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Microsoft's historic first
"Once again we are poised to make history for Microsoft by holding the first ever full-fledged Launch event in Second Life." -- MSDN blog. In order for this statement to be in any way factual, we'd have to assume that they are redefining 'first', or 'full-fledged' or perhaps the mysteriously capitalized 'Launch' for marketing effect. The other possibility is that the historical part is that it's Microsoft's first time doing such a thing in Second Life -- in which case the statement isn't actively false, only highly misleading.
Old land store, new prices
With server version 1.21 still going through its shaky rollout, Linden Lab have decided to put the old land-store back online. It still has all the issues it had before (delays, not working in MSIE, an inability to order void/openspace simulators and so forth), but you will be able to order new sims at new prices. Hopefully when server version 1.21 and the new land-store are finally online, any outstanding orders can be fast-tracked through the new system. In the meantime, it looks like Linden Lab is taking the hit on extra-handling of simulator purchases by running at the new, lower prices.
The suspicion of [Name Removed]
Van Hemlock would like to talk about a certain virtual world, but, alas, he cannot. It's not because he doesn't want to -- he does. Or because he thinks any less of ... this place, because he doesn't. It's just because he's careful. A certain entity has laid claim to some letters placed next to other letters, and he's just respecting their rights. Van Hemlock isn't angry. He's just confused. Other games and virtual worlds have trademarks and yet manage not to anger their fan communities .... Right or wrong? We don't know, but Van Hemlock's hilarious take on the matter had us smirking and turning certain trademarked properties into pieces of public art for fun.
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MMOs are tools for more than just gaming
"A 33 year old playing video games means neglected children and a very irritated wife." What? We call shenanigans! This is blasphemous and the speaker must be confronted! Someone else out there thinks the same thing. Matt Story, a columnist over at ClickZ, has an interesting article concerning the use of MMOs, and games in general, as tools for teaching, entertaining, and advertising. MMOs can offer us plenty of options beyond killing rats and looting the hammer of world destruction from the tiny little body. Take for example a fear of heights. Perhaps standing on the edge of Outland and leaping off would help? Want to make a few more friends? MMOs have plenty of community events and groups. Need to train a staff of employees to bend to your will and worship your amazing powers? Second Life recently built a jean manufacturing plant complete with wages, training seminars, and shifts. When there's a will, there's a way. The possibilities are endless here people! Virtual worlds have so much to offer, beyond simply crafting, killing, and questing. We are glad to argue for the power of the MMO and tip our hats to you Matt.
The real-world impact of virtual identities
Can you truly be held responsible for something you've done in a virtual world? Should the implications of your actions carry over to "the other side"? If so, then to what extent? This has been a daunting subject, even since the days of Tron, but a recent book by Jacob van Kokswijk entitled "Digital Ego" addresses this very issue.The comparison of the virtual identity to our real-life identity is becoming of ever-increasing importance. This not only pertains to consequences and responsibilities in both realms, but also economic factors such as an advertising target audience. Will this trend continue to grow as the casual virtual world blossoms, and we begin to blur the line between a physical and virtual existence? Let us know your opinion.
Peering Inside: Disorienting experiences
Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to introduce a friend to Second Life. We'll call her Susan. That meant a run through the current orientation system. The whole process was an eye-opener, especially the part where Susan tried to beat me to death with her keyboard. The last time I saw a Linden Lab orientation island it was one of the old ones (2005/2006). The new ones, though (2007/2008) - well, it's surprising that the retention is as high as ten percent. The absolute highlight of the experience was a nude avatar by the name of Adam Neal, who ran around in circles for ten minutes or so yelling "ADAM NEAL CANNOT BE STOPPED!" -- no, really. That was one of the good bits, actually. The rest was worse.
HiPiHi reopens beta
Chinese virtual world HiPiHi has reopened registration for beta accounts. If you want to give this a spin, you will be pleased to know that you can now perform account registration in English. Unfortunately, it seems that you'll still need to either read a few words of Chinese or have a fine-mastery of educated guesswork to handle the user-interface. We spent a few minutes in HiPiHi today. Within our first couple of minutes, we got our leg humped by some kind of transforming robot, and then someone tried to push us into the sea. Technology is awesome. If you're feeling brave and would like to have a look at this virtual world in beta, give the signup a whirl. Be warned - the viewer download is at least 20 times longer than the download for Second Life, so find something else to do while that is happening.
Linden Lab alters stance: will ban
As the Second Life blogger's strike comes to an end, Linden Lab has clarified the clarification to their new trademarks policy. This clarification is a good one. It is quite clear and well set out, and hits all the high points in a clear and deliberate fashion. Despite any prior assurances to the contrary, yes, Linden Lab will apply the Terms of Service (section 4.4) to external violations of the brand center guidelines to ban accounts as a last resort, though it does make allowances for basics such as nominative use. This extends the Second Life terms of service to activities outside the virtual world for the first time, and for anyone who has logged in to Second Life since March 24.
Cinemassively: Global Kids Kofi Annan Simulcast to four different virtual worlds
Global Kids has been quite busy with their activities this year! They recently streamed Kofi Annan receiving the MacArthur Foundation's first International Justice Award. Not only was this event special and meaningful in the first place, but it was also fairly unique in how far it reached. The award ceremony was broadcast to the web, Second Life on both the main grid and the teen grid, There, and Whyville! Could this be a glimpse of the future of event outreach? For more information, check out their site, Holy Meatballs!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Linden land, store and price drops delayed
Linden Lab's Concierge team reports that the planned price drops associated with the new land store will be delayed, as the new system still needs some work and panel-beating to get it ready. We're pretty sure that an online store with big-ticket US dollar items like simulators is better if it works properly, than if it is -- for example -- only half-working. The old land store has been turned off in the meantime. If you're really, really desperate to get a simulator at the old, higher prices you can use the Second Life Support Portal to file a ticket with Concierge (though we can't imagine anyone being quite that desperate, but hey, it could happen). Mainland auction starting prices however, will drop today as planned.
Linden Lab announces A/B testing
Linden Lab has formally announced that they're performing A/B testing for new Second Life accounts. This is kind of surprising, actually. Not that we think there's anything wrong with A/B testing or that we think it's a bad idea. It is just that Linden Lab has been performing A/B testing on and off since at least late 2005 that we are aware of, and we find the sudden announcement of it just a little peculiar.
Linden Lab sparks bloggers strike
Starting today, a number of prominent Second Life bloggers are on strike for three full days in protest at Linden Lab's sudden detrimental change of position on the use of current and new trademarks. These bloggers feel snubbed and threatened by the new brand guidelines, which they find contradictory, excessive and potentially restrictive to free speech, and are going on a symbolic three-day strike as a gesture to show that they do not find Linden Lab's answers to these concerns sufficient.
When a game is no longer a game
With the advent of the next generation of social networking MMOs on the rise, and the retirement announcement of Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom, we can't help but wonder what is the real definition of an MMO these days? Where is online gaming headed, and what is there a real demand for anymore?After VMK's closing announcement last week, users let it be known that they were not happy with Disney's decision. As we reported yesterday, there were several comments concerning the fact that taking down this virtual world was like taking down their real world. Many of them were not only fiery and disparaging, but the retorts to these comments were even more dramatic. Yes, this happened on the internet! Can you believe it? The fact is, this makes us wonder if we're approaching dangerous ground with the immersion factor of these virtual worlds, especially as they pertain to our children and their interpretation of the world. The real world, that is.
Kiddie virtual worlds top the century mark
According to a report recently released by Virtual Worlds Management, there are now over 100 youth-oriented virtual worlds somewhere along the phase of development, from concept to several years post-release. And even that is understating the situation a little bit, as they've lumped both MTV and Disney's burgeoning cadre of virtual worlds into single entries on the list.Virtual Worlds News has a pretty thorough breakdown of the data (with charts!), separating the virtual worlds into categories and target demographics. According to their breakdown of the current landscape, it would appear that the tween category (that is, ages 8-12) is currently the most populated area on the current landscape, targeted as they are by the likes of LEGO Universe, Hello Kitty Online, and practically every other game under the sun. We like to think that Elves and Orcs are the running cliche of the MMO space, but more likely it's purses and shopping.
Fans speak out passionately on Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom closing
We reported on the closing of Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom the other day, and at the time, it seemed like business as usual -- Disney had created the virtual world for an event, and the event was over, so it was time for the world to close. But the comments thread over on this Virtual Worlds news post about the closing has to be seen to be believed: fans of this place loved it completely and are painfully heartbroken over its closing. There are tons of eloquent, emotional comments lauding VMK for its sense of community, the friends made there, and the opportunity to connect on a virtual level with other people and Disney's attractions when, for various reasons, the same can't be done in real life.What's most amazing here is that, from these comments, it seems VMK was one of the strongest virtual communities out there. This is why we play these MMO games -- to connect with others online, to experience things that can't be experienced any other way, and to create connections that otherwise wouldn't be there. It's an amazing story -- here's an MMO that worked perfectly in terms of building community and developing social connections between players, and yet Disney chooses to close it down.There is a petition online, with 11,000 signatures as of this writing, to keep VMK open. Disney has responded to this emotion with a short statement only saying "we hear you," and the game itself is still set to close down as planned on May 21st.[Via Waxy.org]
Unit-testers FTW
During the afternoon and evening today, a number of new Second Life last-names have appeared in the public account registration list. The names are of the form UnitTest<something> (the something appears to be a random dictionary word). There appear to be as many as a couple hundred of these last names, in addition to the regular list. The names are apparently intended for internal use by scripts, though now over a hundred users have signed up with these new last names. It seems to be a mistake, and we think we know how it might have happened.
Second Life through the eyes of Shoshana Epsilon
Shoshana Epsilon, one of Second Life's more renowned photographers is opening an exhibition later today at the Avatrait gallery at 1PM SLT (US Pacific Time). The Avatrait gallery itself, known for its devotion to digital impressionist art has been partly on hiatus for some time while it and the simulator it resides in have been undergoing refits. Avatrait gallery is relaunching their monthly gallery showings with Epsilon's work which will be available for purchase inworld, or as hard-copy, high-quality physical-world prints. Epsilon's work has never disappointed us. It's classy and has range and depth. Epsilon will be at the opening today to meet the exhibition attendees and to answer questions about her work. If you love Second Life photography and art, take the time to go and see Epsilon's work.
Linden Lab needs help
Linden Lab put out a renewed call today for Production Operations developers and systems engineers in Australia, Singapore, the United States, and United Kingdom. It is hardly surprising considering the numerous difficulties during the day on the Second Life grid. Some of it seems to be related to the new code rollouts, some to configuration oversights, some to network problems, some to general failures to scale. Whatever the causes, Linden Lab is looking for staff to help identify and correct failures quickly, around-the-world, around-the-clock. We're not sure if these constitute additional staff, or if they're replacements for engineers who have been killed-in-action by the amassed telepathic ire of Second Life users.
Who let users on the grid?
Remember when Linden Lab disabled assorted services on Sunday with the intention of stabilizing the Second Life grid through its weekly peak period? Well the big switch (actually, that is something of a misnomer, as the shutdown and startup processes for the subsystems seem to be quite complex) was thrown again for Friday. This time, an extra subsystem was thrown into the mix. Logins. That's right, as the grid came up to the busiest time of the day, Linden Lab made the call to prevent any more users from logging in.
Virtual Worlds 2008 overview
The 2008 Virtual Worlds conference has come and gone, and the aftermath is gracing news sites all over the web. In a particularly in-depth article at Virtual World News, we get a first hand account of what went on. It's a no-brainer that the majority of business attendees focused on how to make money in virtual worlds. The Wall Street Journal calls this "virtual business 2.0", which is basically a few buzz words thrown together in an attempt to look hip and cool. We're certainly not saying that business has no place in a VW, but it can become a scary thought, ultimately.Another prominent avenue explored at this event is that of children's virtual worlds, which are becoming increasingly popular. Neopets, Nickelodeon, Barbie and Dinokids were all on-hand to make sure their piece of the pie was well-represented.
