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There has been quite some noise in the Euro blogosphere about the latest European Parliament project, Citzalia.  Citzalia is a new virtual world and social networking forum developed for the EU assembly by the European Service Network (ESN) to boost citizens’ understanding of how the EU works.

Participants can create an avatar, interact, network, debate topical issues, propose and vote on legislation, etc.  EU officials hope the game will provide a platform for debate and discussion of the issues that have been, are or can be addressed by the European Parliament.

Ahmed ElAmin, Citzalia project editor at ESN, stated that goal of the project is “to get EU citizens debating and talking about [European law] and get people to participate on the issues the [European] Parliament debates. ElAmin maintains that there will be no censorship in Citzalia, but acknowledged that there is a “huge risk that misinformation could be fed in”.  To address this, current Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and European officials will be on hand to guide users through the procedures and provide background information.   The officials will “correct” mistakes about the EU only. ElAmin says “they won’t be editing for views, but having these people in can sort of correct things.”

That sounds pretty good, right?  Wrong. Meet Citzalia.

While the concept of Citzalia may have sounded good on paper, the demonstration leaves something to be desired (to say the least).  It’s not just the graphics either.  Many Euro-bloggers, including prominent Brussels blogger Jon Worth, have expressed concerns about the whole project.  “I really fear this is going to become a virtual ghost European Parliament with high costs and very few users,” Worth says.

I have to say I share his concerns.  With the initial cost of the project being quoted around  €275,000 ( about $350,000 USD) I can’t help, but feel the ESN got it wrong with Citzalia.  In fact, I feel the project would be much better suited in a virtual environment like Second Life.

Not only could Second Life provide an “experimental” project like Citzalia a much needed audience with over 200,000 active EU Residents in SL (according to July 2010 metrics), but for a fraction of the cost.   Second Life also already has an large and active government community of international agencies working together, sharing ideas, and exploring possibilities for education, collaboration, and outreach in virtual spaces.

Eric Hackathorn (Hackshaven Harford in SL), virtual worlds program manager at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has been lauded as the first person to establish a virtual government presence on Second Life in 2005 and he’s been active in virtual worlds ever since.  His work in SL provides people with the ability to learn about and communicate with NOAA in a two-way conversation, behind the corporate firewall.  Hackathorn sees the growing government community in SL as an asset. “It helps that we’re all neighbors.” he said. “We get more leverage out of doing things collectively than individually.”

I think Citzalia was a missed opportunity for the ESN and the EU as well as for Second Life.   Citzalia is currently accepting beta users before it goes live later this year. Time will tell.

In addition to Linden Lab’s official viewer, users can access the virtual world of Second Life through a number of customized third party viewers.  This has created much debate throughout the Second Life community as to whether these third party viewers are safe to use.

While Linden Lab does provide a Viewer Directory that highlights viewers that have self-certified their compliance with the Lab’s Policy on Third Party Viewers (TPV), they have also stated that it is the responsibility of the user to take reasonable precautions, before installing or using a third-party viewer as it is the user (as well as the developer) who is accountable for all risks, expenses, and actions while using a third party viewer.

While these rules and risks apply to all third party viewers, the Emerald viewer has been surrounded in far more controversy and concern than all the viewers put together.  However, it is also believed to be the most popular third party viewer.  While we don’t know for sure the number of users who access Second Life using the Emerald Viewer, most estimates place the figures around 20-30% of all users.

Emerald Controversies

For those who are unfamiliar, the controversy around Emerald begins with the actions of a number of the developers behind the viewer.

Initial apprehension stemmed from the fact that several of the developers were well known griefers and had previous accounts permanently banned from Second Life.  These concern were then followed by a slew of others such as:

• privacy concerns
• reports that developers were data mining and had compiled a database of avatar names, IP addresses, and geo-location information for SL users
• controversy over Onyx and the Client Detection System (CDS)

In addition, last week,  (now former) Emerald developer LordGregGreg published a sharp-tongued post questioning Emerald’s integrity and the moral compass of it’s developers, citing issues such hidden code “that braodcasted your viewers title bar and executable path in a obfuscated manner” and stating ”To the people who have took my word on emerald’s credibility, I apologize deeply for my claims.”

Denial of Service and the TPV

As if that wasn’t enough over the weekend news came to light that Emerald lead developer Fractured Crystal, committed a crime by launching a distributed denial of service attack (DDOS) and used the computers, bandwidth, and (blind faith) trust of every Emerald user to do so.

Read more »

The above picture was taken by Jeff Lowe.  The caption reads, “The SL Name Tag simply displays your real name and whatever affiliation you choose as text above the tag. Seems simplistic, but it’s really handy to have a quick visual reference to an avatar’s physical world identity.”

Second Life users have long wanted a way to change their avatar name in a way that did not destroy the history and links associated with it.  In attempt to solve this “identity crisis”,  at the Second Life Community Convention (SLCC) amongst a slew a new features, Linden Lab announced that users would be getting Display Names.

What are Display Names

Display Names will allow Second Life users the ability to choose two names: a unique user name that cannot be changed and an optional Display Name that you can periodically change and that can be set to almost anything that you would like, whether it be an avatar name, your real name, a pseudonym, gamer tag, or even a description.  The change also means that new users will no longer be forced to choose from a limited set of last names (for current users, your existing Second Life avatar name will become your unique user name).

Torley Linden created the below video in order to expand on that what you can do with this new feature and why it’s so important:

Read more »

The 6th annual Second Life Community Convention (SLCC) took place in Boston this past weekend.  It was an exciting weekend packed full of Linden Lab announcements as well as a plethora of resident-led discussions and presentations.

The theme that resonated throughout the Linden Lab keynotes was Fast, Easy, Fun which are also their new strategic goals.   While a vast wealth of information was delivered at SLCC, there were 5 announcements in particular that that I think will bring forth some  significant changes to Second Life.

1. Mesh Support

Mesh support  was actually first announced at last year’s SLCC by Linden Lab’s (now former) Chief Product Officer, Tom Hale.  After the recent layoffs of several key Linden Lab employees including Hale himself, there has been much speculation as to the status of mesh support.  Linden Lab Founder and CEO Philip Rosedale (aka Philip Linden) cleared this up in his keynote address when he candidly declared,. “We are going to ship mesh.”  He also stated that we can expect Mesh to go into Open Beta before the end of the year.

I was relieved to hear this, as I have been very vocal in regards to how critical I think mesh support is to the future of Second Life.  Not only does it allow developers an unparalleled level of control, but it could also decrease lag and increase overall performance.

2. New Users Directly to Content

Instead of the orientation experience current users had, new users will be sent directly to the content that they are interested in.  For example, if someone was interested in live music, they could click a link and be sent directly to a show and the orientation process would then be shifted.

Philip himself admits that this is a gamble, but he thinks it’s a good one.  I agree that in theory this could be very successful.  By sending new users directly to content, they have the opportunity to find the  communities and content that interests and engages them, therefore making it more likely that they will stay, explore, and return. How this feature is implemented though, will make all the difference.

3. Display Names

Currently we all use avatar names that we created by entering a first name and choosing a last name from an available list.  This is very different from most current platforms and while cute, it is simply no longer acceptable to limit avatars in this fashion.  With the addition of display names, new users will no longer have to chose from a list of last names.  They will be able to define their own user names and display names.  For us current users, our avatar names will become our user names and we will be able to define our display names.  This feature is currently slated for release in the next few days!

I still have a lot of questions about display names, but I am thrilled at the prospect of them.  They will allow users like myself to easily link their avatar to their real world persona while also allowing users who wish to remain anonymous the ability to do so.

Read more »

As the Second Life 7th Birthday is winding down, I wanted to share with you a few of my favorite exhibits from the week.  Even though the celebrations are ending tonight, the SIMs themselves will be open until July 3 (11:59 pm SLT), so if you haven’t had a chance to explore everything.. now is the time, before all these wonderful exhibits disappear forever!  While all the exhibits were special, here are some of the ones I most enjoyed.

1. LEA – Bryn Oh

   

   Well known Second Life artist Bryn Oh created a captivating installation on behalf of the Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA).  The interactive exhibit takes you on a whimsical journey as you climb the enchanted staircase that appears before you.  The inspiring exhibit was also beautifully captured by well known machinimagrapher Chantal Harvey.

   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL7B%20Contradiction/168/250/22

2. Timeline – Raven Haalan and GM Nikolaidis

   

   This amazing collaboration from two of SL’s best is sure to touch you.  At first glance, the installation appears to be an equatorial sundial, and 12-hour clock.  However, as you interact with the exhibit, you will find that each number (hour) corresponds with a compelling timeline of life events and stories.  Not to mention the free gift, is one you won’t want to miss.

   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL7B%20Enigma/93/37/23

3. Bodied words – pallina60 Loon

   

   This passionate installation draws you in with its intense visual appeal, but captures you with its adorable letter animations that allow you the chance to pose as a letter or a number so you can spell anything you want.

   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL7B%20Absurdity/51/137/22

4. Without You – Kerupa Flow

   

   One of the most underrated displays, this exhibit simply has to be explored. From beginning to end it places you in the middle of some the most visually stunning 3D illusions, that can be interpreted in different ways just by changing your viewpoint and exploring the installation further. As if that wasn’t enough, Kerupa aims right for your heart with her written note explaining how her work is nothing without you, because it’s how we all interact with it and what we get from it that “uncovers its soul.”

   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL7B%20Absurdity/64/222/22

5. dream on! – caLLie cLine

   

   This touching display of caLLie’s dreams (not to mention some classic SL history) will have you examining your own SL dreams as you fly around and explore this oversized yet stylized ‘Alice in Wonderland’ feeling installation.

   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL7B%20Enigma/39/103/22

6. Burning Life – Raven Haalan

   

   This exhibit will have you feeling nostalgic for last year’s Burning Life with its display of memorable photographs. It will also pump you up for this year’s theme “Metropolis – Civilization in the Desert” and provide you all the info you will need about the event and how to get involved!

   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL7B%20Contrary/11/91/22/

7. Doodle Lace – Eshi Otawara

   

   Inspired by former Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon’s doodle art, Eshi Otawara created this gorgeous feminine floral sculpture that is also a dress.

   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL7B%20Miraculous/39/219/22

8. BOSL & CO – Patch Thibaud

   

   This magnificent tower hovers over the entire celebration area and is worth taking a peek at with its glowing, moving pieces.  Update: Patch contacted me and let me know that he intended the tower to be viewed at night.  He also sent some photos of it at night and it was quite stunning.  Keep this in mind when visiting the tower!

   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL7B%20Contradiction/247/153/22

I would also like to take the opportunity to invite you to visit our exhibit

The Second Life Whole is Greater Than the Sum of its Parts

Our interactive installation exhibits the theme of “Unexpected Collaborations” with a visual representation demonstrating how the different communities in SL are not just amazing on their own, but are improved and enhanced by existing within the Second Life metaverse.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL7B%20Enigma/95/232/22

What was your favorite exhibit?

The Second Life 7th Birthday celebration kicked off this morning with an address from Linden Lab founder, SL creator, and current Chairman of the Board – Philip Rosedale (aka Philip Linden).  In his opening speech, Philip made several key points (emphasis added):

1.  Philip Has No Regrets

I sat and thought about this 7th year of operation — you know, for me, it is, of course more than 10 years… I would say that those 10 years have been an incredibly hard. They’ve had incredible moments of frustration. But they’ve also been incredibly rewarding and inspiring and I wouldn’t take back any of it or even do anything differently… I think what we’ve achieved here is a magnificent accomplishment together — all of us, the Lindens, the Residents, the Lindens that aren’t with us anymore — we’ve all worked together to build something just incredible. And I wouldn’t even take any chance at anything that might mess it up, it’s unbelievable what we’ve achieved.

2.  Linden Lab Has Only Good Intentions

We have tried, as a company — because we’ve been so excited about virtual reality, about what we’ve already accomplished together, what we’ve seen everyone do, what we’ve seen you guys do — it’s been so exciting that we have tried to fix it all at once.. it’s all done out of enthusiasm, it’s done out of excitement, it’s done out of love for the world. And everything and everyone that’s in it. But I think the challenge we’ve had is that over and over again, we’ve been this small, smallish company trying to work on something that is just unbelievably complicated and figuring out how to restrict and serialize and sequence and prioritize all of these different pieces has been a huge problem.

3.  Keeping Second Life Safe is Top Priority

We sadly reduced the size of the company by about a third — by about 100 people a week ago, and that’s a big deal and a huge change… We’re never going to — as a company — risk the world and the businesses and the livelihoods of the thousands of people who make money working here by growing too quickly ahead of profits. By doing the difficult process of restructuring the company and making layoffs, we’ll return ourselves to solid, very solid levels of profitability.  We’re safe, the world is safe.

Read more »

Today is Day 5 of the Big Bad Blogger Challenge 2010.

Today’s Topic: Blogger’s Choice

I keep reading people saying that they aren’t being listened to.  They feel like their voice isn’t heard.  They argue Linden Lab are too worried about new users, or business, or education, or (fill in some group here).  They claim the long time users are being ignored and the things that really need to change, are staying the same.

I am not Linden Lab, but I take time every day to read and explore the life pulse of Second Life.  I am open to hearing anyone’s opinion.  Yet, I honestly can tell you that I have no idea what changes people are referring to or what they want to see… and it’s not because I’m not listening.

Someone once said, ““If you don’t create change, change will create you.”

I wanted to give everyone an opportunity to SPECIFICALLY express themselves.

OPEN FORUM:

What changes specifically do you think Linden Lab needs to make?  What specifically do you want to see in Second Life?  What areas do you think the Lab should be focusing their time on?

How are you creating the change you want to see?

Today is Day 4 of the Big Bad Blogger Challenge 2010.

Today’s Topic: Age

Age (along with many of the other confines of the physical world such as race, religion, sex, etc.) becomes a very interesting topic when examined in virtual space.  Where does our physical age end and our virtual age begin?  How do we even define our virtual age?  Is our virtual age, the age we “act” in world?  How old our avatar appears to look? How about the age since our avatar first rezzed into the space?

It seems that to define virtual age we have to look at several dimensions:

1. Physical Age

2. Mental Age

3. Apparent Age (look)

4. Rendered Age

In virtual space, where we can be any age (not to mention have/create/be anything we can imagine) what age do you want to be?

Second Life creator Philip Rosedale once described SL as “The Sum of All Dreams.”  He then went on to joke that based on SL, the average of all dreams is Malibu.  I guess that might fit with my perception of how old most avatars look – too young for their age.  I rarely every see a wrinkled, aged avatar.  No judgments though when you consider that in Second Life, most of us do feel like we are dreaming, or imagining into fruition the dreams of our childhood.  The virtual space is like an evolution of consciousness, which itself is just in its infancy.   So why then should we emotionally feel any different when we are exploring this new world, than we once did with the physical world when we are a child?  Through our virtual eyes, this virtual space can be new and magical.

In fact, I challenge you to really watch a child.  Watch them explore and examine.  Everything is so engaging, so funny, so stimulating, so gratifying.  They focus so intently like nothing else around them matters. They live in the moment.  This new virtual space can also be a similar experience.

Many of us as adults lose this stimulating curiosity, and become paralyzed by our urge to over analyze everything. Virtual worlds provide us with the opportunity to transcend the constraints of the physical world (including age) and manifest the dreams of our infinite self.   The journey is only as confined as you are.

Today is Day 3 of the Big Bad Blogger Challenge 2010.

Today’s Topic: Relationships

The desire to feel connected is a basic human instinct.  This doesn’t change when we log into a virtual world.  Most users don’t go to virtual spaces just to defy gravity. They’re there for the people. They don’t come back day after day just to spend their time with mere casual acquaintances, either. They often form real relationships with real emotional attachments.  Those that call these relationships (friendships or more) unreal or fantasy ignore the impact they have.  The bonds or connections that are formed don’t begin when you log on and they don’t end when you log out.

This was recently reinforced when 30% of Linden Lab employees were somewhat suddenly laid off.  The Second Life community genuinely mourned the loss of these people that most had never actually met face to face.  The support was instant, unconditional, and real.

The part that bothers me though, is not people questioning how real these friendships or relationships are.  It’s that almost every time the media or “News” mentions Second Life and relationships it’s to tell the story of some affair or stalker turned killer who was found with his virtual lover’s head in a box.  Call me crazy, but while the internet may be full of weirdoes and future serial killers, it is also full of amazing, good natured, and engaging people.  It allows us to defy space and time and meet others from around the world who challenge us, inspire us, and form passionate communities around the things that we care about.

Unfortunately there will probably always be some sensational story about virtual relationships (at least for now).  People will be people.  There are good ones and there are… not so good ones.  I, however, will continue to form real friendships, and conduct real business in these virtual spaces until they develop some new technology where we can defy physics in real time, that or until they find my head in box.  I’M JUST JOKING! Relax!

Today is Day 2 of the Big Bad Blogger Challenge 2010.

Today’s Topic:  Being Positive

It’s easy to get discouraged.  There are a lot of negative people.  Those people can really bring you down.. if you let them.  However, if you make it a practice to intentionally find the positive things in your life, you will realize that those people don’t have much power when you don’t give it to them.

As for me, I’m a pretty positive person.  I consider it one of the keys to the modest success I’ve had.  Positive thinking has changed my life.  It’s helped me to turn problems into opportunities.

In fact, just recently I:

1. Signed several new accounts to Sand Castle Studios.  Our team came up with some amazing proposals, and I can’t wait for you to experience the finished projects.

2. Had the opportunity to give an amazing talk on Creating Immersive Experiences at the University of Delaware, the school from which I graduated.  I always love talking about virtual worlds, but there is something special about speaking some place that feels like home.

3.  Started a podcast (after some encouragement from the team at Rezzed.tv).  The feedback has been so positive and several people even told me they have begun reading a book I mentioned on the show.

These are just a few recent examples of how positive thinking has contributed to my happiness and success.  It’s not just me either.  Studies have shown over and over again that positive thinking actually has real and measurable effects.

So why is everyone so negative?

When I recently examined this topic, I found that not only Second Life users, but also social media users have a habit of complaining in response to the smallest changes.  I asked if people complained because they were afraid of change. Eshi Otawara commented and suggested that “the way users complain about changes is closely connected to the general education of the majority of humans today.”    However, I suspected that we focus on the negative because it’s easy, it’s what we’ve been taught,  and in a way, it feels good… it soothes us.. it protects us.

Tonight, Nika Dreamscape hit home for me, when she suggested another reason:

We react so strongly and complain so loudly because we care so deeply. Most of us have invested so much of ourselves into this platform. When the road gets rocky, we hurt. It’s natural.

I get that.  I hurt too sometimes, and it is because I care.  However, I also choose to make a positive out of a negative, for the same reason (because I care).  That doesn’t mean that I’m not practical, but when I set my mind on the positive things, I make positive actions, which lead to positive outcomes.

Here are 3 small changes you can make today:

1.  See bad things as a a stepping stone to something else.. a blessing in disguise.

2.  Realize that anything is a possible, instead of dwelling on why it’s not.

3.  Love and be thankful for what you already have.

What do you think?  How do you keep yourself thinking positively?

This is the first of my posts for the Big Bad Blogger Challenge 2010 hosted by the amazing Alicia Chenaux.  As she states on her blog,

The BBBC started in 2008 as a way to give SL bloggers a little kickstart, and give people something to read. But it turned into a great sharing opportunity! We’ve really had a fun time the past couple of years . .

Today’s Topic:

Why did you become a blogger? How has it enriched your life?

I started blogging for three main reasons.

1.  I’m very passionate about virtual worlds especially Second Life.

I’m amazed every single day.  I changed careers because I was so enthused by what was going on in virtual worlds.  For me, the future of the web, will be based on the projects that we are all working on now.  I am so inspired on a daily basis by how individuals and organizations are using the space and where it is going.  I truly believe that Second Life and virtual worlds will transform the ways we connect, collaborate, learn and engage online.  I also share Philip Rosedale’s idealistic views that Second Life and virtual worlds offer the opportunity to improve the human condition and change the world.  (Yes, I just said that.)

2. I feel like I have something to offer.

I talk to many people who are involved in virtual worlds on a daily basis.  Usually, they aren’t up to date on the recent news coming out of the different platforms.  I spend a good part of my morning reading, exploring, and examining so that I can offer our clients, and you, the most cutting edge information and technology.  Through this and my experience, I can offer an opinion that I can feel confident is valuable.

3.  YOU

Blogging is such an amazing opportunity.  Every time I post a blog entry, I have a chance to express, to connect, and to build relationships.  I cherish every one of you who reads this blog, whether regularly or occasionally.  You not only contribute to the Sand Castle community, but you also contribute to my education, and are a catalyst for me in many ways.  For all of this.. I thank you.

Linden Lab, the company behind the virtual world of Second Life, issued a release today stating that they will be restructuring their company in order to become more efficient and to allow them to delve into new platforms including the social and mobile web.

The release reads:

SAN FRANCISCO, June 9 /PRNewswire/ — Linden Lab®, creator of 3D virtual world Second Life®, announced today a strategic restructuring to increase focus on the company’s consumer business including investments intended to enhance ease of use and participation in its virtual goods marketplace through browser-based and mobile applications.

As part of the restructuring, Linden Lab will also improve its geographic and cost efficiencies. The company’s product and engineering divisions will be combined.  The software development teams will be consolidated in North America and customer support will be reconfigured to provide more scalable services.  As a result, Linden Lab anticipates staff reductions of approximately 30 percent.

“We’ve emerged from a two-year investment period during which, among other things, we’ve spent a considerable amount of time improving reliability and the overall user experience. Today’s announcement about our reorganization will help us make Second Life® even simpler, more enjoyable, relevant and engaging for consumers starting with their first experience. It will also enable us to invest in bringing 3D to the web and will strengthen our profitability,” said Mark Kingdon, chief executive officer of Linden Lab.

According to Kingdon, the restructuring also better aligns Linden Lab with its two longer-term goals.  First, the company aims to create a browser-based virtual world experience, eliminating the need to download software. Secondly, Linden Lab will look to extend the Second Life experience into popular social networks. “Ultimately, we want to make Second Life more accessible and relevant to a wider population,” he said.

About Second Life and Linden Lab

Developed and launched by Linden Lab in 2003, Second Life is the world’s leading 3D virtual world environment. It enables its Residents to create content, interact with others, launch businesses, collaborate, educate, and more. Since its inception, Second Life Residents have logged more than one billion user hours and generated more than $1 billion in user-to-user transactions. With a broad user base that includes everyone from consumers and educators to medical researchers and large enterprises, Second Life has become one of the largest repositories of user-generated content and the largest user-generated virtual goods economy in the world.

Privately held Linden Lab, founded in 1999 by Chairman of the Board Philip Rosedale and headquartered in San Francisco, develops revolutionary technologies that change the way people communicate, interact, transact, learn and create. For more information, visit www.secondlife.com.

SOURCE Linden Lab

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Over the last few days, I’ve read dozens of articles covering the newly updated Second Life Terms of Service (TOS) and the Class Action Lawsuit that has been filed against Linden Lab and Second Life creator Philip Rosedale.  These reports have frustrated and perturbed me, but I expected there to be some melodramatic “news” surrounding these events.  I can see how these events would be fodder for many of the sensational stories that are written about Second Life, most of which are about as accurate or thorough as you would expect to see in any common place tabloid.   However, this afternoon when I saw that the Los Angeles Times and Mashable (who I hoped would have more integrity) had jumped on the bandwagon of sensationalism then I could no longer bit my tongue and keep my facts to myself.

Second Life’s newly revised Terms of Service

Second Life’s newly revised Terms of Service (TOS) officially took effect Friday.  Though they were released a month ago, many reports are just beginning to surface about the updated TOS.  While most users (in typical online fashion) probably just clicked ACCEPT before even bothering to read them, there were multiple changes, that whether you read them or not, you are now legal bound to.   The changes mostly involved further clarification of Service and Content Licenses, including a new Snapshot and Machinima Policy.

The updates were consolidated by Linden Lab into the following reference chart:

Snapshot and Machinima Policy

The most significant of these changes (in my opinion) was the introduction of the completely new Snapshot and Machinima Policy.  The Snapshot and Machinima policy grants Linden Lab and other Second Lifer users a license to use snapshots (without permission) and machinima (with permission) of Content that is publically displayed in-world.  Creators who want to reserve their rights can do so by placing their creations in private areas or by altering the Covenant of the land to prohibit snapshots or filming of machinima.  The EFF spoke out in support of Linden Lab, praising this new policy, by stating,

Instead of running from the new kinds of fair use enabled by new technologies, Linden Lab has embraced them… Linden Lab’s behavior should be an object lesson to movie studios and major record labels, who have alienated their own fans by trying to thwart new fair uses as they come along, whether through DRM or DMCA takedowns. Linden Lab has shown that there are innovative new ways to give the green-light to fair uses while still giving users the freedom to protect their creations. We hope that movie studios and major record labels are taking notes, because Linden Lab is showing them how it’s done.

Service and Content Licenses

Mark Kingdon, CEO of Linden Lab described the other licenses on the official Second Life blog:

…We’ve clarified the service and content licenses in the Terms of  Service.

• Linden Dollar License: This is the license that allows you to transfer Linden dollars to other Residents. When you get Linden dollars, you get a license to use them, and when you transfer Linden dollars to other Residents, you are transferring your Linden Dollar License.
• Virtual Land License: The license you get when you acquire  virtual land in Second  Life works similarly to the Linden Dollar License. When you transfer virtual land to other Residents, what you are really transferring is the license you get to use that virtual land.  This license reflects  what virtual landlords are doing already in Second Life when they rent land parcels to other Residents.
• Service Content License: To enable us to provide the Second Life experience to you, we need to be allowed to “use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform” content in Second Life. However, the content you submit to Second Life is your content, not Linden Lab’s; you retain the intellectual property rights in your content. And, we’ve added a provision that ends the Service Content License for copies of your content that you delete from Second Life.
• User Content License: By submitting content to publicly accessible areas of Second Life, you allow us to display it and allow other Residents to see it. You also allow other Residents to “use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform” your content “solely as permitted by you through your interactions with” Second Life. Your interactions include your use of  the Second Life permissions system. The User Content License reflects how our content creators are using the permissions system. The User Content License also clarifies that content creators remain the intellectual property owners of content they transfer within Second Life. Simply receiving content and becoming the  “Second Life owner” of the content does not make you the intellectual  property owner.

Evans et al vs Linden Lab

I have read the entire newly updated TOS and the previous version (that just was replaced) as well.   I recommend that you take the time to do the same.  While I am NOT a lawyer, I did not find these newly updated TOS to be (second) life changing.   However, a new Class Action Lawsuit was recently filed against Linden Lab and Second Life creator Philip Rosedale that includes in its arguments the Second Life TOS.  The Plaintiffs of this case: Carl Evans, Donald Spencer, Valerie Spencer, and Cindy Carter, are claiming misrepresentation and fraud, among other things.  As I read the Complaint, the Plaintiffs allege that Philip Rosedale tried to “bait the hook for potential customers” by intentionally misleading them to believe that by buying virtual land, they would own that land outright and therefore acquire ownership rights to it, only to turn around and seize their land/items/$L, without compensation, and without honoring any of their rights as owners.  The complaint actually goes as far as to compare Rosedale to a “hawker sitting outside Second Life’s circus tent, singing marvels of what was contained inside to entice customers to enter.”  The sarcasm that seeps from its pages puts this blog to shame.  So much so, that well respected and informed virtual world blogger Ren Reynolds responded to the Complaint by asking, “you’re having a laugh, right?”

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This past weekend, Reed Steamroller wrote a guest blog about cloud computing and server side rendering in regards to Second Life and it stirred up a whirlwind of debate (and personal attacks) on an array of topics from content theft, to privacy issues, to complaining, and back.  Award-winning machinimagrapher Draxtor Despres brought up an interesting point when he commented and posted the following video:

The video is a good reminder that Second Lifers aren’t the only community that feels the need to complain and become angry at the parent company every time a change is made.  It’s also a good reminder of how silly it is.  While it’s reassuring that it doesn’t just happen in regards to Second Life,  it’s also a little scary.

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Last week, Blue Mars announced they were becoming a “cloud based service” featuring server side rendering.  This led many people, including New World Notes’ Wagner James Au, to ask, could Second Life do the same?   To settle the matter, Au posed the question to Linden Lab.  Joe Miller (aka Joe Linden) the company’s VP of Platform and Technology Development offered a VERY interesting answer, stating:

“Rather than using the ‘cloud service’ metaphor here, it sounds like what you’re talking about is better termed ‘server-side rendering’ and streaming that content down to machines that would otherwise be unable to run a full 3D client. That is technically possible with Second Life, and we’ve actively demonstrated it internally, with a full Second Life client and all graphics settings set to maximum, while maintaining an impressive framerate. However, we’re not announcing any future plans for new ways to deliver Second Life today. While using the ‘cloud’ metaphor is a bit of a misnomer for the above, standing up a Second Life grid in the cloud is something that we already do; we have customers running instances of Second Life Enterprise in the cloud, and no dedicated hardware is required to stand up a private grid.”

Au then interpreted this as, “So if you pay for a private, firewalled version of Second Life, you can get the cloud option. For regular grid users, expect to access SL with a high-end computer for the foreseeable future.”

This is not entirely true, because the “cloud option” that some Second Life Enterprise customers are apparently using most likely does not provide server side rendering. A platform can operate “in a cloud” without providing server side rendering. Therefore, those paying for the private, firewalled version (Second Life Enterprise customers) and using the “cloud” option would still need high-end computers that meet the Second Life requirements, just like the rest of us.  Joe Miller was simply using these particular SLE clients as an example of how they can and are running SL “on the a cloud.”

As for server side rendering (what most people are really interested in) Joe Miller said that they have “actively demonstrated it internally,” but they are “not announcing any feature plans today.” This is VERY interesting!  I couldn’t believe how many people missed this important sentence!  In fact, Joe Miller came back TWICE to comment and re-iterate it saying,

“I didn’t say there were no plans to offer server-side rendering. I said we had no plans to announce anything in that regard today. There is a big difference.”

“The facts are we can (and have) run the SL client on machines that render in the “cloud” and interactively stream that experience to laptops, netbooks, low-end computers, and mobile devices that otherwise aren’t capable of rendering rich 3D content on their own. That was the question that Hamlet asked.

It’s also true that we’re just not ready to make any announcements about how we might deploy such technology in the future. There are many factors involved in moving to such a model.”

While nobody can say for sure what this means, I think we can all read between the lines here and interpret this to mean that Linden Lab is looking at and considering options such as these and may even be working on something along these lines.  Very exciting stuff!

Since the difference between “cloud computing” and server side rendering was very confusing for many of us, but obviously an important topic, as one of Second Life’s biggest limitations is it’s hardware requirements… I’ve asked Sand Castle Studios’ own Reed Steamroller to further explain what these terms mean and more importantly how do they affect Second Life and us.  His synopsis is what follows.

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