Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld
Second Life, virtual worlds and virtual realities
I’m not the only one moving.
Ciaran Laval, long-time friend and SL blogger, has moved as well – or at least his blog is in the process of moving, following what appears to be the shut-down of My 2nd Place.
To keep reading Ciaran’s blog – and it really is worth reading, you can now catch him in a place of his own. But give him time, he’s got a lot of archives to retrieve and post, as well as keeping up with new stuff.
Teen Second Life is officially no more.
What does this mean? Well, it means that those ages 13 to 15, and who are affiliated with an educational / sponsoring organisation will be able to access sims operated by the organisation; 16 and 17 year olds will be free to travel within PG-rated sims; some of those over 17 will continue to have major conniptions and possible fainting spells whenever the word “teenager” is whispered within their earshot – and the rest of us will go about the majority of our business just as we have always done.
To be sure, there are risks involved in having teenagers – or rather “minors”, to use the legal phrase – mixing with “adults” on the Main Grid, and Tateru Nino points them out very well; I still have concerns about the perceptions of those outside of SL as to what is going on with “minors” and “adults” apparently mixing so freely. But neither the risks nor the concerns of external perceptions are in any way a reason to come down so cuttingly on teens themselves – which is precisely what some residents have done.
Indeed, it is fair to stay that there have been many instances where the adult reaction has been nothing short of petulant, childish foot stomping, when all that is required is the implementation of a modicum of common sense on that part of adults the grid over. As such, it has been fascinating to compare the degree of stroppiness shown by self-confessed “adults” in the forums with the sheer considered, thoughtful and mature posts made by teens themselves.
At the end of the day as I’ve mentioned, and given the numbers involved, unless someone from outside SL does get their pants in a paddy over the merger (the parents of Tateru’s “Little Suzy”, for example, or certain right-wing American senators who seem to have a – if I might use the phrase I heard so vividly on the TV the other night – “serious weed up their ass” when it comes to SL) life on the Main Grid will continue much as before. No-one will be the subject of a witch hunt; the sky won’t fall in anywhere, and Chicken Little will start hunting for the next crisis that can be turned into a drama.
In the meantime, I’ll join the likes of Daniel Voyager (who has encapsulated a nice little history of the merger) and others in extending a welcome to the newest residents of Second Life.
Well, for all those impatient to hear from him, Rod Humble, Linden Research’s new CEO, aka Rodvik Humble, aka … an Alt With No Name (wisely!), has blogged.
It’s not an earth-shattering blog with promises, visions or anything else – not that I was expecting such. And nor should it be, again for the reasons stated not just by me, but by the likes of wiser heads such as Tateru Nino.
However, what Mr. Humble’s first blog is, is this: it’s refreshing. Here is someone actually taking the time to paddle around in SL, and who is having fun doing so while learning more than just the basics of walking and teleporting. He has been building and scripting and discovering for himself just what can – and for many does – make Second Life so engaging. One might get a little nit-picky and say that it would have been nice to see him interacting with other residents while in his Alt guise – but just because there are no pictures to show him doing so within the blog, doesn’t mean he didn’t.
All I can say is, kudos, Mr. Humble for making the time available to do so and putting the effort in – and long may it continue as time and tide (so to speak) allow. Spending time in-world, exploring, meeting and chatting with residents of all flavours is really the only way of getting to define the complex strengths and weaknesses of Second Life that are otherwise tenuous and hard to define.
I certainly hope that now, as Rodvik, we’ll be seeing a lot of Mr. Humble in-world – attending events, making himself visible, gosh – perhaps even hosting regular meetings of the kind Mark Kingdon tried to instigate – or even bringing back regular Town Hall style meetings (yes, number means that the latter won’t have the direct reach they once had, but heck, the technology exists to make them available to potentially a wider audience than could be reached in the past as well). Certainly, with things like Office Hours looking like they are about to die a death, we need something to replace them beyond a corporate one-way feed. I also hope Mr. Humble will continue his incognito travels around SL as well.
I like Mr. Humble’s first post. It seems to bode well – and kudos to him for not leaping in with pronouncements on this, that or the other. That he is in the process of getting up to speed and working with the team to finalize our plans for 2011 – and thus taking the time to understand what is in the pipeline (and hopefully provide his own insight into such plans) – cannot be anything other than positive. Most refreshing of all is his closing comment: I look forward to serving you–our customers–in the times ahead. Without wishing to sound sour, it has been a long time since that sentiment has been openly expressed by someone at Linden Lab…
So welcome, Rodvik! Congrats on an uplifting first post – long may they continue!
Terrance Linden, talking to teen on the Teen Grid has confirmed that Teen Second Life will formally close on the 20th January 2011 – my thanks to Blaze Borgin for confirming this.
Doubtless as word seeps out on this matter we’ll see more childish foot stomping, naming-calling, bursts of hystrionics – at least from the adults on the official forums, where most of the adult reaction has been been downright childish. Certainly, many of those about to raise the ramparts, pull up the ladders and shoot fiery arrows at anyone they even suspect is a teenager would do well to reflect on the maturity shown by the likes of Blaze himself when posting on the matter.
I’m sure Blaze isn’t alone in showing this kind of mature objectivity, and it’s pretty much why I’ve continued to take the view that the merger is little more than a storm in a teacup, and that the majority of “grown ups” getting their pants in a paddy really should take a step back…and possibly a valium.
I still stand convinced that overall, the merger will have very little negative impact on the Grid as a whole. Let’s face it, it remains a fact that teens on anything other than PG sim are in violation of the ToS – so ARs remain in force, just as they always have.
And what, precisely, is the problem with adults showing restraint on PG sims? Let’s face it, the ToS and CS also make it clear that sexual acts, nudity and the like are a strict no-no on PG sim – and this has been the case since long before the merger was announced – so is it really that hard for adults to think about where they are and what they are doing and simply moderate their own behaviour just a little more?
Sure, there are some risks – I’ve posted on them myself. Perception is a big one, and in this, LL are taking something of a risk inasmuch as the level of intolerance adults within Second Life have frequently shown towards the “pesky kids” coming into the grid is, sadly, liable to be shared by some adults outside of SL. People of the same ilk as Mark Kirk (R. Illinois), who has already engaged in one anti-SL witch-hunt in his time. No matter what safeguards exist in-world (such as teens not being able to cross from PG to Mature sims on the mainland) do not negate the impression that SL is an “open door” to “innocent” teens being able to look-in on “naughtiness” and “sin”, simply because they can cam into Mature sims. And herein does lie something of a risk – not to individual residents per se, but to SL as a whole; that some of the self-righteous out in the big world will see a campaign in the making here.
But…that said…I’m not sure that even then the sky will totally fall in.
For my part, I’ll continue to see the arrival of teens as nothing major to fret about. The fact that new teen arrivals have apparently been coming onto the Main Grid since late December, rather than being directed solely to TSL seems to have escaped notice, and this has hardly caused any issues other than a few adult noses being put further out of joint. This could be because – as I’ve also posted elsewhere, SL simply won’t have the mass appeal to teenagers some within LL appear to believe, and as such, the teen-to-adult ratio in the main Grid will remain low.
Frank Ambrose (FJ Linden) ends the long silence from Linden Lab, with a newsworthy posting on upcoming technology improvements. It makes welcome reading as it spells out the upcoming quarter.
First up, Group limits are raised with immediate effect to 42. Many have been grumbling about the “non-arrival” of this ever since it failed to materialise at the end of last year; hopefully this announcement will finally put a stop to the complaints and confusion. It’s not clear what overall impact the change will have in terms of system performance, and FJ again warns that if there is a major adverse impact, the option will be throttled back to 25 – although those with more than 25 won’t suddenly lose any groups: they simply won’t be able to add more and those below the 25 limit won’t be able to go beyond it.
The danger here, of course is that every suddenly rushes out and just a gazillion Groups as a whole, and SL starts reeling around in shock. Of course, LL will be anticipating something of a surge, so this won’t lead to an immediate turn-off of the facility – but one can well imagine the rumour-mill churning, “Quick! sign up to X,Y Z, A, B, C before they stop you from doing so!”
We’re also promised a new Group Chat system by the end of March. Quite what this is – and how it integrates into the existing Viewer options – remains to be seen. However, and with due respect to FJ, I cannot help but shudder when I read “industry standard” in a press release – and doubly so when it is associated with Linden Lab. Let’s face is, the blogrum software was supposed to be “industry standard” and they still cannot entirely get their collective heads around it…
More improvements to teleporting are being promised – and are needed. I wagged a finger at FJ on his last technology blog, wherein he was suggesting such matters were now a thing of the past because “the software sez so”. That LL are prepared to admit there is still an issue to be addressed and rectified – while blindingly obvious to those of us who use their platform – is actually very welcome news.
So to is the news that LL will continue to tweak and improve matters around the infrastructure in general, and will be once more looking at the Asset system. The latter in particular has long needed a good long, hard look – although again, as FJ has in the past posted, it’s not something that will have an “easy” or even short-term fix. All we can hope for is steady improvement. And this is fair enough.
That said, one thing LL could do with sorting – and granted, this is not precisely in FJ’s bailiwick – is providing full and proper assistance for those suffering inventory losses as a result of Asset system failures. Far too many people are in a position of finding vast tracts of their inventory either vanishing or sitting in an inaccessible part of their inventory (on the same level as the MY INVENTORY and LIBRARY folders). That every ticket and JIRA raised on the matter is closed by a Linden employee with a curt “contact support and request an inventory fix” does not help matters. The fact that some people have been chasing “support” for nigh-on a year to try to get said “inventory fixes” is utterly unacceptable. So even before getting to the nitty-gritty of technology fixes, it’s about time someone at LL looked into the matter from a customer services perspective.
The one thing – when it comes – that is liable to cause some grumbling and growling is Viewer 2.5, with its “ties” to Facebook, etc. It looks like the roll-out of Viewer 2.5 will also herald an official notification about the “new” web Profiles that are already available, as I and others have already reported, as well – certainly FJ hints at them. But it will be the Facebook (Twitter, LinkedIn) tie-in that is liable to provoke negativity – even though this is already effectively there with the web profiles. All I can say in response to any complaints is a simple don’t like? Don’t use!
All-in-all, some good news from FJ – and open and to the point. As someone in the comments states, he really is one of the better communicators in LL.
Despite the “silence” reported on earlier, Linden Lab actually slipped out a new “feature” last week. Open a new tab in your web browser and type:
https://my.secondlife.com/First.Last
…and replace “First.Last” with your own name (including the period) – and voilà: your SL Profile (in part) is right there on the web – searchable and shareable with the likes of Twitter and Facebook.
What’s more is – if you log into the web profile, you’ll be able to edit it – and the edits will appear in your in-world profile. You can also change your Display Name from the web and see it reflected back in-world. When viewing other people’s profile, you’ll also see a button called ACTIONS, which lists options to IM them, pay them, etc., – but sadly, all these actions currently require you to launch the Viewer; you cannot say, simply pay someone directly from their web profile without going in-world.
Additionally, things like URLs included in your profile and any Groups you have openly displayed in your profile become clickable.
All of this makes this new feature rather clever, even though – like just about everything released of late by LL – it is apparently still “beta”.
Overall, I like it, despite some people crying out (already) that it is an open door to “data mining”; certainly, the arrival of such a capability explains (at least a little) as to why Avatars United went nowhere.
Going to be interesting to see how this one develops.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 