Socially|Mundane

Oh yes! Garth rocks again. Another even funnier post than usual. The first and second pictures alone tell such a funny story, you simply have to read his commentary!

I have pointed you to his blog twice before and I have this dire, urgent need to do it again. Garth strikes again with his witty humor and simple, classy style on his blog SLWTF. I'm still angry at the fact that he copied my idea for a blog name and concept before I came up with it myself. But hey, gotta love the guy and I am flattered that he was so impressed with my idea, he actually implemented it before I even thought of it.

SLWTF is a great little blog. it's simple. Concise and to the point.

The premise is simple, Garth simsurfs all over Second Life and reports the fascinating, unusual and all-around cool or otherwise 'WTF?'  things he runs into. Always short, easy reads and good pictures to go along with each article. Garth's writing is simple and very upbeat in a great tongue-in-cheek sort of way.

So, pop over there and subscribe now. I personally liken it to the Dilbert cartoon style, but the subject is Second Life in general, not office antics.

Garth sez:
"So yesterday I found this platform in the sky full of bots. What made it different was that these bots weren’t stuck behind walls, nor were they sitting on poseballs. That, shall we say, was their downfall."

Oh yes! Garth rocks again. Another even funnier post than usual. The first and second pictures alone tell such a funny story, you simply have to read his commentary!

I have pointed you to his blog twice before and I have this dire, urgent need to do it again. Garth strikes again with his witty humor and simple, classy style on his blog SLWTF. I'm still angry at the fact that he copied my idea for a blog name and concept before I came up with it myself. But hey, gotta love the guy and I am flattered that he was so impressed with my idea, he actually implemented it before I even thought of it.

SLWTF is a great little blog. it's simple. Concise and to the point.

The premise is simple, Garth simsurfs all over Second Life and reports the fascinating, unusual and all-around cool or otherwise 'WTF?'  things he runs into. Always short, easy reads and good pictures to go along with each article. Garth's writing is simple and very upbeat in a great tongue-in-cheek sort of way.

So, pop over there and subscribe now. I personally liken it to the Dilbert cartoon style, but the subject is Second Life in general, not office antics.

Garth sez:
"So yesterday I found this platform in the sky full of bots. What made it different was that these bots weren’t stuck behind walls, nor were they sitting on poseballs. That, shall we say, was their downfall."

So we have had to learn some new terminology ever since coming into Second Life. I have no doubt you know of what I speak:

• Linden Dollars (L$)


• Newbie


• N00b


• Rezz (Rezzing; Rez-date)


• Prim


• Flexi


• Sculptie


• Parcel


• Terraforming


• Banning


• Prefab


• Estate


• Region


• Sim


• Grid

Yes, some of these are words you already knew. But in the same context? Or have the definitions changed? For those who've been in SL for a time, we remember the "Beta Grid" and "Beta Viewer".

Then they changed our newly-invented language around on us, not in any particular order": Beta Viewer became the "First Look" Viewer, Didn't Beta Grid become "Preview" Grid? Oh, and speaking of "Grid", Linden Lab stole that one from the residents who have coined it up and used it extensively an exclusively to describe the Second Life underlying technology almost since Second Life's public inception.

Now Linden Lab has commandeered that term and proclaim a bullshit trademark on it. Well, I won't rehash my response to Linden Lab about their trademark full-of-shit claims on a couple of them, but they are again changing our beloved new language.

If you recall, several months ago a test teleport between the main grid (there's that word again) and the open source "open sim" grid. Though nothing transferred in the teleport such as textures, inventory, even body shapes, it was a successful and ground-breaking event.

Why ground-breaking? Simple, All other grid servers are hack-jobs. Reverse engineered successes that Linden Lab never publicly endorsed... until now.

So, now that they have a protocol and method to allow you to bounce from one grid (3D network) to another grid, they want to test the hell out of it. The best way to do that is to get as many gullible guinea-pigs as they can.

So, what do you do when you need gullible guinea-pigs? Announce it on the public Second Life blog! Now, Whump Linden's blog entry clearly specifies, or at least makes it seriously feel like this beta testing is intended for developers.

Then why post it on the public Second Life blog, instead of the developers channel and lists? Because there are many bold, adventuring residents who what to play. And play they will.

So, as the time nears and we have a threedee interwebs, bouncing from one grid to the next will now officially be known, as sanctioned and endorsed my the almighty Linden Lab hence forth as "intergrid teleporting."

So, stop all the presses. The english language dictionaries must now be updated {again - rolls eyes} to incorporate this new phrase. If you are feeling bold and want to play science-fictionie - take a read at the SL blog for the full scoop.

And, in case it's not clear and you are a new reader: this article is only to have a little fun with the news and should be taken with a grain of salt, as all my articles should.

Whumper sez:
"This beta is intended for virtual world developers. The purpose is to establish a base level of interoperability — no inventory, textures, or attachments will transfer upon intergrid teleport. You will appear on the target grid’s simulator as that grid’s default avatar (Ruth)." 

Oh!

And a "gridnaut" (that is 'grid' as opposed to 'astro', people) is some one who actually makes the journey from one grid to another.

Okay, "intergrid" I can wrap my head around. Even embrace it. But what the fuck is gridnaut? It sounds like an alternate description of an ejaculation or something. I mean... damned. Am I wrong here?

Torley sez:
"And since I’m Resident Enlightenment Manager, guess who’s job it is to spread the word, so that you’re Enlightened and aware of this awesomeness?" 
Okay, I don't care. Still going to refer to him as our wantermelonie, fun-loving, I-want-what-you're-smokin'-funguy. And, he's popped-up a new blog entry that is not related to tutorials, but rather some highly-useful, kick@$$ tools to help you deal with Second Life in a lot more funner way.

Absolutely awesome tools that you might want to take a gander at, even if you're an SL oldbie: A great Second Life cheat-sheet. You know, one of those reference sheets that provides a quick reference to keyboard shortcuts like you see that come with high-end, over-priced software like Adobe Photoshop.

Also, some highly useful Avatar UV Mapping information, for all you clothing and skin creators out there. A very nice learn-it-as-easily-as-possible resource.

And, for all you YouTube.com fanatics, a way to pop youtube.com videos onto your parcel of land, though Torley had covered this in a video tutorial a while ago. It's great little refresher.

So, pop over to the SL blog (link above) and take a look at the entry. These are definite bookmark destinations.

Torley sez:
"And since I’m Resident Enlightenment Manager, guess who’s job it is to spread the word, so that you’re Enlightened and aware of this awesomeness?" 

Okay, I don't care. Still going to refer to him as our wantermelonie, fun-loving, I-want-what-you're-smokin'-funguy. And, he's popped-up a new blog entry that is not related to tutorials, but rather some highly-useful, kick@$$ tools to help you deal with Second Life in a lot more funner way.

Absolutely awesome tools that you might want to take a gander at, even if you're an SL oldbie: A great Second Life cheat-sheet. You know, one of those reference sheets that provides a quick reference to keyboard shortcuts like you see that come with high-end, over-priced software like Adobe Photoshop.

Also, some highly useful Avatar UV Mapping information, for all you clothing and skin creators out there. A very nice learn-it-as-easily-as-possible resource.

And, for all you YouTube.com fanatics, a way to pop youtube.com videos onto your parcel of land, though Torley had covered this in a video tutorial a while ago. It's great little refresher.

So, pop over to the SL blog (link above) and take a look at the entry. These are definite bookmark destinations.

Note: I remind you this blog is officially and always has been officially 'classified' as R-rated. This is one of those posts. If you are easily offended, get the fuck out and leave now. ;)

It''s more than 180 days since Linen Lab flexed it's intellectual property rights with regard to it's trade marks, registered and unregistered and thus, the subject is creeping up again in a few areas, especially in one blog and a few others.

For those of you who have been with me for a long time, you know this blog used to be called SL Review. In fact, that version of this blog is still available, though it is inactive. I refuse to delete it. It's hosted on WordPress.com and once a blog is deleted, that name (on WordPress.com) is gone forever.

Now, I fully support Linden Lab's rights toward their trade marks and other intellectual properties and their right to defend them. I fully support their claims.

Except for one.

Linden Lab is trying to proclaim a trademark on the initials "SL" when they are used in any sense regarding a "virtual world". I disagree.

Therefore, I refuse to delete that blog. and I refuse to attach a ® or ™ near any version of "SL", including the term "inSL" unless I am using the artwork provided by Linden Lab, but otherwise: no.

Now, the reason I changed SL Review to Common Sensible did, in fact, stem from this S.N.A.F.U. by Linden Lab. I was about to purchase the domain name "slreview.com"and have it point here. And though I believe I am in the right with regard to the initials S and L, I didn't want to take a chance on legal action even though yes, I would invest the money to defend, I'm also not stupid.

There obviously is the chance I am totally wrong about it. So, I decided on Common Sensible and it also opens my blog up to commentary about other things, whether it deals with Second Life directly or not.

So, I purchased the domain, (of course there is a squatter on "commonsensible.com - so I took .net,) and applied it here. When I did that... the name change and domain, I thought it was a big enough change to go ahead and rearrange the look of the blog as well. Even though I loved the previous look of SL Review.

I have an itch.

I am bringing that old look back (Ta-da! You see it now!) More on this a little later.

To Linden Lab: I still believe you are wrong about the initials 'SL' and still refuse to attribute any rights to you with regard to any kind of ownership to those initials. Thus, I bite my thumb to you.

Fo those of you who aren't aware, biting one's thumb is the same as 'thumbing one's nose' at, or rather better known as: flipping the bird.

Now, I support Linden Lab employees. All of them, all the way from the janitor mopping floors all the way up to CEO "M" (sorry uncle Phil, you're on the board and the board doesn't matter to me in any way, even though you (the board) will ruin SL for all of us at some point soon.)

However, to the Linden Lab legal department, regarding your claim to the so-called 'trademark' known as "SL" and all your dumbfuck rules of adding verbs or pronouns or adjectives or conjunction-junctions and other bullshit to any mention of the words "Second Life"...

Kiss my ass. Fuck you. Shove it where the sun doesn't shine.

Not only am I waiting for a cease and desist letter, I'm begging for it. and when you send it, I'm going to throw it back into your face and tell you publicly to shove it up your ass.

Yes, I was hot and heavy back when this issue first came about. With it resurfacing, I am hot and heavy all over again. Yes, Linden Lab will likely just go to WordPress.com and demand a take-down and WordPress will likely comply and delete the SL Review site.

That's why all that material, comments included, have long-since been, moved here. So that if it happens, then I will toot my horn across the blogosphere and drop the hammer of bad public relations for Linden Lab legal department.

Now, Jeska, Torley, Katt, Robin and all you other Lindens that I know do come by and read this blog every once in a blue moon, I apologize to you each individually. I always have and still do support you. I know you are simply employees of a company you want to ensure is successful.

So I want to make it clear: my beef isn't with Linden Lab itself or its employees. My beef is with the legal department and specifically, their claim to any copyright or trademark ownership to the initials "SL".

There. Said it.

I feel better.

So, back to the look change. For all you regulars, please - give me feedback on my going back to the old look. If most of you don't like it, tell me and I'll put it back to the brighter, green and white theme I had before.

I like this look because it is not often-used amonf WordPress members and I am relying limited selection of the themes that are offered by WordPress.com because I am not hosting the files onmy own, and thus don't have access to the themes configuration area on the server. But more importantly to me, it presents a style and moxy I want this blog to convey.

However, I also recognize that you, the reader, are the ones who... well, read. Though I post my articles mostly for myself to vent or just ramble - (regulars know I'm good at that, right Cen?) - without you this blog is pretty much useless.

So, as I brace myself for those of you who ask "what the hell are you thinking?" - I'll wait patiently to hear from you. :-D

"M" posted another blog entry on the Second Life blog, his second in as many months.

It's a good read. highly detailed and a lot of information. It highlights a couple things for me: Not in what's said, but rather, what is said.

I'll explain...

It's a very long post. Of course, he's the Chief Executive officer (CEO) - you know, the big kahuna. Obviously he didn't make the post himself (well, maybe he did, in which case I'll be really impressed.) Rather, he more likely sat in his office, built a bulleted list, passed it off for his assistant or secretary to write, he to touch-up then off to the PR firm for a good vetting then back to the blog to be posted under his name.

'M' sez:
"As the leader in virtual worlds — in terms of numbers of users, user hours and the size of our virtual economy, revenue, profitability and brand awareness — we take our responsibility seriously. We will continue to invest in innovations that benefit our current and future residents as well as the entire industry."

Hey, nothing wrong with this. He's a busy guy. And I would rather he spend his time directing Linden Lab and Linden Research (is he CEO of that one, too?) rather than spending an hour or two dreaming up such wonderful and hopeful words to be posted on the Second Life blog.

However, I for one do appreciate his effort. It is pretty rare that the CEO of a company would even think of, much less actually communicate directly with his end customers. At all.

I applaud Linden Lab for it.

However, nothing was said. The CEO's blog post is all marketing spin. The communication isn't really intended for you or I. It's intended for the media. Journalists scrape and monitor that blog every single day, likely all day long.

So, 'M', you haven't really said anything worthwhile to the residents. You were feeding the news media and there's nothing wrong with that. It's all good information and positive news. Only the positive. The flip-side of the coin in the lowering of virtual land-purchase pricing, (specifically: estates,) has put a real damper on the virtual land portion of the economy.

The open space simulators are what's doing it. as an estate owner, I would sell or lease land to residents. many of whom are just looking for a nice place to plop a virtual home, some looking for a place to plop a larger retail place or an event center of some sort, such as a virtual club.

Well, to cover my monthly tier (sim hosting fee) - I have to charge enough monthly Linden Dollars to cover it. However, with the low cost of these open space sims, it's easier to just buy one of those and own it. Why lease space from another estate owner?

So, though my tenants were very happy, with the real world economy getting shaky with oil prices and such, people are taking a break from Second Life  (not to mention the usual summer slow-down already kicking in) - so when they leave, they aren't coming back. A parcel that has gone vacant used to be snatched-up within hours. Now, the same parcel will sit for a week or two as those potential tenant choose instead to purchase open space sims. on top of that, with the mad rush to sell land  - specifically the flood of Governor Linden land placed for auction - the land search is flooded beyond comprehension.

Now all of this is conjecture and opinion on my part. But it's what the virtual world appears like from my own perspective.

So the warm and fuzzy, yet highly detailed message from Linden Lab's CEO is really just a polished rock. If you follow the news and blogosphere around Second Life, you already know just about everything that was mentioned or talked about in 'M's post.

So, Mister CEO, What I'd like to see you post about is this: what is the direction you intend to take Second Life - with regard to its residents? What is the news on the grid stability front? The new viewer is leaps and bounds more stable and functional than past versions, and there are some really nice usability features, but what's next?

How is Linden Lab's business model changing (as it must change) with regard to the opening of the grid paradigm? after all, you are now primarily the end-all provider, but when interconnectivity between grids and micro-grids become a reality, you will be nothing more than a hosting provider, much like a web site host.

Sure, perhaps you will be the company that manages Linden Dollar economy and assets. But when users go from hundreds of thousands to million to billions concurrently... how will you handle that? What is your answer to Microsoft eyeing the grid and looking to interject their identification-tracking technologies?

What are your answers to all the other grids and server alternatives that are popping up all over the place? We, as residents and consumers are sick and tired of the VHS vs. Betamax and Blue-Ray vs. HD DVD wars. 

Certainly you don't intend that. But when other companies like Microsoft and whomever else decides they can do something better, they will come out with competing, albeit incompatible technologies. Then the 'format wars' start up all over again.

Remember Netscape, Novel, Lotus, Word Perfect, Borland? All leaders in the computing industry. All number-one, defacto standards when at the top of their game. Now?

Novel barely hangs-on as an also-ran. WordPerfect is a niche product, Borland is practically unheard-of, Netscape is not even the same product any more and Lotus doesn't even exist.

What happens to Linden Lab when all this convergence occurs.

What are you doing to keep Linden Lab on top? What is the direction you intend to take us?

Don't tell me what I already know. all the feel-good news around the world and how the economy functions. I don't care about the the economy, other than how it affects me directly. I don't care about a lot of the other things happening on the grid.

Just like the real world, I care about the weather in my home town and what's happening here. However, I do keep an eye on what the federal government is doing, because it affects all of us, including me.

So, on your next post, tell us what will happen that affects all of us. yes, I expect it to all be polished spin, but if it affects everyone, I'd sure like to know about it because, like everyone else, it will affect me personally.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="179" caption="M Speaks. And its all pretty. The world is good. Calling all journalists to repeat."][/caption]

"M" posted another blog entry on the Second Life blog, his second in as many months.

It's a good read. highly detailed and a lot of information. It highlights a couple things for me: Not in what's said, but rather, what is said.

I'll explain...

It's a very long post. Of course, he's the Chief Executive officer (CEO) - you know, the big kahuna. Obviously he didn't make the post himself (well, maybe he did, in which case I'll be really impressed.) Rather, he more likely sat in his office, built a bulleted list, passed it off for his assistant or secretary to write, he to touch-up then off to the PR firm for a good vetting then back to the blog to be posted under his name.

'M' sez:
"As the leader in virtual worlds — in terms of numbers of users, user hours and the size of our virtual economy, revenue, profitability and brand awareness — we take our responsibility seriously. We will continue to invest in innovations that benefit our current and future residents as well as the entire industry."

Hey, nothing wrong with this. He's a busy guy. And I would rather he spend his time directing Linden Lab and Linden Research (is he CEO of that one, too?) rather than spending an hour or two dreaming up such wonderful and hopeful words to be posted on the Second Life blog.

We love to bash Linden Lab over the grid performance and stability, their whacked-out governance overtures, the buggy viewer and so many other things.

However, you have to admit, there are times when kudos are highly deserved. The new 1.20 version of the Second Life viewer is now available and you really need to take a look at this thing. Among bug fixes, there are a lot of very nice enhancement you'll like.

First is the new "ruth" - an ghostly apparition in the form of an animated, glowing fog. So for everyone who uses this viewer, no more ruths. Okay, the new Ruth is totally wicked and I want to be a permanent ruth! How do I get an avatar that is a perpetual ruth?

Second Life is really growing in the education universe. Colleges and universities are plopping campuses and virtual classrooms all over the grid and there are real time lessons being conducted. Why? Because of the immersion and experience.

Being in a three-dimensional, even computer-generated virtual world has such a profound mental and emotional impact that it is highly effective at immersion. The thought and feeling of actually 'being there'.

Of course, this is no secret whatsoever to existing Second Life residents.

Finally, a decent news article about Second Life and it's about Second Life as it relates to sex and cyber activities. A journalist that does do his research and tells it like it is.

No bogus sensationalism. No over-hype or slam-downs. Just straight, simple reporting and I find to be the most accurate thus far in the two years since I've been in Second Life and following along. Pop-over and have a read.

Second Life doesn't come up until about half-way down the column, but it really is a good and entertaining read.

Source: The Daily Californian
"Certainly not everyone's on Second Life for the virtual booty, but that's got to be a perk. And hey, even though it isn't free, it's likely a lot cheaper than a Japanese sex doll or a Piston Robot. You can dress up your avatar the way you want and approach people (or, OK, other avatars) you'd never dream of approaching IRL. There are sex clubs. There are orgy rooms. There are no STIs. The more I think about it, the more sensible it sounds."

It was only a matter of time that Microsoft would want to stick its hand into the Second Life/Open Sim phenominon. Okay, they are the ones we love to hate to love to hate, but let's face it: Microsoft's jump into the foray can only be a good thing. At least with adoption and mainstreaming of the Second Life paradigm.

Virtual worlds are in abundance now and it is quickly turning into a huge money-maker for those companies becoming involved behind the scenes in some way. According to Reuters, Microsoft is looking to help 'standardize' some of the functions regarding virtual worlds and how the many separate grids will keep track of you.

Now, there are only two possible reasons for Microsoft's jump into this fray: they are piss-poorly behind in anything Internet and throwing money into a black hole and there really isn't anything profitable for them as of yet. However, they have the deep pockets to keep at it. They are looking for a way to turn around their online efforts, hence the attempt to buy-out, or at least buy into Yahoo!.

The second has to do with licensing and making real money. yes, they will release their contribution in open source, however, Microsoft will make it magically work the easiest with their products, such a Microsoft SQL Server, et al.

In the end, Microsoft will hope to piggyback sales of their enterprise products on the loss-leader of open-source contributions. I see nothing wrong with this at all and it's good business practice.

Source: Reuters/Second Life
"Zain Naboulsi, a “developer/evangelist” at Microsoft looking closely at OpenSim, said the company seeks to integrate at least three of its free services into the evolving open source package: coding tool C Sharp Express; SQL server express, Microsoft’s database platform to handle OpenSim’s inventory calls; and Windows Live ID, a identity-management tool."

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="360" caption="Top-Secret Torley Picture"][/caption]

We all know this. All those to-do things that need to get done. Whether it is a pet project, a mundane task or even a dreaded chore.

Getting started is the hardest part of the task.

Though once we get things going, we end-up 'on a roll' and it gets done. The same is true when it comes to learning. Anything.

The first task is to jump-in and get started.

This is can be a difficult duty as time is crunched for most of us. Life (both First and Second) simply moves too fast. It's a matter of taking the time to crack-open the book, or wiki web page or notecard for that matter and take the time to read.

Sorry, couldn't help it.

Scanning the blogosphere and I had to admit the headline really caught my attention.

[UPDATE]: The author of the article did correct his headline and body copy to more accurately reflect the statement. However, not before the 'net trolls blasted him with vitriol and shrill language. Which is a shame. Thus, following the link below will take you to the updated article. Though I'll leave the quote below, because it's great humor!

The first paragraph:

Google Labs, in its ever-increasing internet expansion, has just released its answer to Yahoo!’s Second Life. It’s called Lively and it was announced on July 8 over on the official Google Blog.

Source: Google launches its answer to Yahoo!'s Second Life

When software developers write their software and it becomes just barely functional, they call it 'alpha' (first letter of the Greek alphabet.) At some point there are enough of the features and there is enough stability where they change the status and refer to it as 'beta' (second letter). However, status never reaches 'gamma' (third letter,) though sometimes, perhaps it should.

When software is right on the very edge of being thought of as completed and "ready for mass consumption" it is then referred to as a "Release Candidate." It is then called RC0 and passed to as many people as possible for testing. If any glitches are found they are fixed and a new iteration is created and distributed. So everyone is on the same version, it is referred to as RC1. When the software is finally ready to go, and they send it off to be duplicated and boxed-up for store shelfs, it is said to be referred to as 'Golden Code'.

In other words, it's now a money-maker. Of course these are generic references to the way computer software code is referred. However, it is pretty rare that a release candidate would go past a third, okay maybe a fourth iteration. You know: RC2 and RC3.

Sorry, couldn't help it.

Scanning the blogosphere and I had to admit the headline really caught my attention.

[UPDATE]: The author of the article did correct his headline and body copy to more accurately reflect the statement. However, not before the 'net trolls blasted him with vitriol and shrill language. Which is a shame. Thus, following the link below will take you to the updated article. Though I'll leave the quote below, because it's great humor!

The first paragraph:

Google Labs, in its ever-increasing internet expansion, has just released its answer to Yahoo!’s Second Life. It’s called Lively and it was announced on July 8 over on the official Google Blog.

Source: Google launches its answer to Yahoo!'s Second Life

Anshe Chung has made their buckaroos and done quite well. In fact, it's a model a lot of other people followed along: purchase and run a private estate in Second Life, a.k.a. "sim" or simulator, and rent or sell the land off it to other residents, essentially doing what Linden Lab is doing.

After all, by charging the same amount as Linden Lab for monthly land tier, you can make a healthy profit, and the virtual land on your sim is easier to sell and lease because you are likely to take payment in Linden Dollars (L$) on a weekly basis. This saves all the Euros on VAT taxes and just plain makes it easier for a lot of Second Life users who want land.

The problem with Second Life is that Linden Lab isn't only the government which is able to print-up money whenever they see fit, but they also are God in that they can create virtual land as they see fit. In fact, tier fees for virtual land is Linden Lab's bread-and-butter. They need people to buy land.

However, there's a few problems that have been working their way through the system for quite some time, starting with the United States Congress.

It is illegal to transfer united states currency through the Internet for gaming (gambling) purposes. Allegedly, Linden Lab investigated the possibility that they could be challenged under law and decided it is safer to simply ban gambling outright.

This put a massive dent in the SL economy - and it still hasn't fully recovered. On top of that, the issues in grid stability, usability, first experience and a slew of other things has caused membership to begin stagnating. On top of all that, high oil prices in the real world are causing real life people to pinch real life dollars so they can put real life food on the real life table and keep the real life roof over their real life heads.

So, what happens? Well, for starters, not going to be throwing real dollars after phony ones. Either need to earn L$ or do without. This, in turn means a bit less virtual shopping. Not to mention the user base is falling flat and premium memberships have declined in growth and may actually decline for real.

On top of that, Linden Lab drops the starting price of private virtual estates dramatically while dumping more virtual land into a new continent, all while collecting up old abandoned virtual land and putting it up for auction.

So what we have now is a land-glut.

We have a Second Life Recession. Yes, it may just be the typical summer slow-down, but it still hurts. Hopefully Linden Lab can keep the fine-balancing act going. Or there will be a lot of people who really get really hurt, really.

Arifi Saeed has a great article over at his blog about the Second Life land crisis. If you have or are thinking about virtual land in Second Life, you'd better take a read at what he has to say:

The short term fix has been to lower the setup fee ('purchase price') for full private sims from $1695 to $1000, make it much easier and quicker to buy private sims, make it easier and more flexible to buy openspace sims (with all the 16536m2 territory but less than a quarter of the prims of a full sim), and toss a lot more newly created mainland virtual real estate on the market as well. The result has been the huge expansion in virtual territory celebrated in the recent LL blog -- and to create a major real estate crisis in Second Life by expanding the supply far in excess of real demand.
--------------------
But that would mean the total destruction of the illusion that there is any real value in Second Life real estate as an asset and totally bankrupt all current land owners in Second Life. It would eliminate the Anshe Chung model of an owner/reseller of land in Second Life completely. And doing so would, of course, totally alienate a very large proportion of Second Life's longest term and most loyal residents. Unfortunately, that process is now quite well underway.

Source: http://arifisaeed.blogspot.com/

Anshe Chung has made their buckaroos and done quite well. In fact, it's a model a lot of other people followed along: purchase and run a private estate in Second Life, a.k.a. "sim" or simulator, and rent or sell the land off it to other residents, essentially doing what Linden Lab is doing.

After all, by charging the same amount as Linden Lab for monthly land tier, you can make a healthy profit, and the virtual land on your sim is easier to sell and lease because you are likely to take payment in Linden Dollars (L$) on a weekly basis. This saves all the Euros on VAT taxes and just plain makes it easier for a lot of Second Life users who want land.

The problem with Second Life is that Linden Lab isn't only the government which is able to print-up money whenever they see fit, but they also are God in that they can create virtual land as they see fit. In fact, tier fees for virtual land is Linden Lab's bread-and-butter. They need people to buy land.

However, there's a few problems that have been working their way through the system for quite some time, starting with the United States Congress.

Calling all virtual feet.

I don't usually like to advertise anything here at all. In fact, as you peruse Common.Sensible, you won't find any advertising at all, (though I really should change that. I, like everyone else, could use the money.)

However, there is an inaugural benefit for the ASPCA coming up. And event most of you ladies will want to know about. Some of you guys, too. I am close to this event in that I had the opportunity to participate, even if microscopically, with the build. So I at least feel close to it and the build is wonderful.

This is a Rezzable (Home of the Greenies, Black Swan and many others) presentation and done for fund-raising. The details are here:

2008 SL FOOTWEAR EXPO TO BENEFIT THE ASPCA

There is often a lot of shrill whining and screaming at Linden Lab for things that need to be addressed on the grid. And I have always said 'hey, Linden Lab is listening, have a little faith here."
Two examples are this:

It had been requested again and again that when you teleport to another location, make it easy to return to where you teleported from. There are time when you inadvertently TP do a location and you didn't mean to. Then, once day, without any hype or fanfare or even announcement, for that matter, I noticed in the WindLight "preview" that Linden Lab had actually implemented a link-back to where you had teleported from whenever you teleport to somewhere.

The other, more dramatic example has to do with selling land. For the longest time there have be unscrupulous 'land barons' running robots in Second Life, (a.k.a. 'bots',) that would snatch up any land placed for sale that met particular criteria.

The issue with the landbots had to do with people moving land from one account to another. A simple transfer, thus selling the parcel of digital land for a mere $1 or, a typo where an individual intends to sell the land for say $75000, but ends-up leaving a zero of the end.

In the old days this didn't matter much. However, landbots are practically instantaneous and work far quicker than can any human. The problem: the owner of the bot either would not return the parcel to the one selling or would extort a profit.

Cries to Linden Lab went full force about this issue.

Then, one day, without much fanfare at all (I don't even recall any kind of announcement,) I suddenly notice while goofing around my own estate that selling land now brings an additional warning, asking if you are certain you want to sell your parcel for the particular amount and to whom (anyone or a particular person.)

This put a stop to the unscrupulous land baron "thefts" as they were called. Which, ironically, I believe also played a major part of the recession in digital land prices along with the dumping of new land by Linden Lab.

But, I digress.

My main point here is, Linden Lab does see what we ask for. They do pay attention and try to implement our requests if it is feasible, especially if there is some kind of exploit that can be considered harmful to the residents at large, or that simply makes the grid easier and better and more convenient.

The thing to remember is that as open as LL is, they don't go announcing everything they are working on. There is a lot of 'announcement' that falls through the cracks and go unannounced. Thus, it may appear that Linden Lab is either ignoring us, or dragging their feet painfully slow. When, in fact, they already are on the issue behind the scenes.

{Note to Linden Lab: I am still waiting for you to fix that damned alpha sorting issue you broke a year ago. That is the most irritating f**kup to date as far as I'm concerned.}

So, because LL is so slow to communicate the simpler things, and sometimes the bigger, more important things (such as never letting anyone know they were even working on a solution to the landbot-theft issues,) does it come as any surprise that on the Second Life bog that they announce this:

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 12:01 AM by: Hamilton Linden
"This is a historic day for Second Life, and for virtual worlds in general. IBM and Linden Lab have announced that research teams from the two companies successfully teleported avatars from the Second Life Preview Grid into a virtual world running on an OpenSim server, marking the first time an avatar has moved from one virtual world to another."

Note the date here. This is old news. This story, with photos and video has been reported again and again in the Second Life and technology blogosphere.

Now hold-on a second. I am not blasting Linden Lab for posting old news. I am simply using this example to let you, my dear reader friend, know that you really should cut Linden Lab a little slack. They aren't the quickest to respond to things and there are reasons for not responding publicly to some things at all.

For example, I can see the legal reasons they never made a public peep about the landbot-theft issue - but still worked to resolve it; read: Mr. Woebegone lawsuit.

The point is, Linden Lab cannot always turn on a dime for a number of reasons. They are slow to respond for reasons that make sense, or simply fall through the virtual cracks and it's not necessarily because they are lazy.

In fact, as an Information technology professional myself, I personally take offense when idiots proclaim such things, no matter who they are slamming: Linden Lab or anyone else. I'd rather LL just remain quiet and focus on the issue, rather than stop working, take the time to properly write an announcement, then go back to working and then repeating ever few days. 'Status reports' just slows things down.

I have no doubt there is a huge stack of announcements Katt Linden is anxious to start spamming the blog with, however, those announcement must be vetted legally, reworked, rephrased and so on, and likely must also pass muster with Linden Lab's Public Relations people.

Which, to me, explains why this old news is only now seeing the official light of day.

There is often a lot of shrill whining and screaming at Linden Lab for things that need to be addressed on the grid. And I have always said 'hey, Linden Lab is listening, have a little faith here."
Two examples are this:

It had been requested again and again that when you teleport to another location, make it easy to return to where you teleported from. There are time when you inadvertently TP do a location and you didn't mean to. Then, once day, without any hype or fanfare or even announcement, for that matter, I noticed in the WindLight "preview" that Linden Lab had actually implemented a link-back to where you had teleported from whenever you teleport to somewhere.

The other, more dramatic example has to do with selling land. For the longest time there have be unscrupulous 'land barons' running robots in Second Life, (a.k.a. 'bots',) that would snatch up any land placed for sale that met particular criteria.

Wouldn't it be cool to have an alternative to Second Life, be able to run your own sim and estate on your own computer and have all your Second Life inventory... but Linden Lab is nowhere to be found?

You can.

Second Life has been around awhile and though it may not be the most popular or largest of the online 3D worlds, it is the best known of all of them and the largest, most popular Virtual World (as opposed to massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game - MMORPG).

As a 'resident' of Second Life for a couple years, I've seen a lot of drama, a lot of new technologies come through, and a lot of complaints against Linden Lab for a number of things. Beyond bugs and grid stability and other corporate culture decisions is the issue of inventory.

Everett Linden posted an entry on the Second Life blog, like so many other yawners with respect the SL5B (Second Life 5th Birthday) - and of course, there were a number of gems in the feedback section that Everett must certainly consider absolute gems, being most helpful not only to Linden Lab, but also ever other person who reads the blog post about the following subject:

"Thanks to moderator Rissa Maidstone, the recording of the Roundtable: Urbanism, Architecture & Planning: How Second Life can Help Build the Urban Landscape of the Physical World and Vice-Versa is now available."

Now, as of this writing there are currently 64 talk-backs to the above information. Let's take a peek and the wonderful insight presented to Linden Lab from their esteemed and oh-so-intellectual residents...

Christos Atlantis Says: Thank you for the recording, I missed this event and I wanted to hear it.
This is useful feedback, believe it or not.

Ah - the more typical response from number two:

viper overlord Says: logins down..what fun
So, viper, not only is this a wasted spot in one of the limited feedback positions, but it is not a complete wasted of bad breath on your part *because...* ?

Hmm, and number three:

Wynochee LeShelle Says: can’t login…

Utter effin' genius. Let me guess, Wynochee... when your car won't start, you'll call the Quick Lube shop, leave a voice mail that says "My car isn't working" and hang-up, expecting a return call with the exact cause of the problem and, on top of that, your car magically fixed. Oh, and no matter you are speaking to the wrong people that can't help you with your problem to begin with.

Remember how they were saying for the longest time that "it takes a village" to raise your children. Pardon my French, but the village is f*ck'd. The problem with 'kids' today is all because of the 'village'. The village is evil and corrupts our children's lives. The village turns innocence into promiscuity. The village needs to burn.

The "village" as was proclaimed are all the other people involved in your children's lives besides yourself. School teachers, friends, television and media. Everything they are exposed to during waking and even sleeping hours will have a profound effect on their perspective and outlook on things.

The problem is the "village" includes all the bad influences in society. Sex and drugs on television. Harsh expletives in the music they listen to on the public airways, and the language and intent of the lyrics and what they actually are saying in those songs. It's no wonder 8-year-olds, yes: 8-year-olds talk about "humping" and "banging" and such. I worked for a Boys and Girls club for a time and trust me, it's really there.

In the end, places like Second Life and it's seedier locations are really nothing special. it's just the same crap that happens in Real Life. The only difference is: it's not hidden away in some corner where everyone else pretends to not know it's really there.

And the so-called "main-stream media" is no different. The problem with the so-called 'main-stream media' is that they are losing credibility faster than the speed of light. They are laughable. And yet, they are giving new parents advice on how they should watch-out for their kids. Take the following quote from the Los Angeles Times:

Tips for online safety - Los Angeles Times
"Don't let your children on sites such as Second Life unless they are old enough to handle adults on their own."

Okay, what is wrong with this statement?

If it doesn't jump out and slap you in the face, then perhaps you are the target audience of the "main-stream media".

In which case, I then pity you.