When I was a lad and I used to play on Livejournal we’d do an end of year post where you’d take the first few lines or paragraph of the first post of each month and that would be your review of the year. I’ll do proper reviews of the year over the next few days or so but for now I’ll turn back to that old Livejournal meme. This won’t make that much sense but it is a bit of fun.
January
I’m about to embark on a series of posts about accounts, Linden Lab and their forthcoming interactive story of Versu. Inara Pey, with her eye firmly on the ball has noticed that websites have appeared for Dio and Versu. I’m not so much interested in Dio, although I might be once it gets going. However Versu is something I like the look of and I’ve been digging around the website for Versu. At first glance it seems bereft of information, but a closer look reveals that Versu has a cut down version of the Second Life terms and conditions, a DMCA link and a very handy FAQ.
February
Ok so I’m enjoying playing around with dio and The Search For Hod Rumble (see previous post for details) is well under way, whether it ever goes from private to public is another matter. My intention with this project is largely to play around with the features and get a good understanding of the platform whilst having fun at the expense of Rod Humble. However, even though I’m only at the start of my project, I have picked up some tips.
*NOTE* – The search for Hod Rumble remains unpublished.
March
Draxtor Despres, of Metareality Podcast, Superflufee machinima and other stuff I don’t know about but probably should fame, has today launched a new monthly show titled: “The Drax Files“.
April
Back on March 12th Linden Lab blogged about advertising on Second Life properties. There has been no further update but the people behind Fennux breedables have managed to take advantage of Google advertising by getting an advert for their product and website onto the Second Life website, well the forums in my case, that’s where I saw the advert.
May
In what is a rather odd sounding move, Linden Lab have announced that the beta viewer is to be replaced by multiple beta viewers. The idea seems to be akin to how they release new code on the servers where they have a main channel and then other channels such as Le Tigre, Blue Steel and Magnum.
June
There’s a hefty thread on the Flickr forums regarding feedback on the new Flickr, you can see it here. I’m sorely tempted to point them in the direction of the Texture Usage Page on the Second Life Wiki for tips on how to optimise their site! The reason people are having performance issues is due to loading lots of large textures.
July
On June 20th Linden Lab blogged Celebrate SL10B With a Chance to Win a New Alienware 14 Laptop! “Awesome” was likely to have been the reaction of many, until they saw “Note: this contest is limited to Second Life users in the US” At this point the reaction of many was likely to have been “Boooooo!” I don’t have a problem with this, even though I can’t enter, the same as I don’t have a problem with the previous Amazon promotions I can’t participate in.
August
I was reading the Flickr forums the other week when I saw a comment along the lines of “I think Yahoo are just trolling us now“, which made me laugh. However I’m now starting to think that the comment is squarely in the “Many a true word said in jest” category.
September
Regrets, I have a few, but then again, too few to mention. I’m not in a good place with my Second Life right now, entirely my own fault and Linden Lab have been extremely wonderful. However, one area where I cannot praise Linden Lab is with regards to the new TOS.
October
Former Linden Qarl (Mesh Deformer) Linden has announced he is leaving Second Life due to the updated TOS.
November
The Drax Files Episode 13 – Creations For Parkinson’s is a wonderful example of how many boundaries the virtual world experience can cross. I’ll embed the video at the bottom of the post. This episode touches upon how people of all ages can enjoy the virtual world experience and how experiences within the virtual world can inspire people outside of the virtual world.
December
The good news is that net private estate losses in Second Life are showing a quite significant slow down. The bad news is that the losses are still too high, as is the damn tier.