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The egalitarian streak through Second Life

June 12, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Over the past 24 hours I’ve come across some great stuff being generated by Australians in Second Life, and the best thing is it’s not necessarily about money. There are two examples from the past day in particular that come to mind.

The first is directly related to the call by Rails Bailey for formation of an Artisan’s guild to provide assistance with building projects of varying sizes. If that idea turns out like some of the more informal networks I’ve seen across SL it’s likely to be a win-win: new users get expertise for very reasonable cost whilst the builders get increased experience and exposure to a wider community of users.

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The second is not something I’m able to disclose in full, but there’s an Australian SL user doing some really great work that will benefit the Australian SL community and we’re looking forward to covering the developments as they occur.

Filed Under: Australian News, Op-ed, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

Call for Australian Artisan’s Guild

June 11, 2007 by 2 Comments

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On the SLOz forums, Aussie SL resident Rails Bailey has put forward an interesting proposition:

“When I first joined Sl, it was a wild mystery ride. Thankfully a few good people helped me on the journey.

As I travel through SL I keep meeting lots of good people who are willing to assist or offer good advice.

I have been thinking about my journey and how new Sl’ers might need some help in establishing themselves in SL. Hence this concept.

I am looking at starting an Artisan Guild (Group). The aim being to attract experienced builders who would be willing to help anybody in SL with building projects of all shapes and sizes.

Obviously such services from experienced Artisans would not come free, and such a Guild would need a strong code of Ethical Practice.

I am canvassing opinion on this concept and would greatly appreciate input from all Second Life citizens, irrespective of their knowledge base within SL.

My name in SL is Rails Bailey.

Looking forward to your responses”

It would appear such a guild, if created thoughtfully, could provide a great service for new SL users. What are your thoughts? Respond here or on the forums

Filed Under: Australian News, For the new user, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

ABC: Island damage ‘server error’ not griefing

June 7, 2007 by 6 Comments

The ABC’s Abi Goldflake has clarified the cause of the damage done to ABC Island on 22nd May:

“We’ve now finished investigating the ‘griefing’ episode on ABC Island on 22 May with Linden Labs. I’d like to set the record straight publicly here. It was definitely not a deliberate act of vandalism but was in fact a server error caused by the island crashing during a routine back-up. Linden Labs were able to restore the island to its normal state through a rollback a few hours after we requested it. Despite some inaccurate stories in the press, there was no cost or long-term damage to the ABC Island. As I said at the time, we’re very grateful that we have such a strong community on the island who alerted us to the problem and were on hand all day to help with the situation.”

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As we reported at the time, we believed the damage was unknown rather than griefing-related. Either way it has indeed been a great example of members of the Australian SL community working together.

Filed Under: Australian News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , ,

Maddie McCann campaign makes SL appearance

May 16, 2007 by 2 Comments

UK newspaper, The Liverpool Echo has created a poster originally designed for dissemination via email. Whilst wandering around the Stanlee sim which hosts the Liverpool replica, I noticed Maddie McCann had entered Second Life:

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Imagine the power of a SL-based missing persons viewing area.

Filed Under: General News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

Loneliness rather than community in SL?

May 13, 2007 by 1 Comment

Warren Ellis is featured on the Reuters site talking about the contradiction of a virtual world groaning under the weight of its popularity whilst that same world contains massive tracts of regularly uninhabited buildings.

If you avoid the casino / nightclub / sex club areas then odds are you aren’t going to see great crowds of avatars. It’s a result of the current challenges for SL with lag / concurrency and bandwidth. If you can only fit 50-100 avatars on a sim then you’re never going to see crowding unless it’s in a very confined space – like a nightclub. So although the main drawcards may be music, dancing, sex (or all three) in those areas, the fourth may be the enhanced feeling of being part of a group.

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One of the strengths of SL however is the communities of interest that develop – even on a geographical basis. There’s not a homogenous Australian community in SL but the relatively small number of active Aussies means that we do tend to meet together more often. Do you feel you’re part of a community in SL? If so, tell us all about it.

Filed Under: Op-ed, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

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