Wagner James Au / New World Notes

Cajsa’s Choices: Morgan Talbot Creates Story-Rich Adventure Tableaus in Second Life, Then Writes Evocative Stories to Accompany Them

April 3, 2025

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

Morgan Talbot tells stories in SL-based pictures and in prose. He seems like ancient explorer Snorri Sturluson, writing a Second Life edda full of adventure, epic adventure. Here is Part Six of the Legends of Alvion: Journey to Wyrkadrin. The chapter begins:

The crisp, chilly air bit at my cheeks as we descended the snowy pass on horseback. Siobhan sat tall on her white stallion in front of me, creating a striking image against the rugged peaks ahead. I pulled my parka tighter around me, watching as my breath materialized into misty clouds in the frigid atmosphere. The sound of our horses' hooves crunching through the snow echoed off the towering mountainsides.

Morgan’s writing is clear and evocative. I want to read more. Of course, this is a more risque story than it may seem at first glance. This is definitely not lunch hour at work pictures and reading, at least not on the work computer.

For more adventure, click here:

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SL Mobile App Hits 300K Downloads, Partly for Hilarious Reasons

April 2, 2025

In case you missed it, there's been a mini-milestone for Second Life's mobile app or iOS and Android: It's been downloaded some 300,000 times. The Google Play counter recently hit the "100K Downloads" category (see screencap above), so I reached out to Linden Lab head Brad Oberwager, assuming the iOS download count would be around 1.5x that number.

It's closer to 300,000, Oberwager tells me:

"The app is getting better and word is getting out. Plus some of the desktop marketing is flowing over."

That's pretty decent growth, considering the download count was around 100,000 last December. As for "getting better", the aggregate ratings are consistent with that: Back then, the Google Play ratings were at a dismal 2.8, and now it's at 3.1.

As for "desktop marketing", that's a comical plot twist:

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Let’s Watch inZOI Gameplay Videos by SL Blogger Gogo, a Sims 4 Comparison & Roleplaying an Older Version of Yourself

April 2, 2025

I'm still downloading inZOI myself (Steam doesn't multi-task well with my super awesome AT&T broadband), so here's some gameplay videos to get some first impressions in. First up of course is longtime SL fashionista / blogger Gogo of Juicy Bomb, who blogs her inZOI gameplay here.

"I'm not a gamer, but it's the easiest game ever," she messages me. "Right now they have two cities, third one opening soon one of the cities is a coastal American beach town, I like that more than Dowon, a Korean urban thing… more crowded." By the looks of it, inZOI's US beach town is a mash-up of Santa Monica, Long Beach, and Huntington Beach, i.e. places we sometimes drive to from Los Angeles sometimes and grumble about the traffic coming back. Thanks to Unreal 5, the game vividly captures the distinct SoCal sunlight.

Couple more after the break-up — a comparison of inZOI gameplay with Sims 4, and a guy from IGN who creates a middle aged Zoi based on himself:

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We Can’t Stop Staring at All These Photos of Virtual Cheese in Second Life

April 2, 2025

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

Harper Lexington gives us one of the many reasons that cheese is a wonderful thing. Off the top of my head, I can think of about 55 reasons to celebrate cheese, but surely macaroni and cheese has to be near the top. Has macaroni and cheese ever looked so romantic before? The soft light, the pastels, the oozing spillage, it all spells the most delicious decadence.

For more cheesy Second Life, click here:

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Project Mesh Revolution is What Second Life Needs Right Now — No Fooling!

April 1, 2025

Originally posted earlier on my Patreon

Second Life social media has been ablaze with excitement over Salt Peppermint's PROJECT MESH REVOLUTION (pictured), which purports to completely change our perspective on what SL avatars can and should be. And that's no fooling!

"I promise I am releasing two bodies and two heads," she tells me yesterday, when I first ask her if this is some kind of elaborate April Fool. "And we have 27 creators releasing clothings and accessories rigged for it."

Among them is the legendary Gizem Mishi of Kiwi Co. (read my profile of her here), who affirmed her excitement for the project with me yesterday:

"This project is extra special because we're not just sharing our work," as she put it to me. "We're gifting it, providing a generous timeline for everyone to access everything we've lovingly created, free of charge… I am most excited about the accessibility and the content pool that we were able to put together for this incredible initiative by Salt."

PMR seeks to address the many shortcomings of the current Second Life mesh fashion economy.

"With the current state of how mesh bodies work in SL," as Ms. Peppermint explains, "is that you buy an item that is rigged specifically for the body you wear. Maitreya has released only female bodies. and only clothes rigged for their specific bodies will work for them. Same goes for any other current body brand. Legacy Male body needs clothes that are specifically rigged for Legacy Male."

PMR also addresses Second Life mesh's ongoing problem of poor optimization. Most of the top selling mesh bodies in Second Life have so many excessive triangles, and cause so much lag, they are effectively a DDOS on other users (as one former Linden Lab engineer put it to me).

PMR, by contrast, Salt Peppermint promises, are "VERY WELL optimized."

People in her S&P group have already gotten their copies of their two PMR bodies and two PMR heads. So starting this morning, thousands of members found them waiting in their inventory.

They're being avidly shared across social media now.

For instance:

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Playing Palia: Virtual World Expert on What the “Cozy MMO” Teaches Us About Building Online Community

April 1, 2025

I’ve blogged a fair amount about Palia, the cozy social MMO, but Dr. Ruth Diaz has been diving deeply into it, and has an in-depth write up from her unique POV:

With over 100 hours in, I can say: this isn’t just a game—it feels like a gentle experiment in what it means to listen through both the verbal and non-verbals of the (non-playable characters) NPCs, to repair misunderstandings, and to grow alongside others, both human and not. It doesn’t always get everything right. But what it invites, and what the players often bring, is something rare: the chance to co-create an experience where belonging is a process, not a prize.

There is no combat. No leaderboard. No high-stakes drama. And still, the pace never feels empty. In Palia, the tension isn’t between players—it’s between effort and ease, between being seen and being new. The in-game chat is generous. Players help each other, share resources, and often go out of their way to make sure others are included. It isn’t perfect, but I’ve yet to see a toxic moment.

And Dr. Diaz knows from toxicity: A former Community Design Developer at Meta (featured here), she also founded the Troll Project, seeking to understand (and address) why people troll in virtual worlds. As I read her, giving virtual worlds more interactions like in Palia might help.

You can see that in how rare resources are deployed, and how the game’s dead are depicted:

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Cajsa’s Choices: Kou’s Colorful Cyberpunk & Kawaii Imagery

April 1, 2025

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

Kou’s “485” is a glorious illustration of kawaii aesthetics with the pastel colors, her large eyes and cupid-bow lips, the riotous profusion of paper lanterns and fans, and all the sweet innocence that can possibly fit into 640 by 324 pixels. Everything in this picture is chosen to illustrate her sweet, child-like innocence. But, as with so much in Second Life, there is more than meets the eye.

For more from Kou, click here:

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AI Is Either Something Second Life Can Learn to Live With — Or Will Destroy the Virtual World Economy as We Know It (Comments of the Week)

March 31, 2025

The fact that these two reader comments on my post about Philip Rosedale's promised Town Hall on AI are right on top of each other is a good indication of how divisive the topic is.

First up, from Tami, making the case that gen AI is something we can live with in Second Life:

AI won't go away, as much as I'd wish it would, I know that it is here to stay. So, let's try and focus on AI as a complement, a supplement, or a tool that benefits SL. For example, instead of AI-generated clothing, let's have AI as a tool to help clothing designers realize their visions when they run into technical hurdles and issues.

Yes, I know that this idea can be abused, so the issue isn't "how to use AI" but on "how to prevent AI from usurping humans" in SL. In some ways, the past methods of creating content for years, learning over time to become better creators, are in danger. Can we stop AI from short-circuiting that process — probably not. So, what can we do do to prevent AI from taking over the content creation market?

Perhaps, we can't stop AI, so maybe the answer is to make it easier to use. Instead of everyone buying things on the marketplace, anyone and everyone can create their own magical world filled with things they used AI to create. Instead of SL being driven by the economy, it can be driven by creativity using AI to make the dreams come true. SL doesn't have to be RL and moving away from economic models and wealth isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's change, and SL is well know for its resiliency with regard to change.

I don't want AI, but I will use it to make SL better if that is my only choice.

And now here's Riannah, making an opposite case:

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Monday Metaverse Media Partner & Patreon Subscriber Thanks!

March 31, 2025

Monday shout-out to all the virtual world brands who help make New World Notes and my Patreon possible, Please consider checking out their offerings online or in-world:

The Virtual Worlds Museum, the largest online community and resource devoted to virtual worlds.

Dutchie, creator of fine Second Life home decor with custom animations for all rating levels and roleplay styles!

Dream Seeker Estates, offering SL living spaces with competitive rates, and 24/7 English, Spanish & Dutch support.

ADD, creator of sexy SL styles you want to wear — direct teleport to their mainstore here.

Intellivision: How a Videogame System Battled Atari and Almost Bankrupted Barbie®, the latest book from Tom Boellstorff, author of "Coming of Age in Second Life".

Meow Meow, an SL flower shop for all occasions — direct teleport to their mainstore here.

Virtual Museum Team — click to visit its five museums in SL!

Rapture, offering original SL mesh fashion since 2014.

SECOND LIFE: The First, Best Metaverse in Words and Pictures.

Much metaverse mahalo to them all. And please consider subscribing at the Supporter level or above to joinb this proud list of backers!
Top 5 Posts Including: Why I Don’t Want My Metaverse Book Fed Into an LLM, and Do SL Avatars Dream of Electric Sheep?

March 31, 2025

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