Pulveria - Whaa?

While surfing the grid today I came across and island named Pulveria. I half expected to land in the middle of some intense game world, but instead I found myself in front of a few Vivox booths (they should have been my first clue) with a conference hall to my back. Positioned around the […]

Playing Nice with Vista

Linden Lab has announced that they plan on having a Vista-friendly client ready in a few weeks. Though a few people claim to be able to run SL on Vista it certainly still a crap shoot.
The first efforts have been integrated in the latest FirstLook viewer if you’re interested in helping to sort out […]

Noteable: Velociraptor

Although I couldn’t make it to the NMC Teachers’ Buzz this morning, I did log in to see just how much the NMC area has grown. So many islands - and a lot of talent too. While exploring I came across an amazing velociraptor built by Ravenelle Zugzwang located on Service. I didn’t even know prims could do things like that!

What Now? Learning to Build

There have been quite a few people I have talked to who claim to have simply lots interest in SL at some point. “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of Second Life. I logged in and looked around a bit, but there didn’t seem to be anything going on.” They initially had created an account, logged in […]

Archinect on Second Life

Archinect recently posted a great article on Second Life from an architect’s perspective. Like many other architectural commentaries about SL, it laments the lack of inspiration and vision characteristic of many structures found around SL, but continues past that into an interesting exploration into possibilities and then into some details about LOL Architects and a classes being taught at the Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm and another in Rotterdam. Definitely worth the read if you’re looking for some “off the beaten path” sorts of things.

Back to the suburban look of SL - while it is true that not all structures found on the grid are devoid of creativity and thoughtfulness toward purpose, location, and environment - many are just replicas of RL neighborhoods. I don’t believe this is the fault of the SL platform at all, but an affliction suffered by a segment of the resident population who have been brainwashed by RL fascist cookie cutter companies like Toll Brothers into their ideal of the perfect home. Ideals aside, I have tried to walk through my fair share of hairpin staircases and run into walls and ceilings due to lack of consideration for the viewpoint of the trailing camera. […]

Architecture in Second Life

There are quite a number of RL and virtual architects creating work in SL. There was a link today on the SLED listserv from Pathfinder Linden to a YouTube video of what could be considered collaborative virtual architecture. There are more videos posted by Keystone1111 on YouTube that are equally as interesting. They are wonderful examples of process and technique for building in SL - something that one normally doesn’t get to see while logged into SL unless you happen to stumble upon someone. Thanks to Keystone1111 for posting these and sharing this work.

No More Virtual Auctions on eBay

News is circulating that eBay is no longer allowing the action of virtual booty from MMORPGs such as WoW. More amazing are the estimates C|NET uses for the size of the real money trade market - I had no idea the market was this large:
“While there is no universally agreed-upon value for the RMT market, […]

Graduate Film Students in SL

The University of Kansas is offering a graduate-level film class this semester that leans heavily into cyber culture. Students explore production of machinima and the rapidly changing issues of producing in cyberspace. The article in the Kansan goes into more detail about the “New Media and Cyber Culture” class. Though it doesn’t speak much to […]