Wagner James Au / New World Notes

Author, strategist, virtual world reporter

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Hypnotic Romance, an SL sim with secluded spaces for couples. Click here to teleport.

The Virtual Worlds Museum. Click here to teleport to their Second Life hub with tribute to sunsetted worlds!

“TV POWWW!” by Tom Boellstorff & Braxton Soderman. Read about the first televised videogame here.

The Fitting Room: Try out new SL fits in a secure, private space. Click here to teleport.

Breedables CoOp, helping the SL pet community grow through shared resources. Go here to get started.

Watch: Rising Indie Pop Star Aufwie Kickstarted His Career in Second Life During the Pandemic — Now Here’s His First Music Video Shot in SL

April 21, 2022

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After performing in Second Life during (and because!) of the pandemic lockdown since last year, rising indie pop star Aufwie recently released his first music video shot in Second Life — watch above! Very nicely shot and edited by VRutega, Aufwie's "throw me to the sea" because quite literal in the virtual world.

"[The machinima] uses the sea as a metaphor for oblivion and how someone can actually throw u into oblivion by forgetting about you, taking u out of their lives," he tells me now. "Sinking as a metaphor of how depression pulls u down."

His virtual performances in SL through 2021 helped him take his career to the next stage — both in the virtual world and across social media:

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I’m Giving a Webinar on the Metaverse Next Week Friday — Register to Attend Live for Free!

April 21, 2022

Click here to register for free to attend a Zoom webinar on That M Thing in a conference hosted by Canadian non-profit org CPAC (Chinese Professionals Association of Canada), which kicks off April 29 at 6:30pm PT. I'm preparing a slide deck now covering a range of topics, including how to define the Metaverse, Second Life's role in shaping it, mass market and niche use cases, and common misconceptions around the technology.

Is there any particular topic around virtual worlds and the Metaverse that I should also cover? If so, please suggest in Comments below!*

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Today’s SL Flickr Pick: Stunning & Sensual Images by Shiloh Lyric

April 21, 2022

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

The title of this brilliant picture is clever, but sad. “I was your favorite toy before you broke me.” But who quits playing with their favorite toy just because it lost a wheel, or an arm? Nonetheless, this image is striking and stopped my browsing while I thought about it. That is a common effect with Shiloh Lyric’s pictures.There is so much to love in this picture, but my absolute favorite is easily missed. I just love the way the ribbon trails back so far it fades into the shadows.

I love the next two pics, sort of bathing, click here:

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The Sandbox Reports 300,000 Monthly Active Users Despite Partnerships With Top Brands — Shades of Second Life’s Hype Days?

April 20, 2022

My post yesterday questioning the logic behind The Sandbox's reported $4 billion valuation (by Bloomberg) led to an interesting conversation on LinkedIn. Staff members of The Sandbox took some umbrage in the thread, pointing out that the co-founder recently reported that The Sandbox client now has 300,000 monthly active users, which is pretty solid growth from its reported 30K MAU last November. (I updated my original post to reflect that.)

Then again, 300,000 is still very much on the low end for current metaverse platforms as compared to, say Rec Room (with 3 million MAU on VR headsets alone), not to mention ROBLOX and Fortnite Creative. And yet again, last generation platform Second Life still has some 600,000 monthly active users!

In reply to that point, one Sandbox staffer told me it's still early days — since after all, the product is currently designated as being in Alpha. Which is fair enough. But from my view, it only deepens the mystery:

Why aren't all The Sandbox's major brand partnerships leading to major user adoption?

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Today’s SL Flickr Pick: Every Image on Aeon Jiminy’s Feed is Stunning

April 20, 2022

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Aeon Jiminy’s picture title is a quote, “Tu comprends pas tout, tout est trop flou, comme si t’avais bu la tasse, noyé comme tous ces idiots.” which Google tells me means, “You don't understand everything, everything is too vague, as if you had drunk the cup, drowned like all these idiots.” It seemed so specific, I assumed it must come from somewhere and it does, from this song. [L’Imperatrice-Peur des filles] I had to check it out and it is hilarious. [Click here for the song.]

I fell in love with every picture in his stream and messaged Hamlet that I want to include everything, but that would be silly. So, I noticed he likes to shoot toward the sun which can create long shadows when shot from an angle as in this picture, or if the angle is low, it can blow out the detail into a white halo, or if shot full on create a silhouette. The angle with which you approach the sun can make dramatic changes.

For more into the sun pictures, click here:

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XR Headset Controlling Giant Humanoid Robot to Construct a Railway is Peak Japan Moment of 2022

April 20, 2022

This is the mixed reality application of the month and is probably the Peak Japan moment of the year: A giant construction robot.. controlled through an XR headset. According to this Japanese news site (and Google's so-so translation), it is very much in production:

[Railway company] JR West announced on the 15th that it is developing a multifunctional railway heavy equipment that combines a humanoid heavy equipment robot and a railway construction vehicle in collaboration with the human-machine integrated and Nippon Signal. The company aims to improve productivity and safety by developing highly versatile heavy railway equipment that can be used for various equipment installed in high places and mechanizing work that previously required human intervention.

According to VR expert Adeon (who tipped me on this ), the HMD we see pictured here is an HP Reverb G2. ("Very good headset, better than Index.") New World Notes' Japanese translator Sanny found this video of the robot in action, watch below:

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VRChat’s New Avatar-to-Avatar Interactions Are Amazing — Here’s Some Tutorials to Get Started Booping & Grabbing

April 19, 2022

Update, 4/21: Avatar Dynamics is now live. Check out this post for tutorials and community-created samples of this avatar-to-avatar tech!

As promised last year, VRChat recently updated its avatar dynamics to enable far more interactivity between avatars and the virtual world, and (even more key) avatar-to-avatar. Now in open beta, the VRChat community is already coming up with some fun and zany application of the technology — there's even this project to physically hug across the metaverse through haptics — and at least a couple user-made tutorials:

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Can Anyone Explain Why The Sandbox Would Be Valued at $4 Billion With So Few Users or Buyers?

April 19, 2022

Headscratcher of the day:

The Sandbox, a platform that allows users to trade and monetize virtual assets in the Ethereum blockchain, is considering raising fresh funds at a valuation of more than $4 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The company is looking to raise about $400 million from both new and existing investors, the people said, who asked not to be identified as the information is confidential. Sandbox, which is majority-owned by blockchain gaming developer Animoca Brands Corp., is in talks with potential investors for the funding round, the people said.

Which is a wildly high valuation! To put that number in context, Sony recently acquired Bungie Studios, creator of the massive Halo and Destiny franchises, with a customer/player base in the tens of millions, for $3.6 billion.

By contrast, consider The Sandbox:

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Today’s Flickr Pick: Stunning Shots of Second Life Homes

April 19, 2022

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Kiki Jonston loves to shoot pictures, particularly of buildings. I love how “A Tiny Voyage” features this little boat wandering down the stream. In the picture, if you imagine a line along the bridge and the building, they form a triangle and then there's the little boat which is a triangle as well. There’s a lot of interesting geometry. I imagine in real life that little cabin would be incredibly hot in the sun, but I sure do love it.

For more extraordinary SL buildings, click here:

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Bring New Excitement to Ancient SL Locations With a Discovery & Exploration Game (Comment of the Week)

April 18, 2022

While Linden Lab has saved Tempura, we discussed how preservation does not guarantee survival. Reader "Nadeja", however, thinks Tempura has better than average prospects:

Tempura is arguably a special case. Visitors know they can meet someone always there, so the traffic has always remained high even without any event (25K today). It is also a romantic place with a nice atmosphere, but it has a good design that seem to encourage meeting and hanging out: it's spacious, there is a large tai-chi area where many people go, someone meet at the mediation circle, the bridge with a spot with sits (and divination) in the middle, and so on. Also a bunch of people at the entrance; but there are quieter spots here and there, for couples or to relax by your own, some even cute/funny such as the giant nest.

Different preserved places were meant for a different usage, they were interesting or fascinating, but left to themselves they died out. Svarga stopped working correctly. The SS Galaxy was also a mall, with rentals and DJs in the ballroom and the pool. After the preservation, the mall and the rentals were gone, obviously, as well as the DJs and dancing and clubbing. The traffic is about zero now.

What's the solution for sites that don't have as much native stability as Tempura? Nadeja has the glimmering of a great idea — turn preserved SL sims into a grid-like game:

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