Obviously it is as stupid to make generalisations about the Boys as it is to do so about the Citizens that populate our virtual worlds... but..
..whereas people who feel that avatar existence is pathetic and meaningless, (engaged in by losers), soon stop being citizens and leave SL never to return, I can’t help feeling that employees at the Lab, or some, have an attitude which is tinged by these thoughts.. there have been remarks over the years to support this feeling, so this isn’t pure paranoia.
You have only to listen to Tom Boellstorff on Metanomics (as mentioned before), to realise how important issues of avatar identity are (an issue many of have been struggling with for years) to people who understand how revolutionary this experience is. If everyone at the Lab understood what he is saying, life would change inworld.
It is well worth reading Dusan Writer’s latest blogpost where both the video and a transcript of the video is posted. His assertion that we have a culture, obvious to us, is less so to some Lindens who are excluded from this experience because they are, at best, casual users of their product.
Peter Greenaway accused the Lab "You are endangering a tool that is greater than you", when discussing a censorship issue, and it became very clear to me that, for the most part, they have actually no idea how big virtual worlds are.
Most of them are not visionaries but office slaves, most of us are visionaries, or at least pioneering spirits.
...but certainly virtual worlds are huge compared to the Lab.
In other news.... Happy Rezz Day V2.
Yes, it’s the Sewer Viewer’s Rezz Day. One year ago some foreign geezers stopped work on the darned thing after making a digital scrambled egg of what used to be a UI...
..and the rest is history, or, as the Lab calls it, Release Notes.
It will go down in history as the most unpopular UI ever to have been invented I think, which, is quite an achievement. Whether or not it takes on the status of the iceberg in the Titanic thingy has yet to be seen, but...it’s gotta be somewhat on the same level.
...and...on the 23rd of February 2010...we got the following news...
Announcing the Linden Endowment for the Arts
"In the upcoming months, it is our pleasure to take a more active role in encouraging the arts inside of Second Life. We are excited to announce the creation of a Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) program which will help support, encourage, and highlight Second Life artists and their work. We hope that the collaboration between Linden Lab and the wealth of talented Second Life artists will contribute to a vibrant new chapter for the arts in Second Life.
The Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) program's goal is twofold:
1. To create an immersive space for artists to share their art, build connections, and prosper in the Second Life community
2. To provide a new way for artwork to live on within our ever-changing virtual world.
While still under design, this program will be a partnership between Linden Lab and Second Life artists, with the additional objective of gathering, displaying, and maintaining art at an inworld Arts Hub. We are currently building the LEA organizing committee, which will include members of the Second Life artist community and Linden Lab employees, to guide the program's management. Under the creative direction, organization and guidance of the LEA committee, we will hold biannual art exhibitions, highlighting the most creative artwork happening inworld.”
...by June (and the mass cull of Boys) I blogged...”I expect to be severely disappointed with the LEA.”.. it’s tricky to know what to say now, a year on....
A year ago I was getting excited about shadows too, but, though there are people who can get them, it is still beyond the scope of my graphix card, it seems...
...and people wonder why I am skeptical about mesh.
:)))
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Miso and I went exploring last week. we found the remains of the LEA. originally M Linden committed to contributing 70 sims to the LEA. Miso and I found nine extant sims, one of which is closed to visitors and is dedicated to Bryn Oh apparently. my request to join the LEA group has so far come to naught.
ReplyDeleteAhhh.....probably AFIC only... (arty FIC) .. you are SOC (snarky outer circle)... but you can join my club, AEL, Artists Endowment of the Lindens...
ReplyDeleteOur basic plan is to do creative stuff and pay the Lindens for allowing us... a bit revolutionary, but hey, we are pioneer white mice.
I dont want to see the Linden Lab overtake the art world in SL just fore promoting ther own bussines at our expense, so hopfully LEA is dead
ReplyDeleteOK... Now I know how to approach a blog post I've been thinking about since last evening when one of my residents chatted with me about how real life shes fine. A professional, a classic concert quality pianist, happy... and yet she feels that she doesn't "fit in" in Secondlife.
ReplyDeleteLeadership must come from the top...
Soror, you said it and a lot of us have been saying it. You can't sit at a desk and learn about what it feels like to be a true member of a virtual world, one must actually come into a world and "live" there. Become a part of.
OK, I get it... a leader couldn't force his/her employees to enjoy our worlds, but what if?
What if he/she were to lead by example?
@ Betty, well, it isn't dead, but it hasn't yet had an effect on anyone much. I believe there will be a new arena for watching machinima, which is positive, but what sort of effect it will have on the ordinary bunch of creators that UWA helps so regularly and positively has yet to be seen.
ReplyDelete@ Brinda, yes...well, that is the attraction of InWorldz, or one of them.
Interesting perspectives. LEA was dead up until a few months ago and we have been given the green light to work again (for free to try to think up ways to help artists in SL). Linden Labs have very little input into what we do and Wizzard we never had 70 sims, that was a silly rumour. The sim dedicated to Bryn Oh as you say is me actually building the avatar games in my spare time to create some community fun. And yes the concept may fail, but it will provide material for the critics if so. Betty don't apply for help from the LEA when we are ready then. You immediately chose to believe the LEA would fail did you Soror? You hear that Linden Labs is giving residents of SL resources to finally help the arts here, and choose not to support it but rather condemn. Perhaps you do not respect the people they chose to be on it and that is fine. AFIC or whatever you wish to call it. What are you doing to try to help the arts Soror?
ReplyDeleteWhat a mentality. Not hoping for the best and just thinking negatively without even knowing anything. That is pretty ignorant of you. Not to mention horribly catty.
ReplyDeleteWell, if you consider what UWA has done for the Arts in one year, while paying LL for the privilege... it has sponsored the Arts with space, support PR and cash... and during this time LL has done absolutely nothing to further the Arts in SL, even refusing to provide prims for Burning Life.... then it is very easy to see why people are extremely negative about LEA. It has been a non event. Nothing has happened while, like so many other ventures, everything has been promised.
ReplyDeleteIt is not difficult to understand that people are negative. Just consider the total mess LL has made of SL, the number of people they have alienated thro their incompetence, and the friends we have lost and you will understand while they have lost the good will and left us feeling like this. I do not consider this to be ignorant, but truthfully how I, for one, feel about it.
@ Bryn. Since the UWA started I have thrown my weight behind them and supported them in the only way I can, thro positivity, encouragement and what little PR I can. I have done this willingly and without being asked because I actually saw what good they were doing. They offer practical help for artists new and old to get their work seen and offer financial support to all no matter how established they are.
ReplyDeleteThis is what I have done for the Arts over the last year, Bryn, and why I am very unimpressed that people who already have access to large amounts of prims, like you, are given free sims by the Lab.
I give up fight amongst yourselves this is retarded.
ReplyDelete:)))
ReplyDelete@bryn that wasn't a rumor. M Linden said that in an interview. i noted it with great interest at the time. i think i tweeted that news.
ReplyDelete"This is what I have done for the Arts over the last year, Bryn, and why I am very unimpressed that people who already have access to large amounts of prims, like you, are given free sims by the Lab. "
ReplyDeleteWhat are these free sims? Immersiva was given to me by Dusan Writer. You mean the world expo? I negotiated with Linden Labs to get them because Aino Baar had secured machinima space for the Madrid pavilion. They don't just "give" things to me. You are angry they gave us the opportunity to showcase dozens of machinima artists on a stage that had over one million guest pass through? Linden Labs nor Second Life was mentioned at all during this event as well, so it wasn't for promotion though it would have been fine had they intended it to be.
Wizard we have weekly meetings where we discuss what resources we have to use. Not once was 70 sims offered. Anyway believe what you wish. We were aware when we accepted to work in the LEA that people would be instantly negative despite demanding for years the lab help out artists here. They do nothing and are criticised, they offer free land to showcase SL art and are criticised.
@bryn doesn't change the fact that M said that was his intention. that was on Metanomics i think. i can go back and find the source if i need to. so M meets with the LEA and Bettina quits because Molly Linden tells her that megas won't be allowed. then M is fired and we don't hear anything more about it... until now.
ReplyDelete