Second Life – Page 139

February 18, 2014February 18, 2014

Ebbe Altberg Lands With Informal Post But No Mention Of Orcs

I’m having pingback difficulties on this site, this probably sounds more painful than it actually is. However I’m finding people have linked to posts but their pingback doesn’t show in the comments, I’m not sure why this is. Also people may find their comments in moderation if they use links, I check spam and comments waiting approval so unless the content is extremely dodgy, I’ll approve the comment at some point … hopefully. Unless it’s one of those days when I have a shed load of spam. Anyway, on with the show!

Ebbe Altberg has found his way to the blog and posted an extremely informal hello world address to Second Life users. In the post Ebbe links to Inara Pey’s blog post about him. Ebbe commented on Inara’s post.

From Ebbe’s blog post:

Why did I choose to take this on? I did it because I love the idea behind our products, what you can do with them, and the potential for what we can become. I studied fine arts and computer science, and I find creating digital products and services a creative blend that I absolutely love. For me then, the creative and empowering technologies and marketplaces Linden Lab are creating are just incredible materials to work with. I have a huge belief that we can do great things together. Great for you, for Linden Lab, and for our investors. Linden has learned a ton that few companies have ever had the opportunity to learn when it comes to empowering people to contribute in creative ways and collaborate with a global online community. It’s unique.

Ebbe scores well in the Linden Lab new CEO RPG, scoring many points for saying Second Life isn’t a game, praising creativity, talking of empowering people and being honest about looking to please customers, Linden Lab and investors. He also gets bonus points for not talking about passionate residents.

He scores quite well for providing his Twitter ID, although some will think this may be a sign he will do all his talking on Twitter. This can be put quickly to bed as Ebbe has dived into the forum, with informal responses to people wondering why there were no comments allowed on the blog post!

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February 17, 2014

Second Life Ad Invites People To Make Friends & Play, But Don’t Ignore The Sandbox .. Or The Orcs!

I noticed a fresh looking Second Life advert earlier this evening, one with colour and richness, sun, sand and bikinis. I don’t know if this is new or from last year’s campaign but it has a certain charm and a certain suggestion that may annoy some folk.

Second Life advert example — Second Life Advert

This doesn’t look like a typical Second Life advert, for a start, there are no vampires in sight! The advert has a nice appeal for people to make new friends around the world, emphasising the social side of Second Life. Then it says “Play Now” and in some parts of the metaverse, people roll their eyes.

However, I don’t see this as a bad thing, if people want to play in Second Life then they are more than welcome to, that’s part of a sandbox environment, it’s many different things to many different people.

However, where LL may be missing a trick these days is in not pointing out that Second Life is a fantastic sandbox. Sandbox worlds are likely to grow and the appeal to content creators of different sandbox environments should not be under estimated. Sony Online Entertainment are getting very onboard with the sandbox concept with forthcoming titles such as Everquest Next Landmark of particular interest in that area.

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February 16, 2014February 16, 2014

New World Notes, The Alphaville Herald And SLUniverse All Turned 10 In 2013

Many people celebrated Second Life’s official tenth birthday during 2013, but three Second Life related publications also turned 10 during 2013, New World Notes, The Alphaville Herald and SLUniverse.

Love them or loathe them, all three are important archives of virtual world history, discussion, debate, controversy and hope.

On 22nd April 2003, Hamlet Au, AKA Wagner James Au, introduced himself to the Second Life population :

Here’s the thing: ordinarily, I cover computer games for magazines like Salon and Wired. But for the next few months, Linden Lab has invited me to set aside my journalist cap, and instead, don the digital beanie of their in-house virtual correspondent. I’ll be writing about the creation of Second Life, their upcoming massively multiplayer online game, as it goes from Beta test to official launch, with frequent posts in this space.

Because what is happening now in the Beta test of Second Life is very much a social experiment in the making. Literally, “making”: thousands of volunteers are already in there now, buzzing around in Linden Lab’s servers, shaping their world out of thin air. From a default canvas of wide oceans and rolling hills, they’re cramming the place with coffee tables, exotic swords, sunglasses, ride-able rockets, electric guitars, readable books, soaring Japanese pagodas– pretty much anything you might imagine, and a lot more you wouldn’t dream of– to create a playspace as vast and varied as creativity and enthusiasm allows.

Back in those days New World Notes was officially aligned with Second Life. Hamlet was a Linden, hired by Linden Lab to write New World Notes. Hamlet has been gathering up old archived posts and adding them to his current blog, as exemplified by his 2003 interview with Philip Rosedale – The Price Of A New World : An Interview With Philip Linden.

New World Notes was an official Second Life publication until February 2006 and then of course, went its own way and is still going strong today covering Second Life and more.

The Alphaville Herald launched in October 2003, with Peter Ludlow, Glenn Given and Candace Bolter listed as authours. Pixeleen Mistral would arrive later. One of their first posts spoke of the potential power of virtual worlds and MMO’s :

In a recent study, Edward Castronova at California State Fullerton calculated that if the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game) Norrath were “real” place, the per capita gross domestic product of Norrath would make it the 79th richest country in the world (per capita), just behind Russia, but ahead of Bulgaria.

This remarkable conclusion was based upon the sale of currency and virtual goods of Norrath on ebay and other online locations. Other recent work has pointed not just to the development of virtual economies, but to emerging governance structures, laws, and other institutions within virtual communities. If this is right, then virtual communities in general and MMORPGs in particular are not just games, and not just chat rooms, but are also real places that are developing real social institutions and real economies.

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