I'm pretty sure anyone who ever surfed the net a bit has stumbled over MySpace.com and Facebook.com.
The idea behind both is pretty simple: You get your own little homepage to tell others about your hobbies, work, music, favorite sex fetish(s) or whatever else comes to your mind.
Then others around the globe can hug and kiss you and add you to their friends, or you might want to search for your own RL friends that already signed up.
In the true spirit of the Web 2.0 ideology, you don't need to know any HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PERL or - god forbid - Java or Flash to get a neat looking homepage. All you need is creativity and a bit of patience.
My girl friend first invited me to Facebook. A musician friend of mine then told me he promoted his songs via MySpace. I decided to take a look at both, to see which has the cooler features and applets to integrate. And which allows you to fiddle&customize more...
It appears to be a pretty static work compared to Second Life and WoW. But, hey, I need a rest!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Second Life - Final
I planned to finish my adventures in Second Life this weekend after exploring a few more islands. Luckily either Linden Lab or God himself intervened - I couldn't log on from my computer anymore.
Looking back, I'm almost happy. It was fun to explore Second Life for a little while, but all in all it's a boring, even sobering experience.
Why? The world is too much like our own. There is nothing to do in Second Life and most of the "hip" islands are crowded by a dressed-up fake in-scene people that I wouldn't like in my first life either. Since basically you can be anything you want to be in Second Life, does that mean most people want to be smartly dressed, sexy in-people? Shouldn't they strive to be that in their First Life instead and be something fun otherwise? Are we humans that shallow?
It's also far too commercial and houses too many phony web enterprises, that wouldn't stand a chance to get any users, were it not for the promise of a few L$.
I would have loved to try out some of the design features. Creating things usually gives me more kicks than just consuming them.
But now I'm looking forward to banish the whole of Second Life from my hard disk.
All in all what you get out of Second Life is a 3D Chat and a good chance to go on a foto-shooting tour like I did most of the time. No doubt - there are nice places hidden somewhere amongst the thousands of islands, but personally I lack the energy to search for them any more.
Perhaps some day there will be a Third Life - and perhaps it will be a world worth spending time in.
Looking back, I'm almost happy. It was fun to explore Second Life for a little while, but all in all it's a boring, even sobering experience.
Why? The world is too much like our own. There is nothing to do in Second Life and most of the "hip" islands are crowded by a dressed-up fake in-scene people that I wouldn't like in my first life either. Since basically you can be anything you want to be in Second Life, does that mean most people want to be smartly dressed, sexy in-people? Shouldn't they strive to be that in their First Life instead and be something fun otherwise? Are we humans that shallow?
It's also far too commercial and houses too many phony web enterprises, that wouldn't stand a chance to get any users, were it not for the promise of a few L$.
I would have loved to try out some of the design features. Creating things usually gives me more kicks than just consuming them.
But now I'm looking forward to banish the whole of Second Life from my hard disk.
All in all what you get out of Second Life is a 3D Chat and a good chance to go on a foto-shooting tour like I did most of the time. No doubt - there are nice places hidden somewhere amongst the thousands of islands, but personally I lack the energy to search for them any more.
Perhaps some day there will be a Third Life - and perhaps it will be a world worth spending time in.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Cyberathlete Professional League
Another hype I stumbled across by sheer accident. I was getting my weekly dose of David Pogue, who does technical articles for the New York Times. Since David is great, but this weeks video didn't really interest me, I checked out some other online videos at the Times.
And then found this video about Cyberathletes.
I watched all of the videos and then went on to search some more.
CBS featured a full documentation of Jonathan "Fatal1ty Wendel, one of the star players. You can find it here.
A guy playing First Person Shooters earning 300.000 dollars in price money? Is this a real sport? It pretty much seems so, as most of the "cyberathletes" actually are not the couch potatoes you would imagine, but are also physically quite fit.
I'm not the worst with First Person Shooters myself, my reflexes are usually sufficient to get me through the games. But just watching the sheer speed and accuracy of those guys scared me. They actually practice several hours a day to get that good at wreaking havoc to virtual enemies and bust each other.
Wikipedia features articles on the players, NVIDIA and other biggies on the computer hardware market name their products after the stars. Fatal1ty has his own merchandise.
I don't want to waste many more words. Go and see for yourself. But truly, this IS a Hype.
And then found this video about Cyberathletes.
I watched all of the videos and then went on to search some more.
CBS featured a full documentation of Jonathan "Fatal1ty Wendel, one of the star players. You can find it here.
A guy playing First Person Shooters earning 300.000 dollars in price money? Is this a real sport? It pretty much seems so, as most of the "cyberathletes" actually are not the couch potatoes you would imagine, but are also physically quite fit.
I'm not the worst with First Person Shooters myself, my reflexes are usually sufficient to get me through the games. But just watching the sheer speed and accuracy of those guys scared me. They actually practice several hours a day to get that good at wreaking havoc to virtual enemies and bust each other.
Wikipedia features articles on the players, NVIDIA and other biggies on the computer hardware market name their products after the stars. Fatal1ty has his own merchandise.
I don't want to waste many more words. Go and see for yourself. But truly, this IS a Hype.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Second Life - Tourism on Lonely Planet
Yesterday made me feel fed up with SL. I try to be fair and give each Hype a sufficient testing time, but: Most islands are empty. Those that are not are filled because of campers only. They pay to be popular. The out-fashioned graphics began to tire me. The constant lag - besides my quite fast connection - begins to get on my nerves.
So I decided to take a guided tour instead, grabbed the latest issue of the AvaStar and teleported to the places they described as great.
Juke Joint Blues
As the name suggests this is a Blues Bar in the midst of what looks like the combat zone. It was skillfully done, but the Juke Box didn't work for me and the next Gig was due next Wednesday only. The only people - or avatars - around were staff. They were nice enough, but due to lack of anything to do atm I went on.
Support for Healing
By what I read on that Island it's a fundraiser for various RL projects trying to help people with serious problems. As in: Depressions, child abuse, etc.
It's also meant as a meeting place for such people. Graphically, this was a mix of Stonehenge and Buddhist temple settled in a japanese garden to my eyes. I will not share more thoughts on this one.
The Internet site behind Support for Healing is here
Since I felt well-enough and out of place already and there was no-one around to talk with, I just went on.
The gardens of Apollo
This island is covered by temples and lush gardens. For "one of the most popular" meetings places around, it was quite empty. It's a no-sex, no-stalking, no-dirty talk zone meant for private rendezvous of the more eloquent type. Which I appreciated.
It is also locked in eternal sunset mode.
It did look quite good. But I'd rather visit the real Taj Mahal then to spent too much time here on fantasy island.
SciLands
The Island teaches astronomy on a fairly sophisticated but still understandable level. I liked it! I actually learned something there! As might be expected, except for me there was only one other Avatar on the island.
I have Celestia installed on my computer, which is a nicer way to learn about the universe surrounding us perhaps. But still: I was impressed.
The analytical sciences needed to explore were also covered, along with 3D models to explain the workings of Mass- UV- and IR spectroscopy. There even is a small lab, where you can try around. A fairly interesting place all in all.
The Star Trek Museum (located at TokaDok II
This one really made me feel a bit better about SL. A sci-fi fan at heart and very fond of the Star Trek universe, the Star Trek Museum was a lot of fun for me to visit.
Download-Links to free Star Trek games, a StarTrek-StarWars movie in their cinema, a starport with 3D ship models - including their history. This place was made with lots of love. It was also designed within the limits of SL Engine, so don't expect too much detail, accept the occasional graphic glitch and if you're a Trekkie, you might like it.
I met a nice Paladin there, complete with amour, sword, all that and helped him to a few dragon-chasing photos. He had a real impressive Pegasus with him. This was the first time I really had some interactive fun, for a short time. He gave me a few addresses for Islands with fantasy and sci-fi backgrounds. So, perhaps I will even stay another day to check them out.
One other thing that fascinated me, was the Library of Primitives. Here you could actually find tutorials to build your own objects in SL. I think, that could be the actual fun part of this game for me. My voyages so far left me tired enough, though. So I called it a SL day and went off for now.
So I decided to take a guided tour instead, grabbed the latest issue of the AvaStar and teleported to the places they described as great.
Juke Joint Blues
As the name suggests this is a Blues Bar in the midst of what looks like the combat zone. It was skillfully done, but the Juke Box didn't work for me and the next Gig was due next Wednesday only. The only people - or avatars - around were staff. They were nice enough, but due to lack of anything to do atm I went on.
Support for Healing
By what I read on that Island it's a fundraiser for various RL projects trying to help people with serious problems. As in: Depressions, child abuse, etc.
It's also meant as a meeting place for such people. Graphically, this was a mix of Stonehenge and Buddhist temple settled in a japanese garden to my eyes. I will not share more thoughts on this one.
The Internet site behind Support for Healing is here
Since I felt well-enough and out of place already and there was no-one around to talk with, I just went on.
The gardens of Apollo
This island is covered by temples and lush gardens. For "one of the most popular" meetings places around, it was quite empty. It's a no-sex, no-stalking, no-dirty talk zone meant for private rendezvous of the more eloquent type. Which I appreciated.
It is also locked in eternal sunset mode.
It did look quite good. But I'd rather visit the real Taj Mahal then to spent too much time here on fantasy island.
SciLands
The Island teaches astronomy on a fairly sophisticated but still understandable level. I liked it! I actually learned something there! As might be expected, except for me there was only one other Avatar on the island.
I have Celestia installed on my computer, which is a nicer way to learn about the universe surrounding us perhaps. But still: I was impressed.
The analytical sciences needed to explore were also covered, along with 3D models to explain the workings of Mass- UV- and IR spectroscopy. There even is a small lab, where you can try around. A fairly interesting place all in all.
The Star Trek Museum (located at TokaDok II
This one really made me feel a bit better about SL. A sci-fi fan at heart and very fond of the Star Trek universe, the Star Trek Museum was a lot of fun for me to visit.
Download-Links to free Star Trek games, a StarTrek-StarWars movie in their cinema, a starport with 3D ship models - including their history. This place was made with lots of love. It was also designed within the limits of SL Engine, so don't expect too much detail, accept the occasional graphic glitch and if you're a Trekkie, you might like it.
I met a nice Paladin there, complete with amour, sword, all that and helped him to a few dragon-chasing photos. He had a real impressive Pegasus with him. This was the first time I really had some interactive fun, for a short time. He gave me a few addresses for Islands with fantasy and sci-fi backgrounds. So, perhaps I will even stay another day to check them out.
One other thing that fascinated me, was the Library of Primitives. Here you could actually find tutorials to build your own objects in SL. I think, that could be the actual fun part of this game for me. My voyages so far left me tired enough, though. So I called it a SL day and went off for now.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Second Life - Island Hopping
For a another great second opinion on Second Life check out Odd Todd's Page.
A lot of real world companies have a second life representation. One example would be the T-Online Beach Party (116-47-22).
It was fairly frequented with a lot of Germans hanging out to chat and earn the occasional L$ camping on beach towels or dancing on stage.
The ads were mild and the animations well done.
On the other hand, it was just another good-looking place to be bored at. The chats people had amazed me: How do five people manage to talk about nothing at all with so many words? I mean, seriously, they must have been bored to death already. So I decided to hop on.
Perhaps I should get a partner for this project, as it can be tiring to be so alone in such otherwise neat surroundings.
A little later I made friends with a small fuzzy white wolf. Afterwards I went offline for a few hours. When I returned almost the same group of people was still around. Sitting on the campers seats doing nothing.
I actually had a short conversation with some other Germans hanging out there.
Finally I decided to try out the new voice chat feature. OMG... It's a bit disillusioning: You have hundreds of totally amazing Avatars around you, but of course behind them are fairly standard human voices. The first one to built voice filters to monsterize or beautify spoken dialogue will definitely become a SL millionaire!
I should go out buy some helium before I ever use that feature.
So what does a lizard do when it gets night? Go dance of course!
A shame there is actually not much music to listen to and the few snippets sound like a best of Ballermann CD.
I Island hopped quite a bit afterwards, without finding anything but shops, deserted private islands and finally: A place where people had sex. Hum... I must say this was fun to watch. The silly typed comments and the even sillier movements... I found it hard not to fall off my RL chair, laughing my ass off.
The last thing I visited today was the Public Townscape Island. This is a social experiment by a German student of landscape architecture. Anyone may build here and anything built is permanent. Or would be if you could actually still build anything, as the PRIM limit (maximum number of objects) has been reached.
The island is a chaotic mess. But to read how it became what it is now, can be quite interesting. Find the documentation here along with pictures and movies.
That aside I also found several American universities have representations in SL.
A lot of real world companies have a second life representation. One example would be the T-Online Beach Party (116-47-22).
It was fairly frequented with a lot of Germans hanging out to chat and earn the occasional L$ camping on beach towels or dancing on stage.
The ads were mild and the animations well done.
On the other hand, it was just another good-looking place to be bored at. The chats people had amazed me: How do five people manage to talk about nothing at all with so many words? I mean, seriously, they must have been bored to death already. So I decided to hop on.
Perhaps I should get a partner for this project, as it can be tiring to be so alone in such otherwise neat surroundings.
A little later I made friends with a small fuzzy white wolf. Afterwards I went offline for a few hours. When I returned almost the same group of people was still around. Sitting on the campers seats doing nothing.
I actually had a short conversation with some other Germans hanging out there.
Finally I decided to try out the new voice chat feature. OMG... It's a bit disillusioning: You have hundreds of totally amazing Avatars around you, but of course behind them are fairly standard human voices. The first one to built voice filters to monsterize or beautify spoken dialogue will definitely become a SL millionaire!
I should go out buy some helium before I ever use that feature.
So what does a lizard do when it gets night? Go dance of course!
A shame there is actually not much music to listen to and the few snippets sound like a best of Ballermann CD.
I Island hopped quite a bit afterwards, without finding anything but shops, deserted private islands and finally: A place where people had sex. Hum... I must say this was fun to watch. The silly typed comments and the even sillier movements... I found it hard not to fall off my RL chair, laughing my ass off.
The last thing I visited today was the Public Townscape Island. This is a social experiment by a German student of landscape architecture. Anyone may build here and anything built is permanent. Or would be if you could actually still build anything, as the PRIM limit (maximum number of objects) has been reached.
The island is a chaotic mess. But to read how it became what it is now, can be quite interesting. Find the documentation here along with pictures and movies.
That aside I also found several American universities have representations in SL.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Second Life - My second day...
I island hopped a bit, and since it's sunday, I think I'll keep the text short and let the pics speak for themselves.
Money Island (84,89,22)
Even Avatars needs Money, so I went to Money Island, see how I could earn some. The place is quite crowded at all hours, so I guess I'm not the only one out of dough.
The most prominent feature is a replica of a large bank building... And the dozens of ATM machines standing around everywhere.
Accessing one of theses machines - although they promise "surveys" - will lead you to dating sites, career sites, etc., where you have to join for a few Linden dollars. (range being 150-300... That will not buy you a penis yet, I'm afraid!).
There is also a camping chair there where you have to stay for a certain amount of time (75 secs, if I remember right) to get one of a hundred freebies.
Otherwise the usual shops are scattered around.
I was surprised how many people were using the ATM machines, probably using fake emails and names. I don't see the win-win situation there. So, after an admirer copied my Dragon Avatar, I went on to another Island...
The Edge (208,135,21)
The edge promised life-music and other events, when I came there, a mud-wrestling contest was going on. Which is fun, too. All these graciously styled avatars... I would have bet on the lady in the shit-kicker cowboy boots, but the crowd voted differently. There was a camper's chair there that gives you 1L$ per ten minutes. Perfect to write a bit in my blog and read through the many notecards I grabbed everywhere!
One notecard really got my interest there, it was about scientific projects, sponsored by universities and other institutions. So perhaps there is another side to Second Life I didn't see yet? These will be my next targets.
And by sitting on my dragon butt for a while, I actually earned 4L$. So there are jobs out there less-well-paid then what I do during the week. ;)
Yes there are! Watch my dragon hard at work here:
Money Island (84,89,22)
Even Avatars needs Money, so I went to Money Island, see how I could earn some. The place is quite crowded at all hours, so I guess I'm not the only one out of dough.
The most prominent feature is a replica of a large bank building... And the dozens of ATM machines standing around everywhere.
Accessing one of theses machines - although they promise "surveys" - will lead you to dating sites, career sites, etc., where you have to join for a few Linden dollars. (range being 150-300... That will not buy you a penis yet, I'm afraid!).
There is also a camping chair there where you have to stay for a certain amount of time (75 secs, if I remember right) to get one of a hundred freebies.
Otherwise the usual shops are scattered around.
I was surprised how many people were using the ATM machines, probably using fake emails and names. I don't see the win-win situation there. So, after an admirer copied my Dragon Avatar, I went on to another Island...
The Edge (208,135,21)
The edge promised life-music and other events, when I came there, a mud-wrestling contest was going on. Which is fun, too. All these graciously styled avatars... I would have bet on the lady in the shit-kicker cowboy boots, but the crowd voted differently. There was a camper's chair there that gives you 1L$ per ten minutes. Perfect to write a bit in my blog and read through the many notecards I grabbed everywhere!
One notecard really got my interest there, it was about scientific projects, sponsored by universities and other institutions. So perhaps there is another side to Second Life I didn't see yet? These will be my next targets.
And by sitting on my dragon butt for a while, I actually earned 4L$. So there are jobs out there less-well-paid then what I do during the week. ;)
Yes there are! Watch my dragon hard at work here:
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Second Life - Genesis & Start
In the beginning, there was an idea.
In 1991 Neal Stephensons Cyberpunk novel Snowcrash was published. In the grim future he described people went to the virtual world of the Metaverse were they were represented by Avatars - graphical representations of theirselves.
Neals characters would go there for fun or to do business.
When I first read the book I asked myself how long it would take before technological advance would make the Metaverse possible. I was very certain that it would not take long. And for a change I was right!
Second Life was created very much along the idea of the Metaverse.
To get started you will have to download the Second Life installer for your OS. At the time of me writing this there was one for Windows, MacOS and an Alpha Version for Linux (announced).
Compared to the World of Warcraft download, Second Life was a piece of cake, done in about thirty minutes.
Afterwards, you also need to create a Second Life account. The process is straight-forward, you can choose your own first name and must then choose your family name from a drop down menue. You will be asked for your birth-date and your email address.
You can also choose between a limited basic free account or a paid-for account. I like freebies, so free it was and I started out to explore my Second Life.
Before you start you can choose between several very basic Avatar types. Don't waste much time with the choices, once you are in SL you can change your appearance easily to match your personal tastes.
You start out on Help Island. The first thing I saw was a whole army of Avatars floating in the air. That's what you look like when you're editing your appearance. Never being one to waste much time on trivialities I immediately set out to explore the Island instead.
You will have to pass some very basic tutorials before you can go out of this area. Movement, communication, flying(!), using inventory. That's it!
The next area you get to is mainly comprised of a freebie store, where you can get some cool stuff for your Avatar. I found a nice Rocket-Dino body there and settled for it. Of course I also grabbed everything else I could get my hands on. Just in case.
Graphic-wise SL cannot compare to WoW or any other modern online game IMHO. I have visited some really nicely edited areas, but the details are kind of limited.
The first "Mainland" Island I teleported to was a German "Altstadt" style area (located at 134,115,23). If you've ever seen a german Altstadt, you will remember they do not look like a giant bazaar. Shops, shops, shops... Most for rent, the rest selling all the important stuff - like a vagina or penis for your Avatar. Hell, yeah, if you want a virtual sex life, you must pay for it.
And it only starts with the ehm... main equipment. Want an ass that others can play with? The Whores'R'Us shopping mile.
I decided that my lizard Avatar was kind of a prude and a bore and instead grabbed the newest issue of the AvaStar. A PDF file download started. As I already knew that this e-paper was produced by the Springer-Verlag, I wasn't much surprised by the layout. Bild for Germans, Daily Sun for the English. Big letters, many red boxes. If you're interested, you can get it at the Avastar homepage without connecting to the game of course.
It's about as informative as the real life equivalents, also sharing the same style of journalism and focus on boulevard news. Despite all this, I must admit, they had some interesting articles, too.
So with this little screenshot from my first day on Mainland Second Life, I end my rant for now and will continue the search for something interesting.
I mean, there must be something somewehere out there, right? Otherwise it wouldn't be a Hype!
In 1991 Neal Stephensons Cyberpunk novel Snowcrash was published. In the grim future he described people went to the virtual world of the Metaverse were they were represented by Avatars - graphical representations of theirselves.
Neals characters would go there for fun or to do business.
When I first read the book I asked myself how long it would take before technological advance would make the Metaverse possible. I was very certain that it would not take long. And for a change I was right!
Second Life was created very much along the idea of the Metaverse.
To get started you will have to download the Second Life installer for your OS. At the time of me writing this there was one for Windows, MacOS and an Alpha Version for Linux (announced).
Compared to the World of Warcraft download, Second Life was a piece of cake, done in about thirty minutes.
Afterwards, you also need to create a Second Life account. The process is straight-forward, you can choose your own first name and must then choose your family name from a drop down menue. You will be asked for your birth-date and your email address.
You can also choose between a limited basic free account or a paid-for account. I like freebies, so free it was and I started out to explore my Second Life.
Before you start you can choose between several very basic Avatar types. Don't waste much time with the choices, once you are in SL you can change your appearance easily to match your personal tastes.
You start out on Help Island. The first thing I saw was a whole army of Avatars floating in the air. That's what you look like when you're editing your appearance. Never being one to waste much time on trivialities I immediately set out to explore the Island instead.
You will have to pass some very basic tutorials before you can go out of this area. Movement, communication, flying(!), using inventory. That's it!
The next area you get to is mainly comprised of a freebie store, where you can get some cool stuff for your Avatar. I found a nice Rocket-Dino body there and settled for it. Of course I also grabbed everything else I could get my hands on. Just in case.
Graphic-wise SL cannot compare to WoW or any other modern online game IMHO. I have visited some really nicely edited areas, but the details are kind of limited.
The first "Mainland" Island I teleported to was a German "Altstadt" style area (located at 134,115,23). If you've ever seen a german Altstadt, you will remember they do not look like a giant bazaar. Shops, shops, shops... Most for rent, the rest selling all the important stuff - like a vagina or penis for your Avatar. Hell, yeah, if you want a virtual sex life, you must pay for it.
And it only starts with the ehm... main equipment. Want an ass that others can play with? The Whores'R'Us shopping mile.
I decided that my lizard Avatar was kind of a prude and a bore and instead grabbed the newest issue of the AvaStar. A PDF file download started. As I already knew that this e-paper was produced by the Springer-Verlag, I wasn't much surprised by the layout. Bild for Germans, Daily Sun for the English. Big letters, many red boxes. If you're interested, you can get it at the Avastar homepage without connecting to the game of course.
It's about as informative as the real life equivalents, also sharing the same style of journalism and focus on boulevard news. Despite all this, I must admit, they had some interesting articles, too.
So with this little screenshot from my first day on Mainland Second Life, I end my rant for now and will continue the search for something interesting.
I mean, there must be something somewehere out there, right? Otherwise it wouldn't be a Hype!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
