Feted Inner Child

March 8th, 2010 by Marianne McCann

The more I use Second Life’s Viewer 2 beta, the less I seem to like it. More so, I find myself less interested in being within Second Life at all, and a lot of that relates to my experience with Viewer 2. I feel as if there are some core issues that may need revisiting.

I don’t want to come across as yet another person jumpin’ on the anti-V2 bandwagon, nor do I have a track record of responding angrily to every little thing Linden Lab does. I want to like Viewer 2, and there is a lot I do enjoy about it. I personally feel that while Linden Lab has not batted 1000, it has had a fair share of hits (Windlight, Linden Homes, and arguably Havok 4 and the acquisition of Avatars United) to go along with its misses (Homesteads, SL Answers, the Blogorum, Homesteads – and yes I did say that twice).

I actually had the good fortune to get a slightly earlier look at it than most, and have taken to using it as my main SL viewer. My reasoning on this is simple: this is the viewer will will likely get, in spite of whatever flaws it might have, and we’d best get used to it. It’s a cynical view, perhaps, but I really don’t expect I’ll see much change in it from the initial beta to the release product. Please, Linden Lab: prove me wrong.

Like I said, I *want* to like Viewer 2. I really do — but so often the bad outweighs the good.

I love having the top bar, for one. The browser-like interface is great! Having favorites up there is even better. This has been a boon to my own travels. But here’s the bad: there’s no easy way to input coordinates. Need to get to, say, North Channel 112, 128, 506? That’s going to be a challenge. If you have a SLURL or a LM, you’re golden, sure. but you cannot enter coordinates on the map, which is especially frustrating with Z coordinates. You also don’t see coordinates in the top bar anymore, making it harder to know exactly where you are at any given time.

Unlike many others, I like the sidebar — but again, there’s trouble here. Nothing tears off or undocks, nor can you switch it to dock on the left. Opening up multiple profile windows is impossible, and attaching anything to a group notice (or even seeing how many items you have in inventory) requires opening a secondary inventory window.

This brings up one of my major issues with Viewer 2.0. The stated goal is to make the user interface easier for new members to grasp, presumably easing use and, therefore, retention. Yet that does not seem to be what has happened. While some things are arguably easier (You can, for example, go back to your last location much easier than in Version 1.x), many things are harder, require more steps, of have become less intuitive.

A caveat: I’m not referring to the fumbling around one typically has to do when exposed to a new interface for the first time. New and old get the opportunity to fumble around with our well-worn ruts erased in Viewer 2. I’m talking about trying to teach people to turn off their music by hitting a “play” button, helping people find shared media hidden on the texture panel, or being able to only right click and build n ground versus on top of prims.

My second big issue with Viewer 2 is that the UI gets in the way of the world. I half-joked early in the private beta that Viewer 2 was great – but they should really get rid of that 3D virtual world that was getting in the way of my chat and IMs. Windows no longer go semi-transparent when not in the forefront, notices and IMs steal focus, and some windows can even be overlaid over the bottom bar.

As a test, go to a busy location. Let’s day the Ahern Welcome Area, though a popular club or large event works just as well. Open up your sidebar — maybe you are checking out someone’s profile, or changing outfits, or something. Field some IMs in the midst of it all. Now, now much of the event you are at can you see? Any of it? You have a screen full of black bars of text obscuring the world much like the redaction of a formerly top secret government document.

The #1 thing that separates Second Life from being just another chat room or instant messaging program is the 3D virtual world. This is what we’re showing on the front page of secondlife.com (assuming we’re not logged in) and the login screen of the viewer. It is why we have a snapshot buttons – particularly a snapshot to postcard. It’s kinda the whole point. Yet it becomes quickly overpowered by the 2.0 UI.

Ironically, the third big issue I see is the continued push for voice use. I am not anti-voice chat. While I do not often opt to use it, i’ve long had it enabled, and have seen a great many events enhanced by its inclusion. Nevertheless, it seems clear to me that Viewer 2 is trying to do some not-altogether-sly attempts to push text chat out of the way of voice. You can tell this the first time you enter the world and see the size of that box for text chat. You’ll see it when you try to type your chat into the “nearby chat” window. You’ll even see it the first time you hit the “speak” button and discover that its not the old “say” button it once was.

So I’ve kvetched enough. How about some solutions. First thing, look at http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Viewer_2_Tweaks – here, many Second Life users have left to the challenge of making Viewer 2 much more useful, making windows semi transparent, extending the chat bar, and much more. Much of this really should — and could — be part of Viewer 2.

Speaking of shoulds and coulds, the JIRA is full of them. Here’s a few good ones:

http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-17130 “Build” missing from contexural menu when clicking prims.
http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-17010 The viewer 2.0 chat bar needs to fill ALL unused space in the bottom bar
http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-16978 ‘Inspect’ is missing from Viewer 2.0
http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-16964 PLEASE allow adjustable transparency of “Nearby Chat” window, Chat History and Chat “Toasts” in Viewer 2.0!
http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-17314 Glow on Screenshots, and Hirez Screenshots broken.
http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-17202 High-Rez Snapshots to Disk produce regular rez snapshot surrounded by black to bring the final photo to high rez
http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-17094 Advanced > UI > Use Default System Color Picker missing in Viewer 2.0
http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-17022 Clicking on the current time in the Viewer should bring up events happening right now.

But beyond JIRAs and XML tweaks, we need a sense that any of this is fixable. Like I said at the beginning, the feeling is that this is the viewer we’re going to get, like it or lump it. Word is that this thing is hoped to be the main viewer next month and, well, I think thats woefully optimistic. There’s a great many things that could be addressed, but first someone needs to be hearing these needs and acting on them. I fear that timelines, business decisions, and all sorts of things may well lead to a less-than-finished product — one that does not serve its goal of bringing in new users and further alienates the existing user base.

Again, please prove me wrong. I’m beggin’ ya.

January 25th, 2010 by Marianne McCann

(Somewhat inspired by my last post and some discussion that came after it)

For as long as I’ve known of Second Life, there’s been some confusion as to just what it is. This war of words has been going since the first shots were fired in Jessie and continue today in debates over “augmentation and immersion,” or fears of the “Facebooking” of our world.

What I think lies at the heart of this debate is one simple matter: Second Life is a noun, and — as those of us in my generation learned from Saturday Morning cartoons — a noun is a person, place, or thing.

Now I’m going to discount Second Life as a person. There are a great many people there, but it is nigh impossible to call Second Life a single person. It is not Philip Linden, nor is it M Linden. It is not Ansche Chung, or Aimee Weber, or Desmond Shang. It is also not that n00b who is wandering around right now in Waterhead, trying to figure out what this world is about while being harassed by the regulars. Second Life’s people are its “killer app,” IMO — but again, no one person or even group of people is Second Life.

What we’re left with is “place” or “thing” — and this is where it gets tricky. There’s very much two sides at play here.

To many, Second Life is an “application” or a ”game.” It is a place they go and play in, or its something they pop into for meetings, 3D prototyping, business, classes, or yes, even hooking up on Zindra. It is a thing that one uses to achieve a goal, a tool in their computing arsenal.

Content creators come in every day and spend their hours tweaking prims and uploading sculpt maps. They might be knee deep in scripts or textures, hardly aware of the virtual world beyond the confines of their workspace. In the end, they’ll have created the most wonderful things to sell or use in other ways within Second Life. They will also have somewhat sated their own creative impulses, at least for the moment.

They might be here to work, spending much of their SL times in meetings or (where I often end up) in IMs. They might be handling builds for big schools or institutions, or even simply taking courses with some of the same-said locales. This is not just a plaything for errant hobbyists, but a tool full of serious potential for business and education.

To others, Second Life is a hangout. It’s where they go to see live music, chill with friends, maybe even have their virtual family. It’s a tangible world where they might (if they’re brave enough with region crossings) sail a boat on the Blake Sea, or drive down the highways. It is a place they do to akin to visiting a nearby theme park, campus, or large shopping center.

I think I can say with some sense of sureness that those of us who play kids most often view the world as a place, and feel that kinship to our homes and family. I think it comes with our territory.

Right now, Linden Lab “Moles” — paid Resident content creators — are putting in a “reserve infohub” in Murray. A handful of residents who frequent the area are up in arms about their place being changed. To the west of there, in Bay City – Docklands, a small group of Residents has claimed a street corner, and dug in their heels when a self-appointed police force moved into the area to somehow assume control of the area. Two groups right now are vying for their views on the Second Life Railroad’s right of way. You see stories like this all over, as people lay claim to their home soil.

Heck, I know that n about a month, when I hit my 4th rez day, I will be stopping by the place where the Sami Infohub once was, just to visit the place that a very new Marianne McCann first called home.

That’s what it is to call it a place

These are not mutually exclusive. I know that much of my own experience falls under “place,” and I know this surprises no one who has ever read this blog. But I too have used Second Life as a thing. I build for my store and for other companies. I use it as a communication medium for meetings and gatherings in the same way I might have used AIM or Skype. It’s an application that runs in a window on my Macintosh, often sharing space with a browser window giving me the latest from Twitter or Plurk, or running YouTube videos to entertain me while I fling primitives.

Nevertheless, it is the disconnect between these two things that seems to lead to the biggest troubles. Residents who view Second Life as “their turf” see the possible influx of “outsiders” from mainstream sites like Facebook with the same sort of disdain often afforded to real-world “immigrants.”

To many outside the world, the idea of place is lost entirely. This is a world that comes out of passive entertainment, who enjoy a good movie or TV show, At best, their “virtual world experience” might have come from collecting their share of mystery prizes from friends in Farmville via Facebook. There is no “world” within their computer to explore, just games, applications, and programs that entertain and inform.

Some who are here for the “game” might find themselves bored and disaffected, finding it hard to see beyond the confines of an infohub into the broader world beyond. They want “quests” and the like, and just don’t want a place to “chill with friends.” By the same token, they may also turn to griefing, making their own quest life out of mario cubes and the like, getting their lulz off those who see SL as a place to visit, not a game.

Second life is a noun. It is both “place” and “thing,” and attempts to serve both audiences. It seems clear to me that Linden Lab would like to increase its stake in the “social networking” crowd, and knows that this may alienate, even anger, those for whom this is a place. It’s what I said of Murray or Docklands ramped up several notches.

The thing is, Second life is big. Tens of thousands of Regions, enough that many decry how “empty” the world feels. They have a point. Given that, there really should be enough room for all viewpoints — and if there is not (and there is a market for it), Linden Lab will add more simulators, and the world will get that much larger. There is no scarcity of land and resources like First Life, and nearly anything can be bought or made without need to find much in the way of raw materials. There is room for Second Life to be “place” and “thing,” like some virtual Schrödinger’s cat.

There’s space for us all within the noun that is Second Life.

January 23rd, 2010 by Marianne McCann

Nearly two years ago, Second Life announced a new area. A bit of a throwback to the days of Nova Albion, this would be a city area composed of several regions, planned to be in an “American urban experience” theme, focusing on Art Deco stylings and a “Chicago in 1950″ feel. I immediately wanted a part of this place. Since then, I have remained a part of the area, helping in some small way to keep the area growing as best as I can with the members of the Bay City Alliance.

To be honest, I’ve put in a lot of time in Bay City. It’s not like I haven’t stepped back a time or two for various reasons, and re-accessed why I’m there — but in the end, I always come back to it. So… why?

First off, I have to look at the three things that appealed to me in the first place:

1. I’m a sucker for mid century design, especially Deco and Streamline. This could mean being a part of a virtual recreation of these times and their structures, much as Caledon is a “steampunk” version of Victorian England.

2. I run a toy store that has a higher than average focus on older “retro” toys that would appeal to those reliving a childhood that happened in the same — or similar — times as my own.

3. I envied the sense of community that existed in Nova Albion, and hoped to see a similar, vibrant community that I could be a part of.

Note on that last one: I did not feel I could be a part of the Nova Albion community given the high cost of land there. Little did I know how much Bay City would be!

These reasons are still a part of it, but it’s more complex now than it was then.

For one, I’ve become involved in the mainland as a whole, looking at some of the “historical” parts of the grid, helping to see them preserved (when they can be) or modernized, and feeling a kinship to the grid.

My avatar may have grown up on the other side of the Sansaran continent, but I first rezzed into the world in Ahern. Nowadays, my home location is in Shermerville, north of Nova Albion, and a six or so region trip from my Bay City store. I feel a odd sort of “kinship” to this chunk of virtual land. It is “home.” Bay City is, as some might put it, my “stomping grounds.”

The city has not been without its challenges, but it does have its Art Deco flair. It may well be the most consistent, on theme part of the mainland, which is in many ways a miracle. It’s far from being a mid-century modern paradise, but compared to a lot of the mainland, you’ll find a consistency beyond the rest of the grid.

And then there is the community. In Bay City – Imaginario — the region I own land within — I know all my neighbors. We chat when we’re in the region together, and I often find myself in IMs with others from the city. We all meet regularly to discuss “city business” with ourselves and with Blondin Linden. We all — particularly lately — do a good job of acting as a group, and coming up with plans that will benefit us all. I think that too is a bit of a rarity.

It’s not a perfect place. Land is still frightfully expensive (tip: always ask a seller and try to bargain if you can). May parcels sit vacant as a result. Not every parcel is going to be a showpiece, either.

That said, it has a charm and “specialness” not found all that often. It’s worth taking another look at i you haven’t for a while.

January 7th, 2010 by Marianne McCann

While at Michael Linden’s office hour this week, I got what was for me some exciting news: the Wild West Town in Oak Grove would finally be seeing some love.

In the dim and distant past, the Oak Grove sim was the home of wild West Town, a resident build project from 2003, once housed in the Zoe sim. Then things changed. The Native American village was replaced with the Oak Grove Education Stage, and the entrance to Wild West Town was nearly buried as land was raised for Busy Ben’s Vehicle Lot. The Oak Grove telehub went away, and Wild West Town slowly began to fall apart. Two structures are all but gone, leaving just a jumble of prims.

It was Oak Grove, the damage to same, and the lack of upkeep to the area that led me to file a JIRA and a support ticket back in Spring of 2008. It also led me to seek out other locations that were in need of retails, such as Yamato Town, Mount G’Al, the Moth Lamps in Iris, and the “Games” Pavilion in Ahern. Some of these have been fixed, some remain in need.

Seeking out those locations led to something else, too: it helped opened up this world to me. It made me think of it as something more than a collection of parcels to be teleported to. I had already been reaching that with my experiences in Bay City, but once I began to see that beyond Bay City was Nova Albion, and the Suburbs, then Yamato, Nexus Prime, Ahern, and Oak Grove, then Lusk, the vehicle sims, and the Lost Forest of Kahruvel — well, you get the idea. I begun to see all these as somehow connected.

Then I looked at the SL Roads, waterways, and rails, further connecting places. I rode the train from Tuliptree to Bhaga, and when it came time to move from South Islandia to Shermerville, me, my siblings, and an aunty or two took a drive ‘cross the whole of the Sansara continent, passing Resident and Linden locations I’d previously only visited via teleports.

So often, we hear people talk about how little there is to do in SL. Reporters will write silly articles, bloggers toss their snark, and everyone sharpens their knives on Second Life. Plenty of Residents, often huddled in the crowd at an infohub, will also tell you about how bored they are in their Second Life experience.

Yet there is always something out there to see. For me, there is quite literally more than I could ever hope to soak in. I’ve travelled every road and rail line (including the unbuilt right of ways), and sailed between continents and across the Blake Sea. I know the Mainland better than most, no question, and can rattle off long discussions about what is — and was — in a lot of these many regions.

Yet in knowing and doing all this, I can only tell you that there is a lot more out there I don’t know and have not seen. There will always be places to see, things to do, and new experiences to have. There are nine continents, three major cities, and then thousands of privately held island estates to boot. On top of this, things change with a regularity quite unlike the real world. There is simply no way to keep up on it all.

And this is good.

As I write this, I’m boarding the new Blake Sea ferry in Barbarossa, while a B-17 and an F-16 fly overhead. How wonderous a world is this? There are a bit over 40,000 people inworld, each doing their own part to make this world unique and special.

Before you started reading this blog entry, you may never have heard of Wild West Town of some of these other locations. Maybe you are now intrigued enough to do some exploring on your own. Please do. In fact, if you are interested, come by my store in Bay City – Imaginario and click the billboard above the parking lot, or come to Miramare Place and click the Exploration wall. You’ll get a stack of Landmarks to some of these places, ripe for exploration. Go, have fun, and learn how vast this word of ours really is.

October 23rd, 2009 by Marianne McCann

Before folks think I’m going off into “zOMG Dramaz0rz,” let me start by saying I respect the opinions of the others involved in this discussion, and hold no ill will or any of that. The specific incident is irrelevant, but it points to what i want to talk about.

Recently on Plurk, an SL clothing designer was pointing out some cute real-world kids’ clothing. One person suggested making some clothes for kid avatars based on this. I also chimed in that I would love to see some clothing like that.

You see, while I love some of the kid designers out there, a lot of the clothing fits a specific “thing.” It’s babydoll tops and poofy skirts, 90% of the time. I don’t mind these, but I’d love to see a bit more variety. I want to see more of the Gap Kids or Justice look. Nice looking stuff I can still play in, you know? Never mind that all those babydolls and poofy skirts end up with my hands and arms interpenetrating them all the time.

And yes, most of the adult designers I simply can’t wear the clothing of. Either they’ve spent a bit too much time working on “boob shading,” (which I simply don’t want or need), or they have non-modifiable prim clothing bits that can’t be sized down, or the clothing is too sexy/revealing/etc.

Anyway, so this discussion went out on doing some more kid fashion stuff. It’s something I’ve wanted to see for some time: a top SL fashion designer actually take on the kid market, and turn their talents, if even for a one-off, to kid stuff.

But then the inevitable happened. Another posted made it clear that if kid avatars were to shop at that store, they would not. Even tossing in a comment about throwing up. Now they might have been being a bit over dramatic, or even joking — and see my note above again — but I believe that her comments were not out of line with how others might feel. This is somewhat sad to me.

There is such a stigma attached to kid avatars at times. I think it has changed a small bit, but it’s still very much out there. Some people are (and in some ways legitimately so) “creeped out” by kid avvies, while others assume that any and all child avatars they come across are perverts in pretty packaging. I could go onto pages about all this (and have before), but let’s simply say that its out there an we know it.

but as a result, it perpetuates the stigma. Without good people making good things and welcoming kid avatars to shop at their stores, people do not see kid avatars — and therefore they remain creepy if only because of their scarcity.

A friend of mine attended an event at Inner Child Camp at Burning Life, and was amazed at how many kids were there. From my point of view, there weren’t all that many compared to some of the circles I travel in. A lot of kid avatars really do not “mix” with the general population — too much hassling, mostly focused at kid safe locations, or spending time in their family units.

Anyway, I’d love to see some designers give it a shot some time. For one, I’ve long wanted to get some “retro” kid clothing from the 50s, 60s, and 70s from some of the places that specialize in that. I’ve love some modern cool stuff too. Mostly, I just want to have something nice and new to wear that looks good for my avatar. That’s all.

September 7th, 2009 by Marianne McCann

This post was a bit delayed, for when I really could take a moment to think about the event.

Before going to SLCC, a friend of mine challenged me. He was curious as to why one would go to a real-world meetup for a virtual world. What could First Life offer that is lacking in Second Life?

It’s a hard and compelling question, especially as Linden Lab works to market its flagship product as a place where people can meet and do business without needing that real-world connectivity. Is SLCC at odds with the goals of the world, and was Linden Lab itself hypocritical by supporting this event, even hosting a luau and having Philip Rosedale, Mark Kingdon, and Tom Hale as keynote speakers?

After attending the event, I’m not sure I have a clear answer, but I did come away with come clear impressions.

First off, Second Life is not going to replace First Life any time soon. As nice as it may well be when we see the promised graphical and technical improvements discussed at SLCC, it will not replace the real world. Likewise, our avatar selves will not replace our flesh-and-blood counterparts. There are so many nuances that — at least in the foreseeable future — will not translate well into the digital realm. A smile generated by an emote is not the same as a friendly grin in the real world, nor does a virtual hug convey the warmth and acceptance of its real-world counterpart.

Instead, don’t look at it as a medium that will replace, look at it as one that can augment. At the risk of tossing up the popular “augmented reality” buzzword, that’s essentially what virtual worlds can do. Events like SLCC take the virtual and bring it into real space, allowing for a different form of socializing and collaboration. Conversely, the virtual has its own benefits: for one, no plane tickets, no hotels, and no box lunches are required.

Many of the people I met I already knew in Second Life, but the event made each of those people a bit more real. With many of them, I will now think of our meet-ups in San Francisco alongside those virtual times spent together, making for a well-rounded view of these people.

At the event, I met Daphne Abernathy, Jaelle Akula, Hamlet Au, Treasure Ballinger, Malarthi Behemoth,Harper Beresford, Tezcatlipoca Bisiani, Ina Centaur, Loki Clifton, Asri Falcone, Gellan Gleneig, Twa Hinkle, Strawberry Holiday, Alexa Linden, Amanda Linden, Blue Linden, Catherine Linden, Colton Linden, Dee Linden, Dusty Linden, Jeremy Linden, Jon Linden, Kate Linden, M Linden, Mick Linden, Oskar Linden, Pathfinder Linden, Philip Linden, Pink Linden, Rand Linden, Rodney Linden, Roxie Linden, Teagan Linden, Teeple Linden, Whump Linden, Alexa Lioncourt, Areal Loonie, Crap Mariner, Cybin Monde, Isablan Neva, Tuna Oddfellow, Beth Odets, Cory Ondrejka, Eshi Otawara, Jopsy Pendragon, Persephone Phoenix, M2Danger Ranger, Misty Rhodes, Cylindrian Rutabaga, Hydra Shaftoe, Sloan Skjellerup, Feline Slade, Siefert Surface, Bettina Tizzy, Hulaboom Voom, Bevan Whitfield, and a few others who I’m afraid I forgot (met too many people, was hard to remember everybuggy’s names. Sorry!). I now have an “augmented” view of each.

When I think back on SLCC, it’s meeting Alexa Lioncourt and having her run over to give me a hug. It’s Eshi Otawara and Beth Odets impersonating each other, as well as Beth and Cylinrdrian Rutabaga jamming on guitar and violin. It’s the wry grin you always knew Crap Mariner would have, or even Asri Falcone slyly slipping under the table in a somewhat successful attempt to liberate one more brownie. These are the experiences I can then take into the virtual realm, and which will change the way I look at all the above — for the better in every instance.

If anything, that is what I’d recommend SLCC for. It is that chance to go behind the curtain a bit, and meet the rest of these people you’ve known only in a digital persona. Each I met was just as vibrant as their Second Life counterparts, even if there were far less neko ears, furry snouts, or other items more common amongst the usual Second Life meeting.

I do see one weak link, however. I did watch one of the keynotes from inworld, rather than the Grand Ballroom at the Westin St. Francis. As a result, it only had an audio stream, and we lacked even the slides that the presenters (as well as their avatars) used. In my opinion, SLCC could do better at this, truly augmenting their real life event with a well-presented virtual presentation. Imagine if the panels and keynotes had their own version of Linden Lab’s Isabel conference room? This could be the future of SLCC, both inworld and out.

June 21st, 2009 by Marianne McCann

I’ve made posts about this here before, the idea that in a world where we can do virtually anything, why is it we opt to follow routines from our first lives? We can live in sunken grottos, yet many opt for a simple suburban home. We can create cities in the clouds, yet often opt for storefronts firmly embedded in virtual bedrock. We always come back to some real-world basis for our world. Is it that our imaginations are limited, tethered to reality, or is it that we relate to things closer to our reality much more than those outside our possibilities?

In Second Life, we can fly. A simple tap of my “home” key, and I can hover over the virtual earth, ready to zip around like Supergirl. Its quicker than walking or running, usually more efficient, and just a lot cooler.

Yet many, myself included, purchase and fly virtual aircraft. Indeed, virtual aircraft that look like real aircraft, when we could have a vehicle far removed form the realm of possibility. Some of these even have built in limitations. Take for example the PT-17 Stearman from Cubey Terra.

It’s a great little plane. not the fastest, but still have some kick to it. It also has a limited amount of fuel. You can burn out the engine if you go too fast for too long, and you will kill it if you drop it into the water.

Add all that to the hazards of inter-sim travel as it is — bad sim crossings, ban lines and full parcels, and such — and one wonders why you would ever want to be in a vehicle in the first place.

I think part of it is the challenge. I love taking the Stearman out for a flight from Bay City Municipal Airport to Abbotts Aerodrome and back. That round trip is about a full tank of gas for that plane, especially with some of the navigation one has to do to avoid “problem spots.” I’ve had to coast into Bay City a time or two, and it’s not uncommon for my gas tank to run dry before I taxi to the hangar. but I’m always a little giddy for having made it back, knowing that I did not have to rely on my silk parachute for a dunk into the Gulf of Lauren.

Part two is what I said above. We can relate to it in some ways. I can only fly, unassisted in my dreams. IRL I have been in commercial jets a few times, and once got to take a flight in a friends 50s-era prop trainer. So on one level or another, I “get” this, it feels right.

There is an opposite side to this, too. I will never own a Stearman PT-17 in real life. Aside form it being simply impractical for me to have such a thing, I would not particularly want such. Too much hassle. But in Second Life, it’s only as far as my inventory — and I need not take classes or apply for a pilot’s license!

Likewise, my other usual aircraft is one that is as far out of the realm of possibility as even the most fantastical spacecraft as far as I’m concerned. the Terra Aerius blimp. Seats five, and features a 20×20x60 hull. I call mine the Airship Sansara, with tail marking SL1.

It’s unlikely I will ever ride in one, though I did get to see inside the cockpit of a Goodyear blimp once. I’ll certainly never fly one. Yet in SL the other night, I took members of my virtual family and a couple friends our for a tour of the tri-city waterways. First off, I can report that — aside from a false start that caused us all to take a bath in Battery Passage —
we completed our tour without incident and landed back at the airport. Secondly, it was a great, fun, social time with friends: one that I could simply never do in my first life.

I recommend it. Give it a shot, whether you get one of the above planes or something else, and whether you fly out of Abbotts, Gray, Bay City (which has another privately owned airport in the city proper as well as the future Info Hub in Hau Koda), Hollywood, or some of the other runways.

May 27th, 2009 by Marianne McCann

In the post-war era, many in the United States started to move out of the cities and into the suburbs. This was a product of the prosperity of the time, the rise of the “car culture” and the Eisenhower interstate system, and a number of other factors. It led to people commuting from their suburban residence to their job in the city, or traveling in from their homes for the nightlife and shopping opportunities the nearest cosmopolitan center could offer.

In Second Life, we need not do this. We can teleport anywhere we want. In the blink of an eye we can go from the Chakryn Forest to Planet Mongo. The idea of a “commute” is almost laughable in a world where one can teep or fly unaided. Even more so, teleporting is often less problematic (and certainly faster) than attempting to actually drive anywhere.

This is why I find it amazingly funny that many of my sibling Bay City storeowners have been setting up residential plots in the Second Life Suburbs of Shermerville, Blumfield, and West Haven. Yes, you can commute from one to the other by driving over the Shermerville Bridge into Nova Albion and following Route 50 to where it connects with Route 66 and heading West past Channel island. It’s about a five minute drive, lag permitting.

More than this, we’re falling into real world patterns that fit these places. We’re having backyard barbecues. Yesterday, I sold lemonade out front of my place. I’ve had door-to-door salespeople. There’s even been talk of door-to-door trick or treating this Autumn.

So we have a world without limitations, yet we live in Levittown-style suburban “boxes” and have our mid-century style storefronts off in the big city. Do we do it because we’re comfortable with “first life” patterns, or because this is something we wish we had outside of SL?

April 29th, 2009 by Marianne McCann

After you look at Linden Lab’s language on the Adult Only thing enough, you start seeing what terms are the big “talking point” terms. One of those is the notion that this move is being made to allow for a “more predictable inworld experience.”

I could say a lot of things about that. I mean spend some time around the new Moose Beach infohub and tell me how “predictable” that experience is for new Residents. Ditto for the old Ahern or Waterhead Welcome Areas.

For that matter, consider that Second Life itself is a very unpredictable experience. Mainland is a constant array of rapidly changing builds in all sorts of styles. Events like the SL birthday and Burning Life offer the chance to see the broadest possible options for presentation in this world. People praised mainly for taking the medium in new, unexpected, and yes unpredicted territories.

But that isn’t what is meant in this case, I don’t think.

Here’s an experience I had around this time last year that I think typifies what Linden Lab means when they speak of the “predictable experience” and the need for a place for adult content separate form mature land.

Since 2006, a white clapboard home has sat along the southeastern shore of Sansara. That’s my home location, and the residence of my inworld mommy. At one time not long ago, we were five strong, two parents and three kids, living in that place. While us kids were kids, our parents were young lovers. We’d go off and play, they’d hug and kiss and cuddle.

There was a skybox that I never saw, as it was deemed off-limits by our inworld parents. I suspect it likely had some of the adult goodies one can find in most skyboxes populating the Second Life skies. To me, this was all fine and well. They could do what they wanted to do, we could do what we wanted to do, and all was good.

Eventually some new neighbors moved in, just the other side of our property line and less than 20m from my bedroom. They built a dark castle with a large courtyard facing our side. Within that was a small stable filled with sexualized prim animals, and a few other caged enclosures. This was a site for bestiality, slave auctions, and all sorts of hardcore action.

I am all for people being able to do what they want to do on their land, I really am. One thing trumps that, however, and that is a desire to see all working together for a common good. Most of the neighbors simply moved away. Some put up spite fences. Even I screened in some of their plot (the area nearest their stable) using large but tasteful pines.

They, of course, were fully within their rights to do what they wanted to do on their land. Policies allowed for a hardcore bestiality slave auction house to sit next to the white clapboard family home. The “Ursula” project changes this. It allows for any number of stores or clubs to exist on the plot where once a castle sat, as well as private residences where the adult avatars within them might enjoy their own sexual devices from time to time. It also gives those who do want to have a hardcore bestiality slave auction house a definite place where they won’t have to deal with neighbors griping about what they want to do.

This is the good part of this policy to me. The good sort of predictable.

The down side? Oh, there are plenty. I fear how this is being implemented, and that while some reliable LL employees have said one thing, others have given a very different view. discussions on definitions where the idea of a list of words’ was poo-pooed get supplanted with, well, a list of words on the Second Life wiki. Talks about what will and won’t be allowed get obfuscated by language that makes it hard to see what LL have in mind — and such obfuscating is purposeful, allowing for both lenience *and* future restrictions.

Unlike the “err on the side of caution” rules applied to child avatars that make it dangerous to one’s account to show as much skin as one might see on a public beach, my hope is that these policies will err on the side of lenience. Yet really, who can predict what we’ll experience?

April 23rd, 2009 by Marianne McCann

When I see the anger over the adult/ursula policy, you know one of the first things I think of?

Kid avatars have had to live under a shifting, vaguely worded policy for two years. We’ve had to watch what we do, be aware of where we were, and otherwise step carefully lest we be accused of doing something wrong.

Now everyone gets to share the joy.