What Price Culture? AM Radio, Art in Second Life, and Linden Lab

[Scylla Rhiadra]

AM Radio’s installations will be closing down in six months time.

For many of us, the impact of this will seem profoundly personal:  AM Radio’s poignant explorations of the nature of memory, of nostalgia, of time, and of love speak to a great many people at a profoundly individual level, finding resonances and echoes in our hearts and memories.  Sims like The Faraway and The Refuge certainly have impacted upon my experience of Second Life;  they have always been amongst my favourite places here.

In the final analysis, however, AM’s imminent departure raises larger issues, about the role, place, and function of art in Second Life.  Art has always had an important place here, from the very inception of Second Life as a concept born out of Philip Rosedale’s experiences of Burning Man.  Art is, thankfully, to be found everywhere in Second Life, in forms that range from machinima and sim-sized installations, to the idiosyncratic and expressive stylings of individual avatars. 

One index of Linden Lab’s awareness of the impact of art upon Second Life has been its sponsorship of events like Burning Life (since turned over to private residents), the Second Life birthday celebrations, and, most recently, the creation of the Linden Endowment for the Arts.  At the same time, however, with the ending of the discount for educational and nonprofit institutions at the beginning of this year, times have also become tougher for artists and their exhibitors and sponsors.  I know of at least one major and longstanding gallery that is on the verge of having to fold due to these new financial pressures.  And now, of course, we have the announcement of the upcoming departure of AM Radio who, along with Bryn Oh, has become by virtue of his talent and vision a sort of standard bearer for the place for art in Second Life.

There are some here, of course, who will shed no tears for the loss of such art from Second Life – art that didn’t monetize, that wasn’t merely intended to bring more people to a shopping mall or increase traffic at a club, and that had the temerity to “undercut” the “free” market by daring to be . . . free.  The Neoliberals among us complain that AM Radio’s effusions – he gave away many of his creations for free – don’t show up on the ledger books in the “assets” column.  Art in the view of such people should “pay its own way”;  if it is not producing traceable transactions in the monthly accounting spreadsheets , then it is at best “populist” and “middle brow,” and at worst, part of a socialist conspiracy to undercut those artists who are content to yoke art to the profit motive.

What such commentators fail to understand is that art in Second Life does “pay its own way.”  The health and stability of any society – its “quality of life” -- can be measured by the vibrancy of its art and culture.  Second Life is no exception:  art is one of the reasons people come here.  It is a central and absolutely vital part of the experience of a great many of us, and our experience of Second Life would be diminished immeasurably by its loss, perhaps to the point where we would stop coming here.  Linden Lab, despite some of its missteps, recognizes this, even if the Neoliberals don’t.  Art is monetized here:  it is one of the things that keeps us logging in on a daily basis.  What is more, it impacts upon everything else here, setting new aesthetic standards and prodding us to question, to explore, and to discover.

I don’t begrudge LL its largely crass perspective on the uses of art in Second Life, in part because I also acknowledge that Linden Lab is not entirely sordid in its approach:  I think that they do, unlike their Neoliberal critics, understand the more ineffable and subtle ways in which art contributes to the health of the community here.  As to the Neoliberals . . . as Oscar Wilde’s Lord Darlington said of cynics, they know “the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

It is to be hoped that Linden Lab recognizes the contributions that AM Radio has made to Second Life, and sees fit to extend their support to his continued presence here, perhaps by means of the Linden Endowment for the Arts.  And if they do, the Neoliberals can take some solace, as they return muttering to their shopping malls, in the possibility that maybe, just maybe, LL knows its own business better than they do.

[Ishtara Rothschild]

Call me a "neoliberal", but what you think of as the Linden endowment for the arts, I simply call marketing. "Hey look people, there is more than just 3D porn in SL! We have art and culture and stuff!" It is nothing but an attempt to polish SL's bleep stained public image up and gain a little media attention, even if that attention is mostly limited to the blogosphere nowadays.

Personally, I haven't seen anything in SL that I would call art, and I seriously doubt that a lot of people join Second Life to visit virtual museums run by hobbyists and marvel at the virtual equivalent of macramé owls. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of beautiful artistic work, especially when it comes to commercial items such as virtual architecture or fashion. But none of this will ever make it into a real world museum, and all of it will be gone at some point in the foreseeable future.

One trait of real art is that it lasts longer than a lifetime and inspires future generations, which is why you don't find a lot of art in short-lived computer games (or on a stage where some "performance artist" makes a complete and utter idiot of himself, for that matter). Another trait of real art is that it has indeed monetary value. If nobody is willing to pay for it, there is obviously not much of an artistic appeal. Which other institution than the market, and thus the people, is qualified to judge what is art and what has aesthetic value?

[Scylla Rhiadra]

 

---

Ishtara Rothschild wrote:

Call me a "neoliberal", but what you think of as the Linden endowment for the arts, I simply call marketing. "Hey look people, there is more than just 3D porn in SL! We have art and culture and stuff!" It is nothing but an attempt to polish SL's bleep stained public image up and gain a little media attention, even if that attention is mostly limited to the blogosphere nowadays.

Personally, I haven't seen anything in SL that I would call art, and I seriously doubt that a lot of people join Second Life to visit virtual museums run by hobbyists and marvel at the virtual equivalent of macramé owls. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of beautiful artistic work, especially when it comes to commercial items such as virtual architecture or fashion. But none of this will ever make it into a real world museum, and all of it will be gone at some point in the foreseeable future.

One trait of real art is that it lasts longer than a lifetime and inspires future generations, which is why you don't find a lot of art in short-lived computer games (or on a stage where some "performance artist" makes a complete and utter idiot of himself, for that matter). Another trait of real art is that it has indeed monetary value. If nobody is willing to pay for it, there is obviously not much of an artistic appeal. Which other institution than the market, and thus the people, is qualified to judge what is art and what has aesthetic value?

---

I think I might question your assumption that "real art" necessary lasts longer than a lifetime.  There has always been a place for the ephemeral and the transient in art.  Shakespeare himself didn't think fit to have his own works printed within his lifetime, or even leave an authoritative manuscript of them:  that was left to others to do after his death.  For Shakespeare -- and for many others -- his art was performance, bound in time, changing with each new incarnation on stage, and not some kind of eternal monument.  And performance art is only one example:  literary history is replete with "great" writers, for instance, who circulated their work only in manuscript to a small coterie, while there have been many visual artists and musicians who toiled to produce occasional art that was used once, and often lost.  Inigo Jones and Handel are two instances I can think of.  Modern art in particular is, I think, interested in exploring the notion of the aesthetic as it exists bound in time, and of the notion of art as process rather than as static monument.

As for how "good" SL art is . . . well, I don't know that we've produced a Velasquez, or a Bach, or a Goethe yet.  But I think that one of the values of such art as we have is to force us to confront how we define art.  And I think that one day, probably sooner than later, someone will write the first serious book on the art of virtual worlds.

 

Really, I don't much care why we work to preserve the artistic heritage:  if it's only because we recognize the way that it adds "value" to LL's assets here, then so be it.  What is important is that it be preserved, and nurtured.

[Ishtara Rothschild]

And yet Shakespeare's work did outlast him and has survived the centuries. I somewhat doubt that Shakespeare himself thought of his work as art btw; it was probably more of a craft for him, one that paid well enough to support him and his family.

As for preserving artistic work in SL, I think that might be a bit of a problem when Linden Lab turns off the servers. Which might happen in five or ten or even twenty years from now, but it's bound to happen at some point.

It's a bit sad, but our current social networks and virtual world MMOs are less enduring than a Pac-Man arcade console. The latter might still be around in some computer game museum 500 years from now, when SL's server park has long been dismantled and scrapped and no operating system will be able to run or emulate an ancient SL client anymore.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

 

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Ishtara Rothschild wrote:

And yet Shakespeare's work did outlast him and has survived the centuries. I somewhat doubt that Shakespeare himself thought of his work as art btw; it was probably more of a craft for him, one that paid well enough to support him and his family.

As for preserving artistic work in SL, I think that might be a bit of a problem when Linden Lab turns off the servers. Which might happen in five or ten or even twenty years from now, but it's bound to happen at some point.

It's a bit sad, but our current social networks and virtual world MMOs are less enduring than a Pac-Man arcade console. The latter might still be around in some computer game museum 500 years from now, when SL's server park has long been dismantled and scrapped and no operating system will be able to run or emulate an ancient SL client anymore.

---

 

Well, interestingly, "Shakespeare's" art hasn't really "survived."  What has survived are the reconstructions of successive generations of editors and critics.  The history of Shakespeare scholarship is fascinating for that reason:  every new generation remakes him in their own image, to some degree or another.  An excellent example is Kenneth Branagh's movie version of Hamlet, which presented to audiences a monstrous mélange of that play based on multiple conflicting versions:  much of the language may have been Shakespeare's, but the play certainly wasn't.  Another example is Nahum Tate's "happy ending" version of King Lear from the 18th century, which entirely pushed all other versions of that play off the stage for the space of over a century.

I think you are likely right, that much SL art won't survive.  And that's actually fine:  it's part of the nature of the beast.  A great musical or theatrical performance may well not "survive" longer than the night of its appearance upon threatrical or concert stage, but it need not be less "artistic" or impactful for that.  SL art contributes now to the culture of SL.    I hope that some of it is preserved for longer than the decade or so you describe, but even if it doesn't, it is still fulfilling a function.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Well, this one hasn't generated a whole lot of discussion, has it?

Can I take it then that we are most of us agreed that LL should make efforts to retain AM Radio's work, and maybe that of others, through the LEA?

Or is this just a sort of backwater forum?

Or maybe no one cares sufficiently about art?

[leliel Mirihi]

I care, but I don't think LL is going to be doing much about this sort of thing anytime soon.

[Ishtara Rothschild]

---

Scylla Rhiadra wrote:

...

Or maybe no one cares sufficiently about art?

---

That would be my conclusion. Personally, I don't think that LL should be in the business of financially supporting or bailing out freebie places that cannot keep themselves afloat.

[Nima Benoir]

No one was willing to pay for a Van Gogh while the artist was living. Since his works had no monetary valve at that time, they also had no artistic appeal, have I understood you correctly?

Everything man made will eventually fail. If all we have left at that time are images of these beautiful things, than they will continue to inspire. To say that the art created in/for SL has not inspired people to greater heights in both worlds implies that you know little of the subject. To say that art has no value beyond function, which is what I’ve interpreted from your writing here, is a dangerously limited perspective. I do not hang out in SL for furniture and buildings. I come here to experience the impossible, to push the limits of what I am capable of imagining and creating. If you take into account what technology has accomplished in just the last 50 years, including the creation of virtual worlds, it is not outrageous to think that someday there will be gadgets that allow us to display and enjoy virtual works of art, created in SL, or otherwise, in our real life homes, on our real life walls.

Scylla is right. Google any list of top places to live anywhere in the real world. You will find that the foremost criteria for their choices, are art and culture. Without that a place is nothing. Although SL is virtual the same rules still apply. Throughout history, benefactors have nurtured the arts through support of the artist without loss, but at great gain.  It is only recently that this practice has fallen by the way side. Wise city governments know this as well and make a point of creating an environment favorable to artists in hopes of attracting them. To me Scylla’s writing is a plea for LL to recognize that they are at a crossroads. Will they recognize the depth of what they have created? And in recognizing, will they than take responsibility as they guide it into the future?
In the short time that they have existed, VWs and Secondlife in particular have had a tremendous impact on the life’s of many many people. I guess in the end it just depends what one thinks VWs are, what they are not, and the consequences they will have, if any, on the future of humanity.

[Opensource Obscure]

 

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Scylla Rhiadra wrote:

The health and stability of any society – its “quality of life” -- can be measured by the vibrancy of its art and culture.  Second Life is no exception: 

art is one of the reasons people

come here

.  It is a central and absolutely vital part of the experience of a great many of us, and our experience of Second Life would be diminished immeasurably by its loss, perhaps to the point where we would

stop

coming here.  Linden Lab, despite some of its missteps, recognizes this [...] 

It is to be hoped that Linden Lab recognizes the contributions

that AM Radio has made to Second Life, and sees fit to

extend their support

to his continued presence here,

perhaps by means of the Linden Endowment for the Arts.

 

---

Indeed.

I had the same thoughts and ideas, thanks for writing them down.

(bold/emphasis in quoted text added by me)

[Scylla Rhiadra]

 

---

leliel Mirihi wrote:

I care, but I don't think LL is going to be doing much about this sort of thing anytime soon.

---

Quite possibly you are right.

It might be worthwhile investigating the administration of the Linden Endowment for the Arts.  Are there transcripts?  I believe, somewhere, that there is a list of those who sit on the board or whatever it is called.

Is it worth considering putting some pressure on that board, not just about AM Radio's sims, but with a mind to "Heritage" art sims in SL in general?  Could not a few sims be reserved to show such installations on a rotating basis, as any public gallery in RL might do?

 

[TriloByte Zanzibar]

Thanks for posting.  It's an excellent read, and raised a couple issues (to me, anyway).

First is a radical sense of entitlement that some folks have.  Rather than being thankful for AM Radio having shared his work, and kindly given folks plenty of notice before the removal of the installation, or rather than being thankful for the kind and generous support of his patron/sponsor.. people are expressing forms of outrage.  As if they've been somehow entitled by law to have the works available, at no cost, in perpetuity.  This is rarely true in RL - art exhibitions have a start and have a finish, and even in the case of the very few pieces of art that are public works, there are costs associated with maintaining them.

Next, on the other side of that coin, an individual or entity should be allowed to have as much or as little space on the grid as they like, shouldn't they?  And SL residents should be allowed to use their prims for what they like, shouldn't they (respecting any covenants or agreements they may have with their landlords, of course)?  How would it sit with any of us if we had to get the approval of some third party group before removing a build or installation, or reducing the size of our virtual land holdings?

You bring up Philip's participation in Burning Man, but neglect to mention that Burning Man artists not only pay their own way, but that their works are often short-lived.  The annual festival has its own life-cycle, and many of the works are often destroyed at the end of the event.  Sometimes replaced by new incarnations in future years, sometimes replaced by entirely new creations, and sometimes not replaced at all.  And when noting that Burning Life was turned over to private residents, it's important to note that the residents in question are the owners/organizers of the Burning Man event.  They had been involved with the event for a number of years prior, and there had been some ongoing talks to turn the event over to the owners for as long as I've been in SL (2008).

Artists in RL and SL can choose to pay their own way, or they can secure the backing of a sponsor (whether that's an individual patron or a corporate/institutional entity).  Supporting the arts is a wonderful thing, and those who feel strongly should perhaps consider contacting AM Radio, Bryn Oh, or any number of other virtual world artists about hosting, sponsoring, or commissioning work.

The lesson here isn't "how dare they" or even the flip side, "suck it up" or "tough luck."  It is that art is to be cherished.  As individuals or in our RL/SL societies, we are not owed unlimited lifetime access to art installations & exhibitions.  Enjoy it, appreciate the work, consider supporting or sponsoring an artist, or make a point to do business with companies who support the arts.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

You make some really worthwhile points;  generally, I agree with pretty much all that you have to say.

Any "outrage" that I feel, personally (and in this regard, I can only speak for myself) is directed not against AM Radio, who may well have simply decided that it's time to "move on," or IDIA or any of the other private sponsors who, of course, have the right to decide what they sponsor.  I'm not even particularly peeved at Linden Lab:  on the contrary, I think that the LEA is a far-sighted and very worthwhile endeavour, and I applaud them for it, and, in fact, hope that it can be applied here.

Really, what does peeve me are those (I call them "Neoliberals" in my OP, but that is probably far too narrow a categorization) whose argument that "art must pay its own way" is based upon an extremely crude analysis of the value of art.  To continue your comments on practices in RL, governments and private individuals sponsor and support public art galleries, not because they will make a profit (art galleries and museums seldom do), but because they understand that art contributes value to society -- some of which is translatable into actual dollar figures -- beyond what it pays through the RL equivalent of the "tip jar." 

At the most basic level, for instance, they are magnets for tourists -- the RL equivalents of those who sign up for SL because they are attracted by the visual culture here in its many manifestations.  But in a larger sense even than this, art contributes to the cultural health and vitality of society.  It enriches our lives not merely when we visit galleries, but daily, through its aesthetic and cultural influence upon our quotidian lives.  In Second Life terms, this can be translated simply:  SL art makes SL a nicer place to be.  And that, although not easily quantifiable, is important.

It is, of course, important to remember that LL is not a "government," but a private corporation.  But I would argue that it is very much in their best business interests -- and the LEA i think shows that they understand this -- to encourage and nurture art here because it simply makes SL a more enjoyable and attractive place to be.  There are a variety of ways in which they can foster and nurture art, but one important way is to preserve, where possible, the best that has been produced in the past.  Assuming AM Radio is willing (and of course he may not be), protecting and hosting his work as part of SL's "heritage" is going to be to LL's advantage.  Personally, I think the idea of rotating exhibits and installations housed on a few protected LEA-governed sims is a fine idea, and one which would very much rebound to LL's advantage in the long run.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

 

---

Nima Benoir wrote:

Wise city governments know this as well and make a point of creating an environment favorable to artists in hopes of attracting them. To me Scylla’s writing is a plea for LL to recognize that they are at a crossroads.

Will they recognize the depth of what they have created? And in recognizing, will they than take responsibility as they guide it into the future?

 

---

Beautifully put.

 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

There is a list of the Linden Endowment for the Arts Committee here:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Linden_Endowment_for_the_Arts_Committee

It looks fairly current.

I wonder if it is worth putting together some sort of appeal to this committee about setting up sims for rotating exhibitions of "heritage" art installations in SL?

[Ishtara Rothschild]

---

Nima Benoir wrote:

No one was willing to pay for a Van Gogh while the artist was living. Since his works had no monetary valve at that time, they also had no artistic appeal, have I understood you correctly?

---

Exactly. Either that or he didn't have a knack for marketing. And being crazy sure didn't help either

[Ishtara Rothschild]

---

Nima Benoir wrote:

If you take into account what technology has accomplished in just the last 50 years, including the creation of virtual worlds, it is not outrageous to think that someday there will be gadgets that allow us to display and enjoy virtual works of art, created in SL, or otherwise, in our real life homes, on our real life walls.

---

We've already reached that point. People decorate their desks with 3D printouts of their WoW characters Or their SL avatars, for that matter: http://nonsmokingarea.com/blog/2006/09/14/3d-prints-of-secondlife-avatars/. To them, this is art. Virtual worlds are all about self-expression. Who wants to visit a museum in a place that allows you to express your very own creativity?

 

---

... Wise city governments know this as well and make a point of creating an environment favorable to artists in hopes of attracting them.

---

In case of Second Life, the city governments are the sim owners. How did LL put it again? "A 3D digital world imagined, created and owned by its residents". Why should it be up to Linden Lab to sponsor artists and thus control what the residents build and exhibit in this virtual world?

---

In the short time that they have existed, VWs and Secondlife in particular have had a tremendous impact on the life’s of many many people. I guess in the end it just depends what one thinks VWs are, what they are not, and the consequences they will have, if any, on the future of humanity.

---

Correction: Virtual worlds have had a tremendous impact on a very small number of people so far. Only a handful of the 1.7 billion humans that currently use the internet have found their way into social MMOs like Second Life. Even WoW with its ten million users has only managed to attract a mere 0.6% of the internet populace, and that's a number that LL can only dream of.

Don't get me wrong, I think that virtual worlds will become vastly successful once they offer a realistic experience (think of motion detection, head-mounted 3D displays and full-body haptic suits). People will be able to spend their holiday on a tropical island without ever leaving their living room, or experience a movie through the eyes of the main character.

But at the current level of technology, which leaves the user steering a little low-polygon doll through a game-like environment with the cursor keys, virtual worlds are a niche product for a handful of geeks, nerds, and people in desperate need of a reality escape.

[Ishtara Rothschild]

PS: I find the notion that LL are to guide Second Life and its user-generated content into the future a bit troublesome. How would you feel if somebody told you that a government or a handful of corporations decide over the future of the internet? Or the future of humanity, for that matter?

Some decisions are best left to the residents / users / people. We have more than enough regulations as it is. If the internet was as strictly regulated as Second Life, there would be no point in fighting for net neutrality anymore. Asking LL to sponsor corporate approved artists is asking them to control the user experience to an even larger degree than they already do.

 

PPS: The one thing to take away from this thread is probably that the polar opposite of a neoliberal is a control freak who wants to decide which kind of entertainment is beneficial for the people, and probably also which sort of virtual pastime ought to be discouraged.

[Nima Benoir]

 

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Ishtara Rothschild wrote:

---

Nima Benoir wrote:

No one was willing to pay for a Van Gogh while the artist was living. Since his works had no monetary valve at that time, they also had no artistic appeal, have I understood you correctly?

---

Exactly. Either that or he didn't have a knack for marketing. And being crazy sure didn't help either

---

 

Really?! You're going to make me do this? :smileyvery-happy: Okay...

The point is that what one thinks is drivel today, can have extroardinary value tomorrow. Obviously, at that time, more people judged art the way you do. If you owned a Van Gogh, you might feel differently though,  even if only to sell it,  you'd still probably be pretty grateful that that crazy artist had the opportunty to paint all that drivel!

[Nima Benoir]

 

---

Ishtara Rothschild wrote:

---

Nima Benoir wrote:

If you take into account what technology has accomplished in just the last 50 years, including the creation of virtual worlds, it is not outrageous to think that someday there will be gadgets that allow us to display and enjoy virtual works of art, created in SL, or otherwise, in our real life homes, on our real life walls.

---

We've already reached that point. People decorate their desks with 3D printouts of their WoW characters

Or their SL avatars, for that matter:

http://nonsmokingarea.com/blog/2006/09/14/3d-prints-of-secondlife-avatars/

.

To them, this is art. Virtual worlds are all about self-expression. Who wants to visit a museum in a place that allows you to express your very own creativity?

 

Actually I was thinking of holographic representations of 3 dimensional images/sculptures. Holographic TV, I would think much more complicated, is about a decade away

http://www.popsci.com/digital-micromirror-device/article/2005-05/holographic-television

Didn't you ever WATCH Star Trek?

Thanks for the link btw, it's

really fascinating, in so many ways...

 

---

... Wise city governments know this as well and make a point of creating an environment favorable to artists in hopes of attracting them.

---

In case of Second Life, the city governments are the sim owners. How did LL put it again? "A 3D digital world imagined, created and owned by its residents". Why should it be up to Linden Lab to sponsor artists and thus control what the residents build and exhibit in this virtual world?

 

Huh?! How does sponsering artists

control what residents build and exhibit in SL?

I read a newspaper article a while back discribing how the country of Spain lets serious artists pay their taxes with pieces of there work. (if they want to, it is a choice) The artist gets his taxes paid, the government gets an extroadinary body of work and both parties benefit.

If you were trying to say "Why should it be up to LL to sponser artists and thus control what the

artists

build....." Now that's a very valid and different argument for another thread.

---

In the short time that they have existed, VWs and Secondlife in particular have had a tremendous impact on the life’s of many many people. I guess in the end it just depends what one thinks VWs are, what they are not, and the consequences they will have, if any, on the future of humanity.

---

Correction: Virtual worlds have had a tremendous impact on a very small number of people so far. Only a handful of the 1.7 billion humans that currently use the internet have found their way into social MMOs like Second Life. Even WoW with its ten million users has only managed to attract a mere 0.6% of the internet populace, and that's a number that LL can only dream of.

Yup, I'm sure you're right about the numbers, but being a sort of emotional person, I was thinking about the tremendous impact SL has had for soldiers stuck overseas, the handicapped, the artists who have taken what they have experienced in SL and manifested it into the real world, the writers, the musicians who keep the joint jumping in both places, the marriages, the divorces, the shop owners who pay some of their bills through the use of SL, the virtual aids quilt and numerous other individual stories that back up my original statement that virtual worlds, and especially SL have had a tremendous impact on the lives

 

of

many many

people.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think that virtual worlds will become vastly successful once they offer a realistic experience (think of motion detection, head-mounted 3D displays and full-body haptic suits). People will be able to spend their holiday on a tropical island without ever leaving their living room, or experience a movie through the eyes of the main character.

But at the current level of technology, which leaves the user steering a little low-polygon doll through a game-like environment with the cursor keys, virtual worlds are a niche product for a handful of geeks, nerds, and people in desperate need of a reality escape.

---

---

---

Wait, weren't you just talking to me about plastic avatars?! NOW you jump to the future with motion detection, head mounted 3D displays and full body haptic suits?!  Okay, so I take the Star Trek thing back!  Whew, that was a lot of rebuttal, I'm exhausted now. :smileyhappy:

 

[Latisha Pexie]

For what it's worth some of the most breathtaking sims I have been to were AM Radio sims.

While I wish LL would step in and make it possible to retain these sims, I'm not holding my breath that they will.

So I will let my friends know... And we will explore these sims in the coming months, take many photos, and when the time comes and these stunning creations fade away, we will very likely  remember them for a long time to come...

I will be sad to see them go.

[Rhonda Huntress]

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Ishtara Rothschild wrote:

One trait of real art is that it lasts longer than a lifetime

---

 Art:

the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.

[Anya Ibor]

For what my opinion is worth, I think Linden Labs is horrible to nonprofits and the arts. I founded an RL 501c3 NonProfit that provides tremendous amounts of educational material to trauma survivors, and I took on the new VRE technology in SL to provide community and support for people worldwide with trauma. The cost of providing this benefit (free of charge to trauma survivors) keeps rising in SL...and creativity and art is a very important part of trauma recovery...The gamers and fun-bies have spoken, I suppose. Shame really. It seems many in SL condemn the arts and NPOs for "not staying afloat" financially, while they spam and market us to death, and always want a buck for "their" hobbies...hmmm...isn't it a pity?

It will be interesting when the veterans (approximately 150,000 in number) come home from the wars, and the war refugees immigrate to the US, all technologically astute, and many in SL, and face the non-caring gamers and role-players in SL and ask them: "So, what were you busy doing from 2001-2012?"

The virtual world will certainly become interesting then, aye?

Anya Ibor (SL)

RL: Colleen M. Crary, M.A.

Founder and Executive Director

FEARLESS NATION PTSD SUPPORT, Inc.

~ A 501c3 Non Profit Organization ~

[Nima Benoir]

 

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Latisha Pexie wrote:

For what it's worth some of the most breathtaking sims I have been to were AM Radio sims.

While I wish LL would step in and make it possible to retain these sims, I'm not holding my breath that they will.

So I will let my friends know... And we will explore these sims in the coming months, take many photos, and when the time comes and these stunning creations fade away, we will very likely  remember them for a long time to come...

I will be sad to see them go.

---

 

It's such a shame,  When places like the AM Radio Sims disappear  it is a deep discouragement, a blow to the rest of us left. I agree with you, I don't think that LL will realize the loss of all the fantastic places that are gone now until way after the fact. I myself have grown tired of the good fight for art and artists in SL and on a personal level have closed down my gallery and museum, this week as a matter of fact. It's a bitter sweet feeling. I will miss the whole gallery thing, but really can't justify the cost based on a personal sense of reward any longer. Still, of course that won't stop me from continuing to create, and coming up with other ways to share my work.

Photos/video WILL be the only thing we have left to remember the phenomenal art and incredible builds when all is said and done. Saw this in another thread, the absolute stunning creativity possible in SL continues to awe me, how lucky we are to (be) have been a part of it, this new art movement in virtual worlds!

It's the original. Thought it would be appropriate here.

[Poenald Palen]

This is a rather old post (as far as the OP) BUT, I have been here and enjoyed the place!

OpenSim. Rezzables has a software to help them move to an open sim. They have nothing there that open sim can't handle!! It is a prim and texture build mostly, windlight is in opensim as well. There is Zero reason for them to say this is dying, they just are ending it...which means they are killing it.

oh, "...can be measured by the vibrancy of its art and culture" This makes me think of a Art Index and we can value ALL locations by thier art factor...or "Scylla's Artistic Worth Index" S.A.W.I....hey, a tag line "Saw U the SAWI! SEe I, See U see the SAWI TODAY!!!" Wow, that one is really bad...ok, moving on..uh....ok. Yeah, it has a slight ring to it though...The SAWI. Sawee is the way it can be pronounced!

Yeah, this thing would be amazing! Schlla could get a flame post going on almost each addition to the list as you work out the top 100 artistic endevours in SL! People would have broken teeth and healthy colons from all the popcorn they grab.

I would love to read 10% of those threads to, which is all I can muster sometimes. I would read them and laugh, think Schlla av is pretty and the person behind it is so smart and seemingly caring...WOW, I almost want to marry her!! Even if prim hair is far lower poly than real womens hair! She can jump  right off the screen and down the isle(wow, a land mass instead of a pathway in a church!! Yeah, a whole island is our chapel!!! Ok, this is where I stop editing as tears blur my vision from laughing at myself for being such a loser with the english writen language!) with me! Then I remember I can't due to being stalked by maniacs and all the voices and so on....BUT, it is a funny thought due to my general lamaness and total lack of a college education...I could sit and listen to her talk to people and look up the words on a laptop and laugh and then walk off and shout at the walls when the voices say something that sounds like they are arguing or insuniuating something about it I could scream "It is HER name on teh index, so you can see this is obviously HERS and anyone who thinks it is some kind of official government based index would be silly...no one will put you iin jail for disagreeing you jerks (*&%86F#$*) ARGHH!!" and then I will go and walk around eating crackers while she continues talking and debating at a coffee shop tiny table thingy...I will drop crackers as I mumble and looked angry at a post and start pointing and sayiing "You keep putting your words off this post, you made me spill me crackers you freak weird *%#$@ ARGGHHHH" and it would be awsomely wierd.....I mean, of course we would sleep on seperate sides of my dungounless castle (no, I don't wish to be whipped and such....I just like the security a good mote and a heavy draw brindge can provide....plus, schlla can really get some flame wars up....we have to be careful!" /me laughs and then wonders off to go look at car pictures and stop thinking about women and how funny they are and how cute they look as I curse genes and glands that release chemicals to dope my mind into digging the knife of lonliness far deeper while I also wait for the twist...slowely wishing I was dead...then I laugh and go look at pretty flower pictures and think of monster trucks bouncing through medows with little flowers and funky looking grass churning up as they happily bounce along and take a bit air when they hit a depression deep enough...."yeah, when life gives you depression...drive a monster truck through it!" I say while forcing a grin and try to feel the chemicals of fatique wash away somehow by trickery and monster truck imagery.....I usually take out the