Replacement Candidate for Augmentation vs. Immersion Paradigm
As I was trying to gain some insight on the issue of Second Life Culture earlier this week, the long-standing “Augmentation vs. Immersion” paradigm kept nagging at me. It’s another Second Life topic that is plagued by ambiguous terms that often confuse more than clarify the underlying issues.
As a good Venn Buddhist and VizThinker, I thought through [...]
What’s Behind The Recent Focus on Second Life Culture
Culture has become an increasingly vital topic in the Second Life blogosphere over the last six months or so. This issue has emerged in response to an unprecedented series of actual and anticipated changes in technology and governance that will likely impact the status quo of almost every Second Life sub-culture and community of interest.
We are [...]
Digital Shamanism: The Psychological Dimension of the Transworlders Paradigm
Most of us tend to ignore the deeper dimensions of being that hide beneath our mundane states of mind. It struck me today that the idea of “Transworlders” not only applies to movement between virtual worlds, but also to travel through inner worlds and states of consciousness. And even to what might be thought of [...]
I’m not Dead, Just Semi-Retiring: In Search of SLPurpose
There’s nothing I love better than to find a great novel that extends into an ongoing series. But no matter how great the initial volumes are, most serializations eventually get stale and repetitive. It’s a rare fictional character who can stay fresh over the course of more than a half dozen outings. And in some [...]
Twinity Marketing Sheds Interesting Light on Second Life
These emails from Twinity arrived at the same time this morning. The top version came to me; the second went to Fourworlds.
As you can see, they are either doing A/B mail testing (evaluating two or more versions by splitting them within a mailing list), or using different versions that target specific attributes, such as avatar [...]
From Impotent Pissing and Moaning to Voting With Our Virtual Feet
Linden Lab has once again exercised its right to institute sweeping unilateral changes that negatively impact the avatar community. Recent modifications of the Terms of Service and Third Party View Policy erode and constrain resident options and expand legal claims by the Lab.
I posted the image above exactly two years ago today. Since then I’ve watched wave after wave of [...]
Second Life Culture 02: Platform as Evolutionary Force
The technology and governance of the Second Life platform don’t just enable and shape culture, they are essential parts of culture itself. The platform environment is both the evolutionary force we must adapt to and the medium through which we act, interact and experience in the virtual world.
For instance, avatar appearance forms a foundational basis [...]
Pseudonymity is Hard: Why Your Secret Virtual Identity Has Never Been Safe.
While I reveled in a year of high-profile virtual pseudonymity, the human behind the scenes often felt like a fugitive. Constant vigilance was required to mitigate the risks of inadvertently revealing clues online that would connect the two identities. One slip and the game could be over.
It doesn’t take the proactive work of hackers or [...]
Fourworlds Falls Into A Little Linden Box
In another sign of lame human behavior, my brother from an atomic planet took the bait and signed up for a shiny new Linden Home. Just minutes after getting the email that announced the launch of the new program, he rushed to the website and traded his unused 512m allotment for a Disneyesque theme home [...]
The Paradox of Choice as it Applies to Second Life User Retention
Last week’s post on Second Life user retention recommended that an interest questionnaire be included in the initial registration process. Training and guidance could then focus on getting the newcomer up to speed in the specific area of their interest. I viewed the strategy mostly in terms of improving the pain/gain ratio, by zeroing in on the [...]
Who The Hell Has The Time and Desire For a Second Life?
A post today on Massively asked “Is Linden Lab wasting its time on the existing Second Life population?“ I think a better question might be, “Why doesn’t Linden Lab spend more time on the existing SL population?”
I don’t mean figuring out how to keep residents happy. The core SLers who spend 30, 40, 50 or [...]
Botgirl’s Excellent Transworld Adventure
I spent some more time on Reaction Grid yesterday. Although it has a way to go before offering the features and stability of Second Life, it’s easy to see that it’s just a matter of time before OpenSim grids will be viable alternatives.
I shot some HD video that I’ll edit and post here later this [...]
Transworlders of the Worlds Unite!
I sketched this image last year to visualize a trend I was seeing in the movement of identities between worlds.
Today, avatar identities created initially in Second Life are even more widely travelled and have large, established communities on human-centric social networking and sharing sites like Ning, Facebook, Flickr and Plurk, and Virtual Worlds such as [...]
Starting Work on Exhibit for Museum of Virtual Art in Second Life
The Second Life 365 Days Project continues to prove itself as an inspirational practice. Today, I whipped together this Sunday afternoon video continuing experimentation with exposing the interface and the computer.
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7765514&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1
The Acceleration of Nostalgia in Virtual Life
The Second Life 365 Days project continues to catupult me into unexpected spaces, both internal and external. Unlike SL365 participants who are inworld everyday and can capture whatever they’re up to, so far every entry I’ve made has been a result of logging on specifically for the project.
Last night, I initially planned to rez my [...]
“Naturalized” Photo and Video Depict Integration of Virtual and Physical Worlds
The photo above is the latest in a series of images and videos shot with an iPhone. These naturalized images take me into a physical world setting without any green screen tricks to fake my placement in a physical world environment. Outside of clean-up to fix color balance and some minor air-brushing, what was there [...]
Even Botgirl Gets The Blues: Overcoming Virtual World Ennui
No matter how blissful your Second Life honeymoon may be, one day you’re going to log in and notice that the magic is gone. The seemingly infinite wellspring of captivating people, places, events and projects has dried up, leaving you bored, restless and questioning the value of your digital life.
I’ve made it through a number [...]
Where Has Your Avatar Identity Travelled?
I spent much of last week sorting through old blog posts in preparation for the first “Best of Botgirl” e-book. Some of the topics I’d written about that were a bit obscure at the time (such as the impact of camping on search results and population numbers) have made their way into mainstream discussion. Some [...]
Second Life Subcultures: Please Help With List Creation
Version .2 (Updated at 3:45 pm)
In researching my intended post on SLebrity, I was unable to find a comprehensive list of Second Life subcultures. I took a quick shot at an outline that is depicted here, but realize it is very incomplete.
If you’d like to contribute to building a more comprehensive set, please post your [...]
Fun Second Life Video Test Shot and Edited on iPhone
I got to play model today for a low-fi machinima screen test. It was created by shooting a laptop screen with an iphone, and then editing it right on the phone with ReelDirector. This is just quick demonstration, but I think the technique has some promise.
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7104843&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1
The Continuum of Human/Avatar Experience
If the ventriloquist is to be understood as controlling or at least intentional figure, the dummy is the medium for another voice, one different from the ventriloquist’s yet a voice of the ventriloquist. For now it is enough to note that the philosopher/artist is one who directs other voices but also one who opens him/herself [...]
Typist, Puppeteer and Ventriloquist as Metaphors for an Avatar’s Human Counterpart
In the pseudonymous culture of Second Life an avatar’s undisclosed human identity is often referred to as “Typist” or “Puppeteer”. Since neither of those labels ever felt right to me, I was recently intrigued by the notion of using “Ventriloquist” as an alternative metaphor. Here’s how I see the differences:
The Typist metaphor places agency within [...]
How are a Bunny and a Duck like a Fat Old Human and a Hot Young Avatar
I started working a few months ago on what I thought was a brilliant idea for a video that would be unveiled at the upcoming Ambiguity of Identity show at New Caerleon. It was going to be a morph between humans and avatars, showing extreme changes in age, gender, etc. I prowled the Creative [...]
Human, Me and Majic Makes Three (Video)
Another mind-stretching contemplation on the relationship between ventriloquism and virtual identity. I will soon post a more substantive textual missive on the topic. I promise!
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6676224&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1
