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.

4.  Linden Lab is Getting Back To Basics (aka SL is a medieval city)

Second Life is this wonderful, beautiful city — once you’re in it and you’re having this amazing immersive experience, you’re just totally blown away by it. But the city itself is surrounded by huge walls and a moat. It’s like a medieval city. To actually get into it you have to invest an enormous amount of time and energy getting across that moat, and over the walls, and into this amazing new world of people inside that are waiting inside. And I think that in our excitement about the success of Second Life — in its amazing initial growth and the amazing things that you guys have done and that we’ve done together — we were getting ahead of ourselves a bit as a company and this is what we really talked about in this restructuring. We were building these sort of rickety — we were in many cases building these bridges and scaffoldings that sought to get different types of people across that moat and over those walls, whether we’re talking about international Residents, or the community welcome areas, or enterprise or education users — we’ve been sort of building these little, thin bridges that try and quickly get everybody kind of over that wall and into Second Life. And of course, you can understand why we’d do that, because it’s just so fantastic an experience once we can get people there.

But I think what we have to do — what I know is the kind of thinking that’s informing our planning process going forward — is ask whether instead we can stop doing those many, many peripheral, highly usage-specific things to get people in here — and instead just take a step back, look at the basic problems that we are all faced by, and by fixing them, fill the moat. Tear down the walls. Stop trying to build over them. We have a product here that can deliver an unbelievable experience to everyone if we simply make the basic pieces of that experience work. Whether we’re talking about how many people can stand together in a meeting like this, or how to put clothes on, or manage your inventory, or build basic objects in-world, or how voice works, how parcel media works, live music — all of these basic features are things that are amazing experiences when you can have them, but they’re not easy enough yet. They’re not — they just in many cases don’t completely work, and we — it’s so easy to get ahead of ourselves as a company and forget that. So going back to those basics and just trying to make this thing work for all of us is what you can expect to see from us next.

5. Second Life is Not For Sale

Dousa Dragonash: Is there any truth in the rumour that Second Life is preparing to be bought?

Philip Linden: Dousa…. nope.

I was relieved and delighted to hear Philip’s plan for Second Life.  His positions were very similar to what I speculated in the first episode of Metareality.  I think the Lab is focused in the right direction, and it is good to see Philip is still involved.  I look forward to seeing “the walls break down.”

You can download or read Philip’s speech in it’s entirety here.

*Special thanks to Torley Linden for this recording/transcript.*

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!

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

UPDATE – M Linden (aka Mark Kingdon) posted on the official Second Life blog that he intends the changes to move Second Life forward.  He writes,

Dear Residents of Second Life,

Earlier today, we announced the undertaking of a significant restructuring of Linden Lab. (Read the press release for details.) Though the company remains in a solid financial position, it has become clear that we need to make some hard decisions in order to bring current and future Residents the kind of product and experience we feel they deserve. After three years of intensive hiring, we’ve come to a place where it’s important that we reorganize our teams and find a renewed level of discipline and momentum as we move forward.

Our restructuring plan has three main goals:

• to improve our focus as a company on the projects that matter most to Residents
• to simplify our organizational structure and operate more efficiently
• to achieve cost savings so that we can invest in platform improvements, new products, and new lines of business.

Reorganization in a company the size of Linden Lab is never easy, and this restructuring will result in the loss of a number of jobs, at all levels of the organization. None of these cuts are easy for us to make. I am extremely proud of the team we’ve assembled in recent years, and am not happy to have to say goodbye to any of them. But as an organization, we need to become more focused and more efficient, and this is the path we’ve chosen to meet those goals.

Linden Lab remains a great business. We have a strong balance sheet, and our revenue will reach record levels this year. The inworld economy continues its solid growth as Resident creators of great content and experiences do what they do best, and new Residents continue to join the phenomenon we know as Second Life. Here at the Lab, I’m concentrating on our reorganization. In coming weeks, I’ll blog more about our focus for the remainder of the year. For today, I’m sorry to have to bid farewell to some great employees, but I’m also looking forward to what the newly streamlined company will be able to bring to our Residents in the months ahead.

Thank you,

M Linden

The restructuring comes as no surprise to most SL residents as rumors have been flying for weeks when the Lab began making changes.  While the announcements are exciting (and overdue), it will certainly be sad to see the departure of approximately 30 percent of Lindens we love and who have helped build this amazing platform.  While a report from Analyst firm Next Up Research valued the company between $658 million and 700 million about a year ago, these changes will obviously not come cheap, and investors are certainly hungry and eager for a larger payback.

I will discuss my thoughts on these transitions shortly, but I wanted to give you the news first.

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 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.

Some examples of this are when:

• (As seen above) Facebook made some slight changes to it’s home page layout, and 1.7 million people complained.
• Twitter changed it’s retweet function in response to users complaining about retweets and then they complained about the changes.
• Linden Lab added requested features such as sculpted prims, voice, Second Life viewer 2.0, and users complained.

The problem is not so much that these thousands to millions of people complained, it’s how they complained.  Practically none of the complainers commented with any kind of clear, concise, constructive, or detailed feedback.  In addition, their complaints barely seem valid especially since almost all of them continue using the same platform they complain about for many more years and often move from complaint topic to complaint topic, forgetting all about the previous topic.

Where were these complainers prior to the changes taking effect?  In the case of Linden Lab, all of the features mentioned went through months of presentations,  betas,  and open forums before being released.  Where were the complainers then?  When Tom Hale, Chief Product Officer of Linden Lab, was asked about several bugs during his August 2009 SLCC keynote, he asked in return if anyone had attended any of the multiple weekly bug triages held in SL and was met with silence.

I’d like to be able to say I know the answer, but unfortunately I don’t.  I can’t begin to understand it.  What do these complainers feel they are accomplishing?  Facebook kept their new layout, Twitter kept their new retweet, and Linden Lab keeps moving along with new features and fixes.

No.  Without any constructive feedback they have no choice except to go with their best instincts and keep moving forward.  It’s also my firm belief that if they listened to the complainers and changed features or fixed every little requested issue, the platforms would never really move forward and ultimately fail.  The complainers will always find something new to complain about.

Well sort of.  I intend to flip it around and do something the complainers didn’t do… offer a suggestion.

According to a survey from the Office of Fair Trading, a third of all people surveyed would use the internet (i.e. social media) to make their feelings known, rather than complaining directly to the company.  Many people argue this is a negative consequence of social media.. that we have become a culture of complainers.  Others argue, that is exactly why social media is so popular, we have a chance to voice our complaints in a way that we have never been able to before.  I think we just need to take both sides into consideration.  Social media gives us the chance to be heard like never before, but constantly negatively complaining without any suggestions or constructive feedback is a waste of our new found voices.

1. Understand Exactly What Your Complaint Is
   
   If you don’t understand your complaint, how can anyone else.  Make sure you have conviction in your complaint and that you really feel strongly about whatever it is that you are complaining about.  This way you can make sure you are truly dedicated to your complaint, because if you’re complaint is not valid, you will lose other’s attention/interest and therefore get no tangible results.
2. Examine The Complaint
   
   Underneath every complaint is an idea, feeling, or belief.  What about your complaint is conflicting with you?  You obviously care or why would you be upset?  What expectation is not being met?  Why?
3. Take Personal Responsibility
   
   Take some time and figure out what you are or are not doing to get the change you want. Identify to what degree you have some control in the situation and what you’re doing with it. You should be able to recognizing that in almost every situation, we all have some role in why our complaint is not being recognized.
4. Problem Solve
   
   Instead of simply just complaining, focus your energy on how the problem can be solved.  What is a good resolution?  What exactly is the result you would like to see?  If you can’t understand what it is exactly that you want, how can you expect to get any results?
5. Take Action
   
   Instead of just complaining put your solution into action.  For example, in Second Life, actively be involved in the changes, become a tester, attend bug triages and office hours, etc.  If you still have a valid complaint, then tone it down and be direct.  There seems to be some belief that the angrier you are and the more aggressive you are, the better.  I’ve never seen any positive resolution come from this.  Now that you have a full understanding of your complaint, and some constructive piece of feedback or suggested resolution.. think before you speak.  The way you say something will often determine the response you get.  It’s best to be logical, factual, real, and direct about what you think and how you feel!

Have we become a culture of complainers?  Why do we complain about (even practically bash) the platforms we love the most?  Why is there so much outrage whenever there is the slightest change?   Are YOU just going to complain about the way things are or are you going to do something about it?

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.

Cloud Computing and How it Applies to Second Life

What is a “cloud”, and just what is it computing?

Wikipedia has this to say on the matter:

“Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand, like a public utility”

For example, Amazon.com offers a prominent web hosting service knows as EC2. EC2 allows paying clients to rent hosting on Amazon’s “cloud.” The software EC2 is hosting for its clients isn’t being run on any one computer in particular. Instead, whatever is being hosted by EC2 (a website, or what have you) is run on a virtual machine, backed by bucket loads of server computers being maintained by Amazon.

I know, now you’re asking “What the heck is a virtual machine?” A virtual machine is basically a software program meant to mimic a full-blown computer. So, interaction with EC2 would be a simulation of working with a single computer. You would even be able to think of this virtual machine interface as the one computer at Amazon that is personally hosting all of your files. But this is a mirage, and behind the scenes everything is made up of a virtual sea of computation.

So there you have it, the cloud, a metaphorical method of providing different services over the Internet. When people say a web service is “on the cloud”, what they really mean is there is a group of servers on the Internet, running whatever software solution that service is providing. There is no one cloud, there are many. The semantic distinction here isn’t really being made over where these computers/servers are located, who owns them or what they’re doing, in as far as how they’re configured and being utilized.

To some people, the Second Life main grid sounds like it could be a cloud, but, personally, I wouldn’t consider it that way. The main reason being that each SIM is dedicated to a specific server core, with a specific allotment of RAM (etc…), and that’s it. The grid’s severs can’t say to themselves “Oh, well, there is less traffic on these SIMs over in this region, so let’s throw some of their resources at these other, crowded SIMs over here. A SIM’s resources are static, and the main grid isn’t just a blob of computing power ready to mold itself to different computing situations. Thus answers the age old question: If a tree falls in Second Life, and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? The answer: a big ol’ YES. It would be fantastic if this weren’t the case, but I’m no expert on the ins and outs of the main grid’s design, and I’m sure there are a number of reasons why things are the way they are.

Second Life Enterprise, however, is a different situation. Recently, Joe Linden was quoted saying: “…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.”

Normally, Second Life Enterprise is meant to be a sort of mini-grid, out of the box, for companies to utilize within their own, local communications network. A corporation would be provided the necessary hardware and software needed to integrate a Second Life Enterprise solution within their existing IT network. It would then work alongside the standard office network offerings, such as email or intra-net FTP, all behind the company’s Internet firewall.

What I think Joe Linden was referring to was the doings of a few Second Life Enterprise clients. Some companies don’t have a basement full of equipment dedicated to IT, or the resources to justify upgrading their office’s internal IT infrastructure to handle the hardware elements of Second Life Enterprise. I mean, in this day and age, a smaller business’ IT setup could feasibly consist of a broadband connection and a wireless router. So, in some cases, it may be more cost effective to have the server side elements of Second Life Enterprise hosted on rented server space (the “cloud”). I didn’t know Linden Lab was allowing that, but hey, sounds pretty cool to me.

What is “rendering”, and what’s so special about it being “server side?”

Something I’ve realized more and more is that anything you do on a computer is just an abstraction of some finer, more detailed process. Example, everything you see on your screen really just an abstraction of a bunch of ones and zeros being processed by your computer. And, all those ones and zeros are just an abstraction of a bunch of electrons, and volts and what have you, being tossed around your computer’s hardware. Rendering is just the generation of a level of abstraction.

The data being sent to your SL client by the grid is in the form of, like I said, ones and zeros. This data makes up things like the environment your avatar is in, the makeup of all the other avatars around yours and that of your own. Some of this information makes up visual aspects of Second Life, like textures, prims, etc. Some of it is other sorts of information, like sounds and animations, etc. Instinctively, your computer sends the visual information to your video card, which then processes it and turns it into the virtual world you see on your computer’s screen. That process is rendering, and how well your computer handles this task depends on its hardware.

Does anyone remember the dark days when Second Life upgraded the client’s rendering software to “Windlight”, and the flame storm that followed? Suddenly a large number of residents, struggling with older computer hardware, couldn’t use Second Life anymore. So, when new features are again added to the Second Life client’s rendering software, you can expect that at least a few residents won’t be able to experience them. As time goes on, computer hardware becomes obsolete. This is just a fact of life, and I like it about as much as everyone else does.

In comes “server side” rendering. Imagine all the rendering computations needed to display the virtual world of Second Life on your computer’s screen being handled by somebody else’s, much more powerful computer. The virtual world would then be streamed to your computer; with graphics settings at the max, much like streaming video is when you watch a movie or TV show on a website. No longer would you need to upgrade your computer’s hardware to match the new requirements of whatever new rendering feature Linden Lab decides to incorporate into Second Life. That is now the job of server-side rendering guys.

Another boon to server-side rendering would be the virtual impossibility of content theft. As it stands now, everything you come in contact with in Second Life is sent to your computer (and everyone else’s), so that it may be rendered. If the rendering is done someplace else, that content is no longer being distributed to residents, let alone anyone who would want to steal it.

There are a couple of examples of server-side rendering services being put into action. OnLive is one, selling itself as a small console that can be plugged into your computer or television, allowing you to play the newest games from these platforms, regardless of the hardware qualifications. OTOY is another service in the same grain of OnLive, allowing unsurpassed video games graphics on anything from an iPhone to an old Pentium 4 PC. A similar service (of special interest to me) is mental image’s RealityServer platform, allowing raytraced rendering and indirect lighting effects far more advanced than any game technology on the market. However, this is because RealityServer isn’t game technology, and doesn’t provide frame rates anywhere near needed to be considered “interactive.” One last note, all three of these services are run within the cloud computing paradigm.

The Downside

Implementing a Second Life server-side rendering solution would be expensive. I have no idea what the finances are like at Linden Lab, but the costs would be substantial, and switching to server-side rendering (in part or in full) would be a major company decision. They would have to cut a deal with one of the major server-side rendering providers, or build their own “rendering cloud” from the ground up. Joe Linden stated that they had done internal testing for proof of concept, but that was the extent of what they’re willing to release to the public. However, he didn’t deny that server-side rendering could be part of Second Life’s future, which is interesting to say the least.

The downside to the residents of server-side rendering would be bandwidth consumption. I think the current services offering server-side rendering recommend connection speeds of 1.5 MB/sec or more. I’m just guessing, but I don’t think the majority of Second Life users would fall into that category, and, if they didn’t, they would experience a new definition to the word “lag.” You know when you watch something on Hulu or YouTube and the client will tell you that it is “buffering” the video. That can NOT happen in an interactive environment, or else you risk losing the interactivity of said environment.

Lastly, at this time, Linden Lab has not publically announced plans to move the Second Life grid specifically to any cloud based computing platform. That is an entirely different subject. Like I said it would be nice, but that would be another giant, super humongous headache, on top of all the other headaches Linden Lab is dealing with right now. Again, I have no idea how Linden Lab runs the grid, and I won’t pretend to, but moving it to a “cloud” could feasibly affect grid stability negatively, that being the direct opposite effect of its intention. Do the benefits of cloud computing in Second Life outweigh the possible risks taken during the transition? Are these risks that everyone is willing to take?

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).

Today, in a much anticipated announcement, Linden Lab launched the Beta version of their new Second Life viewer.  It will undoubtedly completely revolutionize the way we view and use Second Life, not to mention the first user experience.  There a heaps of changes and new features (small and large) included in this version and lots of additional features and changes in the works.

To get started you need to download the new Viewer 2 (Beta).

New Interface Introduction

The first thing you are going to notice is how it looks cosmetically.  The look of this new viewer is so smooth and clean.  A major upgrade.  Next you will notice a completely different user interface (UI).  This new UI is so much more intuitive than an other viewer before it.  It is made of up what Linden is calling the top bar, the bottom bar and the side bar.

While new users will find this new UI very intrinsic and much less overwhelming then before, it will take quite some time for experienced users to get used to, as it is radically different.

Most of these features are the same, or at least familiar, but have been relocated so that they can now be found more easily.

The new UI looks and functions very much like a browser.  It includes a browser-like navigation bar with forward and back buttons (history) and easily accepts SLURLs.

My favorite new features that are now easily available on the UI are the teleport history which can be accessed several ways, and the ability to bookmark a location (landmark) with one click. You can then even customize that landmark and add information about the location to the landmarks.

Appearance and Outfits

Another one of my favorite new features is something that designers have been asking for since as long as I have been in SL.  Under Appearance, users and designers now have two more sections.  One gives you the ability to add a tattoo layer.  The other allows you to make parts of your avatar invisible.

Perhaps the best new feature for the resident fashionistas of SL who love to mix and match their clothing wardrobes is the ability to create new outfits using links for no copy items.  Links do not break any permissions, they are simply shortcuts that point to an original no copy item.  This has long been a problem of mine and I’m so glad to see it included in this new viewer!  Also helpful is the addition of the Wearing tab which shows the items you are currently wearing.  Many of us have been used to this from other third party viewers, but its great to see it added here as well.

Shared Media

While all of these features are great, and there is a whole slew more of them… there is something bigger.  Perhaps bigger than the launch of the viewer itself, is the launch of Second Life Shared Media (SLSM).   SLSM is 100% a game changer for Second Life.  It will allow you to display fully interactive, shared web content on any surface of a prim in Second Life including Flash, Javascript, and embedded movies.

Many people are already using it to play games, watch YouTube movies, collaborate on Goggle Docs, check email, display web pages, and the list goes on it.  The applications of SLSM are only just being explored and will most definitely will change the way we use SL for education, collaboration, social media, augmented reality, etc.   This video gives more details about SLSM including how to set it up yourself:

Other Features

There are so many new and updated features I could never cover them all in one post (at least not one you would read).  Luckily Torley has posted several video tutorials to help you learn about them all.  These features include:

Coming Soon

In addition to all of today’s new debuts, we know there are a lot more new features in the works!  In the near future Linden Lab has said that they will still be unveiling some more game changing features like Mesh Support, the addition of C# as a scripting language, additional tools to better integrate social media, and more!  In fact, Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon appeared on building43 this morning to discuss the launch, what the company has been up to, and where it’s going.

As you can tell its been a BIG day for Linden Lab, Second Life, and all of us!  I would love to know some of your thoughts on the new viewer and today’s big news.  What do you love or hate?

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.

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.