Society

I drag myself out of Aethernet Hibernation, prompted by a certain level of outrage. My preferred Cinema Hosting Site, Vimeo - a place that I have spent some time promoting, as it has always seemed to me a comfortable and technologically advanced place to host one’s Cinema - seems to have made an odd decision:

The Vimeo staff has decided that we are no longer going to allow gaming videos on Vimeo. Specifically, we are no longer going to allow game walk-throughs, game strategy videos, depictions of player vs player battles, raids, fraps, or any other video gaming videos that simply depict individuals playing a video game. Videos falling into this category will be subject to deletion as of September 1st; new videos of this type will be removed.

Of course, as a resident of Second Life one immediately says “and so how does this concern me? I am not playing any sort of ‘game’, in fact I have taken time from instructing my employees and dealing with clients and speaking to my latest beau just to read your rubbish, Ordinal, this had best be good”. But, and I hate to say this, in many quarters Second Life is considered a “game”. I know, improbably, but it is regularly placed alongside Chess and Poker and the World Of Warcraft and other Activities Which Actually Have A Point To Them. Certainly I am not at all confident that a proper distinction will be made here when it comes to removing old pieces of cinema (such as, well, all of mine).

Obviously it is, literally, the choice of the folk who own the particular Aethernet Site in question as to what they allow, but ethically speaking when one has a certain community which has served to promote the service one has built up, one has a certain responsibility to it. And regardless of that, good god, were I to upload an hour’s worth of my wandering around Caledon I cannot see how that could be termed as somehow less worthy than a video of myself wandering around London. Or playing with a Cat.

Speaking personally I find myself in a state of Flux now; I am not sure whether my Cinema will be determined as being “machinima” (Good Game - for the moment at least) or “depicting individuals playing a video game” (Bad Game naughty delete in September). I am terribly susceptible to Anxiety and thus may decide simply to remove everything and make it generally known that Vimeo is not a place for Cinematic Artists. However, I would advise anyone wishing to investigate these distinctions to join the folk on the Vimeo General Forum, or perhaps leave a comment on their Journal Entry announcing this. I am sure that Proper and Satisfactory Clarification will be received forthwith.

I did wish to wait until Matters were Officially Recognised, but with reference to my previous Entry, it is now confirmed that the policy has been Changed and that those with Diminutive Avatars have been accepted with Child-Related Builds to Second Life’s Fifth Birthday. Which is of course all a good thing and deserving of lashings of ginger beer. Apart from the odd peculiar comment about nipples, it seems that sanity has prevailed, and I am sure that everyone would join me in celebrating this, as long as no chafing was involved.

(P.S.: Or Perhaps Actually There Are Still Restrictions)

I am concerned to read that the Second Life Fifth Birthday Celebrations (or SL5B for short - whilst long-winded I am rarely masochistic) may well be banning those with Child-Like Appearance from exhibiting. (See also here and further posts on that Publication, as well as many other places.)

Whilst I would be very pleased were this not to be an accurate portrayal of the situation I am of the opinion at this time, given numerous confirming sources, that it is quite true.

I penned a short missive of outrage to my brother Cardinal earlier this evening, being constantly in the hope of perhaps reforming him, which ran thusly:

Dearest Brother: whilst we have frequently been in Disagreement about many Matters, I would hope that you would be as outraged as I to see the latest suggestions that Linden Laboratory were prohibiting those who care to appear as Children upon the Grid from producing Exhibits, regardless of their content!

Surely this must contradict your oft-stated positions on the rights due to the Individual. There are clear Political Moves afoot by certain Politicians in the United States (as Mr Twain says, “the smallest minds and the selfishest souls and the cowardliest hearts that God makes”) to demonise anything on the Aethernet with any connection to Children, but certainly at this time to actually portray a child is not illegal or prohibited in any way, and it falls to all persons with any sense in their blasted heads to reject this sort of nonsense as far as is humanly possible - terrible rubbish that will do nothing to protect any actual Child and perhaps even put them in more danger by distorting the risks in the Public Mind.

I can see no reason whatsoever to kow-tow to the Prurience involved here, and indeed the fact that certain Political types and Journalists and suchlike cannot see the image of a Child engaged in Play and Enjoyment (or anything, really) without disgusting thoughts popping into their minds (such as they are) is really a matter that should be taken up with their Physicians, rather than indulged by the Legislature and Court of Public Opinion and certainly Linden Laboratory, a company composed of those whom I had thought to have more sense than this.

The recent clarification that Child-Like Avatars will be permitted attend, but not exhibit, makes the situation even more ridiculous. Clearly the Prurient will take this as confirmation that the Laboratory is quite happy to promote all of the things in their imaginings, and it will simultaneously serve to confirm to the Childrenish concerned that they are not considered worthwhile, and in the category of the Second Class in Second Life.

I popped this into the Shepherds Bush to Whitechapel pneumatic tube array at my local Sorting Office, and was surprised to receive a rapid reply. Alas, he has learnt nothing.

Dear Sister, I was not much surprised to receive your latest missive, as you yourself have yet to grow up in your attitudes to the Real World. Little wonder that you sympathise with these odd types.

Commerce and issues surrounding it are far more important than any of this nonsense about a few being told they cannot build their Fairgrounds or Candy-Floss Stands or whatever it is they do. Whilst it may be the case that there is no actual law involved, I fully support “LL”’s position here - they are taking the best decision to maximise their profits in the current political climate, and, to be quite frank, the group of folk concerned is negligible anyway.

Honestly. If he were not family. This, dear reader, is why I rarely speak to him, apart from his habit of frequently departing for foreign climes at odd hours of the night in order to avoid the Law.

My family correspondence aside, I really am rather perturbed by all this, and, if I did actually have a stake in the events, would be withdrawing it until such time as this were all straightened out. I do not, this year, but rest assured it will not be forgotten.

Additionally

• A statement from Everett Linden on the matter
• A JIRA issue to vote upon

I have noticed that there does still seem to be some Confusion amongst Residents as to precisely the relationships between Linden Laboratorye, the Grid itself, other Parts and also the Broader Aethernet, which does seem to be causing Misapprehensions as to the origins and behaviour of certain Aspects and Components.

I am always of a bent to properly Explain the Technical Nature of how these things operate, and for that purpose I have prepared a small diagram of the Cosmology of the Grid and Second Life, which I hope will prove useful. No doubt other Grid-Cosmological Types will have disagreements with the Details, but I believe that the basic structure is sound. Please excuse the poor handwriting.

Read the rest of this entry »

Not that I would wish, really, to discuss points of personal soreness with the crowd; but, heaven knows, this is some sort of historical document.

It all began with a missive from Soft Linden on the subject of things which might be included in the forthcoming 1.20 Release of the Client which enables us all to view the splendid Grid. Said missive included the forthcoming:

* DEV-4706 Make running more intuitive by double-tapping forward

Now, I consider that this would be a terrible thing; not at all instantly destructive of course, but at present, double-tapping has no meaning, thus there are scripts which attempt to use it for their own purposes - my own Dragonfly Wings, that Samurai Combat Island thing, all sorts. Adding client behaviour to that would disrupt that.

Thus, I made my objections known on said List, and was immediately directed towards the fabled JIRA, with the suggestion that I make complaint regarding an issue which did not at that time exist. Well. If instructed, so I shall do, and here it is: 1.20 source - “double-tap to run” should not be implemented. A minor contribution, I am sure you will agree (though please - do vote).

In the second comment, though, one encounters the following:

I have altered the title of this Jira. You should not petition for total removal of a feature if some will find it useful (and some will).

Instead, this feature should be a client option and should not be enabled by default.

The alteration referred to was to basically remove any reference to whatever the JIRA was about. So, “I should not petition for” something? Oh, dear sir, I dare say that I should and will.

I have been approached a couple of times recently regarding an “issue” mentioned on the publication known as the “Second Life Herald”, on the subject of a “new copybot”. (I do not read this publication on a regular basis any more, on account of its tedious hagiography of groups of annoying children; an odd pursuit, not my part to judge I suppose but not in my interests to read, either.)

Let us be clear on a few details in this instance.

1. There is nothing at all new about any of this. The idea that with the initial outcry relating to “copybot”, the functions responsible and the use thereof went away, is simply nonsense. The prohibition was a socially-based one, making the possession or use of a copybot illegal, but the technology never disappeared. In fact, as far as I can see, this “copybot 2″ is just a simple modification of the “testclient” that is freely available. Anyone with any interest could make a similar product, we are not talking about Programming Genii here.

2. There are no physical countermeasures - at least, none which will prevent people from copying designs and textures as presented in SL. Anyone attempting to sell you an item which claims to “defend against copybot” is as much a fraudster as anyone duplicating your design and selling it. The entirety of SL depends on the “client” - that is, the thing that is running on your own Engine - receiving information as to what it should display, the exact geometry of every part, the textures, and so on and so on. No, this cannot be encrypted without utterly crippling the already tardy speeds at which SL operates, and being crackable in any case.

3. The only countermeasures, therefore, are social ones. There is the option of relying, instead of on simple product sales, on things which cannot be duplicated - services, customised versions, work on special and personalised products. (This may require some alteration of the expectations of purchasers on the Grid but to be quite frank, those expecting large amounts of time to be devoted to their whims are, at the moment, mostly extraordinary misers.)

   The other part of this is that the Gods of the World, the Blessed Lindens, must actively enforce matters of copyright and duplication, to a far greater degree than they do at the moment.

---

What if the latter does not happen? Well, industry will not vanish. Even if copies are easily made and resold, people will still have some loyalty and decency and wish to reward the original creators, particularly at the very low prices charged in general. Little-known designers will be too little-known for anyone to bother copy them; well-known designers will be able to play on their “brands”. Those between are in the most danger I would say, but still, they won’t lose too much in the way of sales.

But they will lose some. The idea of designing things within Second Life, in the knowledge that anyone can copy whatever it is you make and resell it for whatever price they feel like, will put people off bothering in the first place. The prospect of reward spurs people on to create - that is why we have copyright legislation in the first place, to encourage creative activity, with the underlying assumption that creative activity is a good thing for society in general (an assumption with which I would agree).

I would mention here that my own activities, and those of others who concentrate on providing Scripted Amusements, are less at threat, as Scripts currently exist only on the Grid, are not sent to Clients and are thus not Copiable. However, this is merely a coincidence. The issue of Content Duplication is no less important to me merely because it affects my fellows and not myself.

So - what happens if we have a “free-as-in-free-beer” Second Life, enforced by Code? Designing becomes less profitable. Some designers leave. (A number will stay on, certainly, but professionals, apart from the largest who can play on their brands, will be rarer.) The general level of design goes down. There are fewer products available, and fewer to be copied, with the copy-resellers being parasites on the skills of others.

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There is a way around this, and that is as stated previously: the owners of the world, the blessed Laboratory, must enforce rules far more strictly. It is not a perfect solution, as clearly there are far more places than can be checked, but without it nothing will happen. Not just “DMCA” nonsense, which is just a mechanism for covering one’s bottom in the face of future legal action, but actively removing duplicated content.

There are all sorts of ways that this can be made easier - registers of content being uploaded, watermarks and so on - but in the end it is the will that is important, and that means governance, active enforcement of rules. Attack content-thieving accounts; delete them and their alts. Enforce DMCA takedowns properly, as rubbish as they might be.

Without that? Oh well, nothing terribly serious. Content creators will be discouraged from ever entering SL. Nobody will bother to learn the obscure, undocumented, ever-changing details of how the tools work - unless they already have a out-world patron, in which case they will rarely be putting anything on the open grid. Second Life will become less and less interesting. And the “Second Life Protocol” will become less and less relevant, and less and less likely to become the dominant virtual world protocol, and then it will be 2009 and we will all be speaking about SL as certain old-timers do about ActiveWorlds.

You know, nothing that anybody might care about.

I recently received a short missive from my errant brother, Cardinal, which I shall reproduce in its entirety here.

To tell the truth, I was too busy opening champagne to actually write anything myself.

(His last stanza, of course, is quite accurate; this is no panacea and doubtless there will be new methods of extortion and harassment arising, as well as issues as to the enforcement of this one, simply due to sheer volume. But please do allow me at least a short period of satisfaction.)

A brief note, but recent correspondence on the matter of fixing the seemingly terminally useless function llGetFreeMemory has led me to solidify Ordinal’s Laws of Changes to LSL Function Behaviour.

I did not really wish to make a fuss, or give the person concerned any more publicity than she deserves, but I think that it is reasonable to mention in the context of my previous entry regarding the Griefbuild Digest Flickr group that I have now been the victim of what is known as a “DMCA Takedown Notice” regarding some pictures of advertising builds by a Ms Cytherea Eagle. Only, well, I have been the victim, but almost entirely silently.

Having posted a piece on the Forums informing people of the existence of the group, I received a comedy legal threat on the matter from Ms Eagle, but I ignored that, given that no lawyer not drunken, drugged or disbarred would ever consider this anything but “fair use”. If it was not for Ms Wildefire Walcott’s kind mention in the Forums that she was unable to see anything owned by Ms Eagle in the group, I would have known nothing.

What has apparently happened - and I am extrapolating here, as I have been unable to obtain the actual details from Flickr, though it seems very likely - is that a DMCA notice was filed by Ms Eagle to Flickr alleging copyright infringement, and the company is then obliged to remove the article automatically.

What is then supposed to happen is that they tell the person whose pictures were removed (i.e. myself) in order that that person may file a DMCA counter-notice, and have the pictures replaced. And anything further must be decided by legal action, and I am, if not happy with that, at least confident that it holds no real danger for me, certainly given that (a) this really is the most obvious case of fair use and (b) I live in another country in any case.

Flickr did not do this. I am not sure when they removed the pictures originally, but after seeing Ms Walcott’s post I asked them for clarification on the 15th of January, received a rapid response saying that yes, the images “were removed for Copyright infringement” and that they would try to find out what had happened. Since then I have not been further informed.

As said I don’t really like to cause a fuss on my own account but given that the matter has been mentioned by Mr Rik Riel, Mr Prokofy Neva and Mr Hamlet Au already, I thought it a good idea to write a small something. I am quite capable of reposting the pictures concerned elsewhere of course, but what I am trying to do is get Flickr to reinstate the original pictures, to demonstrate that the DMCA cannot simply be used to remove anything that one doesn’t like. (I might add that Mr Riel posted a picture of the “advertisement” himself, if you wish to see it, and it can be found at Foxboro 102,39 should you wish to see it in person and, who knows, take a picture of your own.)

Should there be any further developments I will of course write here, and I hope that there will be soon. As for the morals displayed by Ms Eagle in both her business practices upon the Grid and her part in this matter, I shall say nothing and leave the reader to draw their own conclusions. (With a touch of irony I did note at the time that, despite their inherent nature and deliberately-lagging temp-rezzing behaviour, they were far less ugly than all of the other signs to be found in the region. Beauty is clearly prim-deep.)

P.S. As a final note, should there not be sufficient Links for a reader to Follow, above, there is also a thread in the Flickr forums on the matter.

I recently rediscovered a Flickr group that I created some time ago for the posting of pictures of the sort of harassing, usually advertising, builds that plague the Mainland and cause all sorts of heated discussion on the Official Forums. Given that I spent a little while writing a Description that supposedly sums up its nature and purpose, I shall simply repost it here:

Griefing builds in Second Life, designed to make neighbours give up and move elsewhere or give up and buy the plot to get rid of the horrible spinning thing. Usually advertising, though not always.

All screenshots should include location (doesn’t have to be exact, as long as somebody could find the plot again) and name of the item’s owner, ideally gained by taking a screenshot that includes the Edit window. This is to provide an undeniable record of the activity, though if it is a series of different pictures of the same piece of ad griefing, only one piece of evidence is required.

(You can use the PrintScreen button in Windows, or Shift+Cmd+4 on a Mac to include parts of the Second Life UI, or some other screenshot program. I use SnapzProX myself, and if you have FRAPS installed, that should work too.)

Due to the nature of the ad/griefing builds posted here, this can’t help but be an 18+ group, even if the actual content on them is at about a 14-year-old level of sophistication.

Lastly - this isn’t a group for just any ugly build. (One could find endless pictures from SL.) It is just for pictures of builds which are clearly being used for unwelcome advertising, to bring down land prices, force people to sell, annoy them enough that they buy the land, or just by cretinous advertising networks who don’t care how much they annoy neighbours. Pretty much anything that is on a 16m2 plot that’s been set for sale is going to fit in, I would think. Oh, and the ads should be long-term ones, not just temporary griefing objects left on somebody else’s land - while those are horrible enough, they don’t have the same motivations.

One can find the group at:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/slgriefbuild/

Please do join and post any horrible examples you wish to! As noted, the naming of names is strongly encouraged - if the owner disagrees that their build constitutes ad griefing or land spam, well, the evidence is there for anyone to inspect, and onlookers can decide for themselves.

I suspect that there might be quite some Drama involved should this become a popular group, but at the least, it will serve some purpose in cataloguing the dizzying variety of different aliases used by these scoundrels. If one sees one of the names mentioned around the Grid, and agrees that their build is indeed a griefing one, do not sell to or deal with that person or their group! And most certainly, do not sell them land, if that was not obvious.

I have been attempting to put together an entry on the recent Banking Regulational Activity from the Lab, but it is a complex issue - not “complex” in the fence-sitting, “on the one hand, on the other hand” way, but complex in that it takes quite a bit of work to say precisely what one means without simplifying economic issues in the way that the Toy Capitalists themselves do. Ad griefers, land spammers, polluters of the visual space, though, there is very little to be said apart from “these are the filthy swine concerned, avoid them at all costs and don’t give them any money”. It is certainly not worth bothering to reason with them, as almost universally they are proud of the fact that they can carry on their “business” safe in the knowledge that they are defended by physical law here, when in the Other World they would have their rubbish torn down in the middle of the night by outraged neighbours at the very least. There is little that one can do at the moment upon the Grid, but what can be done should.

My commentary regarding Banking shall be simply the following cheap piece of graffiti:

---

As a further note: a further entry on certain pictures having been Removed can be found here.

I began to write an entry on the following issue yesterday, but quickly found that it was degenerating into a number of personal anecdotes and supposedly-witty commentary when it should have been short and to the… oh stop it! You are doing the same thing again! *pulls self together* This is a New Feature Of The World of which you should be aware and for the fixing of which I suggest that you vote.

The issue is SVC-1125: Inter-sim teleports do not provide a red beacon unless made directly from the main map, so sims without point to point TP are disadvantaged (though there are other similar ones around) and the further description is pretty much, well, that. To sum the matter up, as I see it:

• Teleporting by any mechanism apart from clicking on the World Map to get a red circle and then going there, or by selecting “Show On Map” from a window before using it to teleport, does not provide a red beacon and arrow to the destination any more. This includes landmarks, SLURLs, the use of llMapDestination, secondlife:// links, and the New Search.

• People who teleport into an area which has a Landing Point set will still arrive at that point.

• But they will not have a beacon to their destination.

• Therefore they will not be able to find their destination easily. They would actually have to track it down by comparing the X, Y and Z co-ordinates of the landmark to their current ones, fly around aimlessly in the hope of seeing a sign, ask for directions, or, far more likely, go somewhere else. Experienced and dedicated visitors will likely find a way but even they may simply give up, and the casual browser or visitor will simply pop somewhere else if unable to find the spot that they came to see. (Customers would quite frequently ask how to find my shop with red beacons available.)

• This means that landmarks and SLURLs and so on are now pretty much useless in any region or parcel that has a landing point set. This is actually more places than one might think. Not only does it encompass many islands such as Caledon, Babbage and so on, it also affects such large parcelled establishments as malls and shopping centres upon the Mainland.

• The whole thing is therefore a serious matter for anyone who owns property in a region with a landing point and wishes others to find it - or for that matter wishes to be able to find it themselves.

This matter seems to affect the latest Client (1.18.5) and more recent Candidate Software; previous to that one still has the Beacon Capability, but one must always assume that the most recent release version is being used.

I am sure that this is a mere oversight that can be fixed with a miniscule tweaking of the underlying gears, and everyone can go happily home for tea and crumpets (perhaps to the bakery first, which they will be able to easily find). In the meantime though I would reiterate that it is worthwhile to vote for SVC-1125, to ensure that crumpets are forthcoming within a convenient length of time. That is SVC-1125, by the way.

It seems to me that I have been seeing more and more complaints along the lines of the following in forums recently, regarding errant and sometimes utterly fraudulent land-lords and -ladies - which is when one thinks about it peculiar, as it is not as if the official forums are more used these days, far from it. I recall a time when they were immensely busy but, after the “accident” that befell them (of which we will not speak, and merely nod in mutual agreement and recollection and move forward) they became far less popular. In fact, only those with verified payment details are permitted to use them, which would exclude more of those renting than those having “bought” land.

Now, this is not any sort of criticism of the general practice of land renting of course; given that I rent property in three different Sims, as well as owning a smallish plot, that would be somewhat hypocritical of me. It does, though, occur to me that this may be a result of rapid growth, in three ways.

Firstly, there is the simple fact that one rarely hears praise of a landlordlady but instances of dissatisfaction will be complained about. As the number of residents increases there will be a noticeable increase in the number of complaints but not in the amount of praise (perhaps two threads per year instead of one). I think that the rise is disproportionate even on this basis but it is something to bear in mind.

Secondly, it takes time and experience for a landlordlady to become at all good at their job. Some will obviously never become “good”, as they are crooks (well, they may perhaps be good at being crooks, but that is not really the sense in which I meant the word). But it takes some time to be aware of the market, the behaviour of tenants, the moments when one should show tolerance of mistakes and those when one must recognise them as fraud, that sort of thing. And rapid population expansion, when combined with the suggestion that land rental is a business opportunity and that one can and should take business opportunities within Second Life, will reasonably enough lead to more inexperienced landlordladies, and thus more confusion and dissatisfaction on the part of tenants.

(I am slightly suspicious, personally speaking, that an ideological concentration on individualistic profiteering as opposed to Commerce carried out to the mutual benefit of both parties may also influence the proportion of cheats and fraudsters, but really, I cannot honestly say that I have noticed the proportion of unprincipled and greedy residents increasing, so I will not put that forward as a reason.)

And thirdly, there is the matter of social circles. As I mentioned above, I rent property in three different sims - two sims in Caledon and one in New Babbage - but I am in the fortunate position of knowing the landlords in both cases well, and having in fact been there from the founding of both. My experience of renting is thus atypical; should I have an issue with the way something works I would be able to contact them personally to discuss it, and in fact talk to both regularly on all sorts of matters unconnected to property.

Now, the landowners in both cases are sound and reliable gents who are not the sort to evict someone on a whim or for the profit of a few Lindens anyway - I would not be friends with somebody who was - but even my choice of them as landlords comes from experience and connections. In the case of Caledon, I was not aware of Mr Shang beforehand - well, briefly, during the Tulip Hunt - but he was recommended to me via Professor Jefferson Gould, who clearly had trust in the man. Mr Sprocket, I have known for a considerable length of time.

The ability to pick landlordladies with this sort of proper background information is a privilege of age, to be frank. I am hardly the sort of Social Butterfly who has fingers, or probosces, in all sorts of social pies, or flowers; it is the fact that I grew up upon the Grid in a time when the social circle was considerably smaller that means that I Know People. I could hardly help but do so. I am privileged, I realise this.

The new resident has a lot more difficulty in this area than I ever did. They do not have access to proper information regarding all of the choices of landlordladies that they may encounter. The social circle of Second Life is far wider than before which makes it harder to meet the “right” folk. Furthermore there is no First Land any more, and whilst Mainland prices have been going down to sane levels recently, it was not so long ago that they were utterly ridiculous - these are things which encourage people to seek rental property.

~*~

Where is Ordinal going with this, one might well ask? Well, Ordinal is wondering whether we might not see a renaissance of mainland property ownership. Much as basing opinions on responses on the Forums is unreliable, it must be said that six months ago, everyone was saying “oh no, you want to find a nice landlordlady, don’t buy mainland” and now they are a lot more guarded.

The fact is that one’s property rights are always more secure when buying Mainland vs renting. (I utterly refuse to speak of “buying” from a private landlordlady - this is a legal fiction. Admittedly, Linden Laboratory is letting land to you rather than selling it, but “buying” from a landlordlady is merely being a sublet tenant - covenants mean absolutely nothing in terms of guarantees.) When buying Mainland one must accept the fact that the Lindens may throw one off for some odd reason, though this is almost unheard-of. When renting, one must accept the fact that the Lindens may throw one off, the landlordlady may not pay their tier and thus end up with you being thrown off regardless of how much you have paid them, or that they will throw you off for reasons entirely at their own discretion and without any possibility of you seeking redress, except perhaps if you are willing to launch an action in Court.

There are landowners whom one can recommend, but they tend to be older ones, and only have a limited amount of property to rent. Messrs Shang and Sprocket, as I have mentioned, I have personal experience of; there are others that I know by reputation - for instance, Mr Prokofy Neva, despite having many critics on account of his outspoken opinions, has in my knowledge never been criticised for his practice of the land rental business by even the fiercest opposition, and often praised. I am sure that readers will be able to suggest others.

But how is the New Resident to know? They will not know me, or my peers, or read this poor Journal. Most of the deals that they are offered or find via searching will be by people whom they will not be able to “google”, particularly given the prohibition on “naming names” in the Official Forums and the lack of meaningful third-party ones. To be quite frank, if I became amnesiac I would be very pushed to reliably identify a reliable landlordlady.

The logical course of action would thus be to find some Mainland plot with a reasonable price, ideally in a PG sim (which does reduce the amount of bother in my experience) and take the chance that the next neighbours might be frightfully tasteless boors or sell to a land-cutter. I can see this becoming a more popular option. To be quite frank I welcome it, too - I have a fondness for the Mainland and the way that one must deal with one’s neighbours no matter who they might be rather than live in a gated community, appealing to an Authority. I love the areas in which I live at the moment but it does sometimes make me feel rather detached.

The talented Mr Nicholaz Beresford has a critical and apropos response to his Majesty Philip’s recent missive, “Long Road Behind, Long Road Ahead“, in which he makes a telling point.

The other bit of irony in it is the title of the post: “Long Road Behind, Long Road Ahead.” Philip certainly is a visionary and his vision is surely what made SecondLife possible in the first place. But it occurred to me recently, that a lot of friction and frustration between Linden Lab and the SecondLife residents may be caused through a difference in focus.

I do not want to go into the spiritual or philosophical arena too much, but there are many schools of thought who are beginning to discover that happiness is rooted in the here and now while constant focus on the future or past tends to create angst, frustration and dissatisfaction.

SL Residents naturally are focusing on their experience right here right now. Personal tolerance levels obviously differ, but nobody can live on a vision of a better tomorrow if tomorrow never comes.

~*~

One of the things that I have learnt particularly from my experiences upon the Grid, as well as on the Aethernet in recent years, is the importance of actually having things that work, regardless of whether or not I have fixed it myself for my own purposes. In my previous employ I was somewhat separate from those who actually used the derivatives of the work that I was doing.

Within Second Life, I find that being a “Creator” focusses the mind wonderfully. Anyone who has a problem with something that I have developed may contact me whilst I am having a cup of tea and reading the paper to tell me that something is not working, and they are not impressed if I say “oh well, I have solved that problem, but I just have not gotten around to putting it on sale - I shall do at some point, really”. Similarly if they see that something does not work when used by another, they will simply not buy it. A Customer is far harder to fool than a Boss, who may be bamboozled with justifications, presentations and careful Passing of the Buck, and is already contracted to pay one in any case. A Customer looks at the final product and thinks either “this works, I will buy it” or “this does not work, I will not”.

As well as this, both upon the Grid and outside in the broader area of Modern Aethernet Services, a “Vaporous” product might as well not exist. Whilst quite a lot can be done with Hype and Spin, particularly in the case of the commercial world of Second Life, the products which exist are the ones which sell and which people are impressed by. One can see the importance of this by looking at the giant Entities of the Aethernet and the Difference Engine. Take, for example, the great and powerful Google, a firm of world-spanning importance and ability, which continually releases new Services, some of which may not work perfectly initially but which do actually exist. The concept of a “perpetual beta” is something of a running joke but it has the principle behind it that having something is better than not having something (unless that something is actually so catastrophically wrong that it makes one look like an incompetent fool).

~*~

So: apart from its obvious and highly convenient function of allowing me to pay my Rent and purchase sundry Hats, the running of Ordinal Enterprises has proved most beneficial in terms of Mental Discipline as well, teaching me as it has to concentrate on achieving goals that are tangible to others rather than faffing about with scripts to no real purpose. I certainly do faff about with scripts - I find it enjoyable, and it is “Blue Sky” research that often assists in the future and trains the mind - but without concentrating upon someone else’s eventual experience one really does not achieve much in the commercial world. Similarly if I fix a problem with a product I am now much more motivated to implement that fix in the released version of that product and get it out to Purchasers as soon as possible, since otherwise, the only person who is impressed is me myself, and whilst I can pay myself as much money as I like, that process is valuable only to Economists.

It seems to me peculiar, then, that in the case of Second Life development, we have many items upon the JIRA which clearly have fixes - and I am sure that they are very good fixes, I have great confidence in the skills of the Linden Demigods as they continue their Hephaestian toil, as well as those bold souls outside of Lindenage who contribute - but not actually a sniff of those fixes when it comes down to it. I am reminded of such issues as VWR-418 Particle burst quality fades - fixed months ago, yet apparently only to appear in the new Windlight viewer - or VWR-2046 Focus is sent to menu/money/notification window, which sounds innocuous but is a major component of Griefing Attacks.

I did post recently the meta-issue WEB-380 “Fixed Internally” should not appear as “Resolved” in JIRA; voting should continue, that issues on the JIRA should not be marked as “Resolved” when merely “Fixed Internally” rather than “Fixed”, on the basis that the issues were issues with the Viewer or the World, and thus until they were fixed in the Viewer or the World they were not actually resolved. This, though, would not necessarily increase the frequency of fixes finding their way into final Releases, it would just clarify their exact status.

The fact is that there simply is no Second Afterlife where one will receive one’s rewards for patience and piety. I hate to shatter any myths, but we must be hard-headed rational Folk of Science here - the neophyte will certainly not believe. I have great confidence in the skills and dedication of Laboratoire Linden, based on inductive reasoning and speaking to several, but the New Resident will not - and even I have doubts when it comes to issues which have not found their way into a Release. They may well do at some point but one cannot rely on that; cue the “when Havok n arrives” figure of speech, still applicable even now that a Havok 4 client exists. And regardless of whether people have confidence or not, they may not care if they find that their everyday experience is not being concentrated on, regardless of the Long View.

And it would be a great shame, because I do love the World, and the World is its People, and I wish to see the most People involved for both general benefit and for theirs. It is not for everyone, but it is not as if everyone who enters the Grid and says “this is not for me” would be better off buying appalling clothes in the World Of Kaneva or shooting people entirely un-ironically as part of America’s Army. The “road ahead” is all very well, but the immediate must be addressed.

A small note to, well, note that I am appearing as a panelist in the “Identity Summit”, presented by the Communications Company, Orange, this coming Friday the Sixteenth of November.

What does - or does not - an avatar reveal about its owner? How does virtual identity become a brand? Is the humanoid form the best way to express our true selves?

Come find out with us on Friday, November 16, as Orange Island will be hosting a series of discussions by Second Life residents and community leaders on the nature of identity and avatars. This Identity Summit will address such topics as non-human avatars, avatars as personas, and avatars as personal brands.

One may read many more details and the full programme on the afore-linked page (a “distinguished speaker”? moi?) but I personally will be addressing the topic of “Persona and Identity Transparency in Business”, along with Mr Forseti Svarog, at 11am Second Life Time (or 7pm Greenwich Mean Time).

The whole business of identity and persona and where and when personae exist and are evident is something that I have always been keenly interested in, and I am most definitely looking forward to discussing the said matters with anyone who happens to be around at the time. I warn all readers that I am known for both going off on irrelevant tangents in such environments, and also for being rather difficult to shut up, but I am sure Mr Svarog will be talking far more sense than I. Other items on the agenda should also prove thought-provoking and entertaining, and for the show-offs amongst you there is a Contest for Unique and Interesting Avatars, though you should remember to register yourself the day before.

As an additional matter, it appears that Orange Island is not, thankfully, entirely orange, which would be rather hard on one’s eyes. Though parts of it are.

I was recently considering the matter of Otherworldly Voices. There was an immense kerfuffle about the introduction of Voices to the Grid - admittedly, there is an immense kerfuffle about any introduction or removal of anything whatsoever, but in this case it was a kerfuffle promulgated by many Leading Thinkers and Commentators, and also myself.

Some predicted that the presence of Voices would lead to the elimination of “Immersionists”, dinosaurs - all New Residents would expect Voices and would relegate the silent to the dusty library corridors to which they properly belong and where they can say “shhh” to each other in private. There was the prediction that Voices would cause awful discrimination between those wishing to use them and those not, and huge social divides would occur. Would shopkeepers be required to have Voices on their lands or face bankruptcy? How would facilities for New Residents cope with the flood of New Residents wishing to send Voices from outside?

Some months have now gone by, a reasonable period of time I feel, the kerfuffle has been de-fluffled and, I must say, the overwhelming attitude that I perceive to the matter is, well, neutrality, if not boredom. I am not a particular fan of the presence of Voices, I consider it an irritating intrusion and furthermore it does not agree with the Hardware of my own Engine, and I was concerned as to possible implications but really - I have not encountered a single person even suggesting that I send Voices, and while I did see a few people keen to experiment (and all power to the experimenters, say I) now it is all old hat.

In short, nothing much appears to have changed. New Residents to whom I have spoken since the introduction have expressed no great interest in using Voices - I was always sceptical that they would, as the majority of Non-Residents, residing in the Shadow World, seem quite happy with Electronic Letters and Short Message Services and such, and indeed many use them far more than Telephony. Older Residents in my experience find Voices at most occasionally useful but mostly irrelevant. It is for both groups a tool which they may use at times as matters arise but mostly will not, and no seismological social activity has taken place.

I suppose, really, that this is not a particularly productive Entry in that it is really saying that things have not actually changed significantly. I am certainly open to any alternative experiences, as clearly my own perception is not representative (given that I am a peculiar scripting hermit) but all that I have seen shows that there were a few incidents shortly after the introduction of Voices, when it was still novel and could reasonably be used as a tool of social discrimination - and goodness knows there are enough people out there in the world who will take any opportunity to belittle someone else. Now that it is, as I said, old hat, there is not even false superiority to be gained, and such behaviour has diminished.

Whilst somewhat re-enabled in Aethernet terms, I am still unable to enter the Grid itself, and have been attempting to ameliorate the symptoms of my withdrawal with such things as the Scripting Section of the Official Forums.

To tell the truth I have been there infrequently of late. Previously I would spend many hours bickering over semicolons, but I have found it drawing me less and less in recent months until I barely ever participate unless at an extremely loose end. I am not entirely sure what caused this change; perhaps it was the closure of many parts of it and the enforcement of apparently somewhat arbitary conditions, making the place far less welcoming as a whole, or perhaps there was some Social Shift, with either the tenor of new participants changing or the departure of those I previously enjoyed engaging with. Or, perhaps, it is entirely down to a change in my own character.

One thing that most definitely has put me off ever returning, or at least offering actual Script-Code Solutions, is the current impossibility of posting up any sort of Code in any sort of Legible Form. I fear that I became infuriated by this and vowed never to return, or at least never to attempt to put up examples again. This is yet another manifestation of the dread [#WEB-156] BBCode not working on official SL Forums, one the annoyance of which I had not fully appreciated (and believe me, I have been incredibly annoyed by it already). This one thing now makes the huge Scripting Library unreadable and greatly discourages any further contributions, as well as vastly increasing the effort required to actually help anyone with their own problems or post solutions. Short queries and functions and theoretical discussions are bearable, but the prospect of struggling through some poor novice’s hundred lines of unformatted code in order to chase down curly brackets is enough to make one simply not bother.

It all infuriates me even more as there are dozens of people eager to help with this, perhaps the most opaque skill within Second Life for a beginner or Non-Technical Sort to deal with, yet they face obstacles which even have the effect of making previous stored advice less valuable. A grid full of professional Old Resident engineers, lonely newer auto-didacts and terrible ancient scripts handed down from generation to generation due to the lack of anything more recent and efficient is not the sort of vision I have ever had, and discussion and mutual education at least goes some way to preventing this dystopia and helping the broadest group and greatest number of people. Even if one has no intention of dirtying one’s hands with any sort of Coding, one may still benefit from proper samples to be cut and pasted directly into an In-World Device.

As a small sticking-plaster I have now set up my own Scripting Colloquium, where one might post Code in a manner which can actually be Read (as well as Images and Links and Things In Italics and So On). These things rarely survive for more than a few weeks, and it may die an undignified death, but I would encourage anyone with scripts and questions about scripts who is put off discussion within the Official Forums by this or other matters to visit and participate. At the least it may build up some useable examples.

Well, I did say that I would release the thing, and so I have. In practice I decided to charge the princely sum of L$0 for it, including two sets of appropriate official flags; anyone wishing to leave a donation to offset my Uploading Charges is more than welcome, but I dare say they will not bankrupt me.

The Semaphore Animation Device is available from my Caledon shop of course, and also from ShopOnRez. (I am afraid that I do not have the patience these days to list items on SLExchange, certainly not ones from which I gain no monetary reward.)

A lengthy page of instructions is available for the benefit of insomniacs, and for those who are still not asleep, the main script itself is also viewable.

The item itself is not transferrable. Whilst regular readers will be aware that I am not the most assiduous in pursuing Resellers of my Free Items, counting it as one of the consequences of releasing items that are both Copiable and Transferrable, that is not to say that I like it when some reprobate grabs things which I set out and re-packages them as part of some godawful “Business In A Box”. In actual fact I do not object too much if a New Resident decides to scour the Grid for free items for which he or she may con some Even Newer Resident out of a few coppers - at least some effort goes into that practice, and it may be said that they perform a service - but the industrial reselling of Free Items is something which annoys me somewhat.

Furthermore, this morning, when I approached someone in their appallingly-textured shop and politely requested that they cease selling my Grid Crash Protection Box for monetary gain (I have no illusions that such action is technically punishable by what Laws of the Land exist, very little is, but as a Free Citizen I am quite at liberty to make that sort of request with ethical justification, particularly as there are clear notices indicating that these things are Not For Resale) I was treated to a dull little lecture about how “we don’t own anything therefore I can sell anything” and how I should read the Terms Of Service, as if I had not read them enough times to be able to repeat them verbatim.

This annoyed me, even though said seller did in the end remove my products - apparently customers had been complaining that the Grid Crash Protection Box did not actually protect them! perish the thought - and thus I am disinclined at this time to offer copiable and transferrable items, even though many fine folk would find this convenient.

I do apologise for this tangent.

Alas, due to a severe attack of the vapours, I have been unable to complete any Journal Entries recently, and therefore wish to post (for your edification) the thoughts of my semi-estranged semi-clerical brother, Cardinal Malaprop, who sends me letters from the Vatican on unpredictable occasions. At least he claims that they are from the Vatican, though I suspect that he is merely skulking in the Whitechapel backstreets somewhere and occasionally stealing some incense to scent the missives.

Dearest Ordinal,

I have been considering the Nature of that Thing that you term Second Life recently, and have come to some surprising conclusions about its Insufficiency, as have many Luminaries. Whilst the chattering coffee-house types with their portable Aetherial Eye-Phones may laud Second Life as the best thing since the invention of the Bread-Slicing Machine, even to the extent of many Periodicals publishing breathless articles on the subject, I must say that (despite the fact that I have never visited the world and do not ever wish to do so) I have now scientifically proved that it is at heart inferior for any Sensible Purpose, and that anyone Business-Minded should instead be investing in Kittens.

Here are the points of my thesis, numbered for quick and easy reference as I know you are forgetful.

1. Reliability. In contrast to your so-called Grid, which pops up and down like a bat on a bellpull, kittens provide continuous and reliable service for years, at least until they mature as a platform and become cats. Far better than any Lab has proven able to provide!

2. Popularity. The ridiculous claims regarding the number of “Residents” of Second Life have been comprehensively proved false in the literature, and it is well known now that the population of Second Life is in fact you, Mr Warren Ellis and a dozen-odd confused adolescents who were looking for the Penguin Club. In contrast, the number of Kitten Users is vast, I estimate approaching the Thousand Millions.

3. Scalability. A mere forty or so “Residents” may be present in any “sim” at one time in Second Life, I hear, and even then only if they are willing to bear the trial of moving as if they were in a gluepot. Whereas a single Kitten can provide joy to anyone within petting distance, and what is more, any number of kittens may be present at a location at any one time! Why, I have seen baskets of the things, surrounded by cooing children and maids, and at no point did any of them freeze, disappear or have their boots relocate to their behinds.

4. Cost. To “reside” in Second Life requires not only a fee to some dubious Colonial “Laboratory”, but also the expenditure of considerable resources on an Engine able to view it, as well as on one’s Aethernet Communications. Kittens, however, come free, with indeed some low folk even disposing of them at times, and require nothing more than the odd piece of fish for their upkeep. Another point for Kittens I feel!

5. Propriety. Second Life, as the world knows, is a haven for the most appalling perversions and indecencies and outright affronts to nature, whereas Kittens are perhaps the things that most embody the term “Friendly to the Family” yet known to mankind. Would a Man of Business be more ashamed to associate his product with ranting criminal pornographers, or a fluffy bundle of inherent goodness? I think the answer is clear.

Thus, quod erat demonstrandum. I do worry about your continued obsession with this nonsense, dear Sister, and as I know you have thoughts that you are some sort of Scientist, I feel that disassembling what should be clear in any case into unarguable Logical Points may persuade you. Failing that, at the very least my extensive experience of the world of Commerce (as you know I have been Chief Executive Officer of literally dozens of firms!) may influence anyone coming across your public Journal not to waste their shillings on proven claptrap. Kittens, dear fellows, kittens!

Your loving Brother,

Cardinal

P.S. My latest enterprise, a Chap-To-Chap Kitten-Sharing endeavour, is going splendidly, and if you receive any enquiries I would be grateful if you would forward them to me forthwith.

I am not quite sure what to make of this and thus will place it here unedited, but I feel I must mention that the last time I met my brother was when he was up on Weights And Measures charges, for weighing Oranges on an Apple scale.

Well, it seems that “Voice” is present across the Grid now, at least for those who care to Download the newest Viewer, and it is on as standard across Caledon. Those of you who wish to partake in the receiving of other-worldly voices - and coughs, and feedback, and the sounds of errant other-world children, and so on and so on ad nauseam - may do so widely, without even having to pay any sort of Pharmacist for this Altering of the Mind.

You will not be able to do so in any parcels over which I have control, though - I have taken the liberty of disabling said function, lest visitors have the impression that they can ask me questions using it, and I will respond. I will not hear them in the first place, let alone be able to speak back in this arcane fashion.

I do, to be honest, feel a little guilty for preventing my customers from engaging in discussion in their chosen form whilst I am not there. For the moment I shall be leaving this particular option unworking, but perhaps a sign somewhere saying “Ordinal Will Not Hear You” would be more appropriate. As soon as I have developed such a thing I will try its use, and if it turns out to be ineffective, well, back to the blanket forbiddance.

My views on the whole situation have not changed from the last time I pontificated regarding it, by the way.

~*~

As a more serious point: I am able, in the current environment of Second Life, to reject the use of voice, and yet still have people willing to entertain my preferences, as (I believe) I have proved that I am capable of Scripting and Doing Other Things.

It does concern me that those younger than I, with less of a Reputation, will not have that option. I am not concerned for myself, I am awkward and difficult and have no intention of budging, but others in a less fortunate position, I would not like to see disadvantaged, and I do worry about them.

Suffice to say that anyone who wishes to converse on Scripting Matters via the medium of the written word will always be able to do so with me, and with any of the people whom I respect.

~*~

Oh, and by the way - whilst at the moment the service is free, and a relief that must be for Island Owners who were considering having to pay a Hundred American Dollars Extra per Month, this will not remain the case indefinitely, according to the Voice FAQ at this time:

Island Owners will have voice for their land at no cost until the end of the 2007 calendar year. After this, Island Owners will be asked to pay a monthly fee for voice if they are not already at new pricing that includes voice.

Said fee not being explicitly detailed, though, one presumes, it will be less than a hundred dollars.

A couple of events have recently caught my somewhat bloodshot Eye, and from that particular organ made their way slowly along my Nerves and Sinews towards the Fingers, from whence they now emerge in the form of Words. As the First and Briefest Matter, the Electric Sheep have demolished their previous Aethernet Establishment “SL Boutique”, and in its place now stands “shop.onrez.com“. Fear not, previous merchants, as Saleable Items have been automatically shipped across; adding further items, though, I believe will require them to be placed in a Box of the new style.

(At this point I should perhaps declare an interest, in that I have been doing a small quantity of recent work for the Sheep, on an entirely independent matter to this, but I believe that regular readers should really know me well enough to appreciate that I am not given to any sort of promotional puffery. Irregular readers I suppose must simply take my Word on this matter.)

I note with a slightly furrowed brow that previously-included links to my own SLBoutique page and products now do not work, and visitors are simply taken to the ShopOnRez front page. Admittedly it would then be the work of moments for said visitors to then type the name of the desired product into the “Search” box, and hopefully, they will do this, but since “itemid” appears to remain the same between products in Old and New some sort of rewriting rule would seem appropriate.

That small detail aside, something that I do find an encouraging development is the option to use In-World Vendors that are automatically linked to one’s ShopOnRez storeroom - in other words, a free Networked Vendor System that is also an Aethernet Vendor! I must say that this is seems a very wise move for the Encouragement of More Widespread Use. If, dear reader, you will permit me a moment or two of self-indulgence, I shall write a little on my Priorities in the Matter of Stocking. (Not Stockings, for the benefit of that urchin at the back.) On the increasingly infrequent occasion that I actually finish a product to my own satisfaction, my sales priorities are:

1. My Caledon shop; from here, the vast majority of my sales arise. I will make sure that whatever the item might be is boxed up and placed in a Prominent Place with an Appropriately Attractive Appearance. I will likely begin to compose advertisements and a Journal piece about said item once I have done this, and during that process will suddenly realise that I have not placed the items on SLX or SLB.

   “Confound it!” I cry at this stage. “Must I really do this? I can’t stand blasted SLX, I can never get the page I want, and SLB is always broken.” (One must remember that, as stated previously, I am not one of Nature’s merchants and find the entire process a complete pain, thus I am rarely in a positive or sober mood at this point.) Yet I am aware that these efforts are necessary, and, draining my glass, I pour myself another and grimly set to the task.

2. At this point I begin with SLExchange, not because I prefer it - I most certainly do not, I find it ugly and impossible to navigate as a salesperson, though I must say that as a customer it is quite simple to use - but in the knowledge that the majority of my Aethernet sales originate there. I rewrite my advertisement in BBCode (BBCode for heaven’s sake!), click on the wrong links a few times, go back and forth until I remember how to actually put things up for sale, and eventually manage to force the damn thing onto the Site, where it squats, sullenly, not selling.

3. At this stage I am aware that I should also put the thing up on SLBoutique, and quite frequently I do, but also quite frequently I don’t, because I know that not doing so will not be significantly injurious to my livelihood (not that I make much money from SLExchange either to be frank) and after previous activities I am in a Foul and Mulish Mood. This is not, I might add here, the best time to demand that I assist with a Drinks Fridge over Instant Message, unless, perhaps, you are a collector of sarcastic and hostile responses.

Thus, you see, poor old SLBoutique comes last or not at all, through no real fault of its own. However, with the addition of this new Network Vendor Function, there will be the added incentive that populating ShopOnRez will now result in a Network Vendor System being populated as well - and I keep meaning to have one, and have indeed written my own, though suspicion of my own skills leads me not to use it for anything more valuable than notecards. For those folk out there without an established shop of some sort, or with only a very small shop, or with a predeliction for the rental of Vendor Space in sundry other establishments, this would be even more of an attraction to the use of the service. Thus: a good move for all, I believe.

An Addition as of Saturday 28th: Oh, now that I actually come to play with the in-world vendor that is available, it really is a joy to use compared to the absolute trial that configuring such vendor systems in-world usually presents. What is more, moving products from the Old to New style of Box requires just the removal of the existing Box Script and the addition of two new ones. I was not looking forward to having to entirely repopulate a new Box.

~*~

Oh dear, I did mean for that to be the shorter part of this entry, and now it has grown to ridiculous size. Quickly, before I become utterly sick of the idea of writing for another month, I should mention the other point, which was of course the Laboratory’s recent Prohibition on Wagering.

I was gratified to see that as well as actually having the term “wagering” in the title of the Announcement, they also listed Baccarat first in the List of Prohibited Games, Sufficient but not Necessary. Speaking personally I have little love for organised games of chance, given that my everyday Scripting Activities involve the regular possibility of losing large sums of money due to random decisions by Difference Engines anyway, but the fact that I do not particularly like something does not in itself mean that there is anything wrong with it of course; Loofah-Fondling Societies are not my cup of tea either but as long as I am not approached too often by gentlemen bearing said desiccated gourds and inviting me to have a feel, I am not concerned.

I am, and always have been, a harsh critic of those who abuse the Resources of a Sim by emplacing dozens of Campers in front of Colourful Machines, and many careless Mainland Casino Owners are appalling in this regard, but really, even though this will drastically reduce the problem, the solution should not be to ban the activity itself, rather to address the abuse that is causing the issue. The Lag is the problem, rather than the Gambling.

It must be said though that this does remind one that there is a Higher Power than even King Philip. This is no random decree by the Laboratory, who previously have been quite happy with wagering, but a response to the terrible and inscrutable Elder Gods who make decrees affecting unfortunate dwellers in that particular region, based not on what mere humans perceive as Rationality but on Awful Cosmic Whims, the reasoning behind which Man Was Not Meant To Know (and should not delve into, lest one be stricken with madness and end one’s days in the feared asylum that, I believe, is known as Washington). Alas, even the most sparkly codpiece cannot change what approximates to their “minds”.

It might well be said that even sim-hogging graspers deserve a little more notice, let alone those operating innocent establishments on their own sims, but, well, these sudden decisions are a trademark of the Laboratory, and surely we must appreciate their artistic integrity. At least it is good that in this instance, what has been prohibited is fairly clear.

I was alerted by Vint Falken that the position of Governor of Second Life would shortly be coming up for election.

Clearly, whilst Lord Philip has provided sterling service over the years, there are many things which could be improved, and technology marches on. I would therefore like to announce the campaign by the Punched Cards As Law Party for the position, with its candidate, the automaton Iron Plato.

Herein I will list some of the campaign material that is available at the Headquarters - to be found at Nimue 168, 71 (Iron Plato sits in contemplation in the midst of the worst excesses of Blingtopia, so that his mechanical brain might properly understand the problems that face us as Residents).

The Punched Cards As Law Party is now operational as a Group within Second Life, and all are welcome to join, assuming that they are possessed of a Bright and Progressional Attitude to the use of Technology. Together, we will bring the Grid into the new Millennium.

I am sure that we all welcome the latest Clarifying Announcement by the Laboratory reassuring residents that they are ready to ban pretty much anything at a moment’s notice, which will make us all much safer from whatever it was we were in danger from [note to self: fill this bit in later]. After all, it was apparently we who made it clear that certain types of content and activity were simply not acceptable in any form. I’m not sure that I recall that personally, but apparently I did, which makes me slightly concerned as to whether I am underestimating my late-night champagne consumption.

It does occur to me, though, that there may be those who are concerned that they might inadvertantly fall foul of these regulations. I can only put this down to inattention, really, as it is obviously completely clear and always has been that whatever it is that is currently banned can cause whatever punishment it currently does… but inattention is not Broadly Offensive and is thus excusable.

I suggest, then, that artisans muse upon the following and consider incorporating such mechanisms into existing scripts, something which can be quite easily done whilst one is waiting for the resolution of all of the ARs one has filed on one’s enemies and business rivals, as well as one’s neighbours for their Broadly Offensive opinions, haircuts and choice of wallpaper. (One must consider that it will take an appreciable level of time for even Lindens to ban all of them.)

The following should be I believe replace the control mechanism of any weapon:

control(integer level, integer edge)
{
    if (level & edge & CONTROL_ML_LBUTTON) {
        llSensor("", NULL_KEY, AGENT, 96.0, PI/4);
    }
}

sensor(integer n)
{
    // Someone might be hit by the bullet!
    llOwnerSay("You have attempted to engage in an action which might
        involve a depiction of extreme or graphic violence. In order to
        keep Second Life safe I am reporting you to Daniel Linden.");
    llInstantMessage(
        "7083b3f7-6634-44b8-ac35-d55835286dee",
        llKey2Name(llGetOwner()) + " has been trying to depict extreme
        or graphic violence and needs immediate banning to keep us all
        safe."
    );
    // The above line actually _will_ IM Daniel Linden, and if you
    // incorporate it into a real script I take no responsibility for
    // your continued existence.
}

no_sensor()
{
    // No potential targets, fire away!
    shoot_bullet_or_whatever();
}

and I would advise that the following be present in any poseballs, just to be on the side of Safety:

changed(integer change)
{
    if ((change & CHANGED_LINK) && llAvatarOnSitTarget() != NULL_KEY) {
        llSay(0, "Get off me, you filthy pervert!");
        llUnSit(llAvatarOnSitTarget());
    }
}

In recent days I have been observing many fellow artisans upon the Grid - well, I flatter myself that they are my fellows, I am a child playing with plywood and glue compared to most, but nonetheless - writing and speaking on the subject of Sculpted Prims, the new magical lumps of clay sent to us from the heavens that promise to make our fruitbowls that much more interesting. Initially I suspect this will result in little more than an enormous number of bananas, vases, goblets, fancy table-legs and so on, but given time they will likely become common in the primary markets on the Grid, those being furniture, clothes and body parts.

I, myself, have not been sculpting prims. “Why is this?” I hear you ask in my imagination (in all likelihood you care not a jot but I will tell you anyway). Firstly, the line of products manufactured by Ordinal Industries are pretty much all mechanical and sharp-edged, and sculpted prims really are not terribly good with harsh lines and suchlike, being by their nature rather softer and more organic in appearance. I am sure that a few details (for example, the holster for the Webley mentioned previously) would be better done with sculpted prims but I imagine that the point at which this becomes essential will be the point at which I am actually able to operate the tools.

Which brings me to my second point, which is that I really do not have the time to master that horrible item of torture, Blender, and I have neither time nor resources (or at least I am certainly not willing to spare them) for Maya, the only package for which an official exporting widget exists at the moment. It is certainly not the matter of a few spare hours to learn how these things work. I previously took Blender cautiously out of the drawer and opened it up when I was investigating the creation of animations, as I was told it could be used for this (perhaps mistakenly) and quickly put it back with a puzzled then scared expression on my face. I made a more concerted effort recently but quite frankly, the sheer number of buttons in irrational places, the bizarre and essential keyboard shortcuts, the inconsistency between elements of the User Interface… I was not encouraged.

My previous investigation of animations would have been entirely curtailed had it not been for my discovery of the excellent program Avimator (now developed as qavimator), which is an excellent free tool and extremely quick to master, particularly if your desired animations are limited to small actions, poses and incidental movements. This is the sort of program which is needed in the context of Sculpted Prims to maintain the Grid as a place where anyone might learn any of the basic skills to at least some extent. Clearly if one must learn Blender or Maya before sculpting, it divides us firmly into “does it for a living” and “doesn’t do it at all”, and that division in society is enough of a problem as it is.

At this early stage it appears as if the program “Wings3D” might turn out to be some sort of easily-accessible version, but I am unable to judge this. My stubborn and slightly insane insistence on using an “Apple” as a tool - and a Core 2 Duo Apple at that; two cores, what is the fruit world coming to - means that I am finding it practically impossible to use the plugin developed. The latest version fails consistently when asked to do anything, the last previous version to work does not support the plugin, and compiling from source… well, I am not a newcomer to this sort of endeavour but it has been a complete nightmare and an unsuccessful one at that.

Still, residents of the Grid are a resourceful and innovative bunch, and I have little doubt that someone, somewhere, will come up with something, somehow. I will keep an eye out, but in the meantime, continue to make things with the usual prims.

On that note and to end this piece with a little self-promotion, I have been working on a series of industrial tools - all in the very early stages of design - which I will illustrate….

Whilst those of us who were unable to attend the Town Hall Meeting today will no doubt be thankful for the provision of a transcript of questions and answers on the Official Laboratoire Court Circular - and it is, certainly, an informative document - I thought that it might also be appropriate to publish an unedited version including the interventions of attendees, which I was passed just now by Mr Simon Pulford. (It does not cover the whole thing, I admit.)

~ please see this record of the Town Hall ~
(as I seem to be prevented from posting the whole lot here)

NB: the appearance of this transcript was created using my chat log colourising thing, a free service.

As one with a long term interest in both Automated Information-Collecting Agents and the Analysis of their Data, I was most fascinated to see the arrival of the Sheep Labs Search, created by the Electric Sheep Company. Actually, I was a little startled, as it suddenly arrived without warning on an Easter Monday during which many people are not present, already filled with all sorts of information concerning products.

Automata and Homonculi

I thought that, to start with, I would make up a couple of terms to clarify exactly what was meant here.

• An automaton (”script bot”) exists as an object in-world and uses LSL to move about and sense. It may use outside resources to make decisions and give out information, but its interaction with the Grid will always be on the same basis as any other script. In fact all scripted objects are automata of some level, but most are not very sophisticated, simply opening or closing when touched, say. For example, my trams are automata.

• A homonculus (”client bot”) uses some outside resource to control it, but appears in SL as an avatar; libsecondlife or other open client code has been used to breed this new kind of entity. Potentially it has all of the abilities and senses of a avatar; however, some of them are too hard for it to properly use. The eyes are blind, the fingers feel nothing. Sometimes this is an issue of technology but in many cases it is a matter of cognitive ability. For example, “landbots” are homunculi - they appear to be real people but in fact can only sense land for sale, decide whether it is at an appropriate price, move to it and buy it. They can do this very quickly but they are not amenable to pleas and threats, nor can they look around and decide whether the plot is pleasantly situated and would sell well (except perhaps crudely through certain algorithms, certainly with nothing like the sophistication of an actual person). Homunculi could also use Automata themselves.

• Neither, as will become significant later on, can read.

A Quick Summary of Operations

This form of search, as far as I understand it, operates on the following basis: a search homunculus visits areas, looks for objects lying around, and remembers what they are, what parcel they are on and their price. The exact order in which it does this (does it look for parcels first then search the parcels? does it look for objects then work out where they are?) is mostly unimportant, but there are a few details of it which are important, which I shall mention later on.

Accuracy and Performance

Given that the technical details of the implementation are likely to be changed and improved I will not spend too much time talking about those; if I point to a performance issue, for instance, it will likely be fixed in the next day or two making my commentary worthless. Instead I prefer to talk about issues relating to the basic concept of grabbing the names of items for sale, which is not necessarily unique to this particular system by the ESC either, and may be replicated elsewhere in some different form.

Things which work

It is certainly the case that the engine is able to find things for sale relating to a particular term, though how many of the possible items returned it is impossible to say, and how quickly it will update I do not know. It is also rather fast, though again I do not think that it covers the entire Grid. It does not at this point appear to reliably return results for parcel names containing keywords; I am not sure whether this is by design or some sort of error.

It is clearly an advantage to be able to search for the entire contents of a shop rather than just whatever the owner has managed to squeeze into the parcel description. I, for instance, have a selection of snowball-throwing devices in my shop, which do not have the space to put into search terms for the current Find. Nobody searching for “snowball” would come up with my shop using that, but with this new engine, they would.

It also has a head start on the current methods of Cheating The Search (a practice also euphemistically termed Search Engine Optimisation, but which basically boils down to Camping). This is not a long-term advantage, given that if it grows at all popular, specific methods of Cheating