March 2015 – Ciaran Laval

March 31, 2015

Second Life’s Renewed Positive Press Suggests It May Yet Prove Its Critics Wrong

Second Life is starting to receive some positive press again. As we already know, Second Life is staying alive and now Business Insider Australia are informing us that : Second Life was 13 years early to virtual reality — and it’s getting ready to try again. The trying again part may come as a surprise to those of us who haven’t seen it go away but let’s not quibble, the article is another positive one.

The media may have felt Second Life went away and became a place where nobody knows your name, but the reality has been quite different and this is something that the media are actually starting to notice, as The Business Insider article by Matt Weinberger points out :

Second Life hasn’t gone anywhere. With 900,000 active users a month, who get payouts of $US60 million in real world money every year, and a virtual economy that has more than $US500 million in GDP every year, Second Life is still a world of opportunity.

There are two big reasons for renewed interest in Second Life, one is the virtual reality hype currently going full tilt and the other is Linden Lab’s nextgen virtual world, which is making noises before anyone outside of Linden Lab has really seen it.

The Business Insider article touches upon both of these issues, pointing out that with the likes of Facebook, HTC and Sony dipping their toes into the VR market, Second Life’s time may have come at last. Although the article does suggest that VR is more likely to embrace the nextgen world, rather than Second Life itself. However that’s not to say that the article dismisses Second Life as old technology completely.

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March 30, 2015

Second Life Premium Members Can Now Receive 50 Offline IM’s

Linden Lab have announced a new perk for premium members : Access to more missed instant messages! The blog post informs us :

Previously, if IMs were sent to your account while you were offline, you could access up to 25 messages when you next log in. That remains the case for free account holders, but starting today, Premium Members can access up to 50 missed IMs. That means fewer notecards filling up your inventory and fewer missed messages from friends, colleagues, and customers.

Speculation about improvements for premium users was raised recently after Release Notes for the Magnum channel revealed :

Internal improvements for premium users

The nature of those improvements had not been confirmed but this looks like it will be part of those improvements. The news has so far received a rather flat response, but obviously this is an improvement that will not really be applicable to many users as they don’t regularly receive more than 25 offline IM’s. However for those who do, this should prove to be a useful perk.

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March 30, 2015

The Drax Files: World Makers Ep28 – Whiskey (Monday) In The Jar

Episode 28 of The Drax Files World Makers features an interview with artist Whiskey Monday and it’s a fascinating interview. The interview starts with the revelation that Whiskey Monday turned down Draxtor’s initial request to feature on The Drax Files because she was using Second Life as a means to express her frustrations with the real world and it seems that she did not want to bring her physical self into that realm.

This is a stark honest opening to the interview that many people are likely to relate to. Virtual worlds can be a means to escape or express ourselves in ways that outside of the virtual world we find stifling. This episode also touches upon mental illness, which is still far too much of a taboo than it should be in this day and age.

Whiskey admits that she has suffered from depression but she also talks of something regarding virtual worlds that is often missed, that you can find people who have experience and empathy of these matters. In many ways the anonymous nature of an avatar by default may play an important role as the safety of talking about such issues from behind an avatar can help people express themselves when they may be afraid to do so in a real physical environment.

However that’s not to say that this episode suggests that people shouldn’t talk about their feelings to those close to them and Whiskey talks of how showing her art created in Second Life to her Mother and Daughters meant she had to explain her feelings about the work she created. This was a relatively recent development as prior to October, Whiskey had not told her family about the work she creates within Second Life.

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March 28, 2015

Free Wilma On Escapades Island

Estelle Pienaar used to review games in Second Life on her blog : Second Life Play Instinct. Then her blog went quiet, so quiet indeed that I did not notice her Resurrected post back in February :

Well, here I am – writing another post almost one year after my last one. You might ask what I have been up to? I didn’t want to review SL games and experiences any longer, I wanted to do create games myself. Interactive adventure games that are non linear, that build a real relationship between the player and the non-player characters.

The result of Estelle’s work can now be seen in the shape and form of a new interactive adventure game entitled “Free Wilma”. Estelle blogged about the game when it launched earlier this month :

Prepare to embark on an interactive adventure game in Second Life. Situated on Escapades Island, a place of childhood dreams and mayhem, the play scenes of this point and click game will immerse you into the world of an anarchic children fantasy. Solve a series of little quests to finally save the elephant Wilma, who is held hostage by the biggest mouse ever: Modsno the ferret.

“Free Wilma” is based on a new game system in second life that breathes life into the NPCs (non player characters). The characters will react differently to the player depending on the game progress. This feature caters to a more immersive experrience than traditional linear Second Life point and click games.

I’m not going to review the game, I haven’t finished it for a start, but the concept is an interesting one. To play the game you will need to buy the Hud for 180 Linden Dollars, which isn’t very expensive in real terms but obviously some people like to try before they buy.

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March 27, 2015

Enjoy Royal Flavoured Corona In Second Life

When I noticed that Linden Lab’s latest blog post about The Destination Guide featured a place fit for royalty, I knew I would have to visit, being a Dwarfin King and all that. I wasn’t disappointed, Corona is definitely fit for a king.

First of all though, make sure you sneak past the Royal Guard, they look a tad menacing. However if you successfully jump that hurdle then you will find yourself in an opulent 18th century royal setting that contains gorgeous buildings, beautiful sculptures, wildlife and more.

The gardens provide serene spots for you to gather your thoughts and plot virtual world domination for The Dwarfins …. or umm whatever takes your fancy. The Dwarfin plot is top secret so pretend you didn’t read that part!

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