Relax, peeps.

The Lab is not for sale.

Straight from the horse's mouth (sorry, you know what I mean) comes this Tweet... "RT @Dusanwriter: Posted Why Linden Lab is Not for Sale; the most obvious explanations are the best ones, Dusan gets this mostly right." [bk linden]

and further.... "@Dusanwriter Good piece of analysis centered on what makes sense for running a business, not drama and intrigue."

Drama and intrigue, no idea who the Boy could be talking about there.

...but all this on the back of the annual tweet.....(in reply to a theory that Philip doesn't Tweet)...."@jfenderboa @IndigoMertel Oh yes I do! Plus, SL is growing, not failing."

So...there you have it, SL is growing and not for sale. End of.

Cool.

Except..... totally inadequate ....too little ...too late. Unacceptable. Pathetic. Get a grip!

Now, I could commence a rant here, but there are others who have done so... so I won't.

Meanwhile my recent pythonesque post went viral (well, viral for this "boring little melodrama"), professors in the Leading Universities, and Lindens stopping Very Important Work to argue over who Yes Linden is....

.....and my duck post was obviously complete crap. Definitely not for sale. Not now. No way.

Still if my shoddy writing is good enough for the Lindens to read, it's probably a good one to follow........ in 31 different countries...

Thanks.

:))

Imagine Magazine

Hugo Ocello came to visit me one day. He told me that he was running a magazine called Imagine, and would like to interview me for an article in his magazine..

Hugo is a very well mannered man and we fell to chatting about life, the universe and everything... and on the back of our chat he produced a very extensive article for Imagine.




Rebecca Sue Magic took and manipulated the images for the article as she works for Imagine as a graphic artist through her Magic Eye Studios.




..and has produced some very interesting images, even turning me into a cover girl... not something I ever expected to happen.




So, about Imagine... "Each month we will bring you the best of Second Life with a wide range of topics that will give you all a fun read. Each of the managing editors is in their own right accomplished people; artists, fashion designers, builders, role play specialists, musicians, poets, explorers and scientists. We are seeking the best information we can find and want to bring it to you."




Hugo interviewing me at UWA.




So, it looks like being a magazine to keep an eye on..."This is our journey so come along and enjoy the ride as we open all the possibilities in this virtual world called Second Life. If you have a story let us know we want to hear from you -- show us what you are doing, we're always looking for another good story. And if there is a way to improve what we are doing we want your input."





You can get the free magazine here... look for the vendor, pictured above, at their offices. They also have a website where a web version of this recent edition of the magazine will appear in a couple of days... here....[home >> gallery.] along with a list of staff, and contact details.

With Yoko Ono coming to SL it's sort of fitting, I guess, for an art based magazine..

Enjoy....


:))

Rainbow Country

This is the first photo of Rainbow Country, my new shop on InWorldz, at soror Nishi Island. It's nearly finished (if anything ever is), well, more finished than Viewer 2.2 anyway.

Like SL, its half empty, but half full too.

18,000 rats can't be wrong.... except for the one who jumped from one sinking ship to another (Blue Mars).

This build would just not be possible in SL as all the megas are tailor made to fit the build. It's been a joy to build while on Ultra and getting over 50 fps. I can heartily recommend all deserters to check it out, I sold more this month in IWz than I did in SL.

Oh...and if you need any trees... I've got some new textures/colours on some of my products and will be concentrating on building more new stuff over the coming month.

Friend me in IWz if you need any help, tho they do have mentors there.

:))

An Email Leak..

I had these meeting notes leaked to me by an employee and have no reason to doubt their veracity.....

LordOf Linden.. Welcome to this Monday’s Monetizing Meeting. Now I want some blue-sky out-of-the-box run-it-up-the-flagpole suck-the-suckers-dry thinking. Where can we get some more cash?

Yes Linden.. Yes Lord.

Cockup Linden.. Well, sir, it strikes me that the not-for-profits and educational discounts are a potential source of increased monetization.

LordOf Linden.. Excellent, bloody whining little Scroungers. We give them this huge discount, and what have the Scroungers ever done for us?

Sane Linden.. Well, they have provided us with more Credibility than any other user group.

LordOf Linden. Apart from Credibility what have the Scroungers ever done for us though?

Sane Linden.. They have introduced new users to SL who would not have come on the grid without them.

LordOf Linden.. Well, apart from Credibility and New Users, what have the Scroungers ever done for us?

Sane Linden.. They have sponsored the arts and some different Events.

LordOf Linden.. OK, so...apart from Credibility, New Users and Sponsorship... what have the Whining Scroungers ever done for us?

Sane Linden.. They are already paying about 1000% more than OpenSim would cost them.

LordOf Linden.. So.. apart from Credibility, New Users, Sponsorship, and Overpaying... (glares at Sane) what have the Whining Little Scroungers ever done for us?

Sane Linden.. They have provided unusual content that we wouldn’t have had otherwise... and they have provided entry level education, along with positive RL press.

CockUp Linden, Yeh, but apart from Credibility, New Users, Sponsorship, Overpaying, Content, Education and PR, what have they done for us...NOTHING.

Yes Linden.. Well, Lord, speaking for all the others....We agree.

LordOf Linden. Of course you do. So, that’s agreed then.

Sane Linden.. We might get some negative response to this move, Sir.

LordOf Linden.. Hmm...You are the PR vet, Fkem, what do you say?

FKem Linden. Lord, we could get FriendlyGreetings Linden to do a video.

LordOf Linden.. Excellent.
Oh, and Sane.. you’re fired. We don’t want that sort of Communistic, Revolutionistic, Gay, Liberalistic nonsense here at the Lab.

Time for lunch I think... good work.

The meeting was adjourned.

:))

If it looks like a duck.....

...and quacks like a duck...then it probably is a duck.

The latest move by LL to double the income from educational and non-profit companies does nothing, a lot of people seem to be saying, to increase the long term participation in SL. That, I think, is agreed by most commentators over the last couple of days. The negative effect of losing these institutions is also, broadly speaking, agreed.

What it does do, however, for an accountant, is to imply an increased revenue for the next financial year.

Why would LL want to project an increased revenue stream...well, obviously to increase the perceived value of the Lab.

The NY Times stated that the number of Virtual World users has now topped 1 Billion, (here) and Microsoft could be looking to buy SL, which would be a good move really as the number of users will no doubt grow, soon enough to 2 billion.

One thing that has people scratching their heads is the question of why.

SL is probably the single largest conglomeration of virtual goods. For the company that took over all the invents of all the users, sorted them out into crap vs. good stuff and then marketed the good stuff it would be way of supplying virtual goods on the sort of scale needed for 2 billion users.

Content... gold in virtual form..

Well, we will see, but it is sounding more and more like a duck with each LL move now-a-days...

:((

Neotoy Story films Tree of Trees.

Many thanks to NeoToy Story for taking the time to record, firstly, the early stages of my build at IBM C... above..






...and later an almost documentary style vid of the Tree or Trees in its final state.

As things come and go so quickly in SL, it is wonderful that someone has taken the time to nail the prims to celuloid ...

:)))

I see you.

I was visiting the Ambiguity of Identity show yesterday at Caerleon and came away with a quiet dissatisfaction at the naming of the show.

All the works, by artists I respect, were well made and enjoyable to behold or interact with. It is definitely worth a visit.

But...

I have a problem with the title. I have a problem with the philosophy behind the title.

Georg Janick has tried to distinguish what makes 3D art different to ‘previous’ art, and his six dimensions are extremely debatable. The idea is that the third one is Ambiguity of Identity, and that’s why the show is given this title.

Now, it’s great that someone attempts this, and it’s only natural that a person with theories defends them, but also good to question them.

Georg says..

"Ambiguity of identity results from the fact that our bodily presence in the virtual world is mediated by a digital representation."

Now, I actually do not experience this. My personal identity is not shaken or stirred by me assuming a digital appearance, any more than by me wearing different clothes, assuming different personas or through role play. I am still me, and I never doubt that or experience an identity crisis when assuming an alt avi.

"All dwelling within a world involves being present in a body which both constitutes our perspective on things and makes us present to other embodied experiencers.
Though personal identity can be a very complex construction, its ultimate foundation is continuity of bodily presence."

This is true for RL, but this is where we part company as far as Virtual Worlds go. I believe this may be the heart of my problem.

"However digital bodies, and the names that uniquely identify them, can be altered, multiplied, discarded, or exchanged at the will of the user."

It’s this last sentence that sums up my disquiet.

"Since bodily presence is open to such radical discontinuity, the identity of the virtual person is protean and ambiguous, including indicators of age, gender, race, and even biological species."

...and I don’t experience this at all.

Although identity and body are very closely linked in RL, that is not the case in VW’s, of that we are agreed.

Where we fall out of agreement is where Georg assumes that this leads to an ambiguity of identity. For me it simply changes the primary indicator. I will explain....

If someone ‘steals your identity’, that is a misnomer, they steal your money by taking the indicators of your identity. It’s like someone taking the road signs for New York to some other town and redirecting traffic. New York is not changed.

Similarly the identity of someone isn’t changed by them taking on an avatar. You just have to use different road signs.

I know Wizard Gynoid, she has an identity I recognise when dressed as a Na’vi, cyborg, princess, whatever. Her identity will not change, for me, if/when I see her physical body or hear her real name..... BECAUSE.... I have used different ‘signposts’ than the primary one used in RL which Georg correctly identifies as ‘bodily presence’.

In different cultures different signifiers are used to form opinions/ideas/concepts of another’s identity. The signposts are in a different language. Virtual Worlds are just such a cultural instance.

I don’t experience any ambiguity regarding the identities of my friends. I don’t experience any personal identity crisis.

The show, which as I say I enjoyed, would be much better titled “Experimenting with Personality” for that is what the show was about.

The fact that we unearth different aspects of our, and other’s, personalities in the course of our lives in Virtual Worlds is by no means the same as an Ambiguity of Identity.

I believe RL demonstrates just as much, if not more, ambiguity in being so tightly tied to bodily presence.

Not my Personal Identity but the identity of The Other is, if anything, more ambiguous because of our accepting the ‘indicators of age, gender, race’ as primary signifiers in our search for the identity of the other person. These concepts are so ridden with cultural preconceptions that we fall continually into stereotypical pigeon-holing which blinds us far too often to the essence of the other person.

That ambiguity is one we are well rid of in Virtual Worlds.

I see you.

:))