10 days left to save humanity

Superstruct game.

Superstruct runs for only 10 more days.

Due to the nature of the game, it’s still not too late to join in, though some may find the task even more daunting than when the game began. Superstruct is difficult to navigate. Though several superstructs have been put together for this express purpose, there is no single, compact point from which to view the game, no easy and comprehensive way to search the collection. Additionally, there’s either quite a bit of duplication of effort, or people have not been sufficiently able to explain how their superstruct differs from other very similar efforts – this makes researching the results doubly difficult.

6452 players. 488 superstructures. Sounds good, considering the nature of the game.

Score: 8196. Current Survival Horizon: 2051. Ouch. Looks like we haven’t significantly impacted our survival horizon. Still, 10 days to go!

Here’s a random selection of superstructures, intended to give an overview of the types of superstructures that have been created thus far.

The Common Purpose Engine

“Large-scale problems do not require large-scale solutions. They require small-scale solutions within a large-scale framework.”

This superstruct is working to reduce carbon emissions from energy production while still keeping everyone fed and keeping necessary technologies running. An open-source online carbon/energy monitoring system is being combined with national systems of Tradable Energy Quotas (see www.teqs.net).  Energy usage by homes and businesses will be closely monitored to ensure that a minimum of energy is being used to reduce carbon emissions.

Badge Winner! Longbroading
The Rooftop Cultivation Association
“Feeding ourselves, one apartment block at a time.”

This superstructure relies on the concept of using rooftops, balconies and other small areas for gardening, along with the idea of vertical farming, in order to produce food within cities. They are looking for marketing folk to assist with the push to get people interested and active, as there has been quite some interest in the past with little activity.

Badge Winner! Cooperation Radar
EDUCYCLE
“Changing the world one student at a time!”

Educycle is all about giving and getting a free education. Groups are set up online through yahoogroups; then there are local groups, moderated by local volunteers, set up in participating towns. Each person shares what knowledge they have in an accessible way, and has access to the knowledge of the rest of the superstructure.

Badge Winner! Multi-Capitalism
Foundation of Hope
“Every mission needs a foundation.”

This superstructure is primarily about the delivery of hope to other SEHIs and other people across the planet. Additionally, hope is transmitted not only just by being hopeful, but by telling stories of hope, helping by talking to other people one-on-one, and by providing help in other forms – there is a section in which people can ask for help, and in which offers of help can be made.

Badge Winner! Influency
Outposts of One
“Together we are no longer alone.”

This superstructure is all about connecting people, especially those who are geographically or physically unable to connect with others. People are invited both to connect through this superstructure and to contribute ideas as to how to connect people so that no-one is left out.

Badge Winner! Mobbability
Everyday Heroes
“Everyday people saving the world.”

Join Everyday Heroes and become an everyday hero! Take a form of transport that produces fewer carbon emissions, help out a neighbour, give to someone in your area who is in need, tell stories of hope for the future, and have dinners for 12 people (12 is the limit for the number of people meeting in ReDS (Respiratory Distress Syndrome) areas).

Badge Winner! Signal/Noise Management
Assembly12
“Making casual social contact safe again — 12 bodies at a time.”

On the recommendation of the World Health Organisation to reduce the number of people meeting in any given space to 12, this superstructure is focussing its efforts on ways to implement this idea. City planners, health specialists, and people to come up with alternative ways to meet, educate and socialise are asked to join.

“Casual social contact in the time of ReDS is no different than casual sex last century during the initial outbreaks of AIDS”.

Badge Winner! Mobbability

Extended Family

“Straddling the global/local divide.”

The idea here is that people have more interest in and are more invested in people that they care for – and that immediate families and blood-relations need not be the limit of those we care for. We need to connect with people beyond our immediate surroundings and local areas, to interact with and care for people across the globe.

Badge Winner! Longbroading
Portable Energy
“Produce your own Power.”

People are encouraged to find personal ways to produce energy for running their homes, if not to produce energy for the wider grid. Solar cells, wind-farming, and human power efforts are all encouraged.

Badge Winner! Longbroading
Ancient Knowledge
“Preserving the past, connecting the present, and safeguarding the future—by conserving, respecting, and sharing the knowledge of the ancients.”

This superstructure has been put together in the expectation that there will be failures in our energy supply and/or global information systems, and that we will lose access to the knowledge we possess now. We need to prepare for disaster, and keep information, especially that concerning basic survival techniques, alive and available.

Badge Winner! Longbroading
Geocaching: 2019
“I swear! I left it right there!”

The idea behind this superstruct is to take the concept of geocaching, placing caches of goods – emergency supplies, medkits, food, batteries, information and reports – around in a distributed fashion, so that people can have access to necessary supplies without needing to have face-to-face contact. Older technologies can be used for this, so that GPSes need not be used.

The New Modesty
“Changing fashion and customs to prevent the spread of ReDS.”

Loose-flowing clothing covering the body to reduce the incidence of insect bites, face masks to reduce air-based transmission of disease and other changes to dress are promoted here. It is recommended that customs such as handshakes be replaced with the bow. All this is to reduce the spread of ReDS.

Badge Winner! Longbroading
Bright Green
“Bright Green Tech, education, and community meals.”

Bright Green technologies embrace solutions that are environmentally sensitive, but technologically sophisticated. Sustainability, literacy and connectivity are key.

Badge Winner! Cooperation Radar
Superstruct Classifieds
“Who needs what?”

We provide a classifieds system, so anyone with a specific need can easily find help within the superstructure structure.

Badge Winner! Open Authorship

These superstructures are overflowing with wondrous ideas that could – and perhaps should – be implemented now, rather than in 10 years time. However, when that time comes, hopefully exercises like this will have taught us how to cooperate and collaborate far better than we do now.

Gatheryn – MMO / casual world hybrid

A potential new MMO kid on the block for 2009 is Gatheryn, the first title under development by San Francisco based MindFuse Games. They state that genre-wise, Gatheryn is “very steampunk-ish, with a deep story and setting reminiscent of the Victorian period.”

Although it’s an immersive MMO, MindFuse see Gatheryn’s key difference as its casual gaming focus rather than long-term grinding through levels. There’s some real cross-over with casual worlds – each player receives their own virtual space (apartment) which can be customised along with their avatar. There’s also a number of payment tiers – from casual play options right through to “extended community building and exploration”. There’s also the usual MMO features like a marketplace for trading goods and skill mastery challenges.

Graphically, it’s certainly competitive:

We’ll follow Gatheryn’s development over coming months. You can register for news updates and future beta invites here.

The Big Spaceship lands

If you’ve been following Second Life, you’ll know usability issues have been key. As we’ve repeatedly rehashed here, 2008 was cited by Linden Lab as the year for improving the Second Life experience. There’s quite rightly been criticism of the number of issues outstanding with the user experience.

The tide may be turning on that front, with Linden Lab announcing the engagement of ‘interactive design agency’ Big Spaceship to improve Second Life’s ‘first hour’ experience.

Big Spaceship do have some form in the sphere, having played a pivotal role with the 30 Days of Night immersive game. There’s no firm timeframes for when we’ll see the improvements. Like any user interface changes, the challenge will be the get a balance between simplicity for new users and the more complex needs of longer term Second Life residents. Hopefully they’ve already had a browse of some great innovations already created by Second Life residents.

If you’ve got your own suggestions – add them on the Second Life forum thread devoted to the topic.

Rezzable scale back Second Life presence

Rezzable are arguably one of the most dynamic and innovative content creators in Second Life – a reason we’ve covered their new builds over the past 18 months. Today on the Rezzable blog, CEO Jonathan Himoff (SL: RightAsRain Rimbaud) announced a scaling back of Rezzable’s presence due to the OpenSpace pricing issue. Himoff is quite emphatic on the specifics:

We are very concerned that the Second Life economy from our perspective (not the 67% of growth part that CEO Mark Kingdon sees) is flat and this “void crisis” will have a very negative effect on non-land and non-porno sales inworld. We further, are not convinced, that Linden Lab is doing anything constructive to 1) keep people inworld or 2) market/promote SL to attract new users. Recent announcement from LInden Lab indicate that the company is focusing on enterprise and government markets were it sees better potential.

The Rezzable creations about to be deleted are The Cannery and The Dump – so check them out while you can. Losses like this are nearly always a shame, particularly builds of this quality.

Picture courtesy of Rezzable’s Flickr Group and thanks to Pavig Lok for the heads-up.

Metaplace: beta impressions

We first mentioned Metaplace over a year ago, and that year has been spent working toward a public beta. In the past week I received a beta invite and I’ve spent a number of hours using Metaplace. Overall, this is one impressive virtual world platform with enormous potential. It makes offerings like Google Lively seem just a little underdone to say the least.

My impressions of Metaplace so far:

1. Orientation as it should be

Any virtual world lives or dies on its initial impression to new users. Metaplace have obviously learnt from the mistakes of competitors by providing a highly integrated sign-up process. It looks slick but it flows nicely as well. The ‘Metaplace Hub’ is the central gathering point and it’s easily accessible at all times given the ever-present web interface.

2. Content creation is king

Second Life is arguably the best platform for unique content creation. Metaplace has some significant parallels but with a much simpler interface. From observing some of the chat amongst beta users there’s a lot more under the hood than initial impressions, but that simplicity is great for the inital learning curve. The tutorials are well integrated and The whole creation interface reminded me strongly of The Sims. For me the standout is the ability to directly import textures (tiles) from either your hard-drive or via a web image search courtesy of Yahoo – the imported images then merge seamlessly into your overall library.

Building structures is also fairly self-explanatory, with good preview functions. For users where content creation isn’t second nature, the interface will help them get started and hopefully more motivated to take on the deeper learning curve. Scripts, plugins, sprites and sounds are the key components you have to play around with once you’ve got a little more familiar with things. I’m no scripter so it’s hard to know how much complexity is built into the scripting options.

3. It has rewards hooks

From the moment you sign up to Metaplace, you start earning badges for standard activities like rating another user’s world or sending a private message. Metacreds are the currency of choice and they can be used to purchase virtual goods for your world. I don’t want to be repetitive, but the integration of the rewards gets a thumbs up. I also enjoyed the fact the rewards weren’t intrusive – it’s more an added bonus.

4. The user community is strong

Although by its very nature a beta means a smaller community, the one that exists seems strong. In the half dozen times I’ve logged in for an hour or so, there’s a constant stream of chat – mostly people answering questions from newer users on more complex content creation tasks. The web interface makes keeping in touch easy and a fairly standard ‘friends’ functionality exists.

5. Great Web / 3D integration

I’ve mentioned the integration aspects a few times, and with good reason. Because Metaplace runs within a standard web browser (I’ve used it successfully on both Firefox and Safari), it makes accessing the world so much simpler than say Second Life. Of course, there are trade-offs for that simplicity such as the graphical complexity of the world and arguably the degree of scripting that can occur. On the up-side, there’s good social networking tools, including the ability to follow any other user’s discussions via an RSS ‘Metastream’.

Another notable for Metaplace is its speed. Initial login takes around the same time as Second Life – the same for movement between areas. Managing private messages, rewards, profile info, avatar customisation and accessing tutorials all occur from the 2D web interface. It’s plain easy to use.

The sum up

The work put in by the Metaplace crew over the past year is really apparent. As a beta version, this is already an impressive virtual world platform that provides some meaty creative options for casual users that don’t want to spend days or weeks creating their space. If you haven’t signed up for a beta invite, consider doing so if you’re looking for something new in the virtual world space. If Metaplace had reached this stage of development 12-18 months ago, their success would have nearly been assured. In the explosion of new worlds under development now, competition is much tougher. That said, the quality of this offering is likely to win a lot of hearts and minds in the casual worlds space, whilst still intriguing the more hardcore content creator.

What do you think? Is Metaplace the sort of world you can see yourself spending significant time in? Does it open up options that other worlds currently can’t?

World of Warcraft polled on Obama and McCain

Humour is the intent of this video, and there’s certainly some funny sections. It also does again show the potential power of virtual worlds as a political platform.

If you don’t have time to watch – Obama polled 62% across the whole Azeroth population, with McCain been favoured by Alliance whilst Obama is the pick of the Horde. It’s been a popular video to watch: more than a quarter of a million views in the few days it’s been available.

The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

1. Marketing Week (UK) – Second Life appoints new Euro chief to boost business. “Second Life, the virtual world, has appointed Clare Rees to the new role of European marketing director. Rees will be responsible for boosting activity on the online platform, including adding more members and encouraging more businesses to use the virtual world as a promotional tool. She joins on October 31.”

2. The Times (South Africa) – Virtual worlds are coming to businesses near . “You’ve probably heard someone in your organisation argue that virtual worlds are the next big thing and that your company had better figure out how to use them before rivals do. At which point you may have thought: “Who’d do business in that terra incognita?”

3. ScienceDaily (USA) – Researchers Find New Way Of Measuring ‘Reality’ Of Virtual Worlds. “A research team, led by North Carolina State University’s Dr. Mitzi M. Montoya, has developed a new way of measuring how “real” online virtual worlds are – an important advance for the emerging technology that can be used to foster development of new training and collaboration applications by companies around the world.”

4. The Guardian (UK) – Elevator Pitch: Myrl builds bridges between virtual worlds. “Myrl is setting out to add a bit of ‘joined up thinking’ to virtual worlds, building a ‘social gateway’ that links competing worlds with the web, and with social networks. Founder and chief executive Francesco D’Orazio, who has a PHD in new media and sociology from the University of Rome, describes the concept as ‘outeroperability’, and says the ultimate goal is to turn the series of different virtual environments into one integrated playground.”

5. Forbes.com (USA) – Making Virtual Worlds Portable. “It’s just another day at work. You’re bored, unmotivated and have a few minutes to kill before lunch. You make your way over to Facebook, where you’re able to jump straight into the virtual world of your choosing–say, “Second Life”–without launching an application. You wander around the world, perhaps buy and sell a few virtual items, before jumping back to your profile page to see who’s left you a Wall post.”

6. Linux Insider (USA) – Virtual Training for Disaster Response. “A groundbreaking training tool for the global energy industry which uses virtual worlds to simulate potential disasters is attracting significant interest within days of its launch. The technology has been developed by Second Places, which has a base in Aberdeen, Scotland, and specializes in creating presences in online virtual worlds for corporate clients.”

7. iReport (USA) – Anger and Frustration Continue In SL. “Well when I posted my first article about the dramatic price increases for Openspace sims, I thought I would wait a couple of days to see what impact there is in the virtual world. It’s plain to see that feelings are running so high inworld that there is a very unhappy portion of the community that now feel alienated from Linden Labs. Albeit that the Lindens are keeping a close eye on the forums and trying to answer all they can on their Website at SecondLife.com. I find it hard to believe the reasons they give for the increases.”

8. CNN Money (USA) – Protest Threatens Linden Labs Profitability. “The denizens of Linden Lab’s virtual world Second Life are a passionate lot, so when the San Francisco company recently announced a steep purchase and maintenance fee increase on popular regions of their virtual land, sign-waving avatars were soon gathered outside Linden’s SL office, in protest. Some even set themselves on fire. There have been protests like this throughout the world’s five-year history, but without a competing virtual world offering all the unique features of Second Life, angry customers have largely stayed put, despite their grumblings.”

9. Gizmodo (Australia) – Things Virtual Reality China Will Not Prep You For (And What You Can Do Instead). “The U.S. is injecting a good $US1.25 million into a new “virtual training ground” for American diplomats who plan on working in China called “The Second China Project.” It’s a pretend city in Linden Lab’s Second Life that purportedly will help almost-expatriots get used to the environment in the world’s most populous nation. While some of the training activities sound useful (for instance, what to give as a gift, how to seat guests), as someone who’s lived in this country for years, I can tell you there are things that diplomats should get ready for that the virtual world doesn’t even seem to touch on.”

10. The Inquisitr (Australia) – Is Second Life screwing its users? Second Life, the once highly hyped virtual space has dropped from the radar this year for many. And yet for the lower coverage, the Second Life universe has continued, with new peak concurrency rates, and a loyal user base going on as they’ve always done. But lately, things are not great in Second Life. The company has slowly shifted its focus to high yield business services such as teleconferencing and the private “Second Life Grid” while giving less attention to its existing users. To make matters worse, Linden Lab has increased monthly fees for some users by 66%, resulting in large scale protests within Second Life itself.”

Linden Lab’s communication channels – broad but scattered

Hot on the heels of the controversial OpenSpaces announcement, Linden Lab have posted a roundup of communication channels for Second Life residents.

It’s a fair hodge-podge of channels, from Twitter to RSS and web. To be fair, Linden Lab aren’t claiming it’s an integrated strategy and there’s certainly a lot of options for residents to glean information. It’s just that in-world communications from Linden Lab remain infrequent and the 2D ones are scattered. On checking out the

There’s no doubt there’s some activity behind the scenes at Linden Lab to improve things – but determining whether it’s a broad effort or some frantic efforts by an overworked few remains the challenge. We’d love to hear you thoughts – in an ideal world, what communications strategy would you like to see from Linden Lab?

Weekend Whimsy

1. Protest – Second Life

2. Halloween in Second Life – 2008

3. Halloween Humbug

(This one is from Aussie SL content developers Top Dingo)

4. Lill Paradise Championship Rodeo 2008

Openlife sees benefit of Linden Lab price rise

The past 48 hours have been fascinating to observe. Since the announcement by Linden Lab of price rises for OpenSpaces sims in Second Life, there have been protests, petitions and the odd paragraph of doom-saying. It’s been one of the larger resident backlashes since the gambling and banking bans, and some are voting with their feet already.

Bettina Tizzy has reported on a not insignificant influx of new registrations to the Openlife grid, run by aussie Steve Sima (profile here). The number is more than 800 since the announcement, taking the resident count above the thirty-two thousand mark. (Update: Steve Sima states that more than 2000 have now registered since the Linden Lab announcement)

That’s small change compared to Second Life but it’s a nice base from which to grow – something we discussed back in September. It’s a grid not as developed as Second life but that gap continues to close. The challenge for Openlife will increase if the spike in new user registrations continues – as Linden Lab only know too well, concurrency and scalability are big hurdles to jump. To that end, a development office in Taiwan is in the process of being set up, so it appears Openlife is a grid on the move.

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