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.

(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.

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.

After a long time of wanting to be in Nova Albion (I had actually poked about there before Bay City was announced), a friend finally persuaded me with this small chunk of land. I faced it as a challenge, given the following actual and imposed contraints:

1. The parcel is 192 square meters, and supports only 87 prims. Further, it is 8m x 24m. This would require some cautious use of prims.

2. It is in Miramare, a PG region within the old city area of Nova Albion, and the neighboring buildings are largely futuristic in design. Because of the style of the neighboring builds, it should be build with standard prims versus sculpted as much as possible as well as have a futuristic look.

3. The build should reflect my interest in Second Life(tm) exploration and my knowledge of the local area surrounding Miramare.

4. The build should help promote Livingtree Island in some fashion, but any such marketing should be non-obtrusive.

5. The build should be a social place, where people can gather and hang out.

The result is Miramare Place, a small refreshment stand featuring snow cones served by a robotic friend (he was inspired by another Nova Albion resident Osprey Therian’s suggestions for the parcel). The build is retro-futuristic befitting both a city of the 1960s or a far-flung city of tomorrow.

It is designed to liven up its side of Miramare, which has been mostly unused for some time. Smaller than its skyscraper neighbors, it still seeks to fit in amongst them, providing a place for the weary traveller to rest and relax. The music stream, too, is space-age loungey stuff.

Much of the content is interactive, with a board that gives out landmarks to explore, another with local area information in a notecard, a snack selling robot, napkin dispensers (probably the single most useless thing in SL, but still fun), and even an easter egg or two hidden in the build.

Come on by and check it out, enjoy a break by the water in Miramare, and say hi if I’m there. I’d love your feedback!

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.

Yes, a barrel of baby blocks! simply rez the barrel and tell it to “dump out blocks” to have a set of sixteen blocks at your disposal. All letters are available, and a couple spares, just in case! They rez out as physical objects, but you can turn that on or off with a simple command. When you’re finished, just say “clean up blocks” to tidy your room or sandbox!

It’s copyable, and all prims are modifiable (incase you need bigger or smaller blocks). No transfer, but if you need it as a gift, you can buy a “golden ticket” for them at any of the below store locations for easy gift giving!

Available at the following You Know, For Kids locations:

* Bay City – Imaginario

* Livingtree

* Inner Child Depot, booth 103 in Fletcher

* Funky Town

Also check out my other goodies (Whee-Los, EZ Bake Ovens, Lamps, Music Box, Lemonade Stand, Wax Lips, Pinwheels, and more), an all the other goodies for both kids an adults!

Also available at XStreetSL!

Rideable as a vehicle by two kid avvies, only 9 prims too, so it’s not too much to leave sitting out either. Tons of fun, too!

This is rezzed out onto the ground (or wherever). You can then sit in it to ride it around like a vehicle. It’s not too fast an doesn’t go up hills much, but it’s fun going down then!

It’s 9 prims, and sold modify, copy, no transfer. You can modify the prims in case you need to make the wagon a little bigger for you.

It handles sim crossings fairly well, or as well as most vehicles in Second Life. You may snap back a bit when you ride in it. If you lose it on a sim crossing of whatever, just rez another one from your inventory.

Available You Know, For Kids in Bay CIty – Imaginario, Livingtree, Funky Town, and Inner Child Depot, as well as XStreetSL!

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.

Burning Life is not a “role play” area, though it tends to fall into a certain level of role play naturally. It is set in a desert environment, and people are encouraged to treat the location as if it was the First Life Burning Man’s location of Black Rock City, NV. As such, when you enter the event, you are greeted by folks at an entrance much like the one you’d be greeted at in Burning Man, etc.

Sometimes this can lead to almost Dada-esque porpostions, such as a 20+ member queue for a porta potty at this year’s event. Note to those who are unfamiiar with Second Life: porta potties are for show, and no one need use the. This isn’t The Sims. So essentially we all stood in line complaining about the people taking too long “for the show.” We also laughed. A lot.

I’m very excited to note that there’s at least eight plots being worked on by kids, each of which is unique and wonderful. In looking at all the things being built, this will be a great year overall for kids to come out to the virtual playa and enjoy the goings on.

My own entry (created with the advice and prims of Pygar Bu, Robin Howe, Valla Griffin, and Johnathon Spad) is Inner Child Camp 2009. It takes a lot of designs and ideas from the “KidsVille” camp at the first life Burning Man. There’s a lot of stuff there, including a small shaded area for stories, chilling or whatever and a stage area for shows an stuff. You’ll find it in Burning Life-Granite.

For those who want to see Burning Man, I recommend this:

Begin at “What Is Burning Life,” especially if you have not been to Burning Life before. There’s a lot to read there so feel free to skip some of the walls of text if you want. This will, however, give you an idea of where Burning Life “comes from,” and the culture of the event. This leads you through to the entrance (and its greeters). Consider at this point that you are entering a different Second Life. Dress for the environment, and think of this is more “real life” terms than you might otherwise. Be there in spirit.

Note that there’s a small tent near here with a handful of freebies. The majority of those are from 2008: there are fresher items (and a huge stack of em!) up the road at the Art Department, in a big green tent. The Department of Mutant Vehicles has its main build near there too. The daring can grab an art car at this site. This is also close to Ranger HQ and the Lamplighter’s camp.

If you turn to the West at the lamplighter’s camp, you’ll head down a row including Windyy Lan’e beautiful camp, the Wind Camp of Tijn Erde, the ‘Splo’s contribution, Aloah Oh’s wild work, and yes, my own camp.

Just beyond Ranger HQ to the north, however, some amazing artworks can be found. Be sure to see Ub Yifu’s gulliver, Bryn Oh’s Vassel’s Dream (plan some time for this, and brush up on your camming skills), and Lorin Tone/Madcow Cosmos/Judi Newell’s Sekmet temple. The road between all these leads straight up to Center Camp. You’ll always find something going on there.

Beyond Center Camp (also along the main road) is more amazing art, and The Man. Near him is the fire stage. There’s some beautiful sculpty artworks there. Some of the most amazing work you’ll see in SL.

From the Man: There’s three main roads leading off from there. To the left (West) is Toyko stage. This is a live music venue. To the right (East) is Berlin stage. That is DJed music. Both stages are, themselves, amazing builds.

North of The Man on the main road is the Temple of Forgiveness. This is a beautiful, beautiful build. Visit it and leave your thoughts.

This is also where the nightly lamplighter’s procession ends and the fire dancing begins. That is a must visit. Look for the lamplighters to finish their procession up the main road around 7:30 or so, then dance and drum the night away. This is totally worth your time.

Other things to see: Miso Susanowa’s The Roof Is Gone is cool, as is LisaKathleen Kaligawa’s The Savants. Loki Eliot’s Waiting For Pippin is wonderful, if a bit melancholy in a Puff The Magic Dragon sense. I also got a kick out of a full scale Mouse Trap game.

There are a TON of other builds to see, each of which are unique and wonderful, and worth your time to check out. Plan on spending some time exploring — and if you need to stay overnight, feel free to hang at Inner Child camp.

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.