Virtual Worlds
Articles from my voyage through the virtual worlds of Second Life, Kitely, Avination, Inworldz and others.
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ISM Activist Killed
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/15/italian-peace-activist-murdered-gaza Arrigoni’s death comes just over a week after a gunman shot dead Juliano Mer-Khamis, an Israeli actor who ran a theatre in the West Bank city of Jenin. It is not clear why Mer-Khamis was shot but his views about freedom of expression had generated some opposition in Jenin.… Read the rest
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ISM calling for experienced activists to come to Gaza
**please circulate widely** The International Solidarity Movement is appealing for activists to join our team in the besieged Gaza Strip. In recent months numerous people have managed to cross into Gaza through Egypt, so at present, there is a small window of opportunity to enter.… Read the rest
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What do you want to see in Second Life in two years time?
Our new leader wants to know what we’d like to see in 2 years time… TMJ: We don’t want this to be entirely one-sided. What are we – as users and customers – not asking you about that you’d nevertheless like us to hear?… Read the rest
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Countries are starting to recognise the State of Palestine
The good news that seems to be escaping the attention of the mainstream media is that more countries around the world are recognising the State of Palestine. South America is currently at the forefront of this wave of recognition. The Arab world has ( along with the Chinese) been making a concerted push to improve trade and strengthen cultural ties and it is culminating in recognition for Palestine ahead of the third Arab/South American Summit (ASPA), hosted in Peru in February.… Read the rest
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How I saved money in Second Life.
At the end of last year I spent some time away from Second Life – almost 4 glorious months in fact. I did have to go in at least once a week to deal with the store but apart from that nothing. … Read the rest
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The lessons from Blue Mars
I’ve watched the development of Blue Mars down the years and felt a tinge of sadness with the announcement yesterday from Avatar Reality, the owners of the Blue Mars platform, that development of the pc platform for Blue Mars has effectively ceased due to a change of direction towards the mobile market.… Read the rest
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Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to all. I hope your Yuletide season is filled with love and laughter.
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Second Life ecommerce leaps to the 21st century. Is it the end of inworld retail as we know it?
From around 2001 when internet shopping was first moving into the mainstream until around 2006, there was a steady drip of press articles talking down internet shopping. From the (real) fear of fraud to the belief that people always had a desire to see the item before buying, the mainstream media kept shaking their heads as web shopping became more and more popular. … Read the rest
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The Gate 2010. Shanghai and Second Life. Oct 23rd, 2010 – Jan 23rd, 2011
I went along to the opening of The Gate 2010. As always it was interesting and slightly unnerving to be peering out of the fishbowl into the world of flesh. © Alexia Cournoyer. 2010 All rights reserved. Click here to go to The Gate website The Gate @ Shanghai Biennale 2010 Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China / Odyssey, Second Life Oct 23rd, 2010 – Jan 23rd, 2011 After Brussels (2007) and Kortrijk (2009), The Gate ventures to the Asian continent for the 8th Shanghai Biennale.… Read the rest
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The rumour mill says Linden Lab will file for bankruptcy. It’s probably more true than not.
I was just finishing off a post explaining just why the rumour I read yesterday that Linden Lab was about to file for bankruptcy was unhelpful and untrue speculation – despite the reduction in support and all the other things that have been going on with Linden Lab that have given the impression that the company is going out of business.. … Read the rest
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Linden Lab indirectly endorses possible federal criminals – who would have thought it?
The Emerald viewer is one of the Third Party Viewers (TPVs) registered with Linden Lab and allowed to connect to Second Life. Down the last 12 months the developers of this viewer have sullied their reputations through unauthorised data collection of user login details, activities that would breach most consumer protection laws, unauthorised collections of data inworld and a few other activities that generally leave a bad taste in the mouth. … Read the rest
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Simplicity, Speed, Elegance aka Fast, Easy, Fun.
I’ve finally had a chance to listen to the audio and it was interesting to see what Philip didn’t talk about – like customer service, where the Q2 report is and timescales. That aside, the talking points for me were: Simplicity, Speed, Elegance aka Fast, Easy, Fun I must say the first sent shivers down my spine.. … Read the rest
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Can Philip save the day? Tune in on Friday for another gripping installment of “The Tao of Linden”
This Friday is the event of the season and not to be missed. Yes gentle readers, our Interim CEO and CFO/CTO are going to address the swine (that’s us, don’tcha know). Now apart from the sheer horror of having a bean counter in charge of technology, this little love-in is going to be interesting for reasons other than for what is said..… Read the rest
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Where is the Linden Lab Second Life Q2 report?
People maligned M, and certainly I didn’t have a lot of time for some of his *ahem* enthusiasms, but one thing I did appreciate was the quarterly report. Yes, they started out as a work of fiction (does anyone remember the first few where the major fun to be had was picking them apart and demonstrating the inconsistencies and fallacies they indulged in?)… Read the rest
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The decline of the “passionate and committed”
When Linden Lab use the term “passionate and committed residents” it always seems to come across as a mild insult. In a way I don’t blame them, there’s a lot of hysteria whenever LL makes a change but a lot of it is of their own making, poorly thought out policies and limited communication that isn’t tailored to those they’re trying to reach is a recipe for triggering the internet dramas we see.… Read the rest
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Fixing the problems of Second Life: a hill too high to climb?
The platform design has been showing its limitations since 2006 and I believe a lot of the platform issues are directly related to the system design. From concurrency issues to the basic user tools, most things are hampered by the design. … Read the rest
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Second Life: The beginning of the end?
I haven’t posted much this year because for a lot of it all I have seen is failure and there’s enough people out there who have been pointing this out without me adding to it. The announcement of the redundancy of 30% of the staff at Linden Lab started me reviewing the last 4 years of watching Linden Lab as they’ve thrashed around. … Read the rest
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Gallery & Shop Reopening
I’ve been releasing my art under the shop name of The Art Thing for the last 18 months or so and my other non art things under the brand NDC for years, I’ve kept both brand names but now with the redesign they inhabit the same space. … Read the rest
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The Economic Truth of Earning Income in Second Life
For most of Second Life’s existence, Linden Lab has pushed the idea of users of the service being able to make money from their labours. This line is apparently being pushed again from the appearance of articles extolling the financial opportunities in Second Life[1].… Read the rest
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When Two Worlds Collide… Part 2
© Alexia Cournoyer. 2009 All rights reserved. Fringe acts are always hard to review, simply because the standards that would normally be applied to professional performances aren’t directly relevant. A lower bar has to be used in judging or the reviewer is not being fair.… Read the rest