This past weekend, August 12th-14th, marked the 7th Annual Second Life Community Convention (SLCC), which was held in Oakland, California this year and virtually in Second Life while being streamed over UStream.

I have to applaud Avacon, the conference’s organizers, as in my opinion this was the best the conference has been for virtual attendees.  The in-world SIMs were beautiful and well organized and the team made sure each of the 33 presentations were clearly streamed in-world and online.

In addition to the many community presentations, there were several Linden panels.

Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble gave a keynote address announcing:

• 16,000 people a day are signing up for and joining Second Life
• Linden Lab will be working on other new products in addition to Second Life.  Specifically they are working on other shared creativity tools/spaces, and addressing tablets and mobile markets as well.
• Linden Lab is focusing their current Second Life efforts on improving usability, lag, and service.
• Linden Lab is looking at several future new features including a Linden made curated area, ending the need for HUDs, improvements to UI/sidebar, more in-world creatitivy tools and more.
• Read more and watch Humble’s full keynote

Linden Lab’s product team announced several new ways they are trying to address community needs:

• the team created a prototype game in order to learn about building and better understand limitations and problems in order to work on solutions
• Linden Lab may develop a gamified new user experience
• the team has been focused on improving usability and engagement
• each member of the team is becoming a subject matter expert in order to understand and support those communities better
• Read more and watch the product team’s full presentation

Linden Lab’s mesh team addressed several key concerns:

• Meshes (and objects with a physics shape type) will use the newly introduced prim equivalent to measure impact and count against land prim capacity
• theft and IP concerns  are unlikely
• meshes offers several advantages over sculpted prims, but traditional prims are still an important part of Second Life
• Read more and watch the full mesh panel

Brett Atwood/Brett Linden presented on updates to the Destination Guide:

• the Destination Guide now has dynamic, time sensitive channels that feature hot events and locations as they are going on
• the Destination Guide is intelligently removing a location if it becomes too crowded
• the Destination Guide has an Linkshare affiliate program through which you can create a widget for your location and place it on your blog or website allowing you to earn money for visitors derived from your site
• the Destination Guide now appears on the front page of the new Second Life login screen
• the team monitors resident suggestions, blog activity, and social media for new locations
• they are looking for high quality locations with broad appeal, active communities, and unique locations
• in order for your Destination Guide submission to be approved you need to include a compelling and visually interesting screenshot and text that accurately describes your location
• your submission could also be denied if it is a duplicate, your location currently violates the SL Terms of Service, your snapshot contains promotional text over the image, or the text is incoherent or inaccurate
• Destination Guide entries are non-paid; they are not meant to be classified ads
• View the slides then watch Brett’s full presentation on the Destination Guide

The commerce team presented on economical and commercial concerns:

• the Lab has been focused on new users, registration, usability, service, performance, and growth to drive traffic and increase sales for merchants
• Q2 stats show positive growth in several areas
• Marketplace moving towards direct delivery
• users will receive purchases as a folder hierarchy directly in their inventory (without the need to unpack items)
• merchants will no longer need to use a magic box, but will simply have to drag their folders into an outbox
• users will receive notifications of deliveries and will not need to be online to accept them, they will be pushed into inventory
• eventually there will be guided warnings to aid new users (use this item right away, you need land for this item, etc)
• Linden Lab looking to expand the LindenX to additional countries/currencies to in to serve more and increase sales
• View the slides then watch the commerce team’s full presentation

Marc Viale/Viale Linden presented on social experiences and communities:

• the lab is moving away from Linden run events like “Kiss a Linden” towards “sustainable communities” like the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and LEA’s Month of Machinima
• community gateways have not disappeared and are highlighted in the Destination Guide
• Viale says Linden Lab respects privacy declaring “we don’t care what your parents named you, you can be whoever you want to be in Second Life”
• Watch Viale’s full presentation on social experiences and communities

For a closer look at the more funny and social aspects of the SLCC experience check out Draxtor’s footage from the event below:

Today Linden Lab gave Second Life users an update on mesh support and lifted the NDA for current beta testers.  I can now tell you that for about the last year, we here at Sand Castle Studios have been deeply involved in working with the Lindens to bring mesh support to Second Life.

A Brief History

Mesh support was first announced at SLCC back in 2009.  Back then we wrote a detailed post defining mesh support and how it would change Second Life.  In a nutshell, mesh support allows content created in professional 3D modeling software, such as Maya or Blender, to be imported directly into Second Life.  This feature gives content creators new levels of freedom and therefore will bring creations with new levels of detail and realism to Second life.

The Progress of Mesh

The Lindens have been working extremely hard and mesh in SL has come a long way since we here at Sand Castle Studios first began beta testing.

Here are some of the technical details of mesh as it stands now:

* Import format is COLLADA (other formats may be available in the future)

* Meshes will need specifically made textures.

* Meshes will have custom UV maps.

* There are no scale restrictions on mesh objects.

A scale conversion of 1:1 for mesh objects when being brought into Second Life is available. This means that if your mesh asset is 25x15x30 (beyond the usual Second Life scale restrictions of 10x10x10), once in world it will retain the size, shape, and scale reflected in the third party 3D modeling software used to create it.

* 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.

* COLLADA allows rigging which makes it possible to have entire avatar replacements that bend with animations.

Once rigged to the Second Life avatar skeleton, a worn mesh is able to move along with the movements of an avatar in-world. Rigged mesh objects can be worn as simple attachments such as jewelry, more complex objects such as clothing or hair, and can even replace the entire Second Life avatar if desired.

In its present state, the rigging system does not allow the creation of arbitrary skeletons or bone offsets (moving the joints around). Mesh objects must be bound and rigged to the default Second Life avatar skeleton AS IS. Essentially, this requires artists to build their assets around the skeleton, instead of building their assets and putting the skeleton into position accordingly. However, Linden Lab is presently working on adding these features.

* 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.

* There is no set upload fee for mesh objects as of now.

It is speculated that fees could be in the ball park of L$10 per prim.

Open Beta Coming Soon

During Philip Rosedale’s keynote at this year’s SLCC , he committed to bringing mesh imports to Second Life before the end of the year.  As of today, Linden Lab says that they are planning for mesh to go into open beta in about two weeks.  In order to access this, users will need to download a specific Project Viewer that will allow them access to a development grid where mesh is enabled.

The Possibilities

Mesh has some incredibly exciting implications for content creators, and I have no doubt that the Lindens want to get as much feedback as possible.  Some possible implications from the addition of mesh imports may be:

• More detailed, realistic looking content
• Less lag, increased performance
• Virtual content market and economy growth
• Ability to legitimately back up content inside and outside of Second Life
• and More!

Linden Lab has opened a door where the potential of possibilities are endless.

Take a look at myself (Gianna Borgnine) and SCS’s Chief Creative Officer, Reed Steamroller, as we introduce Draxtor Despres to our mesh creations.

You can view more videos of our work and others on Second Life’s YouTube page.

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.

4. Closing of the Teen Grid

Not all the announcements were happily received.  This announcement in particular has upset many educators who have worked hard to establish opportunities on the Teen Grid.  Unfortunately for those involved, the Teen Grid will be closing.  However, users that are 16 or 17 years of age, will be transfer to the main Second Life grid.

While I can understand the hurt and frustration of the educators and community leaders involved, I also understand that tough decisions had to be made.  I’m hopefully that Linden Lab and the educators involved can come to some agreement to make space and certain content available to younger users, but that is certainly a daunting task that must not be taken lightly.  Philip himself said that he would like to work with them to find a way for the younger teens to have a place on the main grid.

5. New Development Methodologies

The Lab is changing the way they develop things.  Instead of spending large amounts of time working on a project, they are switching to short release cycles and implementing the use of an auto-updater.  This will allow Linden Lab the ability to quickly implement changes and present the community with the opportunity to provide essential feedback along the way.   The Lab currently has about 15 scrum teams working on different areas of development.  During this weekend we were introduced to one of the teams focusing on improving the Second Life Viewer aka the Snowstorm Team.  Project Snowstorm hopes to improve the performance, reliability, and ease of use of the Second Life Viewer while rapidly releasing new improved “development” viewers as often as bi-weekly. The best part is they plan to be completely open about the whole process.  Each day, the Snowstorm team will meet in Second Life for an open Daily Scrum, where each team member will give a short status update. The status updates will also be published on the Wiki and the team will be blogging as well.  They will also be looking to the open source community and welcoming them to contribute to the viewer development.

Philip outlined upcoming fixes to several bugs including fixes to group chat and region crossings.  He also stated that they plan to make SL twice as fast on start up and improve the crash rate.  In addition they are also working on having more avatars per region,  and reducing lag issues by implementing controls on avatar complexity.   He promised that these fixes and others would soon be outlined in a official published roadmap.

These change are quite radical compared to some the recent methods of the Lab, and I am looking forward to this new level of transparency and accountability.  The lab is not only welcoming feedback and new ideas, they encourage and asking for them.  They have asked though that these ideas be well thought out and constructive.  Several months ago, I wrote about how much of the Second Life community had adopted a sort of culture of complaining.  I suggested ways that the community could bring forth their complaints in a more constructive manner, and proposed that by doing so, they would have a better chance of being heard.  That time is now.  Assuming the Lab honors their part of the deal, the ball is now in our court.

Philip’s Keynote

Project Snowstorm Keynote

What did you think of the SLCC announcements?

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 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?

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?

This morning, tech enthusiast, blogger, and social media superstar, Robert Scoble (aka the Scobleizer) sent the Second Life community and Twitter world into a frenzy with his post, “Is Second Life about to enter its ‘second life?’” He begins by rehashing the usual “failings” of Second Life.   Yet, even after all his experiences with Second Life, he still got why the initial flow of corporations left SL completely wrong.  However, what followed was more interesting… He announced that tomorrow everything is going to change.

Anyway, one thing happened that I find very interesting: it continued to grow in users, time spent on the site, and dollars spent in it.

On Friday I sat down with Mark to find out why.

First, the users remained very evangelistic. Second, corporations like IBM found other uses for its islands and kept investing (they now use these islands for training and replacements of expensive conferences). Third, the technology has been steadily improving. Fourth, the company has found new ways to bring new users in and make the experience easier to get into.

But he admitted that they had been pretty quiet and avoided doing more PR work until just recently.

Why is that changing this week? You’ll see why tomorrow morning at about 11 a.m. on building43.

But to tease a bit, I find that their new direction, the first part of which you’ll see tomorrow in the video I did with Mark, is interesting and represents a new life for Second Life and its host Linden Labs.

Of course there was an immediate reaction from the Second Life community across Twitter.

Much of the talk centered around whether Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon would be discussing the new Second Life viewer affectionately called “Viewer 2.0” by the community.

Regardless.. this is an announcement that you will not want to miss!

So tune in Tomorrow Tuesday February 22, 2010 at 11 a.m. on building43.

Starting on September 14, 2009 virtual items that are in violation of real world copyrights or that infringe on brand owners’ intellectual property will no longer be for sale on Second Life’s ecommerce site, XStreet SL.

In line with their other recent changes, Linden Lab employee Pink Linden announced the new XStreet SL listing guidelines prohibiting the sale of unauthorized virtual replicas of real world products and brands including unauthorized clothing, furniture, jewelry, car designs, use of trademarks or logos, avatars based on copyrighted characters or celebrities, and more.

This move comes after Linden was recently sued by Taser International Inc. for trademark-infringement due to products with ‘Taser’ in their description/names being sold on XStreet SL and in an SL roleplay area.

While the new guidelines are not unexpected, and they will most likely will apply to in-world sales as well, they still leave some unanswered questions and bring some interesting debate. Wagner James Au (aka Hamlet) over at New World Notes points out that “In the real world, you can still buy an unauthorized Barack Obama mask for Halloween. Not so in Second Life very soon.”

In my opinion, brands should be taking advantage of these opportunities especially within the roleplay communities such as Dune, which was recently asked to shut down. There is obviously interest and market within these communities where they could be setting up official representations. Brands are missing a huge chance to engage and tell their stories, where the economy is thriving despite the recession. Now is the time to fill the void that these new guidelines create.