Parody Song about Second Life

Jurinjuran just twitter'd this great mp3 about Second Life by sarcasticgamer. Seeing that name it will not surprise it is sarcastic. ;)

http://www.docadamsaudio.com/sarcasticgamer/ThisSecondLife.mp3

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Second Life Relay for Life '07

With all the drama and the fuss about casinos, Second Life's annual most famous charity event, the Second Life Relay for Life '07, almost escaped notice!

It's the third year that the American Cancer Society is promoting this fantastic event, all crammed full with events as usual, and with more — and better designed! — sims than ever. And yes, in spite of all the attention gathered by so many things happening in Second Life — the major news media in SL are far too worried with other things — the sims are not empty, rather the contrary!

Still, to raise funds for victims of cancer, every L$ counts, so make sure you drop by and run a few laps and contribute to this fantastic cause!

My new scrapblog

William Gibson to visit Second Life

Jeremy Ettinghausen (aka Jeremy Neumann in SL), Digital Publisher for Penguin Books UK, has recently announced that William Gibson, masterclass cyberpunk author (who is credited as a co-founder of the whole genre with his book Neuromancer written in 1984), is going to be around Second Life to launch his latest book, Spook Country. There will be a few Gibson-promoted activities, like watching Gibson's latest movie No Maps for These Territories.

The fun part of the whole event is the contest for creating a Gibson avatar. If you're interested, just IM Jeremy Neumann!

Image of Gibson is © 2005 Michael Carpenter/Zenwerx Custom Programming

Coverage on Boing Boing available here.

Update: The date for Gibson's appearance is August, 2nd!

Stop the SL Criminalisation!

For a while now, the press, tired of talking about "sex" and "freaks" and "addiction" and "escapism", and, later, after a couple of years of talking about "business", have found a new way of misinforming the public: now the 7.7 million users of Second Life are portraited as criminals.

This is a new phase of the press. Probably they think that they can indeed insist on this new theme to gather the attention of their readers. After all, if sex doesn't sell a story, crime is the next best thing. And thus we're now labelled as people engaged in all sorts of criminal activities: from paedophilia, to gambling, to exploitation. There hardly isn't something every week to make the press happy — from the Bragg vs. Linden case to the German government's allegations that Linden Lab has to control content better (Linden Lab, in fact, is considering giving RL governments the necessary tools to enforce this — which might be far more important to stimulate growth in countries like China than Germany, anyway), to all sorts of scams and dubious business surrounding the World Stock Exchange or other SL-financial institutions, or pure and simple content piracy (always a recurring topic). Get a grumbling resident on an interview, and they'll have a story to tell. In a world where journalists hardly require to verify their sources (they can always apologise after the fact and retract their words), this is starting to worry 99.9999% of all residents, who definitely are far from being anything but "criminals", but are all thrown into the same bag by the ever-stereotyping media.

Well, it's time to fight back. And this is what Mario Gerosa/Frank Koolhaas is promoting: the Stop the SL Criminalisation campaign. His purpose is very simple, in his own words:

These days the italian press is representing SL as a bad and dark world.

I don't subscribe to this point of view. As I say in my book SL is very eclectical, art oriented and full of creative people. Don't let that a few people destroy the reputation of this world!
Let's fight the crimes in Second Life but let's also contribute to know this world better!

For this reason, I launch a campaign against the criminalization of SL and I invite all the ones who read to send me a photo of their avatar like the one I posted, taken in Imogen (227, 253, 28).

It's not only the Italian press doing this, of course. Thus his campaign might be well worth considering as a worthwhile endeavour — world-wide. All it requires is taking a picture and mentioning it to anyone who asks the infamous question: "Is it true that Second Life is a world of crime?" Which it most certainly is not.

Sculptie image protection

I thought I would help spread the word of one workaround proposed to better protect your sculptie images: make the files 32-bit alpha transparent, says Neph, passing on the advice from a poster tmp on SLCitizen.

This will of course increase the file size, and I've heard some grumbling recently about the dangers of lag produced by excessively large sculptie map images. If anyone out there is an expert and can comment, that would be great.

The Bridges of Second Life

I'm one of those many people drawn to bridges. Even in Second Life where we can fly, people love bridges and photograph them all the time (I loved Jill Linden's series of Linden bridges in 2005). This weekend I decided to run around Second Life and capture as many bridges as I could find, and put them up in a Flickr set [link]. I'm not planning on making a book out of these since they're just quick snapshots, but wanted to share.


I hope you enjoy the pictures, and if you know of bridges I can add to the set please let me know.

Beware the tyranny of the majority

I've been bothered by Daniel Linden's response to Hamlet on New World Notes in regards to the latest furor to sweep Second Life (but one that has been brewing all this time). To quote:

Hamlet: You say "our community has made it clear to us that certain types of content and activity are simply not acceptable in any form." When did the community decide simulated rape was broadly offensive? Some consensual roleplay areas include activity that would arguably be called that, and some are relatively popular.

DL: The Community actively defines what is and is not acceptable in Second Life by providing feedback to Linden Lab via Abuse Reports, blog commentary, forum discussion, and other communication channels. Linden Lab sets standards and acts in-world according to the expressed wishes of the Residents.

I understand that it's hard to discuss some of the current issues around unsavory behavior in a soundbite, but Daniel's response is dangerous in its scope. I firmly believe that the individual and the minority needs protections from what de Tocqueville called the tyranny of the majority -- pure democracy without protections can become an ugly thing. Daniel's statement is unnerving in its implication that the individual freedoms Second Lifers have enjoyed could fall prey to the mob.

Some folks have long called for an avatar bill of rights, while most have been content to live under the benign and hands-off dictator of Linden Lab. A fundamental trust has existed between LL and residents that Linden Lab has to be careful not to break. What does an avatar bill of rights even mean in a new, intangible world which has no real regulatory standing, since at the end of the day, we're subject to the laws of our nation of residence and policy is just starting to wrestle with the supranational issues brought upon by the Internet?

I will say that one of the brilliant things about Second Life has always been its libertarian nature. There were a few basic rules to respect, and if you felt the need to wrap yourself in "more government", you could do so on a local level (Neualtenberg, now Neufreistadt, was an example of a local government). It has been a world based on choice rather than compulsion. Second Life to so many people has meant freedom -- freedom to be who you really are or even who you are not. Freedom to stretch your wings outside of the norms and confines of your local society. People are exploring a new world and in doing so, exploring themselves. SL will inevitably turn more mainstream but these dynamics will remain.

I've always said that SL is a reflection of humanity, from our best to our worst. Unfortunately, and inevitably, SL is used in some horrible ways, including some ways that should not be permitted. However, human beings have a tendency to get over-emotional on certain issues and throw a lot of good out with the bad. I have no tolerance for child pornography or abuse (as a father, it triggers a primal reaction in me as in most people), but when the torches start being lit for every small avatar or playful childlike avatar in SL, rationality and balance have lost their sway. It's all fine and good if the number of torches remains loud but limited, however history shows plenty of wreckage where mob mentality took hold.

Am I really really worried about all this? Frankly no, because I think the Linden leadership cares too much about individual rights to let this run amuck. But I would love to see further clarification from Linden Lab, and I imagine there are some intense discussions taking place among the company's leadership and legal advisors.

Second Life Community Convention 2007 Update

As most of our loyal readers know, I'm one of the founders and organizers of the Second Life Community Convention. This year's convention is looking like it will be the best yet, as we're moving to a multi-track format and have a diverse and wonderful organizational team. Here is some of the latest news regarding the Convention:

• Registration is open and going fast! You can register at http://www.SLConvention.org/register/
• Rooms at the special rate of $159 per night at the Hilton in Chicago (where the Convention is also happening) are also going fast: http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/groups/personalized/chichhh_slc/index.jhtml
• The social & entertainment track is going to feature discussions, DJs and live musicians.
• The machinima track is set to have keynotes by both Buhbuhcuh Fairchild of Alt-Zoom Studios and the Ill Clan, as well as teen-made machinima highlighted by Global Kids.
• The business track has put out a call for papers and will feature discussions on successful business strategies, open source, the future of the metaverse, and a panel of attorneys with experience in Second Life doing a presentation and Q&A session on IP rights of content creators.
• The education track is locking up a keynote speaker which will definitely garner some attention and has a call out for papers.
• RatePoint is our music sponsor, helping our with Friday night's entertainment as well.
  
• Eros 3-D is throw a party Saturday night, the first ever SLCC Masquerade Ball.
• This year's in-world Convention may feature some high-profile panels not available at the RL convention.
• Phreak Radio is going to audio stream all four tracks and the parties to the grid.
• SLNN and the Metaverse Messenger are both doing RL publications; for more information contact doeko.cassidy {at} slnn {dot} com for SLNN and advertising {at} metaversemessenger {dot} com for the Metaverse Messenger.
• We really can't thank our sponsors enough. Without their generosity, there is no way this event could happen, at the low cost we offer. Please be sure to give all of our sponsors (listed on the SLCC blog) a pat on the back for keeping out prices low and supporting the SLCC!
  

We're hoping the multiple options available this year allow everyone to have a rich experience and a good time, maintaining the SLCC tradition of attempting to enrich your mind and tickle your funny bone at the same time. As always, if you have ideas or want to help out, feel free to contact any organizer. More info is available on the SLCC blog at http://www.SLConvention.org - here's hoping you can attend this year, and we look forward to seeing you!

Age Verification Makes Sense - A Lot of Sense

A few weeks ago I wrote a column for the english/german SL tabloid The AvaStar on the separation between the teen and the main grid. I concluded with the prediction that Linden Lab will add ways to identify certain characteristics of the people behind avatars, soon. This prediction does not require a sixth sense. Such tools are the only way to avoid some serious legal hassles coming towards us. It took Linden Lab just two weeks to announce the first such tools: in the near future, land owners will have the ability to ban avatars, which don't have their "adultness" verified. Actually, land owners will be obliged to use this banning ability, if they are displaying "mature" content on their land.

Robin Linden's posts about the introduction of this feature here and there were greeted with the angry outcry, which seems to be the usual reaction of some vocal parts of the Second Life community to nearly every change of policy in our society. But actually – not judging every little detail of the planned policy and processes – I think this is a step in the right direction. As Second Life grows, it becomes virtually (<- pun intended) impossible for Linden Lab, to control what is happening on the grid. Computer software just can't do this. And human intelligence is much too expensive for policing a platform, which is basically free for the majority of users. So – from a purely pragmatic point of view – it is necessary to shift this responsibility over to the residents. But I think it is not only pragmatic, but fair, too: it is the residents responsibility to make sure that what they do, complies with the relevant laws. But to do this, they need effective tools – like age verification.

This is only a first step. Expect to see more kinds of "verification" in the near future! Why? As Second Life grows and becomes more important for business and other aspects of society, legal problems stemming from absolute anonymity will grow.

This does not mean, that we will have to give up anonymity. Like in physical reality, we will be able to do most day-to-day activities without telling anybody, who we are. But for certain other activities we will have to prove that we are "qualified".

I am fairly certain that there will be a way to optionally "deposit" your complete RL identity info with Linden Lab in the not too distant future, for example. At least for those of us doing substantial business within Second Life the national tax authorities won't be satisfied with anything less. Until now the Lab still tries to formally upheld the illusion, that the L$ is of no value and is no real currency. But when you have assets worth a few 10,000 US$ in Second Life and you are able to convert them into US$ with a few mouseclicks - through an application which suspiciously looks like a currency exchange ...

Actually, your account in Second Life is not too different from one with PayPal. And PayPal is very insistent on verifying your identity as soon as the transaction volume reaches a certain level - because local authorities would shut them down, if they wouldn't.

We might not like this development but "the powers that be" will try to make sure, that a virtual world is no save haven from the laws that govern our lifes. And Linden Lab's reaction to the allegations of child pornography going on in Second Life shows, that our benevolent rulers are more than a little interested in placating First Life goverments.