Alphaville Herald

Carbonite Makers Cave to Blizzard Directive

by Dr. Legion, staff reporter

We recently posted a story about a dust-up in the WoW community over the new Blizzard policy about addons -- user made enhancements of the game interface. According to the new policy, addons can not be sold and donations can not be solicited in world. Now one target of the new policy -- the maker of Carbonite -- has decided to comply with the policy. They will only solicit donations from their web site (which is allowed by the new Blizzard policy).

It is difficult to know what to make of this. On the one hand it is good that addon makers will continue to develop their products, but on the other hand this sort of quick compliance might embolden Blizzard to flex its muscle against user/developers again in the future. In the meantime, we hope that the Carbonite makers will continue to be able to make money.

h/t WoW Insider

Intellectual Property: A Tiny Affair

Who owns the rights to pictures of Tiny avatars?

by Kris Dibou

an example of the disputed illustrations

As I was working on a story for the Herald (regarding a fellow who was writing a children's book on heart health) including illustrations make from screenshots of Tiny avatars in Second Life, I received this note from Ms. Wynx Whiplash, one of the creators of the Tiny avatars:

  In response to accusations by certain parties; I, Wynx Whiplash, am releasing this statement.  All parties except myself will remain nameless as I do not wish to cause others the harm they seem to wish to cause me.

    Thursday May 8th, 2008, I was contacted by a Second Life resident who claimed to be authoring a pamphlet to educate children on the risks of heart disease and I was informed that images of my work were going to be used.  I was taken aback that I had not been consulted first for the use of the images of my avatars.  The resident told me that he did not require my permission.  I politely begged to differ and was concerned for the reactions of other residents whose work he was also photographing.
    Feeling rather upset that someone felt they could use images of my characters whether I wanted them to or not, I unwisely continued the conversation, trying to be helpful, which is my usual demeanor when speaking to someone via instant message. 

NASA Wants An MMO - For Free!

RFP asks developers to create a game for fun

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Friday, NASA released an RFP seeking a partner to help create a massively multiplayer online game to help teach science and engineering. The project has been seen as an exciting opportunity since it was initially announced in 2007 - a promised $3 million budget could have something to do that. The level of interest was such that rumors of over a hundred responses to an RFI issued in January of this year seem credible.

But joy in the metaverse development community was short-lived, after it was clear that NASA's MMO development partner is expected to create and maintain the MMO for free - or to use NASA's language a "non-reimbursable Space Act Agreement (defined as one with no exchange of funds)".

Assessing Coke's Virtual Thirst Project: Win, Fail, or Just Another SL Dud?

Broken Crayons: Was The Virtual Thirst Contest The Last Gasp of the Crayonistas?

by Urizenus Sklar

I don't know, I'm asking. I missed the event announcing the winner of the Coke Virtual Thirst Contest, and I don't know how that event went down. As I disclosed earlier I was on an advisory panel for Coke and the Crayonista marketing company where my advice -- 1 million L in prize money and that they protect the IP rights of the winner -- did not have uptake. I was also one of the contest judges. I'm guessing there were 80 to 100 entries and a lot of them were impressive and showed considerable effort. I don't know what participation levels they were looking for but they generated a nontrivial number of entries at least. Here is the eventual winner:

This seemed like a particularly important hypervent for SL because it involved a very serious new media marketing company working for a big time advertiser in Coke, and I felt they were making a genuine effort to figure out how to approach SL in a way that avoided the usual fare of ghost islands and empty monolithic buildings. How should we assess this effort: win? fail? learning and E for effort?

Meanwhile, for those of you who missed it, Crayon has relauched as a "conversational marketing company", or as one less charitable blogger put it: "gone out of business". Whatever you want to call it, Shel Holtz, Neville Hobson, Steve Coulson, Gary Cohen, and C.C. ("I'm done coloring") Chapman have all left Crayon. Whatever the future of Crayon in SL (if any), it seems like Joseph Jaffe hasn't given up on SL, claiming that the problem with marketing efforts in SL is not the medium of SL per se, but rather with the creativity of the marketing types. Well, maybe.

The Re-Invention of Philip Linden

By Prokofy Neva, Kremlindenologist

[update: photo credit for the picture below - Tara5 Oh. The original picture and Tara5's interview with King Philip can be found here: here]

Mrs. Linden's little boy is growing up. The fair-haired, Donnie-Osmond-cute repository of our hopes and dreams, "El Chefe" who says we can "blame it all on him," is now honed into a competent media sound-byter and Customer Experience Specialist more caring than the finest call center has to offer. Back at Virtual Worlds 07, Philip blundered on stage with his architecturally-correct shock of hair, saying that gosh, he engineered this platform, and wow, all these people came on it and he didn't know what to do with them -- before rushing off to hobnob with Bill Clinton on Renaissance Island. We weren't impressed.

By contrast, at SLCC, his haircut was flat, with visible, no-nonsense bangs -- and he was oh-so-accessible. While Philip didn't give an interview to the Herald (they didn't ask -- they're too kool for skool now), he made lots of time for Reuters and hung in for the entire 3 days of the fanboyz gathering constantly chatting with residents. At his keynoter, he was all charts and graphs and apologies for poor performance and promising to do better, opening his modest corduroy college jacket to flash a t-shirt with the words MISSING IMAGE and saying "That's me, in the way."

Oh, to be sure, once the party got started at the exclusive Volunteer's gathering, Philip came sporting a transparent pearly-white golf shirt, which exposed what Ingrid Ingersoll immediately dubbed "The Phipple".

Moving the Slider

Still, we're a long way from SLCC 1, where the fangirlz got together to buy Philip a replica of his avatar's trademark rocker T with the gaping red mouth, and even sewed on a sequined crotch to some stone-washed jeans to mimic his scripted, blinging boxers. I got a glimpse of the awkward teenage Philip back then, seeing him blush when I said, with his risque outfit on, he needed to move the "package" slider.

Now, Philip is all delivery. He hung out at the workshops and stood around in the hallways after the talks to answer the most obvious questions, "Why is land so expensive?" in his earnest manner, which has now developed away from laconic California hippie or excited Tesla into something like that quintessential television newscaster's voice with the STRESS on syllables where YOU don't expect it (Corey Bridges of Multiverse does a wonderful imitation of that...wait...I don't think it's an imitation.) "Because we need to give YOU guys the TOOLS to manage the ECONOMY," he explains.

Jimbo Quality Enhances Leadership Image

Jimbo buys presidential quality hair

by Jimbo Quality

After my last article, I sensed that there was something missing from my campaign to become President of Second Life. I sensed that the people had expectations of me that I wasn't meeting. My team hit the streets and conducted extensive research to find out what my fellow residents want in their leader. [Don't be fooled, this just means Jimbo finally read some comments - the Editrix].

a candidate prepares for extreme presidential makeover

What I learned is that my people don't think I'm good looking enough to be President. It was a tough thing to hear, but I am nothing if not eager to please, so I set out to fix this. I decided to part with some hard earned lindens and go skin shopping.

I knew I would need help, so I asked our fashion writer, Tenshi Vielle, to help me. She was thrilled.

Tenshi is a very busy avatar. For what seemed like a month, maybe two, I stood by her desk waiting for her to return. Finally, I IM'd her and amazingly, she had just logged on for the first time in weeks! It was like fate had brought us together.

Gorean Radio in SL: Beyond AM, FM, and XM, there is BDSM

Community Radio Even a Kajira Could Luff

by Urizenus Sklar, Media Mogul/Critic

As the Second Life mediascape continues to diversify, a number of in-world radio stations have emerged. Of course such radio stations have been familiar to us at least since the days of The Sims Online, where there were a number of radio stations, including stations run by mafias and by the infamous The Sim Shadow Government. And of course the game-centered radio broadcasts for World of Warcraft and many other games exist today. Here in Second Life there have been numerous online stations as well, ranging from Taco Rubio’s Phreak Radio to the now defunct Dreamland Radio, which was the voice of Anshe Chung’s Dreamland, continent to the Virtual world radio network (VWRN) and the German Language SLR2. Hells Bells, there are even radio stations that straddle both TSO and Second life (Maxed Out Radio being a case in point). What got our attention though was the rise of at least two full time Gorean Radio Stations.

Gorean Portal Radio claims to have been broadcasting nonstop for three years. It began as an IRC channel but now broadcasts from Ar. Meanwhile, the relative newcomer The Edge, Gorean Radio, which was doing a play-by-play of Gorean combat contests when I tuned in. I guess I’ve always been interested in the way subcultures like Gor create their own media outlets, including not just radio stations but “newspapers” like The Tarns Feather (which is only available in world).

Question: what other radio stations (Gorean or otherwise) are currently up and running in SL? I’d also be interested in hearing about other “community newspapers” like The Tarn’s Feather.

More Grid Hopping

by Tenshi Vielle, Fabulous Fashionista

I never knew Tuesday nights were so busy in Second Life.

This evening held three very big events in ESC history. The NBA made its virtual-world debut on the T-Mobile sim, while the Aloft project held a second grand opening and took questions from the attendees, and Robert Redford's The Green presented itself on the Sundance sim.

Torrid Midnight was hosting the NBA Headquarters opening day party, assisting people with utilizing T-Mobile/NBA sponsored HUDs to shoot baskets for prizes. The NBA Store holds jerseys representing the NBA teams, available for purchase at a lean price of $100L. Everything was incredibly well built and extrordinarily scripted; one wouldn't, couldn't, expect less from the ESC.

The NBA Second Life Court, where you can equip your NBA HUD, wear your basketball, and shoot some pretty awesome virtual hoops

Nissan Retools

The Orignal Nissan Build has Become a Famous SL Marketing Flub. Is the New Project Any Better?

Readers may recall our criticism of the Nissan build last October. It was our view that the build failed to take advantage of the social nature of online worlds and also failed to show any sort of imagination -- a giant vending machine dispensed scale models of Nissan Sentras in a world of flying saucers, dragons, and yiffing little furries.

Now Nissan has teamed up with the Electric Sheep Company with a project that raises new questions. According to an April 25 press release from Nissan North America (NNA), their Altima Island will contain lots of strange new builds. Quoting our friend Giff:

"The new Altima Island is an automotive amusement park for all types of avatars," says Giff Constable, founder of The Electric Sheep Company. "Each contraption was purposely built to transport avatars into a mesmerizing world that perfectly balances pseudo- and real-world features."

More specifically, there will be a number of virtual contraptions designed and scripted by Kage Seraph, Kanker Greenacre, and Calum Clifton. The kicker is that NNA is open-sourcing the scripts:

"Nissan wanted to provide the Second Life community with a unique, hands- on experience," says Steve Kerho, director of interactive marketing & media, NNA. "By sharing these open-source codes with everyone, we've given them the opportunity to learn and interact more in Second Life and ultimately, within Altima Island."

Editorializing now, I think this is definitely a step in the right direction, in that it addresses the creativity issue. The problem is it only highlights the creativity of the Electric Sheep. What I want to know is what the *Nissan* engineers would come up with if unconstrained by the laws of physics etc. There are also worries about the social reach of this project. I wonder exactly how many people they think they are going to touch by open sourcing some advanced scripts. This smells a little bit like Nissan went to the Sheep, and said we don't want another disaster like the Sentra thing. That thought fell down the hole of the group techie-think at ESC, and out popped this idea: "We like to script so *everyone* must like to. Or anyway, the important people and non-idiots like to." On the other hand, maybe the new builds will be fun. And we are all learning here. Baby steps.

The NNA press release (which is way way over the top by the way -- "Nissan Pioneers the Second Life Universe with Unique Innovations" WTF???) is below the fold. (Hat tip to Dustin Dwyer at Michigan Radio.)

Residents of 8 Sims Homeless - Is Land Scamming or Illness to Blame?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

What appears to be one of the largest virtual land business failures ever threw residents of at least 8 sims out of their homes today - as the Azure Islands land company did a repo-man job on sims owned by Azure Islands but managed by lilly Margretts. Sources claim that Ms. Margetts had not made tier payments to Azure Islands for two months, and since the Linden Lab game gods are not known to extend more than 7 days grace on land payments it may not have been a complete shock that the land was seized and resold.

lilly has gone missing

The residents I spoke with had no warning of the trouble awaiting them, and had been dutifully making payments to Ms. Margetts over the last two months. Imagine their surprise when they found their land had disappeared overnight. Then imagine Azure Islands discomfort when no tier payments were forthcoming for two months. Then ask yourself why a game company in the virtual land business which touts Second Life as a real economy never seems to get around to making these sorts of transactions more transparent.

But the displaced residents had more immediate concerns, and after being turfed out of their homes, a group of ex-tenants did some collaborative sleuthing - and identified Azure Islands as the land owners and contacted Azure Islands land honcho Adam Zauis directly.

Pontiac G8 - Metaverse Spy Shots!

Feel the Pontiac Excitement Tingle in SL - sometime this summer

by Tenshi Vielle - Fabulous Fashionista

Pontiac G8, as viewed in the psychedellic shadow box on the Pontiac sim

Tonight, at about 6pm SLT, Pontiac gave the SL world the very first look at their new car - the Pontiac G8.
The G8 is a rear wheel drive performance sedan assembled out of Australia. Available in early 2009, the Pontiac G8 won't hit RL eyes until tomorrow at 3pm in Chicago. This roarin' vehicle sports a V8 engine with over 360 horsepower, and a four wheel independent suspension. There will be two models : a base model with over 260 horsepower, and the GT model with 362 HP.

[Is it supposed to be crooked like that? Or did someone rent it to Gideon Television? He usually wraps rental cars around trees. Too bad the body shops never really fix the frame right. - the Editrix]

Watch Your Virtual Ankles, Roomba's Cleaning Up In Second Life

If you've been worried about the detritus that builds up in Second Life as a result of prim drift and Tiny sex, worry no longer. Resident Mooba Sienkiewicz (aka Greg, the myRoomBud crew's dad) sends word that he's created a virtual Roomba for use in-world. "One day a real Roomba's gonna come along and wash all the scum off the Grid," Mooba says. Actually, I made that quote up. But he did build a Roomba for SL. Catch a video of the virtual Roomba in action on the myRoomBud SL page.

Attentive Herald readers will remember iHerald Enterprises groundbreaking RealFrogger event held at last year's SXSW Interactive festival. This latest development holds more promise for the virtual world: RealFrogger in Second Life? We should be so lucky.

-- Walker Spaight (cross-posted from 3pointD.com)

BMW's No-Drive Zone

by Fiend Ludwig

[We sent Herald reporter Fiend Ludwig to test-drive some Beemers in Second Life -- only to find the project could hardly get into first gear.
--Walker Spaight]

BMW New World: Dude, where's my SL car?

Another corporate sim equals another deserted island. This formula, oft trundled out by the not-so-mainstream media seems, in fact, to be true. Most of the corporate sims around Second Life are normally entirely devoid of other visitors. This was certainly the case when I had a look around BMW New World recently. Upon teleporting in, a chat script chimed, "Hi Fiend Ludwig, unfortunately we cannot welcome you personally right now. Please IM Munich Express with any questions you might have. Talk to you soon." Feeling a little smug, I posted a somewhat flippant report on my blog and thought no more of BMW and their New World.

Until Munich Express actually did IM me.

Shock! Fashion Designer Knockoffs

Designer copy victims banned from knockoff shop

By Seola Sassoon

News yesterday and this morning spread across my screen in the Sellers Guild chat channel about a 'new designer'. In fact, it wasn't a new designer, but an account with blatantly ripped items from many popular designers.

I teleported in to immediately recognize some Nyte N Day, ETD, and Gurl 6 designs - some of which I personally owned so I can tell in the details for certain - not to mention tens of other styles of recognizable clothing from the top designers in SL.

The avatar selling? Rach Snookem

I received this picture from a watchful consumer to show prim similarities.

Shockingly similar

Fear and Loathing in Second Life, Part 5: Helping You to Lead the Way

by Gideon Television

I guess it was an innocent enough comment, right here on YesButNoButYes:

"Is there any sort of drug scene in Second Life for Gideon to explore?"

I'd been clean six months, but as soon as I read the words, the roof of my mouth went dry, and I got that weird itching between my knuckles, like cunnilingus from a thousand angry fire-ants. I knew I shouldn't, but I also knew it was too late.

I was going to have to go back. To score some Seclimine™.

Fear and Loathing in Second Life Part 4: Happiness is a Warm Gun

by Gideon Television

On Saturday, I finished my last piece, just before deadline. "The Best Little Whorehouses in Second Life". Catchy. With a title like that, no-one would miss the irony. At least, not unless they were OUT OF THEIR FUCKING MINDS.

By Sunday, the feces, as they say, had not so much hit the fan, as had ricocheted back into my face, adding a visceral edge to the shit-eating grin I was already wearing. Angry strippers, jealous husbands, enraged pimps - I was getting hit on all sides, even threatened with elimination from Second Life.

But this is a fair world, a civil and just world. A world where safety systems are enabled so that grievances can be resolved in a calm and resolute manner. And so I put that theory into practice.

I went shopping for the biggest badass gun money could buy. With pictures.

Sausalito Smackdown: Millions of Sheep?

by Pat the Rat

While Reuben Steiger, who runs Millions of Us, one of the Big Three players in the metaverse-industrial complex, tried to make light of it in a recent blog post, Pat the Rat hears that the recent meeting of the minds between Reuben and Electric Sheep Company CEO Sibley Verbeck was hardly as luvvy-duvvy as it sounds. In fact, the two virtual CEOs got into a Sausalito Smackdown in the parking lot of a local dining establishment with the unlikely name of Avatar's, before an audience of tourists. The issue seems to have been not who would control the flow of virtual-world services contracts, but who had the tighter tummy. (The spat started when Reuben ordered the Asian fusion sugarbuns for dessert, while Sibley went with the sweetplum jam, which supposedly had fewer calories.) While Herald paparazzi failed to catch the event on camera, we hired courtroom sketch artist Barnesworth Anubis to recreate the event, as seen above. Who won the bout? Decide for yourselves based on our illustration. (That's Sibs on the left, and Reub in the specs.) But the question remains: Can Sugarbuns Steiger and Sweetplum Sibley kiss and make up? And if they did accomplish a marriage of the minds, would we one day be facing Millions of Sheep? Remember, readers, you heard it hear first. We don't make this stuff up.

Interview with Ogoglio's Trevor Smith

A mid-November look at some Ogoglio features.

Through the years, the Herald has discussed various open source alternatives to Second Life, including Open Croquet and MUPPETS, but we haven't yet looked at Ogoglio. In this interview, we talk to Ogoglio creator Trevor Smith, who explains how Ogoglio is a fundamentally different project from those that went before, in that in addition to being open source, it is entirely web-based, and relies on off the shelf tools (languages and protocols) that should be familiar to most web developers. Ogoglio spaces will thus be accessible via standard web browsers, and there should be an army of developers capable of developing such spaces.

Q&A below the fold.

AvaTard Launches! Features Hard-Hitting Commentary from Catherine Linden

Readers shocked to learn SL has 2 Million Residents. Newbie places box on head!

I have to admit that this reporter was cynical when he first heard of the launch of a new tabloid within Second Life, this one to be called "AvaTard." But boy was I wrong! If there was any doubt about what a juggernaut AvaTard will be in the SL mediascape, just look at the first issue. It features some hard-hitting commentary from infamous Linden Lab critiic Catherine Linden, a fully clothed "Avatard of the Week" -- an obvious improvement on the Herald Post Six Grrrls (clothing! why didn't we think of that!) -- and thankfully nothing on griefing or gambling or ageplay or furries. but a fascinating interview with a newbie, and get this! She. Put. a. box. on. her. head. Shock!!!!

When I heard that none of the AvaTard participants had been in world for more than a couple months, I thought "this won't work". But now, zowie, can you believe how deep into Second Life they have gone? I should also point out that the graphic design is really something. Sort of like The Metaverse Messenger, but with cheaper paper and ink. And maybe without the graphic design background. Oh well, at least it looks better than the Herald. Something has to!

Cookie-Cutter Corporate Sims - But No First Land for Residents?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

New Second Life residents are enticed to upgrade their accounts to “premium” status with the promise that paying for a premium account allows purchase of virtual land. But in the official Linden answers forum, complaints about the difficulty finding discounted “first land” are rising as residents remind LL that promises of more first land “in a few weeks” last september are still not being honored for many new premium account holders. Why is there a land shortage?

It is possible that a corporate sim land rush is to blame. A quick look around the world map shows some interesting patterns. While it used to be enough for a corporate foothold to be a single spot in the metaverse - the fashion today is to create half a dozen or more sims - in many cases cookie-cutter identical. Cookie cutter corporate continents advance the business of push-media passive event consumption for Second Life tourists - but may come at the cost of in-world diversity and creativity as new residents who want to create something are squeezed out of the land market.

Elemental Viral Marketing in the Metaverse

Maker claims 1000 Elemental vehicles distributed in 36 hours
Can established vehicle makers respond to viral vehicle marketing?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

One of eight forms in the Element Multiform Vehicle

I was hanging around Sunset Beach when GuardianAngel Falken dropped by with a vehicle that “some cool nice dude” gave him - the Elemental Multiform Craft. At first it looked like a metallic oversized acorn, but as GuardianAngel put it through its paces, the acorn did a sort of transformers magic and became a car, speedboat, submarine, plane, airship, motorcycle, helicopter and hoverpod. Somewhere around the 4th magical morphing I knew I had to have one of these - I just bought a new katana last weekend, and when I’m not writing for the Herald or yacht racing I’ve been thinking of moonlighting as one of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (DiVAs) - from Kill Bill. I’ll need a good bike for that - and now I have one - for free!

Rather than try to entice Second Life citizens to an island or a vendor, Kage Seraph has his customers spread the world - and the product. To get your own copy, just find someone who already has an one and click on their Elemental. You’ll get a HUD that includes controls for rezing your own Elemental and customizing it. In other worlds - this is a fascinating case of viral marketing - and a über cool product to boot.

AvaStar Rising Falling: Dec. 21 Launch for SL's "First" Tabloid

by Walker Spaight

So sedate and august a publication is the Second Life Herald that we'd normally take no notice of the smutty mutterings of the salacious classes -- but this is just too much. Attentive readers will recall the recent accouncement that German publishing company Axel Springer would launch what the Guardian idiotically called Second Life's "first tabloid." Now it's here -- well, almost. It launches December 21 as The AvaStar, and will be available not only on the Web but "through street vendors [and] self-service boxes" in-world as well, according to a press release. Which actually is great. Where competition is concerned, the Herald's official stance has always been, "Bring it on, biyatch." But this "first" business has just got to stop. A promised correction from the Guardian has not yet materialized, so it's clear that stronger measures will need to be taken. (One Song, are you reading this?)

There's also the issue of the AvaStar's slogan: "Your World, Your Voice." Who's going to be writing this thing, anyway? Will it be just another Web site about Second Life, similar to the BLingsider? The press release promises 30 pages a week of News, Business, Celebrity & Gossip, Style & Fashion, Travel and Entertainment, plus a weekly guide. (Are these paper pages or Web pages?) One of the most amusing aspects of this whole thing was the headhunter who tried to recruit me to write for the AvaStar. The email I received included these questions: "Could you please send me a short example of article about SL? What is your focus / experience / passion about Second Life?" If you can't answer these for yourself, Monty, you have no business at all launching a tabloid in Second Life. I ain't FIC for nothing, you publicitard.

IBM’s Islands - Circuit City Partnership?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

IBM Circuit City prototype

IBM is expected to open it’s 12 island mini-continent in Second Life to the public in the next few days, apparently as part of the computer services giant’s initiatives in the 3D metaverse. The Herald managed to slip quietly onto the islands for a quick look around earlier today, and found a number of interesting sights to share with our readers, including an apparent partnership with Circuit City “to explore and experiment with how we can apply virtual worlds to their business” - according to a notecard that is automatically handed out as part of a train ride/tour of the space.

Have you finished your homework?

*sigh*, we do our best with these marketing and PR experts. We take them by the hand, show them the ropes, remove the sharp objects from their tiny hands, but we can't watch *all* of them. There are so many these days. People who put up a shingle and say "I'm a freaking expert on SL media, hire me as your $250/hour consultant!" Take Joel Greenburg Greenberg of Idea City (a name that is unfortunately close to Idiocy, you may have noticed). He offers his readers a list of 12 Second life media outlets that people might contemplate when targeting their advertisements. And the list is indeed long, ranging from the ever vapid SL Blingsider, to the former Linden House Organ: New World Notes. But what is this. No Herald!??? Heaven forfend!

Ah, but you say, *surely* the Blingsider, sponsored as it is by AOLs weblogs inc. and New World Notes, sponsored as it is by Federated media have much more reach, more eyeballs than this blog, which merely caters to virtual paramilitary organizations, Crayonistas, cyberprostitutes, and trendy French intellectuals. Ah, but Technorati tells a different story. At least since the appointment of Pixeleen as Editrix and the return of yours truly:

What is the moral we are to take from this episode? Well, I say it is this, and it is free advice. Advice that I give to my child and students everywhere. Are you ready? It's this: Do your homework.

Rik Riel Trolls - Unwary New Media Expert Bites

Viral marketing experts may not be immune to viral blogging

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

When Rik Riel cast a bogus blog entry into the metaverse blog-o-sphere last night claiming the Internet naming authority ICANN would be regulating names and addresses within virtual worlds - was he hoping to catch a marketing/new media expert? If so, December 13th was Rik’s lucky day as Daniel Davenport of THINK Inc - an interactive marketing agency - took the bait with this post at his “think d2c media: direct to consumer” blog.

Rule one for aspiring Second Life pundits burnishing their credentials by linking and quoting exciting new metaverse developments in the blob-o-sphere -- read the comments on the blog posts you quote - on the chance that someone is trolling for the uncritical.

The perils of punditry are clear after visiting Rik Riel’s blog where the headline screams “ICANN announces it now controls the virtual world as well as the web” and a faux press release - complete with a picture of internet saint Vint Cerf proclaims that the group managing web address/names will now be registering addresses and names for objects and avatars in WoW, Second Life, and other games. *cough* *cough* *cough*. Of course, the comments lead one to believe that things may not be so simple - or perhaps April 1 came twice this year.

Here Come the Virtual Tourists!

Canadian newspaper The Hamilton Spectator has a nice article about Synthravels -- the virtual world vacation/tour company run by our friend Mario Gerosa (Frank Koolhaus in SL) and others. Some of you will know Mario as Editor of Mondi Virtuali (he's also Editor in Chief of Architectural Digest, Italia). There is also some egg-headed pontification from Professor Ludlow: something to the effect that, well, its no worse than real life tour companies. My theory is that this is just Mario's version of Payback. We've all been invading his country (Italy) with our cameras and walking shorts. Well, turnaround is fair play I suppose...

Duran Duran - Where Art Thou?

concerned Duran Duran fans wonder if the show will go on

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Three and a half months ago - on August 9th - CNet reported the 80s pop group Duran Duran had discovered Second Life and was planning an “exclusive private island” and events - including a concert - in the metaverse. Keyboardist Nick Rhodes was reported to say the group was “thrilled to be the first band to become citizens of Second Life”, and the boys were “rehearsing now for our first concert there in the coming months”. But after gathering an SL fan group of 450+ avatars - including this writer - there is still nothing to see except press releases and a few builds which seem to be gradually decaying. Did the local music promoters nerf the planned events?

Banned CopyBot Girl GeForce Go’s Identity Revealed?

Is a former cornfield resident an alt for GeForce Go?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

nimrod Yaffle's sister?

Reports at the Second Citizen web site forums indicate that CopyBot salesgirl GeForce Go may have had an alternate identity - the well known nimrod Yaffle.

These reports have raised some eyebrows since nimrod was originally one of the demonstrators of the CopyBot before its commercialization - I didn’t really believe that the CopyBot worked until nimrod cloned my avatar and several objects monday evening. In my conversations with both Mr. Yaffle and Ms. Go there was a common rhetorical thread that objects want to be free - because the Lindens have not secured the server.

The evidence presented in the Second Citizen forums consists of a series of screen shots from November 1 where GeForce Go posted to the Linden Answers forum, and an account named “Nimrod Yaffle” posted to the Second Citizen claiming that the GeForce Go alt was used because Nimrod’s account was suspended. [photos after the jump]

Cory Linden Stands With Crowdsourced Libbers

LL to address CopyBot rights management issues sometime next year?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

the (now missing) GeForce Go removing Copybot vendor from Manitoba sim

“i will NOT be adding anymore products until LL amends SL to entirely negate copybot and similar technology - lip service to the TOS is not enough. second, i will not be the source of any more income to LL due to their sales of L$ that would pass through my store.” said Jacqueline Trudeau in response to Cory Linden’s attempt to reassure metaverse shopkeepers and content creators. Jacqueline Trudeau was one of over 560 citizens responding to the Cory Linden’s blog post in the wake of serious fallout from the CopyBot scandal.

To address the scandal, tuesday night Cory Linden declared that using CopyBot-like programs to duplicate copy-protected objects is a violation of the TOS. Shortly after this announcement, two citizens selling the CopyBot in-world - GeForce Go and Prim Revolution - no longer appeared in the find people tab - apparently having been banned for TOS violations. However, these action have not calmed the content creators of Second Life.

Is LL’s Copy Protection Pwned?

Content shall go forth and multiply

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Metaverse citizens who hoped to make a living selling objects may want to consider a different line of work - a new tool is making the rounds that makes it trivial to defeat Second Life’s copy protection of objects - as well as cloning one avatar’s looks onto others. How is this possible - and how will in-world content creators be able to sell their wares if object copying tools are widely available?

When Prokofy Neva broke this story yesterday it was evident serious damage might be done to the in-world economy - but the details of how the copying was accomplished were unclear.

Today, the Herald was contacted by an anonymous source with detailed information on how the Lab’s Digital Rights Management (DRM) system may be bypassed due to the design of the Second Life software - given the help of some some tools developed using the libsecondlife libraries. Although we were unable to directly verify all the claims of our source, we did see a demonstration of much of what is described below in-world, and it appears that it may only be a matter of time before similar copying tools become more widely available - bypassing LL’s object copy protection. Based on what we have learned, it appears that there are two distinct methods for overriding Linden Lab's DRM controls - one based on altering messages sent from the Second Life Client to the server, and another based on capturing the prim descriptions sent to the client for drawing the object and transforming these into "create object" commands which are then sent to the server. What follows is an interview conducted today with AA (Anonymous Avatar).

Is Linden Lab Shepherding Electric Sheep to Greener Pastures?

Why reverse engineer when you have the API handed to you?

by Isaiah Truth

When the Herald broke the news that LL had given an inside tip to a special developers' list enabling some to get an unfair advantage in purchasing the dwindling supply of low cost private islands, a chastened Philip Linden said he'd never do it again.

"We probably made a mistake there, trying to get feedback. We should just tell everybody everything," Philip said in an interview with Reuters, adding "the lesson learned here is, don't do that — just announce everything completely broadly."

If the buzz on the grid is true, however, El Presidente is having trouble breaking his habit of blessing select insiders. This time, according to highly placed sources, it is not a short list of insider landowners who are benefiting - instead The Lab has favored one development beta buddy above others -- the Electric Sheep Company (ESC) -- with a special client programming interface or API - effectively giving the Electric Sheep a two month lead on developing a customized user interface.

SLBoutique Zeros Commissions

Second Life content creators plan to break out party hats and hooters to celebrate

by Pixeleen Mistral, Virtual E-commerce desk

Saturday night, SLBoutique notified sellers that the web-based shopping mall is dropping its sales commission to zero - metaverse content creators who sell their virtual wares via the http://www.slboutique.com/ web site will net a few more Lindens as they troll the virtual e-commerce seas.

When asked how SLBoutique will cover its server expenses, Jade Lily told the Herald, that there would be for-fee services, “such as the ability to purchase advertisements in order to increase exposure of our sellers' products.” . Ms. Lily continued, “If I sell clothing on SLB, in the future, I'll have the ability to purchase a spot on the homepage that everyone will see when they visit SLB, thus increasing exposure to my products.”.

SL Herald on a Prim

Pr0n on a prim coming soon?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Suitable for wrapping fish - the Herald on a prim

Jeffronius Batra told me he planned to start selling HTML-on-a-prim once he “figures out the mechanics of selling things in SL” when I called him from Joe’s Bar in Athabasca. Athabasca is a gritty mainland sim with furniture stores and rotating prims offering loans from a “bank” that charges 6% interest - per week. Two doors down from Joe’s Bar is where Mr Batra - an Amazon.com developer - has an HTML and text-on-a-prim demonstration, and a metaverse classroom for Amazon’s S3 web offerings. I felt instantly at home. Athabasca is a classic working-class SL neighborhood with an urban dynamic unlike the distant island sims where glossy corporate PR campaigns launch and then soon fade from memory. Is it surprising that this is where some of the more interesting work in SL is being done?

SecondCast #30: Privacy and Private Jokes

Johnny "Jazz Hands" Ming is back, with the latest episode of Second Life's favorite podcast, SecondCast. In Episode #30 we talk to Mark Barrett, who created the SLStats.com site, which has caused no small amount of controversy among SL residents. SLStats, until Mark altered the site, tracked how much time you'd spent in Second Life, where you'd been and who you'd met there. But community pressure over privacy concerns led Mark to scale down the functionality. It's an interesting discussion over privacy concerns in general, and how they manifest themselves in virtual worlds in particular. We've been on a bit of a hiatus lately, but stay tuned for more -- including SecondCast's first taping in front of a live audience, at the recent Second Life Community Convention. Fun stuff.

Taking a Chance on Chance Takashi

A special profile to benefit the American Cancer Society, by Walker Spaight

Chance Takashi

"This is The Observatory, my first big build in SL," Chance Takashi tells me when I meet her in the Caledon Highlands. "Or anywhere, really." It's an interesting addendum: the metaverse, for Chance, is broad enough that a "build" could exist in any number of spaces, virtual or real. But SL is where Chance landed, early in 2006, a refugee from World of Warcraft's level grind, and it's in SL that she plans to make her mark.

When I land at Chance's steampunk getaway, I'm immediately relieved. I'm here to get to know Chance not because I'd heard she'd be interesting, but because she's paid for my time. She hasn't paid me, of course -- the Herald stoops, to be sure, but never that low. Instead, she was the highest bidder in an auction to benefit the American Cancer Society as part of the Second Life Relay for Life held recently in the virtual world. Chance's bid of L$11,525 -- just under US$40 -- earns her a glowing profile in the Herald. Fortunately, it's one that's well deserved.

SLStats: Is Big Brother Watch-ing?

by Pixeleen Mistral, Herald National Affairs desk

SNOOPYbrown's closest friends: Nobody yet. Only people that you have hung out with for at least an hour are considered your friends. -- SLStats.com

SLStats.com reveals that SNOOPYbrown has no friends *sniff*

Poor, poor SNOOPYbrown Zamboni. Here it is August 1, 2006 and SLStats.com doesn't think he has any friends! Won't someone please, please help? Go get one of those cool new watch/scanner attachments from Mark Barrett, and get close to SNOOPY. You and SNOOPY will both benefit. You'll show the world who you are close to in SL, score points for being down with one of the F.I.C., and SNOOPY will not look like such a sad-sack and loner. You want to share the good news with Teh IntarWeb, don't you? You already trust Linden Labs with every detail of what your avatar does. Why not trust third-party Web sites as well?

The Sophisticate: Fashion Designer Grace Winnfield

by Emerie Mauriac

Grace Winnfield

On a random visit to Grace Winnfield's shop at Pierce (6, 62, 58) [<-- SL link] I met Grace herself, who at the time was less than 60 days in-world but no less impressive a designer for it. Grace came in with a plan, and with obvious talent. As I spoke with her, her bubbly personality and her style intrigued me. She's a slight gal with bright green hair, and a huge smile. I enjoyed talking with her so much, and enjoyed her designs, which are so retro feeling and feminine, that she became the natural candidate for my June/July interview.

SL's Second-Class Citizens Lead a CaddyShack Second Life

by Pixeleen Mistral, Herald sports desk

Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a miracle -- It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole! --Caddyshack (1980)

Philip Linden takes advantage of unverified labor during the Holly Kai Ocean Nine's opening day

In the wake of recent changes made by Linden Lab, which no longer requires payment information to be collected from new members on free, or "unverified," accounts, a split has developed between residents who think the changes are all for the good, and those who fear they can only mean an influx of unaccountable griefers to the virtual world. But how do the unverified themselves feel about being looked on by some as second-class citiazens within Second Life? Herald sports reporter Pixeleen Mistral visited the Holly Kai Ocean Nine golf course recently to find out. Here is her report:

The Unverified Unverifieds
Even if you've been locked in a decompression chamber for the last week and a half, you know that golf is the hottest new SL sport. But if sport is a microcosm of society, what larger meaning can be found in the duffers that are now flocking to Second Life? Is the the Holly Kai Ocean Nine to be the set for a Bill Murray movie in SL? And why are all the caddies named Unverified?

Partying With American Apparel -- And Recovering From the Hangover

by Dow Jonas

Four historic events occurred on a recent Sunday in Second Life:

1. Aimee Weber and Barnesworth Anubis appeared in their underwear in public.
2. Philip Linden changed his t-shirt.
3. Pictures of RL women in various stages of orgasm were posted around a huge, exciting build on a private island.
4. A RL store opened its realistic doors in Second Life.

Did I put those in the right, newsworthy order?

Well, of course any one of these events had occurred before, but this is the first time they all occurred together! The question is, What is their meaning?

From the Runway to the Box Office

by Emerie Mauriac

Designer Adri Saarinen

Adri Saarinen is a new fashion designer that shows much promise. I had come across her new store in Suisun a couple of weeks ago, and picked out a few choice pieces for myself. I asked her to sit down with me to chat about her new biz, an upcoming fashion show, and her involvement in the Foundation for Rich Content. I showed up a little tardy, but Adri was cool…….

Anshe Ties Up in the Rivers Run Red

Two of the biggest names in Second Life corporate life announced a strategic alliance last week, according to this press release from AnsheChung.com. That's right, Anshe is steering her land baron's boat down Fizik Baskerville's Rivers Run Red virtual world branding and marketing concern. Is there a wave of VW consolidation on the way? Isn't it too early for that? No word on new deals yet, but keep your eye peeled for new competition in the space that the Electric Sheep have so far staked out for themselves. More at Clickable Culture and 3pointD.com.

Genital Review: Play Sexy (female)

by Chipsen Queso

OK, just like Matthias did last week, I'm reviewing the PlaySexy genitals this week, but for females!  PlaySexy only has one variety, descriptively named "PlaySexy Clit."  Let's see if it can stand up to the test against today's standards.  Like last week, this is definately not safe for work.

Calling All Fashionistas: SecondChic Now on the Air

The Herald is proud to report that one of its own has now gone audio. Herald Fashion Editor Matthias Zander is launching the SecondChic podcast on all things fashionable in Second Life. Rather than the reviews Matthias does so well for the Herald, however, SecondChic will feature information on new products and interviews with designers new and old. SecondChic's first introductory episode is now available at the SecondChic site, and while the interviews haven't started up yet, you can find out how to contact Matthias to submit your products or offer your thoughts for the show. The Herald looks forward to hearing what's to come.

Undercover SL Pregnancy Hits Slashdot

Thanks to Slashdot, the blogosphere is abuzz with news of this report from SF Weekly in which a male reporter finds out what it's like to get pregnant and carry a child in Second Life. In episode one, a fairly asexual conception: "Your Tummy whispers: Connecting to baby." Two more episodes to come.

Tringo Ships for GBA

Tringo, the game that captivated hundreds of Second Life residents (until the gripping excitement of camping chairs came along, that is), has now migrated into the real world and is available on the Game Boy Advance for a mere 15 bucks! Look for Tringo parties coming soon to a city near you. The only question is, how will this affect your real-world framerate. Oh nooooooooes!!!!!

SecondCast Episode 12: Fashionistas

Episode 12 of the Grid's favorite radio show, SecondCast, is now cooked and ready for listening. This week, we flap our gums with Second Life's fashionista crew, including Nephilaine Protagonist of Pixel Dolls, Lo Jacobs of Luxe Designs, and Celebrity Trollop of the cool new SecondStyle magazine and blog. Listen at the SecondCast site or via the cool new audio player Johnny gave me to put on 3pointD.com. Just be sure you've got your best outfit on when you do.

SL Classifieds Hit the Web -- Kinda

As announced yesterday in this forum posting, the Classifieds section of the SL in-world interface is now available on the Web. There's not a lot of functionality to it at this point -- no search, no ability to purchase items. All it allows you to do is browse a sequential list of the various categories, then go to a SLurl page that brings you directly to the vendor in-world. So it's unclear why exactly LL spent any time on this. (The Love Machine?) It seems that resident-created solutions will always outpace what's happening within LL in this area; there's far more incentive for vendors to create excellent commerce applications than there is for LL, at this point.

Blumfield Residents Get Their Doodle On

by Jeannedellalune Prudhomme, Special to the Herald

Patch Lamington at his Doodle House in SL's Blumfield sim

BLUMFIELD -- Sometimes a scribble is just a scribble. Other times, it's a doodle and a way of life.

So it is for Patch Lamington, preeminent SL doodler and popular founder of the Blumfield Residents Association (BRA).

Patch, who wears his doodleness openly and proudly, has made his mark on the SL scene -- literally. His distinctive doodle craft appears in Blumfield and at several vendor locations, and avies can be seen all over SL tootling around in Doodle Cars.

He also has left a legacy of community in SL by forming one of the more unique groups in our fair world. The organization of the BRA, created in December, brought together a bunch of hapless newbies for fun and recreation and gave their community a voice that was actually heard by Linden Lab. (Full disclosure: J.L. Prudhomme is a former BRA officer and still owns property in Blumfield.)

RealFrogger Technology Revealed at SXSW

Among the innovative new technologies revealed at South by Southwest this week, there was no doubt that the most future-forward of them all was the RealFrogger street-crossing device that made its debut on the final night of South by Southwest Interactive. (Disclaimer: Development of the RealFrogger technology was sponsored by iHerald, the rarely-heard-from technology arm of Herald Enterprises Worldwide.)

Developed and implemented by Make Magazine's Phillip Torrone and Limor Fried of Eyebeam OpenLab, RealFrogger enables users to navigate traffic on a busy artery such as Austin's 6th Street without recourse to dodging speeding vehicles oneself. Instead, the traffic is avoided by a Bluetooth-enabled Roomba, controlled via a PC cradled safely in the arms of a user on the sidewalk. [More photos after the jump.]

Bored of War at the Jessie Weapons Fair

by Special Correspondent Lexander Solzhenitsyn

Thankfully, hunting deer and foxes from horseback was recently made illegal in the UK. Any Englishman wishing to revel in the thrill of the chase must now pursue his prey as our ancestors did -- stripped naked, covered from head to foot in woad and armed with nothing more than a stout oak club. Indeed, I was attired in just such a fashion -- and bleeding heavily after a four-hour battle with a particularly energetic stag -- when I received an assignment from the taskmasters at the Herald to cover the first Jessie arms fair.

It had been explained to me that the Jessie sim was one of only a handful of places in Second Life where injury and death were possible. By all accounts, the inhabitants of Jessie were raging psychotics. Nevertheless, I accepted the assignment (in truth I had little choice), and ventured off to Jessie.