August 2014 – Page 4 – Ciaran Laval

August 16, 2014

SL Go Viewer Improvements And Offer Of Paid Work For Viewer Developers

Inara Pey brings news of some improvements to the SL Go Viewer from OnLive. The improvements include SL share for Flickr and Twitter now working as well as a fix that means fitted mesh now works properly via the SL Go viewer. SL Share for Facebook should also work but Inara doesn’t have a Facebook account to test that with.

SL Go offers the potential for people using mobile devices to use Second Life as well as offering the opportunity for people running older hardware to get a better experience. This is because you run the Second Life viewer via Onlive’s hardware and therefore you can have higher graphics settings without bringing your machine or mobile device to its knees and feel like you’re walking through treacle. This of course comes at a cost, which is currently comes with the following options :

$9.95 (£6.95) per month for unlimited access. Starts with a 7 Day Free Trial.
Pay as you go for only $1.00 (£0.70) per hour.

I’m not associated with SL Go in any shape or form, nor am I on their list of bloggers, but I will say that this is not a bad deal at all for those who want to explore Second Life. The system does have some drawbacks, one of which Inara explains in her post :

There is still no capability to save snapshots locally. This isn’t surprising, given SL Go is a streamed service, rather than something running locally with access to the local hard / flash drive, and so is likely going to take a lot more banging on things before it works – if it can be made to work.

As I said earlier, you use SL Go via their hardware and therefore the local disk drive is going to be their hardware. This should not be insurmountable. There are security issues with allowing people access to the SL Go local hard drives, but with some care this could be worked around. Another option would be for a SL Go viewer only email texture option, although this would be rather clunky for end users, it would work.

Inara also posted an very interesting blog about the fitted mesh improvements as well as information regarding paid contract work for viewer developers : SL Go: viewer update fixes fitted mesh issue.

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August 14, 2014

Virtual Worlds Should Pay Heed To The Rise Of The Orcs

Earlier this year Mitch Wagner had an article published in Information Week about High Fidelity : Second Life Founder Pursues Second Chance. The article talked of how Second Life had not reached mainstream appeal and pondered whether High Fidelity can. Mitch wasn’t convinced because of the time investment, but he did acknowledge that Second Life got a lot right. However for the real reason Second Life hasn’t reached mass appeal we need to go to the comments on the article and consider the issue of Orcs :

Second Life would have fared better if it had appealed to MMORPG fans, the primary proven market for such activities. Philip Rosedale, you need orcs.

This comment misses the point of Second Life somewhat and yet in doing so, highlights one of the issues for Second Life and any other virtual world. People see Second Life as a singular place, it’s not, but the architecture of the platform can make it appear so, which brings us to another comment on Orcs :

I think the Orcs comment is spot on. It’s one thing to fix the technological elements, but Second Life never appealed to me because it was so open and amorphous. Part of the fun of an immersive experience is having an objective and a set of limitations to work within (or against). An open world where you can do anything sounds great, but then you run up against the limits of your own imagination.

This comment hits the nail firmly on the head. Second Life needs to deliver experiences as well as offering open creativity, people want something to do. This also goes back to the points Mitch made about time investment, people want to pop into a virtual world, experience something and logout. They don’t want to build, they want to be guided. The problem here isn’t Second Life itself, it’s the way people view Second Life as .. well, Second Life. I’ve said something along these lines before, but for Second Life to reach mainstream appeal it requires people to stop talking about Second Life. This may sound somewhat odd but my point is that Second Life should be viewed as the technology. The experiences the places people visit, the places people learn at, the places people role-play, they should be at the forefront of the major discussion, Second Life should be consigned to the geeky conversation about technology.

Now of course virtual worlds offer a sandbox experience and the concept is absolutely brilliant. Virtual worlds such as Second Life, Kitely, Inworldz, OpenSim etc. offer authors, creators, designers the opportunity to build their very own stage and bring their own visions to life. This really is a fantastic opportunity for people who want to get creative, to do so. However there are many many people who want to be guided through an experience, they want to teleport right in to the end product. Virtual worlds do indeed offer great potential but to some, a blank canvas is very difficult to grapple with.

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August 13, 2014

Skill Gaming Applications Appear To Be A Skill Game In Their Own Right

The Skill Gaming applications for Second Life seem to be involved in some sort of skill game of themselves as operators try and seek approval for their game. At this stage I wouldn’t be surprised if the deadline is pushed back again because this is turning into a challenging experience for applicants and Linden Lab.

Let’s just rewind a little, Inara Pey recently covered the Second Life Bar Association discussion on the new TOS and the skill gaming policy. I’ve looked at the TOS discussion but not the skill gaming discussion, so let’s take a look at the skill gaming discussion.

The presentation was headed once again byAgenda Faromet. The discussion is a little bit muddied at times due to the fact that gaming and gambling seem to intermingle, but they do get to the differences about gaming and gambling early on :

Gambling – betting, wagering something of value, money, on a contest, sporting event, game of chance.
Gaming – playing skilled games that require skill or a player’s control of the game.

There are some areas of the discussion that border on being a little bit wrong, for example :

So gachas, breakables, stuff like that? They’re not gambling. I’ve answered so many questions about that. Not affected by the policy because they don’t have a pay-out in Linden dollars. If it doesn’t have a pay-out in Linden dollars, not gambling.

It doesn’t matter what the rick versus reward is, it doesn’t matter that you can sell your rare breakables for a gazillion dollars; they’re not [gambling].

Stock exchange: not gambling. Contest boards … depends on how they’re set-up, but if it costs Linden dollars to play, and it has a pay-out in Linden dollars, it’s gambling. If it doesn’t, not gambling.

The part about not having a pay-out in Linden Dollars meaning it’s not gambling isn’t actually 100% correct. The wagering policy actually states that the pay-out can’t be Linden Dollars or any real world currency or thing of value. The thing of value issue is where people ponder whether certain activities fall foul of the wagering policy, it’s a vague statement. However I suspect it applies to real world things of value, rather than inworld things of value, but I wouldn’t bet on that!

Then there’s a discussion on where attorneys are required to be licensed to practice law :

Comment – If you are from Europe It is rather difficult to hire an attorney who is licensed both in your country and the USA.

Reply – You don’t need an attorney that is licensed in the USA. You need an attorney who can write a letter that says what you are doing is permitted in your country.

However the FAQ does indeed state that the reasoned legal opinion should be provided by an attorney licensed to practice law in the United States. Initially that wasn’t mentioned as a requirement, the goalposts have been moving on these applications.

However it’s interesting that the presentation viewed stock exchanges as not gambling because SL Capex, who bill themselves as the number one stock market simulation in Second Life, are currently in the middle of a skill gaming application and they seem to be having a few difficulties in completing the process.

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August 11, 2014

Kagami – A Japanese Horror Event In Second Life

Kagami advertises itself as a Japanese horror event in Second Life and I have to say it’s pretty bloody funky, but it’s only here for the month of August. Wait, what is Kagami?

“Hey, you know what? At midnight, put two mirrors facing each other. Then you can see your future spouse in the mirror! “

Everything started from these words from my friend.

Of course I didn’t buy that story, but I thought of giving it a try anyway. I’d waited till midnight…. and well, nothing had happened as I expected.

No special reflection on the mirror.

“It’s silly. I should’ve known that from the beginning… better go to bed now.”

A 15-year-old girl shouldn’t have believed it.

But―, I couldn’t have imagined, what was happening to my old friend Kasumi then.

Ok yes yes yes you do indeed play the role of a 15 year old Japanese schoolgirl but you should be big enough to look beyond that, it’s not as if you actually wear such an avatar …. well I didn’t anyway. One of the first things you’ll notice with Kagami is the impressive use of cut scenes that automatically appear on your screen when you wear the HUD.

This is a point and click adventure in many ways, which is something a platform such as Second Life can very much pull off. Initially you’re going in search of your friend Kasumi, who has disappeared, did she try the two mirror trick?

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August 8, 2014August 9, 2014

It’s Worse Than That She’s Dead Jim – Necronom VI To Close

Over at SLUniverse Wildefire Walcott brings us the sad news that the space station Necronom VI is in grave danger and will need to close its doors.

There is confusion as to exactly when the engines will cease working, initial reports suggested it may be this weekend but later reports suggest that an engineer, who is obviously not called Scotty, as that would infringe way too much IP, may have managed to get an extra week out of the space station.

Necronom VI is a rare beast, it’s a science fiction roleplay sim. I’m surprised there aren’t more science fiction ventures in Second Life but now we’re likely to be minus one. So, you may be asking, what exactly is Necronom VI? Well the sim does come with a bit of history, but first let’s talk about space colonisation :

–Project Necronom – Space Colonization–

It is an ancient human dream to colonize vast space itself.

Humanity has expended over the galaxy for centuries, terraforming planets and creating equals to its former home. In order to reach the next step of existence however, the final move into space itself needs to be achieved.

It is estimated that over a mere timeframe of five genrations, humanity can reach the next step of evolution.

In an effort to bring forth this crucial development, the Necronom project has been initiated by a combined effort of the whole human race, even beyond the reaches of the UCE (United Colonies of Earth).

Twelve space colonies, spread throughout the galaxy, were constructed to house humanities biggest hope.

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