Second Life – Page 41

October 30, 2015

The Drax Files: World Makers Ep 33 – Luxembourg 1867

Episode 33 of The Linden Lab sponsored Drax Files : World Makers takes us to Luxembourg, but in a sci fi style twist it takes us to Luxembourg in 2015 and Luxembourg in 1867 at the same time.

The main protagonist in this episode is Second Life resident Cyperpiper Roelefs (AKA Pit Vinandy outside Second Life). What makes this episode particularly interesting is that the physical world footage takes place not only in the streets of the City of Luxembourg, but also in the Fort Thüngen Museum and the City Museum of Luxembourg

Inside the museum lies an exhibit; Pfaffenthal 1867 – A virtual walk through the historic Pfaffenthal. This is an exhibit that visitors access through computers as they enter the virtual world of Second Life to find some pretty damn impressive recreations of the historical location.

This is an exhibit that also takes advantage of more modern developments because as well as ten computers, there are also two Oculus Rift headsets available for people to immerse themselves deeper in the virtual experience.

At its heart this is a history exhibit, which utilises the virtual world environment to tell the story of how in 1867 there was a bit of a crisis in Europe (this is not unusual by the way!) when France wanted to buy Luxembourg. However those pesky British were having none of it and during negotiations it was decided to allow Luxembourg to become an independent nation. The aim was partially to prevent war between Germany and France. There’s a lot more to it than this!

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October 29, 2015

Take A Five Hour Creepy Crawl Tour With The Lindens On October 30th

Xiola Linden has urged people to get their costumes ready and join some Lindens on a five hour creepy crawl tour on Friday October 30th. In the linked blog post Xiola says :

It’s creepy, and kooky and you don’t want to miss it!

This Friday, October 30th from 10:00am SLT until 3:00pm SLT – you are most cordially invited to join us inworld for the 2015 Second Life Creepy Crawl! “What is the Creepy Crawl?” you may ask. It’s a scary-good inworld event where Lindens and Residents get dressed up in their best Halloween costumes and roam from spooky spot to spooky spot for music, dancing, and celebrating! It’s going to be a bit like a ‘pub crawl’ without the need for taxi fare.

Costumes are strongly encouraged for this event – some come out and show off your best. I am still deciding between 4 different costume choices I’ve put together and may have to wear all 4 at some point during the crawl. It’s a good thing we’ll have 5 hours to run amok and have fantastical fun. Just keep in mind that this event is for General and Moderate audiences when perfecting your look.

Xiola is a lady of many outfits it should be pointed out. However Xiola won’t be the only Linden on the tour, although the names of the others have so far been kept under wraps there’s a good chance you’ll get to see Lindens inworld, yes they really do make inworld appearances.

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October 28, 2015

Are Virtual Reality Experiences Deficient In Value?

On October 14-15 Oxford Martin School hosted a workshop; Cyberselves in Immersive Technologies. The blurb for the workshop reads :

On October 14-15 2015, the Oxford Martin School hosted the ‘Cyberselves in Immersive Technologies’ symposium on virtual reality and telepresence, sponsored by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. The multi-disciplinary symposium brought together technologists, psychologists, neuroscientists, philosophers and cultural theorists looking at the future societal and ethical impacts of virtual reality and immersive technologies.

After this workshop, Dr. Hannah Maslen, a Research Fellow in Ethics at the University of Oxford, published a post over at Practical Ethics; Virtually reality? The value of virtual activities and remote interaction. This post touches upon the benefits, concerns and drawbacks of virtual reality in Dr Maslen’s opinion and certainly makes for an interesting read.

Dr Maslen seems to have some knowledge of Second Life, she references the virtual world more than once, however she also goes back to the 1970’s to take a look at experiments in comparing virtual reality with the physical world :

In 1974, Robert Nozick used the Experience Machine thought experiment to argue against the view that human wellbeing consists only in pleasurable experiences, no matter how complex or apparently real.

There have long been concerns that virtual reality will take us away from the physical world, that we will be immersed in the machine and that we will become addicted to a reality that isn’t real. However we’re a long way from being anywhere close to that point and in her post Dr Maslen points out that at this moment in time, in terms of virtual reality that is plausible, we know where we are :

The main difference between the Experience Machine on the one hand and plausible virtual reality on the other, is that when we use immersive technologies we know that this is what we are doing.

Dr Maslen also points out how virtual reality experiences are different, depending upon the platform, for example using Second Life to drive around in a vehicle would be a different experience to using a driving simulator to drive a car. The technology, the software, the immersive nature all play a role in providing different experiences.

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October 28, 2015

Will Second Life Ever Shake Off Its Flying Penis Tag?

Over at Geek K.Thor Jensen has posted an article; The 11 weirdest MMORPGs still online. I had a feeling that this wouldn’t end well, Second Life is in the list, although rather bizzarely, so is Ever, Jane, a virtual world set in the era of Jane Austen and created by ex Linden Lab Senior Engineering Manager Judy L. Tyrer. Ever, Jane hasn’t even been officially released yet, so it’s an odd fit in a list regarding platforms still online.

However back to the Second Life bit, it’s not the worst I’ve ever read :

There is really no virtual universe quite like Second Life. Ever since it launched in 2003, SL has been a place where any fantasy can come true — as long as it’s able to be rendered in polygons. A million regular users still log on to the service, using the in-game tools to create obejcts, characters, outfits, scripted events, and more. For a brief time, companies tried to use Second Life as a virtual meeting place for promotional events, until they realized that it was easy for griefers to interrupt them with flying penises and other shenanigans

The most infamous flying penis incident took place all the way back in December 2006 during an interview between Anshe Chung and CNET, as Endgadget reported; Second Life millionaire pummeled with penises. That’s almost nine years ago, I guess next year we’ll see a tenth anniversary limited edition on the Marketplace … I’m kidding, don’t try this at home!

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October 26, 2015

Boston Medical Center Receive Grant To Study Diabetes Education In Second Life

Inara Pey has a great post about diabetes education in Second Life; Medical Centre granted $3.5 million to study diabetes education in Second Life. Inara’s post is inspired by an article by Nidhi Subbaraman at The Boston Globe; Second Life shows new promise as virtual forum for diabetes education.

The posts relate to the work of The Boston Medical Center with regards to their work with diabetes education in Second Life. The work began back in 2009 with a pilot study led by Suzanne Adams, a family physician at Boston Medical Center. The idea with the pilot study was to see if a group meeting in a virtual world, could help people to change their eating habits when compared to a group meeting in a physical location. Some participants accesses the program online, others went to the hospital :

“The point was to say, is it at least as good, or is it grossly inferior,” said John Wiecha, director of the Office of Medical Education at Boston University and BMC family physician, who was Mitchell’s colleague on the study.

The result, according to the article, was rather interesting :

The trial was a hit. Mitchell said the Second Life participants didn’t just sit in on the course sessions. They made friends, swapped recipes, had dance sessions, hung out. Most tellingly, participants wanted to know if they could involve their families in the game too.

For the span of the study, the diabetes of both groups improved at the same rate. Sessions online and in real life had comparable rates of attendance. But members of the Second Life group reported exercising more than the group that met in class. This was the most exciting result for Mitchell: The hint that the virtual experience might create a long-lasting lifestyle change.

These results have now led to a $3.5 million grant over five years for further research, as a press release explains :

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) has awarded a $3.5 million grant over five years to Suzanne Mitchell, MD, a family physician at Boston Medical Center (BMC), to study health outcomes of minority women with type 2 diabetes who participate in group medical visits to help them manage their diabetes. Participants will receive diabetes self-management (DSM) education and medical advice from BMC physicians either in the online virtual world Second Life or an in-person classroom setting. The study aims to determine the efficacy of virtual world and classroom groups in teaching DSM, to increase all participants’ physical activity levels, and to measure technological development milestones of the virtual group.

The Boston Globe article also quotes Gentle Heron, who works so very hard as part of Virtual Ability Inc.

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