A week of stuff

As many of you don't have the time to trawl thro the blogosphere turning over the digital flotsam and jetsam, I am happy to give a few links to my little cache of goodies and baddies...

The biggest story of the week continues to be the viewer thingy, and I won't even write the E word anymore, so bored am I with the whole saga.

Now, what you call your product is of vital importance and Phoenix is such a corny name, I doubt seriously that I could ever download it onto my computer as the Good Taste Police might get me for violations of aesthetic decency.. and, if you think that position is rather extreme...let me say the Z at the end of InWorldz still worries me...

Anyway, Imprudence has a new trial viewer with some added bits... environmental editor settings can be saved as a notecard (thanks to Kirsten for that feature which we hope will be rolled out to all viewers a.s.a.p.), Google translation, and the ability to load a texture directly from hard drive to prim....not sure what that actually means as I wasn't able to test it, no Mac version being available as yet.

Now, while a lot of emotional stuff has been written on viewers, I love this sort of approach by JayR Cela, The SecondLife Technologist, who has actually taken time out to test 3 viewers and compare them... also note his final paragraph...

"The UI of all 3 of these viewers is absolutely horrible, In all my days of working with computers, since 1984 and the first GUI's. I have never encountered, a more poorly designed, ill concieved, worst implemented, user unfriendly human to computer interface to date! "

Dusan Writer had a lengthy interview with Esbee Linden about SnowStorm... "But things have changed a lot. First, we’ve clearly defined a product owner, which is myself. "...hmmm... owning a pile of shit doesn't change it into a rose bed...

Much weight and lots of words are used in this interview, transparency, transparency, transparency... but the overall feeling I get from this is that it will be AGES before this viewer is usable or acceptable as the Viewer of Choice. Don't hold your breath...

Leaving the Viewer Thing behind... Lab News is that a new Linden has been employed and she's a vet. Now, not apparently of the Animal Nursing kind, nor of the Army... so why the hell call her a vet? I'm a vet, you are a vet, everyone is a vet...stupid use of the english language.
Anyway, Kim Slazer says her specialities are..."Brand Strategy, Digital Marketing (CRM, social media, SEO/SEM), Consumer Insights, Product Management, Advertising, Global Marketing, Pricing Strategy, Promotions, Licensing, P&L Ownership, Packaging"...so...marketing, then... just as well as she's VP of Marketing.

She's been working for gaming companies, apparently, ..full Lab announcement here... now while I have said several times that the Boys should sack whoever is in charge of PR.. and marketing is the same (all Dealers of BS), it seems there hasn't been..anyone...to sack.. So..good idea to try and run a company with no-one in charge of marketing...
Anyway...Kim..
"Q: What are your goals for your new position as VP Marketing at Linden Lab?

A: What I really want to do here is help the Lab figure out what the “X Factor” is going to be for Second Life. When I was working on games, I always tried to choose a single idea to focus on and bring out, an X Factor that helped people get into the game and helped them discover all the rest of the possibilities there. If I can help bring that kind of focus to Second Life, I’ll be happy about how I’m doing my job."

That should be interesting, like the Boys deciding to sell SL to the business world...that went well..

But, no doubt they are thinking a bit more like this... article about virtual worlds and how many billion dollars could be earned... *sigh*...

"SL provides so many great tools to enhance and bring out that creativity, I’m really looking forward to helping foster that as we move into the next phase of the platform’s growth"...* groan*

I have this problem.... I had it last night too at the opening of the Pop Art Lab.. when people stand up and say stuff....(it's always worse on voice too).. and it's difficult for me to express just how painful it is to hear people talking crap. Crap isn't the right word, in fact I love nonsense, but when people, artists, presenters, stand up and start telling you how creative SL is and how amazing it is and how much artistic freedom there is and start using words they don't understand like immersion and interaction and how its been an amazing journey......I just want to scream in pain...

Now, it's not Kim's fault, any more than it was the fault of anyone last night. People expect to see others open their mouths and no word of any importance comes out...."I’m excited about the prospect of helping to build a product that really empowers people to express what they’re about, and that can make a real difference in their lives. I think we’ve only just started to see what can be done here, and I can’t wait to see where we and our Residents can take things from here."

Nothing!! ...and the painful thing is that it is the norm....I am the weirdo... I expect something of interest to be said, or amusing, or ANYTHING...but Inane Newspeak. I'd rather know Kim's favourite film than read this junk. ..grrrrr...

Moving on swiftly from this uncalled-for rant....

We have been waiting, patiently for THIS>>>>



......hehehhehe..... wonderful.

In other news....InWorldz passes the 500 sim mark... 1200 residents.. and Elenia has started her own blog.... which is like one of the Lindens blogging...THAT is 'transparency'.

...and as IWz grows from 250 to 500 sims since July, so SL has lost 500 sims... people are voting with their wallets.

As far as tomorrow (Sunday 5th) is concerned...UWA has its final award day so...pop over and see (even tho I can't thanks to my ISP). Its at 5...and they have raised another 33000L$ in prize money....details here.

...and...on a personal note...I will be opening my sim at IBM on Saturday 11th September at 12 noon, when DoubleDown Tandino will play (the best DJ on the grid)...to be followed at 3PM by the Born Again Pagans (most chilled-out band on the grid)... mark that date in your diary.

Initial reactions from a few people is that is rather good. I'm calling it "Tree of Trees" and it's sort of an 11,000 prim tree.

:))

[footnote:.. my ISP has been down, no broadband...so I rang the status line: they told me my broadband was down (thx) but that their engineers were working hard to rectify the situation and they would update the status when the problem had been solved. Now, firstly I doubt the degree of hard work anyone is gonna put in on a Sunday and secondly no-one is gonna be interested in the status once the problem is solved.....the message then suggested.."Visit our website at www.BTinternet.com/ for more information"... what a great idea.]

At Home at IBM

I've been chilling out at IBM after pulling out my prim hair earlier... I'm now feeling quite at home.

Started arranging some music for the opening which will be saturday week, the 11th September...

Details will of course follow in profusion..

....bed before I drop...

night...

:))

UWA ...the last Imagine....

It used to be possible to pop over to UWA to vote for the 'best in show' and be back home in 20 minutes....these days, however, it's a block of time (very well spent) that you have to allocate to view some of the best stuff you are likely to come across all on the same sim.

Apart from beautiful pieces whose style immediately tells you the creator, there are new works by people you/I never heard of before. It's a well spent hour (plus) followed by an impossible decision to pick out three you like most. Great fun.




Now...yummm... how could I not fall for this great tree by Zola Zsun? Absolutely how trees should be made in SL according to my opinion, of course. Great prims and exotic textures... excellent.. I thought it was Pixi's.




Snowy Hobinoo's piece was recognisable a mile off, that's how strong his style is. Better and better prims and better textures too. Love it.





FreeWee Ling always amuses. Here she's made me into a Tarot card... well up to her high standards. This is interactive art that gives a reward, not just an inane click..




Wooo..."Satirical Polemicist", thats quite a title, by Eliza Wierwight, a skilled builder who has shown stuff here before. I really loved the spinning plates and being turned into a music box girl.. quality stuff..




Betty Tureaud has some shuffling commuters on a tube station which had me watching their scripted dance for a longer while...




...and I love a bit of more classic sculpture like this great piece by Penelope Parx, 'resistance NOT futile', great..... great name too...




... and Miso Susanowa, again, classic and well composed....with a touch of humour of course...it's called Prim Charmer.




Now, I have often neglected more '2D' ish art... with very few exceptions they would look better in RL galleries where the poor resolution we live with could be overcome.

HOWEVER, there are more and more exceptions to this as artists use tools not available in RL on their wall art (apart from Anim Smooth)...such as this piece (above) by Sledge Roffo which I really liked...it moves so you have to go see it. It's called Strokes.




Similarly this excellent one by PinkPink Sorbet. Things don't have to be amazingly complicated to succeed. This one works well... not for the visually sensitive tho..




....and Alizarin Goldflake's Quarry Hill gets a new twist with the passing of time factored in to her work... simple but v effective. No one draws this well, well, except Aliz, of course.

So...I could continue till my little figures fall off...

There are far too many to mention them all....

Ninka Darkstone's animated dragon stands facing mine.... wonderful.

Kittibee Babii does things with particles that make me green.

Lea Supermarine ... just wonderful..

Nish Mip goes from strength to strength...

and so it continues... some of the best I haven't even mentioned...sorry....you'll just have to go see for yourselves.

A word has to be said tho about UWA, and I know I've said it before, but...that won't stop me... In just one year, 12 months, UWA has done more to support artists in SL than the Boys have done in 6/7 years. No wonder it has become the Best Show on the Grid.

Quadrapop and JayJay have worked at this, hard..

..with a smile..

thanks from us all.

:))

Emerald Death or Murder............?

Now, everyone loves a conspiracy theory...... so here goes...

Watching Poirot, rather than a reality show with Stupid People, has shown me that after a murder the person with the motive is the person who did it......even if it looks like suicide...

So... let’s look at the facts my little garlic eating friends...

1) ”Don't waste everyones time suggesting that we throw away Viewer 2, or that we revert the UI to Viewer 1. It is absolutely not going to happen, and any suggestion to that effect will be ignored.” [Oz Linden.]. 

2) Dusan Writer had the view that a lot of new stuff planned for SL is dependent on the adoption of viewer 2.0, in an earlier post he says..
“Because the new Viewer was the spring board for a whole bunch of other things:
-The integration of Web-based content into the world, through Grid-wide access to Second Life Shared Media

- The integration of Second Life with more open systems for things like groups and identity. The side panel on the new viewer would allow both context-specific help and search and the pulling in of Web-based content and was clearly a precursor to ways in which they might handle social connections, groups and, ugh, search
- A widgetized viewer: M often talked about how eventually the viewer could open up something like an iPhone marketplace. Imagine being able to choose what widgets you want to have in your viewer. No more HUDs, with the ability to “run” things in-world with plug-and-play tools embedded directly into the viewer, downloaded from an extended Second Life Marketplace.

- Increased numbers of users attracted to Second Life because of an improved usability experience.

- With the above in place, a new content ecosystem and the launch of mesh imports. With content creators now able to import mesh, create widgets for the viewer, and maximize use of Shared Media, there would be a whole new range of content that could be created and sold.

- And finally, with the new ecosystem, and the ‘pushing’ of some of the content to the Web (the Marketplace, group and event notice systems, etc.) you’d be able to push THAT content out to the wider Web."

3).... tonight we hear...”Those final two requirements that were given to us by LL, was to have a release out by Friday September the 3rd that would not support emkdu or llkdu even if one of the files was present, and that Lonely Bluebird, Skills Hak and Discrete Dreamscape be removed from the project. The alternative was that LL would block the viewer from access to the SecondLife Grid." ...from Jessica Lyons

Theory...so... let’s assume that the Boys are not a bunch of blithering idiots, but shrewd entrepreneurs. Maeve Eiren reminded me a while back that entrepreneurs are like silent and stealthy predators, not risk-takers like people assume, and, seeing how many Dot.Com whizz kids have come and gone, the Boys were pretty good at what they do, having survived for so long.

...If 50% of the SL regulars are/were on Emerald, then Emerald could be a thorn in the side for the Boys...
...so...(dramatic and eerie music...) did they do the dirty by turning a development team into Us and Them by demanding half of em should get the sack??

Divide and conquer...oldest play in the game...

Will the Boys be drinking champagne tonight? I can't see them crying into their beer (excuse me for mixing my drinks metaphors...)

...probably not guilty.......but a bit of fun, well, not for the deceased...

:))

On being a Linden...

If you are a Linden it seems like your name will have some protection under the new Display Names fiasco.

That is the idea, however, as Buckaroo Mu points out in the comments to the announcement that it is being trialled (here)...
"No "inappropriate" names filter is going to work, and for one simple reason. UNICODE. That's over 100,000 different letters designed to display any written letter/character/glyph in use in any language. Many people get a kick out of using Unicode to write text �pısdn u�op. Guess what? It's also REALLY easy to use Unicode to find characters that look exactly like every letter used in the English language (and most others). Who's going to maintain the table that says you can't use "inden" preceeded by any Unicode codepoint that resembles an L?"

This is a very important point. It is impossible to police.

...and WHY are Lindens more important than us plebs? My name is as important as anyone elses.

Barak Obama was online (not) and ....

It seems to me as if I will not be the creator of the objects I created after (if) I change my name.... but, if someone changes their name to soror Nishi they can then change the permissions on my objects... apparently all objects in search and my inventory will have their name changed to my current preference, but objects across the grid....nope...

As Fred Gandt say.... "I could go on and on and on about this but I can't be bothered."

ColeMarie Soleil has been suspended because she was recently reported by a griefer, it will take a week for the Boys to sort this out... lol....they ain't seen nothing yet...this name change possibility is a Griefers Charter.

So bad I hardly know what else to say....

It could be the single worst "improvement" so far...

:))

We the Immortals

Jung points out in his writings how the Unconscious is older than consciousness. We start life, both as an individual, and as a species, in a state of unconsciousness unlimited by the constraints of our individuality and, therefore, more 'in tune' with our surroundings and each other. Like an animal lives in harmony with the rest of it's ecosystem we started our species development united rather than separated from the rest of life.

Our Unconscious is older and also 'wiser' than our intellect, a fact that we acknowledge when we talk of the heart being a wiser organ than the brain.

The reason I stated in an NPIRL post last year that Jung would have loved SL is because he saw the main task of a person to work towards a synthesis of their unconscious and conscious selves. He thought that all psychic activity is directed towards that goal whether we are aware of it or not.

A method to enhance this process which he proposed to a few of his clients was that of Active Imagination. Basically you take a glimpse of your psychic content, like an image from one of your dreams, and paint it in RL, going back to it and repainting the painting. If you continue this process the image starts to develop beyond a glimpse into a more substantial 'story'. This, a co-operative effort between your unconscious and conscious mind, will reveal insights into your path which you didn't necessarily understand from your initial glimpse (dream image).

Bear with me...

SL, and your avatar, in particular, fulfils all these requirements. Your work on your avatar is much more than a game, a waste of time or a retreat from RL, it is pure therapy. It is leading you and me on the path of Individuation as Jung calls it.

"Individuation is the process through which a person becomes his/her 'true self'. Hence it is the process whereby the innate elements of personality; the different experiences of a person's life and the different aspects and components of the immature psyche become integrated over time into a well-functioning whole. Individuation might thus be summarised as the stabilizing of the personality."..[wikipedia]

Now, Nightflower in her wonderful comment in yesterdays discussion on RL/SL 'conflict' gives voice to a feeling which many people share, namely that her avatar is more than just a cartoon figure but something mythological and supernatural. Jung would love that, for, she is.

She, the avatar, shares in the collective unconscious in the same way that Myths, the I Ching, and fairytales do. She is goddess, muse, oracle, inspiration and intuition, and, as I said yesterday she points out to us, like a guide, repressed content which is forgotten but still growing, unrequited, like a lonely ghost in our psyche.

She is also an Immortal.

The steps we take and the digital imprint we leave will endure, for like any pioneers our journeys will be retold by future generations when our fumbling steps will be retraced and used by the wise as illustration for the young.

We are future myth.

Jung really would love SL.


:))

RL Relationships to SL Addiction

I recently read this post on NWN about Nightflower who has returned to SL after first giving up her avatar in the hope of appeasing her RL partner. The logic, if that is the right word, that was used at the time went something like this... in leaving her second life she would unite the two parts of herself that SL had split.

As I have taken several previous opportunities to denounce the illusory myth of the Integrated Personality, it may be unneccessary to do so here. Suffice it to say that Nightfire's delusion that SL split her personality and therefore leaving SL would make her whole is not an uncommon idea as I heard it several times in the spring of 2009.

The other equally annoying concept of an 'addiction' to SL also drove me to mini rants (e.g. here) where I point out that blaming a medium for your behaviour is like saying " the phone made me act like this"..... nuts.

Now we have all at some time or another experienced, or heard of people who have had their circle of friends criticised by their RL partner. Giving up contact with a group or individual people in order to secure a relationship with another is clearly nonsense ... a slippery slope which only a sickly relationship would demand. If there is not room for a hobby and a circle of friends in your life that is not shared with your partner, then maybe there should be.

For one person to demand that the other give up using, say, the phone as it is destroying their lives is clearly rubbish, why would SL be any different?

One sentence which Nightflower uses needs particular examination.. "I leave to give my husband the secret part of myself that I've been withholding for so long."....The reason this sets off bells ringing in my head is simply because this secret part of ourselves we have been withholding from ourselves all our lives. The repressed content of our psyches becomes manifest through viewing our psyche in the Third Person. Playing out this role is pure therapy, and it is a therapy no-one should ask us to give up, and if they do, we should ask why this is being asked of us, rather than agreeing we have an 'addiction'.

If you find yourself in a dream in bed with a film star or a football team do you wake in the morning full of guilt and vowing never to sleep again?.. Ok... you will say, but I was unconscious and my unconscious is autonomous, therefore I am guiltless.... but an avatar is not fully conscious either (or your RL personna) and for the unconscious to lead you into rubbing pixels with someone points to repressed content which it would be more helpful to examine and question rather than blaming the medium that brought you together. You can't blame a Hotel chain if you exchange bodily fluids in one of their rooms, and you can't blame SL for a much more sanitary interaction online.

Guilt and shame are a part of the process of self discovery ....".. traditionally (in Western esoteric writings at least) fear and shame are the two Guardians. They are known as The Lesser Guardian of the Threshold (shame) and The Greater Guardian of the Threshold (fear) and the Threshold they guard is the one between normal consciousness and "The Spiritual World".... (that is to say in normal language that lack of self respect and anxiety hold us back from achieving our full potential.)
Their job is to allow no-one to enter a higher realm (consciousness for example) until they have been prepared as an acolyte (esoteric student) to such a degree that the revelations that ensue will be understandable/tolerable to the individual. Now this is all allegorical.... but has an archetypal stature which is worth talking about. We all share archetypes, they are the foundation stones of our psyche." (from a post about appearance).

I would like to thank Nightflower for her very personal account, her thinking is not uncommon and it is because of her honest writing that I have used her as an example, not because I think it was incorrect for her to follow her heart as she did. We all do what we think is best at the time.

I wanted simply to expose some very common misunderstandings that exist as virtual world myths.

This is my hobby, these are my friends, and they are a part of me. "Love me, love my dog/avatar".

:))