Ineffable Mote

It all just comes across as avoidance here. It is what it is, in any case.

Happiness and feel goods are their own form of suffering, I have heard it said. (I was half-tempted to point out Ephesians 6:12 earlier as being decent words to love by, live by also, that was a typo, but translations tend to matter on such things plus I'm a bit weary of spiritual bypassings too but those are different cans of worms that maybe don't need opening here, on topic or not)

For some reason I'm reminded that Tristan Tzara pulling cut up words out of a hat once started a riot, supposedly wrecked the theater too. source: https://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88v/burroughs-cutup.html (I suspect the topic was somewhat about SL being a game and that this is such a well-kept secret, as well..could have gone any number of multiple directions, to be fair) (or maybe it's a collection of games within games, like all else, even the rules we go by)

I mean whoever's filming(running the screen capture software), I presume it isn't Strawberry or Oberwulf. Lab Gabs are a regular thing and I presume they have a bare bones team with some framework for producing informational/marketing materials, even on relatively short notice. Doesn't need large amounts of action or drama, where it's just basic corporate PR. Little efforts are needed but they don't need to be made Herculean either, maybe that was more my point.

One person recording would seem more ideal, and they can run multiple avis better than most of their customers can. With a good camera hud, you probably wouldn't really need multiple avis either.

This is 13 years old and I don't keep up with VR but I'm under impression something like this would work with that now too, and would be well worth the investment either way, even if it's just inhouse

I thought he meant resting on past laurels

As an informational/promotional offering(not necessarily an advertisement) it should be trivially easy to offer both..it just requires a bit of editing on the audio.

a half hour discussion over a game of chess or backgammon would probably suffice, with or without watchful cats

I don't mind boring, it has its place, from here it just needs more effort. Somehow or another.

I'd imagine it discourages other media outlets from picking it up and publishing, too. I know part of the reason LL thrived from the outset was by bucking industry standards, and not saying they should stop doing that but at same time it only gets one so far.

Honestly this was one of the first things that crossed my mind watching the most recent Lab Gab (I don't typically watch them), rightly or wrongly. Part of it was the seeming importance of the topic and wanting to pick up on body language. They should use higher quality animation for their videos, in general, they can be loopy or too stiff in opposite direction. I find the avis end up looking like just more props. I wouldn't call it unwatchable, just a bit jarring, it does make a difference when you're trying to draw people in. I'd say go with humans until SL animation tools gets a major upgrade. I was under impression there are more tools in works, but that was more of a VR thing, (and I could be mistaken on that).

I had been thinking earlier how LL has kind of had a string of those where they try to branch out, Patterns game under Rod and I vaguely recall a gaming platform and a couple other little things they sold/let go of that LL were working on, then Sansar of course under Ebbe too (could probably count Philip's side projects as well, fairly or not) I still don't see SL lasting more than another 3-4 years, partly due to external factors(economies etc being where they are presently) but 25-ish years is still all well and good for a stand alone gem. SL doesn't have the relevancy to be an SNL.

Yeah I didn't take the "sole customer" comment too literally, either. 21 days seems pretty fast and there were other suitors, so must have been a pretty good fit. I'd be doubtful that either company moved it along that fast out of desperation or anything

Often when I log into SL I'll just sit and park to multi-task or afk through the day, returning and glancing in now and then, I wouldn't call that an addiction but I'm aware that it ends up being an energy vampire, even just in the most mundane literal sense of the term. Internet forums tend to be a lot like that and always have been...a lot of lack of understanding and people coming from places of fear, healthy exchanges and introspections are an important part of lives too (and I'll posit that as the real secret, or at least a doorway to it, while I'm here).

It goes both ways, I think a lot depends on momentum too. I could say more but not sure how to express it clearly without veering into religious issues which I won't here, other than to say there are wheels of rebirth and even aside from that believe it or not change gets forced from wherever (via any number of places).

Part of me wants to point out that there aren't enough mirrors in the world for some people, but otoh I've long ago realized that some people/things in these lives are more here for the purpose of demonstration anyways.

Gorging is gorging. But I'll add that the only thing more certain than death and taxes is change.

Habits could probably be qualified as games too...the mention of Camus above reminded me of Berne's Games People Play (more psychology writings, and a little knowledge is a dangerous thing etc)

As an ex smoker (last century) I always called that a habit too, pack a day for nearly a decade. And it was a habit, even though it wasn't. Sometimes the word intoxicant fits better than drug. It's all a lot of semantics (with the game vs sandbox argument, as well). Games/platforms have addicting mechanisms intentionally built in to varying degrees, much like SL does, not just with loot boxes and such but leaving games open-ended I'd think(things like sims and stardew, maximizing the replay value). I'd say this was generally lesser known and understood 25 years ago, while far from unknown, but fbook especially was/is so atrocious that it forced it all out into the open. Industries have this all down to a science, more than just observations. And with light, that can be helpful and an irritant both, depending on quality and quantity. Where quantities get to be an issue it tends to be more obvious, less so with quality. More generally speaking, seeing the world through both/and sometimes makes stronger framing than either/or (the world we live in is both binary and not binary? I guess ditto with dualism)

Not sure if this is intended for too serious a discussion but I figure it's one worth having so I'll take the bait anyways Considering social media is pretty well documented as being addictive, so much of it by design, and then Second Life being so immersive, and the shopping being addicting(with or without gachas), and music can get to be addictive too(not to single out trance music, and melomania I think it's more traditionally called), and OCPD (Obsessive Compulsive Photography Disorder) is some kind of thing too, and one could go on, without ever mentioning adult content, but I can see how SL's kind of at least a quadruple whammy for a lot of people. Though I'm not sure it qualifies as a real secret or is even all that surprising. I'm wondering if this was some new documentary that's out, or maybe just a youtube thing? late editing to add in here: addictions and habits can be hard to kick and not just replace with one or another as typically with these things there are underlying issues involved..unresolved issues and/or unmet needs and often from a young age. and not to open those cans of worms here either but this is what actual counseling and therapy is for, from someone with genuine credentials maybe even a license, which very well rules out SL for that these days with really exceedingly rare exceptions.

There would need to be more interest in the metaverse to start with, it just ain't there. With SL it seems to be just the one main target market now. I was thinking new technology that would offer something of substance, and maybe offer more fertile ground. I don't think AI is it , either. 25 years is a pretty good run.

Tilia was newer with more potential, and can expand and grow. Second Life can't, but it's still somebody's cash cow(and not the customers). It amounted to a nice(and viable) balance, but adjustments will necessarily get made, as they have been all along, from day 0. The new metaverse craze isn't going along as it was hoped for and hyped. The wheel(or madhouse) will keep spinning another two to four years, unlikely more at least without some pretty major changes in what it has to offer(and not more shine). Nearly all we get to see are usual hysterics from angry and delusional people on a platform, and whose investments in this thing aren't primarily measured in dollars.

In what language does thunes mean thorn? or does it? I'm curious about what the name thunes means, as I find etymology fascinating. I take it it means money in french, seems fitting but uninteresting really

As far as I know Linden Lab doesn't officially have a CEO either and hasn't since previous one's illness/passing. Quite possibly this is all a pretty good business arrangement for both. Interesting changes either way, and LL has long been in need of some. (but I realize chicken littles will do their thing, why wouldn't they)