon mesh objects to be certain. There will be all new categories of content to be bought and sold on the Second Life Marketplace. These features may even attract a new wave of resident artists to the world, which is never a bad thing.

Environmental Documentary Deep Down Launches Interactive Virtual Mine in Second Life for Communities and Educators to Take Action in Solving the Power Crisis

November 23, 2010 – Virtual worlds can provide a comprehensive environment for education, storytelling, collaboration, and problem solving relating to real world issues. Sand Castle Studios, LLC announced today the creation of a project to educate, explore, and examine our nation’s struggle with mountain top removal coal mines, coal fired power production, and alternative energies in support of the documentary film, Deep Down, by filmmakers Jen Gilomen and Sally Rubin with funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the Independent Television Service (ITVS), and the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC).

“Virtual worlds are a powerful way to connect with others, examine real world problems, and participate in activities in order to learn more about them in a way that might not otherwise be possible,” said Kimberly Winnington (SL: Gianna Borgnine), Chief Executive Officer of Sand Castle Studios, LLC. “This project will establish new ways for communities and students to explore and examine the complex struggle many of our towns are facing as they experience the situations first hand while working to solve the problem of fueling our nation.”

Deep Down’s Virtual Mine project is an immersive, interactive, and educational 3D experience. Located in the virtual world of Second Life®, it will further explore the challenges of balancing the environment, power demands, and economic interests raised in the film by inviting players to take part in a story as it unfolds through a series of three games. Players will be asked to complete a series of tasks including clearing a section of land and blowing up mountains; going through the town to turn off as many electric items as possible and reduce the demand; building a sustainable grid with solar and wind power terminals; and ultimately trying to solve the power crisis in this virtual town. If successful in solving all three problems, participants will then be invited to a Community Jam, celebrating the culture and music of Appalachia complete with line dancing.

Resources for those new to Second Life are available to accompany the game. An Educators Guide outlines how the game can be used in the classroom, and includes tips for entering and participating in Second Life, short videos, discussion questions, suggested activities, and online resources for each of the games. However, while created with educators and students in mind, the games can be played in groups or by individuals alike.

The film Deep Down debuts tonight on the Emmy-award winning PBS series Independent Lens at 10pm EST (check local listings). In a first for PBS, the film will be followed by a short segment introducing viewers to Second Life and the Virtual Mine and inviting them to log in and explore it for themselves. The film will also be screened throughout the nation including a special virtual interactive screening and discussion hosted by the filmmakers on Ustream and in the Virtual Mine. The Virtual Mine will also continue to host events and provide a venue for town hall style meetings to discuss the impacts of mountain top coal removal.

For more information on Deep Down, The Virtual Mine, screenings and events, please see www.deepdownfilm.org

About Deep Down

Deep Down follows one small community in Eastern Kentucky as it is divided by a proposed mountaintop removal coal mine. Through this story of people connected deeply to the mountains and to each other, we learn about Appalachia’s complex contemporary struggle with the black rock that fuels our nation.

About Sand Castle Studios

Sand Castle Studios is a full service creative company dedicated to helping organizations maximize the full potential of virtual worlds and immersive media by creating interactive, social, and 3D experiences. Our strategic, creative, and technical teams are made up of some of the most experienced and talented minds in the world working to create unique and interactive user experiences.

For more information contact:

Kimberly Winnington (SL: Gianna Borgnine)

Sand Castle Studios, LLC

www.changingworldsbuildingdreams.com

kim@changingworldsbuildingdreams.com

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We have more tutorials coming, and we will be offering classes as well!  The announcement detailing these classes will be up in the next few days, but we plan to feature classes on:

1. Maya
2. Basic Polygon Mesh Modeling (including Generation of Levels of Detail)
3. Basic Texturing (including UV Layout)
4. Advanced Polygon Modeling
5. Advanced Polygon Mesh Texturing and Shading
6. Second Life Avatar Modeling
7. Second Life Avatar Rigging