Wagner James Au / New World Notes

Today’s SL Flickr Pick: Dee Wells’ Delightfully Unpredictable Adventures

July 2, 2024

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

Dee Wells has such fun in Second Life that you can have some vicarious fun following her stream. Sure, this picture, “Say When”, gives us a very tired Dee trying to wake up with coffee in a vintage diner. Of course, if you traveled back in time to the Fifties, you might need a wake-me-up coffee or two or three. Clearly she’s time-traveling, look at the car, look at the server’s dress and apron.

For more of Dee’s Second living, click here:

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Vision Pro Survey Suggests Apple’s Headset Isn’t Greatly Changing Owners’ Media Consumption Habits

July 1, 2024

Reader "Frank" didn't like my comment on this survey of low Vision Pro usage, comparing to a $3500 weekend trip to Paris where you mostly stay in the hotel watching old American TV shows:

Your comparison doesn't make sense at all. The first thing everyone is overwhelmed with when using the Vision Pro is the incomparable and never seen before quality of the 3D,180 & 360 video's. With that, watching movies is like going to the best cinema ever. And you are surprised that users use this stunning feature the most? For practical use new apps are (being) developed and some of them are quite interesting, however with apps you often don't use them everyday.

For consumers gaming on the AVP will be the very next big thing. Therefor Apple started too early to aim at consumers. It should have had more online 3D/360 games ready. But that will come soon.

I'm not surprised Vision Pro users are mainly watching videos with the device — I'm surprised they're rarely doing so. Keep in mind that Americans watch an average of 6 hours+ of traditional and digital TV per day. But according to the XR Spotlight survey most Vision Pro are not using the headset on a daily basis. In other words, Apple's device is not substantially changing the viewing habits of its early adopters. My guess is most Vision Pro owners occasionally use it to watch premium movies/TV, but find it too heavy for their "everyday" viewing.

Speaking of heaviness — and again, the Vision Pro feels like having a sushi plate strapped to your head — Martin K. recommends this solution:

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Top Posts Including Vision Pro’s Low Usage, Raph Koster’s New MMO/Metaverse Plan & Second Life’s Mobile App

July 1, 2024
Hear Me Out: Audio Version of Making a Metaverse That Matters 60% Off Until July 11!

June 28, 2024

Wagner James Au · What the Metaverse is — and what it's not. (Excerpt, "Making a Metaverse That Matters".)

The audio version of Making is ideal listening for long Summer trips/vacations (in my very totally humble opinion), and it's now 60% off at Audiobooks.com until July 11th here! Listen to a sample above, read the description below:

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Raph Koster Unveils Stars Reach, Playable Worlds’ Sandbox MMO Sim — And First Step in His Metaverse Strategy

June 28, 2024

Stars Reach is an upcoming sandbox sim just unveiled by legendary game designer Raph Koster and his startup Playable Worlds. And while it's very much an MMORPG, Raph tells me fans of open virtual worlds like Second Life and VRChat should find it appealing:

"It is a game, not a pure social world," as he puts it. "But the fact that we let players control planets to a decent degree means that there could be some overlap."

To go by the trailer, it looks like an unlikely hybrid of Dual Universe and Palia, the comfy social MMO. But as Raph explains on this /Reddit AMA, the simulation aspect runs quite deep:

This is the game I have wanted to make for nearly thirty years. It is the spiritual sequel to Ultima Online and to Star Wars Galaxies. It has in it all the lessons of all these decades of online game development — and it looks forward, not back, to reinvent what an online world can be.

Stars Reach uses simulation to a degree never seen in an MMO before. We know the temperature, the humidity, the materials, for every cubic meter of every planet. Our water actually flows downhill and puddles. It freezes overnight or during the winter. It evaporates and turns to steam when heated up.

And not just our water – everything does this.

One aspect of Stars Reach also worth pointing out (and this came up during our chat at Gamesbeat) is it's a first step in Playable Worlds' metaverse strategy — as I explain in my book's online afterword:

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Hotel Inspector Recommends Top Second Life Bars, Voyage to Virtual Bali

June 28, 2024
Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Checking in on The Hotel Inspector, I was excited to see a recent post on the best bars in Second Life. From Underwater Speakeasies to Cyberpunk Lounges: 12 SL Bar picks. In his post, he describes the ambiance at a dozen SL bars that deliver unique and delightful experiences. There are several pictures of each bar and SLURLS to all of them.

I am particularly taken with the underwater speakeasy at Valmoor he highlights. I spent my early years in SL living underwater, not as a merperson, but just to leave more land for picture-taking. The picture is from the Continental, another amazing bar he visits. I’m intrigued by The Wellesley Club which features a post-World War II London club. Smells like victory.
For a recent review, click here:

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Watch Us Live Build in Equimake, The Platform For Real-Time, Multi-User World Creation On The Web

June 27, 2024

Here's a new demo video of Equimake, the new indie platform which enables live, multi-user collaborative 3D building on the web (and a proud sponsoring NWN partner). Lead developer Alex and I do some real-time building and editing together while going over the platform's features. Like I say in the video, it kinda evokes the fun, classic sandbox experience of live building with other people, riffing off each other's work.

Since launching about 60 days ago, the platform already has 800 users who've created over 200 worlds. Alex tells me he's adding a Javascript scripting system to Equimake as early as next month to enable building games and other interactive coolness.

Another feature worth noting: There's now a GLTF export feature enabling you to export your Equimake world to Blender and other platforms — even into Second Life (though that may require some additional file conversion).

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In Sign of Growing Protest Over Heavily AI-Enhanced Images, Primfeed Adds Restrictions to AI Content

June 27, 2024

Here's a small but notable update from Primfeed, the new, quickly growing social network/Flickr alternative for the Second Life user community:

AI is allowed on Primfeed, however it needs to follow simple rules: If it's a vendor ads, you must use the AI tag. If it's not, it doesn't need the AI tag. – Your content can't be ALL AI generated content, even if it's trained on SL content. As per the Terms of Service, it needs to be 80-90% of SL content.

"[I]t's just a requirement to put the label render or AI on vendors ads," Primfeed owner/lead developer Lucas Rowley tells me. "My goal was to address customers' worries about the abuse of use of generative AI for vendors ads, and the tag AI was an answer to these worries." Rowley says it's been a frequent complaint of new Primfeed users.

I'm not surprised:

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Cajsa’s Choices: Photographing the Many Fairy Avatars of Second Life

June 27, 2024

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

Dicky Jackman posted this fabulous “Feline vs. Fairy” that has the look of an illustration in a book of fairy tales. It’s a beautiful composition. I love how the cat looks up towards the fairy, forming a diagonal line. It is simply beautiful. But as much as it looks like a book illustration, it is not. That’s an animesh cat. He even credits the cat and provides a SLURL. That made me think of fairies.

The very first picture I took in Second Life was of my friend Gidge Uriza who loved being a fairy. Just to prove it, here it is. Yes, it took me a few months to learn that there were cameras in Second Life, one of the many things I missed out on by clicking on a teleport after just a few minutes on Orientation Island in 2007:

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For more fairies, click here:

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Second Life Merchants on the State of the Virtual World Economy in 2024: How Many Earn Good Revenue, Use Gen AI, Suspect Oligopolies & More!

June 26, 2024

As promised, here's some of the top highlights to my Patreon subscriber report on the Second Life economy in its 21st year:

With one hundred and eleven SL merchants responding to my survey, this overview of the Second Life economy represents a sizable slice of the most financially successful content creators in the virtual world.

Over 40% gross $10,000+ a year from their SL content (above)

Over 40% of merchants report grossing $10,000 or more per year from their SL content (a good side income hustle for most people), with 1 in 6 of them grossing over $50,000 a year or more — an income level that would put them well over the median income of US workers. (In 2022, individual median income in the US was just under $40,00/year.)

Nearly all merchants are small, 1-3 person operations

Asked, “How many people, including outsourced and part-time staff, help run your SL brand and its events/services/sales/etc?”, an incredible 93% of SL merchants surveyed said they were tiny operations of 1-3 people.

By contrast, only 1% — literally one person, in this survey — answered that they have a team of over 20. While there are frequent whispers that Second Life’s top brands have huge teams of outsourcers creating content for them, that situation remains relatively rare.

Next: How many merchants are preparing for SL mobile? Using generative AI? Or suspect the economy is an oligopoly?

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