March 2014 – Page 3 – Ciaran Laval

March 23, 2014

Second Life Grid Size – Steady As She Goes

Tyche “Statto” Shepherd’s weekly grid report breaks the news this week that the Second Life grid size has remained static for a second week in a row, although the net number of private regions grew by one sim, this was cancelled out by one Linden owned region disappearing.

The current scores on the doors are a total number of 26,178 regions on the Second Life grid, with 19,195 being private estates and 6,983 being Linden owned.

Now to get this shift in fortunes into some sort of perspective, let’s compare the scores on the doors during the first few months of 2012, 2013 and 2014.

2012

Type	01/01/2012	25/03/2012	Change	Percentage
Estate	23,857	23,046	-811	-3.4%
Linden Owned	7,221	7,105	-116	-1.60%
Overall	31,078	30,151	-927	-2.98%

In the above table we can see that overall losses were over 900 regions in the first few months of 2012, coming in at just under 3%. This table is a little bit odd because there were a higher number of Linden owned regions disappearing than we’ll see for 2013 and 2014, but this table is also the one with the largest losses for private regions too, both in numbers and percentage wise.

2013

Type	30/12/2012	24/03/2013	Change	Percentage
Estate	20,992	20,469	-523	-2.49%
Linden Owned	7,102	7,088	-14	-0.2%
Overall	28,094	27,557	-537	-1.91%

Here we can see that losses were still rather high with a net loss of over 500 private regions, but that in itself was an improvement on the early part of 2012, although the figures look disappointing there is indication of a slow down with a net loss that is almost 300 less than a similar period in 2013.

2014

Type	30/12/2013	23/03/2014	Change	Percentage
Estate	19,273	19,195	-78	-0.40%
Linden Owned	6,986	6,983	-3	-0.04%
Overall	26,259	26,178	-81	-0.31%

Here we can see that the slowdown in net region losses is getting quite significant. A net loss of just 78 private regions as opposed to the 523 in 2013 and the 811 in 2012 is extremely impressive. That’s just 9.61% of the net losses we saw during a similar period in 2012 and just 14.91% of the net losses we saw during a similar period in 2013.

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March 22, 2014

The Drax Files Radio Hour Episode 11 – Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Gray

Episode 11 of The Drax Files Radio hour opens with Bill May introducing the show and visiting Drax in real life. The show as usual covers a variety of topics, with the main attraction of this week’s show being an interview about virtual reality with Ben Lang of the road to VR Blog.

Ben talks about virtual reality hardware and its uses, where the technology is heading and why it isn’t as difficult to use some of this hardware as some may feel. This is a subject that Mona Eberhardt has been covering and Mona recently blogged : VR headset designs: Maybe we’re missing something? The interview with Ben makes for very interesting listening, this is something that Drax pulls off so very well.

They were due to interview Emily Short of Versu fame, but Emily has politely declined. Has Emily been knobbled? Has someone made her an offer she can’t refuse? Is this a case of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Gray wherein Emily is put in an impossible position by unknown forces? Well no, the reality is likely that Emily has said her piece on the subject and now wants to move on. I remain deeply disappointed by Linden Lab’s decision to turn their back on Versu, but the decision has been made and although it’s a massive loss, it remains Linden Lab’s right to make that call.

Then there’s the issue that has been irritating many people, especially Drax’s co-host Jo Yardley who recently blogged : Second Life advertising hits new low. The issue :

Second Life advert example — Second Life Advert

Bikini Babes without machine guns. Yes this is a tacky advert in many ways and yet it will appeal to some and that’s the aim of any advertising campaign. Are there better ways of advertising Second Life? Absolutely and Botgirl Questi touches this subject matter in a post entitled : Second Life Advertising: Beyond Bikinis and Vampires

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March 22, 2014

Will Relationships Reach The Stage Where We Are Together In Electric Dreams?

Linden Lab recently ran a blog post : Production Company Seeking UK Residents for TV Documentary, the gist of this is that a company called Back2back Productions are seeking couples who have met online and now have a solid relationship/marriage outside the virtual world. However they are also seeking couples who have not yet made the jump from virtual reality to actual reality, for the purposes of this production one half of the couple should be UK based, more details, including whom to contact, are in the blog post.

There is an issue with these sort of relationships in so much as is it the avatar or the person behind the avatar that falls in love? What is the initial attraction, whereas the idea that someone falls for an avatar may sound far fetched, this sort of subject matter was sort of covered in a recent article in The Guardian, which goes a stage further than wondering if people are attracted to avatars of other humans and asks : Will we ever have love affairs with video game characters? That article is a fabulous read and starts with a premise based on the film Her, where the main character falls in love with his operating system.

Whereas there’s a key difference between someone falling for a NPC instead of a character powered by a human being, there is definitely potential for some crossover. The article is really coming from an artificial intelligence point of view, with the idea that as artificial intelligence gets more sophisticated, the potential for people to be attracted to that artificial intelligence will become more likely. The idea that an artificial character can learn more about the person as they go along is the basis of a relationship, that’s how relationships grow. Games are becoming smarter with their artificial intelligence processes and the article gives some examples :

Elsewhere, Maxis, the creator of the Sims series of life simulations is expanding the AI and emotional responses of the characters for Sims 4, finely tuning them to what the player does. And Second Life developer Linden Lab recently ran a gaming experiment named Versu, a sort of choose-you-own-adventure ebook in which reader actions combined with AI characters to modify the story.

Sigh, Versu, seriously, this should not be gathering dust! However, back to the point, as the intelligence of computer characters grows, will the lines between reality and virtual reality get more and more blurred? Well part of the equation will be whether the NPC falls for the person they’re interacting with, but that sort of interaction could well be possible, Gartner researcher, Jackie Fenn is quoted as saying :

Humour and creativity will be among the more challenging areas for artificial intelligence, but even here researchers are experimenting with clever algorithms and deep learning. If a computer can learn what makes people laugh – and more importantly what makes you laugh – based on watching and analysing over time, there is no theoretical reason that a computer couldn’t eventually display and respond to humour. Similarly with music or art – by experimenting, analysing and learning, it could figure out which compositions create the best emotional resonance in the human brain.

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March 21, 2014

A Massive Cross Promotion Opportunity Stares Linden Lab And Adobe In The Face

Adobe are currently offering Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5 for a subscription of $9.99 a month if you sign up for a one year plan :

For a limited time, you can join a special Creative Cloud plan. It includes access to Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5, plus feature updates and upgrades as they are available, 20GB of cloud storage for file sharing and collaboration, and a Behance ProSite. And it’s just US $9.99/month when you sign up for a one-year plan, but you need to join by March 31, 2014.

Now if you’re in the the Euro zone it’s 12.29 a month including VAT and in the UK it’s £8.78 including VAT … the temptation to rant here is rather immense, but I’ll let it pass. The prices are reasonable, here’s the thing, Adobe Photoshop is a very powerful tool that could be used for Second Life content creation. Adobe used to have an island in Second Life, I don’t know if they still have that island but I visited the place when they had an event many moons ago.

The transport was a freebie and they had entertainment there during the day, so Adobe did at one stage have a clue about how to use Second Life. However even if they no longer have an island, their new monthly subscription plan is ideally placed for being bundled with some sort of Second Life premium membership plan. One aimed at content creators.

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March 21, 2014March 21, 2014

How Will Second Life Fare In The Face Of The Rise Of The Sandbox MMO?

Second Life has in many ways been way ahead of the pack. Their free to play model was controversial when launched but has proven to be the right model and now many MMO’s follow this model. Second Life introduced user generated content to 3D worlds and whereas some of that content has definitely been controversial, Second Life trailblazed as a platform of creativity.

In terms of empowering content creators, Second Life has once again trailblazed, by allowing content creators a means to make real money from their creations, Second Life tapped into a massively underestimated market. Second Life has therefore been quite ground breaking in terms of bringing together these concepts, but now others are starting to take note, they are starting to see the potential and they are hoping to get their share of the pie. The people who make content creation tools are also seeing the massive opportunity that is knocking louder and louder, they are making their products more accessible by offering different payment options and making their tools free or cheaper.

The likes of EverQuest Next Landmark are already attracting attention and will allow content creators to build and have the opportunity to make real money from their creations. Others will be watching with interest to see how this pans out. There is without doubt fear about user generated content but the window of opportunity is wide open.

Then there are the tools, yesterday the Unreal Engine 4 was launched with a very affordable licensing model for pretty much anybody. The full engine and source is $19.95 a month and then 5% of any game sales, in games sales and advertising. The previous Unreal Engine was not an option for indie developers, in an article on Gamautra they quote Epic’s Tim Sweeney as saying:

it’s typically cost millions of dollars… negotiating has involved teams of lawyers, looking at the shape of the industry now we realize it’s an outdated model, looking at the possibilities for the engine, we started out from scratch. We came up with an entirely new business model for the Unreal Engine which we are announcing today.

Now, absolutely anybody can gain access to Unreal Engine 4 by subscribing to the engine for 19 dollars a month — and you get access to everything” .

Now it dangles there as an affordable option and it’s not just game developers being wooed, they are also chasing content creators:

To help you get started, we’re shipping lots of ready-made content, samples, and game templates. You’ll find it in the Marketplace in the Unreal Editor. Right now, it simply hosts free stuff from Epic, but its resemblance to the App Store is no coincidence: It will grow into a complete ecosystem for sharing community-created content, paid and free, and open for everyone’s participation!

These platforms, games, development engines etc. are stepping on Second Life’s toes and more of them will be stepping on their toes, will Second Life prosper?

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