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.

  • Get Wet When it Rains in Second Life! New Weather System Update Works With Items from Izzie’s, Salt & Pepper, Mina Hair — and Blueberry!

    Here's a fun new update to the Really Useful Mega Weather Maker from The Really Useful Scripts Corner launching this weekend from The Really Useful Scripts Corner (a proud NWN sponsor) — a mesh-based rain system that drenches your avatar in real time! Even cooler, it’s compatible with select items from top SL brands Izzie’s, Salt & Pepper, Mina Hair, and Blueberry. 

    Available only from the in-world store starting early Saturday SLT: Click here to teleport.

    This announcement comes with a statement from Blueberry's legendary owner herself:

    "At Blueberry we are always seeking opportunities to make our platform more immersive. We are thrilled to support this initiative to connect our apparel to the weather. Clothing that becomes wet when it rains? That’s brilliant. As simple as it sounds, it’s these details that truly form a wholesome metaverse experience right at home in our Second Life."

    Watch the video above and check out the images below to see this effect in action. Unlike other systems, the Really Useful Mega Weather Maker has options for mesh not particle-based emitters, and is optimized to reduce lag

    Here’s all the details straight from Really Useful Scripts Corner’s Grace Ling:

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  • Win This Real Life Painting of the Metaverse in a Second Life Raffle to Benefit Kids in Real Life

    Metaverse painting Filthy Fluno Jerry Lipsky

    This is a real painting of the Metaverse by acclaimed artist Jeffrey Lipsky (profiled in the New York Times here), who often creates works inspired by the virtual world associated with his Second Life avatar Filthy Fluno. And starting this weekend, you can bid to purchase it for Linden Dollars in a raffle — and get the actual real painting sent to your address. All proceeds in the raffle go to the beloved real life charity Toys for Tots. [Click here to teleport]

    So yes, a real life painting of the Metaverse which you bid on in the Metaverse to get in real life while benefiting kids in real life. "The black object is the Metaverse and the other elements are earth and sky and water," as Lipsky explains. 

    This weekend marks his return as Filthy Fluno in Second Life, showing off this and dozens of other SL-inspired paintings at the SL gallery island space of Sinful Retreat — here's all the details.

    As for why he's returning to Second Life after many years:

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  • SL Fall Fashion Ideas from Style Blogger Grace Ashwell

    51652884739_1c05599826_cCajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

    Grace Ashwell is the name of the blogger and the blog and it is quite a lovely blog. Carrot Cake is a post about a new horse they rescued. Grace tells the whole story. 

    “This is Carrot Cake, our rescue mare! Granny adopted Carrot Cake from the ~Let's Save All the Ponies~ rescue a month ago. Carrot Cake is a little bit scared of new humans, she suffered a lot of neglect before being rescued. ;-; 

    Today I took her to the Evergarden Equestrian to be checked out by their vet. Carrot Cake is being trained in manners, groundwork, and riding. She's learning fast and becoming more confident each day.:

    And these are the style notes for Carrot Cake, to see Grace’s outfit notes, click through to her post.

    • Body: [Teegle] "Maestro" the Hanoverian Horse
    • Coat: [Teegle] "Trinity" Dapple Palomino Skin for Teegle Horse
    • Lead Rope: [Teegle] Lead Ropes for Teeglepet Breakaway Halters
    • Halter: Tutto E Vanita – Bella Hybrid Halter Vibrants 
    • Tail: REIN – TeeglePet Long Soft Tail
    • Mane: REIN – TeeglePet Running Braid Mane

    For more farm-oriented fashions, click here:

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  • Nissan Launches Community-Created Experience in VRChat — Though Community Visits Seem Slow

    Nissan VRChat Second Life virtual marketing

    Nissan seems to be the biggest real world brand to deploy a virtual marketing campaign in VRChat, the would-be Metaverse:

    Nissan Crossing, in Tokyo’s Ginza district… has been recreated in stunning virtual reality showcasing the all-new Ariya electric crossover. The virtual gallery can be found under the name “NISSAN CROSSING”* on the social VR platform VRChat in the “Worlds” category. The VR venue provides a new means of digital communication and offers a variety of content and experiences, including new announcements and briefings. An inaugural tour will be held by year-end to highlight the risks of climate change and how a future with electric vehicles could look.

    Development of the virtual gallery was made possible thanks to the support of leading VR creators. 

    [Update, November 11: Hyundai has a prior world in VRChat.]

    "I think this is very clever because it is like an influencer marketing [campaign]," says Sanny, my indispensable Japanese translator. "Nissan credit all names of creators." A VRChat reporter name @OculusTan on Twitter has a video of the launch party:

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  • Rec Room, Which Already Has a 3 Million+ User Headstart on Facebook Horizon, Is Hiring Like Crazy

    Rec Room social VR iOS

    In case you missed it (and I meant to blog this last week, sorry), Rec Room is hiring like crazy, with around 60 open positions.

    "We're growing a lot," as Rec Room Influencer/Partner Head Shawn Whiting tells me. "Mobile (iOS and Android) is growing very quickly so almost every team is hiring to keep up," Here's the company career page.

    Rec Room, which Facebook/Meta's Horizon roughly resembles in terms of graphics and avatars ((but launched first), has something that Facebook/Meta does not:

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  • This Flickr Artist Uses Virtual Greenscreen in Second Life to Make Dazzling Character Portraits

    ::Inquisitor::

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

    Dominic Darkmatter’s photostream is an interesting combination of portraits of other avatars like this “Inquisitor,” microblogging photos, and pictures of an adorable dog. I love the subtle lighting the reflects off his jacket and highlights the lower part of his face. It’s a gorgeous portrait and Dominic includes a gyazo showing his editing process from raw photo shot with a greenscreen to finished portrait. 

    For ore stunning portraits, click here:

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  • ROBLOX YouTuber & Taiwan Supporter Breaks Through Great Firewall to Connect With Players of China’s Heavily Censored Version

    This is a surreal and zany and ultimately fairly dark video by top ROBLOX YouTuber Ruben Sim. Based in the US but a passionate supporter of Taiwanese independence from China (he was galvanized by the recent Hong Kong democracy protests), Ruben employed a VPN to break through mainland China's "Great Firewall" to engage with Chinese players of Luobu, the country's heavily censored version of ROBLOX.

    "Getting over the Firewall from the US is easy because most Chinese websites don't refuse connection to American IPs," as Ruben explains to me now. "It's mostly the other way around where Chinese ISPs refuse to connect their own customers to American servers."

    It took Ruben awhile to find English-speaking Chinese players willing to talk with him:

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  • Linden Lab Spotlighting Talented SL Avatars – Who Would You Nominate That’s New-ish to the Virtual World & More People Should Know?

    SL Spotlight Linden Lab creative avatar

    Here's a cool Linden Lab project to give creative SL users some social media love and attention. Beyond the Usual Subjects we're already familiar with, who would you nominate that's recent-ish to the Second Life community (i.e. the last few years) — or at least recent-ish to you?

    Here's five I myself would nominate that spring to mind:

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  • Utterly Unique Female Avatar Portraits by Blu Moonwall

    Blu Moonwall SL action avatar photoCajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

    Blu Moonwall’s [Msblu Moonwall] Yennefer has all the bright, happy colors I associate with a “Manic Pixie Dreamgirl” but Yennefer has none of those qualities. Her gaze is intense and powerful, mesmerizing.  She is fierce, a warrior, and just the opposite in every way from the fragile flowers of manic pixiedom. I love that Blu Moonwall is using bright and bold colors with fierce and powerful characters. She really commits with each and every picture. 

    Blu is bullish on Second Life. To see why, click here:

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  • Survey: Facebook Staffers Strongly Support Meta Name Change, Metaverse Goals — Pros With Other Metaverse-Related Companies Skeptical

    Here's some very interesting survey data from developers at Blind, the anonymous community app for employees, asking users in the high tech sector their opinion of Facebook's shift to Meta and Mark Zuckerberg's plan to make a Metaverse capable of holding over a billion users.  Taken between October 28 and November 1 by 11,673 verified tech professionals, including 1,120 Facebook staffers, the results are striking — especially when you compare the broader industry perspective with Facebook’s own internal opinion.

    First, to the statement, “I believe Facebook’s rebranding as Meta is a good business decision”:

    Blind 01 Facebook Metaverse - Meta Rebranding FACEBOOK

    An overwhelming 84% of Facebook company staffers support this move.

    But do Facebookers believe they'll be successful at actually making the Metaverse?Blind 02 Facebook Metaverse - Successfully Build FACEBOOK

    Over 3 in 4 believe Facebook will succeed at making.

    However, there was a slightly less optimism opinion that the 1 billion user target can be reached by 2030:
    Blind 03 Facebook Metaverse - 1 Billion FACEBOOK
    67% answering Yes to 1 billion by 2030 still suggests high internal confidence for such an ambitious goal.

    Now compare and contrast these Facebook answers to the roughly 10,000 workers across the tech sector who took this survey:

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