Avatar Planet™

Digest of virtual world news

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just added Are Second Life and Other Virtual Worlds the Coffee Houses of the Future? In ancient days, alcohol was heavily consumed because it was the only safe drink in the days when most water was contaminated. When coffee became popular as a safe beverage, coffee houses arose and as coffee replaced alcohol as the standard beverage, it liberated people from the depressant effects of alcohol. This blog argues that virtual worlds such as Second Life® could serve a similar role in liberating the populace from the deadening effects of television and bringing people together to share ideas and create, similarly to how coffee houses liberated our ancestors. (Public Works Group Blog, Apr 28, 2012) Read

Why a Virtual World on a Webpage is Awesome "Standing around in a 3d environment looking at 2d documents hanging on virtual walls has always left me scratching my head a bit.  Especially when those 2d documents need to be dynamic and collaborative.  Why not use the right tool for the right job?  Have the 2d content live on the webpage, and have the engaging 3d content in the 3d window.  That gives you the best of both worlds, and both can exist on the same webpage." (Pathfinder, Be Cunning and Full of Tricks, Apr 1, 2011) Read

Science Thrives in Virtual Worlds "This technology is already basically a killer app," said Caltech astronomer George Djorgovski during an interview in Second Life, "Even with its crappy graphics and user interface, it already works astonishingly well. And that's only going to get a lot better." (Alan Boyle, Cosmic Log on MSNBC.com, Mar 25, 2011) Read

SL Muslims confront Al-Qaeda Taliban group When you enter OnIslam.net's Second Life sim, a holy place with the Grand Mosque where you can do a virtual Hajj, the first thing you see are prominent signs barring Al-Qaeda everywhere you turn. Al-Qaeda in Second Life? The group that the sim is banning is "(Al-Qaeda-Taliban)the right path1", which has 67 members. (NadiaLane, CNN iReports, Jan 19, 2011) Read

Mardi Gras this weekend in Second Life Second Life members who aren't able to get to the New Orleans Mardi Gras this weekend can take part in the Second Life version in the New Toulouse sim. (Apollo Manga, Examiner.com, March 4, 2011) Read

Second Life virtual-reality game: It's not time travel, but it's close Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you could time travel back to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s? To have high pressure water hoses used on you, to be corralled by police dogs, and to see those infamous segregated water fountains for whites and "coloreds""? It's now possible in Second Life, at least for some students at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, which has recreated that period in Second Life. It "can be a more interesting alternative to experiencing history than listening to a lecture or memorizing names and dates," says professor Allen Partridge. The simulation was developed in his Simulation of Games doctoral class. A preview of the project can be seen on YouTube. (Mary Ann Thomas, Valley News Dispatch, Feb 21, 2011) Read

15 Minutes of Fame: WoW connections open doors to voice-over career Can you morph into a new career from your game or virtual world activity? Candace McCarty did. Her game playing in World of Warcraft led to an entirely new career as a voice-over artist. (Lisa Poisson, WoW Insider, Mar 3, 2011) Read

New Second Life Community Platform Linden Lab has announced a new Second Life Community Platform that integrates Blogs, Forums, Answers, and the Knowledge Base into one integrated system and has redesigned the Customer Support Portal to work around it. (Second Life Featured News, Mar 2, 2011) Read

Learning Science and Math in a Virtual World Georgia Tech is creating an island in Second Life to provide Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education for all students, especially those with disabilities. will be a place for students with any kind of disability to go and get help with STEM subjects. The project, known as the Georgia STEM Accessibility Alliance, or GSAA, will serve Georgia students from high school through graduate studies. "We're building a universally designed virtual world to give everyone better access to support in the STEM fields of study... This island will focus on those students who may have a wide range of issues such as learning disabilities, blindness, motor skill problems or cognitive issues and it will allow them to have access to mentors, tutors and other resources to help them succeed in their courses." (Georgia Tech, Feb 23, 2011) Read

RedZone, Second Life IP Address Detection Tool, Runs Afoul of New SL Policy, EU Data Privacy Law "An ingenious system created for Second Life land holders to reduce incidents of harassment and abuse by malicious griefers has itself turned out to be a potentially nefarious tool of harassment and abuse.  zF RedZone is a tool that was designed to help Second Life users identify and block problem users from entering their territory and wreaking havoc.  If you were looking for a way to get rid of griefers ... and copybots ... RedZone was one of the best ways to fight back... The incredible thing about this is that it worked–but there was a catch." (Justin Kwong, Virtual Navigator, Feb 28, 2011) Read

Burning Man wants a mid-Market HQ, tax break or not Black Rock City, which stages the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert and in a variety of regional Burning Man festivals, including one in Second Life, is now looking for a San Francisco headquarters and wants to apply the principles of Burning Man to a real life city. (Steven T Jones, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Feb 24, 2011) Read

Religion, Robots and a Second Life: Apocalyptic AI "One thing that really surprised me is that there are people in Second Life who think of their personalities in that world as distinct from and potentially severable from their personalities in conventional reality. Some of the folks whom I interviewed think (or at least talk) in terms of identities that are separate from their "primary" or "other personality." It is a fairly unique form of self-consciousness and I enjoyed learning from the people willing to share with me." (inteview with Robert Geraci, author of Apocalyptic AI, Shelflife@Texas (University of Texas at Austin), May 10, 2010) Read

Second Life and The Sacred: Islamic Space in a Virtual World "I arrived in Mecca on a clear afternoon and was surprised to find it completely deserted.  At the welcome center I was provided with a duffel bag containing the various things I would require for the pilgrimage; I put on the white garments and covered my hair.  By the time I made my way to the Ka'baa, the sun was dramatically setting.  I spent the night resting in a tent and in the morning watched the dawn from Mt. Arafat.  After completing the Hajj circuit, I encountered a young French woman who had just arrived, dressed in a sparkling hijab and trendy low slung jeans.  We talked about the weather in Paris, and about the Hajj.  I then teleported away.  All of this took place within a half hour and without leaving my room, in the virtual space known as Second Life." (Krystina Derrickson, Digital Islam, 2008) Read

Do virtual horses infringe on copyrights associated with virtual bunnies? "The details are that one company, Ozimals, makes "breedable" animals within Second Life, and believed that a competing company, Amaretto Ranch Breedables, was infringing on its copyrights. Ozimals insists that it's not claiming copyright on all breedable animals, but it does believe Amaretto directly copied much of its expression. After some back and forth between the companies, Amaretto went to court to try to get a restraining order, preventing Second Life from taking down their animals via a DMCA notice from Ozimals. The court agreed, and has barred Second Life from taking down the content..." (Mike Masnick, TechDirt.com, Jan 6, 2011) Read

Second Life sends users on virtual vacations "I'd ventured into the world of pixels to check out Second Life as a virtual - and not-so-virtual - travel experience. To paraphrase the ancient Chinese sage Lao Tsu: Can a journey of a thousand miles, I wondered, begin with a single mouse click?... You can do things that are impossible in real life, such as parachute off the Eiffel Tower ... but doesn't virtual France lack a certain ... je ne sais quoi - reality, maybe? ... So strap on your mental seat belts. The tour begins..." (Cherilyn Parsons, San Francisco Chronicle, Mar 9, 2009) Read

Second Life without mouse and keyboard! Kapor Enterprises is developing a way to control your avatar in Second Life by controlling your avatar's movements with your body! Move one way, you fly, move another, you land gracefully, or you build objects, or walk. A 3d camera converts your movements into avatar movements. It's still under development and not available commercially, but you can see demos of it at the Kapor website Hands Free 3D. In Second Life, if you have a Life 4-U TV, you can currently (as of Feb 20) view a demo on Channel 1. note: the Life 4-U website is in German, but the shows are telecast in English. (Feb 20, 2009)

Virtual Worlds Directory Rezzable.com has launched a Virtual Worlds Directory, allowing users to rate locations in virtual worlds. At present it works only for Second Life, but there are plans to expand it to other virtual worlds. (Wagner James Au, New World Notes, Feb 15, 2009) Read

Virtual Worlds as Social Science Research Laboratories? Although social scientists, engineers and physical scientists have studied the World Wide Web as an entity in and of itself for some time, there is now a growing group of social scientists who are learning how to use the World Wide Web as a tool for research rather than as a subject of research. Virtual worlds are excellent laboratories for observing and prototyping new social forms that can later be applied to the outside world. (Times of India, Feb 15, 2009) Read

Second Life Attempts to Stage a Rebirth With Second Life's once meteoric growth slowing, Linden Labs has recently revamped its website and is investigating ways to make the virtual world more friendly to neophytes. (Brian Morrissey, AdWeek, Feb 12, 2009) Read