July 2015 – Page 5 – Ciaran Laval

July 14, 2015

Ebbe Altberg And Other Lindens Brave The Second Life Forum For Q&A Session

At SL12B Ebbe Altberg was interviewed live on stage by Saffia Widdershins and Jo Yardley. The fact that it was live inworld was emphasised when gremlins struck and delayed the interview, but Ebbe stayed past his allocated time to answer questions. The video of the interview was recorded by Chakat Northspring and can be found here. Inara Pey, posted a transcript of the meeting, which can be found here. I posted a hot off the press summary of the meeting, which can be found here.

However there were some unanswered questions and it seems a feeling that there may be some follow up questions. Linden Lab have now blogged that further questions are welcome in a blog post entitled An Interview and Q&A with the CEO :

The interview ended with some audience Q&A, but there wasn’t time to get to all of the audience questions, and of course not everyone was able to watch the interview live in the auditorium and ask their questions.

So, today we’re opening up a new Forum thread to address some of the questions we didn’t get to and to give everyone an opportunity to ask their own. We’ll answer some of the frequently-asked questions we spotted in local chat at the “Meet the Lindens” interview at the top of the thread, but feel free to add your own questions to the forum thread and Ebbe and other Lindens will endeavor to answer as many as we can. Join us in the Forums, here.

The forum thread, which I’ll link to again, is entitled Ask The CEO. Whereas it’s not quite a Reddit Ask Me Anything session, it does give Second Life residents the opportunity to ask question of the CEO, with other Lindens likely to answer some questions too.

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July 14, 2015

The University Of The Arts In Second Life

The Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) is an artistic program in Second Life with a very noble mission :

The Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) was established to help create a center of arts activity in Second Life. It is a collaborative venture between Linden Lab and the arts community. Guided by a dedicated board of renowned Second Life artists, the LEA is committed to providing access to engaging experiences in the arts for the Second Life community. Through its exhibitions, programs, and events, the LEA fosters awareness of artists’ contributions to our virtual world and encourages others to get involved and be inspired.

The LEA is run and organized by users of Second Life, with resources generously donated by Linden Lab.

Applicants put forth proposals for an exhibit and those who are selected by a committee get six months use of a sim for their project. In the latest round (round 9) one of the successful applicants was Carla Ives, who is creating a University of The Arts project.

The project will have exhibition space, with a young artist having a permanent exhibition there. There are also plans to incorporate a learning space within this project which will be designed to teach people how to make a dance show in Second Life. This will go through the process of building a set, choreography, use of particles and animations.

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July 13, 2015

Second Life Footage Set To Appear On All New Dr Phil This Tuesday

Footage from Second Life will this week appear on All New Dr Phil, a daytime television show in the United States. The footage from Second Life will appear in an episode entitled Won’t Work, Won’t Go to School: “My Son Just Wants to Game All Day”.

The blurb for the episode on the Dr Phil website states :

Sarah says her 23-year-old son, Justin, is so consumed with playing video games that he dropped out of college, can’t hold a job and has lost more than 50 pounds — and she fears he’ll die if he doesn’t stop. Justin admits he can play 16 hours a day — sometimes lasting up to 30 hours straight — and says he would rather live in the virtual world than the real world. When Dr. Phil opens Justin’s eyes to the dangers he faces, will it have an impact?

The issue is a very serious one but there’s a bit of a twist regarding the Second Life footage. Justin, the man featured in the article, does not engage with Second Life. The usage of Second Life footage is to exemplify that digital experiences have come a long way since the days of Pac-Man.

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July 12, 2015

Hair Fair 2015 Now Open

Hair Fair 2015 in Second Life opened yesterday and runs until July 26th. As well as being a showcase for hair designers in Second Life, the event also has a charitable side with a portion of all sales being donated to Wigs For Kids, who help children who have suffered hair loss :

For over 30 years, Wigs for Kids has been providing Hair Replacement Systems and support for children who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy, radiation therapy, Alopecia, Trichotillomania, burns and other medical issues at no cost to children or their families.

There are a couple of thank you letters from Wigs For Kids on the Hair Fair 2015 website, including one from 2012, which thanks Second Life residents for raising over $10,000 for the cause.

Now as this is a busy event you’re likely to want to take a look at the official Hair Fair 2015 website for information. The Hair Fair 2015 Store Slurls & Map Guide blog post is an extremely useful resource because not only does it provide information about where the stores are, it also provides information regarding additional sims that will be available in the early days of the event.

I had to teleport to one of the additional sims to take photos for this blog post because the main four sims of Blonde, Brunette, Redhead and Noirette were all full. Now being as it was 4am SLT when I tried to teleport to the regions, it suggests that the first few days are going to be extremely busy.

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July 11, 2015

Everwinter – A Post Apocalyptic Theme Park In Second Life

Second Life fashionista Rachel Price was the inspiration behind my visit to Everwinter Post Apocalyptic Theme Park. Rachel’s picture had been Second Life pic of the day back on July 3rd and the location looked interesting.

Upon visiting, I discovered that the location is interesting.

Everwinter is based on real events, as the notecard informs us :

Everwinter Is Inspired By The Abandoned Amusement Park In The Real World City Of Pripyat. The Pripyat amusement park in Pripyat, Ukraine is an abandoned amusement park. It was to be opened on May 1, 1986 in time for the May Day celebrations (decorations for this event are still in place in Pripyat today) but the plans were interrupted when on April 26 the Chernobyl disaster occurred a few kilometers away. The park was opened for a couple of hours on April 27 to keep the city people entertained before the announcement to evacuate the city was made. Today, the park, and in particular the Ferris wheel are a symbol of the Chernobyl disaster. The amusement park itself is located behind the Palace of Culture in the centre of the city.

The audio message you can hear in russian as you enter Everwinter is the actual recording of the evacuation message played to the city of pripyat following the nuclear disaster at chernobyl.

I’m not going to give everything away, but there are some interesting sound recordings being played here too.

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