opropi: April 2009

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Second Life Game Show - "The First Question"

While at the Conference on Virtual Journalism on April 6th, I ran into a Pooky Amsterdam, and we had a talk. She told me she hosted a show on SLCN.tv called “The 1st Question,” and invited me on Tuesday April 28th as a contestant. It’s not every day one gets a chance to be on a game show, so I agreed.The show's website (click HERE to go there) on describes the show as “The fast-paced, fact-based, fun hour of science related merrymaking, audience participation, prizes, wit & wisdom.” It takes place every Tuesday at 7 PM SL time in the Studio Dome over Spendthrift Island. Pooky Amsterdam hosts the show with Hydra Shaftoe as co-host, with four contestants competing to win. The show is broadcast on SLCN on compatible viewers in SL, and is done in front of an audience of a few dozen. Old shows can be seen in the archives.I was asked to show up by 5:30 PM SL time, and did so. “You’d be surprised how many show up at 5:31 or 5:32“ Pooky told me. The other three contestants were also involved with Second Life Media in some way. PaulLevinson Freenote, Paul Levinson in real life, is a science fiction writer publicizing his work in SL, appearing with book in hand and a monocle. Chantal Harvey is noted for her work with Machinima, as well as organizing the MaMachinima International Festival in February 2009. Jackson Vantelli is the head of Q-media, an SL magazine publisher. Last, or “closest to the audience” as Pooky put it, was me. We were each briefed on how the show went, and each of our sound systems looked at to keep problems away, or at least at a minimum. Co-host Hydra showed up not in his usual wolven avie, but a black jackal in Ancient Egyptian wear.After the opening and our introductions, first, was a little science humor. What element on the Periodic table did we think best represented us? Paul Levinson answered Mercury, though when told it was “incorruptible” joked he might have to make another choice. Me, I commented iron as that’s what newspaper typeset is made out of, “then again, some wise-guys would also say it gets rusty.”Next was “Yea Me or Nay Me,” a series of trivia questions with yes or no answers. Then came “Mind Wresting,” in which we would each ask a question to the other contestants. I gave an American Civil War history question. Then we had to answer the following question, “You are in charge of the first newspaper at the first inhabited planet discovered. What will the name of your newspaper be?” I mentioned how in one science-fiction story, some planets were named after the first thing spoken after landing, “The Wemadeit Viewscreen.” But Chantal explained hers so well, the audience loved it best.Before the show, I thought Paul Levinson would be the winner. Instead, it was soon clear that Chantal was the one heading to victory. Me, I stuttered and stammered a little, and slight nerves may have cost me a question or two. But at least it was a friendly audience. At the end, Chantal emerged the clear winner with Paul Levinson a distant second. Jackson and I tied for third.I had a few lucky guesses, but what stood out was one question in the “Yea Me or Nay Me.” Although I was using push-to-talk with voice, I still had the volume a little low to keep from interfering with the others. I heard one question as “Did Alfred Hitchcock have a blue button?” That confused me a little, and I answered no. To my surprise, the question was if he had a *belly* button, and as it was removed in a surgery, I got the credit.Once the cameras were off, Chantal was briefly taken somewhere to get some prizes, and everyone was invited to port to a nearby location to party for a while. Pooky congratulated every one of the contestants, insisting it was a job well done by all.As of the writing of this article, the recording of the show was being shown on the SLCN.tv main website (click HERE to go there). It should be available on “The 1st Question” website (click HERE) soon.And no, I didn’t know I sounded like that.Bixyl Shuftan

Onward with Questions

Cartoon of the day

Photo contest winners!

Where Avatars Fear to Tread

FASHION DESIGNERS CHALLENGE PRESS RELEASE

The Road to Oz, April, 27th - Samsara Nishi, fashion designer, is proud to announce the first edition of FASHION DESIGNERS CHALLENGE - FDC for short."For long time I've wishing to explore more deeply the collaboration aspect of SL, and I was also so curious about how it would be to organize such a thing... Finally I found a funny way to do it: usualy fashion designers, including me, work alone, all by themselves... well... what if they could influence each other to create? So I decided to invite other fashion designers to join me to be challenging each other to explore our creative minds practicing our design abilities on the fly!" says Samsara Nishi.FDC is a special & unique fashion event involving 35 well known fashion designers connected under a strong collaboration mode.Everyone who joined this team were brave enough to accept the challenge to join the event as fashion designer without knowing what are the style of outfit they would have to create... They are challenging each other to create maybe something different from their usual...The brave fashion designers are (in alphabetic order):Aleri Darkes, Alexandar Vargas, Amutey Decuir, Annah Whitfield, Anubis Hartunian, Candy Cerveau, Clio Cardiff, Danielle Harrop, Digit Darkes, Eolande Elvehjem, Felicity Overlord, Ina Centaur, Indyra Seigo, Ivey Deschanel, Jamie Holmer, Kesseret Steeplechase, Leah McCullough, Mew Denimore, Mouse Mimistrobell, Nardya Rousselot, Neferia Abel, Nyte Vargas, Pushbutton Skolnick, Samsara Nishi, SavannahAnn McMillan, Sevenstar Amat, Sheltered Heart, Shir Dryke,Sioxie Legend, Sofi Sullivan, SySy Chapman, Tatianna Faulkes, Tigerlily Koi, Tuli Asturias and Wiccan Sojourner.Each one of the fashion designers have 3 main individual assignments during the Fashion Designers Challenge:1. To define a challenge to send to another fashion designer2. To create an outfit based on the challenge he/she received from another fashion designer3. To blog about the outfit someone else createdThat means:“Fashion-Designer-A” defines a challenge that “Fashion-Designer-B” will create and “Fashion-Designer-C” will blog about.And there are also team challenges.This is not a competition between fashion designers. This is a teamwork challenge. This is a collaboration effort.As far as everything was picked by chance... we will have some unusual outfits as, for example, Ivey Deschanel from Sn@tch been challenged by Sevenstar Amat to design a classical suit for ladies."Although I have not been teamed up with another designer (due to the fact we were having more clothing designers then for skins/jewelry and other categories), I've enjoyed every part of this challenge. It's interesting and fun to not only define a challenge to another designer and see what they come up with, but also to be challenged and having to create something you least expect and which may not be your usual style. I would definately do this again :)" says SySy Chapman."I have enjoyed working and meeting with other designers. Will I do it again? You bet!" says Wiccan Sojourner."Absolutely for sure my main challenge was not to create an outfit... after I had this idea my personal bigger challenge was to put all together and make it happens! And I've to confess you, I'm so excited to see the results of this initiative!" said Samsara Nishi.All operational aspects of the event were build under collaboration mode: Sioxie Legend made the official logo and poster based on her discussions with the visual identity team: Ina Centaur, Sevenstar Amat and Sioxie Legend; Candy Cerveau lended a sim to host the store and the club; Tatianna Faulkes did all the customization and building of the store based on the discussions she had with Sofi Sullivan; Clio Cardiff was the official Italian translator helping other designers to fully understand all details about the event.The decisions regarding who should be hired as services providers for the event, also were take together by all designers. "It is really interesting to notice some of the services providers, by their own decision, offered to join us under the collaboration mode, as sponsors." said Samsara referring to Prad Prathivi who will be making a machinima about the event, and Tillie Ariantho who will be working as the official photographer, both as sponsors.Timeless Agency is planing and will be presenting the Fashion Shows with the results of the designers creations during the follow dates:1st Fashion Show: Tuesday, May/5th at NOON SLT at Patch Thibaus Auditorium / SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Couture%20Boulevard/67/66/30152nd Fashion Show: Saturday, May/16th at 6pm SLT at Patch Thibaus Auditorium / SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Couture%20Boulevard/67/66/3015Moda Fashion Spotlight TV Show at May/11th 7pm SLT at http://slcn.tv/programs/moda-fashionA temporary store with all FDC products will be open to the public during the first Fashion Show, May/5th and it doors will be gone after the closign party at May/17th. The store is located at The Road to Oz (157, 137, 25) - SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Road%20to%20Oz/157/137/25.FDC will start with a pre-launching party exclusive for media people and bloggers on Tuesday April/28th from 4:30pm to 6:30pm sLT, with TwinStorm Sciarri DJ and Gwen Carillon DJ. The closing party will be on Sunday, May/17th from 1:30pm to 4pm SLT with TurboDJ Des DJ and Asrael Hax DJ. And also, of course, a flickr photo contest will happen.Fashion Designers Challenge event is only possible with the support of sponsors:EyeCandy/Candy Cerveau, Amodica Studio/Prad Prathivi, Tillie Ariantho, SL Newspaper, The Best of SL Magazine, WW Design, Sn@tch/Ivey Deschanel and Sam's Secret Boutique/Samsara Nishi.For additional information on Fashion Designers Challenge, contact Samsara Nishi inworld, visit http://fashiondesignerschallenge.wordpress.comFor additional information on Fashion Shows, contact SerinaJane Loon inworld, visit http://timelessagency.blogspot.com/ABOUT Fashion Designers Challenge - FDC is a special & unique fashion event involving 35 well known fashion designers connected under a strong collaboration mode.http://fashiondesignerschallenge.wordpress.com/http://www.flickr.com/groups/fashiondesignerschallenge/Temporary store with all FDC products at The Road to Oz (157, 137, 25) - SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Road%20to%20Oz/157/137/25For additional information on our sponsors, visit:SPONSORS (in alphabetic order):Amodica Studio/Prad Prathivi - http://www.pradprathivi.com/EyeCandy/Candy Cerveau - http://eyecandydesigns.blogspot.com/Sn@tch/Ivey Deschanel: http://snatch-sl.blogspot.com/Sam's Secret Boutique/Samsara Nishi: http://samssecretboutique.wordpress.com/SL Newspaper - http://www.sl-newspaper.com/The Best of SL Magazine - http://www.thebosl.com/Tillie Ariantho - http://tilliesthings.blogspot.com/WW Design - http://www.sldimension.com/

The Healing Potentials of Cybersex

Ecology X3

Cartoon of the Day

Camping bots, an overdue change with side effects

Tiny Outpost

I heard about a place that had quite a big variety in tiny wares, the “Tiny Outpost.” So I went over to take a look at the place for myself. And the Outpost indeed has quite a variety for sale. Not just avatars, but clothes, animations, and other accessories as well.When I first arrived at the Outpost, I was greeted by a tiny bunny named Qyhat Harbour, and welcomed me there, saying she was the assistant to Enktan Gully, the owner there, “We did our best to bring as many of the Tiny merchants together,” she told me, “Many in Second Life are not aware of tinies or tiny avatars, but they make up a good number in the Second Life population mass.” She told me the Tiny Outpost was to introduce tinies to new and old players in Second Life, and to “provide an international venue for all the different Tiny creators to showcase their wares in one location. ... we have the largest grouping, from Japan, Germany, Italy, USA, and Canada, to name a few. It’s a dream come true.” Enktan Gully himself was from Belgium, and as it was past his hours he was not available that day.The place had stores of the main two tiny avatar makers, “Wynx Whiplash who has been around for some time, and newcomer, Damien Fate, who is making waves with his innovative style and new designs. We have them both at the Tiny Outpost, along with some of the most haute couture designers of the Tiny world.” Besides the big two, the place had other Tiny avatar makers, such as some Japanese ones. And most of the buildings were the same style, giving the place the feel of a fantasy village.While looking around, a friend wanted to shop around where I was after she IMed me and I told her. After I ported her over, Qyhat came over, and answered all the questions she had about tinies. Looking around, there were more than just avatars, but an impressive variety of clothes, including some miniature versions of high fashion, animations for both Whiplash and Loco avies, furniture, homes, and other accessories. The place greatly exceeded all other tiny shopping areas I had seen in both size and variety.I made an appointment with Qyhat to see Enktan Gully, and met up with him the next day, appearing as busy as ever with hammer in hand. He agreed to sit down for an interview.Bixyl Shuftan: So how did you get your start in Second Life?Enktan Gully: During my first months in SL, I was mostly exploring the world, learning how things worked, what the possibilities were ... I didn't have much experience with computers or the Internet, I had never chatted with someone online before, so it was quiet a learning progress for me. After some time, I got interested in creating things, went to the Ivory Tower to learn about building and started out making some simple furniture. I bought my first land and made a little shop to sell this furniture.Bixyl Shuftan: When did you first get the idea of making items for Tiny avatars?Enktan Gully: Well, I don't make items for tinies in fact, I've been making some fantasy items like mushrooms and wishing wells but not specific for tinies. But I liked to be a tiny, although I wasn't part of the community, I was kind of a lonely tiny. About 6 months ago, I was looking for a manager for my shoe business. That's how I met Qyhat, she became my manager and found out she was a tiny too.And I had land here, wanted to do something with it, but something special. I wanted some kind of mall, but a themed one. Qyhat suggested why not rent it out to tiny creators. That was a great idea, however it was not easy to get done as it's more difficult to sell tiny stuff than regular clothing and such. I spoke with Wynx Whiplash, I adore her avatars and asked her if she was interested in the idea. She was very enthusiastic, and came immediately aboard. As she is one of the major tiny avatar creators, I got confidence the idea might actually work. So I started contacting all the others, and to my big surprise many of them wanted to come here. In fact, the Outpost got completely filled even before we opened.Bixyl Shuftan: That does sound like a very enthusiastic reaction. How did opening day go?Enktan Gully: That was a lot of fun, we had an official opening, I made a speech, and then we had a DJ and we danced for a couple hours. It was a very nice experience for me as I've never been together with that many tinies. It was like a homecoming (laughter). I found the tinies are really nice people and they have something special going on, hard to describe, but they have a strong community.Bixyl Shuftan: So how have things gone since opening day?Enktan Gully: Well of course I realized that if the merchants had no sales the Outpost would never survive. So we started a few projects to help them with this. We made a group where all the merchants could announce their new releases. I also made a section for tinies in the Dollar Store. Soon we will release the first issue of the 'Outpost Herald,' a newspaper with issues about the tiny world, and of course free ads for our merchants. And we keep on working at the outpost itself, making it really looking nice and cosy.Bixyl Shuftan: Yes, I thought it looked quite creative.Enktan Gully: I tried to have something different yes. There was all kinds of trash floating around on my neighbors land, so I decided to build walls around the Outpost. I made a nice background picture to put on them, depicting a forest/mountain landscape. And even with any building in it, the feel was right from the start.As I didn't want to interfere with Raglan and the existing tiny community, the name “Outpost” was very suitable. And so I started to create buildings that could be in such an Outpost, I tried to be original in this, that it would be somehow outstanding as a place. Tenants could rent one of the buildings I made or place their own building. It still needs work though, but all this takes time, as many things in Second Life do. And I have my shoe business to take care off too. The shoes are the major part of what I do in Second Life.Then there's also the magical garden, right next to the Outpost. In the garden, I have my mushrooms and a few other items. I want to expand this garden in the future, but again time is needed for this (chuckles).Bixyl Shuftan: Sounds like you have some plans for the future.Enktan Gully: Always many plans, yes. Too many I suppose (laughs).Bixyl Shuftan: Anything else that you'd like to say to the readers?Enktan Gully: Special thanks to all the tinies that have been supporting the Outpost, their enthusiastic joining and positive input have been an overwhelming experience.And of course many thanks to Qyhat, without her there wouldn't be an Outpost.And so, the interview ended, and the owner of this unique shopping area went back to business.“One thing that I think is important here, Second Life is not a game, but it's very healthy to consider it a game when you are in business here. It's not always easy to sell goods, or have your project work. Taking it too seriously might take the fun out of it. And after all, one should feel good with what one does in life, Second Life or real life, no big difference.”Bixyl Shuftan

Jack Linden Says Camping Bots to be Banned

Weekend Events: RFL Concert in Luskwood and Holocaust Lecture in Lighthouse Learning Island

Second Life Plays Host to Exhibit at the 2009 Boston Cyberarts Festival

By Nazz Lane

On April 24th, the Boston Cyberarts Festival opens and runs through May 10th. The festival features both visual and performing arts and boasts of being the only one in the world to feature “all art forms, including both visual and performing arts, film, video, electronic literature, public art, and web art”. The festival began in 1999 and is held every other year. This year will be the sixth occurrence and it will feature more than sixty exhibitions, from visual and performing artists who use computer technology as an integral part of their work. Exhibits are hosted at multiple locations in and around the Boston area. This year, festival organizers have included the virtual world of Second Life and will feature the work of several well known SL artists. An opening reception of the Second Life exhibition and an artist talk will be held on April 26th at 2 PM PDT/SLT on the Artropolis SIM.

Artropolis is home to Filthy Fluno (aka Jeffrey Lipsky) where he has established an artist colony and nurtured it to become one of SL’s leading art communities. Having interviewed Filthy for an article earlier this year, I’d become familiar with the SIM, so I TP’ed over a few days before the opening to find that preparations were well underway. I found an information box for the event and received a note card when clicking on it, the first line read, “Thanks for logging in and joining us for Boston Cyberarts Festival's ‘Traversing Sweet Illusions’. “ The note went on to provide information about the exhibits at this and other locations for visitors whether new to SL or seasoned residents. It also explained that the exhibit has “Organized the artists into 2 categories, ‘Immersive’ on the left side and ‘More Traditional’ on the right.” As visitors walk around they can to click on the virtual sculptures and be given note cards with the artists' information and description of their BCAF exhibit.

Featured works include "In the Sweet Bye & Bye" by Philip Jones; "Land of Illusions" by Lily & Honglei; "Adventures of Filthy Fluno" by Jeffrey Lipsky; "I'm Not Here" by Lance Shields; "Hostile Space" by D.C Spensley; and "Artropolis" by Todd Tevlin. These works will also be available for viewing in the non-virtual world. CounterpART Gallery in Lowell hosts the entire Festival Second Life exhibition from April 24th through May 2nd. Lily & Honglei's Second Life artwork will be on view at Design Gallery 154 at UMass Dartmouth.

SL Resident Osea Zapatero (aka Carmin Karasic), has been responsible for the second life exhibit along with Melita Podesta. She has been busily working in preparation for the festival opening, in both her first and second life. Ms Karasic, a web site designer and multimedia artist is exhibiting a piece along with co-creator Rolf van Gelder titled, "Human^n" which will be featured at the Boston Museum of Science during the festival. A resident of Eindhoven in the Netherlands, she is an assistant director of the BCAF and a faculty member at Lesley University. She graciously took some time away from her busy schedule and we met briefly to discuss the exhibit in SL.

“How long have you been involved with the BACF.” I asked

“I’ve been involved since the start, the first one in 1999 … well really since 1998 when we began planning for the first one.” She replied.

“What bought you into second life?”

“I really don’t know for sure what led me here. I’ve been here for a little while but I hadn’t really done much in SL until now. This has all been very exciting for me.” She said and then added, “I’m an educator as well as an artist and I’m hearing and learning so much about the educational community here. I want to learn more.”

“What were the selection criteria for the SL Art included in the exhibit?” I asked.

“The idea of including art from second life was George’s (BACF Director George Fifield). He became interested in it and we began working on it. We really didn’t have selection criteria, we found some things we really liked and were interested in presenting. We are already anticipating a stronger SL presence at the next festival in 2011.” She replied.

Complete information, including a searchable database of the more than 60 events and exhibitions, is available at www.bostoncyberarts.org.

My Precious - Grand Opening (9th May)

Lights, camera, action. Here we are at fashion designer Agnes Finney's grand opening of her "My Precious" store's new location. Agnes, an accomplished Second Life designer, has opened her new fashion sim. The new store provides a fashion display that only Agnes can create with her artistic style and design acumen.The new fashion display area includes not only the gown and dress displays but a bridal section, a fashion show venue, and a wedding chapel.To celebrate the grand opening Agnes is holding a photo contest with elite judges from Second Life. The theme, "The Perfect Bloom, Love in May", centers on the most creative use of flowers in the picture and the lovely lady dressed in an Agnes Finney gown or dress. The elite judges include: Mimmia Boa, Miss Virtual World 2009 and one of Second Life's premier fashion models; Chrissy Ambrose of Virtual Impressions owner and jewelry designer; Wurlitzer Seeisenbacher of Friday Night Talk Show CEO and host; and Wil Dreadlow CEO of ICON Magazine.To join the contest:We will have a elite panel of judges and wonderful prizes for the winners.So how do you participate? The photo contest rules are:-Entries are limited to members of Agnes Finney -- To My Precious group.- A picture of you or of you and your love one. The photograph should be in an Agnes Finney outfit.- Using the photo contest theme, "The Perfect Bloom, Love in May"; be creative with May flowers in your photographs.- The picture should be a 512 x 512 size and be full perm.- Submit your pictures to either Agnes Finney or Danilia Mureaux in a your full name as the title of the texture/picture.The contest dates are: We will be collecting photograph entries from April 20, 2009 through May 2, 2009 and judging will be held between May 3, 2009 to May 5, 2009 for the 5 best pictures. Winners will be announced in the new store May 16, 2009 between 4:00 p.m. SLT to 7:00 p.m. SLT.The grand opening of the new Agnes Finney fashion store and sim is one that one should not be missed.Now let's meet Agnes Finney. Agnes has been a member of Second Life since December 22, 2006. With her partner both in SL and "My Precious", Will Finney, Agnes attributes her much of her success to Will's encouragement and support. Needless to say, Agnes' talent is another reason for her success as a fabulous fashion designer. In her own words, Agnes "truly respects those who have strived to be creative".A talented, accomplished designer who displays great humility. Congratulations Agnes on your grand opening and much success.Please be sure to visit "My Precious" athttp://slurl.com/secondlife/Agnes%20Finney/90/127/23

Linden Labs Sued by Taser

Reporters of Gor: The Kajira Chronicles Book 2

SLOOP

I have been in SL for quite a while now, and ever since I got over the initial confusion of being a newbie and learning how to struggle – enough to survive, at least- with the technical issues… I mean, as soon as I could start paying attention to what was really going on here… it hit me clearly that SL was a major projecting test. A fun one, if the experience was pleasant, but undoubtedly a virtual place to massively splash ourselves against. The feedback comes mostly from our fellow SL residents, but in due time I came to realize the most important feed back can be obtained from our own selves.

I wrote a column long ago, about how we all shared the fantasy of being somewhat different, or a bit different, or totally different from who we really are in RL. (That, assuming we really know who we are in RL, which I doubt). And I said I thought no matter what shape or character did we choose to become in SL, deep down we were always going to remain ourselves, because the way we engage in relationships and activities will always respond to the basic pattern of who we are.

And then there was the issue of ALTS. At first I hated them, because I realized so many residents were two timing other people, used them to spy on their friends or partners, or to cheat, or to play malicious pranks. Then I realized they could have other uses, more simple and fun, with no hidden agendas. Like making your alt deal with the business you run here and letting you free to spend time with your friends without having to answer demanding IMs all the time.

But leaving aside those considerations – what you do and how you handle your alts is a matter of ethics and not the subject of this column-, the thing is I realized our alts, being yet another and another projection of ourselves… must have some rich info about who we are. And that could be valuable to ourselves, if we can look at those characters we made, because they are obviously parts of our personality.

My mind had to jump to Carl Jung, there was no way to avoid that.

Jung discovered that people have a preconscious psychic disposition that enables a person to react in a human manner. And this pre-existent disposition feeds itself on the totally unconscious “archetypal image”. These archetypes are potentials for significance and are not under conscious control. We, thus, tend to fear them. Modern man seems to need to believe that his life is totally rational and under control.

Jung linked the archetypes to mankind heredity and they are needed to structure our imagination and shape matter as well as psyche in the human world.

The archetypes belong to the Universal Unconscious, which we all share, as well as it’s potential. This cosmic, universal, unconscious knowledge is filled with myths of the human species.

This theory is way too important, too complicated and too rich to discuss here, but I hope this peeking into it was interesting enough to go a little bit further.

The most basic potential is the Shadow archetype. As we move deeper into the dark side of our personality, personal identity begins to dissolve into latent dispositions common to all humankind. The Shadow is the easiest of the archetypes for most persons to experience. We tend to see it in others, outside of us. We project our dark side into others and make them our enemies… or make them exotic characters that fascinate us. The dark side is not just the “bad”, evil side -in this case the Devil would be the great Shadow image -. The Shadow is also the mystery, the possibility of being creative, of having no limits, of being heroic, of being bold and adventurous.

Now : look around. Take a look at your alts.

Who is that Goth looking chick with piercings all over her body, sexy tattoos, black nails, showing her boobs and working the pole, while you… the one on the keyboard… is wearing an apron, keeping an eye on the timer so the pot-roast wont burn and shouting “Billy stop fighting with your sister!!!!!” ?

Who is that guy with the muscles and the shades, looking like a commando, blowing away anyone who trespasses with a weapon that would be too much for the Terminator, while you… the one typing… just came back from helping your neighbor rescue his cat from the highest tree in his garden… and now types “brb”, because the wife needs help with the dishes???

And who is that whimsical, moody, spoiled –yet harmless- young vampiress that keeps snarling and showing her fangs for no reason, being a nuisance to all her friends?? Oh.. er.. that’s me. J)

Well… you know what I mean. If those aren’t our shadows… who are they? The other question is: If the alter ego you first made when joining SL looks like it might be your Shadow… (or as much of your Shadow you can bear to project), the good news is you are quite in touch with it, and that helps exorcise the bad and bring out the creative –if there is some of that in us-.

If the predominant avi you made for yourself is a version (probably enhanced, but very much a version of the original You, then you might have to give yourself the chance to dig in and discover more about yourself, because you are probably too over adapted. (Which it’s OK, but you might be missing a lot).

And then… there’s other archetypes.

Covadonga Writer

A SL World of Good Ole Southern Fun!

African Mangroves and More

Pheonix Rising

NEW SLN Contest!

Changes

The notices are going up!

Age-verification in SL apparently beckons, in early May. And, my, but the natives appear to be restless, as a quick shimmy through blogs and out-of world websites demonstrates. Of course, much of this comment is mere speculation. Truthfully, no one -perhaps even Linden Labs themselves- seems to be entirely clear as to what age verification really means, in terms of access to sims, and more importantly, how it’s going to be implemented and retain the confidence of users. It would appear a policy of “suck it and see” seems to be the best way to describe the entire policy: Linden Labs will introduce it and then see how or if it works and tinker endlessly thereafter.

I have spoken to people who believe that age verification is going to be necessary for “mature” sims, which means about 99% of all sims. One person I spoke to was under the impression that any form of “nudity” would require users of sims to be age-verified. This meant that freebie shops showing skins for sale would even fall into that category. From what I can gather, this is not going to be the case (although, as with every element of the entire age-verification thing, no one can really be sure how it will manifest itself). Linden Labs are, apparently, going to introduce a new ‘Adult’ category, above and beyond ‘Mature’. Although I cannot be entirely certain, I’m guessing that ‘Mature’ will include, for example, nude beaches (and freebie shops), while “Adult” may include orgy venues and BDSM sims.

However it eventually shakes down, it all seems a little ill-planned. We know that minors are barred from the grown-up version of SL, yet this demand for age-verification seems designed, in part, for the purpose of protecting minors from potential predatory paedophiles. There can be no complaints, from anyone, on this issue. It is right, it is good, and it is important that minors (who shouldn’t be there in the first instance) are still afforded as much protection as they can be afforded, even if they are contravening the terms and conditions of use by logging into the grown up version of SL.

What I’m less enamoured with is that age-verification seems like a sop to ‘outside forces’, self-styled moral guardians, making demands that SL cleans up its act. While protecting minors is vital, demanding that SL conforms to some code of morality defined by others is most definitely not acceptable to most users. People use SL to create their fantasy life and fulfil their dreams, a fact borne out in the way that most people are virtually siliconing, botoxing, and working-out their avatars to make it the land of the beautiful people.

If they wish to create the cantilevered breasts or impressively proportioned genitalia they lack in RL, what’s the harm? It is escapism. It is a dream. It is fantasy, and it is entertaining relaxation time.

Chaining a submissive girl to some instrument of torture and gang-raping her is not my idea of fun but, hey, if that’s the fantasy of consenting adults who can fulfil a fantasy/dream (albeit with cartoon characters), then it is not for me to judge. Personally, I find the entire thing incomprehensible, but I’m not going to judge the morality or fantasy of others. I cannot accept that, and neither should you. It is vitally important that users make it clear to Linden Labs we all understand and accept the need to protect minors (who shouldn’t be using the grid anyway) but we will not stand for interference from a self-styled morality police.

And that brings us back to the age-verification issue. How do we ensure the matter of being confident that there are only “consenting adults” involved? Why have Linden Labs embraced this ridiculous third party age verification system when a global standard -the purchase of internet hard-core porn included- would be a credit card?

On that issue, I need to make it clear I am a European user, so the matter of social security numbers aren’t really applicable to me. But I am led to believe that giving your social security number to a third party is actually an offence in some states (of the US).

My “data” has previously been verified by my credit card company. My use of that card creates an audit trail. My purchases, of whatever and wherever, are traceable. Is there really any need to adopt any other sort of system? What are the benefits of Linden Labs chosen method of age-verifying, over that of the credit card system? The fact that a street-wise kid can probably borrow Dad’s credit card. Yeah, but will the same street-wise kid not borrow Dad’s social security or passport number?

The person fulminating over the fact that “nudity” demanded age-verification brought up the matter of “cultural differences” in what is judged to be acceptable and unacceptable. “I can go to a beach in France where topless women are my expectation and norm”, said SL resident Jimmy Humbridge, “but that is not the case on US beaches, by and large”. While Jimmy’s fears appear at this stage to be unfounded, it does raise the issue of local cultural acceptability. Could someone, for example, rezz some poseballs that replicate a woman being stoned to death or a man flogged, things that do happen in real life and are understood to be part of the justice system? It’s a horrible idea, to the overwhelming majority of western SL users, but possibly unworthy of comment by some other SL users.

The real world is diverse. There are many elements of it we embrace or deplore, but we implicitly understand (or should understand) that it is impossible to impose our values on others. Their reality is their reality, and ours is ours. I do not wish to be judged on my views to nudity within SL anymore than I wish to judge others views on submissive females or instruments of torture.

In the end, the age-verification issue is fraught with dangers from a lack of a clear indication of what it entails. At this stage it would seem that users should desist from age-verifying until the nuts and bolts of the matter becomes much, much clearer.

Submitted by Howie Lamilton

Stability, a real boon

Ttukinowaguma Hair

WHAT’S A BOT? A BENEFIT OR A MENACE?

Is that a good, appropriate question to ask, nowadays or a worn out record. Let’s find out.

A bot is an avatar which is controlled by a machine, rather than by a human, simple really. So why worry about that? If a human can do a thing is Second Life, what does

it matter that the process can be automated?

On the positive side, it means that all regular or widespread communications can be done at a single stroke of a key and left to be run by a bot. So what’s the fuss?

It is the purpose to which a bot is put that is contentious. The notorious copybot is a case in point. It is possible to steal a design, change permissions, sell the design/product in huge quantities without the original creator benefiting from his or her work. Worse than that, a copybot automates this process. It can be placed in or around a designer’s premises without being identified and steal, steal, steal.

All activities in Second Life are based on the open source Linden Scripting Language (LSL) (open source means that it is available for anyone to use in any way that they can devise) this brings many benefits to Second Life residents’ lives. We can build houses, vehicles, clothes, we can write scripts to power our cars, planes and boats, to greet people, send them messages, invite them to parties etc.

Open Source means an open world.

However, it also makes virtual criminal activity possible, too. Like a knife, its use depends on the motives of the user. A knife can save a life (in surgery) or take a life (in a robbery). A bot can enhance our second lives by opening up communication channels, for instance, or it can bring misery, if used to steal our hard-earned designs of anything that can be built in Second Life.

There had been calls to revoke the open-source rights to residents. When the furore had cooled down, it was realised that this was just a knee-jerk reaction. Pandora’s box is open and it’s too late to close it.

Do we want to put our freedom back in the box? Just look at the figures when you log on to Second Life: 50,000 or more people logged-on at any one time. So many of those people are creating, contributing to their home-from-home.

Beautiful houses, “wild” animals, pets, cars, planes, even our own virtual bodies have been made possible by this open source policy. Linden Lab started everything but it’s the residents who have continued it to heights we see today.

And that’s the problem. With freedom comes the abuse of freedom. So, why should we NOT revoke open source lsl. Because we will also revoke our creativity.

We must protect our freedom over and above our commercial and financial gains, because those gains would not exist without “freedom” or ”open source”. Freedom is not the culprit here, it is the abuse of that freedom and those residents who abuse it to their own, selfish, ends that are the culprits.

With freedom comes responsibility, so let’s take that responsibility as a community and hunt down those who abuse our rights and remove THEM.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

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Kim Trefusis

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