General News

Second Life TPVDM News 2013-39

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This is the news from the Third Party Viewer Developers Meeting. There is always lots of interesting new information that comes out in these meetings. The first thing Oz Linden went over were the RC Viewers currently out.

RC SL Share

Merov Linden talked about SL Share. Oz Linden translated for him as Merov’s voice was distorted beyond understanding.

I gathered that the SL Share feature is mostly implemented server side. The Facebook login tokens are not kept in the viewer. So, third party developers would not see the Facebook information… But… one does type an ID and password for the account into the viewer to set up the connection. So, is that safe?

I’ll have to look and see how this is actually working. For now I think it may be similar to how SL Search works, where a web page is opened as a panel in the viewer. While you are appearing to type in the viewer, you are typing into a web page. I suspect SL Share is something similar with the account connection setup.

Once the connection is established, future posts from the viewer are passed to the SL server, which has the tokens, for it to pass the post along to Facebook. So, the viewer would never actually be connecting to Facebook. 

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Bits and Pieces 2013-39

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ToS

Ciaran Laval has an article up on the new Linden Lab™ ToS: New TOS Needs To Be Rectified.

Oculus

Jo Yardley notes The Verge has another article up on Second Life™. The Verge article is: Second Life updates graphics, promises Oculus Rift support ‘soon’. This one is by a different author and about the Oculus Rift. I think this author, Adi Robertson, watched the video. I doubt Ali has been in SL.

Jo in her article, The Oculus Buzz caused by Linden Lab, is discussing the reputation of Second Life. She has some good ideas. We know several Lindens, including Rod, read her blog. So, may be some of those ideas will get picked up or at least shape some of the Lab’s PR work.

Jo believes, and I think with good reason, that the Oculus will bring a second renaissance to SL. Of course the ToS change may offset that… I do believe we will see an up tic in the number of people entering Second Life. I can’t decide if I believe the Rift will change the retention rate. I flip-flop on that point.

And check out the first comment after her article…

If you take a look at Polygon’s article, Virtual world Second Life gets graphics and features overhaul, you might get the idea the Lab sent out a press release.

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TOS Revisited 2013-39

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There’s still quite a bit of discussion going on about Linden Labs™ new TOS. Lots of misinformation is appearing as people are giving their opinions. I think I have a few things to add to the discussion.

Empty Malls? - Image by: Lost Tulsa via Flickr
Empty Malls? – Image by: Lost Tulsa via Flickr

First, for those that want a definitive answer there is no choice but to consult an attorney. But, there are free legal advice services on the Internet, just Google free legal advice. You don’t have to hire an attorney. But, remember it is free. You get what you pay for.

The Point

Many haven’t bothered to inform themselves what the discussion is about. Remember. For some time the Lab has had a ToS that says you give them the rights they need to operate the service. Since you are GIVING them nonexclusive rights you have, since you created the ‘thing’, copyright is a non-issue. You are giving them a copy of your copyrights to your ‘thing’. This is not new.

Also, a number of people think you’re giving away your rights. You aren’t. The Linden TOS says you are granting them nonexclusive rights. That means you get to keep all your rights too. If you are giving up your rights, you would be granting them exclusive rights.

The change from all the previous TOS versions, as best I can tell, is removal of the clause: …rights needed to operate the service. (That is paraphrasing.) This little clause is the point of all the discussion. This clause limited Linden Lab to using your stuff with Second Life™ and only in connection with Second Life. Or if you push it another level up, with the services Linden Lab provides you. 

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Good Coverage of Second Life

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Inara Pey has an article up titled: The Verge: an astute look into Second Life. Inara is discussing the article and pointing out its highlights. The article was written by Chris Stokel-Walker, have no clue who Chris is. But, Inara points out and I agree it is a well written article fair to Second Life. If you want to show someone what Second Life is about this is a good article to point them to. See: Second Life’s Strange Second Life.

The Verge (the blog publishing the article) seems to be a tech news blog or may be more accurately a techie’s news blog. I haven’t seen it before but it does look interesting. They do some fun stuff with the images in the article.

I find it interesting that Caliandris Pendragon came from the Myst games. She started with Riven advanced to Myst Online: Uru Live (MOUL). She came to Second Life when Uru closed the first time in 2004. I have a similar background. But, I came when Uru closed the second time in 2008.

There are two or three groups that players from the Myst games hang out in. The group I prefer is the D’ni Refugees. They do karaoke and have lots of parties.

I find the article amazingly well-balanced. Check it out.

 

 

ToS Update 2013-39

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Hamlet Au has an article up on New World Notes about longtime creators removing their products from Second Life. This is because of the change in the terms of service. See: Longtime Second Life Content Creators Remove SL Work in Protest Over Linden Lab’s New Draconian Terms of Service.

Removing content is one of the actions I pointed out in my article: Second Life ToS Change. Now we’ll see how many people follow the Odd Fellows.

Is the new TOS having any effect on you?

If your merchant are you still uploading new content?

Hamlet quotes Nerad Oddball saying, “‘Oh, but we wouldn’t really [take your content]!’ doesn’t rate.” There’s some tricky quotes there.

Nerad makes the same point I did in my article. What happens if Second Life is sold for some reason? The new buyer will see all the stuff in SL as there’s. And they can do with it whatever they want to court in this current TOS.

So the BIG question is; why won’t the lab put back in the clause that makes this a limited license? Hamlet says he’s asking. I doubt were going to hear real answer, at least one we want to hear.

There are now 15 screens of entries in the SL forum thread: Updated LL TOS Claims FULL RIGHTS to ALL CONTENT.

World Makers Episode 11: Dwarfins

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It is Friday and a new Drax File is out: Dwarfins. The makers of Dwarfins  Dante Spectre and Judy Chestnut are interviewed in this episode.

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Inara Pey has an interview with Drax on her blog today. See: The Drax Files 11: the power of creativity.

Drax expresses the direction he is moving with the Drax Files in the interview:

… and for the future, I feel I need to get even deeper into personal stories that are different to the ones we’ve seen; so in the little time I have, the five minutes, the balance does need to be shifted towards the personal story. Not versus the activity, per se,  but what sets it apart from the other stories, rather than repeating what’s in the other stories. It lies in the nature of my goal as well as what people say naturally, without me prompting them, because it seems what is foremost on their minds is the stereotype we are faced with. so sometimes, the subject I’m interviewing is responding in a defensive way, but also sometimes just pushing back, which I really love.