Warren Ellis is featured on the Reuters site talking about the contradiction of a virtual world groaning under the weight of its popularity whilst that same world contains massive tracts of regularly uninhabited buildings. If you avoid the casino / nightclub / sex club areas then odds are you aren't going to see great crowds of avatars. It's a result of the current challenges … [Read more...] about Loneliness rather than community in SL?
Op-ed
Child Pornography – Linden Lab’s firm response
The Official Linden Blog carried one of its more serious topics today - allegations of child pornography. The blog post details the chain of events. Linden Labs' reaction certainly demonstrates their belief in stamping out anything related to child exploitation and they deserve commendation for that. Based on the blog post, I took the opportunity to use the SL search … [Read more...] about Child Pornography – Linden Lab’s firm response
Scepticism about Second Life – a healthy dose
If you're an avid reader of everything SL, it's easy to end up with a very skewed view of SL. The mainstream media tend to either get extoll the 'wow' factor of business in virtual worlds or focus solely on the 'dark' side of SL. Scepticism is rarely employed in a discplined way however some methodical scepticism on SL can certainly be found at Second Life Safari, part of the … [Read more...] about Scepticism about Second Life – a healthy dose
Corporate backlash, Australian style?
Hamlet James Au from New World Notes is interviewed by Henry Jenkins and one key point raised was Au's assertion that: "For the most part, there is no tension, because the native participatory culture hardly knows the corporations are even there, or care all that much that they are. Residents have scant or limited interest in their 'colonization' ". In an Australian context … [Read more...] about Corporate backlash, Australian style?
Second Life – is the central server model its downfall?
The Easter weekend saw large concurrency on the grid and things held up relatively well, albeit with some glitches. As relative newcomers to daily immersion in Second Life, we're behind the eight-ball in realising how restrictive the central server model is on community events specifically and end user enjoyment more generally. An effective 50 to 60 avatar limit on a event … [Read more...] about Second Life – is the central server model its downfall?