Month: July 2014

Second Life films top-out the Project Homeless machinima awards

Posted on by Inara Pey

HomelessIn February, and thanks to Jayjay Zifanwe, I carried an article about Project Homeless 2014, a Challenge run by Screen My Shorts Incorporated and the University of Western Australia in partnership with, and sponsored by, the Parramatta City Council.

As I went on to report at the start of the month, no fewer than four entries from noted Second Life film-makers had been selected as finalists in the competition, with a chance of winning in both the machinima and the overall film categories.

The selected SL finalists were: Rysan Fall, Tutsy Navarathna, Vilvi Rae and Secret Rage.

Project homeless invited film-makers of all ages cultures and ability were invited to submit original creative digital content (conventional film and / or machinima) of between 3 and 10 minutes in length, and based on one of 22 themes on the subject of homelessness. Entrants were asked to nominate two of the themes they would like to film, were then allocated one of their two choices and given 30 days in which to submit a completed film on their allocated theme, either as an individual or team entry. Prizes for the competition amount to $10,000 Aus (L$2.28 Million) cash and prizes, with at least $700 Aus  reserved for Machinima.

The awards ceremony took place at the Riverside Theatres, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, on Friday July 11th, and was attended by some 250 people. Three of the films submitted by the SL film-makers took the top three prizes in the machinima section of the competition, with one of them also awarded the 2nd Runner-up prize overall.

Rysan Fall’s Invisible City, a powerful mixed format piece, featuring homeless people discussing their situations, their lives and their history, and represented by Second Life avatars, took the Best Machinima prize and was awarded the 2nd Runner-up prize overall.

Taking the 1st Runner-up prize in the machinima section of the completion was Tutsy Navarathna’s Homeless. Combining footage shot in India and in Second Life, this film focuses on the growing disparities between the really poor of the world and the very small minority of the very rich, as well as touching on those who have made homelessness a spiritual choice.

Vilvi Rae took the 2nd Runner-up prize in the machinima section for Sun Dog, an examination of homelessness among young people as its theme, focusing on estimates that around one-quarter of homeless young people in Western countries identify as LGBT, and who cite conflict at home as the main reason for leaving and taking to the streets.

Commenting on the success of his film in both categories, Rysan Fall said:

I can’t express how overjoyed I am at how well this film was received. This is such a serious subject and I wanted to be respectful in the way I presented the message. The message I was trying to convey was that it can happen to anyone. Even through no fault of their own. I was extremely excited to hear that “Invisible City ” came in first in the machinima competition. But I was even more excited to hear that it placed 3rd in the mainstream film competition. It was great to see a machinima film judged alongside real life films. I am honored to be part of such a worthwhile and important film contest.

The overall winner of the competition was Peacekeeper by Joshua Hoareau, the reflections of a former Australian Peacekeeper on his time served in Africa during peacekeeping operations. This entry also took the North Bondi RSL Prize for best film on Returning Veterans.

Congratulations to Rysan for Invisible City in both winning the machinima section and being so highly placed in the mainstream competition, and also to both Tusty and Vilvi. The full awards list can be found on the Screen My Shorts website. A final set of congratulations of course go to the overall winner.

Second Life machinima makers should keep their eyes on the UWA Second Life Blog for upcoming news on the next UWA machinima competition – MachinimUWA VII: Transcending Borders, which is set to have a prize pool of at least L$500,000. I’ll also have the details of the competition available on these pages, once announced.

Related Links

With thanks to Jayjay Zifanwe.

Pork pie hats, sunglasses, legends of the Cailleach, and shark tales

Posted on by Inara Pey

It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous story-telling in Voice, brought to Second Life and Kitely by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library.

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

Sunday July 13th, 12:00 Noon: Aloha! The Blues Brothers!

blues brothersGet out your pork pie hat and your shades, don a dark suit and make your way to Imagination Island to join “Joliet” Jake and Elwood Blues, who also extend a very special welcome to all representatives of the Illinois law enforcement community who might also choose to attend 🙂 .

Yes, the Blues Brothers are on a new mission from God – this time it’s a special benefit concert for the Community Virtual Library, which provides free library resources and services to the residents of Second Life.

The fund-raiser will have a slightly Hawaiian flavour, so if you have a hula-hula skirt or a particularly loud shirt, don’t hesitate to wear those – Blues Brothers dress code is entirely optional, rather than required!

The party kicks-off at 12:00 noon SLT, and will feature many of the Blues Brothers’ popular hits from the movie, SNL skits and the albums. Also on hand as a special guest – Aretha Franklin!

To join the fun, simply follow the Seanchai library teleport link at the top or bottom of this post and then click on the party poster at the landing point for your taxi to the Community Virtual Library event space.

And, to get you in the mood, one of the classics from  Jake, Elwood and the band.

Monday July 14th, 19:00: Space Wars: The Colonel’s Tiger Continues

Gyro Muggins continues reading The Colonel’s Tiger by Hal Colebatch, a story from Larry Niven’s Man-Kzin wars series.

The colony ship Angel’s Pencil is the first human vessel to encounter the Kzin. Following a violent exchange, the Angel’s Pencil relays her situation and the attack on her by the Kzin, including detailed information on the anatomy and physiology of their attackers. While the reports are dismissed by many as an outbreak of psychosis on the colony vessel, for one ARM agent, they trigger a memory about a confrontation between a human and a “tiger man”, which took place in the 19th century on Earth …

Tuesday July 15th, 19:00: More Stories from Ozland Gallery

With Llola Lane.

Wednesday July 16th, 19:00: “Old Woman” – Cailleach Tales

In Irish and Scottish mythology, the Cailleach is a divine hag, and regarded as a creatrix. In Scotland, for example, she is credited with making many mountains and high hills, and is also regarded as the mother of all the gods and goddesses. She’s also said to be the personification of winter.

Find out more by joining Aoife Niphredil at Seanchai Library.

Thursday July 17th

 19:00 Shark Myths and Legends

sharkFrom out of the depths of the sea and the darkness of our imaginations they come; a silent killer armed with razor-sharp teeth, ready to rise up and grab the unwary swimmer or surfer; one of nature’s most finely honed killing machines evolved over millions of years …

Or so popular myth would have us believe; the truth is far different. The reality is that shark attacks on humans are extremely rare. In fact, and as with most other wildlife on this planet, it is actually Man who preys on the shark far, far more than the shark preying on Man.

Join Shandon Loring as he brings to life a selection of true stories about sharks from Shark Life, written by the man who perhaps first shone a light into that deep-seated fear we have when the word “shark” is mentioned: Peter Benchley, the author of (among others) Jaws.

21:00: Seanchai Late Night

with Finn Zeddmore

—–

Please check with the Seanchai Library SL’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule. The featured charity for July-August is WildAid:  seeking to end the illegal wildlife trade in our lifetimes by reducing demand through public awareness campaigns and providing comprehensive marine protection.

Related Links

KR Engineering: games to be free-to-play only

Posted on by Inara Pey

As news of the changes to the Lab’s policy of games of skill continues to ripple outwards, people have been questioning what it might mean for assorted games held within their inventories and / or on their land which offer payouts and pay-to-lay options. In particular, a question was asked on the forum thread created by the Lab on games like Greedy Greedy, which have a pay-to-play option. The response from the Lab’s Community Manager was that such games would indeed fall under the updated Skill Gaming policy.

Greedy Greedy and other KR Engineering games offering pay-to-play / combined pot payout options are to be updated in light of the Skill Gaming policy changes, with the pay-in and payout options removed (image: KR Engineering)
Greedy Greedy and other KR Engineering games offering pay-to-play / L$ payout options are to be updated in light of the Skill Gaming policy changes, with the pay-in and payout options removed (image: KR Engineering)

As a result of this, and subsequent enquiries on the KR Engineering Facebook page, Karsten Rutledge, KR engineering’s owner, posted an article on changes that will be forthcoming to all KR Engineering games offering a pay-to-pay / L$ payout capability.

Karsten’s article can be found under the heading Skilled Gaming! What is it? How scary is it? Are we all DOOMED?! On the KR Engineering Facebook page. While this doesn’t require people log-in to Facebook in order to read it, the key points are reproduced below for those who have KR Engineering table games but who prefer not to access Facebook at all.

Because games like Greedy Greedy, On-a-Roll, Triumph, etc., are considered subject to the upcoming changes to the Skill Gaming policy, Karsten has decided to make them all free-to-play and remove all payout options, informing customers:

Before the end of the month, I will be issuing updates to all of my games that remove all money and payout functions from them. With no payout option on the game (no buy-ins and no betting), the games will no longer be subject to the Skilled Gaming Regions policy. You will be able to rez and play them wherever and whenever you like as usual. The new policy ONLY applies to games that have an option to pay the winner of the game a L$ prize. To be in compliance with the new policy, all you will need to do is update your games (which is FREE, as always) before the end of the month, or realistically, whenever you next pull them out. You won’t get in trouble for having them in your inventory, whether they’re in compliance or not.

In further addressing this change later in the post, he continues:

So in conclusion: Keep calm and carry on. Don’t worry, keep playing and have fun. I will announce more as I get questions answered from Linden Lab, and of course announcements will be made when updates are available for each game to bring it into compliance. The games you know and love aren’t going anywhere, they will play just the same and the only difference will be you may not pay money into them, which as it turns out, doesn’t happen 99% of the time anyway, so you won’t even notice.

However, Karsten believes the changes to the Skill Gaming Policy will not affect the Greedy Greedy jackpot, commenting:

As far as I currently know, that will not be going away, playing any appropriately configured Greedy game will still qualify you for the jackpot even after August 1st. The Jackpot is not considered gambling because you do not have to pay to be entered into it. If this changes, I will certainly make an announcement about it.

In addressing the potential for future versions of KR Engineering games offering a payout, Karsten indicates this is questionable, given the amount of outlay required. Furthermore, were it to happen at all, it would likely to be only with regards to Greedy Greedy, and would be a special version of the game entirely separate to the current version:

According to Gaming.SL, only 1.6% of games played to completion this year involved money of some kind. At the moment, I’m sorry if you’re in that 1.6%, but I will likely not be pursuing becoming a creator of approved gambling games, as it will cost me at least $2000 USD per year to do so, and that’s not counting the up-front costs of hiring an attorney, and paying the application fees and review fees.

Depending on the answers I get from Linden Lab in the coming weeks, I may eventually pursue approval just for Greedy, I don’t think any other games get gambled on at all anyway. Even if I do get Greedy approved for skill gaming in the future, it will not effect anyone who already owns a Greedy table, because it will be a completely separate version of Greedy. From now on, there will always be a “no money” version of my games for general use, any “money” versions will always be separate.

So if you have any version of a KR Engineering game which includes a pay-to-play option, do keep an eye out from updates from Karsten, and on the KR Engineering Facebook page for further information.

Related Links

With thanks to Ciaran Laval.

A pastoral setting that’s Heaven Scent

Posted on by Inara Pey

NorderNey, Heaven Scent; Inara Pey, July 2014, on FlickrNorderNey, Heaven Scent (Flickr)

I tend to visit places around SL in bursts. By that I mean I’ll visit five or six at a time, take notes, grab snapshots and then settle down to write about them. This inevitably means the order in which they appear in my Exploring Second Life series can be haphazard, particularly if I find somewhere which demands I write about it right now.

Sometimes it also means that places wind-up as a folder of snapshots and a set of notes sitting on the computer waiting their turn because I’ve *cough* actually let them slip my mind as I bounce around. This doesn’t often happen, but it did happen with NorderNey, Jacky Macpherson’s beautifully pastoral setting on her region of Heaven Scent – and for which she has my sincere apologies!

NorderNey, Heaven Scent; Inara Pey, July 2014, on FlickrNorderNey, Heaven Scent (Flickr)

NorderNey is another of those evocative regions in which one can easily feel at home despite never having visited before. It brings together rural and coastal elements in a perfect blend of land and sea that, while it lacks any form of sim surround, still suggests it sits on a stretch of temperate coastline somewhere in the world; a place where the soil is still rich enough for a golden crop of wheat to be grown even as it slowly gives way to sandy shores and the sea beyond.

Two houses occupy the land, almost diagonally opposite one another. From the larger of these, situated next to the landing point, unpaved tracks offer visitors two routes by which to explore the island, one linking the house to the nearby lighthouse and the beach beyond it; the other winding “inland”, along what could easily be a river bank, and past that field of wheat.

NorderNey, Heaven Scent; Inara Pey, July 2014, on FlickrNorderNey, Heaven Scent (Flickr)

This is a place which should be explored with local sounds turned on, as Jacky has added a sound scape which perfectly matches the setting, giving added depth to the surroundings as one explores. Close to the coast, the sound of waves breaking against the sand and rocks can be heard. Further inland, birds and wildlife sing, chirp and call; towards the northeast side of the island, and the second house, the wind can be heard sighing through the tall grasses and around and between the rocks and trees, while overhead and across the island, gulls cry as they circle on the updrafts.

NorderNey, Heaven Scent; Inara Pey, July 2014, on FlickrNorderNey, Heaven Scent (Flickr)

That NorderNey is a photographer’s delight goes without saying – as many who have visited an blogged about it before me have proven. So to is it a delight for those who want to simply wander or sit and forget their troubles or spend a little time in the peaceful company of a friend or two; places to sit and share can be found right across the region, on jetties, alongside houses, on the beaches, in the shade of the trees –  even in one of the many rowing a sail boats moored around the island.

NorderNey, Heaven Scent; Inara Pey, July 2014, on FlickrNorderNey, Heaven Scent (Flickr)

When I first visited NorderNey, I happened to be playing to J.S. Bach on the stereo. Given that sheep are grazing around the lighthouse on the island, the piece I happened to be listening to seemed a tad serendipitous, so I’m going to close with it here.

Related Links

SLeducate: a SL resource for educators, students and new users

Posted on by Inara Pey

One of the most common issues raised by virtual teachers in Second Life (SL) is how to get new students up to speed with the fundamentals. You know – walk, talk, navigate – that stuff. For those with little or no experience in 3D environments it’s not easy to pick up SL’s basics, however these are the skills that underpin everything we do in world. Needless to say a solid set of foundation competencies is vital to the success of any learning endeavour. The problem is that eradicating SL newbie–ness takes time – many would argue lots of time.

So opens a UWA blog post by Carmsie Melodie about a web-based resource she has put together which, while primarily aimed at the education sector, potentially has a broader reach when it comes to assisting those new to Second Life.

The SLeducate site, hosted by the University of Western Australia, essentially comprises three main parts:

  • The SL Basics Series section, which provides a set of resources designed to help newcomers get to grips with Second Life
  • The Virtual Educators section, which provides a central resource (documents, tools, videos) designed to help educators and teachers understand the benefits and potential of using Second Life as a medium for teaching and education
  • The SLictionary, a searchable glossary of Second Life terms, words, abbreviations, etc.

It is the SL Basics modules which are the focal-point for Carmsie’s blog post. In it, she covers the aims of the series, outlines the structure of the modules and their relationship with one another, etc,  and provides notes and thoughts on how the series can be delivered (e.g. as a series of self-teach modules, as a classroom-lead activity, or as a combination of the two).

While primarily aimed at educators and instructors, the introduction to the series notes it can be used by anyone new to SL, or who is interested in trying-out Second Life.

The 6 elements (including the introduction) of the SL Basics course provided as a part of SLeducate
The 6 elements (including the introduction) of the SL Basics course provided as a part of the SLeducate website

There are six modules in total – an introductory unit and five learning modules which take someone wishing to get started with Second Life from signing-up for an account, through downloading the viewer (Firestorm being the viewer of choice in the course), and on to the essentials of getting about in SL, and understanding camera controls, clothing, inventory, etc.

Each module comprises one or more interactive Adobe Captivate sessions, complete with embedded video and demonstrations, with supporting information such as PDF format “cheat sheets” and other handy documents, useful URLS and SLurls, additional optional videos and demonstrations, etc. Each of the Adobe Captivate sessions in turn covers a specific aspect of using Second Life, and can be allowed to run at its own pace, or users can step forward / back through it as needed, with an estimated maximum duration for any session of around 15 minutes.

To assist with using the modules for self-teaching or asynchronously, and to provide and in-world community around the SL Basics Series, Carmsie has created the SLeducate group in-world. This can be used by those following the modules to seek assistance, ask questions, exchange ideas, and so on.

Continue reading “SLeducate: a SL resource for educators, students and new users” →

SL projects update 28/3: more server and viewer news

Posted on by Inara Pey

Banana Island - The Pilgrim's Dawn; Inara Pey, March 2014, on FlickrBanana Island, The Pilgrim’s Dawn, March 2014 (Flickr)

Server Deployments Week 28 – Recap

  • On Tuesday July 8th, the Main (SLS) channel was updated with the server maintenance project that was previously on BlueSteel and LeTigre.  This project adds the ability for LSL functions to view and modify the render materials (normal map, specular map, and diffuse texture alpha mode) properties on prims, via new prim parameters – release notes
  • On Wednesday July 9th, the RC channels were updated as follows:
    • BlueSteel and LeTigre received the same new server maintenance update to address a JSON-related bug, an interest list related race condition, and to improve L$ transaction logging for payments made by scripted objects
    • Magnum remained on the Experience Tools project, and receives the same updates as the Main channel, so LSL support for materials is now grid-wide.

 BlueSteel / LeTigre Updates

Commenting on the server maintenance update deployed to BlueSteel and LeTigre at the Server Beta UG meeting on Thursday July 10th, Maestro Linden explained one of the bug fixes (BUG-6466) and the L$ transaction update thus:

The LSL JSON bug fix, BUG-6466, just makes it so that numbers in the format “1.0e+2” get parsed as JSON numbers.  Previously, they’d be treated as strings (though “1.0e2”  would be treated as a number). The spec says that “+” is optional, so we added that support.  I’d be surprised if more than 2 people end up noticing that change 🙂 .

The one non-bug fix change in BS and LT is more verbose logging of certain L$ transaction types … Historically, a L$ transaction from scripted payment (llTransferLindenDollars or llGiveMoney ) would not include the name of the object that did the payment, when you viewed it in the “L$ Transactions” section of the website. However you would see that information if somebody had paid L$ into an object.

Previously, the entry would just look like this: Destination: Maestro Linden; Object Pays; Region: Morris.

But now, with the update to BS and LT, transactions in those regions will additionally include this line: Description: <Name of object which paid>. The page where you see the difference is https://accounts.secondlife.com/transaction_history/. Anyway, it could be useful for understanding which of your objects are paying out L$. Assuming they’re not all named “Object” :).

The remaining fix, “Temp Attachments are sometimes not removed on the viewer when detached from a region change event”, was related to a race condition, and explained by Simon Linden:

Updates were out-of-order there. Basically if your script took things off on the region change, anyone might get the updates out-of-order. It was worst on slow connections. For those who are curious, it went like this:  if the first update from the new region was slow, the “kill” message removing the object would happen first, and get ignored.

So in other words, items which should have been removed appear to remain in place, with Simon adding:

In this case you can’t detach it … because for the sim, it’s already gone. The viewers are the ones out-of-sync with the server. So you right-click and detach again and nothing happens.

The fix on BlueSteel and LeTigre should hopefully prevent this from occurring during a region change to regions on these channels.

SL Viewer

Maintenance RC Viewer

A new Maintenance RC viewer appeared late on Thursday July 10th. Version 3.7.12.291824 contains almost 40 MAINT fixes intended “to make your Second Life smoother”. The list of fixes include:

  • MAINT-3135 Cocoa Viewer: Mac: Maximizing the viewer leaves garbage on the screen
  • MAINT-3154 Alt zoom zooms way out when attempt to zoom in on Mac build running with external monitor
  • MAINT-3171 Alt-clicking while moving mouse can move the camera significantly
  • MAINT-2980 Reevaluate the 512 meg texture cap
  • MAINT-4216 Double clicking on anything in COF removes it from your avatar – including skin, shape, hairbase and eyes – results in bakefailed avatar
  • MAINT-4001 Received Folder is movable within Recent Tab – see my notes here on this issue
  • MAINT-3610 SL viewer partly ‘eats’ chat-message.

 

Please refer to the release notes link above, for the full list of MAINT fixes.

Library Refresh Project Viewer

The Lab issued a new project viewer on Wednesday July 9th, version 3.7.12.291799, which contains a number of updates related to the third-libraries used by viewer. This viewer has grown out of Monty Linden’s ongoing HTTP work, which required the update of several essential libraries used by the viewer, and Monty took the opportunity to undertake a more extensive update of the libraries.

These library updates should provide better security, stability and consistency improvements to the viewer. However, an advisory to Mac users warns that the updated libraries in the viewer have been built with a minimum OS level of 10.6. Therefore, this viewer, and future viewers based upon it, will not run on OS X 10.5.

While the viewer is primarily intended for testing purposes, and doesn’t contain updates which are liable to be noticed by most LS users, it is thought that it might help those encountering very specific SSA-related issues, the release notes stating:

A few users have experienced problems with avatar appearance due to their very specific network configuration. Gray avatars are accompanied by ‘Transferred a partial file’ errors in the SecondLife.log file. Linden has not been able to reproduce this internally but a possible workaround is found in this release.

A list of related JIRA reports is also given, but none of these appear to have been switched back to public access at the time of writing. They are: BUG-3323, BUG-3770, BUG-3877, BUG-3879, BUG-3882 and SH-4375.

Other Items

SL AIS Viewer login / Attachments Issue

Users on the SL viewer using the AIS v3 viewer code are reporting issues with attachments when logging-in to Second Life.

Some of the issues are described as a user logging-in to find their hair or (mesh) foot / hand or other attachment incorrectly positioned, and the only way to rectify the situation is to re-log. Some have suggested that swapping between a non-AIS v3 viewer and the AIS v3-enabled viewer may trigger the situation.

Some bug reports (BUG-890 and BUG-2772, both unfortunately non-public at the time of writing) have been pointed-to as examples of the problem, and further reports have been requested should it be encountered, with Coyot Linden noting for those wishing to file a JIRA on the matter:

One way to get a grapple on that sort of thing is to start a test run and keep track of the login times and regions.  When you hit a fail, logout and do one more and see if it succeeds.  If you provide that and the viewer logs, it would be easier for someone to do some log diving to figure out what the problem is.

Coyot Linden Takes the Driving Seat

Maestro Linden is  taking a three-week vacation from the Lab and Second Life. In his absence, Coyot Linden will be occupying the driving seat for the Thursday Server Beta meeting.