PostHeaderIcon "Sub" is a Censored "Adult-rated" Term

2007"Sub".

"Dom".

These are "adult-rated" words that must be filtered in classified and all things search in Second Life according to Linden Lab. You see, the abbreviation "sub" - at least in the mindset of most 'experienced' Second Life users - is "submissive".

Though even the term 'submissive' is not really an adult-rated word. Rather it's the context in which the term 'submissive' is used, which in second Life tends to be the context of the "lifestyle" of bondage and discipline/domination and submission/Sado[-]Masochism (Sadomasochism) or better known simply as "BDSM". It is activities such as this which are so freely prevalent on the Second Life grid that Linden Lab rightfully I believe, implements the new "adult-rated" policy and all the rules the come with it. And those rules are really not very restrictive, save the promiscuous display of such content.

Email from Linden Lab via 'noreply@secondlife.com:
It has come to our attention that your parcel or classified contains adult keywords or has been categorized as Adult, but that it is not currently located on adult land. According to our recent changes in regard to adult content, adult content must be moved to Zindra.

Please note that once the free relocation to Zindra has completed, parcels or classifieds that contain adult search terms but are not located in adult land will no longer be visible in PG or Mature searches in the All tab. As soon as possible, please update your Classifieds or Show in Search listings so that the maturity level of the keywords matches the maturity level of the parcel. You will also need to choose a category other than Adult for your parcel, as this category has been replaced by the Adult maturity. This will allow your listings to show up properly in search.

If your parcel has commercialized adult content or services, you are entitled to land equivalent to your existing parcel(s) on Zindra -- at no charge -- if your request is received by this Friday, July 24.

After July 24, we will no longer accept any new requests for the free relocation to Zindra but will continue to process any requests that are still pending. If you have already submitted a Zindra migration request, please disregard this notice.

To submit your relocation request, please follow the steps outlined in the "How do I apply for the migration to Zindra?" section of our Details for landowners on migrating to Zindra Knowledge Base article. For more information about the land available in Zindra, please see our latest Zindra blog post.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Regards,

Customer Support
Linden Lab

[Emphasis by Linden Lab as appeared in email.]

Ummm... okay. Did I mention that I received this on July 24th?

PostHeaderIcon Regarding Camping and Traffic Bot Bans...

2009Jul14--MontclairTableThis is a reply to Ciaran Leval's article at Your 2nd Place about the Linden Lab policy on "traffic gaming" - specifically the use of bots and camping systems and how apparently action is, in fact, being taken.

Ciaran's full article is a good read. Please do go there and read-up, then read my full reply here.

In that article, Ciaran writes:
I've never bought the argument that traffic bots were only used by people who make poor content, that may be what we'd like to believe but in reality some big names with good products have employed these tactics to keep up with the opposition. That's what caused the traffic wars. People aren't stupid, great traffic and crap produce will not bring major sales to a content creator, they may catch a few sales but they won't flourish, the content needs to be decent to keep the business going.

And my open-letter response follows:

PostHeaderIcon Second Life Residents as Mere Bugs?

I don't watch television. Well, I watch DVDs and podcasts on my Apple TV and other prerecorded stuff, but I just don't find myself attracted to commercial broadcast productions. The last really great show I found myself addicted to is the original C.S.I. (Crime Scene Investigation) which features the characters of Grissom, Willows, Brown, Stokes, Sidle and all the rest.


In the show, the character of Gil Grissom is an entomologist, a study of zoology concerning insects. When I ran across a detailed summary of book called "Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human" , I couldn't help but to read it in depth (the summary, not the book.)


My first chuckling thought is that Anthropologists and Entomologists are likewise disciplines, just different species. There are detailed summaries on each chapter of the book.


I really doubt the content of this book would be 'over my head' but I do suspect it could put me to sleep rather quickly, and although there is a Kindle edition (which is now the only version of books I will purchase from anywhere,) it's too pricey to even consider as far as I'm concerned (99% of all Kindle editions are $9.99 or less). However, I found the summaries mesmerizing and rather insightful (paragraph breaks are mine for readability):



Chapter 5. Personhood, pp. 118-150



Aim of chapter is to investigate ‘everyday senses of virtual personhood’ in SL. Re: life course (Giddens), what is SL course? Many residents had more than one account so actual and SL selves not necessarily coterminous.



However, time constraints in having several avatars – time resists virtualisation far better than space. Unlike game worlds, no skill levels here, although newbies easily recognisable for lack of practical skills.



Changes in actual life could impact on SL, e.g. family member falling ill.  Leaving SL could be painful, ‘charted on blogs and commemorated with farewell parties’. SL embodiment not a simulation of real life: residents experienced ‘corporeal immediacy’. Contrast between Haraway’s cyborg corporeality (prosthetic continuity human-machine) and that of SL’s homo cyber (actual-virtual gap). Race also played a part, but often tacitly: default avatar race was white.

[From Summary of Boellstorff (2008), Coming of Age in Second Life]

So, looking upon this, are Second Life 'residents' amounting to mere bugs?





"Coming of Age in Second Life:
An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human"
(Tom Boellstorf




Hardcover Version


Amazon Kindle Version





PostHeaderIcon I Win, You Lose, At All Costs

The 3D FingerI did some looking at alternate Grid Viewers when Linden Lab released the current (as of this writing) Official Viewer (1.23.4) - and I plopped it onto my machine and discovered how riddled with bugs it is. After that harrowing experience (hey, you try installing seven viewers on one system then trying to compare them,) though I only spoke of five of the seven I played with, I settled on the GreenLife Emerald viewer.

Ironically, the day after I had completed all that and posted my thoughts on those, Linden Lab announces Snowglobe. The only 'feature' spoken of is how fast the map art appears and how ridiculously tight you can zoom-in on the mini map. Features I personally figured as being useless to me.

Then, Gwyneth Llewelyn posted an article on her blog with a video hyping-up the performance benefit of Snowglobe. This intrigued me as even though I truly enjoy all the wonderful whiz-bang features of Emerald and Gemini viewers, I'm really in preference of performance and Gwyneth's discussion convinced me I should look at Snowglobe.

I did. And I repeated Gwyneth's performance test, but with control rules to make comparison far easier. Hamlet Au posted my findings at New World Notes, so I won't bother repeating them here.

Of course I didn't expect everyone's result to be the same as mine, but I do suspect the majority will experience something similar.

PostHeaderIcon You Don't "Invest", You Pay to Play

FailureI get so tired of people who proclaim they have "invested real life money" in Second Life. These people are seriously misguided or delusional or both. I don't mean this as a slight. What I do mean is that people really need to get their bearings straight.

Linden Lab does not promise anything to you other than access, and even that is revokable at any time for any reason. So anyone who puts real money into the system and expects anything other than that should perhaps take a finance 101 lesson from someone. Anyone. because anyone and everyone whose feet and mind are planted in reality knows full well that anything you put into the virtual world is a black hole by all expectation.

The fact that you can actually make a return on any of it is more or less an exploitation of tools and services provided, which could disappear without warning or explanation at any time and for no reason.

Simply because it is not promised.

PostHeaderIcon Evil Change or Predictable Doldrum?

Snapshot_009


First, special thank you to Grace Loudon who posted a teaser to this article on her Tumblr site.


A fascinating and unfortunately truthful commentary on MMO's (Massive Multiplayer Online) 'virtual worlds' and really strikes home. At least it does for me. It's a really good read.


The portion of the article Grace quoted is repeated here:



Slowly we fall out of love with our virtual world but somehow we stay addicted to the grind. We in effect make a Faustian bargain with our virtual world; we replace what should be hours of danger and excitement with the comfort of predictability. We become like the husband and wife that can barely tolerate each other but we stay together because we feel safe and secure with the devil we know.



So I ask does this ring true for you, too?