|
August 2010
The Archives
-
08.20.10Beyond Mesh Import: Second Life NextPhilip Rosedale confirmed at the recent Second Life Community Convention that the ability to import mesh objects (a standard format for 3D objects) into Second Life is a go, and will be rolled out in public Beta by the end of the year - bets are on a late September launch. In discussions with Philip Rosedale, I started to sense that there may be a wider expectation (by him at least) of where mesh imports could take us. But to give a glimpse of what mesh "looks like", here's a little preview of what's possible: I've written at length about mesh (and ...
-
08.19.10Show Up: Your Guide to Helping to Improve Second LifeAs you may know, Linden Lab has made a significant shift in viewer development through Project Snowstorm. Rather than the viewer being developed in a separate code repository from the open source initiatives, it will be the main repository for all future Lab efforts. OK, but what does this mean for you, the Resident of Second Life? With a more open process for improving the Second Life experience, you can play a role too! It makes sense to solicit feedback from Residents, after all....they know the Viewer and can probably suggest a hundred improvements. Well not to worry. Oz Linden needs your ...
-
08.19.10State of Mind: One on One with Philip RosedaleAt last week's community convention I had a chance to sit down with Philip Rosedale, Linden Lab founder and recently returned CEO of the company that runs Second Life. What was supposed to be a quick 15 minute catch up turned into close to an hour of discussion and, oddly enough, it was me who cut the chat short feeling like I was monopolizing his time just an hour or so ahead of the Viewer 2.0 presentation and his flight back home to be with his family. Now, I'm a horrible note taker and, frankly, having criticized Philip in the ...
-
08.18.10It’s All in a Name: Display Names in Second LifeLinden Lab announced the addition of display names to Second Life, permitting residents to have a name which, well, displays in addition to the account name chosen on sign-up (gone is the requirement to pick a last name from a pre-generated list). Back in the days of M when everything was done in secret and every third person on the Grid had signed an NDA for some reason or other - they were in the mesh beta, or the Viewer Beta...I was asked to contribute to an NDA'd display name messaging roundtable or something. It wasn't a roundtable on the feature ...
-
08.16.10SLCC Keynote Presentation – and, Second Life Steam?More to come on the Second Life Community Convention....but first a copy of my presentation slides as I've had a few requests: Second Life Next: Dusan Writer's 2010 SLCC Keynote PresentaionView more presentations from Remedy Communications. To watch the presentation (the slides might not make sense without it) you can view an archive of the live stream which is split in two parts: the first part includes Philip's keynote and my presentation starts at about 2:30:00, and the second part which is the remainder of my rambling. SLSteam? While I've got you - Philip mentioned that Second Life will soon have regular (weekly) updates ...
-
08.10.10Philip’s Grand AdventureI feel like I owe Philip an apology. He's been commenting in a few places on his absence from SLCC this year, including this blog: SLCC is incredibly important to me, and right now I need to be there more than ever. However, my family is very important to me as well. I’m leaving to drive to Yosemite literally that morning, on a trip that has been planned for over 6 months. If the SLCC organizers want to check with my schedule before planning the event, we can make sure I can be there. Family is important. Downtime is critical. Yosemite is ...
-
08.10.10Second Life Growth: New Groups versus New UsersIt sometimes feels to me like there are two types of users in Second Life: the single dots, and the multi-dots. I remember the early days of Second Life - the map was a friend and a mystery. As I wandered the Grid, I'd use the map not because the geography that it showed seemed particularly relevant - I mean, most sims on the map look like a random collection of squares and squiggles and don't tell you much about what's there before you arrive. But the presence of green dots became a sort of pulse-taker of activity on the Grid. The ...
-
08.07.10Avatars as Diaspora: Identity and Content Wallets for the New Age of PrivacyThere's power in your avatar. In my recent post about MyWorld, a new mirror world social gaming platform, Metacam Oh commented that without avatars it isn't a game changer for the metaverse. Now, I'd argue that the metaverse is more broadly defined - it includes mirror worlds, augmented reality, and life logging. And so while MyWorld may not rattle the cages of World of Warcraft or Second Life, it will be a game-changer for "places" online in which users interact with each other. But Metacam is right that there is something significant about participating in a virtual space with an avatar. ...
-
08.07.10Philip Rosedale Phoning it In: Second Life Community Convention UpdateWith Second Life in a state of, hmmm, flux I guess is a word, the upcoming Community Convention to be held in Boston next weekend strikes me as an important time to network, share notes, and get a sense of what's next for the metaverse. Last year, I called SLCC a giant support group (see 3:30) and it doesn't feel so much different as we head into this year's event: Last year, Linden Lab owned the main stage, with keynote presentations by M and Philip, and then Tom Hale. The Lab provided book-ends that helped to shape an understanding of where they ...
-
08.01.10Metaverse Game Changer: MyWorld Starts to Pull Back the CurtainProject MyWorld will be a game changer for the metaverse: a virtual world that mirrors the real world and a platform for social gaming that could easily be the new go-to destination for the Farmville crowd. And Project MyWorld is clearly taking aim at Facebook: "Project: MyWorld is the “Placebook” for a next generation of social games. Project: MyWorld turns the real world into a 3D social gaming experience. Project: MyWorld is a platform for creating a virtual version of the real world and combining it with 3D online gaming and social networks and media." I was fortunate enough to have a sneak peek ...
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.