Zuckerberg Comes for the Metaverse

[Luna Bliss]

On 11/16/2021 at 5:42 PM, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Also rather bizarre, given the writer's occupation as a teacher of literature, is his suggestion that the "virtual" is rather valueless, because it's not "real." What, exactly, does he think that poems, plays, and novels are? Does he tell his students "Close up that volume of Whitman's poems! It's not real! We're going outside instead to run our fingers through the grass!"

When I read articles like the following, along with the increasing control of the Evangelicals in flyover country in the U.S. poised to take control in 2024, mixed with their definition of what 'reality' is (their interpretation of the Bible, unrecognized as being a 'symbol' of reality they have chosen), I become concerned. There may be valid reasons to limit simulations of reality if they prevent participation in other aspects of life one should be tending to, but to base your reason on the perception that it's 'not real' is ludicrous, because, as you say, Mr. Literature teacher is teaching poetry!

I do wonder what the new administrations stance will be on video games, and wonder if Zuckerbergs de-emphasis on sexual aspects was a wise decision. And, will this not bode well for SL?

    Christians, Beware The Metaverse

"I can’t help but consider all the worst possibilities of the coming “Metaverse.” In fact, the more I read about it, the more I think Christians should start preparing for it now, before we, along with our family and friends, are pulled into a life far from the one God created for us".
 
"To navigate this world, each person will apparently need an avatar, a kind of digital representation of themself. If you think the world has gone crazy with navel-gazing Millennials self-actualizing by “identifying” as whatever feels right in the moment, wait until turning from a man to a woman (or a man to a rabbit) just takes a click of a button rather than surgery and hormones". 

https://www.crisismagazine.com/2021/christians-beware-the-metaverse

[Luna Bliss]

  China Limits Online Videogames to Three Hours a Week for Young People 

"China has a new rule for the country’s hundreds of millions of young gamers: No online videogames during the school week, and one hour a day on Fridays, weekends and public holidays".

https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-sets-new-rules-for-youth-no-more-videogames-during-the-school-week-11630325781
 

[Theresa Tennyson]

37 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

When I read articles like the following, along with the increasing control of the Evangelicals in flyover country in the U.S. poised to take control in 2024,

Referring to most of the United States as "flyover country" is a significant reason why they're poised to take control.

[Arielle Popstar]

49 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

  China Limits Online Videogames to Three Hours a Week for Young People 

"China has a new rule for the country’s hundreds of millions of young gamers: No online videogames during the school week, and one hour a day on Fridays, weekends and public holidays".

https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-sets-new-rules-for-youth-no-more-videogames-during-the-school-week-11630325781
 

Interesting that China and Evangelicals both point at online gaming as being a "Spiritual Opium".

[Arielle Popstar]

3 hours ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

Wouldn't that make OpenSim stillborn?

Opensim has shown a steady growth during the time S/L has been declining so maybe it is coming to life

https://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2021/11/opensim-land-area-and-active-user-numbers-up/

[Luna Bliss]

35 minutes ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

1 hour ago, Luna Bliss said:

When I read articles like the following, along with the increasing control of the Evangelicals in flyover country in the U.S. poised to take control in 2024,

Referring to most of the United States as "flyover country" is a significant reason why they're poised to take control.

I live in flyover country. The term is often used pejoratively, but not always. I was merely using it descriptively to describe the primary area of the country that has too much power due to our screwy electoral college system with unfair representation. For example, Wyoming, with a population 581,000, has nearly a fraction of the population California does (40 million) yet both have 2 senators to represent their interests. While I don't believe in complete majority rule as we do need to protect minorities, the U.S. is tremendously unbalanced.

Flyover country, too, is excessively unbalanced in terms of its Biblical religious orientation and it's increasing presence in government. There's supposed to be a separation of church and state, but instead we are heading toward Christo-Fascism.

You think they're poised to take control because so-called elites don't particularly like their philosophy? That's not why they are and to suggest it is ludicrous. They have been cheating to get their advantage. And no country should be ruled by a specific religion that attempts to force others to believe as they do

[Luna Bliss]

22 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

1 hour ago, Luna Bliss said:

  China Limits Online Videogames to Three Hours a Week for Young People 

"China has a new rule for the country’s hundreds of millions of young gamers: No online videogames during the school week, and one hour a day on Fridays, weekends and public holidays".

https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-sets-new-rules-for-youth-no-more-videogames-during-the-school-week-11630325781
 

Expand  

Interesting that China and Evangelicals both point at online gaming as being a "Spiritual Opium".

Fascists will be fascists. What is not like them, and what they can't understand and so fear, is to be severely limited or destroyed.  I'm not sure of your position on this -- are you saying all people who participate in any kind of simulated reality are addicts?  If so, what are you doing here in SL?

[Arielle Popstar]

38 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

Fascists will be fascists. What is not like them, and what they can't understand and so fear, is to be severely limited or destroyed.  I'm not sure of your position on this -- are you saying all people who participate in any kind of simulated reality are addicts?  If so, what are you doing here in SL?

I don't have a position on it, just remarking on the religio/political/ideological angles you brought up with your links.

[animats]

9 hours ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Perhaps us die hards are just not willing to admit that the host is brain dead and on life support and therefore technically dead.

SL definitely seems to be in maintenance mode. There haven't been any significant new features for over a year now. Nothing comparable to animesh or EEP. The team is doing a good job of keeping the systems going, but no more than that.

For LL's real priorities, see their job openings. There seems to be a management fantasy that Tilia is somehow going to take off, despite several years of no new customers.

Someday, there may be a book or a Harvard Business School study, "How Linden Lab built the Metaverse and blew it". Like how Sears blew it in online commerce, how Western Union blew it in data communications, and how Xerox blew it in personal computers. Each was there first, and then their management blew a leading position in the next big industry.

[Coffee Pancake]

Just think where we would be today if all the money made by SecondLife was plowed back into SecondLife...

 

[Mr Amore]

Stories like these are the future of the metaverse.

 

Quote

Pop star Zara Larsson says she's made a seven-figure sum by selling merchandise on the video game platform Roblox.

The Swedish star, known for hits like Lush Life and Symphony, offers fans in-game items like hats, backpacks and sunglasses to dress up their avatars.

With prices starting at less than £1, Larsson says it's "freaking insane" to have earned more than $1m (£740,000) since joining the platform in May.

Larsson first teamed up with Roblox to promote her new album, Poster Girl, when concerts were cancelled during the pandemic.

She hosted a virtual "dance party" within the game in May, allowing fans to hang out, watch her perform, and take part in an online scavenger hunt.

They could also buy outfits, hairstyles, dance moves and a customisable Zara Larsson avatar. Prices started at 60 Robux (approximately £0.67) rising to 400 Robux (£4.95) for the star's likeness.

The merchandise was initially an afterthought, the singer says.

"I didn't really think much about it. It wasn't really the motivation for the concert. I just wanted to connect with fans."

Needless to say, she's a convert now.

In fact, Larsson says in-game concerts and virtual merchandise could be a lifeline for musicians at a time when CD sales have crumbled, touring is uncertain, and streaming royalties aren't compensating artists fairly.

"We all know this," she says. "Streaming services don't pay the most."

To make a seven-figure sum from YouTube or Spotify "would take a long, long time and hundreds and millions of streams," she observes.

But the attraction isn't solely financial. Larsson's Roblox show attracted more than 1.6 million users, who made more than four million visits to her pink, Swedish lake house-themed world.

Many of those are fans who couldn't travel to a concert venue, or afford a concert ticket. Some even heard Larsson's music for the first time.

"Of course from my perspective, it could be better, and maybe we'll get there one day," says Larsson. "But until then it's a beautiful way of having an emotional connection.

"After my show, I wandered around the world and people were like, 'Let me take a selfie with you!'

"I didn't get it at first - but then they just put their avatar really close to mine, and took a screenshot and that's the selfie.

"And yeah, that could be hard for my generation to understand - but for people who live their lives online and are being social online, it means as much to them as meeting me on the street.

"It's really made me think about what touring could look like in the future."

 

 

[Nick0678]

6 hours ago, Luna Bliss said:

Fascists will be fascists. ..

Hmm.. yeah well, i wouldn't say it's wise to call a Communist.. Fascist.

Might get you into trouble thinking that way... good thing you live in the U.S.

[Lucia Nightfire]

12 hours ago, Coffee Pancake said:

Just think where we would be today if all the money made by SecondLife was plowed back into SecondLife...

 

Just think where we'd be if repeated bad management decisions at Linden Lab actually lead to some kind of disciplinary action.

[Mr Amore]

It could have been worse, at Activision-Blizzard levels of scandal. At 50 minutes long, this video tries to summarize the past months' revelations.

[Ardy Lay]

22 hours ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Opensim has shown a steady growth during the time S/L has been declining so maybe it is coming to life

https://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2021/11/opensim-land-area-and-active-user-numbers-up/

Can't kill "shareware".  That's not a bad thing.  Now the bad thing:  I honestly didn't know there was telemetry being used to gather statistics from my Open Simulator installation. 

[Ardy Lay]

17 hours ago, animats said:

SL definitely seems to be in maintenance mode. There haven't been any significant new features for over a year now. Nothing comparable to animesh or EEP. The team is doing a good job of keeping the systems going, but no more than that.

For LL's real priorities, see their job openings. There seems to be a management fantasy that Tilia is somehow going to take off, despite several years of no new customers.

Someday, there may be a book or a Harvard Business School study, "How Linden Lab built the Metaverse and blew it". Like how Sears blew it in online commerce, how Western Union blew it in data communications, and how Xerox blew it in personal computers. Each was there first, and then their management blew a leading position in the next big industry.

Really, now.  The majority of us seem to be screaming NO NEW FEATURES UNTIL [big long list of long-standing bugs] IS FIXED PLEASE.  So, of course, LL isn't telling us what new features they are cooking up.

Trailblazers rarely build big roads.

[Arielle Popstar]

52 minutes ago, Ardy Lay said:

Can't kill "shareware".  That's not a bad thing.  Now the bad thing:  I honestly didn't know there was telemetry being used to gather statistics from my Open Simulator installation. 

There has been mention of a crawler to update the status of already known Grids and standalones but I am not aware of any sort of phone home capability of the stock Opensim distribution if that is what you are meaning. The Dreamworldz installation does which is explained in its release notes as well as its Privacy Policy The Opensimworld directory of Grids is done with its enabled beacons one needs to pick up from a region within Osgrid. Other than that, statistics are reported to Hypergridbusiness directly and the Grid webpage is formatted in such a way that it allows HypergridBusiness crawler to parse the relevant information. You can check the grid lists at both Hyperica and HGB to see if your installation is listed and ask for its removal if preferred.

1 hour ago, Ardy Lay said:

Really, now.  The majority of us seem to be screaming NO NEW FEATURES UNTIL [big long list of long-standing bugs] IS FIXED PLEASE.  So, of course, LL isn't telling us what new features they are cooking up.

Trailblazers rarely build big roads.

Oz mentioned at a TPV meeting last year that once the cloud uplift was complete, there would be some announcement(s) made as to what the Lab would be intending to work on feature wise. The uplift was completed and even the fixes for it seemingly finished and feature announcements now long overdue, even for S/L's dragged out timelines. They never made bugs a priority before, why would they start now unless something else was afoot?

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

5 hours ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Oz mentioned at a TPV meeting last year that once the cloud uplift was complete, there would be some announcement(s) made as to what the Lab would be intending to work on feature wise. The uplift was completed and even the fixes for it seemingly finished and feature announcements now long overdue, even for S/L's dragged out timelines. They never made bugs a priority before, why would they start now unless something else was afoot?

Maybe the oncoming new feature of removing legs from our avis!

[Lucia Nightfire]

9 hours ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Oz mentioned at a TPV meeting last year that once the cloud uplift was complete, there would be some announcement(s) made as to what the Lab would be intending to work on feature wise. The uplift was completed and even the fixes for it seemingly finished and feature announcements now long overdue, even for S/L's dragged out timelines. They never made bugs a priority before, why would they start now unless something else was afoot?

They're not really focused on bug fixes ATM. They're focused on performance improvements.

Sadly, the areas of improvement are a double edged sword. On one hand they will improve loading of alpha cut mesh heads/bodies but at the same time render the high texture area/complexity popups of shame a moot point or an annoyance, resulting in fewer users/creators taking heed of the information and caring about what they wear and/or how they created it.

They do not have any major features planned, unless you call World Map tile changes or 360 Snapshot "major". I certainly do not. I call it milquetoast.

[Lindal Kidd]

On 11/18/2021 at 4:37 PM, Coffee Pancake said:

Just think where we would be today if all the money made by SecondLife was plowed back into SecondLife...

 

Quite a lot of it has been! Most of the money creators make gets plowed back into their businesses, or paying for tier, etc. A lot of the money LL has made goes to employee salaries, server leases (now cloud leases), etc. Many of those employees are working on upgrades to SL, fixing bugs, etc.

Edited November 20, 2021 by Lindal Kidd

[animats]

From RealClearPolitics:

"On June 23, 2003, Linden Labs unveiled a website called Second Life. It is a website wherein individuals can interact and live a second life as an online character, called an avatar. In 2004, several politicians held virtual press conferences in Second Life. The Maldives and Sweden opened virtual embassies. Second Life is still around, but it's now used primarily by those without social lives."

[Randall Ahren]

They have social lives, just not in RL.

[Nick0678]

1 hour ago, animats said:

...now used primarily by those without social lives.

It's bedtime socializing, instead of reading a book you socialize in SL without missing the comfort of your bed.

(Wouldn't suggest it to Desktop users, sitting on a chair just to play SL is kind of boring..)

[suzyst]

On 7/28/2021 at 7:35 AM, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

 

-Ancient Klingon proverb

mewe.com

[suzyst]

On 7/28/2021 at 7:35 AM, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

 

-Ancient Klingon proverb

mewe.com