Linden Lab – Page 54 – Ciaran Laval

July 7, 2015July 8, 2015

Where Second Life Leads, VR Looks Set To Follow With Charitable Giving

In another “Second Life, yes it’s still around” post I’m taking a look at areas where Virtual Reality is likely to follow Second Life’s lead, in particular charities, nonprofits and social causes.

Earlier today I was reading an article by Erin Blakemore on Smithsonian.com, Virtual Reality Could Be the Next Big Thing in Charitable Giving :

Sometimes, all it takes to inspire more charitable giving is a visit to a place or person in need. But not every situation or location is accessible to the average donor. That could be changing, writes NPR’s Linda Poon, thanks to virtual reality experiences designed to increase empathy and charitable giving.

The linked article by NPR’s Linda Poon is well worth a read too. Virtual Reality may well be able to take people to places and scenes that will increase their empathy to charitable causes, but the concept of charitable causes being able to extend their reach via Virtual Worlds has long been a practice in Second Life and other similar virtual worlds.

Erin Blakemore’s article acknowledges this and points to the Nonprofit Commons, which has a presence in Second Life. The Nonprofit Commons explains a bit about itself on their website :

Nonprofit Commons was designed to lower the barriers of access to Second Life, to create a community of practice for nonprofits to explore and learn about the virtual world, and to investigate the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize this unique environment. Through this community, we provide free office space to qualifying groups, meet and network, create a cooperative learning environment and foster outreach, education, fund-raising, all in a virtual space. Our focus is on providing an accessible entry-point to Second Life and on creating a community of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) for effective collaboration and support. We believe that Second Life is a wonderful place not just to entertain, but also to educate, inspire, and work together to assist our fellow avatars (and the humans behind them). You do not have to be a resident of the Nonprofit Commons to get involved with our community. We welcome all who wish to join us as partners, collaborators or supporters.

The Nonprofit Commons are under the leadership of TechSoup and rely on the help of volunteers to aid their good causes.

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July 7, 2015July 8, 2015

Second Life Wedding Picture Used For Motherboard Transhumanist Article

The time has come for a couple of “Second Life, yes it’s still around” blog posts. The reason for this is that despite people sounding surprised that Second Life is still around, the platform still gets cited directly and indirectly in many articles.

The above picture by Alex Bristol appeared on my Twitter stream today. The image appeared because Chuck Baggett was pointing out that the image was being used in a post about human marriage. However there’s a bit of a twist regarding the article, it’s actually a transhumanist article. Transhumanism is a train of thought devoted to improving the human condition via technology. There’s a lot more to it than that, but it delves into areas that many find troubling.

Now ideas that many find troubling are not a bad thing. We need to discuss the way technology impacts upon our lives. I personally find it interesting, but at times it does appear to be way too sci-fi for my liking. However that’s the point of the discussion.

So back to Chuck Baggett’s tweet.

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July 4, 2015July 8, 2015

What Second Life Means To Me Video Project Hits The 30 Entry Mark

Back on June 16th Xiola Linden posted a blog entry, The “What Second Life Means to Me” Video Share Project :

We’ve been having a lot of fun with no end in sight to the good times – but you can’t turn 12 without a little pride and reflection. Second Life has been going strong for a dozen wonderful years and there’s a ton of things happening to celebrate. You’ll see more to come here in the Featured News Blog – but we wanted to stop and ask – “What is the meaning of Second Life?” To you – that is! This question may sound daunting – but the truth is, tapping into what makes “SL” so special to us as individuals and communities is a really amazing exercise in retrospection and self-discovery. This is your world – so what does it mean to you?

Whether you just got started, have been onboard for the full dozen years, or fall somewhere in between – we’d love to see a glimpse of your story in the “What Second Life Means to Me” video project.

Since then people have been creating short videos and I have noticed that the playlist on YouTube has now hit the 30 mark. There are a variety of styles applied, some people share more of their real self than others, some are shot entirely inworld, some have no voice. This mix is what makes this project so interesting.

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July 3, 2015July 8, 2015

Crestwick Village In Second Life, Where You Don’t Stop Believing

Just a small town Dwarfin, living in a lonely world.

I decided to take a trip to a small working class region of Second Life by the name of Crestwick Island and I was totally blown away by its gritty beauty.

The actual parcel description states :

Crestwick Island is a small working class town situated on an Island in the middle of a beautiful bay. The streets are lined faux businesses and shops as well as parks, marsh land and other surprises including a giant hill that supports an observatory.

This is a location that works really well, although it’s a shame that the business on the streets are faux because the record store looks really funky!

The creators of this wonderful location are Ciphertazi Wandin and Isa Messioptra, who also doubles as The Mayor, although I don’t know if she was democratically elected.

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July 2, 2015July 8, 2015

Confederate Battle Flag Items Are Being Removed From Second Life Marketplace

Hamlet Au recently blogged – Linden Lab Declines Comment on Continued Sale of Racist Confederate Flag Items in Official Second Life Store. In that post Hamlet said

I’ve e-mailed Linden Lab three times about the sale of Confederate flag items in its official Second Life Marketplace (which I blogged about last week), but have still not received any kind of reply. At this point I’m forced to conclude Linden Lab is declining to address the issue — either publicly, or in the Marketplace itself, where Confederate flag items are still quite easy to find and buy, both through searches of “Confederate” and “rebel flag”.

Whereas Linden Lab may have declined to comment, it does seem that they are taking action. In a post on SLUniverse, Second Life content creator Amigo Uriza writes :

Yesterday and today, I got all my outfits with the rebel or confederate flag delisted and deleted from the marketplace.

I always supposed that flags were never copyrighted or trademarked … that’s why I decided to used them. Actually It wasn’t me, but my deceased partner that created those “rebel” items a few years ago and I have been selling them since then. I haven’t created any other since then.

According to Linden my items have been removed for “Listings for harmful or disruptive content”. They are just outfits with a flag on the chest or the back. Nothing else. Some of them have been removed for “Post, display, or transmit Content that is obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable”

First things first, Amigo admits that English is not his first language, so he may very well be unaware of the more sinister meanings behind the Confederate Battle Flag. I say this as someone who does have English as a first language and I didn’t understand how deep the negative symbolism of this banner went. I have put this down to the fact that it is widely seen on Film and TV where it’s not always in a context of racism. This is a different scenario to which people generally see the Nazi symbol, with some exceptions in Asia and even then, those of us in the west raise eyebrows when we see the symbol.

However the commentary and news stories surrounding the Confederate Battle Flag in recent days have pointed out loud and clear how much a symbol of hatred it can be. This therefore has definitely put Linden Lab in an uncomfortable position.

Amigo’s post is backed up by the fact that a search of the Second Life Marketplace no longer seems to return obvious items emblazoned with the Confederate Battle Flag.

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