Wagner James Au / New World Notes

Author, strategist, virtual world reporter

  • Aardvark Amazes: From a Bouncing Balloon Unicorn in Second Life to Building a Better Real One

    Aarvark mini pig unicorn SL

    Aardvark from Dash Phantom was the very most popular new Second Life brand in my reader survey, and that's no surprise: It's the purveyor of hilariously charming items including (as above), the explosively adorable Mini Pig-Unicorn. Which as it happens, you can now get today at the Uber event: Click here to teleport.

    "The name for Aardvark came from my goal to not take things too seriously—especially in our Second Life," Dash tells me, explaining his choice of brand name. "I knew I wanted an animal name, and aardvark, meaning 'earth pig,' was something I found really funny. I didn't really know what items I was going to make at the time but I knew it was going to be a variety. I wanted a brand name that immediately put a smile on people’s faces. Plus, aardvarks are such funny-looking creatures, it felt like the perfect fit."

    As it happens, Aardvark's very best-selling item is also ridiculously unicorn-related:

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  • Now on Netflix: Remarkable Life of Ibelin, the True Story of a Wonderful Second Life in World of Warcraft

    Now on Netflix (at least in the US), The Remarkable Life of Ibelin is an acclaimed documentary about the amazing secret life of a young man with muscle-wasting disorder who flourished within his World of Warcraft guild (trailer above). As regular readers know, stories like these happen all the time across all virtual worlds, but it's great to see them finally getting more recognition among people beyond the immersive realm.

    Speaking of which, don't miss my interview with a WoW designer who argues that the company moved away from the game's community/social aspect to its detriment. And, of course, don't miss The Nine Souls of Wilde Cunningham.

    And via Cajsa, here's a beautifully-written London Times article on Ibelin:

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  • New on My Patreon: Brad Oberwager’s Mobile-Forward Second Life Future

    Oberwolf avatar first attempt New World Notes

    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 policy change announcement — and a mobile-forward future of Second Life that's coming sooner than you might think.

    Plus something about his first attempt to customize an SL avatar (right) and a crucial wolf tattoo.

    Join my Patreon and read for free here.

  • Return to the Obra Dinn: Six Years After Launch, the Moby Dick of Immersive Indie Games Retains All Its Staggering Power

    This year I finally had a chance to play Return of the Obra Dinn. When it premiered in October 2018, created almost single-handedly by acclaimed designer Lucas Pope, no game quite like it had ever existed before. Six years later, it still remains a uniquely quirky masterpiece — the Moby Dick of immersive indie games.

    I don't just mean that in the most obvious sense, that the game and Herman Melville's novel both take place on an ill-fated sailing vessel of the early 19th century beset by storms, beasts, and the madness of the human heart. Each of them also take the form of their genre (the novel, the first-person game) and shatter our preconceptions about them in daring ways. 

    (If you haven't read Moby Dick, by the way, intimidated by the length and often heavy, curlicue prose, there's an easily digestible solution: Here's a free, very good audio version read chapter by chapter Tilda Swinton and other great actors/interesting people.)

    But back to Return of the Obra Dinn. If you haven't played it yet, I'm tempted to say you should just skip the next section for potential spoilers and to maintain the joy of foreboding surprise:

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  • Cajsa’s Choices: Stunningly Vivid SL Screenshots by Iesada Resident

    Missing Warm Spring

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

    Iesada Resident noted in his About page that he sometimes posts real life pictures, so I first browsed past this picture. Then I took another look and saw it was taken at Bella’s Lullaby, a favorite sim of photographers. The light on the foliage is amazing. Doesn’t it look amazing? 

    For more of Iesada’s fabulous snaps , click here:

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  • New on My Patreon: Bradford Oberwager, Linden Lab, and His New Future for Second Life

    Oberwolf Linden Oberwager

    Since 2021, the Second Life community has known Brad Oberwager as the Executive Chair of Linden Lab, a role he took on with the acquisition of Second Life by an investment group co-led by Oberwager. Or perhaps they better know him by his occasional in-world appearance as his avatar, Oberwolf Linden.

    But Oberwager (pronounced "oh-ber-wah-ger") tells me his connection to Second Life goes back farther than that, built during road trips to the Black Rock desert, to the place which also helped birth the virtual world.

    "I have known about Second Life for years and years because I am such close friends with Philip Rosedale, the founder," as tells me now. "He and I would drive up to Burning Man together and he would tell me the most wonderful stories." (The annual Nevada arts festival, as Making of Second Life readers know, helped inspire Rosedale to create Second Life as much as Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, if not more so.)

    With recent reports that Linden Lab has made significant job cuts to staff, however, the Second Life community has been roiled by rumors about the fate of their world. Their consternation was so keen, in fact, Oberwager reached out to me for an impromptu Zoom call last Friday to address those concerns – and to allay fears that they suggest anything dire about the fate of Second Life.

    Read the rest on my Patreon!

  • Cajsa’s Choices: Uniquely Arresting Second Life Imagery By Lynx Luga

    Wet Glasses

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

    Lynx Luga shoots his pictures from a unique perspective that creates arresting pictures that you cannot browse past. For example, “Wet Glasses” zooms in up close and personal. The water on his glasses suggests heavy rain more effectively than if we saw him being soaked in a downpour. The lighting and the way the water refracts it makes it seem as though he has heterochromia. 

    For more of Lynx’ gorgeous work , click here:

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  • VRChat Web Usage from Japan Grows to Over 25% the Total!

    VRChat global reach

    Update, 10/23: Woke up realizing this: If VRChat's reported 10 million monthly active users are about 2.5 million people from Japan, which has a total population about 124 million… about 2 percent of the Japanese are VRChat users. 

    Last I checked in August, Japan-based traffic to VRChat's website was second only to the US, and nearly 20% of the total, compared to 40% of traffic from the US (according to SimilarWeb). Japanese usage has grown quite a bit from that:

    In September, Japan-based traffic jumped to 27%. (Above.) I.E. , it's safe to assume roughly 1 in 4 people playing VRChat are Japanese nationals.

    This is a surprising usage trend for a US-based virtual world. Typically, most usage is from the US followed by the UK and various European nations. According to SimilarWeb, for example, Japan traffic to SecondLife.com is currently not even in the top five by country, which in September, was held by traffic from the US, UK, Germany, Russia, and France. And we know Second Life's Japanese community is highly creative and active — it's why we translate key NWN articles into Japanese.

    So why VRChat's overwhelming popularity in Japan?

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  • Cajsa’s Choices: Exuberant Explosions of Energy & Color by Ella Pavlona

    53246069006_5baedb7183_cCajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

    Ella Pavlona creates lush pictures that are explosions of color, flowers, and exuberance. Take “Dancing in the Sky” where she is dancing, circling so the sash of her kimono circles her. Falling all around her are little bits of silver glitter and white doves. It’s a beautiful cacophony. 

    For more of her lush extravaganzas , click here:

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  • Do Virtual Worlds Decline in Usage Because People Generally Become Less Social as They Age?

    IMVU mobile metaverse

    Lots of interesting conversation around Coffee Pancake's guest essay on the decline of user activity in IMVU, including this one by an anonymous commenter:

    In general as people age, they become less social. This has been observed multiple times, and has studies, if you care to look them up. IMVU has an aging demographic, and that is the reason why you see less participation in it, there might be newer players but they are probably the minority as there are superior platforms available to them.

    It is the same with Second Life, we are an aging demographic, in general, we become less invested with socializing with strangers as we grow older.

    Everyone seems to be hyper-focused on making Second Life more of a social place, providing new methods to get people to socialize, the sad thing is, the places being created, for this purpose, remain empty because older people are more than likely not as interested in socializing as they once were.

    The best thing that I believe Linden Lab at this point is, try to bring in some new blood, but not at the sake of the older players. SL is never going to attract enough of them to make up for the losses of the older player base if they lose sight in what people enjoy about SL. I would suggest LL bring in more tools for people who are not hyper focused on socializing, that gives them something to do in world, while maintaining the possibility of social interaction.

    Other commenters also note the slow decline of user concurrency in Second Life, post-pandemic. I've always considered an aging user base mainly a branding challenge when trying to bring on newer, younger users. But is the real problem what's expressed by the commenter: That maybe aging players just don't want to socialize in virtual worlds as much or even in general?

    Who agrees with that? Writing this blog basically requires me to meet new SLers all the time, so my bias is around socialization. As for "studies", here's a summary from Psychology Today:

     

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