I have just read an interesting post by ArminasX Saiman on the latest departures of staff from Second Life.
While it is possible that these are due to the company transitioning from small start-up to large-scale operation, my skeptical mind has another opinion.
The thing about SL (Second Life) is that it is its own showcase, in other words 'what you see is what you get' a world where the user is free to create content to bend the virtual world to their own ends.
Given this, it makes sense that it is in their own best interest to make SL as high-performing a platform as possible. What we see however is a platform crippled whenever serious numbers of people are present in the whole system, and downright unusable if any significant number are gathered in one place for an event. This latter limitation is critical if SL is ever to become a virtual world to be used by business for large-scale events.
ArminasX makes note of the ability of the platform to now support 88,000+ concurrent users, but I see this advance as nothing more than the expected improvement due to the progression of hardware performance.
In short, the lack of real satisfactory performance on a platform which is its own major sales tool strongly implies to me that this implementation has hit a wall, that is there is some inescapable, insurmountable problem.
I, personally, suspect that the problem is the huge asset database rather than a network bandwidth problem and I was therefore less than surprised to see that the impending Blue Mars VR intends that 'many thousands of users will be able to simultaneously log into a single “city.”' (where a 'city' seems equivalent to an SL 'sim') but does not support user-created content, thus limiting the assets database whilst presumably requiring considerable bandwidth.
Blue Mars also does not have contiguous sims (cities) with seamless travel over boundaries, each one is discrete, which I assume means that a sims servers asset cache (I think that this exists from personal experience) will not need to import a users assets as they enter it.
Still, whatever the technical limit, back to the reasonable supposition that there must be one since the main sellling tool, the actual experience, is clearly limited.
The shareholders would obviously like a return on their investment and a big IPO would be their best bet. In order to do this they would need it to be seen by both businesses and Joe Public as a viable platform with room for growth in size, performance and stability.
If one knew that the platform as is wouldn't deliver and the shareholders want those who profess belief otherwise while they get an IPO together then, ethically, one might have to think about leaving.
Of course, they could easily prove me wrong, just fix the performance issues to prove it can be done.
Showing posts with label SL:. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SL:. Show all posts
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Second Life: Thoughts on Gender in Second Life
I have recently been considering the issue of gender as it affects a residents experience of Second Life. It could well be that the thoughts and conclusions I have arrived at have been thought of before or even superceded, but as far as i know they are original to me.
My consideration has led me to the belief that in terms of the depiction of gender in SL there are two functions performed by anatomical parts of the avatar. These are the sexuality component maleness and femaleness and the more identity-related femininity / womanliness and masculinity / manliness. While thinking up my theory, I mentally referred to this latter component as the 'Emblem'.
Both male and female initial avatars are devoid of any features in the crotch region other than a little pubic hair on the skin texture. This elimination of detail obviously greatly simplifies the addition of clothing layers for pants for both genders.
This presents no big problem for female residents in my theory since the vulva represents only the sexuality component of gender and the much more important identity component of gender is catered for by the female avatars breasts which are quite easily handled with clothing layers. Anyone who doubts the basis of this conjecture may care to reflect on women that they know / have known who have had health problems such as cervical cancer and those who have had breast cancer that might require mastectomy and recall which women were the more devastated and felt their identity more threatened.
Unfortunately for male residents the penis serves double-duty (yet again!) and represents both the sexuality and identity gender components and there is no alternative external physiology that can really substitute the masculine identity function so the intentional omission of a penis (etc) is at a probably sub-conscious level a source of distress for male residents. It’s not that we want to have it there all the time, but it never being there is just a constant ‘not quite right’ feeling.
I believe that this emasculation is probably the root cause for observed compensatory male avatar characteristics, unrealistic height, geeks with builds like Olympic athletes, strong "5 o'clock shadow" (since the avatar obviously shaves every morning). I am not in the least criticising any male avatars who evince any or all of these features, on the contrary, I understand completely. I think that this might even be behind some new male avatars eagerness to acquire the infamous ‘freenis’ with the justification of using it for sex, maybe it is really just an attempt to put something that they know is wrong to rights.
It's not even that any kind of 'funtionality' is necessary, but I can't help but wonder how many male residents have been lost due to the the choice of living a SL life with a neutered male identity or be thought of as a sex-fiend and get a penis
In closing, I would ask female residents who have female avatars to ask themselves: If the default female avatar was as flat as an ironing board, how long would it be (in minutes) before you went looking for boobs? ‘Frewbs’ anyone?
I welcome all comments and alternative viewpoints.
My consideration has led me to the belief that in terms of the depiction of gender in SL there are two functions performed by anatomical parts of the avatar. These are the sexuality component maleness and femaleness and the more identity-related femininity / womanliness and masculinity / manliness. While thinking up my theory, I mentally referred to this latter component as the 'Emblem'.
Both male and female initial avatars are devoid of any features in the crotch region other than a little pubic hair on the skin texture. This elimination of detail obviously greatly simplifies the addition of clothing layers for pants for both genders.
This presents no big problem for female residents in my theory since the vulva represents only the sexuality component of gender and the much more important identity component of gender is catered for by the female avatars breasts which are quite easily handled with clothing layers. Anyone who doubts the basis of this conjecture may care to reflect on women that they know / have known who have had health problems such as cervical cancer and those who have had breast cancer that might require mastectomy and recall which women were the more devastated and felt their identity more threatened.
Unfortunately for male residents the penis serves double-duty (yet again!) and represents both the sexuality and identity gender components and there is no alternative external physiology that can really substitute the masculine identity function so the intentional omission of a penis (etc) is at a probably sub-conscious level a source of distress for male residents. It’s not that we want to have it there all the time, but it never being there is just a constant ‘not quite right’ feeling.
I believe that this emasculation is probably the root cause for observed compensatory male avatar characteristics, unrealistic height, geeks with builds like Olympic athletes, strong "5 o'clock shadow" (since the avatar obviously shaves every morning). I am not in the least criticising any male avatars who evince any or all of these features, on the contrary, I understand completely. I think that this might even be behind some new male avatars eagerness to acquire the infamous ‘freenis’ with the justification of using it for sex, maybe it is really just an attempt to put something that they know is wrong to rights.
It's not even that any kind of 'funtionality' is necessary, but I can't help but wonder how many male residents have been lost due to the the choice of living a SL life with a neutered male identity or be thought of as a sex-fiend and get a penis
In closing, I would ask female residents who have female avatars to ask themselves: If the default female avatar was as flat as an ironing board, how long would it be (in minutes) before you went looking for boobs? ‘Frewbs’ anyone?
I welcome all comments and alternative viewpoints.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
SL: Second Life Magazines
If you haven't had a look at Second Life yet, you may not realise how absolutely vast this virtual world is.
You would have no chance of discovering for yourself even 1% of all that is happening at any time, so obviously you need sources of information on such things.
Fortunately there is a multitude of newspapers and magazines covering events and different aspects of Second life and these are available both in-world at kiosks (usually for free) and outside Second Life on the general Internet.
Publications range from the light blog-like such as Rez Magazine, to professionally laid out full-colour pdf newspapers such as The Metaverse Messenger, a bang up-to-date sample of which you can see here announcing an in-world celebration for Obama's victory.
Perhaps the most prolific subjects for publication are the Fashion and Lifestyle magazines such as Scarborough Flair, Second Style Fashionista, Second Homes and many more.
There are even Annual publications to provide information on annual events such as the Hair Fair.
And don't forget, in Second Life you aren't limited to just changing your clothing and hairstyle but your entire body shape and skin, so you have specialist magazines such as this, to say nothing of the non-human avatar publications and articles, Fairies (well winged people anyway) and Vampires included.
For the business-minded, there are blogs by people who run both real-world and virtual-world businesses and frequently post their experiences and advice, such as ArminasX Saiman.
One thing is for sure, there is never any need to be bored when you have a Second Life, there's always something happening that will interest you and always something you can read to find out about it.
You would have no chance of discovering for yourself even 1% of all that is happening at any time, so obviously you need sources of information on such things.
Fortunately there is a multitude of newspapers and magazines covering events and different aspects of Second life and these are available both in-world at kiosks (usually for free) and outside Second Life on the general Internet.
Publications range from the light blog-like such as Rez Magazine, to professionally laid out full-colour pdf newspapers such as The Metaverse Messenger, a bang up-to-date sample of which you can see here announcing an in-world celebration for Obama's victory.
Perhaps the most prolific subjects for publication are the Fashion and Lifestyle magazines such as Scarborough Flair, Second Style Fashionista, Second Homes and many more.
There are even Annual publications to provide information on annual events such as the Hair Fair.
And don't forget, in Second Life you aren't limited to just changing your clothing and hairstyle but your entire body shape and skin, so you have specialist magazines such as this, to say nothing of the non-human avatar publications and articles, Fairies (well winged people anyway) and Vampires included.
For the business-minded, there are blogs by people who run both real-world and virtual-world businesses and frequently post their experiences and advice, such as ArminasX Saiman.
One thing is for sure, there is never any need to be bored when you have a Second Life, there's always something happening that will interest you and always something you can read to find out about it.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
General: An Explanation about Second Life
An interesting article by Kate Amdahl to explain Second Life to those who think it is not something they would be interested in, but don't know much about it.
The Web Was Young Once, Too: Why Even Non-Residents Should Take Second Life Seriously
An extract -
For many of us Second Life residents, Second Life is an enormous and important part of our lives. But plenty of people who don't use Second Life don't understand what the attraction could possibly be, and maybe think of it as more like soap operas or Dungeons & Dragons, just a trivial hobby or entertainment or toy. Here's a piece to help someone like that understand why they might want to take Second Life at least a little seriously.
The first thing to realize is that Second Life isn't a toy: it's an environment. As David Kirkpatrick puts it (I'll mention him again in a minute), "It's not a game, it's just a place you go to do whatever you want to do."
Second Life can be much more than entertainment or a way to relax, but entertainment and relaxation are a big part of it. The thing to realize is that unlike television or video games (for instance), Second Life is an active, social way to relax. We Second Life residents spend a lot of our time talking to other resis, sometimes just shooting the breeze but sometimes having serious conversations. We explore, learn, question, create, design, teach, and grow as people.
Here are some examples of the many, many, many things in Second Life that make it meaningful and important.
...
(David Kirkpatrick is the senior editor of Fortune magazine)
The Web Was Young Once, Too: Why Even Non-Residents Should Take Second Life Seriously
An extract -
For many of us Second Life residents, Second Life is an enormous and important part of our lives. But plenty of people who don't use Second Life don't understand what the attraction could possibly be, and maybe think of it as more like soap operas or Dungeons & Dragons, just a trivial hobby or entertainment or toy. Here's a piece to help someone like that understand why they might want to take Second Life at least a little seriously.
The first thing to realize is that Second Life isn't a toy: it's an environment. As David Kirkpatrick puts it (I'll mention him again in a minute), "It's not a game, it's just a place you go to do whatever you want to do."
Second Life can be much more than entertainment or a way to relax, but entertainment and relaxation are a big part of it. The thing to realize is that unlike television or video games (for instance), Second Life is an active, social way to relax. We Second Life residents spend a lot of our time talking to other resis, sometimes just shooting the breeze but sometimes having serious conversations. We explore, learn, question, create, design, teach, and grow as people.
Here are some examples of the many, many, many things in Second Life that make it meaningful and important.
...
(David Kirkpatrick is the senior editor of Fortune magazine)
Monday, September 15, 2008
SL: A party for Plurkers (not plonkers)
Today (actually Sunday 1PM SLT) there was a gathering for Second Lifers on Plurk to meet one another avatarically.
Here is a sample shot (totally bananas!)
Here is a sample shot (totally bananas!)
Monday, July 28, 2008
General: Who likes a good 'B' picture?
Here are quite a few of them, from the SL wedding of Baldric and Emmanuel!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
SL: Ruthed!
I finally found the missing piece of the OpenSim on Vista puzzle, you have to run the Opensim server as Administrator, even when you already ARE an Administrator. Gee, thanks for such priveleges, Microsoft.
Sadly, the XP build I have worked on is looking like it has low-level stability issues as it is a machine that I resurrected from a major crash in order to get somebody's data back from it.
I think I'll have to re-install from scratch, which kind of tempts me to use Linux instead.
Darn, it's one learning curve after another.
So, now I have 65,536 square metres of ocean that I can terraform to my hearts desire. I will have a 15,000 Prim budget and no network lag or unexpected Sim outages (I hope).
If I get confident and the traffic cost isn't too insane, I might even try connecting to the OSGrid to share the place.
Until I manage to port my Second Life inventory across, I will probably remain 'Ruth', the default Second Life avatar.
Incidentally, it turns out that you don't have to do Second Life scripting exclusively in LSL (Linden Scripting Language) as it is based on .Net/Mono.
Sadly, the XP build I have worked on is looking like it has low-level stability issues as it is a machine that I resurrected from a major crash in order to get somebody's data back from it.
I think I'll have to re-install from scratch, which kind of tempts me to use Linux instead.
Darn, it's one learning curve after another.
So, now I have 65,536 square metres of ocean that I can terraform to my hearts desire. I will have a 15,000 Prim budget and no network lag or unexpected Sim outages (I hope).
If I get confident and the traffic cost isn't too insane, I might even try connecting to the OSGrid to share the place.
This is a 'tiny' 63x62 metre block I raised from the seabed to learn the land tools (after I built an atoll first). 3,900 square metres and no land tax to pay, lovely!
Until I manage to port my Second Life inventory across, I will probably remain 'Ruth', the default Second Life avatar.
Porting stuff across will, of course, be restricted to stuff I have permissions to, but hopefully won't be too hard once I part with 14 Euros (about AUD $22) to these guys -
Thanks to mentor and all-round nice person Moggs for that heads-up -
Incidentally, it turns out that you don't have to do Second Life scripting exclusively in LSL (Linden Scripting Language) as it is based on .Net/Mono.
You can also use C#, Java, VBScript (On Windows) and more, so long as you put a comment on the first line to identify the language.
Some caveats however -
But that won't stop the .Net fans from networking in Second Life -
Monday, July 14, 2008
SL: Noddy's Guide to Opensim Setup
I had the passing thought to Google 'Opensim Vista' to see if others had problems with the installation.
I'm happy to say I found a nice hand-holding guide -
http://www.virtualwhite.com/?p=9
It starts off -
"If you’ve have ever wanted your own Second Life Island/Estate but didn’t want to pay the $1700 bucks plus $300/month fees for it, then this tutorial series is for you. I will take you through downloading, installing, and configuring an Opensim standalone server on Windows Vista using the community edition of MySQL. It is all free of charge thanks to many others who are forging a freely available virtual world platform."
It shouldn't be hard now.
Also, I don't see why these instructions won't work on XP too, so I intend setting up the OpenSim server on an older PC on my home network. Then I might be able to connect to the OpenGrid.
I'm happy to say I found a nice hand-holding guide -
http://www.virtualwhite.com/?p=9
It starts off -
"If you’ve have ever wanted your own Second Life Island/Estate but didn’t want to pay the $1700 bucks plus $300/month fees for it, then this tutorial series is for you. I will take you through downloading, installing, and configuring an Opensim standalone server on Windows Vista using the community edition of MySQL. It is all free of charge thanks to many others who are forging a freely available virtual world platform."
It shouldn't be hard now.
Also, I don't see why these instructions won't work on XP too, so I intend setting up the OpenSim server on an older PC on my home network. Then I might be able to connect to the OpenGrid.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
General: Petrol $8/Litre - Bring it on!
I have made no secret for my disgust at the Dickensian attitude of employers to teleworking.
They aren't happy if they can't see people at desks like some 21st century counting-house.
It's not like they don't have a million metrics to measure employee productivity that have nothing at all to do with where the employee is located.
NO clerical work not actually requiring personal contact with other people should require the worker to leave home in this day and age.
Get rid of that stupid fixation and see how much fuel consumption, traffic congestion, car-parking and time wasted on pointless travel is eliminated.
And it's not just workers, get a load of this video -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
Do you really need to send a kid to school for them to do P.E.? of course not.
Since they can get all the information and explanation in detail on any subject in the world these days, how many hours could we cut off the school day and leave them plenty of hours of daylight for play and social interaction and forming friendships.
Schools aren't so much there for the kids as for the parents to have a place to send them while they both go out to work.
Maybe the fuel crisis (real or a marketing ploy) will help drive initiatives like this one -
http://www.schome.ac.uk/wiki/Main_Page
They aren't happy if they can't see people at desks like some 21st century counting-house.
It's not like they don't have a million metrics to measure employee productivity that have nothing at all to do with where the employee is located.
NO clerical work not actually requiring personal contact with other people should require the worker to leave home in this day and age.
Get rid of that stupid fixation and see how much fuel consumption, traffic congestion, car-parking and time wasted on pointless travel is eliminated.
And it's not just workers, get a load of this video -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
Do you really need to send a kid to school for them to do P.E.? of course not.
Since they can get all the information and explanation in detail on any subject in the world these days, how many hours could we cut off the school day and leave them plenty of hours of daylight for play and social interaction and forming friendships.
Schools aren't so much there for the kids as for the parents to have a place to send them while they both go out to work.
Maybe the fuel crisis (real or a marketing ploy) will help drive initiatives like this one -
http://www.schome.ac.uk/wiki/Main_Page
General: Starry Starry Night
Here is a rather nice video of a recreation of Vincents work with the soundtrack accompanying it.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LxVDVggLqsA
A lot of skilled work packed into 4 minutes.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LxVDVggLqsA
A lot of skilled work packed into 4 minutes.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
SL: Linden aren't the only Virtual World makers
Introducing a new category "SL:" to make finding relevant articles easier for my Second Life friends.
I have been looking at an alternative to Second Life where I can host my own virtual world just for practicing building etc with no lag or outages.
The project I found was OpenSim -
http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page
Wikipedia has more on Open Simulator -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSimulator
Here is some info' on setting it up -
http://opensimuser.wordpress.com/2008/06/15/opensim-install-and-configuration-tutorial/
I'm still in the throes of getting it set up right, but meanwhile, I disovered that there is another project which ties all these private virtual world servers together in a grid -
http://osgrid.org/index.php?page=home&btn=1
A handy place for getting a quick overview of all this is - http://planet.opensim.us/
(not often you see a '.us' suffix)
Lest you think all this Second Life stuff is just a game and not a genuine virtual reality, I will mention that I got offered a full-time Real Life/Second Life job last week as a scripter (programmer) on a major project with a real company, I think I'm going for it.
I have been looking at an alternative to Second Life where I can host my own virtual world just for practicing building etc with no lag or outages.
The project I found was OpenSim -
http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page
Wikipedia has more on Open Simulator -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSimulator
Here is some info' on setting it up -
http://opensimuser.wordpress.com/2008/06/15/opensim-install-and-configuration-tutorial/
I'm still in the throes of getting it set up right, but meanwhile, I disovered that there is another project which ties all these private virtual world servers together in a grid -
http://osgrid.org/index.php?page=home&btn=1
A handy place for getting a quick overview of all this is - http://planet.opensim.us/
(not often you see a '.us' suffix)
Lest you think all this Second Life stuff is just a game and not a genuine virtual reality, I will mention that I got offered a full-time Real Life/Second Life job last week as a scripter (programmer) on a major project with a real company, I think I'm going for it.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
General: When one lifetime isn't enough...
Get a Second Life like I, 'Haizo Baum', did -
Haizo Baum Photoset on Flickr
The Second Life 5th Birthday (SL5B) expo' is on until the 7th of July.
So much wonderful stuff and lots of freebies too, now is a good time to think about joining in if ever you're going to.
http://secondlife.com/
You can go everywhere and see what it's about for free, even having a go at building.
It only costs for membership if you want to own land and build permanent things.
If you're with Bigpond in Aus' your Second Life bandwidth is unmetered and free too, I presume other countries and ISPs might do similar bargains.
Haizo Baum Photoset on Flickr
The Second Life 5th Birthday (SL5B) expo' is on until the 7th of July.
So much wonderful stuff and lots of freebies too, now is a good time to think about joining in if ever you're going to.
http://secondlife.com/
You can go everywhere and see what it's about for free, even having a go at building.
It only costs for membership if you want to own land and build permanent things.
If you're with Bigpond in Aus' your Second Life bandwidth is unmetered and free too, I presume other countries and ISPs might do similar bargains.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
