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Second Life Herald: Shock!!! Pixeleen Mistral is Urizenus Sklar?!

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:10:15 +0000

Special to the Herald by staff reporter Idoru Wellman

The supersleuths at upstart interweb newspaper The Griefer Herald believe they have unlocked the secret identity of Second Life Herald managing editrix Pixeleen Mistral.

She is... wait for it... none other than Herald founder Urizenus Sklar.

Asked to comment on the story, Urizenus admitted that he was identical with himself, and Pixeleen concurred that Uri was indeed identical with himself. Meanwhile, further information has come forward suggesting that Urizenus, a.k.a. philosopher Peter Ludlow in real life, might also be identical to Prokofy Neva, Thomas Pynchon, Francis Bacon and d3adl3yc0d3c.

Urizenus Sklar - identical with himself

These amazing revelations sent a flurry of internet sleuths scurrying on identical identity quests - all seeming to lead toward the rumored Interweb Illuminati -- a shadowy cabal that some believe runs the metaverse as a sort of über FIC, while at the same time appreciating a really good coq au vin and the importance of getting just the rightchampagne vinegar when making béarnaise sauce.

Could this be proof positive of a conspiracy which Prokofy Neva is only now starting to suspect exists? Is Tizzers Foxchase in on it? As Uri/Peter/Pix/Prok/Tom/Francis/d3adl3y are fond of saying, in the hall of mirrors that is the interwebs the world may never know.

Second Life Herald: Battle of Prize Delta – Part Three: Rule, Britannia!

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:09:08 +0000

Why would we surrender, ol' bean? We're in your base, musketing your doods

by Caine Constantine

In June, the musket-wielding armies of British conquest fought a prolonged battle to claim Prize Delta and the Task Force Marines as the newest colony of the British Empire. The Marines, however, refused to be anyone’s subjects. And so, a day later, the British came back again to claim what they thought was theirs. This time, though, they planned to stay.

More conflict seemed inevitable, despite the previous epic battle, in which the Marines were gunning down the British by the dozens using their modern day machine guns, and the British retaliating through volley fire of their 18th century muskets. Despite the mismatch, the British forces – mostly composed of Ordo Imperialis, with some volunteers from other groups like the Alliance Navy – had been victorious. Facing even the “metal birds” and “witch magic” that British flagman Water Halbert pointed out, the King’s men had carried the day.. Now they even went so far as to claim that they were the owners of Prize Delta. British General Ruin Nefarious made this clear, saying "TFM is actually the Colony of Lamestein - we are reconquering it for the Crown".

Caine Constantine: So the new rulers of Prize Delta and the Task Force Marines, which you are calling now the people of the Colony of Lamestein, are the British Empire?
Ruin Nefarious: Exactly.
Intus Infinity: They had a temporary uprising. We crushed them
Rei Kuhr: They will be heavily taxed, as a reward.
Aelus Janus: FOR COUNTRY, FOR THRONE.
Ruin Nefarious shouts: Fuck representation!

Their first assault had been one of total conquest. But the battle seemed to wane after the occupation of the base. The British had later realized that in leaving Prize Delta after their victory, they had made a great mistake in claiming their colony – they did not occupy the Marine base long enough to truly stamp onto them the mark of defeat.

And so on June 12th, 2008, soldiers of the British Empire returned in force. I asked General Nefarious for information on what brought them back in such force.

Caine Constantine: What has brought Britain back to the battlefield today?
Ruin Nefarious: One of my men misplaced their wallets.
Ruin Nefarious: We're relocating it.

Caine Constantine: And how is the battle going?
Ruin Nefarious: Splendid, thank you. I stubbed my paw, toe, thing. Otherwise fabulous.

By the time I made it to the battlefield though, the fight was well underway. A lone Marine, rigonet Aeghin, greeted me as I arrived on the scene.

rigonet Aeghin: Hey caine
Caine Constantine: Hello, I wish I could talk more but they are gunning for me!
rigonet Aeghin: This fight is like the worse fight i been to
rigonet Aeghin: The enemy are pretty good

Caine Constantine: How is it the worst?
rigonet Aeghin: Yea this is like a battlefield of dead
rigonet Aeghin: Bombs going off
rigonet Aeghin: Shooting people
rigonet Aeghin: this is like a nightmare

In his summary, rigonet had a point. Prize Delta was built to look like a warzone, but today it was truly hellish. The Marines had made some changes to their lands – barbed wire and roaring flames made their imposing lake of lava all the more deadly.

The Marines had blocked out much of the hub and so the British were unable to replicate the strategy they had used the day before. Now, instead of moving north to bombard the Marine base from a secondary compound like they had in the last battle, they had to take the decrepit town south of the main Marine base, and then storm the base’s main entrance.

British troops gave their war cries before moving out for close-quarters combat.

Knightblade Fayray shouts: FOR KING AND COUNTRY!
Aeriese Descenna shouts: Long live Imperator Aryte I !

Task Force Marines were holding the city, but their numbers were thin. Two defenders were originally all that stood in the way of the King’s hordes when I arrived on the scene.

The town provided a lot of opportunity for cover in the form of wrecked buildings and cars, but the British were ready for a concerted push west into its heart. Embedded with them, I followed closely as British troops moved along the southern edge of Prize Delta towards the town center. Marines caught by surprise were soon picked off.

The British were now ready to hold the position and wait for reinforcements to trickle in before moving on. But British soldiers – still armed with muskets shooting once every ten seconds, at best – were still exponentially outgunned.

One of the Marines – Christopher Compton – came at the British position armed with automatic weaponry. The first volley had missed Christopher, and as they reloaded their muskets, the Marine managed to gun most of them down and killed me as well.

He was cut down by British soldier MikeMurdock McMillan, who survived to bring the dead soldiers back to the site. He also was kind enough to bring me back and form the British soldiers into position so that they could defend me.

MikeMurdock McMillan: protect the reporter, men!
loki Cramer: i got this side covered, Caine

As Christopher returned for more, British soldier loki Cramer hit him as he aimed to gun us all down and head back to the town center.

Christopher Compton (speaking to me): how i didn't kill you i don't know…
loki Cramer (firing at Christopher): leave Caine alone!

With Christopher showing no signs of slowing down, British soldier Johann Wilberg jumped to engage him up close, keeping him from the still thinly numbered British lines. Jumping at him without even a burst of gunfire he sprung into action just as Christopher took down another one of the British defenders.

I apologize for the grainy shots here, but at this point the sim was lagging badly and it was either me getting grainy shots on low graphics, or getting no shots at all.

Here, Christopher chases him as Johann brings him to the other side of the building. The two are unable to shoot well at such close range, with such hectic movement – but the British are now able to marshal their forces as Johann keeps the Marines busy.

Eventually, Christopher took Johann down – and for a brief moment, the town belonged to the Marines; Christopher was the last man standing in the heart of the town.

in Marine base. General Nefarious and the keeper of the colors, Failius Falta, soon seized the outer wall of the base and began to lay siege to it.

British Captain Failius Falta was perhaps the most inspirational British soldier of the battle. Armed with nothing more than the Union Jack and a colonial khaki uniform, he and his companion Mr. Sluggans repeatedly charged the Marine base in an attempt to raise the flag and rally the King’s army forward.

He had managed to breach Marine defenses multiple times – even making his way to the base and flying the flag in between Marine soldiers trying to run out into the battlefield, but he usually soon killed.

Caine Constantine: A picture, please, Mr. Falta?
Failius Falta: 'Ello old boy. And certainly sah, it'd be a pleasure.

Captain Falta, though unarmed, was still in charge of leading his men to the Marine stronghold and was eager to show the power of the British Empire.

Ruin Nefarious: Captain Falta.
Ruin Nefarious: Take your lads up to the east ridge!
Failius Falta salutes!
Failius Falta: TALLY HO BOYS!! BLOOD AND THUNDER!

Other soldiers had their own means of fighting the war on the psychological front. British soldier Easy101 Wilber chose to mount a firebreathing, winged horse, and fired his musket at the Marine base from atop the fearsome creature.

But while British forces were proud to show off their colorful methods of 18th century combat, the Marines had no reason to be laughing. They were now surrounded in their own base.

British snipers had taken the high ground and had the base entrance closed off.

Other snipers were picking off Marines from behind their base.

Captain Falta was patrolling the entrance to the base, completing the seal.

Nevertheless, the Marines were defiant and still fighting vigorously. They were silently bottled up, waiting to slaughter any British forces who crossed Captain Falta’s line of patrol and made it into the base.

Scattered British forces made their way into the Marine base, and somehow made it to the lowest level of the compound. The battle took an extreme turn for the worse for all parties though, when somehow, a group of British and Marine soldiers were blown through the lowest floor of the base into the lowest level – a watery, muddy cavern with no way in or out.

This was where the final fight of the battle of Prize Delta would go down. Conditions were very poor and lag was evident – pictures here are also unfortunately grainy

Ruin Nefarious shouts: FORM RANKS
Ruin Nefarious shouts: LINE UP

The battle became even more intense when teleports went down. Now, death meant only a brief freeze before gameplay resumed as normal for the lucky victim.

Both sides took the opportunity to demand terms.

loki Cramer shouts: Surrender and you will be spared and your nightmare will end!
Johann Wilberg shouts: Surrender, chaps. And you might be spared!
Thompson Aeon: surrender u fuckin brits!
Thompson Aeon: british army is 100% noobish

In the finest line of the whole battle, General Nefarious made the British position very clear.

Ruin Nefarious shouts: Why would we surrender, ol' bean? We're in your base, musketing your doods.

British forces quickly gained numerical superiority, and though Marine Third Admiral Mayra Roffo’s guns had done a fine job of holding the British off, superior numbers and downed teleporters meant that they were of little use now.

The British were coming for her.

After closing in, one British soldier unsuccessfully demanded Admiral Roffo surrender the Marines, by making the demand right into her ear.

Johann Wilberg: Surrender.

The fight became very personal at this point. Bullets weren’t working, so perhaps verbal barbs would do the job.

PEACE Acorn shouts: you lot are fucking nuters!
Ruin Nefarious shouts: Thou mother art swine, sir!
Ruin Nefarious shouts: I thumb my nose at you, sir.
Agares Tretiak shouts: Your father was a hamster, and your mother smelt of elderberries!

Soon enough, the British unilaterally declared victory.

Ruin Nefarious shouts: We are in control, men!
Ruin Nefarious shouts: HUZZAH!
Ruin Nefarious shouts: HUZZAH!

As teleports slowly came back in and deaths resumed, I had to ask whether the King’s glory was worth this slaughter.

Caine Constantine shouts: Gentlemen, is the king's glory worth all your lives?
Reiken Birge shouts: YES IT IS GOOD SIR!
Knightblade Fayray shouts: ITS WORTH OUR LIVES AND MORE!

I then decided to ask the Marines whether the British claim of victory was fair.

Caine Constantine shouts: TFM, are the British in control of this base?
Thompson Aeon shouts: cain stfu u guys didnt do shit
Thompson Aeon shouts: does it look like ne of us r offline or dead
Thompson Aeon shouts: u guys r just noobs who swarm ppls bases 30 2 4
Johann Wilberg shouts: We didn't do anything?
Kazuhiro Schnyder shouts: Angry little bugger
loki Cramer shouts: well its more "our" outpost now than there base sir
loki Cramer shouts: Your base is ours, it is full of OUR men
loki Cramer shouts: You used machine guns and we used single shot muskets which are horribly inaccurate and we won
loki Cramer shouts: Your men gave up!
loki Cramer shouts: Huzzah!
Reiken Birge shouts: FOR THE GLORY OF THE KING!

Marines were leaving the field of battle, and those returning were quickly killed. Only scattered resistance remained, and so the British began to colonize Prize Delta.

Their first act in doing so was the rebuilding of the bridge over the sim’s great lava chasm.

Johann Wilberg shouts: I fixed your broken bridge, good beans!
loki Cramer: As you can see, we repaired their bridge
loki Cramer: Under our control, the sim is much more peaceful.

And so, fighting in brutal, close quarters combat in a part of Prize Delta that was neither fit for man nor beast, the armies of the British Empire were victorious. They retired to their home in Titan for the celebrations. With most of the Marines gone, there was nobody in Prize Delta to talk to, so I tagged along back to the home of Ordo Imperialis.

The victory celebration looked much like the last one – with one notably different attendee. King Aryte Vesperia was there to review his victorious soldiers.

I asked the soldiers about some of the happenings of the battle.

Caine Constantine: How did you succeed in the face of modern weaponry like metal birds and machine guns?
ShadowFang Blessed: INFERNAL CONTRAPTIONS!
Diablos Korobase: With British Grit, determination and a stiff upper lip
Kytec Switchblade: Threw more men at it, that'll solve this rubbish.

Then, I found out that in addition to a lost wallet, there were other motives for the battle – and that the war might still continue.

Caine Constantine: What was different about today's battle as opposed to yesterday's?
loki Cramer: yesterday we fought for tea, today we fought to find our mans missing wallet
Kazuhiro Schnyder: Yes my wallet was lost sadly, but it was found!

Caine Constantine: And did the TFM take the money inside of it?
ShadowFang Blessed: OH SHI- I LOST MY WALLET! WE NEED TO GO BACK!
Thunder Rahja: We can try to go reclaim the money tomorrow.
ShadowFang Blessed: D: but
ShadowFang Blessed: my money
ShadowFang Blessed: AND MY FREE TEA CARD
Kytec Switchblade: Bloody bad nuff' they don’t pay their damned taxes, the king will rightly have their heads for this.
Aeriese Descenna: TFM stands for Tea Filfering Muggers, eh lads?

The leader of the assault was a bit reluctant at first to accept his position as the British King, and claimed another title.

Caine Constantine: Is your King Aryte Vesperia?
loki Cramer: Huzzah!
Knightblade Fayray: RIght-O!
Reiken Birge: Aye!
Aryte Vesperia: I am merely a humble Royal Governor.

Caine Constantine: If I may ask another question, who came up with the idea of this adventure?
Aryte Vesperia raises his hand. "My bad."

Many of the Task Force Marines were insistent that the British were baseless, landless, hopeless “noobs.” Would they figure things out and strike back at Ordo Imperialis and their allies?

Caine Constantine: Has TFM struck back here at all? Do you think they even know that the British are a creation of Ordo Imperialis?
Aryte Vesperia: They have no clue.
Aryte Vesperia: One of their members shouted "you don't even have a base" while we were withdrawing.

I asked about the situation with the teleporters going down in the base during the battle – I wanted to make sure it was the same for everyone, and not just myself. Though I was later told this was the case, Captain Falta had a fine answer to my question.

Caine Constantine: Did the teleports go down during the fight in the depths of the TFM base?
Failius Falta: I didn't notice. I was too busy drinking port from my hip flask.

So, once again, the keeper of the British flags was drinking on the job. But, he had done good work regardless. There was still some confusion over the identity of the King – confusion which could not be tolerated considering so many of the British were ready to die for their King.

Caine Constantine: Is there anything else you would like to say to sum up today's battle?
Kytec Switchblade: Long Live the King!
Thunder Rahja: FOR THE KING!
ShadowFang Blessed: FOR KING VESPERIA
Aeriese Descenna: Aye! God save our lord Aryte!
Diablos Korobase shouts: GOD SAVE THE KING!!!!!!

Aryte Vesperia clears his throat.
Aryte Vesperia: GOVERNOR.
Agares Tretiak: God save the Queen's governor.
Kazuhiro Schnyder: Yes kin- er.... GOVERNOR

But many brought up the point that the would-be King’s bride, Ryoaku, was Queen. So, wouldn’t Aryte be King?

Caine Constantine: Governor Aryte, do you confirm that you are now King of the British?
Aryte Vesperia: I don't know. We just voted Ryoaku queen, and I kind of married her.
Kytec Switchblade: She was queen first and now she’s married to you XD
ShadowFang Blessed: MAKE UP YOUR DAMMED MIND! GOVERNOR OR KING?!
Aryte Vesperia: That would make me King.

And so in a bold step that no British monarch ever took, the King scrapped his title and declared himself one rank higher.

Aryte Vesperia: Oh hell, forget Kingship. Emperor.

Caine Constantine: I think King Aryte has just declared himself the British Emperor.
Aryte Vesperia: All in favor of Aryte for Emperor?

It was at this point that every Briton there raised their hands and shouted a “HUZZAH!” in the name of the new Emperor’s ascension.

Caine Constantine: Then it is Emperor Aryte Vesperia, ruler of Titan and Prize Delta?
Aryte Vesperia: Ha ha, we'll go with that!

And so it was done. The new Emperor once again congratulated his troops, and I took my leave of absence.

Talking later with Marine Third Admiral Mayra Roffo, she congratulated her own troops for the valiant stand they made against superior British numbers. They had the Marines outnumbered again perhaps three to one. The fight was intense – but the Marines had picked up a lot of lessons for the future, as well.

The British later returned for more skirmishing in the coming days, but their first two expeditions to Prize Delta were fine contributions to Second Life military history. The Task Force Marines, especially considering their age and size, put up a good resistance each time. Nevertheless, the British prevailed though tactical prowess and sheer force of will.

Would the war ever end? Aeriese Descenna to me, "Our attacks will cease once the TFM start paying their damned taxes and start working the land". In light of this, it seems unlikely that the war will end soon..

But the Battle of Prize Delta – all three of its phases, from the first Merczateer attack to the final British occupation – were examples of the stuff that makes Second Life combat so interesting. Many people have complained of the problems of the platform – lag, substandard graphics compared to computer and console powerhouse titles, and so on – but the truth is that only with this platform could you get the precision skill of the Merczateers and other militaries like them, or the sheer enjoyment provided by the musket wielding soldiers of the British Empire.

It can be done on other mediums of course, but with a lot more difficulty. Prize Delta was not just the baptismal fire of the Task Force Marines, and not just another attack for the Merczateers or for the tea-driven British volunteers of Ordo Imperialis, but continuing proof of the versatility, variety and vitality of military combat in Second Life.

Second Life Herald: Furry Love Poem

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:01:46 +0000

by Kris Dibou, warrior poet/pirate

My love is a little furry thing
With whiskers long and paws so thin
Her tail swishes as she sighs
With lovelight pouring from her eyes

Her pointed ears twitch to my touch
As I scratch them oh so much
And she lays on her back with paws curled up
With 6 small breasts for all her pups

I vacuum the hair when she sheds
A problem with those multipeds
But I love her anyway
Let her purr the night away

How good she'd be in a spicy stew
Lots of meat for us to chew
String her up and dress her out
Gather the bones and haul them out

Second Life Blog: Wiki info-pages oh my!

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:15:45 +0000

Alas, I don’t have a video tip this week, and promise to have more usefun (useful + fun) knowhow in motion by next Saturday. I did want to bring greater attention to some useful wiki info-pages which may have answers to some of your questions, and bring together scattered resources at a single glance. If you don’t [...]

Infoisland: Info Island and Libraries in Second Life this week

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:24:11 +0000

The Sci-Fi & Fantasy Portal presents
its July FILM DISCUSSION

When: Saturday, July 5th. at 1 pm
Where: Info Island 210– 94–33 places you at the discussion circle
Film: THE MATRIX
Hosts: Symmetry Munro and Hawk Lightcloud

Bring your ideas and insights on this complex and innovative film

Beach Blanket Bingo second life style!

Join us on Investing Info Island Saturday night July 5 at 6 pm sl for beach blanket bingo Second Life Style.
Gabrielle Riel will play tunes and enjoy music, dancing and bingo. Contact Hypatia Dejavu for more info.

Enjoy the new Zenith gardens
Zenith Garden, just west of the Alliance Library building on Info Island (north of the Reference Desk on International) is now set up and ready for visitors.

Named for Abbey Zenith, this small plot of land has a good number of plants, bushes and trees, most all of which can be left-clicked on, supplying a notecard with information on the SL creator, the flora’s real life counterpart and a sign board with URL links/SL landmarks to:

–General information on Zenith Garden
–World flora sites on the Internet
–Real Life garden websites
–YouTube garden tours
–Second Life gardens/parks/nature areas
–Web pages with information on gardening for children
–Second Life garden stores
–Poetry about gardens

Benches and a pose-pillow give visitors a chance to sit, relax, learn and enjoy. Here’s a SLURL to the garden:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/info%20island/106/24/33/

Courses for Educators, Librarians and Others in Second Life

UIUC GSLIS and Alliance Library System are pleased to offer summer courses for librarians and educators on virtual worlds. Courses include:

Using Immersive Environments in the Classroom for School Media Specialists

Second Life 101

Technical Skills for Virtual World Librarians

Introduction to Virtual World Librarianship

Working with a class in Second Life

Setting Up an Educational Presence in Second Life

Immersive Learning in 3d Virtual Environments

For more information on and to register for these courses, go to

http://www.lis. uiuc.edu/ programs/ cpd/VW/

For more information contact Marianne Steadley at UIUC at steadley@uiuc. edu

or Lori Bell, Alliance Library System, lbell@alliancelibra rysystem. com

In memoriam - Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822)

Poet’s Corner - Literature Collection - 11th floor of the Central Bell Library Tower - Info Island http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island/214/26/123
5 PM SLT
Poetry reading, discussion and discussion of the life of Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Contact Abbey Zenith for more information.

Hot Topics - Governance in Virtual Worlds

Due to technical problems in SL last Wednesday we rescheduled this month’s Hot Topics Discussion - Please join us at 6 PM July 9th.

Who governs virtual worlds? Virtual world creators? Virtual land owners? Group leaders, owners, organizers? In a world created by its residents who makes the rules? What does it mean to be a leader in a virtual world? Join us for our monthly hot topics discussion on Info Island.. Panelists Katt Tomsen, Abbey Zenith, and others will lead the discussion.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island/103/110/34

Only Yesterday 1930s sim

The Only Yesterday sim celebrates the completion (well, almost) of TWO new exhibits. Please come and see!

The new movie theater, on the small square just east of the island’s central plaza, displays vintage posters and other resources to highlight the Golden Age of Hollywood, the 1930s – the era of The Prisoner of Zenda, Gone With the Wind, and the Wizard of Oz. Not to be outdone, the second floor of the theater celebrates radio programs and celebrities of the era with photos, biographical sketches, and recorded samples of original broadcast by Edward R. Morrow, Jack Benny, the Lone Ranger, and many others.

To learn about the grimmer side of the 1930s, visit the migrant camp at the southeast corner of Only Yesterday. The new exhibit there focuses on displaced workers and others who often lived in Hoovervilles, hobo camps, and government resettlement areas while searching for employment. Among other things, the exhibit includes a selection of vintage photos from the American Memory collection in the U.S. Library of Congress.

Finally (a shameless commercial plug on behalf of Only Yesterday’s merchants), please take the opportunity to visit the island’s fine shops while you are in town. Great shopping, right on the plaza. Contact Rolig Loon for more information.

Alexandrian Free Library: Caledon, New Toulouse, Steelhead, & Winterfell Library Events July 8th-16th, 2008

————————————–

Poetry Writing Workshop with Dov Whiteberry
Steelhead Public Library, Steelhead City
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Steelhead/123/185/24
Wed, July 9, 7pm – 8pm

Dov Whiteberry, renowned Vermont poet and educator
is welcomed back to the Steelhead Library for our continuing poetry
workshop series. Poems don’t have to rhyme - honest!

———————————————–

Children’s Literature Discussion
Sun Jul 13 2:30-3:30pm
Steelhead Public Library, Steelhead City
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Steelhead/123/185/24

“Women in Fairy Tales: The Good the Bad and the Ugly.” The incomparable Myfanwi Davies leads a discussion about the many roles of women in traditional tales. All wicked stepsisters, fairy godmothers, elven princesses, forsaken orphans, etc. are welcome to come in costume.

——————————————————–

Caledon Library Guest Book Discussion in SL New England: Moby Dick & Yankee Whaling
Monday, July 14, 2008 4-5 pm
SL New England Mystic Classroom
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mystic/234/145/23

A book discussion and look at the historical whailing industry of New England.
The Great American Novel? A great treatise on ..or apolgy for…whaling? A great throbbingly overworked phallic metaphor? A great bloody bore? Herman Mellivle’s “Moby-Dick, or The Whale” is revered and controversial, loved and derided. The novel is also an enduring source of cultural references, from the highfalutin’ all the way down to Jeff Smith’s graphic novel series “Bone”…and a certain Great White Coffee Chain. What’s sure is that it is a great walloping leviathan of a novel, stuffed with brilliant prose, skillful metaphor, sly humor, and narrow observation.

All misunderstood cetaceans, obsessed captains, idle observers, dauntless harpooners, and sweet-talking bosuns are welcome to join us, whether they have read the work or not

Contact Trudy Takacs for more information

——————————————

The Toussaint L’Ouverture Library of New Toulouse is now open!
http://slurl.com/secondlife/New%20Toulouse/64/108/23

Exhibits, through the end of August
*Civic maps of historic New Orleans
*Reawakening Kate Chopin
*Tribute to the Cammie G. Henry Research Center.
Come visit and peruse our offerings in the bougainvillea breeze.

Prim Perfect: You seem to like it!

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:53:59 +0000

A number of you have now taken a look at our new magazine format on Calaméo - and you all seem to like it (which is a relief!). Here are some of the comments we’ve had: “The Calameo hosting for PrimPerfect looks and works great- it’s a keeper!” “Saffia, this looks fantastic! Very nicely done, indeed!” “I like [...]

Second Life Herald: Everett Linden Exposes Penis at SL5B!!!

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:12:16 +0000

Linden staffer discovers PG-Penis -- leading in-world economic indicators turn strongly positive

by Kris Dibou & Pixeleen Mistral

Marble PG-P OK, wooden boobs-- no way! Game gods roil virtual commodities markets

The first signs of an economic turnaround in the mining industry were evident today, as the overseas futures market in marble textures went wild. The cause? A reliable source informed the Herald that Everett Linden was role-playing a game god when he accidentally gave the OK for David's wedding tackle to flap in the SL breeze- for him to disrobe his probe- for his banan-o to go commando- indeed, for his totem to tan on his scrotum.

As news of the PG penis TOS workaround spread across the metaverse, certain anti-communist columnists and long time supporters of in-world decency averted their eyes -- but the more pragmatic residents rushed to buy options on a few select texture vendors specializing in marble and granite. Given the expected demand for the rare PG-P (PG Penis), the smart money says the fashionable virtual man-about-the-metaverse will soon be sporting a marble ~~chubbie~~ sculptie - driving up the stocks of both classic sculptors, and virtual marble miners.

Meanwhile, the economic prospects for logging concerns in snow sims looked bleak as wooden textured nipples continued to be nixed by Linden Lab, with a number of sources citing the danger of adults pretending to be children seeing the banned boobs in PG rated land.

While a depressed timber industry in the snow sims continue to struggle, marble miners seem to be emerging from a prolonged in-world economic recession. The surprise turnaround was sparked by this conversation, recorded for posterity by several bots who got lost on the way to a their job camping at a deserted virtual shopping mall. The recovered conversation went as follows:

[19:07] Marianne Levasseur: What is the call for genitalia on classical style sculptures? Non sexual, textbook copy of a roman/greek statue?
[19:07] Nanao Mahfouz: Ken doll. :p
[19:07] Marianne McCann: I know where you are
[19:07] Miyabina Susanti: Yay Ken!
[19:07] Janey Bulloch: is a pg sim
[19:07] Skippy Beresford: this is a joke right? are we honestly debating this at this point?
[19:07] Talia Tokugawa: david?
[19:07] Kat Claxton: apparently
[19:07] Shoshana Epsilon: I got that one approved by Everett Linden.
[19:08] Giela Delpaso: HAHAHAHAH
[19:08] Janey Bulloch: no genitals
[19:08] Lacey Peterson: chop it off its a disgusting body part and should never be seen ever!

Unfortunately, it seems that an important point was missed in the discussion - this was not just a question of David's penis, it was also a question of Art's nipples. While the marble mining lobby has clearly turned this issue to their advantage, some observers were surprised that so little consideration was given to topic of allowing big wooden nipples on sculptures, rather than concentrating on banning David's penis. Few would suggest that anyone just 'blow-off' David's penis, but Art's nipples and the virtual logging industry seem to need support. Now that SL5B is nearly over, the Herald staff hopes that in the name of economic equality, Everett will drop David's penis, and and turn his attention Art's breasts -- the loggers could use the money.

Sloz: Weekend Whimsy

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:35:21 +0000

1. Secret Second Life 2. Leavin’ - Second Life 3. Scuba Fun in Second Life Related storiesJune 27, 2008 -- Weekend WhimsyJune 20, 2008 -- Weekend WhimsyJune 13, 2008 -- Weekend WhimsyJune 6, 2008 -- Weekend WhimsyMay 30, 2008 -- Weekend WhimsyMay 24, 2008 -- Weekend WhimsyMay 16, 2008 -- Weekend WhimsyMay 9, 2008 -- Weekend WhimsyMay 2, [...]

Sloz: Australia Council announces latest funding winners

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:35:21 +0000

The Australia Council have announced the winners of their MMUVE IT! project. The project had thirty thousand dollars up for grabs for a virtual world arts initiative. The winners this time are visual artist Andrew Burrell from Sydney and artist and science researcher Trish Adams from Brisbane. The third real winner this time is startup virtual [...]

New World Notes: Five Lessons On Virtual World Protest From The Second Life Tax Revolt of 2003

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:11:18 +0000

This is the day in July when we Americans celebrate Independence Day, but five years ago, July became a significant month for everyone in Second Life. That's when outrage against the Linden's tax policy, which penalized excessive building by deducting...

New World Notes: Second Life Fashion For The Fourth Of July

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:00:16 +0000

There's a couple in-world Independence Day firework parties events featured today on Lanna's List-- go here to check them out-- and likely a whole lot more happening throughout the grid. In the days leading up to the Fourth, the SL...

Virtual Worlds News: Second Life and Club Penguin Among Fastest Growing UK Sites

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:54:47 +0000

New research from Nielsen tracks the top ten sites in the UK in average monthly minutes. There aren't any virtual worlds on the list--MSN Search, eBay, and Facebook take the top slots--but Club Penguin and Second Life make the up-and-coming...

Virtual Worlds News: ODNI, IARPA, and Air Force Research Lab Collaborating on A-SpaceX

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:34:49 +0000

We've previously heard about A-SpaceX, a virtual world for intelligence agency collaboration and analysis that tracks that lets agents look at data from around the world and across different time frames, but it looks like the project is picking up...

New World Notes: Is The Golden Age of Metaverse Podcasting Over?

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:29:00 +0000

Second Life podcaster Radar Murasaki has a thoughtful post reflecting on what many see as the heyday of SL podcasting, when MTV icon and podcasting innovator Adam Curry erected a castle in Second Life, spurring a merry band of fellow...

RCE Universe: ExitReality, Enter the RCE Universe Virtual World

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:22:44 +0000

For several years we at RCE Universe have pondered the possibility of enhancing our community to somehow integrate the concept of the technology we cover, Virtual Worlds.

Finally it looks like there are options coming down the tunnel. Options that will allow our members and visitors to interact in a Virtual environment seamlessly integrated with our site and content. Options that will allow our members to customize thier own virtual spaces directly linked to the community we all enjoy.

On that note, we are extremely excited to announce a very preliminary step into the Virtual World space for the RCE Universe community. Utilizing the ExitReality Beta browser plug-in we have begun to develop a world where you can come, hang out, chat, build, personalize and share in the creation of our very own virtual world. Walk through the website in 3d. Help build the virtual world around us. Connect with old and new friends.

Clicking on the badge on any page you see it will catapult you into a Virtual World built around that webpage. Enabling interaction with other members that are in that space at the same time. You can navigate to your own space here, like your blog, customize and save it, add a badge the web version of it and then share it with us. You instantly become the sole owner of that virtual space. We can collaborate, gift, share and much much more.

We have started very slowly, only customizing the portal and even that is in very early development stages. The software is in beta state which means things can sometimes be a bit buggy. But, the possibilities are very promising. Pop in and have a visit, look around, make suggestions, help us create!

Eventually we will open up more and more sections of the website for you to homestead. In the meantime, visit the portal and customize your own space to share with us. Stake YOUR claim in the RCE Universe Virtual World today!

RCE Universe: Greenies at SL5B, or, they were...

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:00:26 +0000

Just one of the great discoveries I made at SL5B was the Greenies. Sure, you could say I should have known of them before. But, I didn't, and it is SO COOL!! The cuddly little aliens and thier miniature world spark the imagination. Rezzable has done an excellent job on not only the build but the ongoing story. Cockroaches must die! TP to the Greenies Home now to explore for yourself. Rumour has it they just opened up the lawn for Zero-G Group Members to check out.
On the downside, by all accounts SL5B was a complete disaster. Constant crashes and inability to log in appears to have exposed the ugliest side of the Virtual World. Rather that being a huge celebration it turned into an ugly look under the greasy hood of an engine not yet ready for prime time. On a happier note, here are some shots I took while touring the Greenies Home.

New World Notes: Lanna's List for July 3-9: Chouchou Perfoms, Evil Nemesis Photography, Mitch Kapor at SL5B, and more...

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:31:28 +0000

Charlanna Beresford’s weekly round-up of upcoming SL events… At 2 PM on Wednesday, July 9th, there will be a tour of TowerVisions, the adaptive re-use of Bethanienturm, a church in Berlin that was heavily damaged during World War 2. Vision...

New World Notes: New World Tableau: Clarrice Cinquetti in Hosoi Ichiba

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:53:01 +0000

Clarrice created this delicate and painterly image in Hosoi Ichiba, a Japanese-themed shopping locale based on Virgin Island (direct SLURL teleport at this link), and having just bought a geisha avatar outfit, went searching for a place to suit her...

Sloz: Virtual Worlds London

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:35:20 +0000

We’re proud to be a media partner for Virtual Worlds London, which is being held on the 20th and 21st October 2008. I’ve seen the positive feedback from previous conferences run by the Virtual Worlds management crew and I’d expect this year’s London event to be no different. As part of our role as media partner, Metaverse [...]

Sloz: Journal of Virtual Worlds Research - it’s here

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:35:20 +0000

Volume 1, Issue 1 of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research is now available. It contains an extensive collection of research: Inductive Metanomics: Economic Experiments in Virtual Worlds Stephen A Atlas Toward a Definition of “Virtual Worlds” Mark W Bell Cityspace, Cyberspace, and the Spatiology of Information Michael L. Benedikt Another Time, Another Space: Virtual Worlds, Myths and Imagination Maria Beatrice Bittarello Virtual World [...]’

Infoisland: Courses for librarians and educators on virtual worlds

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:38:57 +0000

UIUC GSLIS and Alliance Library System are pleased to offer summer courses for librarians and educators on virtual worlds. Courses include:

Using Immersive Environments in the Classroom for School Media Specialists

Second Life 101

Technical Skills for Virtual World Librarians

Introduction to Virtual World Librarianship

Working with a class in Second Life

Setting Up an Educational Presence in Second Life

Immersive Learning in 3d Virtual Environments

For more information on and to register for these courses, go to

http://www.lis. uiuc.edu/ programs/ cpd/VW/

For more information contact Marianne Steadley at UIUC at steadley@uiuc. edu

or Lori Bell, Alliance Library System, lbell@alliancelibra rysystem. com

New World Notes: Master of Puppets Meets Hands Free: Dorkbot Presents Top Avatar Control Innovators July 6th

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:48:18 +0000

Charlanna just noticed a great SL event from the esteemed Dorkbot community, and added it to her Lanna's List calendar: the programmer formerly known as Ventrella Linden (real life background here) is appearing July 6 at 1:00 pm in the...

New World Notes: My Metaverse Toesis... Let Me Show You Dem

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:39:35 +0000

OK, these aren't mine, they belong to dinee Ghia... or even more precisely, they're synthetic toes embedded in the new pair of heels she just bought. Like hands, default avatar feet in Second Life have long been an immersion breaker--...

New World Notes: Second Life For iPhone/Xbox/PS3? Lindens Say No (For Now)

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:32:26 +0000

When Dusan Writer spotted a mysterious source code message on an as-yet disabled page of the official Second Life site, he was excited, because it said this: “placeholer [sic] page for XBOX, PS3, and iPhone versions of client when they...

Second Life Herald: Nipplegate: The Sag-a Continues!

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:08:48 +0000

SL5B naughty bits scandal expands to elbows

by Kris Dibou

Venus De Milo

I received a tip, dear readers, that a short distance behind the Statue of David stood Aphrodite, nipples exposed. To verify this sighting, the Herald was there in no time with experts who have allegedly seen nipples before. To our dismay, we could not determine if we were looking at nipples or not.

Famous snail-detective Happy Trails offered this twist on the situation:

"It would seem to me that the Lindens mistook this lady's arms for nipples, and removed the wrong items. They must have used a very large cleavage to cut them off with, or perhaps with the availability of alcohol in SL, they were just bosom too much and cut off the wrong things."

One of our experts stated that the breasts were pointed, thereby indicating the existence of nipples even though they were not shaded as such. I was quick to point out that Artfox's wooden nipples were round and not pointed, so perhaps pointy is what you have when there is no nipple.

"We need to nip this thing in the bud", exclaimed Happy, "Time to make a clean breast of this business. We need a tete-a-tete with the Lindens and determine the definition of a nipple. Until then, no avatar is safe, from the little furries running on the ground to the big hooters up in the trees. It sickens me to think of little children titillated by these statues."

Happy went on to say "The Lindens may be a bunch of boobies, but however they define nipples is what we must go with, lick(sp) it or not."

I could see it now; a whole grid full of people with no arms because the Lindens couldn't tell a nipple from an elbow. Artfox may have removed the wrong body parts.

New World Notes: The SL Men's Guide To Fifty First Date Locations

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:16:42 +0000

After a several month hiatus from Second Life blogging, the unreconstructed dudes of Are We Not Men? are back with an epic, SLURL-annotated travel guide of 50 locales for guys who want to impress on their first date, and they're...

New World Notes: Avatar as Anti-Depressant

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:56:41 +0000

"Listening to Prozac" is so old school-- now you can chat, dance, and if you're both in the mood, have poseball sex with Prozac too. And at L$150, it's probably around the same amount you'd pay for the actual pill....

New World Notes: Ophelia's Gaze: How To Be A Second Life Supermodel

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:55:57 +0000

Exclusive to NWN, Iris Ophelia's ongoing showcase of all things stylish in SL Modeling is one of the most sought after jobs in SL, and likewise one of the job titles most casually thrown around. A warning, though: It’s an...

New World Notes: Why Is In-World Spending Up Even As Population Plateaus?

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:04:19 +0000

While glancing at an old post on virtual consumerism, I noticed this capture of the spending chart from the Linden economic stats, above left, tracking how many Residents were spending L$, and how much. That was in August 2007, roughly...

Virtual Worlds News: Q&A on Nick's New VW Division with Steve Youngwood, EVP Digital, Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:01:33 +0000

Last month Nickelodeon announced the formation of a new division focused entirely on virtual worlds alongside one focused on casual games. With an announcement just over a year ago on plans to invest $100 million in virtual worlds and casual...

Reuters-Second Life: Blog: Second Life on the Xbox/PS3/iPhone?

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:25:40 +0000

Avatar Dusan Writer finds an interesting snippet of HTML code on search.secondlife.com which reads:

“placeholer page for XBOX, PS3, and iPhone versions of client when they launch next real soon now”

Now, we’re not banking on a Linden Lab-supported rollout of Second Life to game consoles and cell phones just yet. Veteran Second Life watchers may recall numerous incidents in which junior executives at Linden implemented policies the company later backpedaled from. In June, someone deleted allegedly pirate content from Second Life. The company later said content was “inadvertently disabled.” Also last month, Linden issued a “calling all cultures” invitation to its fifth birthday party, only to quickly change its mind.

But still, if this report indicates the way people — or at least some of them — at Linden Lab are thinking, it would be an interesting move for the company. The idea of Second Life on a cell phone has been bandied about for years, and if Second Life could be made to work on a game console it would radically expand Linden’s potential audience.

(Via Massively.com)

Reuters-Second Life: Second Life premium growth flat over past 12 months

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:21:44 +0000

SECOND LIFE, July 1 (Reuters) - Premium Second Life accounts shrank in the year to May 2008, according to statistics released by Linden Lab, even as total user hours climbed by more than 50 percent.

Second Life had 88,585 of the subscription-paying accounts at the end of May, down from 89,845 a year earlier.

The overwhelming majority of avatars use basic accounts, which are free. Premium accounts, which cost US$10 a month, come with additional privileges including enhanced support and the right to own virtual property on Second Life’s mainland.

Even as Linden Lab’s base of paying customers shrinks over the past year, the total hours spent by avatars inside Second Life has increased dramatically. In May of 2007 total usage of Linden Lab’s virtual world was about 20.8 million hours. A year later the number spiked to almost 32 million hours, a gain of 54 percent.

With hours up but premium accounts down, the data suggests that while Second Life is failing to attract to new users, existing customers find the virtual world more engaging than ever, spending ever-greater amounts of time there.

A wild card that Linden’s statistics cannot account for is the rapid development of open-source Second Life variant OpenSim. The zero growth among premium accounts may represent a shift in the most die-hard avatars.

Avatars unable to find a home within Second Life including banking institutions and ageplayers have already migrated to OpenSim.

As more OpenSim worlds come online and the technology’s feature set improves, the value of land ownership privileges on the Second Life Grid can be expected to drop further.

Virtual Worlds News: Playfish Gets $1 Million from Accel Partners

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:21:59 +0000

Playfish's portfolio so far only includes social/casual games, but it describes itself as "working on combining the best elements of casual games, social networks, MMOGs and virtual worlds to create entirely new, more social ways of enjoying great games together."...

Virtual Worlds News: Cartoon Network Announces Mini Match

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:14:20 +0000

Cartoon Network New Media announced today Mini Match, a Web-based kids virtual world with multiplayer games, battles, story lines, safe chatting, and customizable avatars. You can jump right in as a guest avatar or register to track your advancements, friends,...

Second Life Herald: Ilsa Munro -- Post 6 Grrrl

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:45:32 +0000

[Modeling kinky latex clothes and building steampunk vehicles don't go together? That's exactly what I thought until Ilsa Munro came along and showed me that wandering between these two extreme ends of the virtual world can be elegant and effortless. Within seconds she changes from a Victorian lady to a sailor mouth, from a charming roleplayer to her own confident and honest self. The professionalism of her application was a more than welcome change from the usual 'what do I have to do to get naked in the Herald?' and our photoshooting in Babbage Square took some hours - mostly because I couldn't get enough of the beautiful dresses in her inventory. Ilsa Munro ... the stage is yours! - Bunny Brickworks]

And lo it became my turn …

Errr, and lo I couldn't think of a damn thing to say. I tried to talk Bunny into a few extra shots – the whole picture worth a thousand words things but she wouldn't play along so this is all her fault (unless you love it in which case aren't I the clever one).

So here's me, nothing too unusual in general though there are a few odd specifics. For instance Second Life (tm, patent pending, copyright, service mark, abandon hope all ye who enter) is actually the first online game I've ever played unless you count Yahoo Cribbage. And yes, I know, I've been yelled at that it's not a game but I feel a tad pompous when I call it a simulation, and I spend 75% of my SL (tm et al) time in Caledon so I'm pretty immune to pomp in general.

Unlike the vast majority of SLers I didn't find my way here for the three top reasons – sex, money, or sex, instead I was lured in by an advert for one of the millions of beachfront properties out there. You see my RL job is… It's really REALLY awful by it's very nature. Whenever you see someone screaming into their phone in rage and think about the poor person on the other end of the call … That's me you're thinking of. I've actually had people threaten to locate me and cut my throat which really sucks because then the company has to notify the authorities and paperwork like you can't imagine has to be filled out (on the plus side I'm pretty certain that the inevitable flames here will seem mild by comparison). My original plan was to just hop on for an hour during lunch, sit on that lovely looking pixel beach, listen to my old timers music (Glenn Miller rocks the house! Wooo) eat my sandwich, and be on my way 55 or so minutes later.

Can we have a "Hah" from the assembled congregation?

You see I quickly discovered Kayliwulf Kingdom.

Here's another oddity about me. I like fetish clothing, but that's it. I'm not at all interested in being or having a master, mistress or slave of my own. I don't even date in SL for heaven's sake. I just like to dress kinky, which brings me back to KK. As I was saying, I discovered KK in general and the huge freebie table that Daph and Laz have set up (for the express purpose of turning innocent former Cribbage playing would be beach bunnies like myself into fetish junkies – those fiends) in specific. I would log on, shoot up to KK, raid the freebies, then go hide in my secret "try on the kinky clothes spot" which was a small strip of land behind the modeling stage that used to be on the KK sim. I'd unpack my new clothes and put together as many outfits as I could manage from the assorted pieces.

After a while I broke down and started using my one true money-making skill to get enough L$ for clothes. Yes, ladies and gents, I became a – hey! Get your mind out of the gutter! A Paying Customer! I give incredible money to Mastercard and bought myself a slew of Lindens, then turned around and bought myself a slew of fetish clothing which I used to get a job as a model at KK (where ironically I'm standing as I type this – it's a slow evening).

Okay, so part time fetish model, still spending lots of time on the beach, right.

Then I discovered Caledon. If you're not aware of it, Caledon is one of the largest Victorian roleplaying communities in all of SL. If you think it seems a little odd that on one hand I spend many hours a week standing in various states of undress modeling rubber kink ware, and the rest of the time in gowns the size of a Buick imagine how some of my neighbors in Caledon react.

Bzzzt! Wrong. The thing that draws me to Caledon is the fact that everyone who "lives" there works very hard to be polite and well mannered to everyone all the time, so other than the occasional very wry joke – usually having to do with vulcanizing something, no one says an unkind word. Remember how I spend my RL job – getting screamed at by people over the phone? To find a group of people where there's an annual "compliment battle" wherein the winner is the participant who is the nicest to their opponent was heaven.

Which of course brings us to the inevitable "subtly trying to pitch my products without seeming too obvious about it" portion of the show where I casually try to lead you to my shops. Well, sure, like everyone in SL I've tried my hand at building things and I've actually had some small success - if by "some small success" you mean I occasionally come close to breaking even. The things I make are mainly for myself so if someone buys them and finds them useful great, if not, not the end of the world. So if you're curious you can look it up.

Man I suck at the product pitching don't I?

So there you have it, I'm just your typical Cribbage playing, former beach bunny, fetish model, Victorian roleplaying, steam punk vehicle builder. I'm certain that we're thick on the ground all throughout SL, right?

New World Notes: Naiman's Waves: He Sells Seashores By The Seashore

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:26:00 +0000

When Bettina Tizzy wrote about the waves Naiman Broome had made, I had the skepticism of an island boy who'd grown up not half a mile from Kailua Beach. So I took the teleport trip to the Second Life isle...

New World Notes: Welcome A New NWN Partner, Rezzable.com

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:58:23 +0000

I'm very proud to welcome metaverse developer Rezzable as a new sponsoring partner to this blog. As part of that collaboration, I'll occasionally highlight Rezzable-produced events and features-- something I've already been doing for years, because I've long admired the...

New World Notes: Top Ten Metrics For A Cool Avatar Name

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:12:06 +0000

Last week we noted the irksome strangeness of Residents whose names resemble AOL chat handles or even worse discordant mishmash. Now the author of Second Effects has a helpful anatomy of a great avatar name, broken down into into ten...

Sloz: Aqros: virtual worlds on your mobile phone

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:35:23 +0000

I received a note today from Dr. Yesha Sivan, founder of Metaverse Labs. He pointed me to some progress made on a mobile client for virtual worlds - Aqros (across). Second Life is the focus of the initial development, with Aqros up to its first beta version. This slideshow summarises how it works nicely: Dr Sivan blogs [...]

Sloz: A year ago on The Metaverse Journal

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:35:23 +0000

We were touched by The Garden for the Missing and the ABC’s 75th anniversary was celebrated in-world. Related storiesJune 27, 2008 -- A year ago on The Metaverse JournalJune 17, 2008 -- A year ago on The Metaverse JournalJune 4, 2008 -- A year ago on The Metaverse JournalMay 22, 2008 -- A year ago on [...]

New World Notes: Insta-Studio: Good How-To For Building A Photography Stage

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:05:46 +0000

Just the thing for vagabond fashionistas and wandering photographers without land: Sarah Nerd of Your2ndPlace has a nicely illustrated, step-by-step tutorial to building an impromptu photo studio with directed lighting and background textures that you could rez and use for...

New World Notes: Spectacular Effects: Replacing Obsolete Virtual Fashion

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:49:08 +0000

I've had a pair of virtual glasses on my avatar's head for about as long as the pair on my actual face, but they went out of style a lot sooner. Shortly after I started reporting from within Second Life...

New World Notes: New World Tableau: Gigmonger Stine's "What Lies Beneath"

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:08:12 +0000

I found Mr. Stine's dark and arresting vision on his Koinup profile. He took at it, he tells me, at a random fashion show whose details he's long since forgotten. Since then, he's brought new and ambivalent meanings of his...

Virtual Worlds News: Virtual Worlds London Conference Expands To Meet Industry Needs

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:35:22 +0000

Still months away we have already expanded Virtual Worlds London or conference taking place in London 20-21 October 2008. The initial response from the industry was much better than expected and we have just added additional space to accommodate the...

New World Notes: Where In The World Is Summer Seale?

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:24:41 +0000

If you're going to wander the metaverse and take pictures wherever you go, why not do so as a half-naked neko with glistening skin and radioactive rainbow wings? That's the joy of following the random but always luminous travelings of...

Virtual Worlds News: Habbo Partners with Matthew Shepard Foundation to Combat Prejudice

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:38:51 +0000

Habbo Hotel announced today a partnership with the Matthew Shepard Foundation to bring the "Erase Hate" project to the Habbo.com InfoBus. Beginning July 7, Foundation staff will lead two discussions each week in the virtual bus on bullying, discrimination and...

New World Notes: Second Life's Latest User Stats: Premium Accounts Falling, In-World Hours Rising

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:30:26 +0000

Unless I missed it, the last time the Lindens announced Second Life's user metrics on their blog was last February. However, data up until May 2008 is actually now available on the main site's economy page-- a fact I wasn't...

Virtual Worlds News: RES Working on New Toy-Based Kids World, Tootsville

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:20:46 +0000

Florida-based RES Interactive is prepping the launch of its new toy-based virtual world, Tootsville.com, aimed at children 6-12 for July 4. The world, currently in beta, is meant to let kids play games, download books and music, and socialize with...

Virtual Worlds News: 20k+ Kids in JumpStart; Virtual World to Launch July 31

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:01:03 +0000

Knowledge Adventure announced JumpStart Advanced Preschool World in May, but it doesn't seem like there's an actual online connection yet. Nevertheless, Over 20,000 kids are already subscribers with JumpStart 3D Virtual World now, averaging 1 hour in-world/day, and are waiting...

Virtual Worlds News: Neopets Creators Working on New Casual MMO

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:52:21 +0000

Adam Powell and Donna Williams, the creators of Neopets who eventually sold it to Viacom, are at work on a new, untitled casual MMO through their startup Meteor Games. The external alpha is set for late Autumn with a public...

Virtual Worlds News: ON24 Launches Virtual Show for Trade Show Events

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:40:33 +0000

ON24 began its focus on corporate events with corporate webinars, but announced yesterday that it had expanded to include virtual worlds for trade shows, conferences, and events with ON24 Virtual Show. The new service will compete with existing services like...

Virtual Worlds News: hi5 Acquires PixVerse

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:06:30 +0000

Social network hi5 announced yesterday that it had acquired PixVerse. PixVerse, founded in 2007, has previously released social networking apps, like a PixWall, PixPoke, or PixChat, that add on to the features of networks like hi5 and Facebook, so I...

Virtual Worlds News: YOOWALK Opens for Beta

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:28:52 +0000

YOOWALK, a French start-up aimed at creating a 3D virtual world layered on top of the Internet, opened for a public beta yesterday The system is a Flash-based virtual world that integrates with instant messenger clients Windows Live, Yahoo! Messenger,...

New World Notes: Charlie Stross In Second Life: The Immersion Advantage

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:19:51 +0000

Recently, science fiction luminary Charlie Stross appeared in Second Life's Extropia City for a wide-ranging conversation on his novels and the ideas that inspired them. Here's the illustrated chat transcript, edited down to a nicely readable form. (In SL he's...

New World Notes: Where In The World You're Reading New World Notes

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:38:23 +0000

This is quite possibly fascinating only to me, but here's a recent side-by-side comparison of Alexa-ranked traffic to this blog versus Second Life's official site. I never would have imagined New World Notes drawing more readers from Japan than the...

Second Life Herald: The True Story of How Plastic Duck Saved The SL Economy

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:06:19 +0000

History of the Voted5 goons includes amazing revelation -- Philip Linden caught in-world accepting bug reports!!

by Mötör Vöted5

[this story appeared in a slightly different form at the Griefer Herald, where the author describes an exploit allowing free transfer of L$ spacebux - part of a tell-all account of a bygone era. While the exploit has presumably been patched, the level of close cooperation between dark lord of the goons, Gene Replacement, and Philip Linden, ex-CEO of the metaverse finally confirms what many have long suspected. - the Editrix]

I was a member of Voted 5 way before the great purge that razed Satyr to the ground and led to the revival of the then defunct w-hat. I joined sometime after the great w-hat civil war (where Voted 5 was splintered from w-hat) and many months before the removal of Satyr from the grid and the banning of several prominent members of Voted 5. Let me tell you, things back then were what one would consider fun. Back then was when griefing was an art.

Gene Replacement was a glorious leader. Gene Replacement, whom many know as Plastic Duck, was what made Voted 5 so popular and famous. The scripts, items, and everything that streamed from him was a marvel to behold. I can even remember Gene Replacement taking a few moments to modify the Linden popgun to exploit most Gorean combat meters. Everything was always done with a fluid motion including keeping all of the SA goons in check.

There was no faggotry allowed in Satyr. The second you came up with the idea to type a 4chan catchphrase was the second you were swiftly kicked from the sim by Gene Replacement. That was, unless you were part of the in-crowd. My memory is fuzzy in regards to those who were in the tight knit clique that circled Gene Replacement and maintained the majority of the power of the group. Names that I can summon from the top of my head are Schwartz Guillaume, Decomposing Monstre, and the "guy in the power ranger suit" whose name escapes me. People like NiceAaron Thetan and Ben Kerensky were overly prominent, but I'm unsure if they made it into the clique that surrounded Gene. Being from the outside one doesn't know all of the facts.

The fall of Voted 5 was caused by many factors. I suspect, however, that many at the top knew it was coming. Before Satyr underwent a "tiki theme" that led to in-fighting (no one wanted to do a serious theme that wasn't mocking something) there was a theme called "Tacowood" which was making fun of both the Gorean and Furry sims. The entire sim was cartoony and had a tree similar to the one you'd find in Lost Furest in the middle with everything made of megaprims. The entire ground was made of a megaprim.

The Tacowood theme was great because the description was the same as any other Gorean sim at the time. This led many Goreans to zone in with their slaves in tow and find a welcome of five to twenty weirdly dressed people shouting at them to nadu. A cage was added at the telehub so the Goreans were locked in and given the rules of Tacowood. The ones who escaped the cage (through sitting or reading the rules if I remember right) found themselves in a world that did not welcome them. The odds of their collars being diddled with, their sexgen being raped, and being told to nadu were extremely high. The major source of comedy was often when the slave would not leave because their "master" didn't give them permission yet.

These were the times when Voted 5 shined for me. There was no mass grid griefing, there was no Patriotic Nigras running about, and the leadership was firm on good solid "goon values". There was only one major griefing event outside of the sim and that was an invasion of FurNation with everyone dressed as Team Rocket throwing pokeballs at various furries while a Meowth blimp was floating about. Afterwards there was a raid on a few Gorean sims. It was good fun due mostly to the overreaction of the furries and Goreans to these strangers in their sim.

Other raids were simply finding people cybering and stopping in with some form of hilarious image. Often a band would roam about mainland exploring and finding two dots together before a teleport chain would occur. Outside of those two instances most everything was contained within Satyr. Satyr was a sim where you could hang out, talk with fellow goons, and fuck around all you wanted.

This all came to an end, however, when the crew wanted to create a serious sim after Satyr got a lot of publicity for their build. Many people argued and bickered, saying that themes should be for goofing off, but the tiki theme came about anyway. The zone was wiped and the tiki theme was being set up. No one but Gene and his crew were building for it. Eventually, to everyone's relief, the tiki theme was all but lost to a giant face of Prokofy spewing particles out of her giant mouth. The map also contained a lewd drawing of King of the Hill involving Bobby Hill (a popular image in many "goon image packs"). Then, I would say, the leaders of Voted 5 knew their days were numbered. It seemed that they knew the inevitable was coming and we were giving one final hurrah.

After the purge, Gene Replacement was banned. Satyr was inaccessible. Gene Replacement didn't go out without a fight though. He held a live funeral where he was buried in some random graveyard sim with build permission. Standing large beside him was a screenshot of his SL account being banned if viewed from the web login. He was still inside the game and a complete renegade from Linden Labs. Did the Lindens purposely not re-ban him? No one knows, but everyone knows he was awesome enough that even Linden Lab couldn't stop him.

Afterwards everyone fled back to the "homeland" of Baku. Baku who had stagnated over the year was once again revived. The owners of the group returned amongst various rumors of Voted 5's purge. Everyone left the Voted 5 group and construction began on a new theme for Baku. W-Hat was born again. However, it was born without the leadership that the others provided.

Soon, 4chan took over. You'd see them and their avatars hanging out in Baku land. Soon you could see the discontent of the older generation as they were dissatisfied with the current leadership. Many left SL, many went elsewhere and played with other SL friends, and some stayed. I don't know specifically how w-hat changed after the few months I followed it passed Voted 5's removal from the game. However, I do know I'm glad I left. The w-hat I see now is nowhere near as cool as Voted 5. They may want to distance themselves as far away from Plastic Duck as they can, but that won't change the fact that Plastic Duck is a better leader then they could ever be.

For instance, rumors abound that Plastic Duck had a way to hack SL and steal Lindens from people's accounts. That rumor is true and I've seen it for myself. Gene Replacement and the guy in the power ranger suit were there one night when Gene discovered how to pay someone a negative amount. When you payed someone a negative amount the game would give you the money and take it from them. The best part was that even if they had no Linden the game would still give the money over.

Plastic Duck could have ruined Second Life then and there. It could have been the end of the game. They could have kept the exploit secret and used it to send fake cash all over the grid with different accounts and IP addresses, exchanging those lindens for real world currency before Linden Lab could have noticed. They could have caused more damage than the grid crashing. They could have undermined the entire game and people's trust into Linden Labs.

IM Chatlogs between Plastic Duck aka Gene Replacement and Philip Linden:

[7:10] Philip Linden: hey there!
[7:10] Gene Replacement: hi what's up

[7:10] Philip Linden: can I come and talk to you about your reported exploit?
[7:11] Gene Replacement: ok sure but I'm not at a nice place

[7:11] Philip Linden: let's go somewhere else then.
[7:11] Philip Linden: hang on.
[7:12] Philip Linden: actually let's talk in IM to be really secure.
[7:12] Gene Replacement: secure :P

[7:12] Philip Linden: OK so can you tell me the time and source->dest of the test you did?
[7:13] Gene Replacement: honestly, I have no idea. I've been messing with packet shaping SL stuff for a few hours last night/today and was messing with various stuff.
[7:13] Gene Replacement: I debited two different avatars and paid them back to do the test.

[7:13] Philip Linden: OK which ones?
[7:14] Philip Linden: I want to look at our logs and see what is there?
[7:14] Gene Replacement: Tiny Marbles and Huns Valen
[7:14] Gene Replacement: I received their permission via voice chat
[7:14] Gene Replacement: I also debited NULL_KEY when testing it, as the idea originally came from modifying asset upload fees and the default avatar paid is NULL_KEY

[7:15] Philip Linden: OK are you referring to a transact between you and him at 3AM this morning?
[7:16] Philip Linden: that is what I see.
[7:16] Gene Replacement: yeah that sounds right
[7:16] Gene Replacement: I was messing with the upload fees a few days ago but wanted to try spoofing the payment source/destination today

[7:16] Philip Linden: there is a 'gift' transact of value 1L$?
[7:16] Philip Linden: is that correct?
[7:16] Gene Replacement: to Huns?

[7:17] Philip Linden: there is first a payment from huns->gene, and then backwards.
[7:17] Gene Replacement: yes that is correct

[7:17] Philip Linden: OK so what account were you logged in as when you sent the packets?
[7:18] Gene Replacement: Gene Replacement

[7:18] Philip Linden: So basically you were able to get Huns to xfer to you, though you were logged in as you?
[7:18] Gene Replacement: yes
[7:18] Gene Replacement: it's really simple I could do it to you :P

[7:19] Philip Linden: OK
[7:19] Gene Replacement: you are asking me to debit money from you?

[7:20] Philip Linden: can you do it right now?
[7:20] Gene Replacement: yes

[7:20] Philip Linden: OK let's do that so we have a good record.
[7:20] Philip Linden: XFER L$1 from me to you.
[7:20] Gene Replacement: ok it will take a few mins

[7:21] Philip Linden: OK
[7:22] Gene Replacement: there we go

[7:22] Philip Linden: Got it.
[7:22] Philip Linden: Let me check the logs.
[7:22] Gene Replacement: no I got it :P

[7:23] Philip Linden: OK I've got it confirmed in the logs.
[7:23] Philip Linden: Wow that is a really big problem.
[7:23] Philip Linden: I can't tell you how much I appreciate the find.
[7:24] Philip Linden: Why we aren't confirming that event at the server is beyond me,
[7:24] Philip Linden: OK so it looks like we've at least got good logs,
[7:24] Philip Linden: which would allow us to look for this happening.
[7:24] Philip Linden: I was still able to see that you were the one who initiated the transfer (from me to you)
[7:25] Philip Linden: so that makes me feel somewhat better in terms of the time it will take to fix.
[7:25] Gene Replacement: this is why an open policy on reverse engineering is a good thing :)

[7:25] Philip Linden: Obviously please keep under wraps. We'll probably fix it today.
[7:25] Gene Replacement: yup, I don't plan on telling anyone how to do this.

[7:26] Philip Linden: OK thanks.
[7:26] Philip Linden: We will be working on it within couple hours.
[7:26] Philip Linden: I
[7:26] Philip Linden: I'm in the office now.
[7:27] Philip Linden: OK talk to you soon.
[7:27] Gene Replacement: ok bye

Instead, Gene and his friend reported it after a long debate in Satyr with what few people were there at the time. The idea of free legit Linden for reporting the exploit was worth more to them then wreaking havoc on the grid. In the end, the exploit was reported and Philip Linden himself showed up and took them somewhere, and an epic screencap was taken. They were given the reward and the security hole was fixed.

Voted 5 wasn't about griefing or crashing sims. It was about playing a game by goofing off, being silly, and having fun just like most goons do. Laughing at others was a prominent theme but for most of the V5 members it was simple enough to laugh at how lame they were without needing to poke them and make them do something funny.

I do not know what w-hat is like in its current state but the constant bickering with the 4chan group and the way I've seen the leadership handle 4channers shitting the place up, the SL Safari, the constant jabs at Prokofy just because she was funny awhile back, and constant press about their ill deeds I can only shake my head. Everyone out there can shun Plastic Duck/Gene Replacement but I would join any group he was leading. I would join even if it wasn't restricted to Something Awful members. I would join because I believe he knows how to have fun in SL. That's something lost on most of the playerbase and even the current generation of griefers.

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