Nightflower has recently posted on NWN the results of her survey of her readers together with her own thoughts on maintaining a balance between RL and SL lives.... and she invites debate and a conversation on this topic... so...
Nightflower’s words are born of her own experience and so are true for her though not necessarily so for all.
The one sentence that jumped out at me was... “my emotional health also requires me to reject romanticization, and embrace the truth that my flesh-and-blood self is inherently more valuable than my digital projection.”
I have a problem with that. It may seem like semantics, me being picky, but my self, or anyone’s self is not flesh and blood, but pure psychic in nature. Similarly I would disagree that my avatar is a straight forward digital projection.
Nightflower also says “I love my avatar Night, and enjoy alternating between talking about her as if she were me, and referring to her as if she were a unique, sentient being. While there are some valuable kernels of truth in that viewpoint for a discussion on identity, that kind of talk is potentially destructive hogwash if we’re talking about balance.”
It would seem to me that some sort of viewpoint on identity would have to be reached before one can make a value judgement about how more or less “valuable” one part of my psyche is as opposed to another part of my psyche.
Is the hour a patient spends with her/his therapist more or less valuable than the 40 hours a week they have to work in order to pay for the therapy?
Her statement is very culturally based, these are the values we were all indoctrinated with from childhood, and may not be viable longer. (previous post, Angst and Addiction)
Though I do not consider myself a Christian there is an example from the bible where Martha complains that she does all the work while Mary just sits at Christ’s feet taking his teaching. So this discussion is not a new one.... and there is no answer.
~~~~~~
Moving on from this particular point about the relative importance of atom-based work vs. digital work, I have a theoretical aversion to the idea that balance is always necessary, or even a good thing.
Does the idea “moderation in all things” also include Moderation as one of the things to be moderate about? Is it not necessary to throw Balance out of the window on occasion?
If Mozart had not been obsessed, if van Gogh had achieved more Balance, who would have gained?
Balanced can just equal Safe, and can be the refuge for those feeling they got their fingers burnt playing with fire.... and I make no apology for re-quoting this piece from one of my previous posts on addiction...
“Talking of the conflict between conscious and unconscious elements of the Self, (like yin and yang, human and avatar)... Dr Jung says....
“When this confrontation is confined to partial aspects of the unconscious the confrontation is limited and the solution simple: the patient, with insight and some resignation or a feeling of resentment, places himself on the side of reason and convention.”
He means that if you can’t stand the heat, you get out of the kitchen. Addiction is then the excuse you have for being in the kitchen in the first place. The unwanted sides of your psyche that have manifested get repressed again, and you go back to “normality”.”
I am of the firm belief that I would rather be Mental than Balanced, but a mixture of the two is probably healthier..
:)))
Friday, 24 September 2010
Thursday, 23 September 2010
Me is United
This is from my post of 31st of January this year....
"Also...I joined the newly acquired (by LL) Avatars United, which is a staggeringly forgettable social media site, for avatars. It has poor graphics and its hard to see it taking off to be honest. I thought...well...that's nice, this disproves my previous idea that everyone is out to get my Real Name and sell me junk.
However.....before I left the site, I was asked if I wouldn't mind answering a survey...for feedback. Now being the Public Spirited Being that I am, I agreed.
The first 3 things they wanted to know where.... age, sex, job...... now, I ask you..how is that gonna help their feedback, really. Duh!!"
Followed the following week by...
"Well, the big thing seems to be Avatars United this week, as I have more friends, suddenly, than I can shake a stick at, not that I would, of course,...... well....maybe one or two could do with a....
..and by the 18th February, just 19 days into my United Experience...
"Ok..well..I just cancelled my accounts... [Facebook and Avatars United]
I am sooo bored with them both.
I figure "social media" are a bit like a faxmachine...outdated. I would rather have an IM with one person in SL than 3000 "friends" on FB, and really...AU has absolutely nothing to offer.
There are privacy issues, but my data is being mined whatever I do online, it is naive to think it isn't, so it's not that that has prompted me, just boredom with an outdated , and not very social, social setting.
So, if you are a friend mine we'll talk in world..:... if you are a "friend"... goodbye, live long and prosper (if it suits)...
Avatars United is to be erased ... announcement here.
Now, it could have been Cockup Linden or Blunder who was in charge though rumours say Moron Linden was brought in specially as a vet, but the life just ebbed out of it.
Apparently some people will miss it... takes all sorts...
Now its taken 8 months for the Boys to trash something which some poor Swedish guys (well, poor rich guys now) took 3 years to build. Was it the dodgy graphix or was it just the totally obvious fact that SL needs a social media site like an octopus needs a 9th leg.
A good part of most peoples time online, (even if they live on some high altitude building platform torturing prims as a hobby) is spent socialising. Not one but many wise Educated Types have pointed out the fact that 'face to face' interaction on SL is a million times better than any other form of virtual socialising. I guess the Boys didn't know that as they don't really go inworld except for the occasional foray.
XXLMarketplace XLonMainstreet to be the next corpse?? Probably not, some people actually use it (apparently)....less laggy than the malls I guess.... but it is being refurbished. Why does that not fill me with hope... (rhetorical, so deserves no question mark).
Avatars United was fast (8 months), easy (no-one used it) and I, at least, find it quite funny...
Well, as they say in Swedish.. "hahahahahahahahahahaaahahaha .. lets go shoot an elk".
:))
"Also...I joined the newly acquired (by LL) Avatars United, which is a staggeringly forgettable social media site, for avatars. It has poor graphics and its hard to see it taking off to be honest. I thought...well...that's nice, this disproves my previous idea that everyone is out to get my Real Name and sell me junk.
However.....before I left the site, I was asked if I wouldn't mind answering a survey...for feedback. Now being the Public Spirited Being that I am, I agreed.
The first 3 things they wanted to know where.... age, sex, job...... now, I ask you..how is that gonna help their feedback, really. Duh!!"
Followed the following week by...
"Well, the big thing seems to be Avatars United this week, as I have more friends, suddenly, than I can shake a stick at, not that I would, of course,...... well....maybe one or two could do with a....
..and by the 18th February, just 19 days into my United Experience...
"Ok..well..I just cancelled my accounts... [Facebook and Avatars United]
I am sooo bored with them both.
I figure "social media" are a bit like a faxmachine...outdated. I would rather have an IM with one person in SL than 3000 "friends" on FB, and really...AU has absolutely nothing to offer.
There are privacy issues, but my data is being mined whatever I do online, it is naive to think it isn't, so it's not that that has prompted me, just boredom with an outdated , and not very social, social setting.
So, if you are a friend mine we'll talk in world..:... if you are a "friend"... goodbye, live long and prosper (if it suits)...
Avatars United is to be erased ... announcement here.
Now, it could have been Cockup Linden or Blunder who was in charge though rumours say Moron Linden was brought in specially as a vet, but the life just ebbed out of it.
Apparently some people will miss it... takes all sorts...
Now its taken 8 months for the Boys to trash something which some poor Swedish guys (well, poor rich guys now) took 3 years to build. Was it the dodgy graphix or was it just the totally obvious fact that SL needs a social media site like an octopus needs a 9th leg.
A good part of most peoples time online, (even if they live on some high altitude building platform torturing prims as a hobby) is spent socialising. Not one but many wise Educated Types have pointed out the fact that 'face to face' interaction on SL is a million times better than any other form of virtual socialising. I guess the Boys didn't know that as they don't really go inworld except for the occasional foray.
XXLMarketplace XLonMainstreet to be the next corpse?? Probably not, some people actually use it (apparently)....less laggy than the malls I guess.... but it is being refurbished. Why does that not fill me with hope... (rhetorical, so deserves no question mark).
Avatars United was fast (8 months), easy (no-one used it) and I, at least, find it quite funny...
Well, as they say in Swedish.. "hahahahahahahahahahaaahahaha .. lets go shoot an elk".
:))
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Bits and Bobs.
Well, theres a box full of bits I haven't posted and which those of you with busy lives and no Tweets might have missed ....so.. nothing original, just recycled bobs.
My news is that I have started building at Burn 2 as an invited artist even tho I have been pretty stiff with my criticism of the event in past years, especially the land grab which I always hated and the Megaphobia which still pervades the poor souls that organise it. Anyway, they generously gave me some prims to play with and I have made a start on that.
InWorldz I have cleared the sim of my trial bits that I rezzed there as preparation for IBM and hope to start today on a new build which will be a bit different to anything I have done before, and a bit the same..... just more prims.
Re. IWz.. they had a concurrency of 300 this weekend, which is about a 600% growth in 4 or 5 months. Elenia writes about it here. Surely one of the nicest aspects of a smaller grid is that you actually get to know the Founders thro blogs, forums and personal meetings, it builds trust, a vital aspect as Tateru pointed out. ...and, with NWN diversifying into other grids..it seems.. Nightflower is right in pointing to the fact that, if your friends are with you, it doesn't matter where you rezz your hat.
Re. Mesh...thanks to Malburns for posting this ... hehehehe...
...and just as funny...reTweeted by SecondLie from Seralok...
Yep, we've all had our moments of frustration...
and....keeping you amused, Snickers posted an amusing post...
...and, on a more serious note... as a sort of footnote to my previous post on newbies... I was directed to a very good blog by Pussycat Catnap where she has really taken time out to go through everything we all need to know about SL, especially if you are new, and/or new to the Dreadful viewer too.
On the subject of "What is Second Life?" this has to be a very thorough answer to people who have never heard of it before.
My favourite art that I have seen this last while has been Scotti's show of his work, and I have no idea if it is still showing, or any record of where I saw it... just really nice images of his RL work...
I do know its called Stick in the Mud.... maybe some person with a memory will post details in the comments....
...and, as a follow on from my last post...UWA has 44 machinima entries....wow...
Oh, and check out Lem Skall's photos of Tree of Trees up at the top right here.....
Time to go building...
:))
My news is that I have started building at Burn 2 as an invited artist even tho I have been pretty stiff with my criticism of the event in past years, especially the land grab which I always hated and the Megaphobia which still pervades the poor souls that organise it. Anyway, they generously gave me some prims to play with and I have made a start on that.
InWorldz I have cleared the sim of my trial bits that I rezzed there as preparation for IBM and hope to start today on a new build which will be a bit different to anything I have done before, and a bit the same..... just more prims.
Re. IWz.. they had a concurrency of 300 this weekend, which is about a 600% growth in 4 or 5 months. Elenia writes about it here. Surely one of the nicest aspects of a smaller grid is that you actually get to know the Founders thro blogs, forums and personal meetings, it builds trust, a vital aspect as Tateru pointed out. ...and, with NWN diversifying into other grids..it seems.. Nightflower is right in pointing to the fact that, if your friends are with you, it doesn't matter where you rezz your hat.
Re. Mesh...thanks to Malburns for posting this ... hehehehe...
...and just as funny...reTweeted by SecondLie from Seralok...
Yep, we've all had our moments of frustration...
and....keeping you amused, Snickers posted an amusing post...
...and, on a more serious note... as a sort of footnote to my previous post on newbies... I was directed to a very good blog by Pussycat Catnap where she has really taken time out to go through everything we all need to know about SL, especially if you are new, and/or new to the Dreadful viewer too.
On the subject of "What is Second Life?" this has to be a very thorough answer to people who have never heard of it before.
My favourite art that I have seen this last while has been Scotti's show of his work, and I have no idea if it is still showing, or any record of where I saw it... just really nice images of his RL work...
I do know its called Stick in the Mud.... maybe some person with a memory will post details in the comments....
...and, as a follow on from my last post...UWA has 44 machinima entries....wow...
Oh, and check out Lem Skall's photos of Tree of Trees up at the top right here.....
Time to go building...
:))
Sunday, 19 September 2010
the Viewer Screwer
I have been called uneducated and opinionated this week by a Twit, not a mile from the truth, while the Linden Destination Guide calls me a Celebrated Artist. Do I have to wear candles on my head, and can 1st April be soror Nishi Day, or is it booked already by the Public Relations department?
In a move that defies all description Linden Labs moved this week to nobble all Third Party Viewer competition...
Cockup Linden : Grrrrr
Blunder Linden : Whats up mate?
Cockup Linden : They’ve all loaded Phoenix and Imprudence.
Blunder Linden : Guess we shouldn’t have given them the code.
Cockup Linden : Doh!!
BS Linden : Tell em the code is illegal and its dishonest of em to use it.
Cockup Linden : Can we do that?
Blunder Linden : We can do anything.
BS Linden : Then we can ban all the other viewers.
Cockup Linden : Then they’ll have to use Viewer 2, the ungrateful buggers.
Blunder Linden : Brilliant !!
Cockup Linden : BS, you should be promoted for that.
BS Linden : Aww...thanks guys, I do my best.
Now, even if they were forced into it by others for legal reasons, no-one is gonna believe that it isn’t a mean-spirited move to mess up the competition.
Full details are available on Tateru Nino’s (always informative) blog here.
As far as digging a hole goes, this one is not only bad, it is totally disasterous. Calling, or implying dishonesty on the part of Third Party Viewer developers is totally uncalled for, and the backlash will be intense.
To deal this sort of a blow to your own credibility when Linden Love is at an all time low is staggering.
If you have a product that you want to be widely accepted, surely the best thing is to develop it to such a degree that the competition can’t touch it. Nobbling your competitors is only acceptable if no-one finds out about it, which in these days of blogging is very unlikely.
Professing innocence, which the Lab could yet do, will not wash as the credibility gap is currently huge and about to widen.
It has to rate as the worst move ever, even in a year of bad moves.
15000 people in Inworldz.....no wonder.
:))
In a move that defies all description Linden Labs moved this week to nobble all Third Party Viewer competition...
Cockup Linden : Grrrrr
Blunder Linden : Whats up mate?
Cockup Linden : They’ve all loaded Phoenix and Imprudence.
Blunder Linden : Guess we shouldn’t have given them the code.
Cockup Linden : Doh!!
BS Linden : Tell em the code is illegal and its dishonest of em to use it.
Cockup Linden : Can we do that?
Blunder Linden : We can do anything.
BS Linden : Then we can ban all the other viewers.
Cockup Linden : Then they’ll have to use Viewer 2, the ungrateful buggers.
Blunder Linden : Brilliant !!
Cockup Linden : BS, you should be promoted for that.
BS Linden : Aww...thanks guys, I do my best.
Now, even if they were forced into it by others for legal reasons, no-one is gonna believe that it isn’t a mean-spirited move to mess up the competition.
Full details are available on Tateru Nino’s (always informative) blog here.
As far as digging a hole goes, this one is not only bad, it is totally disasterous. Calling, or implying dishonesty on the part of Third Party Viewer developers is totally uncalled for, and the backlash will be intense.
To deal this sort of a blow to your own credibility when Linden Love is at an all time low is staggering.
If you have a product that you want to be widely accepted, surely the best thing is to develop it to such a degree that the competition can’t touch it. Nobbling your competitors is only acceptable if no-one finds out about it, which in these days of blogging is very unlikely.
Professing innocence, which the Lab could yet do, will not wash as the credibility gap is currently huge and about to widen.
It has to rate as the worst move ever, even in a year of bad moves.
15000 people in Inworldz.....no wonder.
:))
Saturday, 18 September 2010
UWA vote.
Now, I have to admit to not fully registering the details when I was first told about them, being occupied with other stuff... but I think I've got them all right now....
Basically there are prizes which will be awarded on the 10th of October for Overall Winners of the UWA Challenges.
There will be a guest speaker...
"UWA is honoured that the legendary Lumiere Noir, creator of the Ivory Tower Library of Primitives, has agreed to be Guest Speaker of Honour at the Grand Finale Ceremony of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge & MachinimUWA II: Art of the Artists, at the 200seater UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre, from 6am slt, Sunday, 10th October."
so...what has this to do with you...? well...there are three peoples awards which you can vote for... you have 6 votes.
"Grand Final People's Choice:
The public can help choose the People's Choice awards in all the categories via the People's Choice Vote boards.
Where to vote:
Panel judges are supplying their votes directly to Jayjay Zifanwe during September. However, the public can vote via the UWA 3D A&D Imagine & Flagship Grand Final People's Choice boards which will be open from 8th September to 30 September 2010 and are sited on the UWA Winthrop Winners' Platform
The People Choice Awards are sponsored by Bohemian Ghost (Summerland Estates) and by the Residents of Artemesia.
Prizes:
People's Choice (IMAGINE & FLAGSHIP)
1st Prize - L$15,000
2nd Prize - L$7,000
3rd Pize - L$5,000
People's Choice (Non-Scripted)
1st Prize - L$8,000
2nd Prize - L$5,000
3rd Pize - L$3,000
How To Vote:
Pick up a TP HUD from the dispensor at the landing point on UWA Winthrop Winners' Platform.
Wear the HUD, visit all 4 floors of the Imagine entries and TP using the HUD to the 23 Flagship builds. Return to the Winners' Platform to cast your votes on the boards there.
How to use the vote boards:
1. You can choose only TWO items on EACH of the 3 vote boards.
2. Only ONE VOTE PER ITEM on the board (you cannot give one item more than one vote).
3. Touch the item for which you would like to vote. The board will tell you alone in chat and in a confirmation menu which item it is you are voting for.
4. Click YES if it is the correct item, or NO if you wish to change your mind/have touched the wrong item.
5. You have 60 seconds to respond before the confirmation menu times out.
6. The board will confirm in chat which item you have voted for and how many votes you have cast. As you get the chance to confirm or decline a vote no discussion of "misplaced votes" will be entered into.
6. You can vote only for a maximum of 2 items per vote board."
You have to pick up a HUD to see all the stuff and that HUD is available here.
Now, in addition to this there are also a good number of machinima (16?) which have already been submitted for the prize for the machinima showing all the winning works... some are very amusing, like the Great Art Theft, ("Thieves Break into UWA Gallery")...I and II....
This one by Laslopantomik Yao, the others all available on the UWAinSL website.... here...
ENTRIES SO FAR
LASLOPANTOMIK YAO - City of Art
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXHkkZXwalY
PIA KLAAR - Art of the Artists: A Closer Look
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE-SuGbx7yE
ED VESPUCCIANO - Lessons in Democracy
http://vimeo.com/14894926
LAURINA HAWKS - UWA Art of the Artists : No Tomb for the Arts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsrZgMA8SNI&feature=player_embedded
GLASZ DE CUIR - MachinimUWA II: Art Theft done in Second Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxwJJvdl8es
YESIKITA COPPOLA - Inspiracion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubRVBll5muI
TUTSY NAVARATHNA - An Art Form is Born & Gladiator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr1JGXuXs_U&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF3WIJfvN1w&feature=player_embedded
MISSY RESTLESS - Yearning for the Sea & Quantum Matrix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1TgtYzfVHg&hd=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysDal1Q8ERE&feature=player_embedded
FUSCHIA NIGHTFIRE - Moonlit Heath
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib_LxjvRgKw&feature=player_embedded
SPYVSPY AEON - I Am Not A Robot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXY12oCNxDQ&feature=player_embedded
BRYN OH - Art of the Artists
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9cLyeJ3_cs&feature=player_embedded
MEGAN MERLIN - Wichtels Fantasy Fly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2nnvg60xac&feature=player_embedded
FAKE JEWELL - Song of Medusa
http://vimeo.com/14745121
PENUMBRA CARTER - University of Western Australia
http://vimeo.com/14994248
AIDAN WITRIAL - MachinimUWA II : Art of the Artists & Shibas Dream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGhczNdRX-o&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGIdPy5O5Cs
APMEL GOOSSON - ROBOT - The Visit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB5NiND8h9s&feature=player_embedded
NICOLEX MOONWALL - Silken Vortex, Frames & Balloons
http://vimeo.com/15045751
http://vimeo.com/15027044
http://vimeo.com/15046450
KAFKA MOODY - Aphrodite Visits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcfKbPFA7wA
EIFACHFILM VARCIRCA - The Abyss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifpSfHx9YRU
So, get along to see it all, it is a representative group of some of the best work in SL over the last year, and of interest to artists builders and anyone really...
:)))
Basically there are prizes which will be awarded on the 10th of October for Overall Winners of the UWA Challenges.
There will be a guest speaker...
"UWA is honoured that the legendary Lumiere Noir, creator of the Ivory Tower Library of Primitives, has agreed to be Guest Speaker of Honour at the Grand Finale Ceremony of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge & MachinimUWA II: Art of the Artists, at the 200seater UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre, from 6am slt, Sunday, 10th October."
so...what has this to do with you...? well...there are three peoples awards which you can vote for... you have 6 votes.
"Grand Final People's Choice:
The public can help choose the People's Choice awards in all the categories via the People's Choice Vote boards.
Where to vote:
Panel judges are supplying their votes directly to Jayjay Zifanwe during September. However, the public can vote via the UWA 3D A&D Imagine & Flagship Grand Final People's Choice boards which will be open from 8th September to 30 September 2010 and are sited on the UWA Winthrop Winners' Platform
The People Choice Awards are sponsored by Bohemian Ghost (Summerland Estates) and by the Residents of Artemesia.
Prizes:
People's Choice (IMAGINE & FLAGSHIP)
1st Prize - L$15,000
2nd Prize - L$7,000
3rd Pize - L$5,000
People's Choice (Non-Scripted)
1st Prize - L$8,000
2nd Prize - L$5,000
3rd Pize - L$3,000
How To Vote:
Pick up a TP HUD from the dispensor at the landing point on UWA Winthrop Winners' Platform.
Wear the HUD, visit all 4 floors of the Imagine entries and TP using the HUD to the 23 Flagship builds. Return to the Winners' Platform to cast your votes on the boards there.
How to use the vote boards:
1. You can choose only TWO items on EACH of the 3 vote boards.
2. Only ONE VOTE PER ITEM on the board (you cannot give one item more than one vote).
3. Touch the item for which you would like to vote. The board will tell you alone in chat and in a confirmation menu which item it is you are voting for.
4. Click YES if it is the correct item, or NO if you wish to change your mind/have touched the wrong item.
5. You have 60 seconds to respond before the confirmation menu times out.
6. The board will confirm in chat which item you have voted for and how many votes you have cast. As you get the chance to confirm or decline a vote no discussion of "misplaced votes" will be entered into.
6. You can vote only for a maximum of 2 items per vote board."
You have to pick up a HUD to see all the stuff and that HUD is available here.
Now, in addition to this there are also a good number of machinima (16?) which have already been submitted for the prize for the machinima showing all the winning works... some are very amusing, like the Great Art Theft, ("Thieves Break into UWA Gallery")...I and II....
This one by Laslopantomik Yao, the others all available on the UWAinSL website.... here...
ENTRIES SO FAR
LASLOPANTOMIK YAO - City of Art
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXHkkZXwalY
PIA KLAAR - Art of the Artists: A Closer Look
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE-SuGbx7yE
ED VESPUCCIANO - Lessons in Democracy
http://vimeo.com/14894926
LAURINA HAWKS - UWA Art of the Artists : No Tomb for the Arts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsrZgMA8SNI&feature=player_embedded
GLASZ DE CUIR - MachinimUWA II: Art Theft done in Second Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxwJJvdl8es
YESIKITA COPPOLA - Inspiracion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubRVBll5muI
TUTSY NAVARATHNA - An Art Form is Born & Gladiator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr1JGXuXs_U&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF3WIJfvN1w&feature=player_embedded
MISSY RESTLESS - Yearning for the Sea & Quantum Matrix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1TgtYzfVHg&hd=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysDal1Q8ERE&feature=player_embedded
FUSCHIA NIGHTFIRE - Moonlit Heath
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib_LxjvRgKw&feature=player_embedded
SPYVSPY AEON - I Am Not A Robot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXY12oCNxDQ&feature=player_embedded
BRYN OH - Art of the Artists
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9cLyeJ3_cs&feature=player_embedded
MEGAN MERLIN - Wichtels Fantasy Fly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2nnvg60xac&feature=player_embedded
FAKE JEWELL - Song of Medusa
http://vimeo.com/14745121
PENUMBRA CARTER - University of Western Australia
http://vimeo.com/14994248
AIDAN WITRIAL - MachinimUWA II : Art of the Artists & Shibas Dream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGhczNdRX-o&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGIdPy5O5Cs
APMEL GOOSSON - ROBOT - The Visit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB5NiND8h9s&feature=player_embedded
NICOLEX MOONWALL - Silken Vortex, Frames & Balloons
http://vimeo.com/15045751
http://vimeo.com/15027044
http://vimeo.com/15046450
KAFKA MOODY - Aphrodite Visits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcfKbPFA7wA
EIFACHFILM VARCIRCA - The Abyss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifpSfHx9YRU
So, get along to see it all, it is a representative group of some of the best work in SL over the last year, and of interest to artists builders and anyone really...
:)))
Friday, 17 September 2010
The Kindness of Strangers
I had a rather uncomfortable experience yesterday, I let someone down.
The issue is the new user experience and the title taken from a comment by Yordie Sands on Botgirl's post, a second posting on the issue mentioned above.
It started a couple of days ago with Nightflower (aka Nightfire...:))) posting a blog on NWN about making new users belong by joining them to a group or clan like other games do.
Botgirl made a video showing her 'new user' experience....here..
My experience happened last night at my IBM build where I was sitting playing Hostess With The Mostest as the visitors popped in, spurred mainly by Wizzy cracking the Destination Guide forms and getting me listed.
So, someone said, "where is the quest?"
Me: ermmm...quest?
Other: yes
Me: which quest is that then?
Other: The Quest.
By now the mythical nature of this convo got me to check out their profile, leaving my other IM's flashing. It was a fresh, very fresh noob.
Me: Ah, you have just arrived?
Noob: Yes, how do I get back to where I started?
Me: What was it called?
Noob: It was a big building with lots of windows.
Pause ... as I am actually stumped for what to say, brain in overdrive (it is probably over a year since I 'mentored' a totally fresh noob.
Noob: Never mind I have to go, thanks for talking to me.. [noob poofs]
Now, it is due to the Kindness of Strangers that I and many others are here.... and here I let someone down, quite simply because I was totally unprepared and didn't think on my feet fast enough.
Yesterday is a good example of how good people are generally, both Gianna Borgnine and Indigo Mertel taking the time to teach the slow girl at the back of the room (and benefitting the other 150 people in class) for no other reason than the desire to help people understand. So it has always been, and always will be, I think.
Anyway, now that the Mentors have gone, and you and I can be called upon at any time to fill that role, I was wondering what is the first thing I would say to a Noob. Bearing in mind they may not have mastered Chat even, should I give a Notecard?
I decided that the first thing I should have done was to offer friendship and then teach them to take a landmark (Could I do that, not having used Viewer 2.0?), so that even if they got lost they could speak to someone and find their way back to somewhere they had been.
But I figured that, maybe we could get a few ideas together....
What do you/would you do?
..and how can we get the Mentors back?
Can anyone get a Linden's ear?
Are all lines of communication with the Lindens now cut in their new One-Way transparency drive?
eeeek!
:))
The issue is the new user experience and the title taken from a comment by Yordie Sands on Botgirl's post, a second posting on the issue mentioned above.
It started a couple of days ago with Nightflower (aka Nightfire...:))) posting a blog on NWN about making new users belong by joining them to a group or clan like other games do.
Botgirl made a video showing her 'new user' experience....here..
My experience happened last night at my IBM build where I was sitting playing Hostess With The Mostest as the visitors popped in, spurred mainly by Wizzy cracking the Destination Guide forms and getting me listed.
So, someone said, "where is the quest?"
Me: ermmm...quest?
Other: yes
Me: which quest is that then?
Other: The Quest.
By now the mythical nature of this convo got me to check out their profile, leaving my other IM's flashing. It was a fresh, very fresh noob.
Me: Ah, you have just arrived?
Noob: Yes, how do I get back to where I started?
Me: What was it called?
Noob: It was a big building with lots of windows.
Pause ... as I am actually stumped for what to say, brain in overdrive (it is probably over a year since I 'mentored' a totally fresh noob.
Noob: Never mind I have to go, thanks for talking to me.. [noob poofs]
Now, it is due to the Kindness of Strangers that I and many others are here.... and here I let someone down, quite simply because I was totally unprepared and didn't think on my feet fast enough.
Yesterday is a good example of how good people are generally, both Gianna Borgnine and Indigo Mertel taking the time to teach the slow girl at the back of the room (and benefitting the other 150 people in class) for no other reason than the desire to help people understand. So it has always been, and always will be, I think.
Anyway, now that the Mentors have gone, and you and I can be called upon at any time to fill that role, I was wondering what is the first thing I would say to a Noob. Bearing in mind they may not have mastered Chat even, should I give a Notecard?
I decided that the first thing I should have done was to offer friendship and then teach them to take a landmark (Could I do that, not having used Viewer 2.0?), so that even if they got lost they could speak to someone and find their way back to somewhere they had been.
But I figured that, maybe we could get a few ideas together....
What do you/would you do?
..and how can we get the Mentors back?
Can anyone get a Linden's ear?
Are all lines of communication with the Lindens now cut in their new One-Way transparency drive?
eeeek!
:))
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Mystified Musings on Madame Mesh.
This is Madam Mesh, she’s a part of the recent announcement of an announcement which the Lab has issued to take your minds off the fact that things are falling apart currently (see previous post).
Now, as in 2008, when flexible prims were a faint possibility, I would certainly welcome mesh imports to Second Life, but I am not quite euphoric as some of my fellow bloggers for a number of reasons.
I am not worried about competition, pirated stuff, any of those things, I am simply wary.
I am mystified by a number of things (nothing new there then), the first being why, as a presentation, Madam Mesh is rolled out (the bug-eyed monsters I welcome with open arms).
She will never take off in SL, she is a dodo, extinct before she starts.
She can’t change her underwear, take her clothes off or change shape or size before she is re-Blendered. If you buy her from a creator, that creator will have to sell you a new sculpt map, worse than that from what I understand, 5 maps, before she can change shape or size.
" Each mesh will consist of five component meshes: four for different Levels Of Detail and one for collisions (for Havok).
Levels of detail will be needed for each object, as they cannot be generated on the fly (as they are with sculpted prims). This means modelers will need to create four versions of the same object. Starting with the most detailed version of the asset, each decrement will need to consist of around a 50% less polygons than the previous level. These levels of detail can technically be generated by the Second Life client’s mesh import tools, but this takes exact control out of the hands of the user.” [From the blog post by Sand castle Studios, as are all the subsequent quotes.]
Maya is a very expensive piece of software and I don’t expect these things to be cheap.
OK, and the next thing that mystifies me is ...do they really think any female in SL is gonna wear hair that looks like its been carved out of concrete?? I mean.... haven’t they heard of conditioner?
Our avatars are already mesh imports ..why present Madame Mesh as an example of the wonders of mesh? Any single one of my friends dresses better than that.
...and, Boys, don’t talk to me about ARC (avatar rendering cost), I am not dressing down for anyone. I pay my Membership ... you sort out the servers, don’t ask me to look crap so you have an easier life....
Madam Mesh is an avatar from another game, she doesn’t belong here, and will never sell, why drag her out now?
I have more than one question about textures too. Texturing a mesh, which can be as big as 25x15x30, is that supposed to be done with a 1024x1024? it will look crap. Imagine an texturing an octopus.... This will do nothing to increase the resolution of SL unless they allow 2048x2048 on meshes...
" Meshes will need specifically made textures." ... that means none of the textures currently in world, in our inventories, will be of any use at all.... and from what I currently know about texturing in Blender it’s bloody complicated.
Ok...so..moving on ...prim cost..
" Like other in-world objects, mesh objects will have an associated prim cost. The prim count of mesh objects is determined by the file size of the highest level of detail, or the physics cost, whichever is higher.
As it stands, the mesh economy is governed by virtual prim count associated with each mesh object. This prim count is based on the storage (memory) size of a given object, a rough translation being the higher amount of polygons an object consists of, the greater its prim count will be. However, other aspects of a mesh object can also play a role in its associated storage size, such as smooth versus hard-edged normals. There is a hard limit of ~60k polygons per mesh object, although such an object would cost a great deal of prims."
So... if you thought one mesh = one prim, you are wrong. one mesh=X prims, X being a number the Lab will decide.
Now, I have seen written countless times that mesh imports are gonna reduce lag. The argument goes like this.... one mesh replaces many prims, therefore, less prims = less lag. This argument exactly is the one that is rejected when applied to megas.... one 30x30x1 mega prim = 9 standard prims. So...why is this argument being rolled out now??
Linden Lab get paid, by tier owners, per prim.
One mega costs one prim, therefore the Tier Payer saves money (prims) the Lab loses.
One mesh costs X prims, therefore the Lab gains, Tier Payer loses.
...and...if a mesh object can be up to 60k polygons...lol... tell me again how that is gonna reduce lag....
So...only time will tell, firstly if they can solve the texturing problem, how expensive they are, and how much lag they make... and secondly if it's a good enough reason for people to use the Infuriating viewer. The other viewers will not be able to import em, as far as I understand.
... oh and thirdly, if it actually ever happens....
Will it be a Mass Mesh Mash-up?
:))
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