There was no main (SLS) channel deployment on Tuesday, September 6th. On Wednesday, September 7th, all three RCs received the same new server maintenance package, defined as containing “minor internal logging changes”.
Commenting on the update at the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday, September 6th, Simon Linden indicated the updates might help with some of the problems occasionally seen with estate bans; at a minimum the Lab will be able to gather more information on them.
SL Viewer
There have been no significant changes to the SL viewer channels since the end of week #35. A further RC update to the VLC viewer had been expected following comments at the August 27th TPV Developer meeting, but has yet to materialise. As such, this leasing the viewer channels as follows:
Current Release version: 4.0.7.318301 (dated August 8), promoted August 11 – formerly the Maintenance RC viewer download page, release notes
Visual Outfit Browser viewer, version 4.0.8.319143, dated August 30 – ability to preview images of outfits in the Appearance floater
VLC Media Plugin Viewer RC, version 4.1.1.318504, dated August 15 – replaces the QuickTime media plugin for the Windows viewer with one based on LibVLC
Project viewers:
Project Bento (avatar skeleton extensions), version 5.0.0.318969, dated August 25 – avatar vertical position update; SLM files are by default not created or used; show bones display uses colours differently; animation of collision volumes fixed
Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847 dated May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.
Other Items
Windows 10 Performance Issues Due to KB3176938
As noted in BUG-37795 and my related article, some windows 10 users are experiencing issues after installing the Microsoft Windows 10 Cumulative Update KB3176938, with reduced FPS after tabbing between other applications they may be running and a Second Life viewer. The issue appears to be related to how Windows 10 handles OpenGL. Linden Lab are apparently going to (/already have) contact(ed) Microsoft on the problem, which also affects a number of PC games. Please refer to the JIRA for further information.
Tying all the knots together. Credit: public domain
by Caledonia Skytower
Part 6. Tying it all together (Final)
This series has covered a lot of territory this year, and I am changing the ending of it somewhat, as it feels like we are reaching a point where everything is impacted by the answer to this basic question: what do you want?
This answer is key to how you interpret many of the points made in this series. What you want out of your event promotion is defined by what your long range goals are for your event. There is no wrong answer to the question. Not all viable paths are exactly the same.
If what you want is a nice, cosy intimate gathering of friends every once in a while, then a lot of the ideas that I have shared are irrelevant and unimportant. If you want to create a closed community of like-minded, like-interested individuals, similarly some of these practices will be helpful, and some are not for you. If you want to grow your events or your venue into something more than either of those, then roll up your sleeves and be prepared to get messy and stay messy for a while. Growth requires consistency, connections, and constant vigilance! (invoking Madeye Moody). I am going to tie a number of these concepts together in this final post.
Are you on the grid, but not on-line? “On-line” off-world can manifest itself in a number of ways. Do you have a website or blog presence? Do you post your events in social media – either Facebook or Google+ at the very least? These are all pathways to furthering your reach and promotional impact.
Social media – an invaluable tool
A website or blog presence. The more complex your schedule, the more you need something like this to answer the question “who are you, and what do you do?” Beyond the simplest of operations, it gives you somewhere to send people when they ask for more information. Remember from the very first post, The Basics – Who? What? Where? When? How? – always leave people knowing where to find more. That can be as simple as an event calendar, or a single blog page. Blogger (by Google) and WordPress make it incredibly easy for the non-html-savvy person to create and maintain a simple blog for free. Google even offers a domain service for US $12 a year, which is very reasonable. But don’t take my word for it, look around and see what tools fit best for you. There are lots of accessible options.
You can’t be in your venue 24/7, or available to answer questions from interested residents all the time. So make it easier for them to answer basic questions on their own. Things that you can include on you site/blog could include:
Calendar
Your grid location – “SLurl”
Additional details on upcoming events or programs
Who to contact in-world
Links to the web presence of others that you are affiliated with
Links to other on-line presences: Facebook, Google+, Flickr, Twitter, Instagram etc.
A blog can help you gain an audience. Credit: public domain
Social media. It is important to emphasize that social media is not a guaranteed direct promotional source. It is true that some people have great success with social media event postings, but their common usage is far from wide-spread. I suspect that some people have gathered around them groups of people who use the same tools, and that is why it works better for some people than for general public recruitment. Both Facebook and Google+ have event functions, and they also both have Groups or Communities for different virtual world enterprises. Use their search functions to find groups that you can join where it would be appropriate for you to post your information. Be sure to read group/community guidelines and rules carefully. More posts are not better if your “singing to the wrong audience.”
This is important: copious posting in social media will not guarantee you a full venue or an SRO event. Why? Because most standard postings only reach 5% of their potential audience. Unless you do nothing else but watch social media and post repeatedly (which I do not recommend), things will get missed. Do not post about a single event more than once in 24 hours. The 5% who do see your posts will start to ignore you.
On average, social media is not a means of direct promotion (i.e. “butts in seats”), but a way of raising consciousness. You may get the odd person wander in because they saw you in a Google+ community. It is more likely that they will have seen your social media posts and then run into some mention of you while logged in and think, “oh yeah, I have heard of them.” That kind of casual exposure is as crucial as direct promotion. You need them both.
Get your audience working for you, by regularly encouraging them to use whatever means exists in that social media tool to “like”, “plus”, “share”, “re-tweet” or whatever. By doing so they assist you in extending the life of the post and keep it higher up on the feed to the greater potential audience. If it helps, think of these functions like touches. Plenty of people see your post. But a post that is seen but not touched sinks to the bottom quickly. The more your post is touched, the higher it floats. Likewise, if you want to be helpful for an endeavour you like or support, touch their posts in whatever way the media provides.
A Basic rubric for social media promotional posting:
Text Only Posts (lowest number of views)
Post with a link to a site/blog (higher)
Post of an image or picture with details (even higher)
Post of a video clip (highest number of views)
Posts with cute puppies and kittens . . . okay, not even going THERE!
Constant Vigilance! So you’ve done it all. You have:
Answered (or are answering) the basic questions – Who? What? Where? When? How?
You have crafted your message in words, and shared those words with people who can spread your story around.
You have created consistent, strong visual images that easily identify your venue and events – created a “brand.”
You have built a network of synchronistic enterprises and individuals who share information for mutual benefit.
You have established and maintained an on-line presence that informs people of who you are, what you have done, and are doing.
What now? Sit back and watch all the good people flow in? No, my friends. Once you build a promotional machine you not only have to feed and water it, but you have to make sure all the parts are still working to their optimal capacity. Regularly (minimum every six months) evaluate where you are spending your resources, and how effective the results are. Give things time to work and develop, but don’t be afraid to stop promoting where there are no measurable results.
Who posts your press releases? What exposure are you getting outside of your own venue or endeavour? What does your traffic look like in-grid, and on-line? Know how your current audience found you – ask them! That’s most likely where you’ll find new audiences. What is your ratio of new to returning audience/participants? Empower your existing audience to be “roaring lions” on your behalf. Be creative. Make it fun!
Be prepared to adjust things, try new things, and always be evaluating. What worked dependably for years may not work as well any more. Be prepared to refresh everything at all levels. Be aware of what others, engaged in similar enterprises, are doing: where are they posting, promoting. Don’t miss an opportunity to turn the competition into a colleague – developing mutually beneficial relationships where everyone wins.
When things seem to be going nowhere, or you find yourself frustrated, go back to the basics: Who? What? Where? When? How? And most importantly for you personally, always be able to answer the question “Why?”
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My profound thanks to Inara for her support and patience with this series, and to everyone who has enjoyed it, and left such great comments. I look forward to seeing you all around the grid.
~ Slainté!
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Read the Entire Series
If You Just Build It… has been a multi-part guest series this year. To read posts you might have missed, follow the links below.
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
These opening words from Desiderata by Max Ehrmann, a prose poem possessed of a mythical history of its own, are the thematic foundation upon which Joslyn Benson (Jolivea Tyran) for her exhibition at Dathúil Gallery, which is open now, and runs through until the end of September 2016.
All Is Quiet Now presents eighteen avatar studies, all but one of which are monochrome in nature. Many of these are nude, so may not be suitable for viewing at work. All are finely nuanced pieces, subtle in form and tone, powerful in emotional expression.
“Silence: the absence of sound; silence: the placidity of mind; silence: the sense of being,” Joslyn says of the collection, “Moments of stillness where all that’s left is our own thoughts … and to find comfort in unspoken words.” it’s a beautiful summation of a series of pieces which perfectly frame the power of silence and expression to convey so much, whether we are with a loved one or friend, or caught in a moment of personal reflection or thought.
I frequently refer to narratives and stories when reviewing art; it is something I tend to seek, as it often has as much influence on my response it a piece as either my admiration of the artist’s skill (which, particularly in reference to the artists invited to display at Dathúil, tends to be considerable), or the initial emotional response I feel towards it. With All Is Now Quiet, I found this idea of narrative given additional depth in some of the studies offered.
On the one hand, there is the story we immediately perceive in looking on them for the first time. But on returning to these particular images, a second narrative is so often suggested. Take Once Was, for example, or The Way We Were. Each is suggestive, by title and pose, of regret or sadness; the apparent loss of something between two people. But look away, spend time with the other studies and then return. You many find each of these pieces now suggests something else: rather than regret or sadness, they represent a moment of pause as those depicted within them reflect on their love for one another and what the other person means to them.
Suddenly, we are witnessing not the recognition of something lost, but of something which still very much alive between the subjects of these pieces; with comes the suggestion that. shortly after the image was captured it is acknowledged as figures come together once more in a kiss or a warm embrace. With other images, the shift in narrative comes when we alter our own perspective from that of observer of an image in a gallery, to that of participant in the scene depicted. All of which make these studies, as noted, marvellously nuanced in tone and subject.
Once again, Lucy and Max have brought another extraordinary talent to Dathúil. All Is Quiet Now is an exquisite collection of images, which are individually compelling as well as perfectly evoking the emotional power of silence. Stunning.
Updated, October 7th: AMD and Nividia have released drivers which should hopefully address this issue. See the comment from Lee McKay (below), and my article here.
In August, Microsoft issued their Windows 10 Anniversary Update, which result in some problems for users around the world, notable with the operating system locking-up or freezing (see this Reddit thread as an example).
As a result of the issues, Microsoft issued a series of hotfixes and updates, culminating in a Cumulative Update KB3176938.
However, since its release on August 31st, 2016, KB3176938 has given rise to renewed Windows 10 / OpenGL issues which are impacting a number of games – and also impacting Second Life.
Whirly Fizzle has raised a JIRA on the problems – BUG-37795 (based on a Firestorm filing by Vicky Aura (FIRE-20034). The issue is intermittent, but when encountered, results in exceptionally low FPS rates (on the order of 1 or 2 fps). The issue tended to occur when moving focus away from Second Life to another running application, and then switching back. Whirly reports that on some systems this problem is intermittent but on other systems it will reproduce after the viewer has lost focus for the first time in a session.
The issue has also been raised on the Microsoft forums by Firestorm developer Ansariel Hiller – but do note, the issues is not related just to the use of Firestorm, other SL viewers can be affected.
Currently, if you are a Windows 10 user and being hampered by this issue, the only known workaround is to uninstall KB3176938. Again, as Whirly points out in the JIRA, How To Geek provides instructions on how to do this – and please refer to the comment from Torric below, when doing so.
Again, please note this is not a Second Life problem, it is an issue within Windows 10 affecting assorted applications and games using OpenGL.
Vintage Romance, designed by Britain Leigh Knave (Britain Knave), her partner, Marcus Knave (Marcus688) and Nïc Bour (NicBor), is a place almost literally caught in time, a reflection of the moment at which the coming together of two hearts in love is forever frozen in Timeless Love.
At first glance a near-monochrome, frosted world, Vintage Romance presents visitors with a land of rocky islets sitting over freezing waters and beneath cloud-laden skies. Trees stand with boughs glistening in hoar-frost and wooden bridges span the cold, still waters. However, despite the cold look, this is a place with much to attract the eye and the camera and offers a romantic warmth.
The region has a distinctly west-east orientation, offering something of a narrative around the idea of love and marriage. Visitors arrive on the west side, where the bride’s limousine is parked. From here, the route points eastwards, passing a frozen fountain and under arches of frosted boughs to a small table on which sit bouquets, candles, what might be an order of ceremony book, a camera and photos of a newly wed couple.
Beyond this little tableau, reminding us of the wedding act, the path splits, leftward, across a wooden bridge, lies a reception area with set ready for music, guests and dancing, and completed by a place of honour for the bride and groom. Meanwhile, the remaining path, also spanning the waters on a trestle bridge, leads to the place where the wedding ceremony itself is held.
Open to the sky, wooden doors guard the entrance, a further arched tunnel of trees beyond leading to guest seating and the altar. More trees, trunks bent as with time, line either side of this rocky place, standing as sentinels watching over proceedings – or perhaps as the columns of nature’s church, delicate net curtains draped from their boughs.
Linking these two – place of ceremony and place of celebration – are further wooden bridges suspended beneath white balloons, the waters between the two islets and the suspending bridges home to Mistero Hifeng’s che ci importa del mondo (we care about the world), a very visual expression of love and cherishing another.
Around these major locations there is much more to be seen. A (tracked) steam train sits to one side of the region, the cab plushly arranged, a “just married” sign hanging from its safety rail, all suggestive of happy couples heading off to honeymoons in romantic locations (in this case, Paris). Also to be found are places to sit and vignettes telling other aspects of that special day.
Whether you’re a romantic at heart or looking for a location just that little bit different from other places you may have visited, whether for photographs or simply to enjoy, Vintage Romance has much to offer visitors. Those who do visit and take photos are asked to share them in the Vintage romance Flickr group.
Now open at The Dirty Grind is an exhibition by John Brianna (Johnannes1977 Resident) entitled The Mask Collection. While it may at first seem to be a modest collection of nine images, it is nevertheless a nuanced, eye-catching display, mixing the physical and the virtual which challenges us to consider what may or may not lie behind the mask we may wear at any given time.
The images, seven of which can be found within the main room at Dirty Grind Theatre and the remaining two in the foyer area, feature studies of both avatars and people wearing a variety of masquerade and other masks. All have been marvellous finished is style suggesting they are either either painted or drawn, and such is the skill with which this has been achieved, I leave it to you to decide for yourselves which are taken from Second Life and which from the physical world.
“I wanted a collection that fits the theme of the Dirty Grind,” John told me as we discussed the display. “And to reflect the idea that we can wear masks in Second Life which can both conceal and reveal.”
The idea that we all wear masks, whether in the virtual realm or the physical, is an old one, subject to many debates and discussions on the nature of self, identity and how we project ourselves in different circumstances. Within Second Life, such debates can often become far more philosophical, simply because we have a much greater freedom to project an appearance through an avatar, or to play a role within an environment without revealing much of ourselves beyond that role. Or equally, through the very act of “concealing” ourselves within an avatar /role, we can gain the security which allows us to project far more of our personality and nature among strangers and acquaintances than we would were we in the physical world.
It’s an engrossing subject, but truth to tell, even without being drawn into such philosophical ruminations, this is a superb exhibition which should be seen to be appreciated. The images – as noted above, and which are offered for sale at L$400 each – are exquisitely produced; each one has a unique look and style, coupled with a very individual use of texture and colour, which makes it instantly captivating, drawing the visitor into it.
The Mask Collection will remain at The Dirty Grind through until the end of September 2016 – not to be missed.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 