Comments on: The new Second Life reinvents itself

By: I will be a real guest on a talk show in a virtual world | Chris Abraham

I will be a real guest on a talk show in a virtual world | Chris Abraham — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:39:36 +0000

[…] in a follow-up post, Chris changed his tune, or at least his tone when it came to virtual worlds: Now that I made such […]

By: vernes

vernes — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:27:44 +0000

The moment LindenLabs publishes a lean mean tiny client and allows sims to export the whole content data as one datafile, we’ll see new markets opening up for SecondLife.

We need a seperate viewer-client and a builder-client.
Give me the builder-client, and give the viewer-client to the ceo and anyone just wanting to have fun.

By: Kim Randall

Kim Randall — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:11:59 +0000

Great article. I have been a member of Second Life since 2006 and actually for a couple of years worked within the virtual world with a firm that helped brand real and virtual world companies. There are many possibilities to this wonderful world, but the first step is to think outside the box or “prim”

By: Joan Kremer

Joan Kremer — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:01:45 +0000

Interesting post — glad you gave Second Life a second chance.

It seems like many people think of SL as a “game” of some kind where they should be led and tutored into the ultimate experience. In fact, SL is just like first life in that it’s simply a world — vast and various — where you go to have experiences not possible or too difficult in first life — like meeting with friends or colleagues separated by long distances, participating in events that would require expensive/difficult travel, collaborating on projects, creating artwork, learning about other cultures, and so on.

As a writer, I spend most of my SL time at writers’ workshops, author readings and interviews, and writing “dates” or events that support my daily writing commitment. All of these things that have advanced my writing skills would be difficult or impossible for me in the physical world.

As other commenters have hinted, I believe the biggest problem people have with SL is that they don’t understand that’s it’s a platform, not a game, and thus their expectations, though inappropriate, are not met.

So, it’s good that you’ve given Second Life another look — and another review.

Alas Zerbino in SL

By: Widget Whiteberry

Widget Whiteberry — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:23:43 +0000

Chris — for another side of SL, you might want to join us some Thursday at Virtually Speaking, a weekly public affairs program hosted by Jay Ackroyd. Begun to help build the YearlyKos/Netroots Nation footprint on the web; since March of 2007, Jay has interviewed more than 70 pundits, scholars, authors, politicians, public servants, scientists, historians and economists. VS is produced via Second Life for a digitally present studio audience. Jay and his guest dial into BlogTalkRadio and simultaneously log on to SecondLife. The studio audience participates in text, commenting and asking questions which are read by all, and importantly, do not disrupt the on-stage program.

The show is simulcast and then archived on the web via Blogtalk Radio. As an example, here is a link to Juan Cole discussing the Islamic world: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/virtuallyspeaking/2009/04/10/Virtually-Speaking-with-Jimbo-Hoyer

We are booked into December. This week, Salon.com’s Glenn Greenwald, then DemfromCt and Josh Knauer on the global response to H1N1 (Swine Flu), followed by evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis and Dave Niewart. Interested? Contact me or — by 6pm pacific — log in to http://slurl.com/secondlife/Virtually%20Speaking/167/98/25

By: Lalo Telling

Lalo Telling — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:26:59 +0000

Second Life, the community -- not to be confused with Second Life the corporate product -- is evolving. The only thing I can see from this article that was "reinvented" is your attitude about it. Everybody starts as a n00b... Most people, however, give themselves a chance to assimilate, instead of blaming it on the platform. And, by the way, there's a group of people called "SL Mentors" who do, and have done for years, exactly what what you wish for in your last paragraph. They're not Lindens (that is, they're not employees of Linden Labs), they're volunteers who offer a helping hand (or paw, in some cases) to n00bs with the wherewithal to ask. Again: it's part of the Second Life community, not part of the "game platform".

By: Michael Wilson

Michael Wilson — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:31:41 +0000

“One of the most exciting things I noticed when I logged in to Second Life is that it supports the most intriguing VOIP innovation. Not only does Second Life allow you to voice chat, but it also supports true surround sound by allowing the ability to track where people are located based on their voices”

There.com has had this since 2003.

By: Valiant Westland

Valiant Westland — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:18:45 +0000

Chris, I’m glad to see you reengage Second Life. When I first logged in to Second Life in 2006 I didn’t find tools that were compelling enough to make me stay. When I came back two years later, I was surprised by how many people were using Second Life for professional education and business collaboration.

Since coming back to SL, I have been overwhelmed with the talent, creativity and business potential of this dynamic virtual world called Second Life. It’s been both professionally and personally rewarding to work with people like Dusan and JenzZa and participate in Metanomics, a terrific venue for leading-edge discussion on the use of virtual worlds for business.

I look forward to your appearance on Metanomics. Just as I did when your original article appeared, I invite you to use the following SLURL to visit my company’s Second Life office and learn more about how SL can be used for business.

http://tinyurl.com/Vuturus-SL-01

By: Pooky Amsterdam

Pooky Amsterdam — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:13:10 +0000

Well done Chris! Great article and there is a great deal that this
remarkable platform has to offer– wonderful that you are writing about Second Life where we have great opportunities to connect, work and create on so many levels.

By: Dale Innis

Dale Innis — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:18:54 +0000

Seems like it's not so much that Second Life is reinventing itself as it is that this time you bothered to actually use it a bit before dismissing it. :) (Oh, and you don't need to download a separate "porn viewer" to get to adult areas; you just need to satisfy the system that you are an adult (with a credit card or various other methods), and then check a box saying "I don't mind seeing nekkid ppl" in the normal viewer.) People do say to me "you use Second Life? what about all the porn and sex?". I reply "you go to New York City? what about all the porn and sex?". And they laugh, and we move on to more significant topics than porn and sex.