Fixes on the way for Mac users of Second Life
January 24, 2008
Linden Lab have announced a new optional Windlight viewer update and in the process have claimed a bunch of fixes for Mac users. As a Mac-using Second Life resident I don’t think I’m alone in saying stability has been an even bigger issue than those on Windows-based computers. The progress is indeed welcome.
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Starfighters Wanted: Apply @ NASA
January 24, 2008
Back in 1984 there was science fiction adventure movie called The Last Starfighter. The storyline involved Alex, a teenage boy, hitting the top-score on a video game which turns out to be a recruitment device for the League (the goodies) who are doing battle with the Xur and Kodan (the baddies).
Even before 1984 various science fiction styled games have developed, along with the technology. Games such as World of Warcraft, Halo and Quake are today’s better known ones, much to the dismay of parents and some spouses, no doubt.
Where does NASA fit in on this?
Game developers have until February 15 to submit their ideas for a “Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) Learning Game” that promotes the delivery of “NASA relevant content through innovative applications of technologies to enhance education”.
The intent by NASA appears to be to build a stand-alone virtual world that could act as a meaningful “hands-on” tool supporting education in “…a range of complex subjects, including science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) based instruction”.
A quick search of the internet shows that NASA has quite a few traditional website based education and information areas but in the realm of alternative realities there is only a passing mention. For example, their area in Second Life: NASA Colab Island.
NASA’s call for submissions to build an MMO will be interesting in both the gaming aspect of the project and its intended education focus as it joins a growing number of private and governmental organisations that are establishing either game or virtual world presence for the express purpose of education and training.
Coupled with the recent publicised findings that surgeons in training benefit from using Wii suggests the convergence between online lives and education would appear to be a given, if not a virtual reality.
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University of Melbourne seeks Second Life residents for research
January 23, 2008
I received a message today from Greg Wadley, a researcher at the University of Melbourne. In his words:
“I would like to interview Second Life residents about their reactions to communicating by voice in-world. I’m looking for any SL residents, whether they like voice, hate it, or have not tried it yet. Interviews can be in SL, RL, email, phone, with coffee (if in Melbourne) — whatever is convenient. However I cannot pay interviewees. There is an official project description at my uni staff page. Thanks in advance, Greg”.
If you’re interested contact Greg on phone (03) 83441586 or email greg.wadley@unimelb.edu.au
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Get a slice of virtual world history for free
January 23, 2008
My Tiny Life was written back in the 1990’s by Julian Dibbell and is about Julian’s experiences as a resident of the text-based virtual world LambdaMOO, which is still running today.
Julian has made My Tiny Life available for free download and it’s one hell of a read. I was heavily involved in a MOO environment in the early to mid 1990’s and my experiences were similar in a lot of respects. Dibbell’s book further reinforces the ever present fundamentals of virtual worlds, whether they be text or visually-based - in the end it’s all about the people controlling the avatars.
As Dibbell writes: “He knows that new technologies like this one have a history of sowing metaphysical derangement in the minds of those who first behold them”.
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Death Of A Skeptic Part 1
January 22, 2008
We’re thrilled to be able to introduce a new writer at The Metaverse Journal. Bix Ashbourne is in real-life based in the USA and after some chats in-world I suggested he might like to document his experiences as a new user in a virtual world - in this case, Second Life. Below is Part 1 of his journey from skeptic to virtual world resident.
Dec. 14th, 2007.
Winding down on the shittiest year of my life. Sitting up in bed on a Friday night, I began to seriously start wondering about this Second Life thing. I figure, I’m already alone….the internet is dead…no one on my chat forums…what the hell. All I gotta do is look. Might be good for a laugh.
For the past year or more, I’ve been poo-pooing this SL thing. Real life is difficult enough, so what the hell do you need a second one for? Can’t get the first one dialed in, a second one oughta be just the ticket to encouraging a chemical dependency of some sort, most likely from one of the major drug manufacturers. Just wait ’til the tax folk find a way inside.
But, it’ll be something to do, I reason, ’cause despite a backlog of projects, I’m bored out of my skull.
I poke around. I get a feel for the process, the environment, the vibe. I start wondering, out loud, to my friends on the chat forums, about this place. The very same people to whom I openly made fun of–in a well-meaning if not somewhat self-righteous fashion. And who must surely at that moment, be kicking back with a drink, chuckling to themselves about the burgeoning RL casualty developing on their LCD’s.
Dec. 15th.
More searching. More musing. More acceptance. More cheese and crackers. More chicken on the grill. The possibility of muscular atrophy in my lower extremities is very distinct.
Dec. 16th.
Early in the afternoon, I make my first tenuous steps at the website. The name…who’d've thunk that would be so difficult? Apparently, someone at Linden Labs thunk it, because I didn’t get the first names I really wanted, and was treated to a dizzying array of surname options. After much deliberation, some snacks, and a pot of decaf, I settle on a name. I’m pretty good with it.
I take the plunge, and launch.
Thank god for Orientation Island, structured so that you don’t ever feel the briny tentacles of the etherbeast slithering into your awareness, forever altering your tangible interactions with the outside world. I grab a torch. I fool with my appearance (to hell with love handles and who really wants a coin purse for a package?). I crash into things. I ogle some woman changing her features before my eyes. I crash into another woman while ogling the first one. I stare blankly at people chatting me in French. I watch other people pop out of the sky, all bearing a strange resemblance to me. Hey…get your own damn androgynous look, thank you very much. I get some stuff dialed in on my body. I quickly learn to loathe the rolled-up cuffs of the Noob’s jeans.
Apparently, I dialed in well, as a fetching young avatar named Nathasja took a shine to me, and struck up a conversation, along with a few other things. We talk sweet and sexy, having to move every few minutes due to people who can’t get enough of causing people hassle, or acting the obnoxious drunk at a gathering (like the guy that swooped down on us and screamed for sex on the grass, then told us to go fuck ourselves after an awkward pause); we were about to achieve a breakthrough, of sorts, when we got bludgeoned by an inferiority complex piloting a plane. Thrown way out of our way, and into two different spots, I never heard from her again.
I look at the clock. Hello? You can’t be serious. Oh, but it is, the clock as serious as Dallas newsmen on a November day. And, as if to sense my disbelief and grabbing some salt for the wound, the sun began to poke through the wooden blinds of my bedroom shutters. Over 12 hours later, and not an ounce of energy lost. What is this strange technology, that can infuse energy into a person without so much as hearing a whisper from the butler that delivers your third wind?
I finally log off. My laptop breathes a heavy sigh as the fans can finally shut off. As I pull up the covers, I am awake and exhausted. This is going to be a long day. I can feel the bags under my eyes being crafted by the ghosts of former Samsonite employees (I think that’s what they do in the afterlife, create eyebags…I always wish they were a little more stylish, had fewer pockets, and weren’t so damned rugged.)
This is going to be a long day.
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The Watch - virtual worlds in the news
January 21, 2008
1. Reuters - Cell phones and virtual worlds morphing shopper ways. “Virtual worlds, mobile coupons and bar-code readers on cell phones are the next technology wave that U.S. chain stores must ride if they hope to stay competitive in the fast-changing world of global retail”.
2. The Bulletin Online - Public health lessons from virtual game worlds. “It’s challenging to model disease spread during epidemics. Simple mathematical models such as the “general epidemic” model make assumptions about constant population size, homogeneous mixing, and constant recovery rates, but can only go so far in predicting an outbreak’s severity”.
3. Tech News World - Virtual World Workforce, Part 1: Promising the World. “It’s a dream scenario: A candidate aspiring to a pivotal job in the culinary arts field enters the virtual world Second Life, having never been an online gamer before. He attends an online job fair held by recruiting company TMP Worldwide and is interviewed by major food and operations services company Sodexho. As a result, he lands a job as an executive chef with the firm”.
4. BBC News - NASA investigates virtual space. “The US space agency is exploring the possibility of developing a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game. The virtual world would be aimed at students and would ’simulate real NASA engineering and science missions’ “.
5. San Jose Mercury News - New passage to Gaia. “In a sign that social networks and virtual worlds are beginning to meld, Gaia Online, the popular virtual playground for teens, will announce Tuesday a connection to its site from inside social network Facebook”.
6. ABC News (USA) - Asperger’s Therapy Hits Second Life. “Texas researchers believe that people suffering from Asperger’s syndrome — a cognitive disorder often referred to as high-functioning autism — may have found a new therapy in an unlikely place: the online virtual world Second Life”.
7. New World Notes - Second Life Grows Beyond Its Map. “Click the image on the left: this is the world of Second Life’s grid as it exists now– 26.5 million acres*, with three major land masses to the Southeast, surrounded by a veritable galaxy of disparate islands.”
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Australian Locations on the Second Life grid
January 20, 2008
Veteran Australian Second Life resident and creator Gary Hazlitt has labelled a version of the excellent work done by another Second Life Resident showing the Australian locations on the grid.
Add to that the numerous mainland Australian presences and it really does illustrate the integral role we play in Second Life.
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