Whilst the TOS debate has been raging I’ve been checking out other Linden Lab properties, mostly Versu and Dio. Now one point to note in TOS terms is that Dio is under the same Linden Lab umbrella TOS as Second Life and Desura whilst Versu still currently has its own TOS. I’m not sure what to make of that.
Versu seems to be going well, although there’s still no bloody Android version. Dio on the other hand seems to be struggling for identity.
When Linden Lab launched these products earlier in the year, Versu sounded interesting as an interactive fiction platform with a suggestion that it would be opened up to allow people to create their own stories.
Dio on the other hand didn’t sound too interesting, but when it launched it was surprisingly interesting and had the potential to allow people to create photo albums, interactive stories, text adventure type games, a broad brush but that seems to have changed and it’s now billed as a place to create interactive photo albums. The photo album market is a very competitive area. Dio also isn’t helped by the hard to read text links in the footer, at my age you notice these things!
Of the two Versu currently looks the more vibrant, in August Deidra Kiai announced the release of two new Versu adventures. They were “Office Politics: The Interview” and “Office Politics: The Party“. As opposed to previous Versu titles which were more pride and prejudice era, these adventures are set in the modern day office environment. There’s also a link on Deidra Kiai’s blog to a Dio adventure entitled “Jamey Beanman’s Burrito Quest” which Dio informs me is private or limited access. Maybe you need to be logged in.
News of development on these two titles is sparse, but let’s not forget that they are relatively new developments. However it’s Versu that seems to have the most traction, Emily Short’s blog details all different kinds of interactive fiction, it’s also the best source of information I can find about Versu development.
Back in July they announced the closed beta application. Interestingly enough the tools will work on a Windows platform, even though Versu is currently only available on the iPad.
Emily has also announced that she will be talking about Versu during November and December all over the world! Well in Boston on November 9th at the People’s Republic Of Interactive Fiction meetup, in New York between November 15-17 at the PRACTICE 3rd Annual Conference and on December 7-8 at AdventureX in London. I’m not quite sure what the University Of East Anglia is doing in the centre of London, but these things happen. Luton airport is called London Luton these days and I’m not sure how that works either!
As I said earlier, both of these products are young but at the moment Versu looks more vibrant. Dio is picking a tough market by going after the photo album market, even if they do have added interactive features, there are already many popular photo sharing sites at play but if devs didn’t try and bring something new to the table, progress would never be made.
Notice Versu TOS 5.1:
“solely for the purposes of providing and promoting the Service.”
Look familiar?
Any bets on when that changes to LL ToS 2.3-speak?
-ls/cm
I’m puzzled as to why that hasn’t changed already, maybe they know authors won’t agree to the changes, or maybe it’s an oversight.
At this point, any author that takes Linden Lab’s beta offer (and whatever compensation) to help stock the site to lure other authors into Versu is a Judas Goat in my mind.
-ls/cm