Just another unauthorised virtual world fansite
The photogenic spots of the Destination Guide led me to Wizardhat Studios. Aha I thought, a place for Wizards to perform wizardry. That wasn’t quite what I found. However I did find a magical landscape of stray clouds, wild animals and a walking tree…. I’m not making this up!
The sim is a mixture of beautiful woodlands in which avatars roam in animal garb and a coastline with crashing waves.
Scattered around the sim lie buildings, which do look like they’d make a good home for wizards.
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to remove your weapon.” the woman told me.
“I’m a Dwarfin King, a King! Do you understand me?” I replied.
“Don’t take that tone with me or I’ll have to ask you to stand outside the room.” the woman sternly replied.
I bowed my head and removed my sceptre. Yes, the educators are in town and Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education 2015 has officially opened with a barnstorming speech from Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg.
Now if you’re looking for a transcript, I’m sorry but I’m not going to provide one. I’m not a big fan of transcripts, but more importantly, my notecard was eaten halfway through so I lost all my notes! However thanks to the power of my memory (this might not end well) and Daniel Voyager’s Twitter stream I may be able to provide some information. An important thing to note is that Ebbe Altberg’s speech may have been aimed at educators but it was extremely relevant to virtual world fans of all types as he delved into the future of Linden Lab’s top secret, but so far unnamed (other than being not Second Life 2.0) virtual world.
Ok so the bombshell news, the nextgen virtual world from Linden Lab will have an age rating of 13+. Now before we all panic too much, Ebbe pointed out that legally there’s really no difference between a 16+virtual world and a 13+ virtual world.
Another bombshell for those looking forward to getting an early look at Linden Lab’s nextgen virtual world is that initially Linden Lab will be hand picking participants and they will be looking for participants who know Autodesk Maya and can create experiences for Virtual Reality and a PC platform.
Concerns were raised as to why Linden Lab were looking for people with skills in what is a rather expensive piece of software, rather than an open source product such as Blender. Ebbe assured people that they will be looking for the nextgen virtual world to be open to many different creation products, but for the early testing, they want people with Maya skills.
In terms of costs, Ebbe is looking to lower land costs and increase sales taxes in the new platform. Linden Lab are spending a decent amount of time trying to find the ideal balance here, although it’s much harder to change the balance for Second Life than it is for the nextgen platform.
Continue reading “Ebbe Altberg Opens VWBPE 2015 With Keynote Speech”
The above platform is described as :
Suburban Seastead, Virtual Property (Futuristic throwback), Second Life. Price: $1 Million Linden (most recent exchange value in U.S. dollars accepted). Will not last long. This impressive monument to housing everywhere is single-handedly responsible for upholding the impressive home values of this neighborhood. Calling it a house does not do it justice, mostly because it is in fact a giant virtual platform, situated in the ocean right off the coast of a fantastic and family friendly suburb.
The build is the work of artist Andreas Angelidakis and is part of an Intangibles collection for The Walker Art Gallery in Minneapolis. The build appears to be a somewhat tongue in cheek sale :
Greek architect Andreas Angelidakis is not serious unless YOU are serious and his agent’s motivation can only be described as “cautiously optimistic.”
I stumbled across this via an article in the New York Times by Melena Ryzik : For the Walker Art Center, a Shop That Peddles Evanescence. The article is in some ways odd, especially the part about Second Life :
But the rules of Second Life mean that buyers cannot simply enter the house; Mr. Angelidakis has to log on to show them around. “It’s almost like being a real estate agent,” he said, albeit for “an object and a price that is virtual even to the Internet.”
If you want to buy the item inworld, then you can buy it now, it’s set for sale, although I would certainly advise anyone to have a serious look at it before taking such a large plunge!
Continue reading “The One Million Linden Dollar Suburban Seastead”
Login2Life is set for a St Patrick’s Day premiere in the USA at the Reelabilities Ny Disabilities film festival. The film by Daniel Moshel and with musical credits by Bernhard Drax (AKA Draxtor Despres) is described in the blurb as :
Elaborate digital platforms like Second Life and World of Warcraft offer novel opportunities for friendship, sex, employment, and aesthetic experience in virtual communities populated by cartoon-like avatars. Centered around people who have found communities online, Login 2 Life profiles people deeply immersed in virtual worlds, including individuals who are homebound because of their disabilities, and attempts to understand what these individuals get from their virtual lives.
The film is scheduled for two showings tomorrow :
Continue reading “Login2Life Set For St Patrick’s Day US Premiere”
Iris Ophelia has received a reply from Twitch regarding whether streaming of Second Life via their service is allowed : Update: Twitch Responds With Their Stance on Streaming Second Life. The long and short of it is, that Second Life streaming is indeed prohibited :
Second Life is not permitted for streaming and those accounts reported for doing so will be suspended. Content in this game is unrated and often sexually explicity, which is content we do not allow on our services. We also do not permit Adults-Only rated games and games where nudity is the core focus, feature, or goal.
Please read our Rules of Conduct regarding sexually explicit acts or content for more information:
I could write a long rambling post about this, or point out that Grand Theft Auto, an 18 rated game, is happily streamed. However I’d rather just point people in the direction of The Drax Files : World Makers on YouTube, which is certainly not a series that exemplifies nudity being the core focus, feature or goal.
Another virtual world event that doesn’t have nudity as the core focus, feature or goal is Virtual Worlds Best Practices In Education, which starts on Wednesday of this week and it’s a far more important topic. This is the 8th annual event and here’s a brief explanation of what it’s all about :
Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education is a global grass-roots community event focusing on education in immersive virtual environments. This open conference is organized by educators, for educators, to provide an opportunity to showcase the learning that takes place in this community of practice. All educators are encouraged to present, attend and take part in this discussion of collaborative deeper learning and co-presence in virtual worlds and games.
The Opening Keynote speech will be from Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg in Second Life, however this conference does go beyond Second Life, other featured speakers include :
Pam Broviak – Manages the Public Works Group, an online resource offering information related to public works, government, and social media.
Gord Holden – Recipient of the Virtual Education Journal’s Reader’s Choice Award as the Edovator of 2014.
Jeroen Frans – One of the three Founders of the Vesuvius Group, LLC, and functions as Executive Director and Virtual World Technology Specialist.
Sensuous Maximus – Co-founder of the renowned Builders Brewery within Second Life.
Susan Toth-Cohen – Professor and director of the post-professional clinical doctorate in occupational therapy at Thomas Jefferson University.
John Fillwalk – Serves as the senior director of the Hybrid Design Technologies initiative [HDT] and as the director of the Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts [IDIA Lab} at Ball State University.
Jay Jay Jegathesan – Holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from the University of Western Australia (UWA), majoring in management and marketing.
For more detailed biographies about these speakers go here : http://vwbpe.org/conference/vwbpe-2015-keynotes-and-featured-speakers