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?”

The reason many of us find this lawsuit to be a joke is because it’s widely know, understood, and accepted that while Linden Lab affords us many rights that most online game/MMO/virtual world companies do not, in the end, they own everything on their servers.  It is also included clearly in the TOS, both now and in the prior version.

2003 TOS – 4.3 All Data Is Temporary. When using the Service, you may accumulate treasure, experience points, equipment, or other value or status indicators and contribute to the environment (“Accumulated Status”). THIS DATA, AND ANY OTHER DATA RESIDING ON LINDEN’S SERVERS, MAY BE RESET AT ANY TIME FOR ANY OR NO REASON. ALL CHARACTER HISTORY AND DATA MAY BE ERASED IN WHICH CASE EACH CHARACTER MAY BE RESET TO NOVICE STATUS. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT, NOTWITHSTANDING ANY COPYRIGHT OR OTHER RIGHTS YOU MAY HAVE WITH RESPECT TO ITEMS YOU CREATE USING THE SERVICE, ALL OF YOUR CONTENT AND ACCUMULATED STATUS HAS NO INTRINSIC CASH VALUE AND THAT LINDEN DOES NOT ENDORSE, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS (SUBJECT TO ANY UNDERLYING RIGHTS IN THE CONTENT), ANY VALUE, CASH OR OTHERWISE, ATTRIBUTED TO CONTENT OR ACCUMULATED STATUS.

2010 TOS – 4.3 [..]
You agree that Linden Lab has and may exercise the right in its sole discretion to pre-screen, refuse, or delete any Content or services from the Service or disable any user’s access to the Service without notice or liability to you or any other party, including upon our belief that such user’s conduct, Content, services, or use of the Service is potentially illegal, threatening, or otherwise harmful to any user or other person or in violation of our Terms of Service, Community Standards, or other policies.

In fact the previous version made it extra clear by stating,

2003 TOS – 3.3 Linden Lab retains ownership of the account and related data, regardless of intellectual property rights you may have in content you create or otherwise own.  You agree that even though you may retain certain copyright or other intellectual property rights with respect to Content you create while using the Service, you do not own the account you use to access the Service, nor do you own any data Linden Lab stores on Linden Lab servers (including without limitation any data representing or embodying any or all of your Content). Your intellectual property rights do not confer any rights of access to the Service or any rights to data stored by or on behalf of Linden Lab.

The TOS both prior and currently make it quiet clear.  I don’t think I “own” my virtual property any more than I thought I owned Park Place when I bought it playing Monopoly last weekend (even though their ads told me that I “can own it all” when I “buy, sell, and trade famous properties” and become “the next billionaire.”)

Virtual Entitlement

After people understand that legally we all agreed to (in a sense) give our ownership rights away, they want to know, why?  To answer that you must first understand how content in a virtual world works.

While, like in Monopoly, we habitually use words like buy, sell, and own because they have become sort of a native language that we are accustomed to using, we never actually buy, sell, or own anything physical, nor is it ever equal to a real life purchase.   Yet, some people feel entitled due to the immersive experience of virtual goods.  You paid for that whatever, so you must be entitled, right?  In reality, all you really paid for was a license.  When you “buy” something in Second Life you pass on a license (i.e. your $L) and in return you receive a license that grants you access to block a of code/data that in-world we see as an object rezzed by the SIM that is running on LL’s Second Life servers.  With Second Life hosting and storing everything, is there any wonder that it belongs to them?

Many online games/MMOs/virtual worlds all operate on a similar set of rules.  Blizzard owns everything in World of Warcraft, or CCP Games owns everything in Eve Online.  They all have clear TOS that you must accept to play.  They all have the right to seize your account.  They all have creative advertising.  These aspects are an industry standard in these types of online/virtual environments.

Virtual worlds are not the only environment where you see this type of “ownership” either.  It is very common and well known that University professors who create something or formulate an idea might be permitted some rights, but their work overall belongs to the University.

Enter Bragg

So now looking at the big picture, it kind of takes the bite out of the lawsuit, right?  Or does it?

While most people would agree that for multiple reasons paying for a license doesn’t entitle you to many rights (as defined by the TOS), there is some previous precedent in this type of case against Linden Lab.  Back in 2007, Marc Bragg sued Linden Lab claiming essentially the same thing.  He purchased a series of land and was selling this land, when Linden Lab terminated his account and seized his virtual assets.  Bragg admitted that he had, “learned of a way to purchase virtual land significantly below market values,” and was reselling it for a profit.  Linden Lab argued that they proceeded inline with their TOS as Bragg admitted he was using an exploit to buy the land.  The judge did not see it as open and shut.

In the first paragraph of his opinion the Honorable Eduardo Robreno states, “While the property and the world where it is found are “virtual,” the dispute is real.”  He then continued, “Presently before the Court are Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction (doc. no. 2) and Motion
to Compel Arbitration (doc. no. 3). For the reasons set forth below, the motions will be denied.”

The reasons he set forth described Linden’s Terms of Service as a  “contract of adhesion” and therefore unconscionable.  Judge Robreno further explained this by stating,

“Linden presents the TOS on a take-it-or-leave-it basis…”

“In effect, the TOS provide Linden with a variety of one-sided remedies to resolve disputes, while forcing its customers to arbitrate any disputes with Linden.”

“…the arbitration clause is not designed to provide Second Life participants an effective means of resolving disputes with Linden. Rather, it is a one-sided means which tilts unfairly, in almost all cases, in Linden’s favor…”

Linden Lab then settled the case a few months later for an undisclosed amount.

What that means for this current case is still unknown.  What we do know is that the case is being heard in the same court, before the same judge, by the same lawyer (Jason A. Archinaco) who handled Bragg’s case, and includes much of the exact same text/claims as the Bragg case.   I would argue that the Lab is not in a position to simply settle this case.  While many of the of terms that will be discussed might be typical contract law, this case is anything but typical.  As Ciaran Laval points out, this case could open a massive can of worms.  With Judge Robreno already having an understanding of the case, Archinaco having some experience and time to build the case, and the Plaintiffs having requested a jury trial, I can’t begin to predict where it is going, but it is certainly the case to keep an eye on.

Will we even recognize the virtual world after imposing so many suppressive real world influences onto it?  Are we really ready for the consequences of our selfish complaining?

Today begins the very prestigious Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference, here in Second Life. It runs today, March 12 through tomorrow March 13. Thousands of educators are expected to gather for the event.

Our company, Sand Castle Studios, has been given the honor of hosting a panel discussion on Creating Educational, Immersive Experiences and Simulations, along with our long time collaborator, the well known, and award winning, machinimagrapher, Draxtor Despres.

During this panel, we will look at how virtual environments are being leveraged to add value to learning through immersive experiences, simulations, and serious games. In addition to presenting several successful examples of each, we will also discuss 3D learning design approaches and sets of archetypes that are core to creating differentiated learning experiences. We will examine the most successful techniques used to create these experiences and what to look for when putting together creative teams. Finally we will cover how you can get your students involved in machinima and how to promote your projects in order to expose them to the widest possible audience.

Our presentation will last for a total of 40 minutes, followed by a 40 minute long Q and A session and discussion with the audience. This will give you all a chance to discuss with us any issues you’ve been facing in the virtual world arena.

Our presentation will be given on the SIM “VWBPE West 3” at 11:00 PST. For your convenience, here is a SL URL to the location:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/VWBPE%20West%203/229/168/71

This should be very informative and enjoyable experience for all!  We hope to see you all there!

Another great piece Drax! We were thrilled to be able to build the history of machinima museum/theatre for this piece.

While the Second Life community was buzzing about the long awaited (Beta) release of the new Second Life Viewer 2.0, Linden Lab also made another big announcement.  On the official Second Life blog, Niko Linden announced the Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) program.   The LEA program is being created to help support, encourage, and highlight Second Life artists and their work.

In the upcoming months, it is our pleasure to take a more active role in encouraging the arts inside of Second Life. We are excited to announce the creation of a Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) program which will help support, encourage, and highlight Second Life artists and their work. We hope that the collaboration between Linden Lab and the wealth of talented Second Life artists will contribute to a vibrant new chapter for the arts in Second Life.
The Linden Endowment for  the Arts (LEA) program’s goal is twofold:

1. To create an immersive space for artists to share their art, build connections, and prosper in the Second Life community
2. To provide a new way for artwork to live on within our ever-changing virtual world.

While still under design, this program will be a partnership between Linden Lab and Second Life artists, with the additional objective of gathering, displaying, and maintaining art at an inworld Arts Hub. We are currently building the LEA organizing committee, which will include members of the Second Life artist community and Linden Lab employees, to guide the program’s management. Under the creative direction, organization and guidance of the LEA committee, we will hold biannual art exhibitions, highlighting the most creative artwork happening inworld.

Niko says that they are currently looking for a “small but dedicated group” of Second Lifers who are willing to make a commitment to the program, which (at least for now) will be headed by CEO Mark Kingdon.  Those interested in joining the committee can apply here.

While this extraordinary endeavor is long overdue, it also faces some challenges.  Despite the fact that Niko says, “the key to understanding art is not in trying to decide what it is,” that is exactly what Linden Lab will have to do.  The announcement is already full of comments arguing this very question… What is Second Life Art?

So far, most of the controversy stems from Crap Mariner’s insistence that Second Life music is art.  He argues that the Second Life musicians are not always just “one guy with a guitar playing on a stage.”   He says that some SL musicians create immersive experiences as part of their shows, and that they cannot be “pushed to the back burner” anymore.  I agree and disagree.  Music is absolutely and undoubtedly an art, but just like not every painting is art, not every musical performance is an art either.   Having said that, musicians like Grace McDunnough and her full out live music production Musimmersion, most certainly fit the billing of art.  But where do we start and end that thin defining line?

I tend to lean towards definitions in which Second Life actually facilitates the experience and/or emotions that the art provokes.

Bryn Oh described this better in her response to the announcement:

We are in the frontier of a new art movement which is unlike others before it.  As an oil painter i would not expect a jpeg of my work to be considered for inclusion, as all the element which make up the beauty of a painting are lost when converted to this format.  All the brush strokes which convey emotion are no longer seen, the colour is often changed when scanned and they lose the presence which an oil painting can have in real life.  I think we have to look at it from an art history point of view.  What, in ten years time, would an art historian say defined this new medium?  What is unique about SL art over other forms of art we can find in rl.  A 2D painting on a wall can be appreciated for its colour theory and composition but we remain passive observers. The ability we have in Second Life is to create paintings that you can enter and explore.  Instead of paint we use sound, prims, particles, scripts, narrative, and many other tools which allow us to create a new form of art.  Immersive environments allow the viewer to be drawn into the virtual experience and forget rl for a time.  That interaction is unique to this medium except for perhaps installation art or earth art.  Determining what is unique about this medium should really be the guideline as to determining what should be included.

Wagner James Au also attempted to create his own similar definition of Second Life art on his blog:

Second Life art is art that attempts to essentialize an important aspect of the human experience in a way that’s only feasible in SL, leveraging most or all of Second Life’s unique affordances.

In the end no one can ever truly define art.  In my opinion, the keys to the success of this program will be (as Bryn said) determining what is unique about this medium and the art in it and also remembering the distinction between a craft (music is a craft) and actual art (Musimmersion is art).

Recently, the PBS program, “Frontline,” featured a 90-minute documentary entitled “Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier” which examined what it means to live, work, socialize, in a digital world.  I first heard about the documentary from media theorist, writer, and digital native Douglas Rushkoff during his recent appearance on the virtual talk show, Metanomics.  On the show, Rushkoff discussed his most recent book Life, Inc. and the Digital Nation documentary which he wrote with the film’s producer and director Rachel Dretzin.  I was excited as he described how segments of the film came together, stating ”It’s not us telling America, ‘This is who you are.  You are in a digital nation.’  It was more kind of our digital nation telling us who they are, feeding us the stories that they wanted to see covered.”  (watch the full Metanomics episode here)

Unfortunately, when I tuned in I was saddened, disappointed, and frustrated. It’s not that the piece wasn’t interesting or well done, it was just smothered with this overwhelming feeling of inevitable doom.  I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.  Professor Robert Bloomfield who optimistically hosted Rushkoff’s aforementioned appearance on Metanomics just a few days before the show aired, now wrote on the show’s blog, “The emotional thrust of the piece is clearly that life on the virtual frontier is frightening, dysfunctional, and spells the end of all that is good and wholesome.”

I could easily write pages on how I think this documentary asked the wrong questions, how I think a similar program probably aired decades ago with an identical warning about television, how many of us use computers all day long at work and no one calls us addicts, or how at one point I got up and yelled at a dazed mother to stop mourning over her “addicted” son and do some parenting… but I’ve seen many great blog posts discussing all these points and more.  The segment that I haven’t seen discussed enough is the segment on virtual worlds.

The virtual worlds section begins with an interview with Second Life creator Philip Rosedale.  While Rosedale does a great job sharing his visions and enthusiasm, Ruschkoff’s explanation of the fundamental question, what is Second Life, misses the mark.  Ruschkoff says,  “Second Life is an immersive 3D online universe.  You make a character called an avatar, and then you live in that worlds as that person.”   I can’t speak for all Second Life users, but for me, my avatar is not a character.  I also don’t “live” in Second Life, but when I am in-world, I don’t “live as that person.”  My avatar is simply an extension of myself, a 3D representation of me.

Almost as bad as the explanation, is the machinima footage of the virtual world.  There are multiple clips of Ruschkoff’s avatar hopping around in different poorly build locations as he tries to fly.   These are followed by numerous clips of avatars dancing in various locations, and then more dancing, and after that, still more dancing.  In another clip, you see several well known and high profile avatars, like Pooky Amsterdam,  standing around drinking.  Pooky is the avatar behind two of Second Life’s biggest live television shows as part of her award winning production company, PookyMedia.  Yet, despite this, there is no high quality machinima, no footage of these shows.. just dancing and drinking and more dancing.  It’s simply inexcusable to me, that they could “document” virtual worlds without showing ANY quality content or machinima.  I’ve heard several people argue that they might not have had the knowledge, nor the funding to hire professionals.  I’m currently working on a project for the University of Southern California in collaboration with PBS Frontline, and we would not even dream of producing anything but the highest quality content and machinima.  The paradoxical part about all of this is that the Frontline program is funded by the MacArthur Foundation, who also funds some of the most amazing projects and discussions in Second Life.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, Ruschkoff joins the list of uniformed reporters who covered the “failures” of Second Life stating, “For awhile, companies like Coke and Calvin Klein, thinking Second Life would be the next big thing, opened virtual outposts there.   It didn’t work.  Marketing real goods in virtual worlds never really took off.”  The BBC also published a similar uninformed and angled story (just about four months ago) employing the same premise and even using identical images of the closed virtual American Apparel store.  In a response to the BBC, Wagner James Au stated, “It’s astounding any credible media outlet would cite the experiences of American Apparel and Reuters’ ill-fated SL bureau of two-three years ago as if they were relevant to Second Life as it is now.”  While those failures are completely irrelevant, they are also not failures of Second Life, but of the delusive developers who relished in all the money companies were impetuously throwing into Second Life, while they created them big superfluous virtual ghost towns.  How Second Life can be used successfully by brands is a whole other blog post, but it is being done more and more all the time now when organizations take the time to understand the platform and the communities that exist there, instead of simply just building the virtual equivalent of a billboard.

Just when I thought the piece couldn’t be any more off base, Ruschoff dares to ask, “Do virtual worlds really bring us together with others, or do they just make being utterly alone a little more bearable?”  Again, I can’t speak for everyone, but I use Second Life often as my company works in-world almost as much as we do outside of Second Life.  It has nothing to do with feeling lonely.  I am surrounded by people in the real world and in the virtual world.  I don’t go in-world because I am lonely, I go there because I get to experience so many amazing things I would never have had the opportunity to do otherwise (like the time I met Yoko Ono in-world) and because I love helping organizations harness the power of these worlds so that together we can create those opportunities for others.

Despite the documentary’s tone of impending doom, Ruschoff closes the film by stating that you can still count him “among the believers.”  While I doubt that resonated with very many viewers after just being subjected to 90 minutes of fear mongering, I was glad to see that he hadn’t actually changed his mind about technology.  With that in mind, I extend to him an invitation to come back to Second Life, leave the sensationalism behind, and for lack of better words.. take a second look.

Though I disagreed with much of this documentary, it was still very though provoking.  It raises many questions which generate important conversations about technology and the future.  I encourage all of you to take the time to watch it in full and come back and share your thoughts.

I was recently approached about an upcoming project that would require our team here at Sand Castle Studios to create some custom content within the virtual world of Second Life.  While I can’t talk about the project itself yet, I can share with you a machinima by award winning machinimagrapher and long time Mac lover Bernhard Drax (aka Draxtor Despres in SL) that previews the mockup we put together including virtual Bill Gates who calls out Draxtor for secretly using Windows!

Special thanks to Second Life residents and friends Beyers Sellers, Bevan Whitfield, Anonymous Sorbet, Ze Moo, Java Moonwall, Chantal Harvey, Annabelle Fleury,  Shava Shuntzu, Cyclic Gearz, Tuna Oddfellow, Wilson Voight, Delphina Audina, Arywn Quandry, and Apatia Hammerer who played the office workers.

Pictures of the filming and sets can be seen here.

For more behind the scenes fun, check out The Office Party, a spoof filmed by Chantal Harvey after the shoot was over.

We first heard of some of the new features coming to Second Life, including this new website (the Dashboard feature had been in Beta on the back channel since late June), when Tom Hale demoed them at this years Second Life Community Convention (SLCC).

Yesterday, Torley Linden gave us a sneak preview of the new site as he highlighted some of its key features in one of his renowned video tutorials.

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Today, the new site went live on http://secondlife.com/ and I have to say I love it!

The first thing you notice is the beautiful high quality photos (thank you finally!) and the visually stunning machinima’s. I especially loved the Titanic like ending of the “What is” video (below).

It’s all superficial though! Not only did Linden Lab take feedback from the community and address some issues from the JIRA, they created a truly Web 2.0 website which hints (that may be later further developed) at ways we can connect are other interactions and social media web presences with our avatar’s virtual interactions. Thinking of how this could develop and expand in the future reminded me of Botgirl Questi’s image visualizing the movement of identity within and between worlds (seen below).

This movement towards embracing and intergratging social media was discussed when Mark Kingdon, aka M Linden, appeared on Metanomics earlier this year.

I am looking to seeing this further evolve. We have so many tools in-world such as Twitter HUDs, and there are lots of SL-centric activity on other online sites such as Flickr, which has thousands of SL groups, that it only makes sense to further incorporate this into the user experience of the SL web (and eventually the viewer UI). I hope that is will further expand in the form of intergration/aggregation on the Dashboard page! Think early Facebook.

I’m also thankful for the prominent featuring of XStreet on the Shop page, but also throughout the website and included on the Dashboard. By putting numerous links throughout and allowing easy access to quick buys, currency exchange, and your personal Xstreet adminstration, Linden Lab has given new users and residents plenty of opportunities to shop, and have increased the visibility of creators and merchants.

The Second Life Map is now web based and interactive. You can now search and find places and events around the grid and then easily teleport to them. The Showcase is also prominently featured on this page as well.

The most notable change to the Land store is the addition of “developed” land aka themed Private Regions. To be honest, I am not sure how useful these will be. I imagine while it might seem interesting at first, a good part of the Second Life experience is having a custom place that represents you. With so many content creators available, I would think more people would want to customize their space themselves. I’ll be interested to see the details and statistics surrounding this type of land in the future.

The feature mostly likely to increase and keep users is the added Help for new residents. Linden Labs redesigned the registration page and process and added a PDF Starter’s Guide. They also embraced their international users by adding a handy drop down menu to change the language at the top of each page, and by providing toll free support numbers for non-English speaking residents.

Lastly, in order to make it work with the new look, XStreet SL is also debuting a somewhat fresh look. I’m not a huge fan of this, but Pink Linden assures me that this is not the final look of XStreet so I will hold off on my thoughts about it for now.

Here is our latest episode of The California Legacy Series features Bret Harte’s 1870 poem “Dickens in Camp.”

The California Legacy Project at Santa Clara University in collaboration with Heyday Books is dedicated to preserving California’s unique culture through books, radio productions, and now through the virtual world of Second Life, using machinima to visualize the writings.

Check out the episode and some more of the amazing photos we took behind the scenes during the production!

Also don’t miss us TODAY at SLCC as we present “California Legacy – From Out-of-Print Literature to Modern Machinima” from 3pm-6pm SLT PST/SLT in Elizabethan Room D. During this workshop, the series and it’s machinima production will be broken down and discussed at every step. This workshop will also include an opportunity for the audience to participate in the production of a brand new segment, filmed ON THE SPOT! I hope to see you there!