Monocle Man: Bethany H and Foxy McAllister -A Splash of Friendship
Open through until the end of June 2022 at the Monocle Man sky gallery curated by Lynx Luga and Kit Boyd, is A Splash of Friendship, an artistic celebration of the Second Life friendship shared by Bethany H (bethanyharris21) and Foxy McAllister (FoxiBrown30).
Spread across the two floors of the gallery space is a collection of images by both Bethany and Foxy, both of whom have been involved in SL photography for the last four years (ish). It is a bright, careful selection of pieces interspersed with texts offering thoughts on the nature of having a genuine friend and on friendship itself.
A good friend is like a four-leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have.
Monocle Man: Bethany H and Foxy McAllister -A Splash of Friendship
Set against backdrops that feature recognisable settings around the grid, as well as more personal spaces, these are images that tell stories of companionship that exude joy in the company of another, and the intimacy of simply being able to be one’s true self without concern of being judged or disapproved.
Within them are also framed images that we might take in unexpected moments in the physical world – catching a friend on camera when that are unaware, capturing a memory for them of contemplation or joy or playfulness; something that can be shared and used to bring times past back to the mind’s eye with freshness and a smile.
Monocle Man: Bethany H and Foxy McAllister -A Splash of Friendship
Posed they may well be; post-processed they clearly are – but neither of these aspects diminishes the framed stories each of these pictures tell.
Personal in their depth, yet open for all to appreciate, rich and style, tone and presentation, the pictures spread across the four rooms of the gallery allow us to share in the times Foxy and Bethany have shared, and understand precisely what they mean in the words:
One million memories, one thousand inside jokes, one hundred shared secrets, one reason, Best Friends.
Monocle Man: Bethany H and Foxy McAllister -A Splash of Friendship
A genuinely happy, relaxing and enjoyable exhibition.
Thursday, June 23rd, 2022 saw the fourth in the SL19B Meet the Lindens events, this one featuring Grumpity Linden, the Lab’s Vice President of Product and Mojo Linden, the Vice President of Engineering.
The following is a summary of the session covering the core topics raised. The full video is located at the end of this article.
Note that this is a summary, not a full transcript, and items have been grouped by topic, so may not be presented chronologically when compared to the video.
Also, information given in braces ([ and ]), has been provided by myself and does not form a part of the conversation.
The TL;DR Summary
Platform Improvements and the Roadmap:
Viewer performance: Graphics team working to overhaul the viewer’s graphics performance, with updates already released (Performance Improvements viewer) and more (at the time of writing) on the way (Performance Improvements Floater viewer).
SL environmental work in development / testing: reflection probes; glTF materials support; moving towards “full” PBR support [progress on this work available via my CCUG meeting summaries].
Heads up Second Life Product team, where she has overseen a shift to growth, a stronger, more balanced economy, movement towards better community cohesion, and an overall forward-looking approach.
Originally came to Linden Lab while working for The Product Engine, a company providing end-to-end consulting and software development services, and which supports viewer development at the Lab, and she was initially involved in the development and viewer 2 (as designed by 80/20 Studio).
She became a “full-time Linden” in 2014. Her current position involves coordinating the various teams involved in bringing features and updates to Second Life (e.g. Engineering and QA), liaising with legal, financial and compliance to ensure features and capabilities meet any specific requirements in those areas, etc. This work can involve looking at specifics within various elements of the overall SL product, such as UI design and layout, etc.
Prior to working for Linden Lab, she was involved in a number of industries, including technology, higher education, and oil & gas. She enjoys exploring worlds both virtual and physical and takes pride in building bridges – personal and professional.
Holds a Master’s in Computer Science and a Bachelor’s from same in Computer Science & Psychology, both from Johns Hopkins University. She finds leading the Second Life product a joy because it allows her to draw on both areas of study.
Mojo Linden
Joined Linden Lab in August 2021.
Has overall responsibility for managing both the viewer and the simulator engineering teams at the Lab.
Holds a degree in Computer engineering from the University of Washington.
Has over 20 years experience within the games industry, and he has worked on iconic franchises such as Halo, Forza, Motorsport, Fable, Crackdown, and Wheel of fortune.
His expertise extends across multiple platforms: PC, console, mobile, cloud and web.
Prior to joining Linden Lab, held senior positions at Level EX, Zume, Doubledown Interactive, IGT, and Microsoft.
Since joining the Lab, he has demonstrated an intuitive understanding of the platform and the viewer, and has sought to make himself available at in-world user groups such as the Content Creation User Group, the Simulator User Group and the Third Party Viewer Developer’s group.
Loves being a part of Linden Lab, finds the users “dynamic” and enjoys working with his colleagues.
Is grateful the the move to AWS was largely completed before he joined, as it has opened a lot of opportunities.
Performance has always been important to him as an engineer, and is aware of how poor performance can spoil an immersive experience.
The Graphics team has been working on performance improvements over the last six months, with Runitai Linden’s work in particular leading to a near doubling of FPS on the official viewer [see: Looking at the SL Performance Improvements Viewer).
Further viewer-side changes to come include: performance auto-tuning [within the Performance Improvements Floater RC viewer], texture streaming improvements; and using all available video memory.
Global illumination / bounced lighting [a form of radiosity lighting] is “on our minds”.
Currently in development is support for reflection probes, which could be used to approximate global illumination and bounced lighting.
[In short: reflection probes will exist / can be added to a scene or build, and used to generate a cube map of a defined area, and the cube map used for generating illuminations / reflections on other surfaces within the specified volume. ]
[The first phase of this work is to allow the import of materials to Second Life as inventory assets which can be applied to object faces. This work is following the giTF 2.0 specification – specifically metallic roughness; and will go on to provide better support for tools such as Substance Painter (aka Adobe Substance 3D)].
This work is being carried out in direct collaboration with members of the Second Life creator community and developers working on TPVs to ensure as many use cases as possible are considered.
This might be seen as a step towards mirrors in Second Life.
Grumpity:
In terms of weather effects, points out the the Environment Enhancement Project (EEP) carried general environment rendering in SL significantly forward, but at a resource / time to implement [it also moved SL further away from the Windlight baseline code].
As such, “weather” is something that is going to have to wait whilst the focus is on other aspects of the platform.
Technical debt does get constantly addressed; however there are constraints on what can be done, due to both legacy code and legacy content + the risk of breakage.
A lot of what is addressed is not necessarily user-visible: updating to more modern code languages and libraries to run systems and services and the viewer, updating to more capable database systems, etc., all of which directly benefit users.
In terms of users providing input on bugs and ideas for improvements, there are the following options:
Marketplace improvements tend to be rolling over time. Recent small-scale improvements include:
The ability to sort by orders you’ve reviewed.
Some initial improvements to search results and improvements to the back-end of MP search, with more to come.
Improvements to the speed of order recipients search.
Major project to implement “Styles” (e.g. thing like colour variance in products) to product listings. The back-end work is now done and the front-end work should become visible “in a few cycles”.
Still thinking hard about the Marketplace, up to and including a potential complete re-build, which will be “quite a project”.
LL have noted that while Event regions tend to run best in a “standalone” mode, rather than connected to other regions (particularly other event regions), where child agents¹ can become an issue. This has yet to be resolved, and is being worked on.
In the interim, the tier tier of Event product are being made available – Event Regions Pro (at US $449/mo) and Event Region Elite (and US $599/mo) with no set-up fees for either.
LL believe the revised product offering and pricing will “hit the spot”.
A lot that has been on the roadmap has been, and is being rolled-out, including Premium Plus; Event regions; performance improvements (with more to come, as this is a constant focus).
Further work encompasses the New User eXperience (NUX), with a current focus on Starter Avatars and customising avatars – with discussion of this to be found in the Meet the Moles session [+brief notes below].
Web properties [the secondlife.com dashboard, the various SL Pages, the Marketplace, etc.] are a focus of update and improvement.
Land ownership – buying regions, obtaining Mainland, choosing a Linden Home, etc., is the next major focus for this.
Mojo:
Group Chat is a current area focus (responsiveness and reliability).
This is something that has been complicated by the raising of Group limits for Premium Plus, so more people are liable to be in more Groups, which places a great load on the Group Chat service.
LL recognise the importance of Group Chat, so it will continue to be an area of focus and improvement.
Search relevance: a major project to overall search (web, Marketplace, etc.) in terms of relevance and accuracy.
This includes work to track search results so that if a result that appears will down a list is the one the vast majority of people go to, it will be moved up to the top of the list.
At the time of writing, this project is still in progress so it will take time to be fully deployed to properties like the Marketplace.
[Note: on-going work on projects such as search relevance, land ownership, Marketplace improvements and updates, etc., are reported via my Web User Group summaries.]
LL was working on a chat app [initially iOS] but has “shifted gears”.
Appreciates third-party solutions such as Speedlight “filling the gap”.
LL still has ambitions in the mobile / app environment, but is not ready to discuss everything as yet, but there are initiatives being examined, including using web functionality in the mobile space.
Wants to be able to give users the power to managed inventory, shop, find things to do, manage their accounts, etc., via mobile and on the web.
These are not things that are about to be shipped; they are “R&D projects”, some of which may be in progress.
Grumpity
Puppetry [aka “Avatar expressiveness”]
Controlling an avatar via wbecam – e.g. so if you use a webcam and roll your head, the avatar mimic by rolling it’s head; if you smile, your avatar smiles, etc.
Sees this as an a alternate, more cost-effective means of bringing emotional expression to avatars than using VR headsets.
A future step is to put a demo of this work together and present it for input from the community.
“Chat Roulette”: improving the ways in which people can meet, converse, find answers to questions and generally feel a greater sense of engagement.
Mojo:
Performance improvements, notably in the area of fidelity.
Increasing a sense of presence within SL by removing / overcoming the limitation of draw distance in being able to see vast open spaces like on Mainland, when exploring or whilst flying.
The hype / interest has allowed her to represent Linden Lab / Second Life through various mediums – printed, television, etc., and to participate in various discussion and panels (e.g. the “metaverse” and the law, hosted by Stanford University with the likes of Lawrence Lessig).
Thinks it is “fantastic” to see this resurgence of interest in virtual worlds, although there is a lot to consider carefully.
Notes that a lot of the discussions around the “metaverse” – inhabiting digital selves, engaging in digital transactions – are things that have been occurring in Second Life for almost two decades, allowing the Lab to be a strong player in such conversations.
In terms of business models for “metaverse” platforms:
Reiterates that LL is “very proud” that it does not monetise users’ personal data, in keeping with comments from Brad Oberwager and Philip Linden [video here and my summary here],
Notes that LL believe that moving an adverts-based monetised model from the 2D social spaces into immersive environments could be “dangerous”, even though it does allow the virtual world to be “free” in terms of direct cost to users.
It has presented LL with the opportunity to innovate, notably with the initiatives noted above.
Feels that as the OG among virtual worlds, it makes sense for LL to be in the forum.
Believes it will be interesting to see if common standards can be developed in terms of information exchange, presence exchange (possibly even avatar exchange), etc., so could be beneficial in having a seat at the table.
This section covers the majority of questions that were responded to in some detail. Note that questions specific to the topics given above are included under those topic headings.
[Video: 26:56] Will users get more Picks options in their in-world Profiles? It’s possible, but not being worked on at the moment. It may, however, be a Premium feature.
[Video: 56:11-57:30] What is the status of VR support in SL? Re-visiting VR headset support has been discussed, but there should not be an expectations of anything being released in the foreseeable future, and it sits behind a number of other things in the “aspirational aims” pile.
[Video: 58:01-59:31] What is the status of any move towards using the Vulkan API for graphics?
It is definitely on the docket for work, and is contained in the overall bucket of performance improvements, but no direct work has as yet started.
There is also a matter of timing to be considered – how much further can SL move along the OpenGL in respect of Apple’s plan to deprecate OpenGL support.
Also the concern as to how many PC users in SL can run Vulkan.
[Video 59:42-1:00:57] What does the future support of Mac OS look like? There is “every plan” to continue to support Mac OS, including investment in a graphics API to move beyond OpenGL.
[Video: 1:01:21-1:02:14] Would it be possible to have “lightweight” Groups, purely for notices? Interesting idea; would point out that Group issues are not so much the chat itself, but the presence updates (reporting to all other members when Group members log-in / out); so this is one of the possibilities that can be turned to.
[Video: 1:04:25-1:06:22] Would it be possible to access and organise inventory via the web and without having to log-into the viewer?
This is a “passion project” for a Linden, and discussions have been held on how it might be achieved.
However, there are many caveats / concerns about any implementation (e.g. risk of account hacking); so if done likely to be gated by multi-factor authentication; what happens if you make near-simultaneous changes to inventory from both the web and when in-world?
Even so, is something LL would like to provide.
[Video: 1:06:37-1:10:21] Are there plans to improve the in-world building tools? Believes in-world, collaborative building is a core aspect of Second Life. Some ideas are being discussed internally, but would love to have user feedback on improvements and ideas [Feature Requests via the Second Life Jira].
[Video: 1:10:49-1:11:40] What is the status of official Linux support in the viewer? Recognises there is an application for Linux support, and some TPVs do support it. However, from an official LL standpoint, it’s not something the company has been investing its time.
[Video: 1:11:56-1:13:05] Will SL support the nVidia ray tracing functionality? If there is a demand, and it can be done without impacting performance or degrading the experience – possibly.
[Video: 1:13:12-1:14:07] Can an updated FAQ on “lag” and ways to mitigate it be produced? It will be considered as will a possible Second Life University video on the subject.
[Video: 1:14:15-1:15:37] Will SL move to a more off-the-shelf graphics engine? LL is currently investing in improvements to the existing engine (e.g. the updates noted above. Which is not to say they are unaware of engines such as Unity or Unreal; there are no current plans to move to a commercial engine.
[Video: 1:16:14-1:17:12] Will sound in SL see any improvement? There have been discussions; there’s also the potential for improvement audio / spatial audio via High Fidelity, so again – Feature Request Jiras.
[Video: 1:17:22-1:20:28] How is the Meta platform regarded? Meta has considerable resources to throw tat their platform, particularly as grasping at the “metaverse” concept is something of a Hail Mary for them. As such, it is the elephant in the room for virtual worlds.
[Video:1:20:50-1:22:09] Will it be possible to “tag” inventory items for easier categorisation (clothes furniture, etc)? This has been a subject of discussion at LL. However, it is not easy to implement due to the impact on things like database schema, etc. As such, it is not as yet on the roadmap.
[Video: 1:23:22-1:24:41] Will there be improvements to region crossings? There is a lot of complexity involved in both teleports between regions and physical region crossing (one foot or on a vehicle). LL has been, is continues to work on getting a deeper understanding of the complexities and making improvements.
[Video: 1:25:05-1:26:56] When will there be a fix for regions removed from the grid still showing up on the world map? And when will the Mainland default EEP be brightened? The first is awaiting improvements to the map generation service, and a resource has been assigned to look at that service as a whole. The EEP issue is a LDPW issue.
[Video: 1:27:29-1:27:57] Will residents be able to add graphics to the world map tiles in the same manner as seen with the SL19B regions? LL can do this, but it’s not clear if this is something that would be opened to users – but “maybe”.
The SL19B logo added to the world map below the SL19B regions, courtesy of Simon Linden
Simply put, a Child Agent refers to a secondary agent (avatar) presence associated with your own, then can exist in regions physically adjoining to the one you are currently in, allowing you to “see” into a connected regions (and have it render in your viewer).
Child agents are not physically rendered avatars but a simulator resource, as such they can directly influence region performance.
On May 2nd, 2022, Linden Lab initially announced the release of a new region product, the Event region type (see the official blog post Event Regions).
Leveraging the additional capabilities available through AWS, this new product was intended specifically for hosting large-scale events. At the time the product was introduced, it was noted by many (including myself), that the initial pricing seemed a little high.
Since the initial introduction of the product, the Lab has been able to learn a lot more about how best to leverage it and looked at offering capabilities more reflected of the needs of event organisers and at prices better suited to their potential use.
As a result of this, late on Thursday, June 23rd, the Lab issued a blog post announcing updates to Event region products – which are new split between Event Pro and Event Elite, each with its own price-point.
Event Elite is considered the “all-inclusive” product, and Event Pro the “a-la carte” variant. The table below provides the prices and capabilities associated with both.
Event Pro
Event Elite
Monthly fee¹
US $449
US $599
Avatar Capacity
175
175
20%+ Script performance improvement
Yes
Yes
Extended chat range (upon request)²
Yes
Yes
Land Capacity
20,000
30,000
Increase to 30K Land Capacity
US $30/mo
n/a
Rollback service (with 48 hr of request)³
US $25 per request
Free
Region cloning4
US $50 per request
Free
White-glove concierge support
n/a
Free
Table Notes:
There are no set-up fees applied to Event Pro or Event Elite regions.
Everyone on the region to see and participate in Nearby Chat if desired.
If you make a mistake with region content, or want to restore a previous build, you can request to roll the region back to a specific time.
Note that you may order multiple Event regions on the same support ticket
Private Region Rollback Service
In addition to the above, the post from the Lab indicates that the US $25 region roll-back service is now also available to all private region owners (another they remain at Linden Lab’s discretion and are not guaranteed).
Feedback
In my original post on the May launch of Event regions, I noted a feeling that while the “introductory offer” price of US $599 sounded reasonable, the (then) proposed increase to US $899 at the end of the “introductory period” was more than a little steep, and could put people off the use of such regions. As such, this restructuring of prices is to be welcomed, and makes a lot of sense. It would still be nice to see these products offered on more of a pro-rata basis, but overall, this is a welcome move by LL.
On Thursday, June 23rd, Linden Lab officially launched the new Premium Plus subscription package (or membership package, if you prefer), offering a new range of benefits and bonuses to those who wish to avail themselves of them. Some of the benefits come into effect immediately for those taking out a Premium Plus subscription, and others will be deployed in the near future, with further benefits also being added over time.
Alongside the announcement (but not linked to it at the time of writing this) this Lab released a FAQ page on Premium Plus.
What is Premium Plus?
Premium Plus is a new subscription package that increases the benefits and options to those taking it above those offered within the Premium package, as well as sharing some benefits in common with Premium.
It does not replace Premium, which continues as a subscription package for anyone who prefers it.
It does not change the Premium subscription package in any way, all benefits found within that package remain “as is” with the launch of Premium Plus.
It is open to any Second Life user – you do not have to be / become a Premium subscriber before becoming a Premium Plus subscriber.
It brings the total number of options for using Second Life to three: Basic, Premium and Premium Plus.
Premium Plus Benefits Comparison with Premium
The following as a complete a list of Premium and Premium Plus benefits I have been able to assemble based on available information, and should hopefully provide a direct comparison be tween the two. It may be subject to update.
Note that √ in any field means an unchanged benefit from Premium to Premium Plus.
Benefit
Premium
Premium Plus
45-day L$ Sign-up Bonus¹
L$1000
L$3000
Weekly L$ Stipend²
L$300
L$650
Free Tier³
1024 sq m
2048 sq m
Linden Home Option4
Up to 1024 sq m
Up to 2048 sq m
Group Slots
70
140
Off-Line Message Cap
80
160
Upload Fees (textures, animations, sounds)
L$10 per item
Free
Name Changes (+VAT if applicable)
$39
$155
Event Listing Fees
Single: L$10; Recurring L$50
Free
Group Creation Fee
L$100
L$10
Land Experiences (Experience Keys)
1
2
Voice Morphing
√
√
Animesh Attachments
2
√
Support
Live Chat
Live Chat + toll-free ‘phone (International: use Skye or similar)
90-day transaction History
√
√
Premium Gifts
√
√ + Premium Plus exclusives
Premium Sandbox Access
√
√ + Premium Plus Sandboxes
Preferential Access to High-Volume Events
√
√
Table Notes:
The 45-day sign-up bonus is open to both Basic and Premium membership upgrading the Premium Plus.
Note this is a first-time sign-up bonus only, it will not apply if you downgrade and then re-up later.
The Premium Plus Stipend – L$650 is a flat rate; there is no upward adjustment for those currently receiving Grandfathered stipends of L$400 or L$500.
However, the Grandfathered status will be re-applied if the subscription is subsequently downgraded to Premium.
Free tier can be used against Mainland land holdings; or against a Premium Plus Linden Home (coming soon); or a mix of Linden Home and Mainland land.
Linden Homes:
Only one Linden Home can be held per account (Premium or Premium Plus).
The new Premium Plus Linden Homes will hopefully start to be deployed in late 2022.
Once available, 2048 sq m Linden Homes will have their own themes / styles, and the 2048 sq m parcels may in the future be able to leverage versions of the Premium Linden Homes for those who would like a smaller house and more yard / water space.
Premium Plus members will be able to go via Land Support to request they are given a specific Linden Home parcel this is not currently part of the automatic Linden Home assignment system (i.e. being handled by the Linden Homes ordering web page).
Update: Patch Linden, Meet the Moles [video 37:31-39:08]: Premium Plus homes are to have completely new ground-up themes / implementation, rather than being pre-planned (as per the Premium home themes).
Name Changes:
Premium Plus subscribers can change their name for US $15, but this has to be done via an Account Issue support ticket (subtype Change Account Details).
The first name remains free form, but the Last Name must be from the current Last Names list.
Premium Plus Fees Compared to Premium
All prices US dollars – see the section below for upgrading from Premium to Premium Plus.
Premium
Premium Plus
Monthly Billing¹
$11:99
$29.99²
Quarterly Billing¹ ³
$32.97
Not available
Annual Billing4
$99.00
$249
Table Notes
Monthly and Quarterly billing are subject to VAT where applicable.
Those taking a Premium Plus subscription in the first 30 days following the launch will be charged $24.99 for their first month and $29.99 thereafter.
Quarterly Premium billing is only available to those who were on the billing plan prior to it being discontinued on June 24th, 2019.
Annual billing is VAT exempt in those countries that normally charge VAT.
Upgrading from Premium to Premium Plus
Premium subscribers can upgrade to Premium Plus before their current subscription expires on prorate basis. So, an annual Premium membership that has 30 days remaining before renewal. This value is equivalent to $8.10 of the $99.00 Annual Premium membership they originally paid for. This would be credited towards the initial Premium Plus membership payment at the time of upgrade, either Monthly or annual.
Note that if the credit to be applied towards proration is larger than the value of the Premium Plus membership being upgraded to, Linden Lab will extend the renewal date for the Premium Plus membership to account for the additional value.
Personal Thoughts
Patch Linden’s initial (and incomplete) outline of Premium Plus during his Meet the Lindens session as SL19B did not garner a good response within the forums, largely on the basis of pricing. And, in fairness there are reasons to feel the offering is over-priced; but equally, there are cases where it may be viewed favourably.
Take the free tier offering, for example:
For those seeking modest mainland space or wanting to put the tier to Group use, an outlay of US $249 a year doesn’t come off well against promoting an alt account to Premium and paying a total of US $198 a year for the same free tier.
For someone (like myself) who has both a Premium account + a modest amount of privately rented land (at US $10.50 a week), or someone on Basic paying (say) $15-20 a week for a moderate parcel, it is possible that – once available – the Premium Plus Linden Home with their double Land Capacity and fewer-per-region density over Premium Homes might be an attractive proposition.
Similarly, while the rest of the benefits look to be middling – I personally have little need for 70 Group slot, let alone 140! – others might will be appealing, such as the $15 Name Change fee, particularly among those who swap back and forth between names almost monthly (and there are some – I know a few!). However and overall, whether people find the offer in keeping with Brad Oberwager’s “give two dollars of value, but only charge a dollar” philosophy or not, is liable to be hotly debated.
For my part, would I move from Premium to Premium Plus? Quite possibly; as noted above, depending on how Premium Plus Linden Homes regions are presented (e.g. themes, water access), then there is an attraction for me in upping to Premium Plus and dropping the $530+ a year I spend on renting a small private island.
Summertime is the time in which, when we are young, we gather precious memories of long holidays free from the supposed tyranny of school; times when we can run outside and play, build and create places of wonder through our imaginations, aided perhaps by toys such as building blocks or similar – or even the simple expanse of a piece of paper and a box full of tempting crayons.
The latter are particularly powerful as tools of the imagination, allowing young minds and hands create the most fantastical, colourful worlds, filled with the most bizarre or wondrous creatures and animals from upright elephants to giant ball-like and very happy spiders to aliens apparently visiting from another world. The worlds we create using them can become a source of pride and a set of memories that, as we grow ever older and put such things behind us, summertime offers us again raising a smile and a sense of joy as they are recalled.
Cica Ghost: Coloured Images, June 2022
Because sometimes – as Cica Ghost reminds us through her June / July 2022 installation, all we need is a little splash of colour to gift us with a sense of joy.
Capturing the sense of fun exhibited with Garden (see: Happiness in Cica’s Garden in Second Life), this installation – called, for the record, Coloured Images – invites us to take a trip back to those younger times when our imaginations lay unfettered, and a new world lay in the promise of a blank sheet of paper and coloured sticks (or indeed, in the bricks or pieces of a toy building set).
Backed by a dark sky spotted with blobs and snowflakes of colour substituting for stars, the installation presents itself as a series of brightly coloured buildings – some complete, others not; some with bits and pieces of painted materials scattered around as if awaiting their turn to be used.
These buildings mostly stand on bases that suggest piece of card painted by hand to give the impression of surrounding gardens and footpaths, while walls carry painted images of creatures smiling happily and windows and great doorways edged as if with flooring petals. With strangely hued and coloured plants adding to the mix, and floors and different levels linked by simply-formed stairways, the entire setting is rich in its sense of imaginative invention and carefree innocence.
Within it, the animals and creatures are not just two-dimensional; they also exist as 3D characters waiting to be found. Some again look to have been painted by young hands that care little for “realism” such as the need for browns, white and black to predominate the coats of cows, or that caterpillars should for the most part be green. Instead, there is a further joyous riot of colour among all the creatures – from aforementioned upright elephant and multi-legged alien through to snakes, caterpillars, cows and more – that is exuberant in the sense of freedom it exudes.
Cica Ghost: Coloured Images, June 2022
As always with Cica’s installations, there are multiple sit points and dance animators waiting to be found (including one sit point right at the landing area – just look to one of the walls!), giving Coloured Images a further sense of fun as one explores.
Tuesday, June 21st, 2022 saw the second in the SL19B Meet the Lindens events, Featuring Linden Lab board member and Executive Chairman Brad Oberwager (Oberwolf Linden), together with Linden Lab founder (and now Second Life Strategic Advisor) Philip Rosedale.
Notes:
This was a pre-recorded interview, with no opportunity to ask questions directly of the participants.
The following is a summary, not a full transcript, and items have been grouped by topic, so may not be presented chronologically when compared to the video.
Brad Oberwager is one of the three investors who acquired Linden Lab in 2020, together with J. Randall (Randy) Waterfield and Raj Date. Since the acquisition closed, he has been very hands-on at Linden Lab, working alongside members of the management team, and he has also brought-in long-time business associate Cammy Bergren as the company’s Chief of Staff.
His biography, as supplied by the Lab reads as follows:
Brad Oberwager has spent his entire career in technology and consumer focused companies as an entrepreneur and board member.
Currently, he sits on the board of two public companies, Asure Software (NASDAQ: ASUR) and Better World (NASDAQ: BWACU). He is the chairman of two companies he founded, Jyve and Sundia and is also on the board of TEGSCO (aka AutoReturn). He owned Bare Snacks, acquired by PepsiCo in 2018.
Brad was Vice-chair of YPO International, a global organization of 25,000 CEOs [where he met and became friends with J. Randall Waterfield, another of the Lab’s owners / board member].
Brad received his BS from Georgetown University, his MBA from the Wharton School and lives in San Francisco.
Philip Rosedale
Philip Rosedale earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and computer science from the University of California, San Diego, and in 1985 he created a video conferencing product called “FreeVue”, which was ultimately purchased by Real Networks, for whom he went to work, rising to the positions vice president and chief technology officer.
Departing Real Networks at the end of the 1990s, he founded Linden Research Inc (functioning as Linden Lab), and commenced work on trying to develop both the hardware and software for an immersive virtual reality system. The company switched to focusing on the software – which it called Linden World -, launching it as a publicly-accessible platform under the name Second Life in 2003. As founder and CEO, Rosedale steered the company through until 2008, when he stepped back from the role of CEO to become chair of the board of directors.
In 2009, he founded LoveMachine Inc., with Ryan Downe, which later evolved into Coffer and Power (2011), with Rosedale briefly returning to Linden Lab in 2010 as interim CEO. After two years developing a mobile application called Workclub that helped bring contractors and those seeking them together, he and Downe announced Coffee & Power would become a new company, High Fidelity Inc. (2013), focused on building a fully decentralised virtual reality environments, and the required supporting applications / services. In 2019, High Fidelity ceased working on this platform to focus on one of the key supporting services: spatial audio, with their product subsequently being licensed by a number of companies.
In 2021, High Fidelity invested in Linden Research, brining in both staff and patents that might be used with the platform, and while High Fidelity still very much operates as an independent entity, Rosedale took the part-time position of Strategic Advisor to Linden Lab.
Does spend a “tremendous” amount of time “on Second Life” – it is his primary business focus, and he is constantly working to ensure the resources needed to improve and grow the platform and its products and available.
However, as a result, does not get to spend much time within Second Life as an avatar.
What Drew Him to Second Life, and How Does He Feel 18 Months On?
Has known Philip for more than a decade and they are close friends, so has always been aware of SL.
This awareness included knowing that the former investors – as venture capitalists – had reached a point where they wanted to sell LL as a going concern and move on. However, due to the complexities in running the platform as both a social experiment and an open-ended, creative platform for its users where they can engage in direct commerce with one another, make it it hard to find a buyer.
After one opportunity fell through, Brad decided to get involved and make an offer to buy the company. As expertise on the financial side would be required, he contacted J. Randal Waterfield, and together they worked out a deal by which they could acquire Second Life and Tilia (the company’s money service business) and continue to move both forward
18 months on, feels that the acquisition of Linden Lab is more exciting. In purely monetary terms, sees running a business as having three options by which to add monetary value:
By increasing revenue whilst keeping expenses the same.
By keeping revenue the same and decreasing expenses.
By increasing expenses [/outlay] in order to drive revenue higher, and try to ensure the latter outpaces the former – which tends to be the hardest, but most interesting, of the three options.
Second Life is proving that it is capable of the third option: it is possible to invest (increase expenses) and grow revenue.
Within the company, the mantra is, “give two dollars of value, but only charge a dollar” – the idea being LL might lose money as a result of something they introduce, but over time, that loss will be recoups and turned into a revenue gain.
An example of this has been Linden Homes and Bellisseria, what have, and continue to cost LL to develop and maintain, but which has generated considerable excitement for users and a social investment that is hope to grow an eventual return on the investment made in the development.
This is the core idea behind Premium Plus – to offer greater value to those wishing to use the capabilities offered, but at an overall lower cost than might be the case with raising Premium fees to cover the same, whilst still allowing those who do not wish to go Premium Plus to still have Premium.
In the early days, felt it was the collaborative nature of design and building and the escalating designs.
Has always appreciated travelling in SL and seeing the diverse region designs and all of the art and creativity.
What he particularly appreciates about the platform today is that, despite the state of the physical world, it remains a place of hope in the way it brings people together who engage and communicate with one another, build communities, all in generally positive ways .
Would love to see this positivity, love, and engagement transferred somehow into the physical world.
Opening the means for people to communicate and engage with one another through the use of technology / on-line has always been one of his driving passions.
FreeVue was revolutionary in it time – if limited by the technology. By the time of SL, the technology allowed the ball to be moved much further forward.
High Fidelity (HiFi) came about as a result of him purchasing one of the gyroscopic chips now used within VR headsets, experimenting with it and realising the potential it represented for VR – although admits he was wrong in his belief of how fast head-mounted displays (HMDs) would “change the world”.
Ten years on from that point, recognises that HMDs have yet to reach that tipping-point, and understands that connecting people is harder than the technology alone.
Does believe [as I’ve actually always stated as a layperson – please pardon the horn tooting] there are specific vertical markets for HMDs. One such vertical is education – which is also a market where Second Life has long proved its value, and is a market that will only grow as technologies such as HMDs mature.
Notes the origins of the term “metaverse” in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 novel Snowcrash, and notes that what we’re seeing now is the latest resurgence of interest in the idea.
Believes this resurgence has been spurred by three things: COVID and the need for social isolation; the general rise in noise around crypto and web 3.0; and Facebook throwing a Hail Mary in trying to claim the “Meta” verse to recapture HMD hype.
Notes that much of the noise around crypto and NFTs actually echoes what has been available in Second Life since its earliest days. However:
Within Second Life, the concept of “the metaverse” was empowering people to create things together within a single space. This is what spurred everything else – you needed an economy not for “currency” speculation, but to enable people to engage in commerce.
Much of the current thinking about “the metaverse” runs contrary to this, as it starts with exploitation: obtaining data from people in order to push them into consumer-based activities.
Very much hopes SL can continue to grow as an example of what “the metaverse” can more positively be, and encourage others to move in the same direction.
Does worry that the term “the metaverse” is being used to promote ideas very different to those found in SL, ideas that see personal data as the “currency”.
Brad Oberwager:
In terms of Meta and the rest, they have had zero impact on Second Life; Zuckerberg may try to usurp the term “metaverse” but the residents of Second Life just carry on.
Where there is a broader impact, it is in consideration of where and what to invest in within Second Life, particularly in terms of rising above those environments that are being built around the crypto-currency / advertising model which could have the advantage of offering experiences for “free” where they’d have to be charged for within SL.
However, LL is steadfastly against direct advertising intrusion as a means of leveraging “payment” for services to users. This means the focus is liable to remain on the precepts of creativity and social engagement, and trying to encourage social groups into the platform by offering unique opportunities and experiences.
Touches on TOSL – The Office of Second Life and the management team of Grumpity, Mojo, Brett and Patch Linden, who are responsible for running the day-to-day Second Life operations – and their focus on attempting to bring richer, deeper experiences into Second Life.
Notes that the resurgence interest in “the metaverse” from other companies offers LL the potential to pick and choose who they might want to partner / collaborate with in order to bring new experiences to SL residents.
A common critique of Second Life in the early years was the lack of polish to the viewer UI, and predictions that once “professional” designs stated work on a competitor, virtual worlds will take off. However, this wasn’t the case and polish to the UI wasn’t the key.
Another point is that today, the big audience pullers of the world – Fortnite, Roblox, etc., – tend to cater to a younger demographic; but the reality is still that there is nothing that caters for “grown up” sensibilities and creativity in a manner that matches SL, and none of the alternatives – VR Chat, etc, – are close to offering the broad range of creative freedom or the audience reach to be seriously considered a core part of “the metaverse”.
This ability to capture a more adult demographic is potentially the “secret sauce” any platform needs to feed it if is to grow to fulfil a vision of “the metaverse” – and it is something that is hard to find .
Also feels that there are a lot of governance, technology and management hurdles that need to be cleared – and that’s going to take a lot of time for others to sort out and SL continue to build upon.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 