The Drax Files – Page 5

September 2, 2014September 2, 2014

Drax Files World Makers Episode 22 -Virtual Health Adventures

Episode 22 of The Drax Files World Makers – Virtual Health Adventures, has caught me somewhat by surprise as I thought the final edit was being published today, with the actual episode going live tomorrow. This is all my own fault as we can see from the blog post from Linden Lab, sponsors of the series and from the excellent review of the episode from Inara Pey, others understood that the final edit meant it would be published today! I’ll embed the video at the end of the post.

This episode deals with usage of virtual worlds, why their immersive nature can be far more productive than a traditional website and it even exemplifies people using The Oculus Rift for even greater immersion. Pay careful attention to that because you’ll see how that issue of where the keyboard is, is a very real issue when you’re using The Oculus Rift. However also pay attention to how important the immersive environment is to this episode and of course The Oculus Rift can help to make an environment even more immersive. The main theme however is one that people probably don’t associate with a virtual world such as Second Life, that theme is working with amputees to assist them to overcome emotional trauma.

Sandra L. Winkler, assistant professor at NOVA University in Florida, who teaches occupational therapy says :

“Second Life is the perfect place for amputees to overcome emotional trauma by sharing stories and realizing they are not alone!”

Dr Winkler, who unlike her namesake Henry, hasn’t yet jumped the shark, is working on a three year study funded by the United States Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. That study is roughly halfway through its three years and whereas Dr Winkler admits that at this stage it’s too early to draw any definitive conclusions from their current work, she does feel that the virtual world environment combined with new technology is a significant next step in tele-healthcare.

Dr Winkler’s research is aided in Second Life by the development work in virtual worlds of Virtual Ability Inc. who have long had a presence in Second Life.

In the episode we see amputees embracing the virtual world and going through exercises as well as putting a virtual wheelchair into a virtual car. There is scientific evidence that this sort of process does indeed help people to be able to transfer these skills to the real world and this was something we also saw in The Drax Files: World Makers Episode 13: Creations for Parkinson’s.

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August 2, 2014

Drax Files World Makers Episode 21 – Editorial Clarity, Love Is In The Air

Episode 21 of The Drax Files : World Makers features an interview with Editorial Clarity, the founder and CEO of Love To Decorate (AKA LTD), a publication about home and garden products in Second Life. This episode is, at its heart a love story. Wait wait wait, wasn’t that a theme from my previous blog post? *Checks Notes* … ah it applies to this one too! Love is in the air. everywhere I look around, Love is in the air, every sight and every sound.

The episode opens with Edi opening a real physical 200 page edition of LTD magazine. The items in this magazine are products made for Second Life. The magazine is funded by advertising and the way it works is that they decorate a home from scratch to show people what can be done.

Edi, who seems to have a rather slight West Midland and London tinge to his accent, explains how he’s not a creator but he does create spaces. I feel that creation in Second Life isn’t just the domain of those who create products, I see land and spaces as being part of the creation process too, so I disagree with Edi about him not being a creator.

Edi talks about how Second Life helped not only his confidence but his love life too. Love is in the air, in the whisper of the trees, Love is in the air, in the thunder of the seas. He met his partner Rico in Second Life back in 2010, at a time when he had not yet, in his own words, come out of the closet to his family. They met in real life a year later and have been going strong ever since.

The episode features some wonderful footage of their inworld marriage, a spectacular looking Alice In Wonderland themed affair that also doubled as a fashion show for Second Life designers.

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July 5, 2014

The Drax Files : World Makers Really Are Good Documentaries About Second Life

Rock, Paper, Shotgun is not a publication that devotes much time to Second Life. They are mostly a PC Gaming publication. They did interview Rod Humble, but that seemed to be more to do with his background with Electronic Arts and The Sims, more than it was to do with Second Life.

However this week they have taken an indirect look at Second Life, courtesy of Draxtor Despres and his video series; The Drax Files : World Makers. In an article entitled : The Drax Files Are Good Documentaries About Second Life, they take a look at The Drax Files : World Makers. The cover shot is a picture of Draxtor’s back looking at a screen with Rod Humble on it!

Author Graham Smith obviously has good taste because he enjoyed the episode about The Dwarfins! He also enjoyed the episodes about Elie Spot and Abramelin Wolfe. However he also points out that Second Life is flawed in some ways too :

Obviously every one of these episodes is putting a positive spin on Second Life, making it appear as if the virtual world is all about unfettered creativity and the magic of people and community. That’s lovely, but perhaps won’t be apparent when you first connect, struggle with its still-clunky interface and stumble into a blandly decorated building aggressively advertising sex toys and trashy clothing.

Quite, but the power of The Drax Files has been to go beyond the trashy clothing etc. and highlight the many positive use cases of Second Life that aren’t highlighted by the mainstream media. However as someone pointed out to me not long back, Linden Lab haven’t exactly given the mainstream media much to chew on over the years. The Drax Files changes that slightly.

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June 13, 2014

Drax Files Episode 2 Wins New Media Festival Best Machinima Award

The Drax Files : World Makers Episode 2 – 1920’s Berlin has won an award for best machinima at the New Media Film Festival in Los Angeles. Unfortunately Draxtor Despres couldn’t be there in person to pick up his award, which is a shame because we have no pictures of him schmoozing with the stars. There’s also no footage of Draxtor doing a video thank you, but this is a very good award.

The blurb for the festival tell us :

An International Festival based in Los Angeles, the New Media Film Festival celebrates the ever-changing world of new media. Declared “worth the entry fee” by MovieMaker Magazine and hailed for making “the cutting edge accessible” by Huffington Post, New Media Film Festival accepts new media entries across a variety of categories.

The jury includes reps from Pixar, Fox and The Caucus, among others. A total of $45,000 USD in awards will be presented at the 5th Annual New Media Film Festival.

Quite impressive praise and jury. However what of the episode itself? I reviewed it back in March 2013 and rather spookily I said the following :

I’ve mentioned before how good a medium this is for promoting Second Life and how it would be good if Linden Lab got in on the act. I’ve also pointed out that there are issues such as editorial impartiality for Linden Lab that Draxtor and others don’t face, so it’s trickier for Linden Lab but I hope they are taking note of the positive nature of these videos. They are at least aiding the promotion by blogging about it.

As Linden Lab now sponsor the production, it seems they were paying attention. They have also promised editorial impartiality will continue, I should have charged a consultancy fee!

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June 6, 2014

The Drax Files: World Makers Episode 20 – flokers

Episode 20 of The Drax Files : World Makers (now sponsored by Linden Lab) features an interview with a Sicilian designer and illustrator by the name of Flokers. In traditional style I’ll embed the video at the end of this post.

Now first things first, rumours that Draxtor chose to interview Flokers because she has Draxtor style long hair and wears glasses have been strenuously denied. That being said, this episode is different in many ways, there are no opening titles or traditional theme music for a start. This has happened before but it’s rare. Flokers tells her story from the start and you get the impression that she is driven by her love of Second Life and her love or illustrating and it has to be said, the illustrations are very impressive.

Flokers explains that when she draws she does so in a manner that means if people see her drawings on the internet, they will realise they were inspired by Second Life. Obviously this is going to depend upon whether the person viewing her drawing is aware of Second Life, but you get a good feeling for her inspiration here.

Flokers is a fan of text chat, because that way she can filter people’s words better. I have heard people say this before and as someone who believes voice communications will become more prevalent as virtual reality becomes more immersive, we should not forget the excellent advantages that text chat allows in communications. I myself have used a translator to communicate with people from Spain in Second Life, with neither of us really having a grasp of the other’s mother tongue. That sort of communication will be lost if we move entirely away from text chat and that would be a great loss to the virtual world experience.

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