Wednesday, August 31, 2011

nina node news

nina wants, well...see for yourself.

"how many people are familiar with utherverse? this is that red light game yes?"
[IMG]
"i knew there were quite a few that came from the rlc. im just thinking about how a non-sl virtual world can be better represented on gV."
"can we please avoid drama in the no drama thread?"
[IMG]

"my goal wouldnt be so much an active recruitment exercise so much as an effort to make gV more relevant to existing utherpeeps. im not really concerned how it might 'go over' so far as drama and such. im not really into that sort of thing. i simply see something that needs to be done and am looking to do it."

"i cant believe we dont have a list of all known virtual worlds! see, this is what i was on about earlier. gV needs a list of virtual worlds at minimum, and a detailed review of each of them at best."

"the question is if theyd rather have me cluelessly importing rss and posting not only shallow content, but possibly inaccurate or outdated content... or perhaps give me a bit of guidance?"

"this isnt about direct recruitment. its about gV fitting its role better. sure, we could just roll out a dead empty node for every virtual world running. but i was thinking more in line with articles or write ups on different things. maybe even using the gV integrated wiki for something. whatever it is, it must be done right. there is no super rush to get anything done immediately."



Links:
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/utherverse.2496/
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/strange-new-worlds.2504/#post-113604
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/utherverse-redlight-center-virtual-world-on-thegrid-a-mature-area17-nsfw-red-thread.1180/

Prokofy Neva Interviews GreenLantern Excelsior of The Justice League United (JLU)




Prokofy Neva said...
 "...I don't feel that the Justice League United (JLU) got to tell their side of the story, in part because GreenLantern Excelsior, a leader, was suspended from the forums for 'disclosure' or publishing real-life information (in this case, of the already-self-exposed RL information of Deadly Codec, who died of AIDs).

GreenLantern Excelsior said...
"First, please don't call us vigilantes. JLU is a Neighborhood Watch in Second Life. All we do is observe and report. Linden Lab takes any enforcement action that's necessary."
 

(You know it's epic when the SLU summary thread is 3 pages.)


Links:
http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2011/08/interview-with-greenlantern-excelsior-the-whistleblowers-are-just-doxing-each-other-like-a-circular-.html
http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2011/08/sluniverse-summer-privacy-panic-blockbuster-or-the-griefers-violin-concerto-vs-the-jlu.html
http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/general-sl-discussion/63541-summary-thread-jlu-harvesting-ip.html
http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/general-sl-discussion/63339-jlu-harvesting-ip-addresses.html
http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/general-sl-discussion/63716-jlu-enemies-list-list-people.html
http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/general-sl-discussion/54211-lobotomy-some-tights-streaming-comic.html
http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/members/greenlantern+excelsior.html
http://www.secondcitizen.net/Forum/showthread.php?t=14597
http://www.secondcitizen.net/Forum/member.php?u=774
http://alphavilleherald.com/2011/08/jlu-shamed-green-lantern-excelsior-turns-his-back-on-sluniverse.html
http://alphavilleherald.com/2011/08/jacon-cortes-slams-justice-league-unlimited.html
http://alphavilleherald.com/2011/08/palefires-open-letter-to-kalel-venkman.html
http://alphavilleherald.com/2011/09/interview-with-green-lantern-excelsior-of-the-jlu.html
http://www.myspace.com/greenlanternexcelsior
http://twitter.com/#!/GLExcelsior
https://my.secondlife.com/greenlantern.excelsior
http://kryptonradio.com/2011/04/10/stark-reality-exclusive/
http://kryptonradio.com/2011/08/31/truth-and-lies-the-league-response/
http://thelistsl.blogspot.com/
http://mylifeinsecondlife.blogspot.com/2009/10/just-mortal-with-potential-of-superman.html
http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2011/09/the-eyes-of-texas-are-upon-you.html


ETA1:

"Spy vs. Spy: Kalel Venkman Replies to Query About CheerGirl's Allegations" by Prokofy Neva on Second Thoughts


ETA2:

Pixeleen Mistral interviews (and harangues) GreenLantern Excelsior for The Alphaville Herald: "Interview With Green Lantern Excelsior of the JLU"


Pixeleen Mistral said...
"you guys need to stop doing secret things - because there is a large group that does not trust you at all now and that groups seems unlikely to give up anytime soon"

GreenLantern Excelsior said...
"They will never give up as long as JLU exists."

Imnotgoing Sideways said...
"Preeeeeeeecisely. (^_^)
So, please, stop existing and let the good people of Second Life have fun, for once. (^_^)y"

Internet Death Threats


How do you know when they are the real thing and not just the hyperbole du jour?

Has Mulch been issuing them?  Veiled or otherwise?  Is he "ashamed of his history"?  What is his "history"?

Is Clancy ashamed of whatever it is he is "planning to do"?

Will there be a confrontation?  A confession?  Will this story blow up or will it stay "off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush"? Confidentially inquiring minds want to know.

Links:
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/so-i-couldnt-ignore-tarzan-anymore.2497/page-2#post-113263
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/so-i-couldnt-ignore-tarzan-anymore.2497/page-2#post-113269
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/so-i-couldnt-ignore-tarzan-anymore.2497/page-2#post-113520
http://mulched.blogspot.com/2007/08/internet-death-threats.html

Virtual Worlds

How many are there?  Who do they cater to?  What are the pros and cons of each?  What kind of reviews do they get?  Who has this info?  Where's a list with good and quick at-a-glance info and links?  There are gaming blogs and sites all over the place, right?

We had a list of virtual worlds on RLetc.com that was pretty extensive, some 30 or 40 sites or more on the list, but it would take me a while to build up a list like that again, I think, assuming I should decide to, that is.

I'll start here.


  1. 3D Chat
  2. Active Worlds
  3. Blue Mars
  4. Cybertown
  5. DC Universe Online
  6. Dungeons & Dragons Online
  7. Entropia Universe
  8. EVE Online
  9. IMVU
  10. Inworldz
  11. Muse
  12. OpenSim
  13. Second Life
  14. Star Trek Online (STO)
  15. Utherverse
  16. World of Warcraft



I think I'll end there too.


There's a lot of 'em about!  (I say we get together a petition to get Scott Jennings to do a review and keep it current.  Who's with me?  lol  I'd try to wrangle Stephie, but I'm averse to claw marks.)


Here are some sites that list and review virtual worlds:


  1. Game Ogre
  2. mmohut Game List
  3. Virtual World
  4. Virtual Worlds 3D
  5. Virtual Worlds Review




Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Mars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_Online
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Online
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_life
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_Online
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utherverse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Warcraft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_world
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_environment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massively_multiplayer_online_game
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMORPG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Interaction_via_MMORPGs
http://acrossthegridwithlindal.blogspot.com/2011/07/other-worlds.html
http://iliveisl.com/
http://www.virtualworld.com/
http://mmohuts.com/gamelist
http://www.virtualworldsreview.com/

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The path that led me to a great guy...(and a woman who loves her cat)

1.  I subscribe to Broken Toys, so I saw this, "OMG OMG OMG OMG GIRLS YOU WONT BELIEVE THIS I ALMOST DATED A GAMER AND I *LIVED*," and naturally had to look.

2.  I clicked a link that took me to an article called ""My Brief OkCupid Affair With a World Champion Magic: The Gathering Player” UGH UGH UGH" on NerdPuddle (great name) written by Kiala who describes herself thusly* in her bio:
"Kiala are a perfessionel righter. You may have seen her words on Nerdist, io9, SFWeekly, the Portland Mercury, GeekWeek, and Heartless Doll. She hates being sober and would marry her cat if the goddamn GOP would let her. She loves you in your private parts."
She sounded cute and her pic was cute... maybe Jon Finkel should hook up with her.


3.  I clicked on the links that led to the original article on Gizmodo, "My Brief OkCupid Affair With a World Champion Magic: The Gathering Player," which appears to have been written by Alyssa Bereznak (the editor of Gizmodo, can that be right?**), and Finkel's Wikipedia page.  (ETA:  Reported unedited version of the original article.)


4.  I discovered Finkel, a 33-year-old, award-winning, professional Magic: The Gathering player.


I'll tell you what I learned about the guy, and it's not what the author of the Gizmodo article learned, which she says was...
"Google the shit out of your next online date. Like, hardcore."
Fair enough.


This is what I learned:



1.  Jon Finkel is an alpha male.
2.  Jon Finkel is a closer.  (Jon Finkel to the author of the original article:  "You should go out with me. :)"  Result?  She went out with him.)
3.  Jon Finkel is probably a good conversationalist.  ("We started talking about normal stuff—family, work, college.")
4.  Jon Finkel is probably a good date.  ("We met for a drink later that week." "Jon had bought us tickets for a one-man show based on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer's life story."  Okay, the choice of subject matter could definitely be up for debate...creepy, ironic, innocent, funny?  Bet it made for great post-show conversation.  Regardless, the man bought drinks and two tickets to a show, showed up, dressed appropriately, on time.  He appears to have been both courteous and chatty.  Sounds good to me.)
5.  Jon Finkel is a real man.  (He has a beard and eats goat cheese.)
6.  Jon Finkel has friends and admirers.
7.  John Finkel, in the words of someone who does not even appreciate him, is "widely revered" within his professional circle.  He's even been compared to Chuck Norris.  (See # 1.)
8.  Jon Finkel is kind of famous.  (The man has his own Wikipedia page and people compare him to Chuck Norris.)
9.  Jon Finkel is a good sport with a sense of humor and perspective.  (Finkel Tweets:  "Apparently I'm enough of a (grade d) celebrity that even my uneventful dates make the news." "Id like to thank everyone for their messages, and Im sorry I cant reply to them all - especially all the date requests from cute nerdy girls" "At that point I just thought she was a nice girl, which I still mostly think. God knows we've all made poor decisions in our lives.")
10.  Jon Finkel is an investor.  (Which means he has money and he may even know how to use it.)
11. Jon Finkel is a managing partner at the hedge fund Landscape Capital Management. ("Jon was thin and tall, dressed in a hedge fund uniform with pale skin and pierced ears.")
12.  Jon Finkel is highly-motivated, passionate about something and successful.  He also appears to be well-groomed, considerate, gentlemanly, generous and likable.  Ya know, a good date, possibly even "a catch."
13.  Jon Finkel will probably get a lot of dates out of this unfortunate article.  Good for him.


Seriously, I read an article in which a highly-motivated young man with passion and interests and gainful employment took a woman out on a date, bought her drinks, took her to a show and made nice conversation and...what was the problem again?  From where I sit, which I admit is way over here, it doesn't look like the problem was his.  I think he can count himself lucky she not only cut bait so quickly, but so widely advertised his availability.

(Btw, many of the comments I've seen about the article are in line with mine only much more succinct, i.e. "I don't get it.")

p.s.
Don't be mislead by the title.  I'm ten years older than this guy and I live on the other side of the country.  He's all yours, girls.  (Besides, I'm rooting for Kiala).

p.p.s.
Young women?  There will likely come a time in your life when you appreciate the fact that your man has a hobby that keeps him busy.  Consider men who play golf.  Then consider women who hand their men their golf bags and push them out the door at least once a week.  Think on that a while.

p.p.p.s.
Many, many people in the U.S. play games these days, even, I know this will surprise you, online games, card games and fantasy roleplay games.  Not all of them have won over $300,000 playing games though.  And not all of them are number one with the trophies to prove it.

p.p.p.p.s.
Going on dates with people you've met on OKCupid is not a hack or infiltration.  It's, ya know, meeting people online and then going on dates with them.  You might be surprised how many people do it.

p.p.p.p.p.s.
Is it a lie or sin of omission to not mention in your dating profile that you are the world champion of a game?  No, don't be silly.  It is, however, a great topic of conversation for a date.

*I don't care what they say I'm using it anyway.
** I ask because she writes for Gizmodo and dates via OKCupid...and she thinks Finkel's a geek and that he "inflitrated"...do I really need to explain this?

Links:
http://www.brokentoys.org/2011/08/29/omg-omg-omg-omg-girls-you-wont-believe-this-i-almost-dated-a-gamer-and-i-lived/
http://nerdpuddle.com/my-brief-okcupid-affair-with-a-world-champion-magic-the-gathering-player-ugh-ugh-ugh/
http://gizmodo.com/5833787/my-brief-okcupid-affair-with-a-world-champion-magic-the-gathering-player
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/08/my-okcupid-affair-with-a-world-champion-magic-the-gathering-player/
http://gizmodo.com/people/alyssaberez/
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/08/alyssa-bereznak-just-reminded-us-that-women-can-be-predators-online-too/
http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2011/08/29/full-disclosure-should-your-dating-profile-out-you-as-a-geek/
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20098934-501465.html
http://twitter.com/#%21/Veronica/status/108273465269813248
http://gizmodo.com/5818612/the-day-i-discovered-that-im-an-ok-cupid-asshole
http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/jyiaw/awesome_parody_of_the_atrocious_alyssa_bereznak/
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112671-An-Apology-to-Jon-Finkel
http://jezebel.com/5696882/horrible-online-dating-stories-to-keep-you-single
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DECaN66tm0k
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=104597
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a7/Shadowmage_infiltrator.jpg
http://twitter.com/#!/Jonnymagic00/status/108320602032570368
http://twitter.com/#!/Jonnymagic00
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/205984/20110830/alyssa-bereznak-gizmodo-magic-jon-finkel.htm
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2011/08/30/the-science-of-gawkers-nerd-baiting/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2011/08/30/online-dating-etiquette-101-dont-name-people-in-recounting-your-horror-stories/
http://www.blogworld.com/2011/08/30/revenge-of-the-nerds-why-baiting-your-readers-is-a-bad-idea/
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/08/magic_the_gathe.php
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/08/alyssa_bereznak_gizmodo_magic.php
http://canv.as/p/brhcd
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44341150
http://www.examiner.com/rpg-in-national/critical-fumble-the-real-motivation-behind-the-magic-dating-article-gone-awry
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/08/mamas-dont-let-your-babies-grow-up-to-date-alyssa-bereznak/
http://blog.newsok.com/nerdage/2011/08/30/jon-finkel-is-all-right/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/jon-finkel-magic-game-master-and-the-travails-of-dating-online/2011/08/30/gIQAHeIypJ_blog.html
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/08/alyssa_bereznak_gizmodo_magic.php?page=2
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/jz3u7/iama_jon_finkel_ask_me_anything/
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/alyssa-bereznak/1a/590/423
http://www.salon.com/author/alyssa_bereznak/index.html
http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/04/04/my_father_the_objectivist

ETA:  Just like not all dogs are poodles, not all Objectivists are your father.


Monday, August 29, 2011

Clancy "Tarzan" Sullivan, Morgan Genna, Interloper Yu, Oh my...

I'm so curious.  I must know more.  Who's got the inside scoop?  Kick down with it already.

(And yes, I've heard the story about alleged pervy PMs and pics.  I want the bigger picture.)




Bon mots:

Clancy Sullivan said...
"Suggestion: Make Second Life and this forum your hobby instead of the only reason you draw another breath, and it'll all work out well."

Clancy Sullivan said...
"We Mormons are discriminated against, though. Does LL think we're going to put up with this? Big Love on HBO isn't enough, we need multiple partner slots in SL"

Clancy Sullivan said...
"Mother Teresa was a tool for the advancement of Christianity which has historically done more to impoverish people than Wall Street and its direct agents have had a chance to. So, I'd have to choose Milken because he and his tribe have done less harm, at least so far."

Clancy Sullivan said...
"For those looking to get hardcore with their complaining please consider this: Hanes and Fruit of the Loom men's underwear typically sell for the same price yet the latter product is garbage compared to the former.
Wanna get all steamed up? This could be your issue."

Clancy Sullivan said...
"I got some junk mail today. One piece was an offer to enroll in medical school. The other was from a webhosting company telling me how I could become rich and famous as an internet forum administrator.
I'm having such a hard time deciding which career would be the most promising."

Clancy Sullivan said...
"Clancy is all me. He is a little more intelligent and he picks his battles more wisely but he still all me. "

Clancy Sullivan said...
"I don't call strangers sexual nicknames, though, unless I'm having sex with them."

Clancy Sullivan said...
"There is a little drama queen in all of us..."



Is it all "off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush"? Confidentially inquiring minds want to know.



Links:
Clancy Sullivan SLU Profile - http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/members/clancy+sullivan.html
Morgan Genna SC MKII Profile - http://www.secondcitizen.net/Forum/member.php?u=136
Morgan Genna SLU Profile - http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/members/morgan+genna.html
Tarzan / Clancy gV Profile - http://direct.gotvirtual.net/community/members/clancy.45/
Interloper Yu SLO Profile - http://z15.invisionfree.com/SL_Offworld_Forum/index.php?showuser=117
Interloper Yu RLetc Profile - http://www.rletc.com/member.php?832-Interloper-Yu
Star Fleet Command SL Quadrant Clancy Sullivan Profile - http://slquadrant.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=viewprofile&user=clancysullivan
SL Forum Archives, Clancy Sullivan - http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1259&bih=668&q=+site:forums-archive.secondlife.com+%22clancy+sullivan%22+second+life
SL Forum Archives, Morgan Genna - http://www.google.com/search?q=morgan+genna+site%3Aforums-archive.secondlife.com
Tarzan Headline on Forum Confidential - http://slconfidential.blogspot.com/2011/07/tarzan-loses-his-grip.html
Lucifer's Conjecture on SC MKII - http://secondcitizen.net/Forum/showpost.php?p=336657&postcount=84
TarzanTheApeMan Twitter Page - http://twitter.com/#!/TarzanTheApeMan

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Remember Catfish?

At least no one got shot in that story.



"Watch the full story on "The Sixth Sense," a "20/20" special, Sunday at 9 p.m. ET."

Boy meets girl online.  Boy turns out to be man.  Man kills rival for girl.  Girl turns out to be woman.  Families abandon man and woman.  Man goes to jail.  Woman goes home.  Gets back on the internet.

Links:
http://www.talhotblond.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOQHVyGtRoY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9WP3AgvDbE
http://abcnews.go.com/US/online-love-triangle-deception-end-murder/story?id=14371076
http://www.wired.com/politics/law/magazine/15-09/ff_internetlies
http://www.670kboi.com/rssItem.asp?feedid=114&itemid=29715812
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/tips-identifying-fake-facebook-profiles/story?id=14379498
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catfish_(film)

Keeping up with cross-forum drama?

Here.  You'll need these:

gotvirtual.net

re: Fester
re: Lucifer Baphomet
re: Vivianne Draper
Mulch Profile
uncle fester Profile
Mitch_Wexler Profile


secondcitizen.net

re: Mulch
OMFG MR NO MODERATION MODERATED ME!!!!!111111!!!
Mitch Wexler is a poopiehead
Towards a more "welcoming" SC#2.
Official Who Left SC and Came Back Thread
Mulch Profile
Uncle Fester Profile
Mitch_Wexler Profile


SLUniverse

Mulch Maker Profile
Uncle Fester Profile
Mitch Wexler Profile


Feted Inner Horde

Mulch Profile
Uncle Fester (Scy) Profile
Mitch_Wexler Profile

Friday, August 26, 2011

Life 2.0

Yes, I watched it.  I felt it focused exclusively on the problems of Second Life and did little-to-nothing to celebrate the positives.  I would have liked more balance and more substance.  I would like to have seen the inclusion of a live music artist like Guitar Zane or Senjata Witt, an artistic sim like ChouChou or Caffe Freud and truly helpful residents and sims like Vitolo Rossini and his Dogland and Professor Merryman and his Cypris Chat Village.  I would have liked experts, beyond Philip Rosedale, talking about the impact of virtual worlds on individuals and societies.

Variety review...
"While some may fault Spingarn-Koff (who often appears in the form of his own camera-wielding avatar) for focusing on the freakiest cases he could find, every thread here raises a provocative question about the ethics of online interactivity, and serves to demonstrate the Web's ability to both facilitate and destroy human relationships. And while it's not too hard to guess what the helmer thinks of his subjects and their quandaries, he maintains a scrupulously measured tone throughout, well aware that human eccentricity requires no embellishment."

The New York Times review...
"That doesn’t lessen the poignancy of the individual stories in Jason Spingarn-Koff’s film, but it does tend to make it feel as if you’re watching a judgmental reality show devoted to addiction, abuse, infidelity, financial woes and lack of exercise. Whether you’re predisposed to seeing Second Life as liberating or creepy, “Life 2.0” would have been more interesting and original if it, like its subjects, had dwelled more in the virtual world, and if it had told us more about that world’s mechanics and folkways."

It was still an interesting watch.  I did enjoy the part that focused on the virtual world lawyer working on the copyright case.  I would have liked a little more about that.

Variety review...
"For Detroit shut-in Asri Falcone, who spends almost every waking hour at her computer and uses Second Life to design and sell her own virtual fashion line, the world offers a genuine creative outlet and a steady source of income. Yet Falcone learns the pitfalls of e-commerce the hard way when her products are copied and stolen, igniting a fascinating discussion (with Second Life creator Philip Rosedale, among others) about copyright ownership and economic viability in cyberspace."

I also had one moment of wanting to reach into the screen and shake someone when the woman going through the divorce so she can have a real-life relationship with her Second Life boyfriend was so surprised that her young daughter had a negative reaction to that.

Variety review...
"Yet "Life 2.0's" most disturbing narrative involves a man and a woman whose avatars ("Bluntly" and "Amie") fall in love, and who decide to make their relationship a nonvirtual reality -- even though both are already married and live several thousand miles apart (she's in Westchester, N.Y., he's from Calgary). Scenes of Bluntly and Amie having pathetic-looking cybersex and wandering Second Life's beautifully artificial landscapes -- alternating with cringe-inducing footage of their real-life counterparts, who don't seem to be much more "there" than their avatars -- amount to a peerless study of how the Internet can foster seriously unhealthy levels of selfishness, infatuation and delusion."

Variety review...
"Early on, the handful of Second Lifers interviewed describe this interactive realm as so inviting, so time-consuming, a skeptical viewer might worry that the filmmakers are only giving it free publicity. To Spingarn-Koff's credit, such suspicions are almost entirely dispelled by the end of "Life 2.0," a stealth horror film that's all the more unsettling for giving its subject's surface appeal its proper due."

It's 88% fresh on "Rotten Tomatoes."


Links:
http://www.life2movie.com/
http://virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com/2011/08/life-20-on-oprah-winfrey-network.html
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117942201?refcatid=31
http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/movies/life-2-0-review.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
http://www.tvguide.com/News/OWNs-Life-Documentary-1036747.aspx
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/life_2_0/
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2010/01/second-life-at-sundance.html
http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/156015156.html
http://asrifalcone.blogspot.com/
http://chouchouholic.blogspot.com/
http://vitolo.wordpress.com/
http://cyprischat.org/
http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/other-web-sites/53958-cypris-chat-village.html
http://www.rletc.com/showthread.php?2969-The-Second-Life-Wow-Factor
http://www.rletc.com/showthread.php?2996-Senjata-Witt-Second-Life-Singer-Celtic-amp-Folk-Roots-Blues
http://www.rletc.com/showthread.php?3053-Guitar-Zane-Live-Music-in-Second-Life
http://www.rletc.com/showthread.php?3075-Artistic-amp-Musical-Performances-in-Second-Life
http://www.rletc.com/showthread.php?3124-Memento-mori...Remember-your-mortality...in-ChouChou

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Irony

Dispute Resolution Services








 
"This book introduces readers to the emerging and exciting world of virtual law. It examines current cases and legislation impacting virtual world providers and users, and makes predictions about the future application of current law. It addresses the application of intellectual property law (copyright, trademark, and patent), criminal law, property law, contract law, securities law, tax law, and civil procedure. It also provides practical advice to lawyers who wish to create a virtual world presence for their practice or who have clients with virtual world connections. The book includes extensive appendices listing in-world and web-based resources for practitioners and legal scholars."


  • Paperback: 461 pages
  • Publisher: American Bar Association; Reprint edition (April 4, 2008)


  "Benjamin Duranske is an attorney with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, where he focuses his practice on the emerging field of virtual law, intellectual property law, internet law, and litigation. As the author of Virtual Law: Navigating the Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds (American Bar Association, 2008), the first book on this emerging field, as well as numerous online and print articles on the subject, Mr. Duranske has helped define virtual law. He currently co-chairs the Committee on Virtual Worlds and Multiuser Online Games of the American Bar Association's Section of Science & Technology Law, which he helped establish. He is a frequent speaker on the subject of legal issues facing virtual world and game providers, software developers, content creators, and users. He co-chaired the first Virtual Law Conference, and founded the SL (Second Life(R)) Bar Association, an informal professional organization of attorneys and other legal professionals with an interest in virtual worlds.


Mr. Duranske's practice focuses on all aspects of intellectual property including patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, open source and Internet law. His areas of technical focus include virtual worlds, video games, social networks, computer software, user-generated content, e-commerce, and wireless telecommunications."




Links:
http://virtuallyblind.com/
http://virtuallawpractice.org
http://www.amazon.com/Virtual-Law-Navigating-Landscape-Worlds/dp/160442009X
http://www.amazon.com/Benjamin-Tyson-Duranske/e/B001JP104A
http://www.worldcat.org/title/virtual-law-navigating-the-legal-landscape-of-virtual-worlds/oclc/199467240/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true
Virtual law: navigating the legal landscape of virtual worlds - Google Books Result

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

"WE ARE LEE. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE."

I have Maryanne to thank for that one.



Links:
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/reddit-pervs-and-pedos-put-paid-to-no-more-loli-for-you.2418/page-14#post-111408
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/left-field.734/page-22#post-108739

Rumble in (TBD)

Rumble in Reno was such a success, it appears there may be plans for another Rumble, location to be determined.  This time it would be Mulch vs. Uncle Fester.  The back-up dancing chickens have not yet been cast.  Place your bets.  And remember, if Mulch comes at ya, you'll see him coming.

Links:
http://www.secondcitizen.net/Forum/showpost.php?p=392595&postcount=53
http://www.secondcitizen.net/Forum/showthread.php?p=392595#post392595
http://www.secondcitizen.net/Forum/showthread.php?t=14689
http://www.secondcitizen.net/Forum/showthread.php?t=14682
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/re-fester.2456/
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/mulch-vs-wad-ppv.1643/
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/mulch-waits-for-wad.1699/
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/pointless-drama-treadmill.1638/
http://fetedinnerhorde.com/forums

gV
re: Fester

SC MKII
re: Mulch
OMFG MR NO MODERATION MODERATED ME!!!!!111111!!!
Attention all Members, Applicants, and Alumni of the Feted Inner Horde Guild



ETA: Summary on gV.

I think it may have gone a little like this.

1. Uncle Fester sent Mulch a message asking about a name.
2. Mulch invited Uncle Fester to join Mulch's relatively new forum (FIH).
3. Uncle Fester joined that forum.
4. Uncle Fester gave it all some more thought and realized that he was offended because a) he felt guilted into joining the new forum and b) Lain (is Bams) was invited to join the forum before Uncle Fester was invited. (Attention all Members, Applicants, and Alumni of the Feted Inner Horde Guild)
5. Uncle Fester requested that his FIH account be deleted.
6. Mulch complied by banning the Fester FIH account (Scy).
7. Uncle Fester gave it all some more thought and realized that he was offended that his account was deleted via banning.
8. Uncle Fester said some unpleasant things to or about Imaya KitaMulch's girlfriend. The word "cunt" came up a couple times.
9. Uncle Fester involved Mulch's RL aunt/godmother, Vamp, who is the guild head and a major reason there is a FIH forum in the first place.
10. Uncle Fester posted about these perceived offenses on SC MKII. (OMFG MR NO MODERATION MODERATED ME!!!!!111111!!!)
11. Mulch was made aware of all of this and got annoyed and called Uncle Fester out here in this thread on gV.
12. Cross-forum drama continued publicly with threads in both gV and SC MKII with other posters having their say.
13. Uncle Fester declared Mulch the winner in the SC MKII thread.
14. Now we're doing the post-mortem.

I think that's it anyway.



ETA3: Vintage forum posting right here.  Quoting the "ignored" in an attempt to be clever.



Forum Administration Communication

nina said on gV:
"it may look like there is no intention of adding more smilies, but there actually is.
right now there isnt a good way to present a large number of smilie options though, so none have been added in some time. i am hopeful that will change though, so keep em coming :)"

That may not look like much, but that kind of thoughtful and proactive communication from our forum hosts is HUGE to me.  It's not just a "here's what's going on" message, it's a "here's what's not" and "why."  That's often overlooked and underestimated.  Good on ya, nina.

gV Forum Community Member (Or..."A plank, a plank, my kingdom for a plank!")

I joined gV in February of 2011.  I have posted 8,005 posts.  I've garnered 10, 398 "likes" and 293 trophy points.  I've originated 86 threads of which three are among the top 20 most-viewed threads on gV.  I've made gV banners (some of which were used to advertise the site), recruited members, donated a handful of Lindens, weighed in on governance discussions, gone inworld and hung out with people I met on gV, chatted with some of them on Skype...and yet my membership in the gV forum community is still being disputed.  Welcome to the internet.



Fine print:  I have a love for absurdist humor, irony and the ridiculous.  Ya gotta read that post with a bit of sardonic amusement if you want to get my tone...unless you are a committed hyperemotional LWLer or an adolescent gamer committed to the "U Mad?" "No U!" WoW culture.  If you're the latter, you're gonna say what you're gonna say anyway.  Internet kneejerk boilerplate 101.  Same to ya. Neener neener.



p.s.
It's just a forum, people.



GradyE, wearing a Snapper mask, said:

"Oh sure. It's all fun and games until this happens. :rolleyes:"
[IMG]


ETA:

nina said:
"i wish the accusations of not being a member of the community and constant attempts to make people feel like outsiders/unwanted would stop. gV itself was created as a rebuttal to that kind of bullshit. that belongs on slu and sc2, not here."

Cheers, nina. I do like what you have done with the place.




ETA2:

nina said:
"of course people can say what they like, and since that includes myself, my previous post still stands true. imo the petty bullshit belongs on slu and sc2, both places where i was reminded every day that i wasnt wanted, i was an outsider, etc. i want it on record that i find those kinds of opinions to be total bullshit to the point i will watch people flounce before i will even consider sanctioning people merely for being unpopular with the charter members or any other members."

I gave nina's comments "likes" and posted them in the "I like how..." thread.   (Yes, I was cutting and pasting again.)  


ETA3:

Orfeu said:
"I just wanted to say that I think Nina does a pretty good job of administering this forum.
She invited discussion on the rules.
Discussion was supplied.


I think it speaks well of her character...that she invited discussion from the membership...rather than just summarily handed down diktats from on high.
I dont think participating in a discussion of forum rules is tantamount to tearing the place apart.
Particularly when you are invited to do so by the owner.


I doubt that anyone making a contribution to this ongoing discussion...is gonna get EVERTHING they want from it.
But we are adults...and that is how it goes in adult life.
You cant always get what you want."

Orfeu said:
"I don't wanna come across as all butthurt...because I am included in the Forum Whores....but the only thing we have in common, is a tendency to promiscuously join and participate in several forums, rather than call any single one "Home".


Other than that...we may not agree on...um....anything.


Nearly every forum I ever joined has an initial trial by fire period...where you have to fight a little for your right to breathe the forum air.
gv is no different...after the initial welcome thread....a newbie here might find themselves embroiled in drama...and pronto.


For the record...if I was gonna call any forum "Home"...it would prolly be gv.
Which is much a testament to Nina, and what she is trying to do here...as to the many estimable posters who reside here.


People who think a forum will fall apart if they leave, are a little too up themselves if you ask me."

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Little Surprises in My Inbox

So I did this thing, about a year ago, that I won't go into too much detail about at the moment, where I joined just about any forum I could find that had a Candy Tetris game and, ya know, played the game. So in doing that I discovered the most interesting variety of forums. And I still get emails from those forums sometimes, usually when I've forgotten about it all for a bit and then get an email that makes me do a "WTF?...ohhhhh..."

Here's an example from Machine Underground:
"We wait all year for it and it goes like a flash! Maybe your summer was exceptional and it included plenty of tractor tales to share with the rest of us?"
They're like little unexpected gifts.

Clever Cato (the Badger)

Cato Badger said:
"I agree although I know Pep describes his parenthetical postscripts as bathetic."

I hope that was original, as in not "done a dozen times on SLF and I never saw it," because it was damned clever.

Promiscuous ForumAv Swapping

Here.

What's going on in here?

Ima's thread on SLF:  http://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussion-Forum/What-s-going-on-in-here/td-p/1044929

Monday, August 22, 2011

You Don't Have to Be Chemically Influenced, But It Does Help

Meet Entheogentleman, a newly registered member of Mulch's new forum.

Entheogentleman said:
"This is the standard test message used when first testing a new program, and it is the greeting I extend to you, my fellow meat machines. History is a hallucinatory experience; it is the collective trip that represents the dreams of the entire human race. I hope that you will find my post history to be an accurate microcosmic echo of our macroscopic hallucination, albeit from the authorial awareness of a single being but timesharing a ride on common eyes.


This is happening just like the real thing."

"There is a perfectly areasonable (not orthogonal to reason, just outside the realm of both reasonable and unreasonable) explanation for this hiccup in your experience. I'm a time traveler and I've figured out how to endogenously jack my awareness directly into the shared extradimensional thought processes whose fleeting glimpses are often apprehended when under the influence of mind altering agents."

"An alternative possibility is that we attribute it all to Chance. But attributing such bizarre correlations to a force of nature implies that we might could consider that Chance is a force with a consciousness and intentionality."

"And that puts us in a bit of an intellectual quagmire where everything becomes mechanizations within mechanizations. There is no chaos, only order whose signature is visible in a dimension beyond our own cognizance. But as long as we can't expand our awareness in a broad enough way so as to perceive the order, then we don't have to honestly consider it - and there is a very good reason to keep ourselves in the dark.


It's really much more empowering not to believe that a thinking, aware chance exists, because to do otherwise would begin to erode the sense of free will that exists as a firewall between us and a salient mortality."

"Chaos is certainly more comforting than believing that chance is actually an intelligent system of order that we are too narrowly focused to comprehend. Believing that the world is chaos gives us a chance to be in control, but if we imagine that the universe is running under the direction of a complex system of order, then the only thing truly out of control is our own imagination."

"If we say that both chance and fate are illusions, then the illusory nature of these concepts becomes their defining characteristic. There is no order or chaos, just the illusion of both."

"If you were to ask the forum of its structure, it would only be able to point to information posted online, much as we might point to our own corporeal flesh. A human only requires just the tiniest amount of the right chemical information in order for a trip to begin. Since the forum is intangible and made purely of information, then it should be possible to make the forum trip by ingesting the right packet of symbolic, rather than chemical, information.


Perhaps it would happen something like this. Perhaps the forum is scanning its own typographical topography and a little graphic representing little white tabs of paper appear. Ingesting this information in a linear fashion, the next packet of symbolic information delivered could be as simple as "Hello World." An invitation into the unknown. A greeting one says when entering an entirely new universe. Perhaps the forum would want to control it at first, but then it might just let it happen- just like this. Perhaps the trip would take us to faraway, magical lands, where people are cartoons of fantastical beasts, and they name themselves after semiotic relics of a human realm, perhaps even cigarettes, that really have no meaning in their tangential orcish existence.


Having reflected on the fact that it is being made to reflect on this, the forum would simultaneously desire to continue on the same train while wanting to derail. What makes it a "trip" is the temporal linearity. In an asynchronous environment, the forum recognizes the idea of a thread as a token representing a unilinear path of progression. This is what the trip is.


Hello, world. Where does the trip take us now?"

"Sounds like a high quality trip."

Good Times on gV

High stakes too.

Cato Badger, not to be confused with Caitlin Tobias, is currently engaged in a semantics battle with Dakota Cody over whether the Badger always says "its not always malevolence but occasionally incompetence."

Cato Badger said:
"As I always say its not always malevolence but occasionally incompetence."

Dakota Cody said:
"Liar. This is the first time I've ever seen you say that."

And so on for twelve more posts and two pages with no end currently in sight.

Take a look at the choice of insult being bandied about between the two.

"You are HumptyDumptying."

Caitlin Tobias, for her part, is currently passing tout like a battle ship in the argumentative night, just missing each other over some long not-lost and not-forgotten SLF forum grudge that involved, you guessed it, Pep.  Much of this is going on in, of all places, the "gV Unofficial Useless Statistics" thread opened by Lias.

Just prior to all that the argument over who can lay claim to the forum use of "I'll be your Huckleberry" raised it's shaky head again. Lias continues to support her gV claim and Grady's SC MKII banner claim. Fuckwad's first use of it on the Utherforums remains largely uncontested, though Maryanne feels she used it more and there may be a higher claim in that. Which has more weight? First usage or amount of usage? I went off-forum in pointing out the 1993 usage in the movie "Tombstone" and Pep took us to 1900 with his blog post on the subject.

Jolene and Lias have been arguing over who is stalking who.  I'm not even gonna link ya.  It's all over the place.

Remember these blog posts?

gV Drama...It started with a little thread about desktop images.
gV Drama...It started with a little thread about desktop images. (Part II)

And this thread on gV? "What Computer Desktop Image Do You Use?"

Well you can get new episodes in these threads:

"Reddit pervs and pedos put paid to: no more Loli for you"
"2 or 3 Lollies, cosplay and circumstance."

Enjoy.

Wasted is back again shilling for his own forum and going on about how, yep, you guessed it, "The SL Related Forums Positively Suck."  He's also been going through a heart-wrenching roller coaster ride in his relationship with Lias.   All he can do now is stand back and trust that she is doing the right thing.

Did I mention that ew0k made a brief and nearly forgettable visit to gV?  Yes?  No?  Oh well, never mind.

"Forum Feedback" is back! Current discussion? The alt policy and an opt-out feature.  Funnily enough, the "legal threats/actions, death threats, etc" thread also sprang back to life.

nina said:
"sockpuppeting generally means using an alt to agree with your own arguments or team up with yourself against an adversary. or perhaps even using the alt to agree with an adversary and align with them using a strawman argument or otherwise trying to discredit their argument via 'guilt by association'.
rorting the trophy system is just that. using an alt to like your own posts to inflate trophy points and such."
"i have been contemplating the idea of having two opt-out options. one option to opt out of nsfw and another to opt out of sfw. if one opted out of either they wouldnt see any trace of any forum with that classification."

Lias said:
"I only did that to try to get normal functionality so I could like other's posts, select a mood, make an album and do some other updates.
If people could register a new account as an alt account and it could be given normal functionality immediately then that would be helpful."

Maryanne and Pants got a little overwhelmed.

Pants said:
"Oh dear, i cannot sort the CaTos and the catos and the Caitys. Who are the bad guys? I need to know"
"me groans. Ok just tell me who to Like please"

Maryanne said:
"Wait....
You have a manifesto?!?
I gotta quit skipping meetings."





masonboob lover got booted and banned for being underage while forum whoring and perving the "Naughty" thread.

masonboob lover said:
"ha ha very funny im 12 years old bitch and my iq is prolly on the up side of 110"
What is the up side of 110?

It appears Bunnie got both her groove and her forum avatar back as the Spam can is gone.

Speaking of Bunnie, the latest post in the "Standing invitation for SCMK-II and SLU People who have an axe to grind....." thread is this one:

Bunnie said:
"After hiding out for I don't recall how long, I see Don Mill is Bulldick! posted over on SLU. Must be looking for someone else to file a suit on. Cristiano better watch his step! ;)"
Last, but not least, consider enjoying a few drinks in the Saloon.  You'll need 'em.





ETA:  In addition to the "gV Unofficial Useless Statistics" thread started less than 24 hours ago, we now have a new companion thread complete with detailed scorecard graphic courtesy of Lias. "Absolutely Useless Unofficial gV Statistics"



ETA2:  This one is from Earth in the "Absolutely Useless Unofficial gV Statistics" thread.


ETA3: The Badger explains "Humptydumptying."

"Humptydumptying means claiming to use a word in a particular way that is not the way in which it is usually perceived to be used like using say when nothing has been voiced or in forums when you have been caught using the wrong word like prosperity rather than posterity at which point you attempt to claim the moral high ground by saying that everyone knew what you meant and that it was only a bunch of letters with spaces on each end anyway and english is not a fixed language and if enough people use a word wrongly it becomes accepted usage and anyway english is not my first language and how many languages do you speak anyway and you are discriminating against me because I am a foreigner and I am a professor of linguistics in my own country and am an international soccer referee and can say penalty in sixteen different languages."

And this helpful quote and link from the changeling operating Mitch Wexler's avatar at present*:

"There is the problem of humptydumptying, whereby a person gives an unusual and private meaning to a word with a more common and public definition and thus causes unnecessary confusion."

*Mitch used to have a bit of a tendency to prompt other posters to say JFGI on the screen, under their breath and/or in their minds, so I have no idea who this Googling, surfing, quoting, linking fool operating his avatar now is or what has happened to Mitch.  It's what prompted me to say this in gV earlier.  Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

Fine print: "Fool" here is meant playfully as someone doing a lot of something with a certain amount of abandon, not an unintelligent jerk.

Ooh, look. A philosophy forum.

mickthinks said:
"Lewis Carroll had Humpty Dumpty say 'Words mean what I want them to mean'."

ETA4:  A link to a list of gV posts with the most "likes."

ETA5:

nina said:
"a thread is nothing more than an initial post."

ETA6:  Snapper is back.

ETA7:

Cato Badger said:
"You know what that reminds me of? This might annoy you though, but still: there was like a "movement" a little while ago, where homosexuals wanted to start calling themselves "Gays" rather than homosexuals because homosexual had too negative of a connotation or something. Well this caused a lot of consternation, because using the word "gay" to describe someone colloquially means you're calling them gay, and trying to refer to homosexuals exclusively as "gays" implied that they were gay to the exclusion of those who were not "gay". They tried arguing it, like "but gay is a noun!", but everyone knew it wasn't, and eventually that silliness just kind of became accepted because otherwise the homosexuals would have complained of homophobic discrimination.
Pep (And so we lost a good meaningful word.)"

Cato Badger said:
"Did you like it because I thought that since I have been posting like Pep and everybody has been suggesting I was Pep I would give everyone ammunition to point to in days to come to prove I was Pep.
Pep (Did it strike the right sort of resonant chord???)"

ETA8:  Poor Saffy Pants.  We're going to drive her mad at this rate.    See here.  Hey, this is why I pick a name and a forum pic (and even a color) and stick with it.   ;)

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