Virtual Worlds – Page 111

November 15, 2014

Ambiguity In London

I went to London Ambiguity in Second Life looking for Guy Fawkes and ran away due to a Timelord seeking a Tardis. This was a very odd adventure to say the least. London Ambiguity had been holding a Guy Fawkes exhibition. However I went to the streets of the sim instead and soon ran into a protest Gnome!

I’m not quite sure what he was protesting about but he kept saying “Be wary of Kat Kassner, she will cast a great shadow over you … especially at your height!” I would find out exactly what he meant later in my adventure. However I decided to do a bit more exploring and found myself near a debt collector of Scrooge & Marley.

Anywhere with the name Marley in it is likely to be cool is the usual rule of thumb one should apply. However here I also noticed something of a time conundrum as alongside Dickensian splendour I noticed a very modern and equal opportunities employer in the shape and form of Britannia Buses, who proudly boast that their drivers are girls.

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November 14, 2014

The Lindens Storm Meauxle Bureaux

I’m not a bat or a rat or a cat,I’m not a gnu or a kangaroo.

One of the big myths about Second Life was this evening shattered at Meauxle Bureaux. The lesser spotted Linden was, well, much spotted, as The Lindens arrived in numbers to tour the Linden Department of Public Works home of The Moles. Many residents were there too.

Xiola Linden made graceful, cat like movements, as she awaited the start of the tour near the centre of the region.

Gray of the Lab from San Francisco (AKA Pete Linden) arrived to ensure that nothing untoward was happening. Now at this stage my camera wasn’t working nicely. I asked Strawberry Singh to take photos as I couldn’t get the shots I wanted. Strawberry simply told me “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for“.

This took me back to many fond memories of when I first saw this build at Fantasy Faire 2013, I had trouble taking pics there too.

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November 13, 2014November 13, 2014

Philip Rosedale Set To Talk About High Fidelity At Gigaom Roadmap 2014

Tis the season to be a speaker it seems. Last weekend’s events aren’t the end of the event season by any stretch of the imagination and Gigaom are talking up their Gigaom Roadmap 2014 event, scheduled for November 17th – November 19th. There are a couple of posts about this event and I’ll highlight this one first : At Roadmap, Delve Into Virtual World Design With Philip Rosedale.

The article doesn’t give too much away about what Philip may say, which is fair enough, otherwise why would people go and listen to Philip speak? However the article does start off on a controversial footing for those who are still very much engaged in Second Life :

When Second Life launched in 2003, it was the future. Now it is the past, with its once-hyped virtual storefronts and social centers empty (or nearly empty, as 1 million people still log on each month).

It’s possible that it came 10 years too early.

I’ve blogged recently about how some designers are finding those once-hyed virtual storefronts getting a new lease of life due to the number of virtual events. There’s something uncanny about that as I’m blogging here about the number of events outside the virtual world, although many of them are designed to talk about virtual worlds and peripherals. Hmm, this could get quite circular! Anyway, I don’t agree with Signe Brewster’s premise regarding where Second Life is today. Second Life is in a much stronger position than outsiders realise, although it’s certainly not at the peak of its popularity.

Philip Rosedale of course has moved on from Second Life and will be talking about his new venture, High Fidelity. I would imagine he may well cover some of the ground he discussed at the OpenSim Community Conference. Philip spoke well on a number of High Fidelity, OpenSim and Second Life related issues as a keynote speaker at the OpenSim Community Conference and hopefully an official video of that speech will be released soon. There were some technical difficulties with sound, but it’s a speech well worth listening to and involved a very interesting Q&A session too.

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November 12, 2014November 12, 2014

Draxtor SL Goes To Places And LL To Tour Meauxle Bureaux?

Draxtor Despres takes his Bavarian brand to the streets of America and utilises SL GO from Onlive on his iPad as he shops, skateboards, sits in the woods and relaxes near the beach whilst exploring Second Life on the go.

The video features voice from Torley, who doesn’t quite get the SL GO tagline! However for those who aren’t sure what it should be, here’s the word from the horse’s mouth :

Your World Anywhere.

Introducing SL Go, the best way to experience Second Life in full 3D on mobile devices. No expensive desktop computer needed—just connect and go on your tablet. Experience Second Life’s full visual performance when you’re away from your desktop. And thanks to OnLive’s state of the art data center, rez into your favorite sims faster than you ever thought possible.

SL GO is available for $9.95 (£6.95) a month for unlimited access or $1.00 (£0.70) an hour for pay as you go access. There’s also a seven day trial available. Now you may be wondering why anyone would want to use SL GO to explore Second Life. Drax of course demonstrates one use case, Second Life on a tablet. Another use case of course is older computers that are struggling with Second Life these days.

The seven day free trial should give you a good idea as to whether you think there’s a good use case for you. Another use case of course would be to explore somewhere such as Meauxle Bureaux whilst on the go too, especially now that it has made the Destination Guide!

Hurrah! I said this place should be in the Destination Guide, but there’s more.

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November 11, 2014November 12, 2014

Ebbe Altberg At Endgadget Expand NY – Virtual Reality Beyond Video Games

The Endgadget Expand NY event this weekend saw Ebbe Altberg going coast to coast as he participated in a panel discussion : Back To Reality VR Beyond Gaming. This panel discussion saw Ebbe joined by Matterport’s Matt Bell and BeAnotherLab’s Marte Roel and has been summarised on Endgadet itself in an article entitled : Virtual reality has a future beyond video games, and it’s already started.

The discussion has also been discussed, eloquently, in detail and with great analysis by Inara Pey in an article entitled : Beyond gaming: looking at VR with Ebbe Altberg and others.

The panel was hosted by Ben Gilbert of Endgadget who introduced Ebbe Altberg as “The CEO Of Linden Lab, who you might have heard of from Second Life and other fun products.” This sort of introduction is exactly why I thought Rod Humble was on the right track in terms of expanding Linden Lab’s portfolio. Second Life should really be a tag line of Linden Lab, not the other way round. However it does emphasise yet again the sway that Second Life has in terms of its name.

Host Ben Gilbert then earns cheers from the virtual world fanbase when he says that the people on the panel are not making video games. You see, some people do understand the difference between virtual worlds and games! Ben also earns some bonus points for realising it’s Linden Lab, not Linden Labs. However he only found that out on the same day of the discussion.

Ebbe indicates that beta testing of Linden Lab’s new virtual world may start around the middle of next year, so watch that space. Ebbe also talks up Second Life well discussing use cases such as education, art and entertainment as well as talking of the economic model and how Linden Lab allow users to create the content.

Ebbe makes a good point about lines between the virtual and real worlds when host Ben Gilbert brings up the issue of the lack of the sense of smell in virtual reality. Ebbe feels there are pro’s and cons and that it’s not about reaching equality between the two spaces. That’s a very important point because I feel some people feel virtual reality will lead to some people being lost in the machine but I really can’t see the feared level of immersion some have being an issue for eons, certainly not in this generation of VR.

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