Wagner James Au / New World Notes
Author, strategist, virtual world reporter
recent posts
- Welcome to New World Notes’ 2006-2025 Archive!
- Virtual World Usage Stats from S&P Global Market Intelligence — Plus VRChat & Second Life Specifics!
- Top Five Posts Including: Huge Rec Room Layoff & Meta Boots Neal Stephenson Off Facebook (Briefly)
- Four Glorious Second Life Sims to Explore — After Watching Sabina Valeska’s Machinima Tributes to Them!
- Virtual World Usage Stats from S&P Global Market Intelligence — Plus VRChat & Second Life Specifics!
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As a holiday treat, here's an excerpt of Hari Sutherland's new coffee table book, SECOND LIFE: The First, Best Metaverse in Words and Pictures: For many, romance is a big part of the online and virtual world experience. While this can undoubtedly lead to real life difficulties and breakups when people form online attachments and…
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I'm very perplexed as to why Second Life is still a fairly actively plated game, like why stay there and not jump on VRChat? — Bree (she/her) 🏳️⚧️ (@barnkatbree.bsky.social) December 9, 2024 at 10:46 AM https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js In another sign of virtual world communities shifting toward Bluesky, here's an informative and refreshingly non-dickish conversation between VRChat…
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//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js New on my Patreon: Get a sneak peek of upcoming features to Second Life's mobile app — and the long-term marketing strategy which drives it. For instance: "The mobile app was not designed for new users where I spend a million dollars to bring [them in]," as [Linden head Brad] Oberwager put it. "We…
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Join my Patreon for free for some fun holiday shopping specials! Starting with a Patreon-only special from Aardvark, home of hilariously charming SL items like his legendary rideable unicorn balloon and mini-pig unicorn (pictured, adorably). 55% off all items in the Aardvark mainstore until December 3. Sign up and go here for the details, and…
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inZOI's launch has been officially delayed until March 2025, but its burgeoning fan community is still avidly playing around with the character creator of the seriously quirky life sim game. (Like, seriously.) One key test of avatar customization tools is this: Can you use them to create an avatar who clearly resembles someone whose appearance…
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In cold and lonely nights, even digital bonfires can draw us together in I woke this morning in the wake of stunning US election results with a headache but after a predictable storm of emotions, these recent words of Philip Rosedale, on why he rejoined leading Second Life development, began flickering in my mind's eye:…
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It may seem obvious that more detailed graphics mean a virtual world is "better", but why is visual quality seen as so important, over other features? (Audio, text, user experience, narrative, etc.) As it turns out, this assumption was actually first shaped by a savvy advertising campaign from the early 1980s, developed by an ad…
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There's been much interesting reader response to my interview with Linden Lab head Brad Oberwager, but this one from "EmptyEyes" intrigued me most — pointing to core problems that are hurting Second Life user growth/retention, but are core features embedded within the platform: Second Life's social stagnation is representative of fundamentally how the game works…
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Cajsa's Choices: Stunningly Vivid SL Screenshots by Iesada Resident VRChat Web Usage from Japan Grows to Over 25% the Total! Do Virtual Worlds Decline in Usage Because People Generally Become Less Social as They Age? New on My Patreon: Brad Oberwager's Mobile-Forward Second Life Future — Part 1, Part 2 Aardvark Amazes: From a Bouncing…
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In part 2 of my interview with Linden Lab Executive Chair Bradford Oberwager, we get into the meat of how Linden Lab's recent re-org (discussed at length in part 1) is meant to help the current state of Second Life, how it relates to rumors of impending acquisition of the company and the recent gacha…
Wagner James Au / New World Notes 