Category Archives: Thoughts from the cyberverse

Thoughts collected from around the web

ThoughtsCyberverse
May 22 2013

Thoughts from the Cyberverse – Jessica Lyons defense of Firestorm 4.4.0

Disclaimer: This post contains subjective opinions from the author, Morphman The Clown.

There has been some talk about the latest release of Firestorm viewer being unstable and full of bugs and debates have gone into flamewar territory. Jessica Lyon, project leader of the Firestorm project, wrote a message to the community in order to explain and hopefully calm down the users. I do not wish to take sides on this issue, but I do want to explain a bit about what goes on behind the scenes on big projects like this.

Perfection is impossible! That is something people must realize, there is no such thing as perfect, you can only get “good enough”, never better than that. When it comes to Firestorm 4.4.0, it seems like many users didn’t think it was good enough, something Lyon herself admitted, thou the blame shouldn’t be on the development team, the volunteering QA-team or even the project leader. Continue reading →

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ThoughtsCyberverse
May 21 2013

Thoughts From The Cyberverse: Are 3rd Party Exchanges dead now?

According to a recent post on the Second Life news reel, Linden Lab will try to allow some L$ retailers to still exchange L$ for other currencies. This would be possible through their new pilot program “Authorized Resellers”.

Some rules and regulation will apply, and it will be stricter than before. One of these rules caught my eye as I was reading it:

These sites are authorized by Linden Lab to purchase L$ on the LindeX and then resell those L$ using a variety of international currencies and payment methods. To be clear: per the Terms of Service, these resellers will not be allowed to purchase L$ outside of the LindeX (i.e. they will not be able to buy L$ back from users and cash people out).

Unlike the previous system, the exchanges won’t be able to offer cheaper L$ this time, as they have to buy all their “stock” directly from Linden Lab and the customers will also loose their quick cash services, as the exchanges are no longer able to cash people out within a day.

As it is now, these resellers couldn’t possibly sell L$ cheaper than LindeX, meaning Linden Lab regains control of the value of L$. One of the very few reasons you would have to use such service would be if you have no ability to transfer money across the borders from a country not using any of the more than 5 currencies Linden Lab currently accepts, however any person who can get a credit card can already transfer money in this way without having to pay any extra fees.

An official list of resellers participating in this pilot program have been released, and I see some familiar names on there. Among others, VirWoX and AnsheX have resettled to resellers rather than exchanges.

Where this pilot will lead is up to the future, but what are your thoughts on this? I’m looking forward to your comments on this subject.

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Dec 18 2012

Thoughts From the Cyberverse: Instagram Says “We have the right to sell your pictures”

It seems that Facebook has a bit of a habit of getting on the wrong side of its users. A few months back we wrote about the Retro filled Instagram, a photo-sharing social networking site owned by Facebook. Recently Instagram taken the torch from Facebook with their  Terms of Service and the new intellectual property policy, which  has a lot of people a little annoyed. According to a CNET article Instagram states they now have the right to sell photographs from its users without notifying or paying them and there is no way to Opt Out. Of course a lot of angry users took to the only place they know to voice their angry opinions, Twitter.

Is this really something people should be getting annoyed over? Didn’t Facebook always have this as part of their terms of service? Is this a medium taking a step too far or is just users NOT reading the fine print on their contracts before signing on the dotted line?

What are your thoughts?

Aug 16 2012

Second Life on Steam?

According to a community post by Linden Labs, the developers of Second Life have been working on making the virtual world available via online gaming platform Steam in a bid to make it more accessible to gamers.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with them,  Steam is an online multiplayer gaming platform created by Valve  The same company the brought us titles such as the Portal series ,  and the Half Life Series. According to the post:

What does this news mean for Second Life? You’ll still be able to access Second Life just as you can today; there won’t be any change to that. But, the more than 40 million people who use Steam will also be able to get Second Life as easily as they can get games like Portal.
We’ll make an announcement on the blog when Second Life is actually available on Steam, but in the meantime, if you have friends who are Steam gamers, let ‘em know it’s coming!

                                                                                                                  – Linden Labs

 

Could this bring more users into the virtual world?

Jul 27 2012

Flying Tigers: Sports Festival

In London Olympics Flying Tigers are having their own Sports Festival.  16 days of partying, fashion shows, exhibitions cheerleading performances, sports games.

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Flying Tigers’ Sports Festival Schedule of Events

**This schedule is subject to change**

Unless specifically stated, all events will take place on the WW2 Tribute Sim

July 24 to July 26, 2012:

-Exhibitors set up all day

Friday, July 27, 2012:

-Sports Festival Opens

-All Day – Exhibitor/Merchant Fair
-All Day – Free Tennis, Basketball, European Football/Soccer Games

-12pm slt – DJ Anakin

-1pm slt – Second Life Cheerleader Performance

Saturday, July 28, 2012:

-12pm slt – DJ TBD

Sunday, July 29, 2012:

-All Day – Exhibitor/Merchant Fair

-All Day – Free Tennis, Basketball, European Football/Soccer Games

-10am slt – DJ Anakin

-12pm slt – Korn Tribute Band Concert

-5pm slt – Flying Tigers Air Show

Monday, July 30, 2012:

-All Day – Exhibitor/Merchant Fair
-All Day – Free Tennis, Basketball, European Football/Soccer Games
-10am slt – DJ Prettybones
-2pm slt – DJ Cath

Tuesday, July 31 2012:
-All Day – Exhibitor/Merchant Fair
-All Day – Free Tennis, Basketball, European Football/Soccer Games
-10am slt – DJ Mia
-12pm slt – DJ Anakin
-5pm slt – VAW Show

Wednesday, August 1, 2012:
-All Day – Exhibitor/Merchant Fair
-All Day – Free Tennis, Basketball, European Football/Soccer Games
-10am slt – DJ Sweetdizzy
-4pm slt – DJ Anakin

Thursday, August 2, 2012:
-All Day – Exhibitor/Merchant Fair
-All Day – Free Tennis, Basketball, European Football/Soccer Games
-10am slt – DJ Sweetdizzy
-4pm slt – DJ Anakin

Friday, August 3, 2012:
-All Day – Exhibitor/Merchant Fair
-All Day – Free Tennis, Basketball, European Football/Soccer Games
-12pm slt – DJ Anakin
-6pm slt – Champion Horses’ SteepleChase Event (Champion Horses Sim)

Saturday, August 4, 2012:
-All Day – Exhibitor/Merchant Fair
-All Day – Free Tennis, Basketball, European Football/Soccer Games
-12pm – Paintball Tournament
-6pm slt- Champion Horses’ Cross Country Event (Champion Horses Sim)

Sunday, August 5, 2012:
-All Day – Exhibitor/Merchant Fair
-All Day – Free Tennis, Basketball, European Football/Soccer Games
-11am slt – Champion Horses’ Harness Races (Champion Horses Sim)
-12pm slt Lady Gaga Tribute Band Concert
-After the Lady Gaga Tribute Band Concert – DJ TBD
-6pm slt – Champion Horses’ Awards Ceremony (Champion Horses Sim)

Monday, August 6, 2012:
-All Day – Exhibitor/Merchant Fair
-All Day – Free Tennis, Basketball, European Football/Soccer Games
-12pm slt – DJ Anakin
-2pm slt – DJ Cath

Tuesday, August 7, 2012
-All Day – Exhibitor/Merchant Fair
-All Day – Free Tennis, Basketball, European Football/Soccer Games
-12pm slt – DJ Anakin
-4pm slt – DJ Cath

Wednesday, August 8, 2012
-All Day – Exhibitor/Merchant Fair
-All Day – Free Tennis, Basketball, European Football/Soccer Games
-12pm slt – DJ Jami
-4pm slt – DJ Anakin

Thursday, August, 9, 2012
-All Day – Exhibitor/Merchant Fair
-All Day – Free Tennis, Basketball, European Football/Soccer Games
-12pm slt – DJ Neilio
-4pm slt – DJ Anakin

Friday, August 10, 2012
-All Day – Exhibitor/Merchant Fair
-All Day – Free Tennis, Basketball, European Football/Soccer Games
-12pm slt – DJ Anakin

Saturday, August 11, 2012
-All Day – Exhibitor/Merchant Fair
-All Day – Free Tennis, Basketball, European Football/Soccer Games
-11 am slt – Last Man Standing Aviation Contest

Sunday, August 12, 2012
-11am slt – L’Amour Management Sports Fashion Show
-2pm slt – DJ TBD

Jun 19 2012

My Trip InWorldz: The Trippest Place Ever!

Last night I took another trip into the virtual world InWorldz, remembering that I didn’t actually get to see any locations a part from the newcomer friendly landing zone. I logged in with my Imprudence viewer, which I find using Snapshot_007a lot easier than the default viewer and began my search for a good chill out location, I found two clubs that were empty and didn’t really have much to offer but then, I stumbled onto THE most trippy, weird yet really awesome place ever! It is an art sim called Area 54 and I was lucky enough to land when the owner of the place was there.

In Second Life there are a lot of talented and creative builders, I meet and work with  some of them on  daily basis, but this guy, he takes it to a whole new level. His name is Thoth Jantzen and at first glance his avatar looks like a weird mix between Hellraiser’s Pinhead if he were let loose in the Tron Universe.

There is simply no way to explain how creatively brilliant this place is without swearing. It is simply some place that has to be seen to believed.

It is powerful, so magnificent that it actually comes with a health warning! I am not lying, and I am not joking! You are warned against coming to the sim of your suffer from seizures or if you are epileptic due to the rapid flashing lights and the constant changing shapes and colours. So for those of you who can’t come to the sim, I’ll show you some awesome and crazy things that happen in this place, although I don’t really think my pictures can do this place any justice.

Snapshot_012.The Wormhole, the colourful entrance to Area 54.

Next is the:

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Snapshot_001

Snapshot_002

Snapshot_004

Snapshot_006

And there is:

Snapshot_008

Snapshot_009

Snapshot_010

and there is so much more.

By the way the music is awesome, it’s a mix between Trance, House, and Club music. It fits in with the psychedelic atmosphere because the way the sim itself reacts (the lights, the changing of the changes  and everything else) depends on what kind of music is playing. You need the music. For example  there is one song called ‘IBM’ by Rechenzentrum, it is basically the Hal9000 from the 2001: A Space Odyssey singing Daisy while its beginning to malfunction. It is creepy as hell and because of this the walls seem as if they are starting to malfunction as well. Snapshot_015Snapshot_016

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However according to Thoth isn’t as complicated as I made it out to be, it plays what ever is on the video/media and since videos normally  go with the music they are placed with it made sense.

Either way I still think this place is brilliant and worth getting an InWorldz account to check out!

Jun 15 2012

Farewell +DV8+

We at the Torch SL Guide have some bad news, our beloved Cyber, Goth, Punk Store +DV8+ Is closing. In this current economy stores in virtual worlds are suffering just as much as those in the real world. Although there are multiple reasons why a store with in Second Life would close, I am glad to say that it isn’t because of economical issues why +DV8+ is leaving us. Of course not, they are the most successful store within their genre! Still it is very sad to see them go, no more ‘This Week @ +DV8+’, no more Twisted Hunts, (maybe, we don’t know if the Twisted Hunt will be leaving us as well),  and no more sitting in +DV8+ while writing articles and listening to Goth World Radio  (as I am doing right now).

So, there is a Clearance Good Bye Sale going on, right now, where everything is 50L$ … well almost everything is DV8_001and will continue until they close. I am not sure when this will be so, getting there as soon as you can might be a good idea.

Vasha & Dysturbed Sin, we will miss you, your store has played the soundtrack to many Torch articles ( and my university dissertation), your knowledge of hunts helped us with our very first SL hunt, and your store and networks paved the way for The Torch SL Guide follow  and make networks of our own. For this we are grateful and we will miss you.

The Torch SL Guide, +DV8+ Deviant Forever

Get Twisted +DV8+ Hunt

Goth, Punk & Cyber Culture in Second Life

Twisted Hunt – The Pay Off

Twisted Hunt Review – Seriously Twisted 

Twisted Hunt – Unseelie 

Here comes the Hunts 

Chillin @ DV8

Super update: THE TWISTED HUNT WILL CONTINUE YES!!!!!

Another update: As a final farewell, Fashion + Freebies for Men gathered many deviants to pay homage to the store

Jan 17 2012

24 Hour Black Out In Protest To New Internet Censoring bill.

Well known sites such as Wikipedia will shut down their sites in less than 13 hours in protest to the next American internet Censorship bill.  The proposed legislation called the SOPA or Stop Online Piracy Act, was introduced in the United States House of Representatives in October of 2011 by House Judiciary Committee Chair Representative Lamar Smith and a group of 12 co-sponsors.  The bill will change the way we use the internet  as well as companies who relay on it by barring online advertising networks and payment facilitator from doing business with website that might be involved with copyright infringement. It could also bar search engine websites from find them.

For more information of the Wikipedia black out Click here

Jan 8 2012

Reality: Second Life & The People

Second Life is a reflection of the people who use it, and as SL grows there are problems that grow too. Drama is often something that  plagues the SL world. At times it seems that everyone is out for themselves, especially when money is involved. Second Life is a game that allows you to be creative, build and sell what you make, but there is also a sore side to it. To some people this is real and a good way to make money, and the level of  anonymity means that  people do get away with a lot more than they would  get away with in real life. Racism, griefing along with others things do happen a lot, unfortunately newcomers are normally blamed for what ever happens due to the fact that SOME newcomers are normally the offenders.

Money and reputation means a lot in Second Life, and a lot of people, communities and others, will play dirty to get what they want. For example, we came across an Roleplay school who went as far as to trick, steal and backstab their way into getting students by  trying to get rid of competing schools and communities. Why? Because they are able to charge students that attends their school 400Lindens or 1.90 USD per student. This has caused a riff between other schools and what makes it unbelievable is that they can continue to do this because as soon as problems appear they can simple change their name and start a new. It completely wrecks the  harmless eco-system of Second Life, taking what would normally be fun and enjoyable, and turning it into something that ruins lives and makes it uncomfortable for everyone involved.

The same things happen with relationships, because of the level of anonymity in Second Life, some people do come to Second Life for sex and nothing else, but what they seem to forget is that behind every avatar is a real person. There are people who use the ability to make alts (alternative avatars) to carry on affairs even though they are promised to another. Yes, Second Life is just another video game but does not stop the hurt that can be felt by those who are affected by this. An example of this is a guy we came across who would date a woman and if things did not go the way he wanted them to go, he would simply delete the avatar he made and start a new with another avatar.

Second Life isn’t a game to some, it is a way of making money and making a life. No matter what you do in SL, always remember that behind every avatar is another person with feelings,who is here to relax and take time off of their hectic real lives. Treat them with the respect and understanding that you would want them to show you.

Sep 19 2011

Login 2 Life: Linking Virtual World with the Real World

When you accept a life in Second Life, believe it or not you are opening yourself to the many different wonders of this virtual space. By signing up and creating an avatar you are accepting everything that comes with “living” in Second Life. Whether it be good or bad. When Linden Labs created the Grid, I am sure that they did not realize the kind of potential their little game would develop into. It has become a focus for a postmodern look at what life actually is. Postmodern meaning the Residents of Second Life have taken this simple game and turned it into another world that seemingly mimics our real world. Though for some residents it isn’t their Second Life any more, but their first.

Four years ago Daniel Moshel created Login2Life, a documentary that showed life in virtual worlds and our fascination with it. Featuring singers, Gentle Heron (who is one of the founders for Virtual Ability) and other Second Life residents. It shows the uses that Second Life as well as other Virtual worlds have, from those who use it for innocent reason to those who use it for adult reasons.

Check out the trailer: Please Note That This Has Some Adult Material In It.