Month: November 2012

Marketplace: Commerce Team refuse in-world meetings (at least for now)

Posted on by Inara Pey

On the 7th November, the Commerce Team gave their latest update on activities. The post reads in full:

Merchants,

Thank you for your continued feedback. Following is an update regarding your latest questions and requests:

  • Direct Delivery email notifying merchants receipt of item by customer: We understand your request and are looking into this.
  • Marketplace category changes: We’re working on some proposed updates to these categories and will give you the opportunity to provide input. Stay tuned for more details – including a survey.
  • JIRA changes: We are working to adjust our communications practices to make sure all Merchants are kept up-to-date on bug fixes.
  • Marketplace weekly user group: We will not be adding a user group at this time.
    [My emphasis]
  • Publish Marketplace six-month backlog: There are no plans to provide this data.

In addition, we are evaluating ways to improve communications practices with Merchants that will allow us to address technical and support issues more effectively. This includes direct email correspondence, such as the direct email that was sent November 6, 2012 to let all Merchants know about the benefits of Direct Delivery.

We appreciate your patience while we continue to improve marketplace functionality and merchant communications.

The Commerce Team

Of particular interest here are two statements – that the Commerce Team are “evaluating ways to improve communications practices with Merchants”, while simultaneously refusing to agree to in-world user group meetings.

On the subject of the former, the Commerce Team point to their recent e-mail to merchants extolling the virtues of Direct Delivery; virtues which are, as I commented at the time, actually non-existent for many in receipt of the e-mail because Direct Delivery is for them proving to be at least as unreliable as Magic Boxes (and the Marketplace in general). As such, I’m actually unclear on exactly how such an e-mail is actually “improving” communications practices given the frustration it might generate, much less addressing technical and support issues “effectively” – but, c’est la vie.

User Group meetings: a source of positive LL / user interaction the Commerce Team remain unwilling to embrace

The refusal to hold in-world meetings, although hardly unexpected, is regrettable. While it is true that in this day and age, face-to-face meetings are not always required in order to resolve technical issues and problems, the fact remains tat face-to-face meetings – even in the digital domain – do serve a valuable purpose. They help promote a more positive attitude between people and they encourage greater mutual support and respect for one another (and I’m deliberately not mentioning the very practical results which can come out of such meetings by way of ideas and suggestions for dealing with issues and problems or providing LL with information on issues of which they may have no prior knowledge).

Anyone who has ever been to other SL user group meetings cannot fail to note the appreciation and understanding they generate towards LL. sure, there may be occasional bursts of frustration when things are going wonky somewhere on the grid – but by and large both sides of the equation – Lab and users – benefit from the interaction and exchange.

It’s therefore regretful that the Commerce Team continue to step back from in-world interactions with merchants. While the initial meeting may well be a little rough on them – I would venture to suggest that the vast majority of merchants would actually welcome the opportunity to have such face-to-face meetings and would be only to willing to engage with the Commerce Team fairly, rationally and respectfully.

Of course, there is the little caveat to the Commerce Team’s rejection on the idea of in-world meetings, the “At this time.” This suggests that at some point in the future they may well reconsider their position. I hope they do – and that they do so sooner rather than later – because doing so really would be to be to their credit and do far more to help to “improve communications practices with Merchants that will allow us to address technical and support issues more effectively” far more than any number of bland e-mails or forum posts is ever likely to achieve.

Viewer release summary 2012: week 45

Posted on by Inara Pey

This summary is published every Monday and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Viewer Round-up Page, a list of  all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware) and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy
  • By its nature, this summary will always be in arrears
  • The Viewer Round-up Page is updated as soon as I’m aware of any releases / changes to viewers & clients, and should be referred to for more up-to-date information as the week progresses
  • The Viewer Round-up Page also includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.  

Updates for the week ending: 11 November, 2012

  • SL Viewer updates:
      • Beta version rolled to 3.4.1.266708 – the first release since confirming the crash issue appears to have been resolved realloc disabled  (release notes)
      • Development version rolled to 3.4.3.266625 on November 8 and then to 3.4.3.266835 on November 9
  • Dolphin released version 3-3-4-1-26336 on November 10 – core updates: pathfinding support (excluding navmesh visualisation, this is pending LL’s sub-licence); RLV has been upgraded to the latest version, 2.08.03.04; area search has been reworked and improved by Techwolf Lupindo from Phoenix-Firestorm; No further support for logging into OpenSim grids (see here) – release notes
  • Kokua rolled to Beta 3.4.1.24900 on November 6
  • Niran’s viewer rolled to 2.0.2225 on November 6 – core updates: fading chat / IMs; imported and update to Hide LookAt from Firestorm; webkit plugin tweak
  • Cool VL updates:
    • Stable branch rolled to 1.26.4.38 on November 10 – core updates: Improved Reload Selected Texture feature to allow sculpt objects to be redrawn on reload of their sculpt texture; changed anisotropic filtering graphics hardware settings so that restart is required between changes; further media on a prim (MOAP) backports and fixes, option remains disabled as work continues; changes to settings names for streaming parcel media to make them more meaningful; reverted experimental “UseNewTargetOmegaCode” setting to FALSE due to vehicle issues; removed “dead” grid from OpenSim grid selector & updated URIs.
    • Experimental branch rolled to 1.26.5.18 also on November 10 – core updates as per main release, plus: tree rendering fix (phantom trees sometimes appearing on the horizon when hovering over a parcel with trees) and tree shadows issues (bad shadows)
    • Release notes
  • Libretto – removed from round-up page due to website being unavailable for a month and no response from creator on status (also removed from the SL Third-party Viewer Directory)

Related Links

For the Fallen

Posted on by Inara Pey

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

From “For the Fallen” by Laurence Robert Binyon, 1869-1943

Tales from Imagination Island and beyond

Posted on by Inara Pey

The Seanchai Library will be presenting another round of stories and readings in Voice this week. I missed putting out an advanced notice last week as I was going around in ever decreasing circles at the start of the week, so missed being able to cover the first part of a couple of the presentations on offer.

As always, all times SLT, and unless otherwise stated, events will be held on the Seanchai Library’s home on Imagination Island.

Sunday 11th November, 18:00 – Peter Pan

Illustration from “Peter and Wendy” by James Matthew Barrie, Published 1911 by C. Scribner’s Sons, New York

Caledonia Skytower presents the second (of 6) readings of novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie’s most famous work.

While Peter Pan first appeared in another of Barrie’s works, The Little White Bird, written for adults in 1902, it was in the 1904 stage play, Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up in which he first came to widespread public attention. The play was later expanded upon by Barrie to form the 1911 novel, Peter and Wendy, which later became Peter Pan and Wendy and, eventually, simply Peter Pan.

Both the stage play and the novel tell the story of Peter Pan, a mischievous little boy who can fly, and his adventures on the island of Neverland with Wendy Darling and her brothers, the fairy Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, the Indian princess Tiger Lily, and the pirate Captain Hook.

This part of the tale will be told at Magicland.

Monday 12th November, 19:00 – Kite Fighters

Cover of The Kite Fighters, first edition

Gina Pralou-Maven presents a riveting narrative set in fifteenth-century Korea.

Seoul, Korea, 1473. Lee Young-sup and his elder brother, Kee-sup share a bond through their love of kites, Young-sup flying them and Kee-sup in making them. However, their father, a rice merchant, has designs on the family’s fortunes by having Kee-sup become a court official, forcing him to study for the position when Kee-sup would rather be making kites for his brother…

Linda Sue Parks’ The Kite Fighters is a touching and suspenseful story, filled with the authentic detail and flavor of traditional Korean kite fighting mixed with the pressures of upholding family traditions, brings a remarkable setting vividly to life.

Tuesday 13th November, 19:00 – More Steampunk Stories

Stories with a distinctive Steampunk theme, brought to one and all by the Seanchai Ladies.

Wednesday 14th November, 19:00 – Peter Pan

Caledonia Skytower continues the story of Peter’s adventures with Wendy and The Lost Boys as she returns to the Seanchai Library to read part three of this six-part retelling of J.M. Barrie’s classic.

Thursday 15th November, 19:00 – Letters from Home

With Shandon Loring.

Sunday 18th November, 10:00 – To  the Moon!

Join Seanchai Library’s founder, Derry McMahon and her partner, Bear Silvershade at the Fruit Islands Plantetarium for tales of space and time to spark the imagination.

Using a virtual world can help improve your health

Posted on by Inara Pey

According to a study released by the University of Missouri (PDF), having a healthy-looking avatar can be good for our own health and self-esteem.

Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz, assistant professor of communication in the University of Missouri’s College of Arts and Science, who lead the study

Dr. Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz surveyed 279  Second Life users to study how their choice of avatars affected their real-world existence. She found that the amount of self presence, or identifying with a virtual representation, predicted the amount of influence an avatar had on a person’s life in the physical world. A strong sense of self-presence improved how they felt about themselves and promoted better health and well-being.

“The creation of an avatar allows an individual to try on a new appearance and persona, with little risk or effort,” Behm-Morawitz, communications professor at the University of Missouri, said in a press release accompanying the report. “That alter-ego can then have a positive influence on a person’s life. For example, people seeking to lose weight could create fitter avatars to help visualize themselves as slimmer and healthier.”

Those in the study who indicated they have a high degree of self-presence within SL indicated that they felt their relationship with their avatar improved how they felt about themselves in the real world. Self-presence also correlated to greater satisfaction with online relationships.

This isn’t the first published study to delve into the possible benefits of Second Life. In June of 2011 Indiana University reported that Second Life could be used to practical ends to achieve real weight-loss, with the results of a 12-week study involving both in-world and real-world meetings being widely reported in the media at the time.

In the Indiana University study, researchers found that, over a period of twelve weeks, people attending weight-loss / fitness programmes within Second Life tended to lose the same amount of weight as those attending equivalent real-world programmes. However, they further discovered that those engaged in the programme through Second Life reported significantly greater gains in behaviours that could help them live healthier and leaner lives – again underlining the strong psychological link people can develop with their online alter-ego.

The University of Missouri’s study – which actually pre-dates the University of Indiana’s study inasmuch as iot place in February / March 2011 – did not involve physical activities, but focused on participants completing an online questionnaire. The 279 respondents involved in the study represented 30 countries, with some 65% residing in the United States. Some 56% of respondents were female and 41% male, with the remaining 3% identifying themselves as transgender, male-to-female. The average age of respondents was 41 years, with an overall age range spread of 18 through 70.

The questionnaire iteself was structured to measure feedback against a number of hypotheses established ahead of the study as a result of factor analysis with five questions being asked of the participants.

Perceived avatar influence on health / appearance and relationship satisfaction (click to enlarge)

The format of the study means that it is somewhat flawed – the data has gathered from what is effectively a single point in time. A more accurate measure of the relationship between our real and online selves requires that study should be carried out over a more extended period, with experiences and the effects of their avatar on their human condition being tracked over multiple points.

Nevertheless, both this study and that of the University of Indiana highlight the very strong physical and psychological link people can develop with their avatar. This caused Dr. Behm-Morawitz’s team to extend the concept of “mirrored worlds” (as proposed by Joe Sanchez in 2009 to describe how ‘worlds complete with social and financial dynamics such as Second Life and World of Warcraft can “seep out”  of cyberspace to both mirror and impact offline life) to encapsulate the idea of “mirrored selves”, in which the investment we make in out avatars can be both reflected back on, and have impact with, our real lives in meaningful ways.

Many involved in Second Life will view the outcome of the study as unsurprising simply because they have an understanding and awareness of the investment they have made in their avatar. Even so, for those interest in the nature of our relationship with out virtual selves and the degree with which one can positively impact the other, it does make interesting reading.

For Dr. Behm-Morawitz, it has revealed that Second Life and virtual worlds are a rich source of behavioural study, and she is already investigating ways in which avatars may be used to encourage tolerance of diversity. “I am also interested in studying how using an avatar with a different race or ethnicity may increase empathy and decrease prejudice,” she said in the press release announcing the study. “This may occur through the process of identification with an avatar that is different from oneself, or through a virtual simulation that allows individuals to experience discrimination as a member of a non-dominant group might experience it.”

Related Links

What the Dickens? An interactive Carol for Christmas!

Posted on by Inara Pey

Incredible to think it is November already, and December is peeping at us over the horizon with the promise of Christmas festivities to come, with the year-end on their coat-tails.

the young Charles Dickens

This year has been the Dickens Bicentenary Year, which has seen celebrations of the life and works of Charles Dickens take place across the UK and around the world.

Commencing in Mid-December, StoryFests SL, in collaboration with their sponsors, Stories Unlimited! (the subscription group for Seanchai library (SL)) and the Community Virtual Library, will be hosting The Dickens Project, an interactive environment for a special presentation of A Christmas Carol.

This will be a special presentation of Dickens’ seasonal classic, and features Voice presentations of that work in whole, part, or adapted (as long as it is true to the original story) beginning December 14th through December 26th. On December 27th, the last day of the Project, the venue will be open to “alternate version” presentations and tributes to the classic.

The event will be hosted on land donated to the project by the Community Virtual Library at their home region of Info Island.

The Dickens Project SL

Currently, the organisers are seeking performers interested in participating in the event, which will be in live and in Voice. Presentations may be solo, duets, or larger groups of voices. StoryFest Events will take care of booking time slots and promoting (though presenters are encouraged to promote through any avenues that have as well). Those interested in participating are requested they contact Caledonia Skytower in-world and via notecard to apply for a presentation slot. Applications should include an outline of the presentation, including preferred dates and times for the presentation to be given (see the provisional schedule below for an outline of the event).

All applications for performance slots must be received no later than the 5th December, 2012.

Provisional Schedule

The project timeline (including actual presentations) is still being developed, and anyone interested in participating / attending should keep an eye on the StoryFests SL website. However, here’s a summary of the proposed activities:

  • Wednesday December 5th: Deadline for Presenter Requests
  • Monday December 10th through Thursday December 13th:  Venue available for presenter preview
  • Friday December 14th: Opening Day
    • Saturday December 15th OR Sunday December 15th: A.R.T. Partnership Presentation (exact date TBA)
    • Monday December 17th, 09:00-21:00 SLT: Celebrate Stave One – A Visit from Marley’s Ghost
    • Tuesday December 18th, 09:00-21:00 SLT: Celebrate Stave Two – Christmas Past
    • Wednesday, December 19th, 09:00-21:00 SLT: Celebrate Stave Three – Christmas Present
    • Thursday, December 20th, 09:00-21:00 SLT:Celebrate Stave Four – Christmas Yet to Come
      Friday, December 21st, 09:00-21:00 SLT: Celebrate Stave Five – Scrooge Awake!*
    • Saturday, December 22nd: TBA
    • Sunday, December 23rd, 16:00 SLT: Caledonia Skytower reads A Christmas Carol Part 1 (90 minutes)
    • Monday December 24th, 16:00 SLT: Caledonia Skytower reads A Christmas Carol Part 2 (90 minutes)
  • Dec 27 – Alternate Versions Day and close.

Any gratuities received during the event will be donated to the Community Virtual Library in SL.