Another Scandal in Second Life?

It is actually hard to say if we actually have a new scandal brewing or not. We have known factions in Second Life that have decided to take IP Protection and Griefing matters into their own hands. Some of us think of such actions as vigilantism. In response to vigilantes other groups have sprung up to rain in the vigilantes. They are sort of anti-vigilante vigilantes. And so it goes. Whether it is a new scandal or maybe just the smoke from artillery shots in an ongoing war is hard to say. So, this article is mostly a reminder of risks in SL.

Image by: US Army Africa - Flickr

Rob Humble at SLCC 2011 in his keynote mentioned doing something with griefers. I don’t have an exact time mark, but it was around 30 minutes in. The Lab is not going to tell us what the Lab is planning. In many ways it is a war between the Lab and griefers. I’ve been in office hour/user group meetings where the Lindens were griefed. When they can’t stop an attack the meeting moves to a new location. So, it is a complex issue even for the Lab. They are NOT going to tip off the enemy.

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The Future of Commerce in Second Life

Those on the SLCC 2011 panel are; Jeff – Sr. Business Dev Strategy and Planning, Brook Linden – Merchant Services and owner of the Market Place, Thor Linden – Economic Overseer & Strategic Operations or SEARCH, Colossus Linden – Payment systems. Forgive me if I misspelled a name. Also, I never did catch Jeff’s avatar name.

Image by: danielbroche @ Flickr

The Commerce Team is hard to find. SL Groups Search from the web page is broken today. The Second Life Commerce Merchants group was apparently created for XStreetSL.  There is an SL Merchants Section in the SL Forum. In general this is a very hard team to find. As to feedback, you’ll have to chase down one of the team and see if you can get their attention. Brooke has the feed on her profile turned off… it looks like the do-not-disturb sign is up.

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#SL Scripting Update Week 33

With some luck we’ll see the Scripting Maintenance Project roll to the main grid this week. Since last Wednesday Blue Steel has been running the project’s code. Kelly Linden says it is looking good and will probably be a candidate for roll to the main grid this week.

Image by: Marcin Wichary @ Flickr

Along with new scripting functions come simulator performance improvements. The graph shows some of the improvements. If I understand correctly we should be able see a noticeable improvement.

New Scripting Features in LSL

  • llSetMemoryLimit() – This sets the maximum amount of memory the script can use. With this function the sizing and color scripts for hair and shoes can be set to use less memory. Because there are so many copies of the scripts in hair this should have a large impact.
  • llGetMemoryLimit() – This reports what the memory limit is.
  • llGetObjectDetails() – A new item has been added to the flags: OBJECT_SCRIPT_TIME. This item returns the average script time an object or avatar is using. The value is in seconds and is the same number as one sees in Top Scripts in the Estate Manager’s Tools.

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#SecondLife Display Names Revisited

Image by: Randy Son Of Robert @ Flickr

I use a display name, Nal. Simple, easy to spell, and solves the problem of my being called Natalie, which I don’t mind that much unless a Natalie is in the area. So, I don’t care that much about Display Names (DN) either way. I just read Avril Korman’s article, The Name Game: Display Names and the Law Of Unintended Consequences. This is a well written piece on the subject of Display Names. I recommend it.

I am a great believer in the idea that if one is going to complain they complain to someone that can do something about the problem and offer a solution, preferably more than one solution to the complaint.

Avril explains the problems with Display Names. This is not a simple they suck. But, a good analysis of what was intended verses what the results have been. I can’t find any point where I disagree with Avril’s thinking.

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Second Life Rod Humble 2011 Keynote

Each year the CEO of Linden Lab addresses the residents on the future direction they plan to take Second Life. This year Rod Humble gave the address. I like to get the audio of the address and summarize the key points. I think people can read faster than most people can talk. Plus later when I need to remember what Rod said, I have a searchable summary of the address. So, here are the key points as I see and understand them.

If you want the bottom line, jump to my Summary at the end.

Rob Humble’s Keynote Address

UStream

The events and meetings are being streamed through UStream.com. The first meeting I went to, Future of Mesh, they changed the stream. We had to scramble to find the correct stream. In Rod’s keynote it was a bit easier. But, in both cases those attending in-world had problems. So, I suggest if you are planning to attend any of the meetings, watch via UStream in your browser. The URL’s are in the schedule. See: http://schedule.slconvention.org/. Also, the videos should be archived there.

The crowded regions were crashing my SLV 3.0.1 and Dolphin 2 viewers. Bummer.

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