Day: December 24, 2012

It’s that time of year again, the closure of 12 months of ups and downs, ins and outs and numerous other goings-on in the so-called metaverse and the galaxy therein with call Second Life. As with previous years, that means it’s time for me to take a look back over the last 12 months as seen through the pages of this blog.

First up: January through June. For those interested in July through to December, Part 2 of this review can be found here.

January

• Deformer reached “alpha” release:  Yes, this project really has been going on for nigh-on a year-and-a-half. Qarl’s metareality podcast-led news that the code was “finally” in an alpha state and ready to be played with was met with excitement. The initial release was followed by an update later in the month

• Direct Delivery reached beta and marked the start of what was to be another controversial year with the SL Marketplace
• The Lab rejected Qarl’s prim alignment tool, which caused a little confusion when some thought the deformer had been rejected
• The Lab introduced visual auto-mute, and I speculated on the end of ARC/ADW upsets
• Timmy Allen and his team opened-up Dranopia, the first of their SL-based games for 2012
• On the personal front: I took some heat for an admittedly non-forensic (but user-focused) test of viewers using my hardware; I continued my love affair with Ample Clarity’s remarkable 1-prim furniture (and other) builds; I wished Rodvik a happy first anniversary at the start of a year which brought the honeymoon period between the Lab’s CEO and many SL users well-and-truly to an end; and I looked at the magic of convex hull and of sculpts.

February

• The month kicked-off with an update from Rodvik relating to the possible return of last names to SL
• The Imprudence / Kokua team announced they’d be moving ahead with Kokua, then issued a small update for the viewer later in the month
• I got an early 2012 start to roasting my old chestnut of the Lab and communications, after the Lab attempted to cede ongoing coverage of their platform to bloggers, but only on the Lab’s terms
• We had the first mutterings that the flight ceiling of around 170 metres, above which flight assistance systems were required by avatars, would be done away with (it eventually vanished in April)

• The International Spaceflight Museum hit the headlines after miscommunications saw it vanish from SL, although it did return later in the month
• I pondered on the future of Linden Homes after the Lab issued a survey on the subject
• After a year without press releases, the Lab broke silence with an announcement of the acquisition of LittleText People, starting a raft of speculation
• I got to preview Battlebeast Breedables, which launched in March
• Pathfinding got set to arrive on the beta (Aditi) grid
• The Lab slipped out the Received Items folder / Inventory update as the next step in paving the way for Direct Delivery, and I provided some feedback
• The Lab updated its TPV Policy, which brought very mixed reactions, prompting Oz to comment on a forum thread and reassure people on the JIRA, while Tateru Nino sought further clarification from the Lab on matters
• On the personal front: I started driving people batty with my obsession with Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, something which continued throughout the month; I launched my Viewer round-up page
• Non-SL news: Avination gained vehicle crossing abilities with a slightly contentious claim of being the “first” grid outside of SL to do so.

March

• The month got off to a rocky start with Rodvik announcing “no return of last names” and then shutting the door very firmly on future open “round robin” discussions, something I gave thought to at length, pointing out why the Lab fails to help itself
• Given the concerns with Received Items, the Lab put out a call for feedback, and later followed-up with feedback of its own
• Esbee and Charlar Linden – two people I aways got on very well with at LL – departed
• The first rumblings of inventory issues on Aditi were heard
• The first details of the advanced creation tools appeared
• Jessica Lyon sat down with Oz Linden to discuss the TPV Policy changes
• Oz Linden pointed me to Alina Lyvette’s remarkable Lumiya client for SL (and now OpenSim)
• I looked at the revised Destination Islands for new SL users, about which I later raised some questions
• Rod Humble and Emily Short started talking new products from LL
• Timmy Allen and his team followed-up Dranopia from earlier in the year with a sequel game

• LL announced the Premium Wildnerness Experience, which most Premium members weren’t wildly captivated with, even if it did include pathfinding features
• Direct Delivery launched, and I kept an eye on it, although it wasn’t long before problems started
• The Lab opened sign-ups for Beta Testers for their new products via their corporate website
• Issues with the Marketplace continued to rise and were not helped by the Commerce Team keeping mum on the matter
• In fairness to the Lab, I took a look at the flip side of communications, noting that problems aren’t always the Lab’s fault
• Pathfinding landed on the main (Agni) grid at the start of a beta
• Non-SL news: Kitely opened its doors to Twitter users, allowing me to sign-up and take a look around; offered expanded services including world-to-world teleports and more support for viewers.

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