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Category
Identity and Expression
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08.30.08I Was Thinking Aboot Canada’s Place in Virtual Worlds When…Forget about business collaboration in virtual worlds, it's all about cultural cross-over according to blogger Ari at Common Sensible who's mystified by the Canadian dialect but says that we really seem like we mean it when we ask "How are you." In a round-up of national characteristics filtered through the lens of Second Life, Ari shares insight into how your nation's personality shines through your avatar. In this view: - Asians are perfectionists - Germans are drunk - Folks from the Netherlands are promiscuous and introverted - and the French are "Stuck-up, rude, full of himself, thinks he’s God’s gift to the universe." Thankfully, Canadians ...
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08.29.08Cover Your Kid’s Eyes, There’s Sex in Virtual Worlds: NBC News, um, ReportsAh, nothing like a trip down memory lane: like when the Internet was a cesspool of perversion and danger that we should keep our kids away from; or like Rock & Roll which was a threat to the fabric of society; or like that apple up in the tree - don't touch it! It's scary! NBC News has trotted out the bogeyman again, parading expert psychiatrists and concerned moms to warn of the dangers of unfettered content in virtual worlds like Second Life. Really, this kind of thing is such a hopeless news filler and feels oh so 2007. By way of ...
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08.20.08Washington Post on Virtual World Governance and PolicingThe sheriff has come to virtual worlds, according to the Washington Post, which gives an overview of approaches being used to govern and police, pointing out that "nearly all ...users agree to certain policies when signing up The companies reserve the right to suspend or delete a user's avatar and seize virtual assets that have been accumulated. Most also allow users to report abusive behavior and provide a tool to let members ignore bothersome avatars." Enforcement of policies in virtual worlds ranges from owner-driven to community-led, according to the Post. They mention Second Life's notorious (but retired) Corn Field, and notes ...
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08.19.08I’m Sick and Tired Too: VD for Virtual WorldsI don't want to remember 100 passcodes. And I recently blogged on this....and blogged...and blogged.....and 4,000 words later came to the same conclusion as Edutechy who also had a nice simple diagram and a name (Virtual World VD) to explain the whole thing: Edutechy also bypassed a lengthy sidebar on interoperability, identity, reality and all that obscure stuff and put it rather simply: "I’m just sick and tired of entering all of the same data, and building the same types of avatars on each system. If these systems and concepts are to grow, then we need standards governing them…" I propose the same, ...
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08.19.08Journalism in Virtual Worlds: University of Syndey Student, 4th Estate, 2nd LifeThe Metaverse Journal highlights the work of Annabelle Boyd Jones at the University of Sydney, who is researching the role of journalism and governance in Second Life. Blogging her progress, I was intrigued (or maybe bemused?) to note her comments on the issues of studying virtual world governance because of the seeming contradiction between, well, totalitarianism and participatory democracy. She notes: "Firstly, the situation resembles (Note resembles, not is!) a totalitarian government, whereby all aspects of the ‘contituents’ lives are effectively controlled by the government, they hold absolute power over their society and can rule without any real mandate or permission ...
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08.17.08Kids on the Grid? Card ‘em. Governance, Trust and Identity in Virtual Worlds"I will not abuse report residents solely based on them saying they’re less than 18 years old, as long as I can not prove this to be true." Blog post. Who Runs Virtual Worlds I was mulling over the issue of who makes decisions: who decides how content is copied or not, how perms are managed, how virtual worlds are governed. I was trying to sidestep the issues of Creative Commons and m/c/t for now, it's not the kind of thing for a Sunday. Then, I ran across this post about abuse reporting, and it put me in mind of a discussion led off ...
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08.15.08Decompiling My Personal ManifestoThere's nothing like a good manifesto to rally the troops, and Universe Creation 101 has posted a few techy, geeky, noteworthy manifestos ranging from Mickey’s 10 Commandments of Theme Park Design to Nick Zedd’s Cinema of Transgression Manifesto. But it's the Game Follower's Manifesto to which I relate, including as it does: "After solving the Stonecutter AND rune puzzles last night, only to find out that my long-desired first "SOLVED" post was trounced by 5 and 3 minutes respectively, I hereby give up and acknowledge the fact that I am a game follower, not player, not puzzle solver." And "While not unintelligent, I ...
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08.15.08The Avatar AfterlifeThe Long Now Foundation posts speculation that our avatars will soon be programmed with our online preferences, leading to an afterlife for our digital personas: The software used to track the online behavior of users, within in particular system (virtual worlds or social networks) could be modified to track the entirety of their online behavior, over a longer space of time – say thirty years. At the end of this period the data could be used to program an avatar. This avatar would inhabit a virtual world or worlds and be programmed with all the users personal data, preferences and potential ...
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08.07.08Synthetic Experiences Trump Reality?Guitar solos and exercise. Apparently, these are the significant life experiences being hijacked by the virtual experience, according to Misty Harris over at Canada.com. Citing Guitar Hero, Wii, and marketing campaigns, the writer claims that real life has been replaced by the (more expensive, I might note) virtual realm. Well, there is no questioning the dominance of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, with their guitar solos and fake musiciainship, in the basements of North America. But it is perhaps stretching it a bit to say that "organic human experience is being knocked off." Sure, people spend a lot of time on Second Life, ...
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08.07.08Pink User Interface - MyLife to Second Life?Think of it as training wheels for girls who will one day grow up to be long-legged blondes in Second Life. MyLife is a product aimed at girls, and how encouraging that you don't have any of the pesky range of avatar types that you can find in the more fluid and open Second Life. As reported at the Sydney Morning Herald, myLife has a fairly superficial avatar creation process. Hey! Superficial sounds bad! "Designing your avatar is a highly superficial process. You choose between tall, average and short stature, and thin, average or big builds; once all the girls have chosen ...
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