Who’s up for a little bit of mile high action? Thought so, which is why I want to welcome you aboard this delightful Boeing 737. In the event of any emergency, I shall fall from the ceiling. Remember to breath deeply…
The full version of this set, with 32 pictures, is now available in the members section of my website. Why not take the free tour of the site before you join and get instant access to this and all the archived galleries for $15.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the Second LIfe’s Herald on how to spot gender switching in Second Life (that’s where an RL male is an SL female, and vice cersa). I’m going to add two points to it.
The first is a simple question – does it really matter? I mean when it comes down to you have two humans in SL who are enjoying each other’s company. Yes there would be problems if RL started to seep in, but then thats got to be a personal call. I do agree if you’re switching, there’sno need to use that as some sort of practical joke when it’s all over. It hurts.
The other piece of advice? If you really want to check, see if the Avatar has the XCite system running. Quickest way to do that is turn on ’show transaprent items’ with crtl-shift-t in the client. That brings up all the attached prims which are invisible, and it should be relativly easy to spot if someone has ‘hotspots’ around their hot spots. Its not a cast iron guarantee, but as with everything, it might hep you decide – what you do with that information is up to you.
First they came for the AgePlayers. Nobody really batted an eyelid. After all, it didn’t affect them. Cracking down on gambling was next. Of course it wasn’t really a crackdown, Linden Lab just don’t want you catching sight of any of the cards, dice, or not really dollars Linden Dollars flying around. But that’s okay,nobody wants a casino next to them anyway.
So Sadako pops over to the Cafe (more on the new Cafe location over the weekend) today to let me know of a rather worrying development. The full story is over on her blog, but the edited highlight is this IM from In World Liason Harry Linden:
IM: Harry Linden: (Saved Fri Apr 20 07:20:05 2007) Hi there, can you check your profile and classifieds for skins and make sure thats its within the PG guidelines, so no explicit nudity please. Thanks.
There’s been a huge divide of opinion, after the other ‘crackdowns’ that the adult industry would be next. Given the huge part of the SL Economy that it drives – not just in services, but animations, clothes, scripts, buildings, furniture, etc – it would be a very very hard beast to put away. But if you were to close down the oxygen of advertising (much as in the casinos and gambling, but also in forcing the ageplayers underground) then that’s going to make a lot of things a lot harder. It doesn’t bear thinking about.
If this truly is Our World and Our Imagination, then just because our imagintion is a rather sick and twisted place, doesn’t make it wrong. And isn’t everyone on the grid over 18 in any case? So why PG?
So it comes down to, I guess, one quesion. Why? The only thing that Sadako and I (and a few others) can think of is Linden Lab are doing everything possible to appear respectable, wholesome, and super appealing to the large conservative businesses. Couple this with the thought of the SL Server Code (as well as the client code) going Open Source, a 3-D Web powered by Linden could be on the cards. If they can get people to sign into it. And that means no sex, no drugs… no rock and roll?
And so the other foot falls, as Endemol announces plans to run a Virtual Big Brother world in conjunction with Electronic Arts. You might recall back in December they ran a Second LIfe version of Big Brother, with a SIM available as the only prize. I find it interensting that they’ve decided not to continue in Linden’s Servers, but to join up with EA. What did the big company not like about Second LIfe?
What indeed
So Linden Lab are removing the ratings system this update, and I can’t help feeling just a little bit melancholy. Sure it’s not something that’s ever been widely used (yet again it’s another cool feature that Linden have buried to a certain extent in the user interface), but I always get a little kick when someone rates me up.
But there’s another knock on effect. While it didn’t cost a huge amount to rate some one (only 25 L$), the rating system was one of the few economic sinks in the Linden Currenty – Economic sinks are used to slow down inflation and stabilise currency by taking money out of the system with no tangible finacial reward. Taxes are good example of this, but we don’t have taxes in SL, remember. And surely the load that the ratings system is placing on the databse system is more a function of the huge increase in membership, and not any fault in the ratings system?
The LL Blog points to a number of alternatives, but really, is Linden believed in the ratings system, it would still be there, and more easily accessible. This is a bad call.
Quite a few people have commented on the build I made for my store, the three level steel beam and glass construction, and after the (re)building I did yesterday – more on that later – I decided to try a little something. I’ve put together a two level version of the design (which I’ve christened Skyloft), packaged it up and put it on sale on both SL Exchange or SL Boutique.
SKYLOFT TWIN LEVEL BOUTIQUE STORE
This is the first ‘Skyloft’ design to come onto the market. With modern styling, practical building design, and a view to maximising space, light, and openess, the Skyloft designs are for the more discerning Second Life land owners looking for stunning architecture to use in everyday life.
The Twin Level Boutique has a very small footprint (only 20×10m), so not only will it fit comfortably on a 512m plot but you’ll have room around the outside for landscaping, signage or water features. Inside you will be amazed at just how open the design is. With a full 200m2 of shopping floor on the ground, and a further 100m2 one level up (and you may wish to use the 100m2 roof space), every small business in Second Life could use this as a first commercial space.
Or, with it’s modern design, it could make a perfect second home, on a beach, deep in a forest, or on a cliff edge with fantastic views. Why spoil the view with solid walls?
FEATURES
* 400m2 of floor space in a 20×10 plot
* Wall mounted digital clock (SL time)
* Permissions: Copy/Mod/NoTrans
* Prim Count: 37
Late on Tuesday I was contacted in world by photographer Matt Diage. He’s busy working on a project that he’s calling “The United Colours of Second Life,” which involves taking lots of headshots of as many women he can find. The pictures are up on his Flickr page. Have some fun trying to spot me!
Always good to hear people have something to be involved with, and I await with interest to see what the final result will be!
It’s amazing the number of people in SL that just don’t get the concept of the Calling Card. The problem with the Friend section that you are either a friend, or unknown. There’s no ‘accquaintance’ level visible. This is provided by the calling card feature, and it’s prominent on the right click menu when you click on someone (more… give calling card). Whenever you have anyone calling card, they are placed in teh same place in your inventory, and you can see when people are online here.
I use it mainly for people that want to get back in touch with me for business or pleasure. It means they can still quickly see when I am on or offline, but doesn’t clutter up nmy friends list with people who are, honestly, not yet my friends. What would be nice is if this could be integrated with the friends list as well, maybe on a second tab, so it’s more obvious to new players.
So, to sum up. My calling card is available for anyone and everyone, just ask me. Making the friends connection is going to take a bit more than bumping into me in the street.
So Linden Lab will not be allowing anyone to publicise anything that appear to relate to simulated casino activities.
Why? Well legally Linden Lab are in a lovely grey zone. The US Government has outlawed any company from aiding and abetting US citizens in using online gambling. of course, the argument goes that the Linden Dollar isn;t a real currency – they’re much liek the steel balls in pachinko, so when you ‘gamble’ in SL, you;re not gambling with anything that has value. Pity that casino chips in the US (Atlantic City, Las Vegas, etc) are regarded as having value. Where the Linden Dolalr stands in teh whole currency/token/variable in a server is a tricky one, so Linden are (i presume) trying to show intent here just in case a test case comes at them from teh FBI.
When you have ‘lucky number’ machines offering 10:1 payout odds on bets up to 100,000 L$ (around $400 US) that’s a lot of cash being thrown around. Linden Lab know gambling happens, on servers based in California, so they are, IMO, legally stuffed if it comes to court.
But what worries me isn;t this, but it’s the fact that online gambling in the UK is legal (hey our Culture Secretary is trying to make the UK a gold standar country to attract 888.com et al to these shores), yet we’re getting locked out, slowly, of anything that is against the law in the US. Ageplay has already been shut down quietly (don’t ask don’t tell is not a defence in court, Phillip). Online Gambling is happening now. How long until they turn their sites on the ‘physical’ entertainment area?
I rather jokingly put up an 18 USC 2257 statement when I started this site, but now? Who knows what I’ll need to write in the future jsut in case one person in one territory is offended by my pixels.
So I’ve had the itch to re-decorate the downstairs part of my store / chill / hanging out space. Following the rules of Leonardo, I’ve ripped out the shopping wall that was on the ground floor of my store space previously and slammed in a Coffee Bar.
Yes a Coffee Bar, I’m sorry. But Iit’s a much better place to sit down with you guys; my friends, visitors and members of the website, over a nice cup of coffee (I found a great latte machine). I’ll post some fixed meeting times next week, but in the meantime if you want to come along and try the new diner tables, the coffee machine, or even the little stage (see, everything a coffee shop needs), and just watch the world go by and the woman made river outside the window, what’s stopping you?
