Avatar Skin Research Has A Bit More Depth Than Initial Reports Suggested

When I first blogged about reports of the research informing us that female avatars display a lot more skin than male avatars, I did so with a bit of surprise that such a survey had been conducted because the results were so obvious. One was left wondering whether the researchers would also conduct research into the religion of The Pope and what bears do in the woods. However I did comment in that blog post that the reports I had read lacked depth:

Maybe if I could find the full report I’d get more context on exactly what the point of this study was, until then I only have the tongue in cheek reports that include such gems as thanking Laval University for reminding them that Second Life is still around”

Now, thanks to a forum post from Perrie Juran, I can read the full report and get more context, so too can you as the report is here: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0051921

The report goes a bit further than merely stating the obvious but pretty much concludes that they haven’t yet found out why female avatars show more skin.

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Versu Goes Undercover

So yesterday myself and Inara Pey both blogged about Linden Lab’s forthcoming title of Versu. After digging around the official website, we found some information about the title. However it would appear that the information we blogged about wasn’t quite ready for public consumption because, the links to the information relating to the content, have now been removed!

Is this a scurrilous plot? Is this part of the mystery? Did some poor Linden get too many emails? Did someone get overexcited with their links? They would have got away with it if it wasn’t for those pesky kids!

I don’t know why the information has been removed, all I’m saying is, Inara Pey started it all by telling me where the website is in the first place, it wasn’t me Guv, honest!

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Second Lie Returns, Will Magellan Linden Follow?

Second Lie at Twitter Party

@gwenners I wasn’t gone. I was just horribly lagged for eight months. Second Lie has returned to Twitter, after his surprising and mysterious departure we have a surprising and mysterious re-appearance. I notice this on the same day that I’m seeing a lot of tweets about Magellan Linden, they can both be direct and gruff but I don’t think they’re related!

On the Magellan front, it started with an innocent look at Honour McMillan’s wares and turned into something much much darker after reading a post on The Poultry Report. The word on the street is that 2013 could be the year that the mainland menace of Magellan Linden rears his head. Magellan had completed his most of his exploring by the time I arrived on the grid back in 2007, indeed he used to document his explorations, which mysteriously stopped in 2005. However that wasn’t the last sign of the man, oh no the menace of the man would return to Nautilus.

The Wiki has a page about the infamous Nautilus City investigation, wherein a chat log is shared from an abuse report about Magellan:

Resident: Excuse me, but could I ask you please to move?

Resident: I mean, with that huge suit you’re wearing, it’s hard for people to walk around you in here.

Resident: Please?

Magellan: Hush, woman! I’m in three different IMs and they’re all more important than you.

Resident: But this is my art gallery. People are here for the opening party.

Magellan: Just tow it out to Weiland or Shenning. I’ll board it there, head south.

Resident: What?

Magellan: Damn it!

Resident: What did I do? Tow what?

Magellan: No, some arty-farty cow is making noise and confusing me.

Magellan: Damn it again!

Resident: Hey, wait, are you talking about me?

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Is It Time For A Linden Lab Login Account?

Back in 2009 Argent Stonecutter created a Jira suggestion that I very much agree with. SVC-6212 Create Master Account Name, Linking to Avatar Names. The idea here is that you’d login to Second Life and then select an avatar name to go inworld with, this would mean linking your alts, which could have benefits for issues such as Mesh uploads, which are currently on an avatar basis, so even though the person behind Ciaran Laval meets the requirements to upload Mesh, my alts don’t, this despite the fact that my alts are known by Linden Lab as they linked them for the cases of being adult verified back in the day when the requirements were more stringent.

I shouldn’t need to have payment info on all my avatars, having payment info on my overall account deals with this. However whereas this has merit for Second Life, it has even more merit now that Linden Lab are releasing new products. Patterns, Creatoverse, Dio and Versu are all Linden Lab products. There are different ways these products are delivered with some aimed at the mobile community and some web based but with Linden Lab producing multiple products doesn’t it make some sense for me to have a Linden Lab account, rather than a product specific account?

Blizzard do this, I have one login for World of Warcraft, the same one works for Diablo III and would also work for Starcraft II. This just makes the process of purchasing products easier, it makes billing easier. I’m already a Linden Lab customer, a bird in the hand and all that.

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Versu Looks Like It Will Contain A Murder Mystery Story

I’m about to embark on a series of posts about accounts, Linden Lab and their forthcoming interactive story of Versu. Inara Pey, with her eye firmly on the ball has noticed that websites have appeared for Dio and Versu. I’m not so much interested in Dio, although I might be once it gets going. However Versu is something I like the look of and I’ve been digging around the website for Versu. At first glance it seems bereft of information, but a closer look reveals that Versu has a cut down version of the Second Life terms and conditions, a  DMCA link and a very handy FAQ.

Now unless that FAQ is some sort of boiler plate FAQ, it reveals some clues to the storyline and content. There are plans for three stories at launch, a ghost story, a romance story and a murder mystery story set in Regency England, so that should be the pre Victorian era of the 1800’s. The murder mystery story appears to be leading the way with information more specific to that story in the FAQ, where we’re informed that you will be able to play a female character, Lucy or Miss Bates.

Now Lucy and Miss Bates are detective characters according to the FAQ, so I would imagine the aim is to solve the crime, however maybe it isn’t and the aim is to fling bread rolls at Mr Quinn. The thing to bear in mind is that the story is interactive with several endings and will develop depending upon the actions you set for your characters, so this is something you can play more than once.

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