It’s time to kick-off another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise indicated.
Sunday, October 22nd 13:00: Scare Me Silly 2017
The Seanchai Library team join Team Diabetes / Kultivate Magazine’s Scare Me Silly 2017 for an afternoon of storytelling.
Join Aoife Lorefield, Dubhna Rhiadra, Caledonia Skytower, Corwyn Allen, and VT Torvalar as they tell of ghostly goings-on, read from books about thing going bump in the night, offer terrifying tales and recite spooky sagas…
Monday, October 23rd 19:00: Reckoning Infinity
Gyro Muggins reads John E. Stith’s alien first contact story, once described as “Rendezvous with Rama meets James and the Giant Peach“!
Lieutenant Commander Alis Mary Nussem, her body partially bionic, isn’t to happy about finding herself aboard the same space vessel as the man she deems responsible for the accident which robbed her of a part of her natural body. However, she must put aside her differences with scientist Karl Stanton when a massive object enters the solar system, apparently on course to be swallowed by the Sun – but not before it will collide with a space station in Earth orbit.
Ordered to investigate the object, which is as large as a moon and quickly given the name “Cantaloupe,” Nussem, Stanton and the crew of their ship rendezvous with it, only to find they are not the first: the wreck of another vessel lies on the surface, a hole drilled into the object close by. The only means of entry to the Cantaloupe, Nussem and Stanton lead a team down through it – to make a stunning discovery.
Like Nussem, Cantaloupe is an bio-mechanical entity. It is alive, but it’s interior also have pipes, elevators chambers and more within. But it is also a place of danger – as Nussem and her also companions quickly discover – some to their cost. It’s also a place of unexpected surprises, as the crew’s biggest discovery proves…
Also presented in Kitely hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/108/609/1528.
Tuesday, October 24th, 19:00 The Water Mirror
Faerie Maven-Pralou reads Kei Meyer’s tale of magic.
Merle is apprenticed to a maker of magic mirrors. She even has one of her own, with a surface of water into which she can reach without ever getting wet – magic being a relatively common thing in Venice. Meanwhile, her friend Serafin, once a master thief, now works for a weaver of magic cloth.
Both Merle and Serafin accept the wonders of the city, from the mermaids in the canal to the stone lions on which the city guards ride on their patrols. But all is not well; beyond the walls of the city, the Egyptian Empire is laying siege, an army of mummy warriors and flying sunbarks held at bay by the power of the Flowing Queen, which runs through the city’s canals and hold the enemy forces at bay.
Then Merle and Serafin overhear a plot to capture the Flowing Queen and render the city defenceless. And while no-one actually knows what the Queen looks like, they set out to protect and / or rescue her. In doing so, they must ally themselves with the Ancient Traitor and journey into the realm of Dark Reflections…
Also presented in Kitely hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/108/609/1528.
Wednesday, October 25th, 19:00 Somewhere in My Mind There is a Painting Box
Aoife Lorefield reads Charles de Lint’s 2002 short story spin-off from his The Cats of Tanglewood series, and first published as a part of The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest, edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling
In this tale, Lillian, the protagonist from Cats is now in her mid-teens and hungry for her life to broaden; she longs to be an artists, but has neither the money nor training to achieve her desire. Then, whilst wandering in the forest one day, she discovers a paint box, long abandoned. Examining it, she recognises the name on one of the panels with the box as that of an artist famed for his pieces depicting the forest, but who disappeared years earlier, along with his apprentice.
Later, Lillian encounters the artist’s apprentice, looking not a day older than when he and the artists vanished. He tells her a tale of their having crossed into another realm, and her past experiences with magic allow her to accept the story. That world, the apprentice explains, is so beautiful neither he nor the artist wanted to return – and Lillian finds herself on the tip of a bittersweet voyage of discovery.
Thursday, October 26th 19:00 True Life Ghost Stories
With Shandon Loring in a special session at Octoberville in Second Life. Also presented in Kitely hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/108/609/1528.
Sunday, October 29th 13:00-15:00 The 2nd Annual Holly Kai GREAT BOO!
Scary storiesfollowed by music and dancing. Stay Tuned!
Please check with the Seanchai Library’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.
The featured charity for October – December 2017 is Habitat for Humanity, with a vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live – a safe and clean place to call home.
BURN2 2017 opening its gates on Saturday, October 21st, and will run through until Sunday, October 29th 2017, culminating in the burning of the Man the Temple on the closing weekend of the event.
The theme for this year is Radical Ritual, matching that of the official Burning Man event, and which is described thus:
Reinventing ritual in our post post-modern world – disregarding assertions of belief and focus on the immediate experience of play. Play can free us to envision truths of which we have no proof or warrant, and breaks down the distinction that divides belief from make-believe. Whole-hearted, creative play induces self-surrender to experience that is beyond the scope of reasoned thought.
The Festival commenced with a Lamplighters procession, which set out at 10:00 SLT on Saturday, October 21st, with a further procession taking place at 18:00 SLT. There will be similar daily processions at 12:00 noon and 18:00 each day of the event through until Friday, October 27th.
Saturday, October 28th will feature two burnings of The Man, at 11:00 noon and 17:00 SLT. On Sunday, October 29th, the Temple will likewise burn at 11:00 non and 17:00 SLT, but each of these burnings will be preceded at 10:00 and 16:00 respectively by Lamplighter processions, which will each include a Fire Dance performance at the Centre Camp. You can keep track of all BURN2 activities through the event schedule on Google Calendar.
To ease your explorations of the regions, don’t forget you can pick up a ride at the Department of Mutant Vehicles, car rezzing point close to the welcome area.
As with previous years, participants have fully entered into the spirit of the BURN2 theme, and the five regions offer a tremendous carnival atmosphere, with Today Nakamura’s Temple build beautifully and brilliantly capturing the essence of the theme and the playa as a whole.
About BURN2
BURN2 is an extension of the Burning Man festival and community into the world of Second Life. It is an officially sanctioned Burning Man regional event, and the only virtual world event out of more than 100 real world Regional groups and the only regional event allowed to burn the man.
The BURN2 Team operates events year around, culminating in an annual major festival of community, art and fire in the fall – a virtual echo of Burning Man itself.
Carolyn (right) addresses the afternoon product meeting, Friday October 20th, 2017
The following notes are taken from the Sansar Product Meetings held on Friday, October 20th. These meetings are held every Friday at 9:30am PDT and 4:00pm PDT, and are open to all. There is currently no set agenda, and the meetings are a mix of voice and text. The official meeting notes are published in the week following each pair of meetings, while venues change on a weekly basis, and are announced in the Meet-up Announcements.
The October 6th meetings took place at Witchy’s Upside Down, a Halloween themed experience by Beverly Zauberflote.Product team members Cara and Carolyn attended the morning and afternoon sessions respectively, with Jenn and Brett Linden, the Digital Content Manager at the Lab leading / attending both.
General Announcements
Contest results: both the attachments and the Sansar’s Scariest competitions have now closed and final decisions on winners will be announced via a blog post, potentially in week #43 (commencing Monday, 23rd October).
New contest: the Lab is in discussions with a new contest for Sansar, and details are likely to be announced “soon”.
Spooky Karaoke, Saturday, October 21st at 14:00 PDT: taking place at the Studio Club – Karaoke & Hang Out by SIN. Sansar users are invited along to exercise their vocal talents in a karaoke contest. The catch: as it is Halloween, the tune must be in theme with the season.
Halloween Party, Friday October 27th at 10:00 PDT: taking place at Starry Skies’n’Stuff by Jenn from the Lab.
Sansar Roadmap and Upcoming Releases
Gindipple channels his inner Bruce at the product meeting, Friday October 20th, 2017
A further “roadmap blog post” providing insight into upcoming releases is being drafted, and will cover the next two releases following the upcoming October / November 2017 Friends release.
FRIENDS RELEASE
The roadmap blog post on the Discovery and Friends releases can be found here), in short, the Friends release may include (subject to final confirmation):
Ability to search for people.
Improvements to publishing experiences.
An Events tab in the Atlas to showcase virtual meet-ups and special events to attend.
New guides to Sansar’s controls in desktop and VR mode.
Additional improvements for locating people are also planned, but will probably not be available for the upcoming Friends release. These include:
An Atlas indicator for the number of people in each experience.
The ability to locate where friends are in Sansar (with an option for people to opt-out if they do not wish to reveal where they are).
Store and Fashion Releases
The next two releases are the Store Release, scheduled for November, and the Fashion release, scheduled for December. Details of what will be in each of these releases has yet to be finalised, however:
The Store release will feature a range of updates and fixes for the Sansar Store.
The Fashion release will mark the “first phase” of deployment of clothing and fashion support within Sansar. Bjørn Laurin from the Lab outlined the plans for this in week #38 (meeting notes), and allowing for possible changes to the plans since then, I’m including the audio from that discussion below:
The hope is to have Fashion release available around mid-December (ish), to allow for the Lab’s traditional Christmas / New Year holiday closure, when only essential services are covered.
One point of note is that as Sansar does not as yet have maturity ratings (or similar), this avatars will retain a basic baked layer of underwear to prevent full body nudity. Thought is still being given how to implement this baked layer so that it does not interfere with fashion designs from creators.
Repeat / Stale Notifications and Messages
A recent issue is that of repeated / stale notifications and messages (e.g. direct messages from a previous session being repeated and marked as new; friendship requests previously accepted being repeated, etc). This has yet to be fixed, and in the meantime the planned deployment of a sound being played alongside of received messages / notifications has been delayed until the issue has been fixed. The problem has also led to requests that notifications and direct messages are timestamped.
Avatar Animations
Avatars in Sansar can walk and run as present. In the future the abilities to sit, jump, crouch, and pick objects up will be made available. However, as Bjørn also discussed at the week #38 product meeting (see the link above), not all of this is easy to implement in Sansar, and I’m again including his comments from that meeting for reference:
The improved avatar interactions / animation capabilities are seen as something to be added during 2018, and so will not be a part of the final 2017 releases. As Cara commented in the product meeting, and in addition to the points Bjørn discusses in the audio above, is that Sansar’s ground-up design means that capabilities for animating avatars within in cannot simply be “lifted” from Second Life or a similar-looking game engine. They require building into Sansar’s own avatar rig. Also, as part of the fashion work, the avatar itself is being re-worked to separate out the clothing bakes, and the Lab wants to complete this work before adding additional avatar capabilities.
Account Management
PayPal Support
In September, the Lab announced policy changes relating to the Sansar Store, which, among other things, required creators to file a payment method (credit / debit card) with the Lab. Following concerns raised from those stating they are unable / will not use credit / debit cards and requests for PayPal to be made an option, on October 2nd, the Lab confirmed the credit / debit card requirement would not be enforced.
At the October 20th meeting, Cara confirmed that adding PayPal to Sansar has been moved up on the roadmap, and is now a high priority, although subject to some other back-end work being finished.
The Avatar Name is somewhat analogous to Second Life Display names, inasmuch as it is a name by which someone is known in-world. Multiple people in Sansar can have the same Avatar Name (just is in the physical world there are multiple John Smiths, for example).
The Avatar ID is designed to be a unique identifier for each user / account. No two users can have the same Avatar ID.
Currently, both are fixed (although it may be possible to change an Avatar Name in the future). However, as both are visible to other users (the avatar ID being prefixed by “@”), this has raised a concern over account security. Accounts rely on e-mail addresses for log-in purposes, which again are not hard to discover, potentially meaning two out of three unique account identifiers (e-mail address and Avatar (account) ID) can easily be obtained (the third being the password). That said, the Sansar approach is not too dissimilar to Second Life, in that the user (account) name and user’s e-mail address can be discovered.
In Brief
Wednesday, October 18th Patch: there was a small patch released on Wednesday, October 18th, 2017 to address some crash issues. Release notes for this update are apparently in-hand.
In-Scene Interactions: the ability to interact with scripted objects such as light switches, door handles, etc., in Desktop mode is being worked on, but will not be appearing before 2018. Currently, such interactions will only work through direct collisions with trigger volumes.
Animated Mesh in Sansar: Animated Mesh (Animesh) is now open for testing in Second Life, prompting questions on when similar capabilities will be available in Sansar. Cara confirmed work is continuing on this, and the scripting team will be working on APIs for more granular control of animations, looping, etc. It’s not clear whether this will be available as a part of the upcoming 2017 releases or be targeted for 2018.
Avatar Attachment Size: avatar attachments are currently limited to a size of 1m x 1m x 1m and a tri count limit (15K per attachment). Requests have been made to increase both. Currently, there are no plans to change either in the short-term, but both may be revisited, depending on use cases offered.
Store Related:
Ability to update Store listings: following the Store focus group meetings, this is now “extremely high” on the priority list for updates, although a determination still appears to be required on where it sits in the order of priorities compared to things like licensing / supply chain management.
Ability to group and sell related items: is on the roadmap, but is sitting lower down the list than things like the ability to update listings (above).
Community events: the Lab has put together a series of events for October, but is keen to see experience creators organise and host events. Those who opt to do so are asked to contact Jenn with details, so she can help promote and advertise them through blog posts, etc., in lieu of a more structured means of promoting events.
Dynamic objects:
The Lab is working out how to improve collision handling with dynamic objects in Sansar (e.g. through the use of convex hull collisions) to improve performance.
The ability to teleport onto dynamic objects will be looked at in the future.
LOD (Level of detail) system: again, on the roadmap, but is currently still in the planning stages.
Sansar and Oculus “Dash” and Windows 10 Mixed Reality:
Oculus “Dash” is new user interface designed to let users replace traditional computer monitors with highly customisable, nearly unlimited VR screen space described as being like the virtual screens and information displays seen in the 2002 film Minority Report. It is due to start rolling out in December 2017 as a beta product.
Windows 10 Mixed Reality is currently being deployed, and OEM headsets (currently VR focused) are being made available.
For Sansar, Linden Lab is watching the Oculus Dash development, and currently remains focused on Oculus Rift / HTC Vive support, rather than looking at Window 10 headsets.
The Content Creation User Group Meeting, Thursday, 13:00 SLT
The following notes are taken from the Content Creation User Group meeting, held on Thursday, October 19th, 2017 at 13:00 SLT at the the Hippotropolis Camp Fire Circle. The meeting is chaired by Vir Linden, and agenda notes, etc, are usually available on the Content Creation User Group wiki page.
Medhue Simoni live steamed the meeting to You Tube, and his video – in two parts – part 1 and part 2. These have been embedded as a playlist at the end of this article, as should play one to the next. Time stamps to the recordings are included below, and clicking on any of them will launch each video in a separate browser tab at the assigned point. However as these notes present the meeting in terms of topics discussed, rather than a chronological breakdown of the meeting, so some time stamps may appear to be out of sequence.
Animesh (Animated Mesh)
“I like the name ‘animated objects’ because I think it’s unambiguous, but it takes a long time to type!” – Vir Linden joking about the name “Animesh”.
Project Summary
The goal of this project is to provide a means of animating rigged mesh objects using the avatar skeleton, in whole or in part, to provide things like independently moveable pets / creatures, and animated scenery features via scripted animation. It involves both viewer and server-side changes.
In short, an Animesh object:
Can be any rigged / skinned mesh which and contains the necessary animations and controlling scripts in its own inventory (Contents tab of the Build floater) required for it to animate itself.
Can be a single mesh object or a linkset of objects (link them first, then set them to Animated Mesh via the Build floater > Features).
Has been flagged as and Animesh object in the project viewer, and so has an avatar skeleton associated with it.
Uses three new LSL methods to run or stop animations, or check which animations are currently running:
At this point in time, this is not about adding fully functional, avatar-like non-player characters (NPCs) to Second Life. So Animesh objects will not (initially) have an avatar shape associated with them, make use of the viewer’s inventory floater or the server-side avatar locomotion graph for walking, etc., and so will not use an AO, and will not use the avatar baking service. Such capabilities may be added as a future phase of the project.
[video 1: 8:29-9:15] Vir re-iterated that the purpose of the testing is to uncover bugs, check the workflow logic, gather performance data, etc., and encouraged creators to try to push the capability by doing as many different things as possible to ensure this pass of Animesh results in a “good” release.
People have been using the test items provided on Aditi, and early reactions to to the capabilities have been positive. JIRA issues and requests have been filed, and Whirly Fizzle has created a JIRA filter for Animesh to make listing all current reports and requests filed for Animesh.
Some Noted Issues
[Video 1: 10:32-13:15] Animated mesh height placement: One issue with Animesh noted in the meeting is determining where on / above the ground an Animesh objects should be placed, with people noting that when enabling the Animated Mesh option in the viewer, an Animesh creature / avatar can sink into the ground somewhat – as can some Animesh objects which should appear to be attached to an avatar, such as at the hand attachment point.
This appears to be an issue within the baking service which will likely require an update. In addition, Vir is hoping that testing will reveal more about height offset positioning so that the workflow for calculating where Animesh objects appear to be can be further refined to avoid discrepancies.
[Video 1: 16:29-18:18] Animation Playback Speeding Up at Greater Distances: This is a known issue wherein animations appear to “speed up” the further away you cam from the object / avatar being animated (the same thing also happens when avatars are impostered). This isn’t an Animesh issue, but a product of how animation updates are handled and his been known about for some time (and was subject to some investigations and tweaking with things like the Interest list several years ago), and is particularly noticeable with large numbers of avatars dancing.
A non-public JIRA has been specifically filed against the problem for Animesh, as it is felt the problem could be far more visible in regions where Animesh creatures, etc., are used. Vir’s hope is that the Lab can re-examine the issue with a view to reducing the issue’s visibility.
[Video 1: 19:22-19:40] Viewer crashing on unchecking the Animated Mesh option: this is a known issue, but one not seen as occurring frequently enough to be considered a blocker to issuing the test viewer. It is being looked at.
Other Points of Animesh Discussions
[Video 1: 13:17-15:11] Animesh: Purpose Built, or Just Conversion? Should Animesh just be a case of being able to convert any rezzable rigged mesh to Animesh (as is the case) or should mesh intended to be Animesh be specifically designed with that end use in mind. In the case of the former, conversion lowers the barrier to entry with Animesh, but might lead to inefficient models being converted, possibly leading to performance issues. The latter is likely to be used by some content creators wishing to optimise their content for Second Life, but potentially limits the scope of Animesh.
[Video 1: 15:12-16:23] “Unrigging Meshes” on conversion to Animesh: It is noted that converting a rigged mesh to Animesh and not animating it causes the rigging applied to the mesh to be ignored, effectively “converting” it to an unrigged mesh. So modifiable items brought from a creator which are not supplied with an unrigged version might, be “converted” in this way.
[Video 1: 20:19-21:43] Mesh attach / detach limitations: By default, we generally attach / detach objects directly from inventory; also by default, mesh attachments cannot be dropped in-world. However, this means that the only way to currently “pick up” and “put down” an Animesh pet which can roam in-world / be held, is via inventory, which doesn’t make a lot of visual sense. Vir agrees this should probably be looked at and amended, if possible.
[Video 1: 22:30-23:12 and 23:40-25:20] 90-degree rotation of visual mesh versus bounding box / physics: The question was asked if this is a side effect of the +x alignment (see my previous CCUG update for a discussion on avatar alignment). In short, yes, but there is a lot going on in defining, rigging, attachment mesh, it’s not clear precisely what is going on, and further investigations are required.
[Video 2: 0:00-0:30] Attaching a prim object to an Animesh object causes the prim to become invisible: (partially messing from the videos): the reason this happens is unclear, but it is regarded as a bug.
[Video 2: 0:48-2:15] Is there a script function for attaching a mesh to an existing Animesh object: yes, but is permissions based.
[Video 2: 3:05-7:45] Facial animation / pathfinding issue? Medhue Simoni reports that adding pathfinding to an Animesh object which does not have facial animations running can make the object’s face “explode”. This requires further investigation to pin down – but might indicate Animesh may need a “reset” option similar to the Reset Skeleton option for avatars (also covering alignment / bound box issues).
[Video 2: 7:58-9:45] Animesh and avatar shapes: as noted in the project summary above, Animesh currently does not recognise avatar shapes (but this may be added in a future iteration of the project, once baking service support, etc., is available. This means all joint in a skeleton are in their default position unless affected by a script / animation & there is no ability for shape editing.
[Video 2: 10:29-13:44 and 15:08-16:00] Sitting on Animesh objects & pathfinding: sitting an avatar on an Animesh object should be possible, but if the mPelvis bone of the Animesh is moving, this may result in odd avatar movements, as noted in past Animesh updates. For an Animesh creature using Pathfinding, a sit target will likely need to be explicitly scripted.
[Video 2: 14:04-14:29] Interacting with Animesh by clicking on it: there is a known issue still being looked at, where right-clicking on an animated Animesh works, left-clicking doesn’t.
[Video 2: 16:16-20:00] Using a prim as the root of an Animesh object: Animesh currently requires the root object in the linkset is rigged mesh (and – as noted above, re: attaching prims to an Animesh item) is not very happy if any other parts of the linkset are not rigged mesh. A request has been made to allow the root of Animesh items to be a prim, in order to ease problems of orientation / bounding box scaling.Vir’s view on this is that work still needs to be done to ensure a better placement and orientation of the skeleton in order to better overcome issues of orientation, etc.
[Video 2: 16:46-17:40 and 22:50-23:20] Handling joint conflicts: conflicts with multiples meshes in an Animesh attempting to manipulate a joint at the same time are essentially handled the same way as for avatars where multiple attachments may try to manipulate the same joint: an arbitrary decision on which position is used is made by the system based on asset UUID.
[Video 2 20:24- 21:40] Why is there an alignment issue? The core issue with orientation is that, until now, attachments have been based on the avatar skeleton already being in-world, which causes an attachment to be correctly positioned and oriented to it. With Animesh, the opposite is true, it is the object that is already in-world, and the skeleton is then being associated with it. Wherever the skeleton goes and faces will become the visual location / orientation for the object, and its finding a way to most accurately position the skeleton with respect to the object that is the problem.
[Video 2: 24:40-25:13] Do linked Animesh objects each have a skeleton? No. Animesh linksets only use a single skeleton. So link three Animesh items together, and they’ll have a single skeleton.
Animesh In-World Groups
Two unofficial in-world groups for Animesh have been created:
A set of environmental enhancements, including the ability to define the environment (sky, sun, moon, clouds) at the parcel level; a new environment asset type that can be stored in inventory and traded through the Marketplace / exchanged with others; scripted, experience-based environment functions, an extended day cycle and extended environmental parameters. This work involves both a viewer updates (with a project viewer coming soon) and server-side updates.
Current Status
[Video 2: 25:47-26:38] Rider has converted the day settings in the new format and is about to start working on making environment setting into inventory objects. Once he’s completed this work, his focus will be on producing a project viewer for people to use in testing the available EEP capabilities. This will be “soon”, but may not include the scripted elements of the project.
Bakes on Mesh
Extending the current avatar baking service to allow wearable textures (skins, tattoos, clothing) to be applied directly to mesh bodies as well as system avatars. This involves server-side changes, including updating the baking service to support 1024×1024 textures, and may in time lead to a reduction in the complexity of mesh avatar bodies and heads. The project is in two phases:
The current work to update the baking service to support 1024×1024 textures.
An intended follow-on project to actually support baking textures onto avatar mesh surfaces (and potentially other mesh objects as well). This has yet to fully defined in terms of implementation and when it might be slotted into SL development time frames.
This work does not include normal or specular map support, as these are not part of the existing baking service.
Current Progress
[Video 2: 27:57-28:32] An updated baking service server is going to be set-up on one of the Lab’s internal development grids for load testing.
[Video 2: 28:44-29:33] People are looking towards the bakes on mesh project; Vir re-stated that it is a major project in total, and currently the only aspect being tackled is getting the baking service to comfortably support 1024×0124 textures. Where the rest of the work required to support baking on to mesh bodies and items, etc., lies on the Second Life development roadmap and time frames is still TBD.
Content Creation User Group Meetings Moving to Aditi
[Video 1: 6:44-7:33] To assist with Animesh discussions and testing (the latter of which is currently only be possible on the Aditi, also known as the beta grid or preview grid), CCUG meeting will, for the foreseeable future, be moving to that grid and the Animesh 4 region on Aiditi. Details of the meeting location will be made through the CCUG wiki page.
However, if you have not previously logged-in to Aditi, you will need to file a support ticket to request access, and do so at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting. For further information on Aditi, including how to log-in, please refer to the Aditi wiki page.
As a new – and still developing / evolving platform – Sansar is currently perhaps more a place for experimentation for many, rather than a place to inhabit or use productively (which is not to say it cannot fulfil use cases, as I hope my article on the recent Voyages Live: Egypt tour shows). Because the platform can be seen in this way, I’m constantly looking out for experiences that push Sansar’s current capabilities just that little bit harder – and Linden Lab has been encouraging experience creators to do just this, initially through their Creator Challenge, which took place a few months back (see here for more), together with the Halloween-themed Sansar’s Scariest contest, which closed its doors to entrants in mid-October 2017.
Creator Jasmine has used both competitions as a means of experimenting with Sansar’s potential as a storytelling platform. For the Creator Challenge, she produced Through the Waterfall: Enter Another World, which actually took the prize for Best Narrative Experience. This is the not-entirely-happy story of what happens to two young girls in the aftermath of a tragic car accident.
The story starts atop a giant desk on which visitors are informed, Without dreams, we can never become more than that which we already are… , together with an invitation to jump down to the floor and find the first of a series of keys. Each key, when walked upon, teleports the visitor to a chapter in the unfolding story. It’s a fairly linear piece, requiring the visitor to “fill in” the blanks of the storyline, so to speak, but the crafting and use of media and music help move things forward through the six chapters. I’m not going to say more here so as not to spoil anyone’s visit.
Miner Difficulties is a further narrative-based experience, with the story developed by Jasmine, and scripting / choreography by Galen (the two of them working under the title of Through the Waterfall). The similarities between this story and that of Through the Waterfall: Enter Another World are fairly clear: both start in similar surroundings, both involve the visitor in an unfolding narrative (an introduction and three chapters for Miner Difficulties, rather than the intro and six chapters of Enter Another World). However, it is the differences in the way the story is managed with that sets Miner Difficulties apart from Jasmine’s earlier work and helps mark how Sansar’s capabilities are gradually unfolding and lending themselves to more sophisticated use.
Whereas Enter Another World relied upon the discovery of keys and narrative deductions on the part of the visitor to link the six chapters of the story, Miner Difficulties uses two “living” guides to steer visitors through the story and piece together events. These are a little bird and a little girl.
Again, I don’t want to spoil a visit, so I’m not going to say much on what to expect. Suffice it to say that the bird acts as a guide through the woods, leading visitors to the little the girl (and then continues onwards with you as you travel with her). The girl also acts as a guide – but as well as leading you onwards, she also talks to you as she does so, giving a natural structure to the narrative. Both bird and girl are beautifully choreographed and give a great sense of depth to the experience.
To those used to the complexities and capabilities of Second Life, these experiences may seem a little simplistic. However, they do demonstrate the potential for Sansar to become a platform for storytelling – and with the growing capabilities for both VR and Desktop mode interactions, it will be interesting to see how narrative-based experiences develop.
In terms of Halloween / ghostly experiences, I found Miner Difficulties one of the more involved in Sansar, and deserving of its status as a featured experience.
Floating is an accident, pure and simple. It was never intended to be a collaboration between Bryn Oh and Cica Ghost – but that is what it is. Which is not to say that it is anything unfortunate – far from it; it’s an installation that mixes fun with something of a slight social message.
As Bryn explains, the installation was originally intended to be her design, but built to display the 2D art of another person. But for some reason (shyness?), having secured a grant to use the region, the other artist did not follow through on their commitment and no 2D art was supplied – leaving Bryn holding the lease on a region and in need of an idea. Enter Cica Ghost. She and Bryn put their heads together and in a week, Floating had emerged, with the assistance of Desdemona Enfield and Serenity Mercier.
The core of the build is a city hugging a shoreline; at one end are high-rise apartments overlooking a marina with motor cruisers and boats. The people in the apartments are clearly wealthy or well-off; through the windows of one we can see a family sitting down for a sumptuous meal, a butler in attendance, in another, a family sits in coloured warmth. With the marina and the high-rise buildings, the evidence of wealth, it is hard not to be put in mind of somewhere like Monaco.
At the other end of the curving shoreline it is a different story. Here there are no glittering high-rises, only older buildings, grubbier in appearance, which in turn give way to humble, racked living pods. The beach here is also far from the pristine marina, with piles of detritus, while the absence of colour underlines the lack of affluence. Thus, a comment on the divide between those who have, and those who have less (and who serve?), is made.
However, this isn’t just a build with a message on society’s disparities; there is also a sense of fun yo be found. At the arrival point, visitors can take an umbrella and float around the build, while free-floating balloons also offer a means to float through the air. But be warned – care needs to be taken as there are blocks that periodically fall from the sky.
Also to be found at the landing point is a zap gun. This can be purchased for L$0, and allows people to hunt and shoot one another. Just make sure you join the experience in the region if you intend to place – otherwise, should you be shot by someone else, you’ll be teleported home, rather than just back to the landing point.
Floating is a curious, electric mix of art, message and fun (if visiting with others and the guns are being used). Instructions on obtaining the zap gun and on getting around can be found at the landing point.
Gyro Muggins reads John E. Stith’s alien first contact story, once described as “Rendezvous with Rama meets James and the Giant Peach“! 
Faerie Maven-Pralou reads Kei Meyer’s tale of magic.
Aoife Lorefield reads Charles de Lint’s 2002 short story spin-off from his The Cats of Tanglewood series, and first published as a part of The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest, edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 