Second Life – Page 92

January 20, 2015

Can Our Avatars Change Our Behaviour Outside The Virtual World?

There’s an interesting article over at The Wall Street Journal : Practice Personalities: What an Avatar Can Teach You. The article by Robert Lee Holz highlights research from the likes of Stanford University to suggest that not only can our avatars and inworld interactions change the way we behave, they can also be used to change the way we behave via role-playing in areas such as corporate diversity :

As digital experiments in identity, our personal avatars mingle real and virtual worlds in ways that scientists are only beginning to analyze. While data is scarce, emerging technology such as 3-D virtual reality goggles and more immersive computerized experiences promise to make avatars more common. Scientists and psychologists are finding new uses for avatars, including role-playing for corporate diversity training, for business conferences and for teaching.

I’ve seen this discussed before but there is a theory that people often create an extension of themselves when they create an avatar for a virtual world or game experience and that in many ways the customisation choices available reveal far more about a person that they realise. I’m not 100% sold on this theory as I’m often a Dwarf, Drow or Wizard. I would also like to be an Orc … actually some of the powers of those characters would be beneficial outside the virtual world, maybe they’re on to something :

American Scientific Blogger Jennifer Ouellette is quoted as saying :

Your brain will start to incorporate your avatar into your sense of self, the more strongly you bond with that avatar, the more it will impact your behavior in the real world.

Jennifer is very familiar with Second Life and is involved with Virtually Speaking Science, a podcast that takes place in Second Life. I’ve covered Virtually Speaking Science a couple of times.

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January 20, 2015

Baylor College Of Medicine Utilising Second Life To Aid Women With Physical Limitations Lose Weight

Sometimes you see a news item or a blog post in a stream and you wonder if it’s something that has been rehashed from many moons ago. That was my first thought when I saw the story I’m about to blog about, however after delving further it looks like the real deal.

BCM Momentum, the blog for Baylor College Of Medicine informs us : Online program aims to aid in weight loss for women with physical limitations. The program addresses a very serious issue, as Margaret A.Nosek PHD explains :

If you really want to see something rarer than a vegetarian at a rib cook-off, try looking for a woman in a wheelchair at Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, or 24 Hour Fitness. Why are we such rare birds in these environments?

The answer is simple – these programs don’t really understand what it’s like to try to lose weight when exercising is simply not an option.

Therefore there’s a need for women with physical limitations to share ideas on how to lose weight and of course a good way of doing this is to meetup in small groups to discuss methods that may work. However there are times when physical limitations are problematic for people who may benefit from meeting up in a central physical location, so what better way to address this than via a virtual world :

We are now testing this program with small groups of women who have mobility limitations, but instead of making them deal with all the hassles of coming to one location, we hold our meetings in the virtual online world of Second Life.

Whereas this program is aimed at women in the Houston area, it still shows the power and benefits that a virtual world can bring.

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January 19, 2015

Oculus VR And Linden Lab Both Hiring As Development Of VR Gathers Pace

A sign of a healthy market can sometimes be found in the number of vacancies in that sector. Sometimes a number of vacancies can indicate that a company is not the best place to work because there’s a lot of churn. However, let’s be positive here.

Oculus VR and Linden Lab are both hirng and both list plenty of vacancies. Both companies also have plenty of perks. Reuters have reported : Facebook hiring spree hints at ambitions in virtual reality and beyond. Whereas this indicates Facebook hiring going beyond Oculus, there are an impressive number of job listings at Oculus :

Oculus Rift, the maker of virtual reality headsets that Facebook acquired in a $2 billion deal last year, is among the key areas slated for growth, with 54 jobs listed on its website, according to a review by Reuters of listings.

Oculus are advertising positions for Software Engineers, Hardware Engineers, Content, including a game designer, Resaearch, Recruiting, Operations, Sales, Marketing, Design & User Experience, Interns and Co-ops and University Grads, Masters & PHDS. Whereas this doesn’t give us a clear indication of where Oculus are going as a team, it is interesting that they are advertising for Unreal Engine and Unity engineers. Are Oculus planning on making games or are they planning on making sure games work well with Oculus?

Oculus offer some interesting perks :

Perks include flexible hours, free food, happy hours, team trips, free Oculus hardware, and much more. We offer competitive salaries and a full range of benefits including comprehensive health care and 401k.

Some of those perks I’ve seen cited as being a barrier to entry, but I’ll come on to that later. Oculus also state that they are an equal opportunity employer :

Oculus VR, LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment with Oculus is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Very noble indeed. As for Linden Lab, their careers page lists around a quarter of the number Oculus do, but that’s still a very healthy 14 positions.

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January 17, 2015

Visit The Timekiller Goth Festival Before It Runs Out Of Time

Linden Lab’s continued excellent promotion of The Destination Guide alerted me to the Timekiller Goth Festival. Alas this also alerted me to the fact that the festival is running between January 9th – 18th, which means if you want to visit, you’re almost out of time!

The festival is taking place on the parcel of SL Goth Magazine, whom I didn’t know existed. This is another good reason for holding events or getting yourself in the destination guide.

The event is supported by a host of creators, whom I shall list from the SL Goth Magazine website :

Black Arts – BYRNE – Biscuit Clothing – Cute Poison – Cherished Memories Wedding Store
Dark Passions – DEADPOOL – Devae – Galactic Wunder Nails – Ghost Story – Howling Asylum – ImmateriA – Morphe Inc. – PIXEL BOX – Stargazer Creations – Thanks for All the Nebulae and more!

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January 14, 2015January 14, 2015

Whatever Happened To Second Life Demographic Metrics?

When I was a lad in Second Life Linden Lab used to publish statistics galore. They still make plenty of statistics available in terms of the economy, you can find those over at Tyche Shepherd’s Grid Survey site : http://gridsurvey.com/economy.php

However along with the economy stats Linden Lab used to publish statistics on age, gender, country of origin yadda yadda yadda. They stopped doing this some time ago. A report published in April 2008 by Janet Lo, Law student, University of Ottawa, commissioned by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada contains some statsics :

Age Of Users

13 – 17 (Teen Grid) – 0.96%
18-24 – 24.50%
25-34 – 35.43%
35-44 – 23.35%
45 or older – 15.25%
Unknown – 0.51%

That’s quite a vast age range of users. Gender was also quite interesting :

Gender Of Users

Male – 59.02%
Female – 40.98%

I seem to recall seeing a statistic where the gender balance was a tad closer, something like 57% – 43% but I can’t find a reference to this. I’m not sure why Linden Lab stopped publishing these statistics, they were good talking points and in today’s climate where diversity is a big thing, they may well be interesting. However as Linden Lab’s published statistics were, well, statistics, many people argued that we were in lies, damned lies and statistics territory. However that’s part of the fun of statistics!

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Category: Second Life

Can Our Avatars Change Our Behaviour Outside The Virtual World?

Baylor College Of Medicine Utilising Second Life To Aid Women With Physical Limitations Lose Weight

Oculus VR And Linden Lab Both Hiring As Development Of VR Gathers Pace

Visit The Timekiller Goth Festival Before It Runs Out Of Time

Timekiller Festival

Whatever Happened To Second Life Demographic Metrics?